I have just spent over an hour of my day cleaning up the spam from the insane asshole, David Markuze/Mabus. I’m still not done; I’ve got various tools cranking away in the background purging his recent eruption of hate-filled, lunatic rants. 160 comments, all saying the same thing.
It’s too much, and it’s eating up way too much of my time. Starting Monday, I’m turning user registration back on. I know, a lot of you find it a real pain, and it will inhibit some people from commenting…I’d rather not do it. But I’m serious: David Markuze is costing me too much time and effort, and I have to take some fairly extreme efforts to cut him off. Blame him, not me.
If any of you know a way to get to his ISP (he’s Canadian, lives in Quebec, and currently uses the IP address 70.48.98.204) and convince them that he is committing egregious abuse of his privileges on the internet, that would be a useful alternative. I doubt that we can shut him down at the source, though, so my only choice is to throttle everyone here.
P.S. All of you who responded to Mabus are not helping. The next time this happens I’m also purging all of your comments, so don’t bother making them.
P.P.S. Fair warning: this kind of thing also frays my tolerance to a frazzle. There are a few other morons who have been commenting here regularly, and it’s not going to take much to make me snap and finally get around to banning your useless, parasitic asses. Silver Fox, Pete Rook, and Facilis…I’m looking at you. You might want to lie low until the “Hulk Smash” mood fades a little bit.
Here’s the whois information on his IP address:
================
[Querying whois.arin.net]
[whois.arin.net]
Bell Canada BELLNEXXIA-11 (NET-70-48-0-0-1)
70.48.0.0 – 70.55.255.255
Sympatico HSE SYMQ091304-CA (NET-70-48-96-0-1)
70.48.96.0 – 70.48.99.255
# ARIN WHOIS database, last updated 2009-04-10 19:10
# Enter ? for additional hints on searching ARIN’s WHOIS database.
For fucks sake! Another insane troll ruins the internet… well slightly inconveniences me on the internet. In act cast, fuck you crazy person, seek professional help!
I apologize for egging him on.
It’s just too tempting and sometimes I have little self control.
Plus he owes me my FINISHED.
Sweet Savior on a breadstick, what a jerk.
I totally support you. Pharyngula is a privilege, not a right, and you have to be able to function in order for the thing to exist. Believe me, if I were in your shoes, it would be tempting to just blow the thing up if it took that much time to maintenance one malignant interloper.
And yet here I am, posting a content-free comment in the ordinary manner.
Eh, I don’t like it – but I do understand you’ve got to do something about the batshit brigade.
The whois record for sympatico HSE says:
[Querying whois.arin.net]
[whois.arin.net]
CustName: Sympatico HSE
Address: 1155 University
City: Montreal
StateProv: QC
PostalCode: H3B-3A7
Country: CA
RegDate: 2005-03-01
Updated: 2005-03-01
NetRange: 70.48.96.0 – 70.48.99.255
CIDR: 70.48.96.0/22
NetName: SYMQ091304-CA
NetHandle: NET-70-48-96-0-1
Parent: NET-70-48-0-0-1
NetType: Reassigned
Comment: For abuse cases please use abuse@sympatico.ca
RegDate: 2005-03-01
Updated: 2005-03-01
RTechHandle: PD135-ARIN
RTechName: Daoust, Philippe
RTechPhone: +1-416-215-5423
RTechEmail: noc@in.bell.ca
OrgAbuseHandle: ABUSE1127-ARIN
OrgAbuseName: Abuse
OrgAbusePhone: +1-877-877-2426
OrgAbuseEmail: abuse@bellnexxia.net
OrgAbuseHandle: ABAI1-ARIN
OrgAbuseName: Abuse Business abuse issues
OrgAbusePhone: +1-877-877-2426
OrgAbuseEmail: abuse@bellnexxia.net
OrgTechHandle: SYSAD1-ARIN
OrgTechName: NOC technical Support
OrgTechPhone: +1-800-565-0567
OrgTechEmail: noc@in.bell.ca
that should have said “In any case”
too many typos mean it’s bed time.
One question though
I’m assuming that that IP was just this time and not every time right? because you can block by IP I would assume and not just name?
Hrm
No abuse address, that poses a bit of a problem
I was under the impression there was a problem with this way of signing in any in that names can be changed (although presumably emails can’t easily)
The up-shot is that no one can pretend to be someone they’re not. :)
Of course, that means no one can pretend to be someone they’re not. :(
This is sad, but inevitably. Hopefully it means that you’ll get still get opposition (good for us all, though I’m certainly on your side) from people who are prepared to make their points from a public position, rather than weirdo obsessives – there’s something about registration that (possibly) formalises the relationship: more like pen pals than bricks through your window!
Sorry to hear it. I understand the necessity… guess I’ll lurk until I feel comfortable registering.
1. What would stop the troll from registering one or more identities of his own with that system? It’s a long time now since I registered but I don’t recall it being particularly exclusive.
2. Have you fixed the impersonation bug yet (it didn’t look like it the other day when someone said a greyed post in your name wasn’t really you)?
Don’t you think it’s a bit radical to try and get an ISP to remove his internet simply because he’s a (albeit, extreme) nuisance?
PZ,
If you view one of the pages where he has commented, with his IP addresses showing (thus we can’t do this), then save the HTML page source, and mail that to ‘abuse@sympatico.ca’ (his block’s registered abuse address), and tell them the timezone offset of your server (whatever time zone you were in, when you made this post and it was April 11, 2009 10:47am), they will be able to determine exactly what user he is at, from his IP address, as well as being able to see the spam he vomits all over here.
Caveat: In case the software on here provides you with other identifying details, and/or you want to keep other people’s IP addresses private from sympatico.ca, you might want to edit the file before sending it to them.
Alternatively, if the software provides it, you could also simply block the IP range from 70.48.96.0 – 70.48.99.255, instead of his “email address”, but that would have a knock-on effect of blocking everyone else at his ISP, of course.
Really, though, shouldn’t ScienceBlogs/Seed be providing you with “advanced” admin services like this, so you don’t have to deal with it? They’ll know how to do all of this, including reporting to his ISP, filtering the address ranges, etc.
Managed to get into typekey. This is a buggy, confusing registration system.
Don’t blame you. Internet forums that aren’t login and moderated usually end up with Troll Sickness and then die.
This is what happened to whole segments of the net. AOL and Yahoo message boards in particular as well as many of the usenet ones, for example, usenet talkorigins.
Scieceblogs is a dinosaur technologically. Should have a simple login and provide an ignore list like virtually all other boards these days. The ignore list makes a huge difference.
Okay, I can live with registration.
Just tried to get a typekey id. Despite entering the correct information, it goes into some daft loop telling me that I the site I’m trying to log into needs an email address. Huh?
S’okay by me. (not that you need my permission or anything)
I’ve found that sites with registration tend to be places I like to hang out much more than those without, mainly because it limits the number of drive-by comments that just increase the static noise level of everything and make it harder to sift through to get to the real stuff.
@ Tom #19
Your TypeKey (now TypePad) profile should have included your email address when you created it. PZ has set up the login requirements of Pharyngula to require that TypeKey share that information with this site. It doesn’t get displayed, just recorded (much like an IP address would). Once you’ve successfully logged in, TypeKey informs you of this additional posting requirement so you can decide whether or not you want to continue.
Great. Another pssword to remember…sigh…
PZ needs to delegate, that is get some moderators and helpers. The Igors.
At some point, the amount of work exceeds the amount of time. The solution is obvious, more person power.
That being said, it might not be very feasible. Person hours have a habit of costing money and I don’t know that Scienceblogs/Seed is necessarily raking it in. Maybe outsourcing to India or something.
Same thing happened to me registering. I randomly tried various things for 20 minutes, accidently signing up for a blog package at one point, and then it worked. No idea how it worked, however. They should fix their registration system so you don’t need to be a hacker to discover the secret.
Anybody have any luck using OpenId and TypeKey? I can create the account just fine but I can’t use the “sign in” link here to use it.
Thank you SEF. That worked.
19#
Same problem…then it refused my password…then a new password just elicited the “this registration uses an existing e-mail address for another user’ type bitch…
And when I finally thought I got it working…this was a few weeks ago when typekey was first touted for the science blogs…it used to crash when I was typing some rant or other!
I went back to this present system out of pragmatism…
But given the circumstances I see no alternative to deal with infantile tantrums when perpetrated at this level of sheer insanity…
It is PZ’s blog after all…and it really is beyond patience how the man deals with these retards…anything we can do to help is but little as to the irritation PZ has to endure daily from blatant nasty cretinous fools and jeebus lusters…
Bring it on!
OK, got it working.
In General: On the Account Settings page, go to “Email and Password” and check “share your e-mail address”
For OpenID users: You need to use the “Join Now” link after using the sign in here. I couldn’t figure out how to sign in directly on the linked page.
After signing in, is there any good reason to sign out again when you leave to do other things on the web? (like being tracked?)
Blame Canada!
I r sad. I have seen PZ post regarding deletion of 100s of posts by Mabus a couple times now. Yet I seem to always miss the crazy posts themselves. Maybe that is a good thing.
I am sorry about my on going comments to the demented little troll. In my defense, I was not engaging the demented little troll. Instead, I took advantage of a derailed thread and indulged in my music geekiness and hoping that some people were entertained.
Strangely enough, the demented little troll never directed any insults my way.
After registering, I got that error. I hit “back” and was returned to the “sign in or register” front page. I signed in with my new username and password, and got the dialog asking if I wanted to pass on the email address. Answering affirmatively got me through.
