As the original Moderation page has developed a bug so that permalinks no longer navigate to the appropriate comment, I thought I’d put up a page for continuing discussion on moderating issues. The Rules can be found there so anyone with an issue should check that they are familiar with them.
26th June 2015: the bug has now affected this page so there is now a new Moderation Issues page here.
I will start things off with an apology to keiths and to anyone else who was offended by my crude post. It wasn’t nice, but it accurately reflected my exasperation.
It is possible to disagree with things other than fact and logic. I’m always optimistic that I can find a way to express more subtle points, but in this case I failed. I just can’t find the right handle with which to carry my case.
While watching the youtube video, you click “share” (below the video). Then you click “embed” (a little lower).
Then you use copy/paste to put it in your post.
There’s a bit of a trick, though. In the edit box, you will have to click the “text” tab to paste in html. When done pasting it in, click the “visual” tab, and you should see a box where it was placed.
You can then click the “preview” button to see how it appears. I recommend playing the video in the preview screen, to make sure that it works. Then save the updated page.
I’ll move this comment to moderation, when people have had time to read it.
(This was a response to a question in the “A Matter of Faith” topic.)
Neil Rickert,
I followed your instructions, Neil, and I did get the box to show up in Visual mode, but when I loaded the preview screen, there was nothing there. Maybe there’s some code attached to the link that prevents embedding like this?
I’m not sure why that didn’t work. In any case, I have now done it for you. I hope the placement is suitable.
Neil Rickert,
Thank you! I just wish I understood how to do it myself. I’m sure there’s some very easy step I’m missing.
KN,
I had a similar problem. I would enter the HTML for the embed, but WordPress would strip it out when I tried to post it. Yet when Neil tried, he was able to do it with no problems.
I suspect that by default, video posting privileges are limited to administrators and that there’s some hidden setting somewhere that needs to be changed.
keiths,
Knowing that you had the exact same problem as I did makes me feel less technologically incompetent. Thank you! 🙂
Yet Petrushka seems to have embedded some videos in a recent post.
[Checking the source, I see that he just posted the “youtu.be” links, and wordpress did the rest.]
Trial and error sometimes outwits Design.
Oh, nicely played!
Neil,
That won’t work for non-Youtube videos, unfortunately. We need a general solution.
I found a thread on the problem containing this promising comment:
Only Lizzie has access to the server, so any database changes will need her input.
However, a plugin like Role Editor would, if it does what it says on the tin, be handy for switching off the “delete comments” capability. But it’s Lizzie’s blog and I would prefer to check with her first.
Alan,
Sure, that makes sense.
I’ve moved a few posts to guano. One of those directly warranted being moved, and the others were responses to that one.
Neil Rickert,
Glad you were around. Moderation is no fun!
I was calling the MODERATOR’s attention to a snide comment that held no substance at all about the debate. It just happened that the commenter was also the MODERATOR.
Moderators, like it or not, set the example for behavior in a forum. If Mr. Fox, a MODERATOR, is going to set the example by contributing NOTHING to the debate and make a snide prediction about what I’m going to do in the future, and phrase it AS IF he is part of some “we” clique in a condescending tone, he’s setting a piss-poor example and inviting others to behave at least as badly wrt the rules about posts being about the argument and not about the personalities of those making the argument.
Considering how few people of contrary opinion actually visit here and contribute, I would say it’s Mr. Fox’s duty and in the best interest of the forum to be as gracious and supportive as possible to those that come here and offer a contrary view, and it is bad form and counter-productive for a MODERATOR to offer obviously sneering and snide remarks that isolate such contributors as not being a part of “we”.
If Alan is not going to take his responsibility as a moderator seriously by setting the example of how people should behave, he should give up his moderator status.
If THE MODERATOR wants to make a snide prediction about my future behavior in a post that doesn’t address the issue being debated whatsoeverr, then THE MODERATOR should make his comment in the appropriate forum – Guano.
William J. Murray,
Thank or the comment, William. I don’t consider myself a moderator. Lizzie asked me to be a co-admin. I understood her intention was to have other people to be available to deal with site maintenance when she was unavailable. When she’s around, I leave rule enforcement to her. When she is not around and I am and I see a clear (to me, subjective – of course – how could it be otherwise) breach of the rules, I’ll move a comment to guano. How many of yours have I moved? There are about three or for of yours in guano over the last year and I can’t recall moving any of them.
Whether or not you consider yourself a moderator, Alan, if you have the power to back up warnings or insinuations of warnings with moving posts to Guano, you are a moderator. When you say that I’m getting close to not taking the posts of others in good faith, you are talking as a moderator giving me at least an implied warning.
If you don’t want to consider yourself a moderator, and don’t want what you say about good faith assumptions to be taken as a warning from a moderator, then give up your capacity to move posts to guano. Otherwise, you might consider the responsibility you have more seriously.
I have turned off pingbacks and trackbacks.
In the discussion settings, I unchecked “Allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks)”.
This is because they are almost all spam. And those that are not spam are usually trashed anyway.
When I checked this morning, there were 53 new spam, all of them link notifications. The aim is to see if this change slows down the spammers.
If they (the spammers) just switch to registering as users and posting spam comments with the same high volume, then I’ll probably reverse the change as ineffective.
This change did not seem to have any effect. Since making the change, there have been around 40 new spam posts, all of them link notifications.
