Saturday
Feb122011
by 
Bishop Hill
Bishop Hill Commenting problems again
Feb 12, 2011 Blogs I now have the ability to switch off Captcha, so I'm going to try this to see if it makes any difference to the ongoing problems with comments and timeouts and so on. Let me know if it helps.
Update on Feb 13, 2011 by
Bishop Hill
Bishop Hill
Impressions of switching off captcha seem to have been favourable, but unfortunately I'm not going to be able to cope with the volumes of spam. I've had to switch it back on again.
Advice seems to be to avoid using preview and edit repeatedly.
Reader Comments (62)
I've never had a problem, so mox nix. --Jorge
Trying
Too early to say but the removal of captcha is a boon.
I have been unable to post a comment for about a week. "Captcha" would not accept my efforts.
Here's hoping.
My problems posting seemed to occur when I repeatedly used the preview button and then re-edited. After a while I simply got connection errors. Closing IE, new tabs, nothing seemed to make a difference. I am only using MS IE and Windows, but on different machines and different versions at home and work, so its not a particular version of windows or IE that seems to cause the problem.
Tried posting a previewed and changed test message - same problem.
Vista Home/Google Chrome.
I had to type in captchas but always got through.
PW
Didn't have to type a captcha for the previous one to this just a few seconds ago..
I hope that this gets through.
PW
yep it did..bibi captchas
PW
I have Mac OS 10.4 with Safari browser (Version 4.1.3 (4533.19.4)). It froze once a couple of days ago at the Preview page so I don't use that any more. Otherwise never had any trouble before or since.
Sorry but I was wondering what 'willard', who ever he is, meant when he wrote this comment over at Eli's...
willard said...
> Pheew! Does this never end?
No, David. You know why?
Click on my name to know why.
PS: Capcha is larked.
11/2/11 7:07 PM
What is Capcha?...
So far so good. It might be that the little monks checking us for being human were causing a single threaded queue, congestion and overflow. If true, somebody really blew their software design: Multi-threaded, reenterant, recursive code has been round for at least 40 years. I wrote such code on PDP-11s.
Simple queue theory. But hopefully fixed.
Using Windows XP SP3 and up to date Firefox.
The problems I've had are time-outs especially while previewing it several times within a short time period.
If not during the several previews, then the timeout happens while submitting the comment. I don't preview anymore because of it, or do so sparingly. That seems to work.
Also, it pays off typing the captcha carefully, because if you've made several mistakes within a short time period you might get a time out. Yes, it sucks, but what can you do?
It is likely that what's causing the inconvenience is some anti-spam measure.
I don't mind the introduction of captcha to all comments because it gives an opportunity to reflect for a moment before pressing the send button.
Now, if you are worried about losing your lovingly crafted comment (as all comments are :D) for all eternity during the process, don't despair. There is life still.
If you are using Mozilla Firefox get the Add-On called "Lazarus". It works in the background and saves your comments, so you won't have to re-type it. With a simple right-click your comment is resurrected. Be careful with the settings of Lazarus though, because if the SAVE file gets too big (it can save all your text for many months), it may slow down your browser. Oh, the irony!
If you don't like using Firefox, get Opera 11. You don't need an add-on if you use Opera. The browser remembers the text for you. You can also easily save your text to in-built "notes" with a couple of mouse clicks, if you're worried about losing it because of time-out or freeze.
I hope this helps.
"What is Capcha?..."
It is the letters that you have to type in before posting your comment. It is an anti-spam measure that doesn't seem to work well at the moment. Currently, it's been disabled.
Actually, if it could work properly it may improve the quality of commentary by providing a chance to reflect for ten secs before posting. It is a good anger-management measure when you come to think of it.
I get captchas all the time. (XP and firefox) which like sHx I don't mind, as they give second chance to reflect. However if you then go back to re-edit your text, it seems to time out and you cant post anything, as the create Post Button is dead. The only solution is to copy your text (which I usually do anyway before trying to post it), and stick it in a temporary notepad file, and then copy the page URL and the fire up a new tab and resubmit it.
Hmmm. I just wrote the above and there was no captcha. (It felt like I had been cheated). This is my only only Windows 7 machine (also firefox) so maybe it is an XP problem?
Same with that one - no captchas. Although I have now seen the Watch Movies spams on the Comments thread so assume Captchas have been disabled altogether?
Hi Andrew, I'm trying to make sense of what's going on in Egypt, Tunisia, and Algeria. What's your take on this trend? Where is it headed? Would appreciate your views on this.
Also, not sure what to make of this, but stuxnet virus is involved:
http://anonleaks.ru/
Thanks,
The problem is that whoever writes captcha can't spell.
And whenever I correct the spelling he/she/it gets annoyed and goes into a sulk.
Get tit to spell and it'll be all OK....
test
Problem with taking off captchas is, tricky dickies pop in for a visit... well, if you look at the last page of The Code (23/11/2009) you'll see what I mean. However, that visit got hidden from the side panel within minutes.
Funny thing is, visiting The Code, I saw Barry Woods post about Wigley's concerned email, posted months after that thread was running at the top. It was an interesting reminder.
Have you thought of porting the lot to WordPress? One big advantage there is the ability to bookmark an individual remark. Another advantage is that if you import Mr Pete's little device, you can preview and add codes really easily.
"if ONE imports.... ONE can..." but this is not Chuckles speaking.
I still seem to be human.
Never had a problem posting here, but for those who write dissertations it might be worth your while using a free text editor with spell checker and then only post once.