It’d be nice if they offered that option in the initial setup, though…
type key??? OH GOD I AM NOT GOOD WITH COMPUTER
And while I never directly addressed mabus I apologize for my part in trying to get Rev’s FINISHED. It’s just that he kept promising it and promising it and then he did a switch and said everyone was going to get one then cheaped out and said we’d get a RUINED instead.
I already have like twenty of those.
Please don’t turn green and destroy Oregon when you get here.
The trolls will figure it out before I will. Sigh.
I just registered and had the same message.
Then I hit “back” twice and I got the TypePad Login screen. Entered info and got back here.
It is a bit weird, yes…
I just tried to sign-up for Type-pad and it wouldn’t recognize my password.
Glitch or feaure?
PZ can we respond to the others you mention if it’s actually on argument and not just actin’ a fool (like with mabus)?
I’m curious if SF if going to respond to my homework assignment I gave him in the Christian Nation thread.
Test typepad… Hello everybody.
Unfortunately, registering everyone will just mean that the annoyers will have to go through an additional step of registering sock puppets.
This problem is one I’ve been crunching on in one form or another for about 10 years and the only answer I’ve ever been able to come up with is really unpalatable; namely, to make “identity” have a value. If you make it so that people will not want to lose their online “self” then they won’t do it. Unfortunately, sockpuppet identities, unlike, say, “Brownian, OM”, are pretty worthless unless you tie them to money or something else of value.
I can’t see anyone actually going for this, but a fair and simple approach would be for a site to require $100 with registration. Your cash is held in an interest-bearing account for 1 year and if, during that year, you do not violate the site’s rules, you get your cash back. The site keeps the interest to defray the cost of administrating the system.
I’m just spouting theory, I know. Most sites value membership because they are based on ad revenue or eyeballs, so something that cut back on membership in favor of making them good members – is against the model. Clearly the current internet “economics” value eyeballs over quality members; consider what facebook and myspace are “worth”…
You should (maybe) be able to block a range of i.p. addresses from his ISP.
Actually he is trying to pass the Turing test.
Logging in isn’t a problem for me (the only annoying bit is having to do it once a day or so – but since Opera doesn’t have autofill for emailaddresses and that sorta thing I have to fill in my details every time I comment anyway, so it’s not a big deal).
Of course, noöne cares what I have to say.
I know this is your blog, but I agree that you should consider putting some of the ilk in charge of cleaning and maintenance. You know whom of the regulars you can trust not to fly off the handle and ban too readily. And you can spread it out across the world to have around the clock maintenance.
I am behind your action all the way, PZ.
PZ,
Sorry; it was 3:00AM and too fun not to do it….
I’m completely in favor of registration. But then, I’m also in favor of public flogging for douchebags like this, so don’t go by me.
Herr Prof.,
I’m sorry to hear it. I hope you don’t block your one & only Arabic-appellation-carrying-commenter of your blog.
The info in comment #7 should be enough. The ISP this spammer is using should have anti-spam measures in their terms of service. We should all send email to their abuse reporting address reminding them of their legal obligation to stop this behaviour from one of their customers.
By Beelzebub’s nuggets me haz its methinks…
How long me hazzes it tis another hydra headed quizzical?
This just in: http://uskomaton.fi/kampanja/
You might guess what the campaign is about by the photos alone. :P
As fitting, there’s also a poll (although it might not need the hordes):http://www.iltalehti.fi/uutiset/200903189267249_uu.shtml
Yeah, I rather agree with those who think PZ needs some minions to assist him. He can send a few thousand off to screw with idiotic on-line polls, surely he can find two or three to put on troll patrol (esp. if cool T-shirts are involved; I learned in my computer club days that people will do anything for cool T-shirts).
@Sili
Opera has some autofill; but it’s buried down in the guts of the options. Look in the advanced tab.
Also, ans nslookup on the address gives;
bas11-montrealak-1177576140.dsl.bell.ca
which is the user’s router. Bell.ca ought to be stopping this, ore are their terms of service so lax as to encourage this?
I have to point out that I have an allergy to registering with things like typekey, nomatter how rationally useful they may be.
I don’t know why it’s such a big deal. These annoying troll types will always be around why even spend any time on it at all. Its a part of the Net. Maybe it would even be boring without them.
Aw man, this asshole lives in Quebec! Fuck him, his giving us a bad name.
“I will plonk your ass with one of my many tentacles”
For people having trouble registering with TypeKey, I went here and clicked the “Sign Up” button and went through the process in a couple of minutes. Didn’t need to wait for a confirmation email or anything, either.
That’s the case nearly everywhere. It’s one of the drivers behind the anti-choicers / anti-abortionists / anti-condomists (along with wanting to punish women for enjoying sex) and the anti-euthanasia majority. It’s why modern TV is trash and based on ratings – even the ever more incompetent and dishonest BBC (which wasn’t supposed to have to compete by appealing to the lowest of the low). All these people have never learned that quality (of life, members, audience etc) is more important than quantity.
If all the offending comments are from the same IP shouldn’t there be some way of using some tool like grep to bulk delete them? I mean, i dont know what database the site has for a back end but if there is something unique and in common with all the posts it shouldn’t take a half competent sys-admin long to find an easy way to delete them…
@Zeno #50, actually you would be surprised at what people will do simply to have a different coloured name designating them as an Admin/Moderator.
I am an admin for a couple forums and old school game sites and am constantly badgered by people who want ‘the power’ so to speak. Generally, I only bestow the responsibility on those who don’t ask and have shown themselves to be levelheaded and helpful to others.
I do agree it might help if there were one or two trusted assistants to help with moderation on this blog. Surely there is a way to limit access to certain functionality in order to be able to hand off mutesticks to someone to use. I know for instance forum software usually has permissions which can dial in specifically what a user can and cannot do. Perhaps this blog software has the capability to limit permissions when logged in as well.
Just testing my Typekey
Here’s a tip, PZ: Forget it. I’m from Quebec and I can ASSURE you that Sympatico doesn’t give a fucking shit about anything.
Which is why I’m on Oricom now.
The ignore list helps immensely. I wouldn’t frequent most forums on the internet without one.
In fact, the only forums in my universe without ignore lists are Pandas and Scienceblogs.
Scienceblogs needs to join the 21st century (the Troll Age) and provide one along with a simple membership/ID login.
Okay, my web fu skills must be slipping today, hence the dead link in my post. Here’s the URL I used to sign up: http://www.typepad.com/profiles/typekey-faq.html
I’ll take full or mostly full responsibility for the extension of mabus’ rantings.
Who is going to administer the spankings?
abuse@bell.ca
I just registered at TypePad…despite the high confusion factor over there. What an irritating, buggy, POS ‘service’.
On the plus side, the confusion may filter out some of the woo crowd. Survival of the fittest, etc.
Testing, testing…typepad still working from last Krakatoa?
Isn’t the new registration going to be more involved than TypePad. It doesn’t require much info. The ones that really verify require a credit card to confirm your name and address.
Um, signing in was very, very easy. When it gives you an error message after initial sign up, just go back to the typekey page and sign in.
I tried for weeks to get OpenID and TypePad to work together. According to their technical support you should first create an account using Join Now and using your OpenID. To sign in from ScienceBlogs you should enter your OpenID in the e-mail address field and leave the password blank.
It doesn’t work, at least not for me. Eventually I created another free e-mail account and used that to sign up for another TypePad id.
I’m not sure I trust these guys anyway. Why do they need your birth date? Can’t they – or someone that steals it from them – use that to steal my identity? In any case I’m now 109 years old, which clearly makes collecting this information useless to them.
testing…testing….check…check….one….two….three…
Rev #32
“I’m curious if SF if going to respond to my homework assignment I gave him in the Christian Nation thread.”
Me too. I asked him to provide specific examples of how this nation was based on christian values and he never responded. I know that it’s bad internet etiquette to interpret a lack of a response for a confession of guilt. On the other hand I asked the same question to many people who made the same statement. No one has answered me. That’s a bit harder to ignore. I want either a solid answer or for that argument to be abandoned. Is that too much to ask?
How much of a pain is it to get a typekey account? To me it’s another username/password to remember. I’d rather stick with the current method if there was a way to stop the trolls.
Why doesn’t this fracking website support OpenID ?
Does anyone know why his first link was dead? I really wanted to see some crazy.
PZ, I worked for the ISP you’re referring to.
Unfortunately, there is little that will be done unless he is using his connection for illegal activity. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to tell wives that their husbands porn habits, while disturbing to them, are perfectly legal and we will not disrupt the service of a paying customer because of the moral outrage of someone who does not have access to that account. I’ve had to say the same thing to parents upset that their kids are being “led astray”, people who are pissed off that the 576387569 times they publicly posted their e-mail address has now resulted in spam, and on… and on.
Being an annoying twat-waffle is not a crime, and BCE will not interfere in a private citizen’s use of their service until such time as there *is* a crime being committed using that service.
Having us log in to comment is about the only option you’ve got if you want to rid Pharyngula of the doofii which have infected it.
It was so confused that no sense could be made of it anyhow, Chris.
TypeKey test.
Here’s how typekey helps, even if the goon signs up for it himself: this site currently has 632,000 comments. I cannot do a simple search on the database for a name, like “PZDUMMY”, or the whole thing grinds to a halt and fails. I can, however, do a search for a typekey identity, and it returns a page with all of the entries by that user — and then I select all, click delete, and bye-bye jerk. Right now what I have to do is, as I browse through the emailed comments, I do one click on each to delete the nuisance…which adds up to a lot of clicking with an obsessive idiot like Mabus.