@ Neil
Just had a look at the Akismet plugin. The spam volume has leapt hugely in the last couple of months, the bulk of which we don’t see. There don’t seem to be any better options on the settings.
Yes, it has. I’m seeing that on my own blog, too. Perhaps that means that the economy is picking up.
It turns out that the setting that I tried to change just sets the default for new posts. On old posts, they have be changed one post at a time.
At present, when checking spam, I’m turning off the link notifications on the spammed post just before I delete that spam.
Alan,
You’re overreacting.
My comment was an observation, and a true one. William doesn’t require his beliefs to meet the same standards that most of us do.
For example, as you well know, he doesn’t care whether his beliefs are true. If that doesn’t amount to having lower intellectual standards, then nothing does.
keiths,
I think you are presuming a fellow commenter is not posting in good faith. Whether you or I believe it is immaterial. We have to assume all commenters here are posting in good faith to abide by Lizzie’s rules.
One of the reasons I’ve been commenting much less is that it’s become much more difficult to abide by Lizzie’s rules in that particular respect.
Alan,
Accusing someone of having low intellectual standards is not the same as accusing them of posting in bad faith.
Please stick to enforcing Lizzie’s rules, not inventing new ones, Alan.
keiths,
Whilst you may disagree with my decision regarding whether a particular comment is outside Lizzie’s rules, it is hardly reasonable to suggest I have invented a new rule.
is what I find an unnecessary jibe. I expect Lizzie will find time to check in soon. I’m sure she will set me straight on any misinterpretation of her rule and I’d be happy to relinquish my superpowers.
Alan,
Do you understand what the phrase “in good faith” means?
Accusing someone of having low intellectual standards is not the same as accusing them of posting in bad faith.
I could substitute “honestly” for “in good faith”.
Yes, perhaps I inferred an implication of dishonesty from “low intellectual standards”.
Alan,
It’s especially important not to make unwarranted inferences in your capacity as moderator. Remember, Lizzie’s policy is to keep the moderation light.
I too would like to keep the moderation as light as possible. Ideally, I’d prefer that I didn’t have to make any moderation decisions at all and that commenters would all read and abide by the rules.
Moderators,
Something serious just happened. All of KN’s threads have been deleted.
Restored
Any idea what happened?
Moderators,
Please make sure that KN’s author privileges are revoked. I’d hate to see him do any more damage to TSZ.
While waiting for Lizzie to get back to us, perhaps the Role Editor plugin could be be activated and set so that deletion is not an option. I’ve had a look but it is not, at first glance, very user friendly! Neil?
I’ve changed role capabilities so that author role no longer includes the ability to delete posts.
Pleas let me know if this creates any issues.
Thanks, Alan. I know I’m just a newbie, but I think that’s a much better solution than pulling KN’s author credentials. (I’m hoping he relents and begins posting again soon!)
FWIW, I have a (moribund since yahoo’s recent overhaul) yahoo group, QuickPhil, in which (only) members can post but can’t delete anything at all. Of course the bad thing about their bargain basement format is that nobody can edit anything–but I can promise KN and anybody else here this: if you’re looking for a place to post philosophical stuff and you don’t want anybody to insult you, you can join my group, post there, and if anybody gets obno, I’ll shitcan them after one or two warnings. We had a nice discussion of Witt’s _Tractatus_ and a couple of papers (one by Fodor, that I invited him to join, but alas). And I thought the discussion was not only polite, but pretty acute.
It’s been silent for several months but an infusion of new blood might perk it up. Here’s the link if anybody’s interested: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/quickphilosophy/info
W
That does not actually change much. He can still comment on existing threads. He can still create new threads. At present, when he creates a new thread, that would require moderator approval, but that mainly means a delay until it is noticed.
Thanks, Alan.
Neil Rickert,
Aha. The main thing, of course, is to get him to come back!
Lizzie set out as a mission statement;
and it is a worthwhile objective, in my view at least. Being right may be worth more than being understood but “I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible that you may be mistaken.”
Ah, I see unchecking the capability of authors to delete posts appears inextricably linked to access to the posts section on the dashboard.
Apologies for the temporary inconvenience. There are alternative plugins so I’ll try another to see if that helps, otherwise we may have to go back to trusting people. In the meantime any helpful suggestions are welcome.
In the meantime, I can change the role to editor for anyone who wishes to publish an OP urgently. Make your request in this thread..
OK
Authors should now have the capability to compose and publish OPs and delete their own unpublished OPs but not published ones.
Please advise of any glitches.
ETA also video embedding is included in the permissions
ETA Anyone wishing to start an OP and needing their status amending to “author”, just request it in a comment in this thread.
Thanks for doing all of that, Alan.
Thanks for this link which looks to provide some interesting reading.
I am not too surprised that some “big name” philosophers like Fodor would not post: I think they are sometimes concerned that off-the-cuff comments in internet forums might get referenced in someone else’s paper as (eg) “Fodor claims here that …”.
Love to have you join, Bruce.
Test.
Noting a couple of comments about times displayed. The time that should be displayed is British Summer Time (Time zone of the blog owner). It is in sync (1 hour behind) with my clocks set to CET.
Regarding the editing window, I don’t think anything I’ve done should affect this. There has been a glitch for some time that affects pages rather than posts. If anyone is experiencing continuing problems, perhaps they’d indicate if it was with a comment on a post or a page.