June 8, 2011

When this blog goes independent, you'll have to register to comment.

It will be like the commenting process over at Volokh. How do you feel about that?

Will you comment at the newly independent Althouse blog?
Yes. I'm a commenter now, and I will continue.
Yes. I've avoided commenting in Blogger, but I will comment at the new site.
No. I never comment and I'm not going to start.
No. I'm a commenter now, but I will stop.
Maybe. I'm a commenter now, but I might stop.
Maybe. I'm not a commenter now, but I might start.
  
pollcode.com free polls

207 comments:

1 – 200 of 207   Newer›   Newest»
Fred4Pres said...

Meh. It is not like you do not have to register here to comment. Through that akward goofy blogger process.

BigFire said...

I'm already posting here irregularly under my nom de plume for a while. don't see a reason why I should stop.

chickelit said...

I intend to comment, but not as "chickenlittle" -- it seems somebody already took that handle. :(

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

No, because this poll IS A FAKE!!

Althouse would never conduct this kind of poll ;)

AllenS said...

You might end up with a better class of commenters. The scum might not want to register.

Original Mike said...

Yeah, I don't understand. We already register now. How is the new process different?

Scott M said...

It would be nice if they could allow you one registration per IP. Certainly only one per email. Both can be skirted by the techsavvy, but not before the techsavvy send picks of their package over twitter.

Nonapod said...

When's this happening?

Anonymous said...

You really haven't given us enough information, Ann, to make a decision. At Voloch, there is no apparent registration. You simply submit a username and email address and all the comments are moderated, but it can be totally bogus username.

What do you mean "register." Does that mean providing a verified email address that can be linked back to the commenter?

As a way to track that person?

Scott M said...

I've got a question for everyone. Do you prefer this long single stream of comments or do the format that allows direct replies (branching the thread) to an individual comment?

I see positives for both.

AllenS said...

I hope that it involves a verifiable email address so you have to activate your account that way. Believe me, scum will think twice before commenting. Win, win.

Unknown said...

Yes, what do you mean by "register"? I don't see their policy.

Anonymous said...

The worst part of the internet right now, for political blogs, is the attempts to track what people are saying and link those comments to real people, as a way to get enough information to do opposition research against the commenter.

It is occurring.

It is pernicious.

And it will eliminate real debate.

People want to be free to offer their opinions without having to worry that some Democrat Party hack is going to piece together who they are and start fucking auditing their tax returns.

Yes that can happen.

Yes, they will do it.

They did it to Joe the Plumber and they'll do it to us if you give them the power to do that, Ann.

For myself, if I can't comment anonymously, I'll stop commenting and begin a competing blog and that would probably halve your page views.

Ann Althouse said...

"You might end up with a better class of commenters. The scum might not want to register."

I'll also be able to ban commenters, which is something I've never been able to do. I will almost never do that. I the whole history of the blog, there are only maybe 3 people I would have banned if I could. The possibility of banning will give my warnings some clout.

One thing we will lose is the social media aspect of blogger, like when you click on a profile. But if you look over at Volokh, you'll see that you have 3 things to put in: Name; E-Mail (will not be published); Website. You could put your Blogger profile page in the "Website" space.

RuyDiaz said...

OT: After his glorious press conference Monday, the Weiner made a call to apologize... to Bill Clinton.

"Godfather, I've let you down...."

This is the story that just keeps on giving.

chickelit said...

Do you prefer this long single stream of comments or do the format that allows direct replies (branching the thread) to an individual comment?

Branched structure sounds more interesting. Most comments I leave here begin with "so-and-so wrote..." or a quote--the branched structure would make the preamble moot.

Original Mike said...

@Scott: I detest the branching format. Sounds good in principal, but it's very hard to read. I quickly lose interest when I'm on one of those sites.

Ann Althouse said...

"Yes, what do you mean by "register"? I don't see their policy."

Go to Volokh, and click where you would click there if you wanted to comment. Above the comment box are 3 spaces for name, email, and website. After you do it the first time, it will remember you. I think registering will take about 5 seconds, and then if you're in the same computer, you won't have to do it again.

RuyDiaz said...

ScottM;

Threaded comments are annoying. You can indicate to whom you are replying by simply saying '@ such and such' or by beginning your comment with 'Such and such;'

Peter Hoh said...

For some reason, I don't like the look and feel of the threads at Volokh.

Ann Althouse said...

We might be able to develop some new functionality with the comments community over there.

I was toying with the idea of having a "back room," accessible by subscription, for the regulars to hang out, perhaps with some exclusive material.

chickelit said...

The branched structure would also quickly identify the "alpha-commenters" i.e., the most quoted ones.

Ann Althouse said...

"For some reason, I don't like the look and feel of the threads at Volokh."

I don't need to have the threaded comments. I have trouble with threaded comments too.

I value your input on details like this.

Original Mike said...

Althouse - Can we vote commenters off the island? Only one per year, kinda like Athens.

Carol_Herman said...

Althou.se is not a slam dunk, Ann.

In real estate, there's a well deserved meme: Location, Location, Location. (It's not your house. It's where your house is located.)

IF you abandon blogger, what's to stop them from letting another blogger come in and squat?

You're angry? Cool down.

Blogger will have every reason to improve its services.