He’ll still be able to get around it by doing something stupid like sign up for 160 typekey registrations to make 160 comments…but then I’ll know that he is suffering to do it.
As long as I’m talking about comment management, a lot of people request that I don’t delete comments, since it mucks up the comment ordering. There’s two reasons I can’t do that right now:
1. More work. Deletion takes one simple click. Going to the database, loading the comment, editing it to nothing, and saving it? No way. Even when Mabus isn’t on a spree, there’s usually a dozen or so commercial spam/turkish chat room/random gibberish comments that need to be deleted every morning.
2. Wouldn’t help, because some comments are held for approval anyway…when I approve them, they also mess up the comment numbers.
http://whois.domaintools.com/70.48.98.204
The address to send complaints is abuse@in.bell.ca
Huh. I didn’t even know I HAD a Typekey account until now.
Testing.
Appears to be working . . . hmmm . . . set-up was buggy, for certain. I got the email loop thing, but just closed out of that tab, then came here and signed in.
Overall, the most traumatic part of sign-up was inputting my date of birth. Now get off my lawn!
No kings,
Robert
Doesn’t science blogs have an option to require a quick “turing test” with each comment posted?
Ha. Got TypeKey working. I’m fine with registration if it keeps the nuts like Mabus out.
OK, I got a TypePad account. It was awfully easy; I’m not sure how much of a barrier it’s going to be for someone with the energy and time to spew out that much spam. It will cost the spammer an email address every time they incur a PZ ban, but email addresses are pretty effort-cheap too.
I don’t have any better ideas how to handle it, though, and hopefully it will at least slow them down a bit. I’m willing to put up with a little inconvenience for a site as good as Pharyngula. It’s a pity though.
Aha! I knew there had to be a silver lining, however thin. My PZ envy has definitely been assuaged slightly!
All I’ve ever done is “lurk” here — so, my very first Pharyngula post is a test of my ability to get OpenID and TypePad to allow me to sign in here, just in case I’m ever moved to comment in the future. Its not the most intuitive process I’ve ever seen, but neither is it mind-blowingly difficult. Although it WOULD be simpler if OpenID were supported directly rather than having to use OpenID to log into TypePad.
Thus spake Rev.BigDumbChimp:
Sounds like a job for Patricia.
Thanks for the explanation of how TypeKey helps PZ!
Registration has some benefits and some drawbacks. Oh well, best of luck with the new system, I am fully upgraded ;).
I haven’t used this in a while, so I had to do password recovery, but my account was still there so good. Unfortunately no more sainthood for me.
#87: Sounds more like a job for Naked Bunny With A Whip to me.
I currently have the following registration schemes nominally enabled:
Movable Type Native
OpenID
LiveJournal
Vox
TypeKey
Only TypeKey seems to work, though — blame Moveable Type. I’ve long been discontented with their feeble efforts to give us tools to fight off spam. (I used to use Expression Engine, which is marvelous in that regard. It’s as if they listen to their clients, who have to contend with spam all the time, unlike MT, which seems to regard endless spam as a delightful and surprising feature of their software.)
Narc:
Just abuse@bell.ca will work. You can also go the main website and get all the contact info: bell.ca
If you are looking to call Bell, you can do so by calling 310-SURF or 310-BELL (include your area code if you have 10 digit dialing) from anywhere in Canada. If you are in the states you would need to use e-mail. (Or you can try calling 1-613-310-BELL, but I’m not sure if it will work.)
Be prepared: Bell’s frontline CSRs are clueless when it comes time to deal with abuse complaints. The bulk of their job is sales and billing support, which is where they make their bonuses. Be patient and be clear and concise. Ask for supervisors, politely, yet firmly. Be prepared to be transferred to multiple departments. (Yeah, I know. I worked for an upper level team in the CSR heirarchy at Bell, and this was one of the biggest issues we had with the frontline teams: Not knowing their goddamn jobs, despite having an ENTIRE ONLINE WIKI WITH THE EASIEST INTERFACE EVER DESIGNED. SO SIMPLE A MONKEY WITH ADVANCED SYPHILIS WOULD HAVE NO PROBLEM OPERATING IT… Oh… sorry. I think I’m still a bit bitter.)
Anyway…. it’s a moot point, really, since Mabus isn’t breaking any laws by being an annoying ass-tard.
WayneJ wrote:
It could be for age restriction purposes on sites that have that. An odd thing that’s never made sense though because unless you have to present identification in person, there’s no way to ensure someone is telling the truth.
I know I never give away my real birthday or real name when signing up on any site unless I’m using my credit card for a purchase.
Word of warning: Don’t try to sign up for an account with javascript disabled. I got into a borked state for a while where I could neither sign up nor sign in. Looks like I’m good now.
I’m sorry to hear that you have to do this, it’s a small victory for the ignorant.
For anyone complaining that going to his ISP will do nothing, here are the first few sentences from his ISP’s terms of service:
<
This is what happens when using spinning hard drives in servers instead of solid state drives, let alone solid qubit storage systems. And no algorithms or AI to automatically remove insincere comments.
I seldom post but I support PZ 100%. If this is what it takes to exclude the ‘bat-shit’ crazies then I’ll do it!
My bet is that is directed at DoS or even DDoS attacks originating from their IPs. I doubt this would qualify.
I complained the last time around because sign-up was a mess. It ended up taking me over an hour, and still only allows me to sign on with my e-mail and not my username.
Since then I’ve begun to use it regularly, so it’s not really an issue.
Since my site runs on MT as well…when you comment, (assuming PZ has this set up this way), for the first time, your comments are held in moderation. Each comment includes the originating IP address. So:
REPEAT WHILE SHITHEAD KEEPS TRYING
IF (comment is abusive shit) AND (IP address is from correct netblock) THEN
ban commenter ID
delete unposted comment(s)
END IF
END REPEAT
it’s really pretty simple, even on a large scale. If Dipshit happens to be rational for a bit, and then later reverts to type, ban commenter id, delete posts.
TypeKey is a bit odd, but the overall system is fantastic for keeping out spam and jackasses.
Ramdic Hellbane, thanks. But I like the crazy sometimes. I ordered the book (it was free from the website) “God’s Final Witness” which claimed the world would end in 2008 (or at least America as we know it). Well, he can claim he wasn’t using our calender since…well….we’re still here. The book should have been called “God’ Witless Idiots”.
zaardvark:
That doesn’t apply here. PZ has an open forum, where he invited commentary. It has been the opinion of Bell in past situations that it is the responsibility of the blog or forum administrator to ensure there is registration, should they wish to keep people out.
Mabus is most certainly not running a DDOS or DOS attack and he is not interrupting PZ or anyone’s internet service in any way, shape or form. He is not breaking any laws, and is not even close tobreaking the TOS he agreed to with Bell.
@ s.k.graham #82:
Someone sent me an amusing one of those the other week:
http://random.irb.hr/signup.php
I did indeed find solving the mathematical formula easier than answering the usual “are you a human” tests, especially the sort where they mess up letters and numbers and stupidly expect you to be able to discriminate between the number one, upper-case letter i and lower-case letter L (for example) in fonts where these may all look the same.
It has previously been suggested that PZ should have a biology test for commenting. Although any science or maths one would ensure that low quality people had to at least work a bit to learn something (even if only on internet search) in order to comment.
Just Finding the bloody #&@$*! Acceptable Use Policy on Bell/Sympatico was a major chore. They do not make it easy. But I did eventually find it:
Unfortunately, I do not see a persistent link to the AUP. I took me some time thrashing around with their “no help” section of the service web-site to find what I quoted from above. I hope this helps you, PZ.
I welcome the move to registration.
I will not be registering.
Hi, I’m Sven. I am a Pharyngula addict. I lack the self-control to desist from following 6 threads at a time, refreshing over and over, occasionally contributing a line o’ snark or a biological factoid, but mostly revelling in the real-time pleasure of reading so many wise, stupid, interesting, infuriating, hilarious, intelligent comments by you-all. I look up and hours have passed. I should have used those hours to do other shit I need to do, but I find this virtual place to be just the crack that my brain craves in the now.
Now, procrastination has long been a psychological problem of mine (yeah, everybody procrastinates, but trust me–I have a problem), and I used to indulge in reading to avoid unpleasant work, but I find the variety, interaction, and participatory aspects of the Pharyngula comment-thread experience to be the ultimate in procrastinatory tools. The sirensong is too strong for my weak will to avoid.
Registration–the perfect solution! Externally imposed, and preventing the participation part. If you don’t see my nym around here anymore, that’s why. No doubt I’ll be tuning in to see what PZ and you-all have to say, but I’m hoping that the inability to comment will help me to wean my ass away from the damn internet and to spend more time doing the useful kinds of stuff I need to do to keep the paychecks coming in and my daughter in health insurance.
So, as of Monday I guess: see ya.
But enough about me…
Okay. I registered for the Typepad (used to be named “Typekey”) service. It seems to work okay, but the process was not intuitive. You do have to use the back button once you have signed up and return to the sign-in page, sign in there and then click the “yes” radio button for allowing your email address to be used.
Sorry to hear PZ had to waste time on admin.