A reasonable free text editor with spell check(UK or US nuanced)
http://www.codertools.com/totaledit.aspx
Using Captcha is no big deal if this means you don't have to spent your valuable time getting rid of spam, Your Grace.
I'm sure we'd rather have you spend your time on the serious stuff.
Oh - and some of the letter combinations in Captcha are outright hilarious, so one gets a laugh 'for free' ...
Jabba -
My mistakes usually concern the HTML -- e.g. I'll omit an angle bracket. Is there a similar tool which is an HTML-checker?
testing testing
It works. I apologise in advance for any typos.
Perhaps it would help to relay my experience. I did multiple previews and edits on a post. When I tried finally to create the post, I was unable. However, I suspected that I had exceeded a server limit in posting my previews and thought perhaps if I waited a few minutes, the server would allow me to post. I waited while doing other tasks, and after perhaps 30 minutes, submitted my post again. This time it was successful. A bit frustrating, but it did work.
Huhne receives an unexpected visit from the power industry.....Latest from the BBC (Beagle Blog Cartoons)....
http://fenbeagleblog.wordpress.com/
Since "captcha was introduced, the "q" on my keyboard does not stand out as the cleanest key anymore.
Agree with others that captcha does give a chance to reflect, prior to posting
How about everyone compose their message in their text editor? In Windows Notepad is good. Other systems take your pick.
Make your changes in your editor, cut and paste to the form. Then preview. Repeat until satisfied with the content and/or the version accepted by the web page.
Whoops I meant 'copy and paste' not 'cut and paste'.
Vista. Never had a problem but there again, read my offering carefully before submitting and so never used preview.
Vista. IE8.
Only review to check blockquote format (i.e. rarely).
Only one post "got lost" recently - I suspect that had a review - it certainly had a link.
I wonder if this has anything to do with your success and with a certain group trying to make the site difficult to use?
Not had any problems at all - Vista 32bit (yuch), IE8 (yuch), NOD32, Draytek 2800VG.
@ HaroldW
"My mistakes usually concern the HTML -- e.g. I'll omit an angle bracket. Is there a similar tool which is an HTML-checker?"
Try http://www.crimsoneditor.com, if not, most decent programmers text editors should pick up on stuff like that. If they are not free, you can usually try them out before parting with a nominal fee. Google is your friend.
Hth.
Bishop Hill wrote:
The captcha whilst a niggle is understandable. It's the above issue that is troublesome for me in Opera, Firefox and Google Chrome.
Advice seems to be to avoid using preview and edit repeatedly.
<B>ThAt might hav en afffect on tha qualitiu of Posting </I>
Keep the captchae on. Do whatever it takes to keep the discussions free of spam without it costing you a lot of time!
I still believe that some software trainee designed and wrote the code that handles the queuing to the server that handles previewing and submissions. I am not impressed in the least with Square Peg in a Round Hole. They need to get their act together.
Since it is obvious that we have to have the little monks checking that we are human, I have found the following is a good idea:
Compose, and preview your submission. Get it ready for "Create Post" and then use notepad (Windows systems) to save the text with HTML into a file. Save as BH.txt. I put this on my desktop, but it can go anywhere.
Create Post and try to confirm.
If you get server time out, go have a cup of tea, coffee or whatever for 10 minutes while the server recovers is sanity. I find it best to turn off my system, or at least log out and break the network connection.
Restart browser and log in to BH.
Copy the file from BH.txt which you know is ready to go.
Confirm immediately, and pray. However, you still have it in BH.txt should it screw up again.
Bishop Hill
I am convinced that your service provider is simply overloading his system in the name of profits. Time to move on. I would be very reticent to pay for such service.
While I realize that the cost in time and money on your part would be enormous, you may well be facing it soon if they do not invest in a more robust infrastructure. You should be looking at alternatives now, in my humble opinion.
[BH adds. I'm not sure about this. Page load times still seem very fast, an impression confirmed by my Alexa page. I've had a virtually trouble-free experience with SQ so far, so I'm cutting them some slack].
Interesting discussion. I followed jabba's link to the crimson editor and installed it. But unfortunately, it's not exactly user friendly. If you type text, it seems the only way to view the "browser" version is to save it as an .html file and open it in your browser. Am I missing something?
If that's all it does, you can do the same thing in notepad. (I'm testing it with this comment). Type out your brilliant thoughts with all your html commands, save the document as an .html file, and then open it from your browser. You can then see if your html commands are right. The crimson editor does have a spell checker, though.
A couple of hints:
If you leave the notepad file open, you can toggle back and forth, repeatedly resaving your html file and then refreshing your browser window, which should keep pointing to the saved version of your file.
A little inconvenient, but maybe it's time commenters took up a little of the slack from the blog hosters.
But if you don't like my comment, you know what they say
Here is something that will make the official skeptics' heads explode
Astrology is a science, court rules
Looks like it might have worked, except for the url command (and I had to turn off the Word Wrap in notepad before I copied and pasted).
Oh well. BTW, I successfully posted the above using the preview function several times.
Still had to use the captcha.
The second comment above had to be re-posted after re-launching my browser and waiting several minutes. Perhaps that preview function does cause problems.
Just trying something,
<A HREF="http://www.unknownnews.net/html.html"> double line break commands</A>
@ John M
It strikes me that a worthwhile comment will stand on its own merit and not require html or other garnish?
Jabba
What's that got to do with me? ;)
There's a preview?