Sure, long ago you made the mistake of not grabbing title to "Althouse" ... with other outlets. You learned too late ... and what a business this can be for people who took advantage of ya.

Sure. Everything new stirs hope.

(I'm sure Apple things "the cloud" will work. When I see it as a stupid idea; since no Internet provider has earned that much trust.)

A good name. It's worth keeping. Even if blogger made you go blind with hatred.

Ann Althouse said...

"When's this happening?"

When the tech people accomplish the migration of the archive.

The whole blog that you see here will also be over there, going back 7 1/2 years. There are close to 30,000 posts, will all sorts of tags and comments, so it's taking a little longer than we'd thought to get it done right. I have great people working on it. I thought maybe it would happen today.

Short answer: soon!

chickelit said...

I was toying with the idea of having a "back room," accessible by subscription, for the regulars to hang out, perhaps with some exclusive material.

You should definitely do that. However, depending on what you charged, word would get out soon enough if it was worth it.

Also, Trooper York's will probably remain as the wild west alternative to "off-Broadway" site. :)

bagoh20 said...

Althouse is the only reason I got a blogger account, and even got me to put up a blog site, which I rarely use. I doubt that I'll keep any of it now.

So many memories are attached to these HTML apparitions. It will be painful to walk out and not look back.

Goodbye cruel blogger world. Hello Althou.se.

Will there be a bikini team?

Anonymous said...

Ann Althouse Wrote: "Above the comment box are 3 spaces for name, email, and website. After you do it the first time, it will remember you. I think registering will take about 5 seconds, and then if you're in the same computer, you won't have to do it again."

This sort of a system isn't really "registration" as you could submit a completely bogus email address.

If that's the system, I'm all for it, because it preserves anonymity.

Do you intend, Ann, to moderate comments? If not, then this sort of registration system doesn't really accomplish anything except to put a cookie on the user's machine so they don't have to fill out the form each time.

To protect privacy, many people do not allow websites to place user-identifiable cookies on their computer in the first place, so this sort of a registration system would have no real effect or purpose.

So key questions:

1) Do you want to track commenters?
2) Do you want to moderate their comments?

Not for nothing, but have you also thought about how you will fight spam (I believe Google was doing that service for you in the past, no?)

Original Mike said...

"Blogger will have every reason to improve its services."

When pigs fly.

garage mahal said...

nevadabob/Florida/New Ham Hussein said...
What do you mean "register." Does that mean providing a verified email address that can be linked back to the commenter?

As a way to track that person?


Oh noes!

Peter Hoh said...

Threaded comments are fine, until the thread count goes above 25 or so. Then they get messy.

Peter Hoh said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Trooper York said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Scrutineer said...

It will be like the commenting process over at Volokh. How do you feel about that?

Great, as long as you don't borrow the actual comment/preview code used at Volokh. It's an atrocity.

Original Mike said...

"I was toying with the idea of having a "back room," accessible by subscription, for the regulars to hang out, perhaps with some exclusive material."

Will you provide subsidies for the indigent?

Rose said...

Please just keep it as OPEN as possible - I want to be able to use MY NAME.

J said...

Why not just make it eazy on yr self Annchen??: post a note--"Only conservative WASP frat-boys in the TP-GOP allowed to post" (with a few exceptions for well-behaved Uncle Toms, and republo-ho's). Then you can limit your new "A-house Log cabin party list" to the insidahs, a priori as it were.

Chip S. said...

I was toying with the idea of having a "back room," accessible by subscription, for the regulars to hang out, perhaps with some exclusive material.

A very dangerous idea. It could be the first step onto a slippery slope that leads to the imposition of user fees in Central Park.

Anonymous said...

"Althouse is the only reason I got a blogger account"

Google's attempts to tie commenter's accounts to their cell phones is what prompted me finally to delete my Blogger account.

Google is attempting to identify everyone on the internet and is using Blogger as one of the means to do it. They want to be able to trace every comment you ever wrote back to you individually in a way that positively identifies you.

And Google is a very Democrat Party-friendly company. I have no doubt their efforts would come to absolutely no good and represent a huge invasion of privacy.

So, I deleted my Blogger account and gmail accounts (and went OpenID through LiveJournal) specifically because Google is attempting to silence critics of the Democrat Party by identifying those critics.

Look what they did to Ann when she got too uppity. They flipped the off switch.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Is it me or is Volockh kind of slow when you click on something?

Phil 314 said...

I cannot resist:

Your papers please!

(In other words, I don't like it)

Original Mike said...

"Google is attempting to identify everyone on the internet and is using Blogger as one of the means to do it."

Yep. It makes me uncomfortable when I look up at the top of the google page and see my e-mail address there. I will delete my Blogger account with relish. (No, that was not a wiener joke.)

Scott M said...

One of the nicest, best-formatted forums I've ever seen is the one for the MMO Eve-Online. Aside from the fact that it's got all the bells and whistles as far as easy buttons for HTML formatting (making it easy for everyone, not just those with code memorized), one of the coolest mechanics they have is the way it handles quotes.