Ok I’m good to go.
if it works it works if it doesn’t it just is another hassle with the added security risk although very slightly more I hope. Sorry but I am just not that trusting of the internet yet. Is it really just another trap? I have been able to avoid most of the crap that have plagued some of my trusting friends.
sick people are a sad bore.
It is the open interaction that makes this blog so interesting, “improvements” will change things lets hope that it changes for the better but again I am as always doubtful (I am often wrong)
forward!
Hmm.. it seems I signed up with Typekey some time ago and forgot about it. Whaddya know.
Forums that are completely open and anonymous do seem invariably to degenerate into collections of idiots screaming past each other. For an example, just look at any Indymedia site.
“Address: 1155 University
City: Montreal
StateProv: QC
PostalCode: H3B-3A7”
Hey, he lives down my street. I could go knock on his door and ask him to stop.
Sven, If you are indeed such a procrastinator then creating an account and signing in should be no problem. Unless you find the process of actually doing this worthy of your procrastination.
Sven,
I have read exactly two books since I discovered Pharyngula. (Both of them recommended here, as it happens.)
Unfortunately registration won’t stop me from reading. I can’t keep up as it is anyway. Much less comment (as if I had anything of value to say).
It would kick ass if you confronted him, PolarisHorizon.
I see what you all meant by buggy. The whole TypeKey thing was a bit weird, but it finally worked. It kind of streamlines logging in actually. I feel so . . . official.
Ahhh, That’s better, I use anadrol from time to time on other blogs.
I used the Typepad URL that Rob in Memphis provided at #63. I didn’t run into any of the glitches some other folks did.
Thanks, Rob!
Oh look at that it changed my other comments as well. Isn’t it a clever little thing.
Hmm, unfortunately I just checked, and this is one of the addresses of McGill University, a place with a lot of computers open to public.
I would be inclined to go there and have a look around Polaris.
let me add that you are a busy man I am sure and this blog’s success I can see is becoming a full time job.
You deserve some help with the extra work like maybe an administrative assistant, a secretary perhaps?
How can you lecture your assigned classes, run the labs, do the grading, manage your own research, do your guest speaker gigs, write your own book, run this blog and have a family life? any three would be enough for a lesser man.
sure sounds like the stress is getting to you.
ID required? No worries. A tiny barrier to entry, especially if it makes the troll-hunting easier.
FWIW, I got through the TypePad registration system on the second attempt. I’m using Chrome (1.0.154.53), and on my first try apparently I wasn’t redirected correctly to the page that asked my permission for them to share my e-mail address with Pharyngula. Second try was a charm.
Who knows, this could be a good thing! After all, it convinced my lazy ass to finally get a TypeKey account!
I don’t think Chimpy’s to blame. I willing to bet that Mabis was dead set on being a tedious and annoying potato-head regardless of whether or not anyone responded.
Anyway, I don’t mind the registration, PZ. Whatever works is what needs to be done.
Well, thankfully my computer saves the sign in information because I’d never remember it. Testing to see what name the comment uses, as I also forget how I set the account up…
Yeah, i don’t really mind this, and it might result in a better reading experience if it could eliminate some trolls.
@PolarisHorizon
I don’t think it is one of McGill’s buildings. It is an office building with many companies and it is near René-Lévesque
If it were McGill’s, it would be even easier since users need to be registered to log in.
At #106 Sven DiMilo wrote:
Aw. I will miss your comments, Sven.
I understand about the procrastination and immersing yourself in the joys of Pharyngula to avoid unpleasant work, or indeed, in my case, work of any kind.
I used to do that for many years with an unmoderated usenet group–until, over the course of several years, it was taken over by several clearly insane posters.
Some were pitifully insane; others were scary insane. And some of the regular posters always just had to respond to the crazy.
The end result was the noise-to-signal ratio became so great that the utility of the group ended. Now, on most days, it’s just the crazy people fussing at each other.
The good news though, is that because I needed a new excuse for procrastinating, I eventually found my way to Pharyngula.
And I’m not going to let a registration requirement stop me from procrastinating with Pharyngula! You’re a stronger person than I am in that regard, Sven.
Present, professor. I hate it when the nutbags win one.
TypeKey is done. Quite easy. One benefit the troll provided me was learning about greasemonkey firefox add-on. Quite a tool. A little good from a large turd.
PZ, does ScienceBlog’s ISP provide any blocking tools for the whole site? I can’t imagine he contributes anything positive anywhere here and it might be effective to block him from the whole place. Just wondering…
I’ve always thought that blogging is supposed to be a hobby, and that commenting is something of a “privilege” and not a right. I’ll register if need be.
PZ, does ScienceBlog’s ISP provide any blocking tools for the whole site? I can’t imagine he contributes anything positive anywhere here and it might be effective to block him from the whole place. Just wondering…
Personally, I would object to a site wide blocking of anyone on Scienceblogs. I do not want anyone else telling me who should or should not comment on my blog. That would be a egregious violation of our ethic of independence.
i just have a small blog that is 99% links to articles and stuff i find interesting, and before i turned commenting off i had people argueing with me about the articles merits.
I am all for registered posts, keep up the great work PZ
I am in with TypePad. Turns out they remembered my account from several years back.
ok, got my typepad id, took literally 1 minute to go there and come back. excellent!
Is Silver Fox not a Poe? I always thought Silver Fox’s posts were hilarious …
Let’s hope it works this time around….
Testing, 1, 2, 3, testing.
Testing, 1, 2, 3, testing.
Testing, 1, 2, 3, testing.
Testing, 1, 2, 3, testing.
Testing, 1, 2, 3, testing.
Testing, 1, 2, 3, testing.
Testing, 1, 2, 3, testing.
Aww, no Sven, stay with us. :(
*wanders off to pout*
Darn. No matter, I barely post anyways but I always keep up to date on this blog. Keep it coming PZ!
URL is still borked.
Hm, cool t-shirt. Just in case PZ decides to have some people help him out w/ comment maintenance:
http://s242.photobucket.com/albums/ff90/sfbooklady/officialt/
Testing…
I used the Type{pad,key} URL than bastion of sass confirmed @117, making sure to share my e-address with the blog owners (as several have pointed out), and had no obvious difficulties other than the too-tiny font on the site.
However, at least in Preview, the URL associated with my name is not my (admittedly neglected and obsolete) site, but the Type{pad,key} site.
Yay. Now I have my own identity :D
I got that error message about providing an email address, but it worked nevertheless.
Too bad that this regulatory step is even necessary, though.
Test.
Too bad this needs to be done. I hope it cuts down on the miscreants, but I’ll miss the comic relief.
@BdN:
Well, I am a McGill student, and I know this is very near one of the building. The other candidate would be a pizza restaurant. Either way, this is downtown montreal, and most buildings have hundreds of apartments, so I can’t really do anything.
Personally, I would object to a site wide blocking of anyone on Scienceblogs…
If a punk is constantly vandalizing my neighbor’s apartment, and the landlord decides to ban him from the complex, it would be pretty damn dick-ish of me to whine that I’m being robbed of my independence because the little shithead can’t drop by my house anymore.
The good thing is that you can sign up to Typepad using your existing Google/OpenID/many many other accounts.
You might want to share this with the world, PZ.
It would make for a great horror movie: trolls and spammers ravaging Planet Web like an endless army of zombies. ::shivers:: Of course it would end on an up note. The giant tentacled creature would arise to eat them all and cleanse the world of their foulness.
I have an active imagination.
Works for me. Thanks, PZ, for the PS in particular.
Oh, sorry, I forgot: I also clearly egged the arsehole, and continued to do so even after admitting I knew it was a silly thing to do. Sorry. In my defense, the jerk had already dumped great heaps of stinking vomit into the comments and I was highly irritated at the fecking loon. Again, apologies.
He’s insane. He shouldn’t be in the Internet anyway, he should be in professional medical care. He’s got a very severe case of obsessive-compulsive disorder or something. I’m completely serious.
I agree. If the ScienceBlogs software allows it, that could work out nicely.
As if guided by a divine hand, you messed up the HTML. Your link doesn’t work.
That would be awesome. I don’t think it can be implemented in ScienceBlogs, though.
Suggestion:
What do you do on a system like the internet, when you, the lord of a domain cannot manage the various individual self-sustaining areas? You get an elite class of people to do it for you (you can call them knights if you wish). There are problems associated with delegating authority to people like Rev.BDC, or other OM holders to deliver the occasional smack-down, and there are advantages.
Problems with this approach:
The only issue becomes one of consistency. How do you ensure your enforcers aren’t acting on a whim? You want their word to be final, so you don’t have to manage appeals from the undeserving or the deserving alike. I’m only an occasional commenter, but I’m sure I’m eventually going to say something someone here finds annoying, and that itself shouldn’t be reason enough for a block- but I may get blocked regardless if your confederate is having a bad day.
Advantages:
If it’s fairly well disciplined, it could actually work well most of the time, save you unnecessary headache, and leave comments open. Really it’s a blog, not a forum (Scienceblogs should rev one up!) it should be fairly open to comments. It would also be free, since I’m sure there are a few people here who spend enough time here it wouldn’t be a problem for them.
Completely OT but the I have no idea what this thread is about thread has reached 1000 posts.
Im sorry the spammers are giving you a headache PZ. :(
I’ll happily register(so long as the signup process isn’t a billion different hoops, captchas, and other pains)
if it remembers my username and password, it might make commenting EASIER(not having to type the username and email in each time)
#42
In my experience, Opera does have autofill, but doesn’t show filled options as filled. It just puts a little yellow line around them. Press Ctrl+Return and it fills them for you.