When you want to quote someone directly, you highlight their text, in their comment, and hit quote. This automatically opens a reply field for you to make your comment. The end result is that their quote is presented in your comment with a box around it. This is especially good for multiple reply comments to a single paragraph of quoted text. In other words, if someone makes an entire paragraph of inane, completely hysterically wrong comments, you can use this structure (the boxes around their quotes) to easily respond point by point. To the 3rd party reader, this makes it very clear exactly what's going on.

Eve-Online, like many games, also allows tags (pictures and slogans, for instance that auto-attach with each comment made) for their threadwhores, but I'm not sure that's appropriate on a non-gaming blog. Although...they are funny as hell sometimes...

Trooper York said...

One of the things that brings me back to this site is the open and generous comment policy where people are allowed to say what they want to say and be who they want to be.

Imposing controls over this destroys the spirit you have fostered here.

hawkeyedjb said...

If we don't register, will our warranty be void? Will we miss out on valuable updates and information about other fine products?

wv: dingda. Oh bah dingda doo da day...

Original Mike said...

It's not just you, Lem. By the time Volokh loads, I usually have forgotten what I clicked on.

Phil 314 said...

I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members.


Marx

Scott M said...

Why not just make it eazy on yr self Annchen??

Please tell me Jolly ranks as one of The Three.

Mark O said...

What about the pictures?

Anonymous said...

The other thing that is really distasteful is when you delete comments just because you don't like what the person said, Ann.

Commenters bring real added value to your blog, Ann.

Take a look at your 200-300 comment posts. Who is driving that traffic? Who is adding the value?

Instead of deleting comments, maybe you should think about whether you want to drive off your traffic generators.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I don't know about this.

Its like we are leaving a church and taking some people with us and some people are a little reluctant to leave.

Peter Hoh said...

exclusive material

Like flower seeds?

sakredkow said...

Change is good. Change is good.
Say it like a mantra.

Original Mike said...

@ScottM: I'm on an astronomy forum that works like that. It is is really nice.

Marilee said...

Will we still be able to identify our old friends..will they be able to use the same moniker? I don't post much here because I'm not nearly clever enough, but I like and know personalities of the commenters here and would like to be able to identify them on the other blog.

Hagar said...

What goes in the "website" space?

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Instead of providing an email address can I supply a urine sample?

Anonymous said...

God, you're so lame sometimes Ann.

OK, I'll take the traffic elsewhere.

Cya.

Original Mike said...

"One of the things that brings me back to this site is the open and generous comment policy where people are allowed to say what they want to say and be who they want to be."

Gee Trooper, I thought it was the Packer fans.

Peter Hoh said...

exclusive material

I want some function like in-trade. Well, not like in-trade. But some way of making predictions about various political and social events. Sort of like "Obama will not close Gitmo."

People could place bets one way or the other, and some sort of bragging rights currency can be established.

The polls are just window dressing. I want something where people can put their predictions on the line.

Scott M said...

Gee Trooper, I thought it was the Packer fans.

You mean Titus?

edutcher said...

For those who comment on PajamasMedia, it's the same thing.

Frankly, I'm not crazy about lugging a Google ID all over the Net just because I don't want to shut down my browser a dozen times.

(yeah, I know...)

J said...

Why not just make it eazy on yr self Annchen??: post a note--"Only conservative WASP frat-boys in the TP-GOP allowed to post" (with a few exceptions for well-behaved Uncle Toms, and republo-ho's). Then you can limit your new "A-house Log cabin party list" to the insidahs, a priori as it were.

Don't let the door hit ya....

Anonymous said...

There is no registration at volokh. You can type anything you want into the name and e-mail field, and change it every time, and your comment still gets posted. The only reason I have an OpenID is this site. If the new site is like volokh, bye bye OpenID.

Trooper York said...

I try not to step in the Packer Fans. Just sayn'

Phil 314 said...

was toying with the idea of having a "back room," accessible by subscription, for the regulars to hang out, perhaps with some exclusive material.

Its like a JournoList but for the common (and right of center) man (or woman as the case may be)

Ok, not too common of a man but you get the idea.

And if you don't get the idea, you don't belong in the back room

Fred4Pres said...

Ann, I better be able to register as Fred4Pres, because there is only one true Fred4Pres. Just sayin.

garage mahal said...

Cya.

Bye!

Scott M said...

So, are you going to celebrate the launch of the new blog at Althousecon 1 or what? I'd make the trip, if for no other reason than to see what the rest o' you freaks drink.

Trooper York said...

"andinista said...
There is no registration at volokh. You can type anything you want into the name and e-mail field, and change it every time, and your comment still gets posted."

See that worries me. Can anybody use your name to post a comment?

I mean I don't want Lem posting with my name posting about the Red Sox or Original Mike hijacking my moniker to praise the Packers.

That would be wrong.

Peter Hoh said...

@1:28 -- huh?

sakredkow said...

I don't want to panic anyone but what A. Althouse is not saying is that only a certain number of beings will have the requisite makeup and capacity to make this changeover. Nobody can tell who that will be. You should say goodbye to your friends now, just in case.

Alex said...

Good finally Jeremy, Garage, AlphaLiberal, Ritmo get banned!

Anonymous said...

I have already registered at Wordpress, but I don't think t-man will work as a name, tman was taken, so I think it will be
tman2011 (kind of dumb, but so what).

My initial reaction to the backroom idea was an involuntary flinch backward. What would be the point? In-jokes and allusions to backroom goings-on would develop and create a de facto two-class commenter system. It would also be fodder for conspiracy theories - see Journolist.

Original Mike said...

Will there be Hope with the Change?

Trooper York said...

And personally I think the idea of a secret side blog with only "invited members" is a terrible idea. It should be come one- come all.

Many people only comment once in a while but I value what they have to say. Listening to the same blowhards all the time would be boring.

(Speaking as a stupid arrogant blowhard)

Anonymous said...

Phil -

We're on the same wavelength.

Chip S. said...

I better be able to register as Fred4Pres, because there is only one true Fred4Pres.

Wouldn't it would be edgier to register as "The Commenter Formerly Known As Fred4Pres"?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

OT - Rush says the exposed Weiner has leaked.. its on Gawker.

Martin L. Shoemaker said...

I voted Maybe; but now that you've described the process in more detail, I should have voted Yes. That's by no means an onerous registration process.

On other questions...

* I don't like the branching/threading idea. It's valuable on tech forums, but I think it hinders conversation in a more social blog like this.

* I disagree with the suggestion (and yes, I know it was a joke) of voting people off the island. But please, please, PLEASE give us an Ignore User feature! I would use it sparingly; but I would use it.

* I would consider subscribing to a back room. Depends on the nature of the extras.

Anonymous said...

"My initial reaction to the backroom idea was an involuntary flinch backward. What would be the point?"

Subscription fees.

Original Mike said...

"Good finally Jeremy, Garage, AlphaLiberal, Ritmo get banned!"

Garage stays or I'm going too!

(ok, if garage has to go....)

Sprezzatura said...

"I have great people working on it."

Apparently not good enough to be named. Maybe they'd like some free advertising.

Chip S. said...

I want something where people can put their predictions on the line.

I want a "thumbs up" icon, so that I can give this proposal two of them.

Sprezzatura said...

"OT - Rush says the exposed Weiner has leaked.. its on Gawker."

It's here too. In one of these threads.

Scott M said...

Garage stays or I'm going too!

Second.

Anonymous said...

@Lem

Salon's Dave Weigel had it first and with a better shot

Democrat Anthony Weiner's full-on fully-erect, completely shaved 4-inch penis.

Trooper York said...

I have cultivated a blog friendship with several commenters who are totally on the other side of the fence and who really tick off some of my conservative brothers and sisters.

People like hdhouse, Ritmo, garage and others have emailed me privately or spoke to me on the phone. Although we agree on absolutely nothing on most issuses I still value their opinions and their voice. I would hate to lose that.

You have to be willing to listen to the other side and give them a chance.

Darcy said...

Registering wouldn't deter me, though I'm a very infrequent commenter now.

I'm going to be in the Madison area Saturday. Hope to run into some Althousians. :)

Anonymous said...

"Good finally Jeremy, Garage, AlphaLiberal, Ritmo get banned!"

It's hard for me to admit but they all belong to the crazy wing of our family. They get to come with the rest of the baggage.

Anonymous said...

"Garage stays or I'm going too!"

Goddamn right. We need this douchebag punching bag to keep this interesting.

(I was going to leave, until Garage said: "Bye")

Hahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaa

deborah said...

"was toying with the idea of having a "back room," accessible by subscription, for the regulars to hang out, perhaps with some exclusive material."

Did you have something like that in the past?

Peter Hoh said...

Scott, re. boxing quotes from other comments: yes, I like that feature a lot.

Althouse, I'm afraid I've been inconsistent with my usage re. threads and such. By "thread," I mean the string of comments after a post.

"Branched threads" are the ones that allow you to post a reply to an individual comment, and that reply is placed under that comment, indented further to the right.

It doesn't appear that Volokh has branching threads.

What I don't like about the Volokh threads is the sterile look of the comment page. Maybe it's the width of the comments column. I don't know. But something feels off to me.

Steel Turman said...

Excellent move!

Trooper York said...

Darcy run over a squirrel.

Garage will be sure to show up.

Original Mike said...

We can agree on Jeremy, can't we Trooper? Just Jeremy, that's all I ask.

Scott M said...

Did you have something like that in the past?

We have it now, but the first rule of Back Room is that you never talk about Back Room...uh

oops

Trooper York said...

Oh and Darcy, be on the lookout for Dose of Sanity.

chickelit said...

Trooper York said...
Darcy run over a squirrel.

Garage will be sure to show up.


LOL

Chip S. said...

the exposed Weiner has leaked..

If the "VIP lounge" would be used to quarantine all Weiner stuff, then go for it.

Maybe call the regular forum The Meadehouse, and the forum behind the paywall The Penthouse.

The Drill SGT said...

The Volokh site is a bit slow in response, but the commenting function has a couple of features that should encourage more folks to use HTML links, etc

Trooper York said...

Sorry Orginal Mike. At one time I got all bent out of shape over the obssessive posting when Jeremy (Gene Olsen) was posting as Luckyoldson. The professor and I got in a big fight about it. She was right and I was wrong. Even Jeremy brings something worthwhile and should not be banned.

(Side note. That is the only time she was ever right and I was wrong. Just sayn')

deborah said...

lol Scott

TWM said...

I'll keep commenting but I will have to adopt my pseudonym - "TMW."

edutcher said...