But that might be just the way my Opera behaves. It’s quite configurable.
TRiG.
Testing typepad comments
Sven DiMilo #106 wrote:
Ah, Sven! Gets the Molly, and goes out with a bang…
I will miss you, but won’t try to talk you into sticking around in Comments anyway — because that rumor about people on the internet having real lives in 3 dimensions is (almost) certainly true (and it’s not as if you’re not giving a good enough excuse here.)
I tend to have the opposite problem, in that when my life gets busy (or I just want to enjoy the weather), I start to feel guilty, because I’ve missed thread after thread of discoveries and insights and challenges by all the bloggers as well as the thousands of comments and now I’ve no idea what is going on in Scienceblogs — and will not be able to catch up because I am a lazy, neglectful pig who was taking it easy.
*fingers in ears*
lalalalalalalalalalalalalalala
You. Are. Not.
Take that back!
I’d rather have you enjoy your life and only pop by here to share your wisdom (no, I’m not being facetious) when the mood strikes you, rather than be here continually, buring out yourself.
Although I don’t comment too often and generally am sick of having more username and passwords, I actually don’t mind in this case. So if I sign up with TypeKey, is that what is needed to be registered to comment on here?
Testing testing.
Fair enough, PZ. Why should you waste your time messing with the ordure of the odious.
Louis
Just a quick test.
Sorry you had to do this, but it makes sense; I don’t comment often, but it’s nice to have the option.
SEF #104,
It has previously been suggested that PZ should have a biology test for commenting. Although any science or maths one would ensure that low quality people had to at least work a bit to learn something (even if only on internet search) in order to comment.
Do you actually believe that anyone who doesn’t hold a university degree in math or one of the sciences is a “low quality” person?
It’s unfortunate that you’ve had to do this, but it makes sense; I don’t comment often, but it’s nice to have the option.
SEF #104,
It has previously been suggested that PZ should have a biology test for commenting. Although any science or maths one would ensure that low quality people had to at least work a bit to learn something (even if only on internet search) in order to comment.
Do you actually believe that anyone who doesn’t hold a university degree in math or one of the sciences is a “low quality” person?
Just checked the images chosen …
why so many boring geometric figures?
Apologies for the double post …
@#$%^$#@!
I cant sign in to the typekey link here because it requires a password! I don’t have one! I signed in using my google openid. any help?
Sven, very sorry to see you go, but good for you for addressing the problem before losing your job or something. I hope you can figure out some way Pharyngulize in moderation some day. I mean if you can self-impose not registering, why not self-impose limiting yourself to a certain time period each day?
There are 4 Markuze’s listed in the Montreal directory, 3 of them live side-by-side on Wolseley Ave. N. in Montreal West, and the other lives on Werbrouck in Saint-Laurent. There is no one listed as David.
At #122, SteveInMI wrote:
I wasn’t redirected to the page asking me if I wanted to share my e-mail until I clicked on the TypeKey “sign in” link to post a comment on Pharyngula.
http://profile.typepad.com/6p01156f1d6846970c
there is my typekey profile. why cant i sign in here? it asks for a password, but i don’t have one because im using my google login, and it wont LET me create a regular typekey one w/ a pass.
I don’t often comment, and I’m not now, just checking this TypePad thing.
FINALLY got the silly thing to work. I have TypeKey set up with my OpenID, and it refused to sign in *here*. I was signed in to my TypeKey account just fine.
Finally just came back here and hit the sign in button again, after having already signed into TypeKey once, *then* it signed me in here.
Confusing, but I passed. Does that mean I’m smart enough to continue posting here? Or a least continue lurking?
Sili #160 wrote:
Ok, I take it back. ;)
But I am lazy (or maybe selfish) enough that nobody need have any fears that I will willingly choose to do anything on a regular basis, that I don’t really enjoy.
I’m somebody now!
Paul Zachary Myers, you dare put the stomp down on Mabus? Knew you had it in you? :)
Since nobody else has put this together; when you mail off your complaint to the dwit’s (dweeb and twit hybrid) ISP, be sure to include a copy of their TOS agreement with the pertinent sections bolded, along with a list of Mabus’ transgressions. Let them know that the man is not a desirable client, and is giving them a bad name.
Also check with Canadian law enforcement, the man is -as far as I can see- engaged in violating the law. But then I’m a (mostly) sensible fellow, which is not even remotely true of politicians and bureaucrats.
Testes, testes, 1, 2, is it on?
I guess ignore my post #161. I’m just going on the assumption reading everyone else’s posts that this is what we’ll need to be able to comment starting Monday.
I’ve tried to register several times before, and each time I’ve either gotten stuck in a never-ending loop of redirects or successfully logged in and found myself unable to post with the account. Could someone give me a rundown of how to register and use my account to post?
GAH!
had to dust off an old Gmail account that i never check, and sign up. why the HELL didn’t my openid work?
Forgive me for testing…. I think it’s working?
Sastra, #158
OT, B*: Was it you who mentioned the old Shasta sodas? If it was, they’re still being sold around here. The supermarket just down the street carries it in bottles and cans. But, Shasta is not what it used to be. No more black cheery, or even diet (yech) chocolate. OTOH six packs go for about $1.50 and 12 packs for $2.50.
Of course, that’s the nearest grocery to me. One of the larger stores in the chain may carry flavors they don’t.
*Off Topic, Blatantly.
Alison S @170, the loon’s real prénom is Dennis, not David or Dave. Is there a Dennis Markuze?
Testing, testing…
Diet chocolate? Ugh-blasphemy!
Whoa-that was like going through a wormhole…
Diet chocolate-still blasphemy.
Testing….. testing….. it worked on Deltoid…. it better work here.
mythusmage #182 wrote:
No, that was someone else, commenting on someone else who had misspelled my nickname. I can’t complain too much, though, since “shastra” is evidently a variation of “sastra” or “shaster.” It means “a sacred book” — a Hindu once told me that he learned it as “The Sword of Truth that cuts through Illusion.” Which is very cool, and mostly accidental, as my nickname is a play on my real-life initials/name (of course, in Hinduism the “illusion” is naturalism.)
But yeah, I am old enough to remember Shasta soda. And was young enough when it was popular to think that the icky-sweet grape one was the best.
/OT
Hmmm. When I log into my own scienceblag, I show up as signed-in here, too. I wonder if I’ll be able to comment — I think “Movable Type native” has to be checked under Preferences / Registration.
Signed up without any trouble. Used the previously posted link TypePad Profiles and clicked Sign Up.
bah, TypePad Profiles is at: http://www.typepad.com/profiles/typekey-faq.html
Oh…. it looks like whenever I had created the typekey acct I used a different name. I’ve been posting here as blueelm until now. I’d rather use this email though since it’s the same one I’ve been using if that’s ok?
Shasta Cherry Cola
Shasta Red Apple Cola
I’ve been around a few blogs over the years and always faded out after a few months through lack of interest or any rapport with the people there. Pharyngula is the only place I’ve ever stayed long term, enjoyed the subjects matter so much and felt a part of the community.
As such, PZ would have to beat me away with a shitty stick to stop me from coming here. No TypeKey is going to stop me and quite frankly after the initial confusion to get into it it turns out ok.
Besides it now my username stands out in blue with UNDERLINING nonetheless! It makes it look more important.
@ karen #164/5 – who evidently doesn’t even have sufficiently good reading comprehension and attention to detail to avoid double-posting:
1. I didn’t specify degree level.
2. I did emphasise the learning component rather than necessarily already knowing. A low quality person would be someone wanting to comment (or, in the particular context, troll!) on a science blog while still remaining wilfully ignorant of science. A high quality person doesn’t necessarily know everything already (and obviously wouldn’t do as a child!) but is eager to learn – and to be careful about reading the question properly and then getting the answer right rather than misinforming themselves (all too easy on the internet) and/or spreading disinformation to others (again very common).
So the effect should be to put off the low quality people, who don’t like learning about reality, while amusing the higher quality ones with the mini-challenge. The advertising spambots wouldn’t succeed at all at such a test and it’s quite likely a lot of the more insane religiots would frequently struggle to post. It would definitely slow them down in their attempts to flood threads. However, as mentioned by David Marjanović, it’s not realistically going to happen here anyway.
I wanna pop
I wanna Shasta
Shasta Orange Soda
Small price to pay
for continuing to be a part of this community
Testing. Getting the typekey here to work with my newly-created-by-openid typekey account was overly complicated. Signing in out on typekey did nothing here, and the sign-in link here takes you to a form that does not have the openid dropdown option.
The second or third time I tried clicking the join up button from there, it took me back here and said I was signed in. I don’t know why SB can’t just use openid directly…
erm… ooops…. sorry for egging the nutcase on, but he promised we’d all get FINISHED, and I got all excited :-(
*notices Sven’s comments*
noooo!!! don’t go!!!!
*clings to his pantleg as he tries to walk away*
Typekey is not so bad. At least I have an account there and use it to comment several places. Beats having to set up an independent account for every blog.
Shasta?
They used to make them just a block away from my house.
Methinks, PZ doth protest too much…
(’cause I am just a skeptical kind of dude …question all such limitations)
It is likely that there are some DB scripts or procedures that can be coded to hunt and pecker the offenders. At the very least, the means described to remove comments seems barbaric and inefficient and we can probably find a more automated solution. That IS the goal of all this wondrous technology anyway, isn’t it? I may not be familiar with specifics of this blogging system but I am with some others and this just sounds too onerous for a busy, wanna-be-world-controlling Squidlike Overlord…
karen #164/5 – who evidently doesn’t even have sufficiently good reading comprehension and attention to detail to avoid double-posting
That’s a cheap shot. Her stunningly poor (low quality, one might say) reading comprehension is evident enough without it.
A small thing I like about Typekey is that, when you click on a nickname, you often find out where the person is posting from. It doesn’t really matter as such, but it’s nice. Helps keep people straight.
PZ doesn’t seem to know either – since he said (in #91) he’d already gone through the motions of enabling OpenID access.
The more independent evidence, confirming something and failing to refute it, the better though.
Sometimes I wonder if blogs should just have a duplicate remover that acts on anything over 50 characters. Of course it would make quoting impossible, but some of the quotes are over done anyway and could be shortened.
Yeah, I would pretty much consider myself a pro at these sign up things and that was a bit of a fork in the road to get going the right direction. Sheesh. As long as it helps though, then, “Ours is not to reason why. Ours is but to do and die”
test test test rick roll test test testicular test
No problems setting up & accessing Typekey. Maybe it’s because I’m drunk.
Ok, so sign up is done… should work fine.
Oh, I didn’t see #91 before. And I had forgotten that SB uses MT. SB should follow everyone else and switch to WP.
Testing One Two
Is this On?
Used to work.
SEF @194; Nothing@ 202:
What’s with the smug condescension? Karen challenged SEF and the response was using a double post as proof of her inadequacy? Bullshit. Then Nothing@ 202 jumps in to display just how clever he/she it is.
It was a valid question on her part. Further, I think some sort of a requirement for a degree in the math/science area or other qualification would deprive this blog of much of it’s richness. A lot of folks here are not science folks but they enjoy participating. For the most part, they are not a problem, even when they are godbots.
Low quality/high quality? you have got to be fucking kidding me. And yes, I am one of those “High Quality” people.
Don’t you think it’s a bit radical to try and get an ISP to remove his internet simply because he’s a (albeit, extreme) nuisance?
No, because his behaviour is in potential violation of his ISP’s ToS.
[Lily Tomlin]
They are the PHONE COMPANY
[/Lily Tomlin]
He’s also bugfuck crazy and potentially dangerous to himself and others.
PZ, email their abuse department with the history of abuse this twat has piled upon you, because frankly, Typekey sucks sewage from the bottom of the tank. Last time I tried to use it here, it would log me in and then tell me I wasn’t logged in EVERY THE FUCKING TIME.
Re Eidolon #212:
… and those people failing to read properly just keep on a-coming.
Oh, sweet Isis. We had enough trouble migrating from one version of MT to the next. I shudder to think about how badly the move to WordPress would be botched.
Fuck the heck?! Do you want to exclude the physicists from the conversation here?
Re Blake Stacey #215:
It’s really quite extraordinary how widespread the failure to read properly is – even somewhere like Pharyngula, where one might reasonably hope for a higher standard.
Delurking to test my account. I come for the science and stay for the comments.
SEF (#216):
Need a sense-of-humour transplant?
I fail to see the virtue in a scheme which keeps out the people who’ve been poorly served by a failed school system just as well as it keeps out the wilfully ignorant. As someone who has to deal with the ScienceBlogs platform on a daily basis, I can see that on a technical level, it would be for all practical purposes impossible to implement. As, in my judgement, it is a thoroughly bad idea on all grounds, I figured I might as well be snarky about it.
The more independent evidence, confirming something and failing to refute it, the better though.
Double posting is at best very weak evidence of poor reading comprehension. The rest of what you wrote was relevant.
What’s with the smug condescension?
What’s with the ad hominem and the hypocrisy?
It was a valid question on her part.
No, it wasn’t. Did you even bother to read SEF’s response?
I think some sort of a requirement for a degree in the math/science area
No, apparently you didn’t. SEF said nothing about requiring a degree.
Fuck the heck?! Do you want to exclude the physicists from the conversation here?
Is there something about being a physicist that would prevent one from passing a biology test? Perhaps you’re assuming that SEF meant a hard biology test.
[ok, that should do as a test post for this typepad thing]
Hmph. Setting up with Typekey was no hassle at all.
Just to spite MayPiss, or whatever their name is, now that I am forced to leave even more bits on the floor of the internet, I pledge to even more boldly declare my disdain for people who expect others to go along with their silly incoherent social sewage.
I’ve dealt with this guy on other forums. In my experience he posts for one or two days then disappears. He has google alerts set up for his name, nostra ^ damus (I split this word in to two so it doesn’t set off his alerts), and a few other words. Soon as an alert is triggered he returns, does his spamming for a few days then disappears again. He doesn’t have a static IP either so you can’t just block that.
Well SEF – what part of your post did I misread? Your definition of quality uses the term “willfully ignorant”. That would mean that there would be no ID folks, no godbots, just us pure believers. Do I have that right? Sorting the wheat from the chaff would be a bit tricky, don’t you think, seeing as how any question or group of questions would easy to deal with for anyone.
As for your response to karen, it was smug and disdainful and not a response to her question about your views on high/low quality people. Honestly, you’d expect someone posting on this blog to be able to choose words with a bit more care.
Eidolon:
Sorry, but you misused an apostrophe in comment #212. You are clearly not one of the Elect, and you must resume your rightful place among the proletariat.
Thanks Rob in Memphis
ugh, this is annoying and defeats the whole idea of using OpenID. You shouldn’t have to provide any additional info to TypeKey if you are using OpenID.
Do I have that right?
Only if everyone who can pass a biology test is a “true believer”. So no, you don’t have that right, nor a lot of other things.
What’s really humorous is people taking SEF’s proposal seriously and getting into such a terrible huff about it.
Not the way it generally happens round here, as far as I can tell, it isn’t. (And the other important part of my point there was the need for attention to detail.)
There will (almost always?!*) have been a quite explicit error message which the person ignored (perhaps they thought they were too important/special to bother reading it – doing so being a pretty basic requirement for reading comprehension). Or which they didn’t read and consider fully and then perform the obvious tests (as per a real scientist and even as half-suggested by that message!) for whether or not the post had already gone through. The possibility again being that they regard themselves as too important to go to that trouble or even to be concerned at all about inconveniencing other people by flooding the thread with repeat posts.
* I’d like to know of exceptions.
I’m so screwed
I suggest that SEF has done insufficient scientific testing of the causes of double posting and instead is leaning on anecdotal memory.
Excuse the fuck out of me Nothing – just how else would you describe the reply. I did not attack anyone personally to invalidate the argument, so no ad hominum. I will add that your remark @ 202 certainly seemed to convey a “my, just look how smart WE are, compared to her” message. If I misread that – my bad.
Now to the point on double posts. I have seen over time that even very smart and capable people will double post or post on the wrong thread. Not much of an indicator of intellectual prowess.
People who double post suffer from a common human ailment.
Lack of patience.
Taking the few seconds to read that little note is all it takes. I did it a few times until I thought to myself, “Hey maybe that message is important to the issue i am having” and then read it.
It say very little about someone being stupid or lacking reading comprehension. It’s just plain old common dirty impatience.
I blame my AADD
I did not attack anyone personally to invalidate the argument, so no ad hominum.
Wrong. In my own case you wrote “Then Nothing@ 202 jumps in to display just how clever he/she it is”. You’re an arrogant and dishonest git and a bit of a child. But do carry on.
Thereby missing the point utterly once more.
NB Posting on the wrong thread is a somewhat different phenomenon (although one could still call it careless).
Thereby missing the point utterly once more.
A failure to attend to detail … not his first instance.
For those having trouble joining TypePad open it up in a different tab and change your profile to “share” email with blog owner. Because you have linked via Pharyngula and Pharyngula requires you to share you email address with the blog owner it fails to log in until you have changed your profile accordingly.
PS My name is Rooke and not Rook.
Sorry there’s spammers about. :-/
I don’t know if i have a typekey account or not, let’s find out!
I think Pete Rooke explaining how to use TypePad to those unable to figure it out for themselves is sufficient rebuttal to SEF’s proposal (which, for the attention-to-detail-challenged, I never supported).
I’ve never understood the concern over the comment numbers. The solution is simple. DON’T REFER TO COMMENTS BY THEIR NUMBER.
Sheesh, it’s obvious enough. Do a blockquote or whatever.
Announcing my new TypeKey account. The world prepare yourself for nice little comments!
PS My name is Rooke and not Rook.
Darned details.
@SEF
Well, I don’t know about the other ones, but one possible exception is that you never get to the warning message. The first time I ever double-posted, the page just kept on loading from the original. I hit the post once again and there it was. Maybe I was stupid, I don’t know. Trying to improve.
Jafafa Hots #239
Some of us like to do both.
Regarding double-posting–
I have apologized for doing that here before, and I hate to sound whiny, but it truly is not my fault. I must rely on cursed HughesNet for my ISP, and occasionally when I hit “post” HughesNet pops up a “WebClient Error” with lots of incomprehensible gobbledygook. This situation clears itself up eventually, and with no further action on my (no error notification from SB, I just wait), voila, a double post by me occurs.
I’ve never understood the concern over the comment numbers.
Some people just have a thing about bad design, especially bad user interfaces that require people to avoid doing something natural just because the software is crap.
The solution is simple. DON’T REFER TO COMMENTS BY THEIR NUMBER.
Sheesh, it’s obvious enough. Do a blockquote or whatever.