Trooper York said...

And personally I think the idea of a secret side blog with only "invited members" is a terrible idea. It should be come one- come all.

Many people only comment once in a while but I value what they have to say. Listening to the same blowhards all the time would be boring.

(Speaking as a stupid arrogant blowhard)


Oh, come on, Troop. There's always at least one guy like that in every movie The Duke ever made.

You're our Victor McLaglen, Andy Devine, and (especially) Ward Bond - all in one.

Anonymous said...

No, the private area would have to be "The Vortex".

Original Mike said...

Will you be bringing the "Shocking Meat Video" ad with you?

chickelit said...

Maybe call the regular forum The Meadehouse, and the forum behind the paywall The Penthouse.

The purple prosers can submit missives for publication at Letters To Althouse

Indigo Red said...

No problem for me. I register with the Volokh style throughout each day. I've an e-sticky note off to the side of my screen and just copy/paste.

garage mahal said...

I think Original Mike is sort of sticking up for me!

Original Mike said...

"Even Jeremy brings something worthwhile and should not be banned."

Half right.

Anonymous said...

I don't get it-

I had create a "we do evil" Google account with email address, et.al., to be able to comment here.

I hated to do it. Never had to do that anywhere else. But, at the time (a few years ago or so) it seemed far more important to tell Althouse off.

I suspect in the future, if I want to comment I will. Unless I can't. Or, don't want to.

Chip S. said...

The purple prosers can submit missives for publication at Letters To Althouse

where people could go into detail about all those fantastic sexcapades from the '60s that are only hinted at now.

Trooper York said...

I would hate for this comment section to become like the one on boring heads where the same ten people talk all the time and anybody wild and outrageous gets "moderated" out.

Original Mike said...

Sort of, garage. Sort of.

Chip S. said...

Moderation in the defense of liberty is no virtue.

Trooper York said...

garage mahal said...
I think Original Mike is sort of sticking up for me!


Which Congressman Weiner would only do if you were a nubile coed.

Take a lesson from that buddy!

Anonymous said...

To followup with TrooperYork:

You can register at volokh, and get your picture installed. Just like here. So if a faux TY shows up on a drive-by, the picture won't show, the regulars can make the troll, and the proprietess can ban 'em.

Mostly I just hate registering. I use a nom de plume here because I have to register. At Volokh, I use my actual name. Something I learned long ago. When nobody knows what to do, speak up. Right or wrong, at least they know who you are, and you got courage.

Anonymous said...

Trooper York said...

I don't know about this.

***************

bullshit. Your comments make me do the lol thingy in my head.....just sayin'

Trooper York said...

But I can't use my real name. It is the same as a very famous person who everyone in New York hates.


And it is not Weiner you smart asses.

AllenS said...

Al Sharpton?

Paddy O said...

"I was toying with the idea of having a "back room," accessible by subscription, for the regulars to hang out, perhaps with some exclusive material."

Oh sure, a back room where folks can let loose, feel comfortable, and then just when they settle in, get burned when you sell althou.se to Yahoo! for big money and a chance to edit their news and commentary sections.

Some of us see through your ariannaesque aspirations and we won't get lured in by your promises of special back rooms for subscribing clients.

Hagar said...

Seriously, what goes into the "Website" space in order to register?

Trooper York said...

No not Reverand Al....although we have the same baber. It's the guy who ownes the Knicks and the Rangers and Cablevision.

I had to give up my Knicks tickets during the Isiah Thomas fisaco because I was afraid for my physical safety.

Trooper York said...

That's the same barber.

And no it is not Tiki you Green Bay douchenozzles.

test said...

"Trooper York Said...

You have to be willing to listen to the other side and give them a chance.

6/8/11 1:41 PM"

This isn't the issue at all. The commenters identified offer no opinions, their only purpose is to disrupt everyone else. Garage may have made contributions years ago, but his contributions have long since ended.

These commenters create two problems: they increase the effort for anyone to wade through their mush to contribute, and they intimidate more moderate commenters from participating. Each of these costs far outweighs their sole benefit of showing people exactly how juvenile and full of hatred leftism is.

I don't object to the Professors position, it's her blog. But don't pretend these people have something to offer.

Phil 314 said...

"Good finally Jeremy, Garage, AlphaLiberal, Ritmo get banned!"

You know, if I want an "amen choir" I can go to church

or Redstate.

test said...

"Hagar said...
Seriously, what goes into the "Website" space in order to register?"

It's for those with their own blogs. Most leave it blank.

deborah said...

@Hagar: You don't have to put anything, but if you have a website, you can put that. Or as Althouse suggested, you can put your Blogger profile page.

AllenS said...

Yeah, I know how it is with having a famous name. Mine is the same as the owner of AlgonquinS.

Trooper York said...

Marshal said
This isn't the issue at all. The commenters identified offer no opinions, their only purpose is to disrupt everyone else. Garage may have made contributions years ago, but his contributions have long since ended."

That's not my call to make. Or yours. Or the professor's for that matter. If she is serious about the first amendment and her principles.

You have to stand up for the unpopluar, boring, repetitive douchnozzles even if they hate you.

Sorry that's just the way it is.

If you are a real American that is. Just sayn'

Joe said...

(The Crypto Jew)

You might end up with a better class of commenters. The scum might not want to register.





HEY, I resemble that remark!

chickelit said...

PaddyO said: Oh sure, a back room where folks can let loose, feel comfortable, and then just when they settle in, get burned when you sell althou.se to Yahoo! for big money and a chance to edit their news and commentary sections.

Irony would be if Google outbid Yahoo and pulled comments back in their clutches!
Althouse would laugh all the way to the bank.

Trooper York said...

Plus if the Professor starts to moderate comments she never would have met Meade.

His weird Ted Kaczynski vibe would have got him banned right off the bat.

test said...

Trooper,

I'm not saying it's my call. I'm saying your characterization [that those who prefer JJRG commenters gone are trying to avoid opposing viewpoints] is wrong.

Paddy O said...

"I can't use my real name. It is the same as a very famous person who everyone in New York hates."

Your real name is Sarah Jessica Horseface?

A.Worthing said...

ugh, hate comment registration. can they incorporate other registrations like google, twitter, etc.?

Sprezzatura said...

"they increase the effort for anyone to wade through their mush to contribute, and they intimidate more moderate commenters from participating"

Right, these threads would be so much better if only there was more uninterrupted group think. And, the threads are already so close. Shut up the very few malcontents and it'd be perfect.

Fair and Balanced.

Robert Cook said...

"But I can't use my real name. It is the same as a very famous person who everyone in New York hates."

You're also named Rudy Giuiani?

Trooper York said...

Now now pbAndJ don't get snooty.

Marhsal is not a fan of continous boring repetitive drivel on a nonstop basis.

He must not be married. Just sayn'

Martin L. Shoemaker said...

Trooper York said...

That's not my call to make. Or yours. Or the professor's for that matter. If she is serious about the first amendment and her principles.

You have to stand up for the unpopluar, boring, repetitive douchnozzles even if they hate you.


Some on the Left (and maybe a few on the Right, but I haven't noticed) believe that my First Amendment right to speak includes a power to compel you to listen. It doesn't.

This is why, though I don't want to see anyone banned, I really want to see an Ignore User option. I'm a programmer, I know this adds a level of per-user data complexity, and it would be simpler to avoid that. But it IS my call to decide who's worth listening to, and who's wasting my time. Or it should be my call in the perfect blog.

I can only think of two recent commenters I would ignore; but if I could, I'd have them on the ignore list already. And sadly, they're two who frequently post very long nonsense screeds, so scrolling past them wastes more of my time and attention. I would prefer to have a tool that did that for me.

Chip Ahoy said...

I do not understand the large number of resolute non-commenters responding to the poll. Why the reticence? Why so demure? Come on! I promise to be nice and to be open to your point of view, unless you turn out to be Irma le Douche or Tess d'Oucherville.

RuyDiaz said...

Plus if the Professor starts to moderate comments she never would have met Meade.

His weird Ted Kaczynski vibe would have got him banned right off the bat.


True. Meade is like cancer--he grows on you.

Martin L. Shoemaker said...

pbAndj said...

Right, these threads would be so much better if only there was more uninterrupted group think. And, the threads are already so close.

That you can say this with a straight face shows how much of an outlier you are.

DADvocate said...

You left out the "I'm planning on shutting down you sight and losing your archives" choice.

test said...

" pbAndj said...
"they increase the effort for anyone to wade through their mush to contribute, and they intimidate more moderate commenters from participating"

Right, these threads would be so much better if only there was more uninterrupted group think. "


This is a common response among those incapable of exercising judgement. But really, there are only two types of commeters? ~A, therefore B?

Strawmen are so pathetic. If that's all you have to defend your ideological brethren why post at all?

AllenS said...

Trooper York said...
That's not my call to make. Or yours. Or the professor's for that matter. If she is serious about the first amendment and her principles.

You have to stand up for the unpopluar, boring, repetitive douchnozzles even if they hate you.


Would you feel the same way if every day, you had a bunch of people standing in front of your business yelling and swearing?

AllenS said...

Or, how about your personal residence?

Calypso Facto said...

Once you've got the basic site up and running, can you have those "tech people" get to work on a mobile-friendly interface? Reading an Althouse thread can salvage a 2-hr airport layover, but hitting refresh and then scrolling alllllll thhhhhhe waaaaay baaaaack dooooown to the new comments is a real pain.

Sprezzatura said...

Allen,

Ask him if he feels that way about the Muslim terrorists. Or, even the Ground Zero Mosque Muslims.

Jeremy said...

AllenS - "You might end up with a better class of commenters. The scum might not want to register."

You're leaving?

Back into prison or is it rehab this time?

Trooper York said...

"Would you feel the same way if every day, you had a bunch of people standing in front of your business yelling and swearing?"

Funny that you say that because that happens every now and then. I go out and chase them away. If the professor feels that way she should wade in and tell them how she feels. I don't know that she feels the same way that you and Marshal feel about it. As you have said it is her joint.

AllenS said...

Been quite a few years since I've spent any time in jail. I do plan on registering. Never been to rehab.

Trooper York said...

A website is a lot different than Ground Zero.

This is not sacred ground. I mean comon.

And I just had a Muslim terrorist fix my washing machine.

AllenS said...