Referring to an entire post is not quite the same as quoting text, and referring by number is easier than quoting. It usually works. Thus, people do it. Thus, when it doesn’t work, references are wrong, which is quite a bad thing. Telling people not to do it won’t stop them from doing it, and the ones who do it aren’t the only ones harmed by it — even those who scrupulously follow your advice will encounter bad references in the posts of those who don’t, thus your advice isn’t adequate. (There’s a hidden argument against libertarianism there.)
That sounds more like a cache issue. I agree that there you would have considerably less of a hint than with the error message situation (which is the one I’ve seen most people report) but that still doesn’t entirely excuse one from attempting to ascertain the true situation (as I have done on just such occasions – eg by opening a fresh window to refresh, checking the latest post listing and even using another browser program).
When the numbers are off, they’re seldom off by much. Unless the post is something like “good one, #439,” you can usually look back and scroll just a bit to see what fits the reply, if you want to read the original again.
Re use of HughesNet:
Now that sounds like a much more interesting (and unfixable – apart from signing up with someone else!) situation. If I understand it correctly, your contention is that you only ever hit the post / make-it-so button once and that your intermediary must then have been responsible for doing the retries (in response to Sb errors) which resulted in duplicate postings.
I do wonder if there are any ISP/browser settings under your control which might prevent (or at least minimise) the occurrances of it though.
Sven–don’t you know that anyone who has received the OM isn’t allowed to stop pharyngulizing???
And in my previous post, that would be “on my part”.
At most other websites, if a post is removed by either the writer or by a site admin, the post number is unaffected (often there’s a message to the effect “post removed by writer/moderator”). Thus post numbers are static. Here, the post numbers are dynamic. If a post is removed, then all subsequent posts are renumbered (which is dumber than dirt, IMNSHO).
If I’m referring to a post made several hours and some dozens of posts previously, there has to be some method of identifying what I’m referring to. The date/time stamp just seems unwieldy, but I suppose it’s the only reasonable way to do reference a previous post.
Testing….
When the numbers are off, they’re seldom off by much.
When it’s a spam troll, they can be off quite a bit.
Unless the post is something like “good one, #439,”
I’ve seen quite a few instances, some with considerably more content than that, that can easily be taken to refer to the wrongly numbered post, especially since people expect it to.
But, that’s life; the renumbering isn’t likely to change.
You understand correctly. Believe me, I have tried to find another broadband ISP. We are rural and too far from a telephone relay station to use a cable provider, so right now HughesNet (satellite) is the only non-dialup game in town right now.
My sons are both computer geeks (therefore I use that term in the most admiring way), so I could take up your suggestion about ISP/browser settings with them–it’s way beyond me…
There’s also a unique comment number, which doesn’t change on deletions (and which one would use when linking to a specific place in the thread because it’s declared as an anchor point). However, it’s not as easy for a human to use, ie by visually scanning backwards in the thread, as the thread-relative number is.
Expression Engine is still available; a commercial license in $245.00. Some extras are free, other extras are, extra. Allows for multiple blogs. The basic platform is free.
I don’t know what The Borg paid for MT, but after all the hassles of keeping the thing going, another two hundred forty-five large to get something actually up to date and working doesn’t sound like that bad a deal.
a list of features and goodies for the double E.
If a post is removed, then all subsequent posts are renumbered (which is dumber than dirt, IMNSHO).
It’s cheap; the alternative requires storing the message number.
The date/time stamp just seems unwieldy, but I suppose it’s the only reasonable way to do reference a previous post.
It’s a common method at other blogs, most of which don’t have numbered posts. People here use the numbers because they’re there, but they are a false promise — since they aren’t reliable, they shouldn’t be there at all. So … you’re right, it’s dumber than dirt.
PZ,
Sorry for feeding the troll.
FYI, a polite email to a company’s “abuse” email address can work wonders. You ought to give it a shot with his ISP if you haven’t already. His crazed emails have to be violating some part of their terms of service.
However, it’s not as easy for a human to use, ie by visually scanning backwards in the thread, as the thread-relative number is.
Ah, but do it this way:
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/04/i_give_up.php#comment-1558138
@SEF
(or ^^^ this way)
It’s so sad that one person can ruin the internets for everyone :( Sorry PZ! Wish I was super-brilliant and could help.
Ah, but actually making it into a link like that wastes one of the precious few links one is permitted to have in a post without it being dumped in limbo to await PZ’s approval and belated insertion in the thread. (It’s also somewhat annoying (to me, visually again) to use as a jump.)
Hence I tend only to include such a link when referring to a post in another thread and/or I’m quite sure I’m not going to need the rest of my link quota (including for any things I might think to add in an edit at the last moment).
Testing TypePad
Ah, but actually making it into a link like that wastes one of the precious few links one is permitted to have in a post without it being dumped in limbo to await PZ’s approval and belated insertion in the thread.
“patient: It hurts when I do this. doc: Then don’t do that.”
The great majority of posts don’t have links.
or I’m quite sure I’m not going to need the rest of my link quota (including for any things I might think to add in an edit at the last moment).
A lot of things must keep you up at night.
That’s convenient. Turns out I’d signed up for one ages ago. Testing it now. Sorry for adding clutter.
Sheesh, PZ…I just go done switching T1 pipes at the office and learned a ton about securing servers from unwanted pest. And it seems to me (admittedly, not an expert) that Seed could shut this clown down at the PICs filters, ports, routers or switches.
I’ll be happy to lend you my wicked little programmer (who deftly programmed my equipment) gratis. He’ll ring you up and do what he can. (He’s very good with php, too…which I think is running in the background here somewhere and may be another place to limit access) Send me an email if you think it can help.
Test
Ah, ok. No timestamp, no misleading number.
P.S. if moderated links are a problem, you can strip off the header:
scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/04/i_give_up.php#comment-1558204
putting the burden on the reader to copy and paste to the location bar — unless they’re savvy enough to use FireFox’s linkification extension, in which case they can just click on it.
Oops, I think I meant test
@Josh:
I think numerous threats to kill people would constitute a breach of the ISP’s conditions, but that would only work for so long and he’ll be back. It would take a few years to get him in the bad books of all the available ISPs. Besides, I think some people here enjoy poking fun at the looney asshole; as someone already said, it’s tempting to feed the troll.
If you use Firefox do a search for “Text Formatting tool” bar or BBcodeXtra add-ons. They work great and no code to write when linking, blockquoting, underlining, striketrhough, etc…
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/04/i_give_up.php#comment-1558204
But no link. Apparently you have to put the whole URL in the href tag, not just the anchor. But why wouldn’t you do the whole URL? It’s just a right click to copy it to the clipboard.
@MadScientist: What?
@ KillerChihuahua
You seem to be failing to form your HTML links correctly (that being the usual case when non-clickable text is shown in blue round here). As well as the opening and closing a tags which you’ve used, you need to have an href attribute (in the opening tag) specifying the link destination – and that URL typically has to be surrounded by quotation marks (and may sometimes need some special character adjustments too).
Different josh I believe
[argh]
Ah, ok. No timestamp, no misleading number.
But no link. Apparently you have to put the whole URL in the href tag, not just the anchor. But why wouldn’t you do the whole URL? It’s just a right click to copy it to the clipboard.
Oops, I think I meant <a>test</a>
No, definitely not that.
Isn’t it possible to leave his rubbish on here? I make the occasional comments myself (always as anon), preferably without logging in – I’m sure many others like it this way also.
Regarding links:
<a href=”full.url.here”>link name</a>
#183 There is a Daniel Markuze.
Testing… for the few times I am moved to comment, I would rather have the capability rather than being frustrated in venting my spleen. Plus it gave me a chance to add a recent picture of my vain self.
WRT the numbering: I like having the comments numbered because it helps me keep track of where I left off reading on a long thread.
Yes, it’s not perfectly accurate after comments have been removed by PZ, but IMO, it makes finding the last comment I read easier than it is on other blogs which don’t number the comments.
Rev BDC @ #275 wrote:
Behold:
Behind the mask of internet stalkers and harassing trolls!
Here
I urge everyone who hasn’t to send a message to the Sympatico abuse complaint site. I received a form message back from abuse@bellnexxia.net that states very clearly that they take spamming complaints seriously. I would copy Markuze’s rant earlier about “panties in a twist” where he brags about spamming, but damned if PZ hasn’t already hosed it.
Here is the pertinent part (hope this is OK with our admin):
BTW, David Mabus’s real name is Dennis, (not David) Markuze.
I suggest that required registration be temporary. And temporary could mean a long time. But it’s good for registration to come down again when the storm has finally passed. Comments are more chaotic and vibrant when the barriers to commenting are few. Turning on registration tends to slow down the uptake of new community members. The ones who already have an incurable habit will go out of their way to register, but many less invested people don’t bother. After a while things get stale.
This place is a veritable planet Caladan
I successfully signed in. But what is this about Sven Di Milo not registering and commenting any more (#106)? I enjoy his comments. Tell me how to do it, and I shall register him, so that he cannot use procrastination as an excuse to stay away…
Testing TypePad sign in. At least it works; another blog I read regularly (John Wilkins, it’s your other one) I’m doing something wrong or it is fraked up.
Rev. BDC at #283:
Thanks. I didn’t realize that the trick to finding the darn thing was misspelling “formatting” as “formating.”