The last time I was in Stillwater prison (MN) was 1975.

Almost Ali said...

I want something where people can put their predictions on the line.

Me, too.

edutcher said...

Indigo Red said...

No problem for me. I register with the Volokh style throughout each day. I've an e-sticky note off to the side of my screen and just copy/paste.

Most such apps remember you from visit to visit.

Trooper York said...

garage mahal said...
I think Original Mike is sort of sticking up for me!


Which Congressman Weiner would only do if you were a nubile coed.


Apparently, The Weiner is sticking up for everybody.

(had to...)

But I can't use my real name. It is the same as a very famous person who everyone in New York hates.


And it is not Weiner you smart asses.


You don't look like a Bloomberg.

Chip Ahoy said...

I promise to be nice and to be open to your point of view, unless you turn out to be Irma le Douche or Tess d'Oucherville.

That's Irma la Douce - meaning soft or sweet.

kimsch said...

Hagar:

You don't need to put anything at all in the 'website' portion. You just need a username and email address. If you put a website, your user name will be linked to that site - whatever it is - cnn.com, o.co, what have you.

Some WP sites will put you in as Anonymous if you don't put in a user name.

wv: spertm - what Weiner was wont to do...

Jose_K said...

Im not registered at volokh and comment there regularly. I came here from there, btw

Ann Althouse said...

"Once you've got the basic site up and running, can you have those "tech people" get to work on a mobile-friendly interface? Reading an Althouse thread can salvage a 2-hr airport layover, but hitting refresh and then scrolling alllllll thhhhhhe waaaaay baaaaack dooooown to the new comments is a real pain."

The new site is going to be so optimized for mobile devices you're going to break down and cry with happiness! It's already done.

Ann Althouse said...

"You left out the "I'm planning on shutting down you sight and losing your archives" choice."

The new site will be super-secure and automatically backed up 4 times a day. I am not doing this alone. I have first-class tech people working for me.

kimsch said...

Another nice thing about the WP commenting is that there isn't a 200 comment page limit. Yay! \o/

Jose_K said...

I was toying with the idea of having a "back room," Like the NYT. BTW: i can read NYT and sites like NEBR , free. I live in a third world country with no access to $

Scott M said...

The new site is going to be so optimized for mobile devices you're going to break down and cry with happiness! It's already done.

This would only be true if the app will read all of the comments for using a smokey, sexy woman's voice while I'm driving. Truly optimized would allow me to comment by telling the app-chick what I want to say and have her correct logical fallacies before I post.

Calypso Facto said...

"The new site is going to be so optimized for mobile devices you're going to break down and cry with happiness! It's already done.

Suh-weet! Thank you, Madame. I can't wait to try it out.

Original Mike said...

"I have first-class tech people working for me."

Top. Men.

AllenS said...

Is this costing you anything, Professor?

Ann Althouse said...

nevadabob said... "God, you're so lame sometimes Ann. OK, I'll take the traffic elsewhere."

Who knew nevadabob had an entourage?

Ann Althouse said...

I don't think you have to reveal your identity to sign in. You'll just have to sign in. The Volokh way.

Robert Cook said...

"You have to stand up for the unpopluar, boring, repetitive douchnozzles even if they hate you."

Yes, because to somebody, each of us is an unpopular, boring, reptetitive douchenozzle.

Anonymous said...

I just scroll past. Commenters get reps. Several times now I've sworn off this blog for long times because the milieu became corrosive, or low signal to noise ratio. You all with stronger dispositions had to beat down the manic-phase jokers before I would return.

Now I just get confused when all y'all got your t's in a twist, and it's over something a joker said up-thread, that I willfully never saw. Live and let live, there's always gonna be a neighbor who lets his house fall into ruin and doesn't care. Just pass on by, and think about that log in your own eye, and what you're gonna do about it.

Trooper York said...

Robert Cook said...
"You have to stand up for the unpopluar, boring, repetitive douchnozzles even if they hate you."

Yes, because to somebody, each of us is an unpopular, boring, reptetitive douchenozzle."


That's very true Robert.

But don't worry. You would get the most votes in that pool. Just sayn'

Scott M said...

Yes, because to somebody, each of us is an unpopular, boring, reptetitive douchenozzle.

Speak for yourself. I'm pretty sure I'm not all three to any one person ;)

Anonymous said...

Trooper Cuomo, whodathunkit?

Pastafarian said...

bagoh said: "Will there be a bikini team?"

Yes, and you'll be pleased to learn that I've volunteered as captain. You're welcome.

Peter Hoh at 11:29 said: "I want some function like in-trade."

This is a brilliant idea. But it sounds technically challenging.

AllenS at 2:46: I've joked before that your avatar looks like a mug shot. Is it? Because that would be pretty awesome.

For the record: I agree with TrooperYork on just about every point he's made. The exclusive back room -- it just doesn't seem very Althousian. If you want to charge a nominal fee for registration for everyone, I'd be fine with that. I've been making a lot of Amazon purchases through here, but I doubt that I've adequately repaid Althouse for the hours of entertainment I've had here.

Re. banning: This doesn't really trouble me, because the only time she'd ever do that is if someone gets really personal or disruptive to the conversation. This would almost never come into play.

Cincinnatus said...

Its your blog, ma'am, set it up to make yourself happy.

SteveR said...

As long as noted pop music critic Steve Simels can find it. I ssume this was cleared with Mort.

AllenS said...

Pastafarian, yeah, it kinda is a mug shot. It was the picture that the Somerset post office took for my passport.

I've been in Stillwater prison probably 10 times. Right after I bought this farm, I bought a Minnesota hay mower. At the time, I didn't realize it, but anything with a Minnesota brand name was made in the Stillwater prison. I had to buy parts for it often, because of the poor quality of workmanship. Who knew? I had to go through a distributor, pay him, then I'd go to the prison and pick up the parts. A Minnesota prison shopping bag was made out of burlap. They probably made those there too, for all I know. The inmates that I had to deal with were the ones who probably stayed in the half way house right on the prison grounds. The building was attached to the prison yard. I had to drive by the big iron gate to get to the parts pick up place. Once I got home I had to rethread, redrill, rethis, rethat, because everything they made was FUCKED UP!. I finally bought a John Deere No. 5 mower. I kept the frame from the Minnesota mower and mounted a fertilizer attachment on it.

What? You people thought that I did hard time? Not a chance. I've never been caught.

Kirk Parker said...

ScottM,

Threaded comments are evil, and quite destructive to conversation.

FWIW, when Belmont Club moved to PJM there was such an outcry against threaded comments that Wretchard got a custom setup that doesn't have them. (AFAICT they're ordinarily a part of the PJM comment interface.)

Unknown said...

Sounds good to me!

Original Mike said...

Allen: I bought a couple of tables for the lab made by Wisconsin Prison Industries. I ran a sword through the boxes before I opened them up. Just to be on the safe side.

ricpic said...

Can you register at the new site if you don't have a website? I don't.

kimsch said...

ricpic - names and email address (not published) are the only requirements.

wv: antorive

ricpic said...

Or is the website you enter when you register Althou.se or whatever it is? Computer illiterate here.

ricpic said...

Thanks kimsch, you don't know what a load that removes. All us computer illiterates are terrified of changes in this brave new world.

Jeremy said...

"Independent" in reference to The Queen's blog site?

I-don't-think-so.

virgil xenophon said...

Late here, but I wish Ann had taken my suggestion and copied the Milblogger "Neptunus Lex" (a ret Navy Capt, Milblogger of the year this year) who uses Word-Press, and has branching threads which work out great. He has a dynamite-looking site as well. Branching threads, once one gets used to them, actually gives greater flexibility to multi-point/subj arguments, imho. And all Lex requires one to do is fill-in the user name and e-mail bloc--no registration required. Of course, we have a group of pretty much like-minded professionals over there, so things are fairly professional and polite--unlike this raffish group of mongrelized brigands, lol.. But, (sigh) it looks like Ann has already made up her mind..

ricpic said...

Contrary to what Cookie says no one thinks of me as a douchenozzle, in fact everyone loves me madly. I just know it, I do I do I do.

virgil xenophon said...

Oh, and btw, Lex has a separate "room" called the "Flight Deck" in which selected regulars may expound in greater detail on various subj w. a comments section as well, but it is seldom utilized (although some VERY interesting posts are occasionally made there..)

Drew said...

What I've found interesting as I've surfed various blogs, left and right, is that commenting at conservative or centrist blogs is very easy. Commenting at leftist blogs almost always requires some kind of registration. To that end, I think that's why their comments always sound like a leftist echo chamber. I certainly disagree with what they're saying, but if I've got to trouble myself to register in order to tell them exactly what sort of fuckwits they are, I'm going to just move on.

Heh. MoveOn!

AllenS said...

Mike, were the tables fucked up? The parts for the hay mower from the MN prison had about 25 coats of paint on them. Thick, real thick.

AllenS said...

The inmates that I had to deal with were a better class of scum than some of the commenters here.

Nihimon said...

The Other McCain has a great commenting setup where you can easily use your Facebook account. That would be better.

Lose the Capcha...

Original Mike said...

The tables were fine, Allen. Maybe Wisconsin has a better class of criminal than Minnesota.

Original Mike said...

Or, at least handier.

AllenS said...

Those are very good possibilities, Mike.

Pastafarian said...

AllenS, from that mug shot, if you told me you'd killed a man in Reno just to watch him die, I'd believe it.

Jeremy said...

AllenS "The inmates that I had to deal with were a better class of scum than some of the commenters here."

You appear to have quite a bit of experience with scum.

Not difficult to believe.

AllenS said...

I've actually killed quite a few men. I've just never paused long enough to just watch them die.

I've killed a better class of men/women than you Jeremy. Don't you ever forget that.

Bruce Hayden said...

I voted that I would leave. I won't. And I didn't even screw up the votes that much - that option was polling about 3% even after my vote.

Threaded can be good or bad, but likely more bad that good. The problem is that that format does not seem to track what is really going on, and it is easy to get out of sync time-wise.

I do notice how long Volokh takes to load, and every once in awhile it is just so slow that Firefox times out. That said though, I like their commenting facilities. In particular, I like how they handle quotes, etc., and how they supply an HTML editor for commenting.

Volokh uses Blockquotes for quoting people, and that works better for me thank threading.

In any case, I am sure that it will be a lot better than Blogger.

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