Testing with typekey. Fuck you mabus!
ha!
testing
Thanks Rev. BDC. Now people will think I know how to use HTML tags.
oh shit
OH MY GOD WHY IS EVERYTHING IN COLOR NOW WHAT THE HELL
You’re in Oz
Testing, testing, testing…
I’m in the middle of a 4-day weekend (in part because of a mandatory company-wide unpaid furlough day… Happy Economy, everyone!), so I’m pretty much doing Other Things Than Sitting at a Computer™… but I saw this post and thought I’d take a minute to figure out if I can still comment.
Tsetign, tsetign, 2, 3, 1.
Nope, It’s not working.
Sven: Do what you have to do. But you’ll be missed.
Hugs x 365.25
Blame your host for not providing adequate spam filtering.
Bill: From what I can see you are still commenting without having signed in to typekey. In order to keep posting after it becomes restricted you will need to sign in with typekey to post a comment. Anyone correct me if I’m wrong.
*ahem* Testing 123
Just testing the typekey thingamajig. I assume this means I should have the cute little key icon next to my name.. let’s have a look.
Just posting to say that this will probably be my last comment as “Nemo”. If I register, it will be under a different name — maybe even my real one. I’ve regretted this alias since shortly after choosing it, when I discovered the existence of “Nemo Ramjet” and at least one other “Nemo”. So this seems as good a time as any to drop it.
I haven’t been the most prolific commenter — it’s hard to keep up with you lot! — so I don’t suppose anyone really cares. But perhaps the threads will become more manageable now.
Am I logged in?
Oh. Now I’m logged in.
Has anyone seen Kseniya log in yet?
I saw myself log in, just a few minutes ago. ;-)
Awful quiet around here since the napalming.
Just trying this out and signing in…testing 1, 2, 3
Testing, hot damn, Vietnam. Testing, hot damn, Vietnam.
If this works, thanks for the info about re-logging into Type Pad–it worked!
Test.
Test again.
I give up/April 11, 2009 10:47 AM, by PZ Myers
Sorry PZ, I guess I Egged on the inept. I really rather think he would have multi-posted anyway…no excuses.
I knew I should have followed John Morales advice and treated (it) “like line noise”.
Good thing I got this TypeKey thing sorted at the first threat of looming registration. Understandable under the circumstances, though.
Mostly though, I’m still amazed that anyone managed to somehow get through to Markuze, if only to make the trolling worse. He’s been posting the same crap with only the slightest of variations for a loooong time; I remember him from quite a while back, screeching at the JREF. I never got the impression that anything said to him registered at all, ever.
So, at least I’ve learnt that where I thought he was like a broken record, he’s actually like a deranged parrot. Joy.
Okay….I don’t have time to read the 300+ posts on this thread for the info that I am looking for…..But, could someone please post info on how to use this typekey thing to post on here. Kind of an idiots guide, lol?
I would definitely appreciate it….and I will check back on here for at least the next hour for info :-)
Please?
(I know that there’s bound to be some still up)
Google is your friend.
http://www.typepad.com/profiles/typekey-faq.html
Shamar | April 12, 2009 2:33 AM
check out comment 190…
Testing……
Thanks, RBDC, for the firefox linky at #283. Very handy.
So this is what it’s like to bite the bullet?
I was browsing last night on my phone, using the opera mini browser and managed to go through the typepad registration process with as little hassle as the rest of you, but my browser is still not that good. Great for reading posts, but won’t comment properly on anything if the page size gets over 100kb, or about 120 comments. The phone’s built in browser is slightly better at posting comments reliably, but will refuse to even open a page over a certain size, even though the phone memory has tons of space.
As for the troll, the important point is that, regardless of the legal niceties, it’s the terms of service of the ISP that are being breached. But the ISP has the legal obligation to take steps to ensure they’re not.
We should all email the abuse mailbox. I have;
I feel retarded, but I’m still not able to post with that little symbol next to my clickable name……and I didn’t see any clear instructions on the typepad page about how to do so….I read through the FAQ’s and didn’t see it.
I know, I must sound retarded :-(
1. Sign up.
2. When signing up, allow blog owners to see your e-mail address.
3. When you go to post a comment there’s a “sign in” link. Use it.
You need cookies enable (gag!) and, possibly, Javascript.
Can someone point me to a few of these? I know I’ve seen comments signed thus on other blogs and while I don’t recall agreeing with them I didn’t find them nearly as objectionable as the community clearly finds Silver Fox. I haven’t been consistent with reading the long comment threads, though…
Testing again….
I think it worked now!!!
Thanks :-)
Shamar, the usual thing stopping people from getting TypeKey to work seems to be the requirement to share their email address with pharyngula.
When you create a TypeKey profile, it will include various pieces of personal data which you can optionally make public. In addition, even if you have your email address set as nominally private, some places where you post will require TypeKey to share it anyway. This is for security reference not for display, much as they’d log an IP address.
Pharyngula requires the email address. So, when trying to sign-in to post at pharyngula, you should get an on-screen message from TypeKey informing you of this and requesting permission. If you’re not seeing that at all, there may be some incompatibility in your setup somewhere. Double-check your TK profile settings (and, if you know how, your browser settings).
Judging by the comments, another thing going wrong for some people is that (for some reason) they need to complete the sign-in page separately and then come back to refresh the Sb pharyngula page before being able to post. It isn’t working smoothly as one step with an automatic return for them. I certainly created my TypeKey identity as a separate operation (several years ago now) rather than using a link from pharyngula. So I can’t vouch for how well it does or doesn’t work from here.
Ah, too slow in typing. But at least you’re in now. :-D
PS Ooooh! It looks like PZ has also messed with the local flooding prevention measures. I don’t have enough data yet to say if it was an increased time-gap or a decreased number of posts allowed but I wouldn’t previously have expected to have my sole follow-up post bounced for being too many posts in too short a time.
“And all those exclamation marks … [a] sure sign of someone who wears his underpants on his head” (from Maskerade by Terry Pratchett).
Ok now, careful, shamar, please put down the keyboard and release the mouse. Then we’ll type.
;-)
Just a test to see what hoops I have to jump through, if any, in order to chime in. Now returning to your regularly-scheduled programming in 3, 2, 1….
I like the idea of moderators to help with deletion of inappropriate posts, if there’s a technical way to do it.
Some of the OM posters are on here all the time anyway, and are generally get along well with just about everyone.
They could be given very specific guidelines for deleting posts, and their assignment as moderators could be contingent on them following those guidelines. And people could email PZ directly to appeal those decisions, if they felt their posts were being deleted inappropriately.
Is that workable?
I don’t mind having to sign in, but it would be a shame if there were people who couldn’t post only for technical reasons.
You need cookies enable (gag!)
Disabling cookies is for luddites.
I don’t know if it’s the content of his posts that people find objectionable – it’s more to do with his approach; he shows up, says stupid, contentious things and then fails to support his claims. He then disappears for a while and then shows up and starts all over again.
What may have pushed people over the limit is his recent crush on Vox Day, whose rubbish he’d recycle and then proceed to gush at and fawn over like a giddy schoolchild.
Personally, I love having Silver Fox show up ’cause of how much fun it is to scare him away.
There’s usually one or two around, yeah. If PZ felt inclined I guess he could entrust some people with cleanup powers to deal with the worst kind of troll then that might work – but I’m sure he has his reasons for not doing so.
@ Scott Hatfield #330:
PZ said the new TK regime wouldn’t begin until Monday. At the moment you can, as you just have, still post without being signed in to TypeKey.
This 2-day warning period is apparently turning out to be particularly helpful in allowing those who haven’t used TypeKey yet to quiz those who have on how to get the wretched thing to work.
A bonus side-effect seems to be that the continuing nuisance of David Mabus kept PZ in a hulk-smash mood for long enough to swat Pete Rooke too.
I dont think commenters should be judging and/or banning other commenters,OM or not.
Scienceborgs just needs to get their act together and implement better filtering mechanisms,its not rocket science.
Well,allowing cookies for a session only keeps your WWW functional,and purges the browsing traces when your session ends.As always,Firefox is your friend.
Or not. Turn cookies on unconditionally, surf for a month, then look at what’s in them. I browsed my cookies a few years back, didn’t like what I saw, and now I allow cookies and JavaScript selectively. Excessive? Paranoid? Maybe. But just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you ;o)
What I meant was, PZ could say to a few people, ‘if any of the known dungeon residents show up then get rid of them’ – without them having any powers to judge/ban anyone other than someone PZ’s already determined shouldn’t be free to spray shit all over his nice clean floor.
Yeah,thats not a bad idea.
*sigh*
OK, then.
This will be interesting – I can’t believe I actually remembered my typekey info. Now to see which handle shows up when I comment…
Oh, good, it’s me as I already am here. That makes it easier.
Carlie,
paleomom hey…;) LOL
clinteas – is that what shows up on the click? I’ll have to figure out how to change it to match. Good thing that’s not any of my actual usernames. I swear, one of these days I’m going to totally lose track of how many pseudonyms I have…
Carlie,
it shows up when I hover over your typekey link “Carlie”,yes.
I have no frakkin’ idea what’s going on with that. I can’t find any options to deal with the url on the user info – everyone else’s shows up as a nice weird string of numbers and letters. Bollocks. Maybe it’s because I was a guest author on a blog once in typekey and way back when I typed that into some id field that doesn’t exist anymore? Well, I’ll see how long it takes tech support to respond to help tickets.
Isn’t there a way to block the IP from the site? Well of course there is but are you able to do it or would that need some special wonderworks from sciencblogs themself?
I for one won’t post anything with userreg turned on. But me you can live without ;). And anything that suppresses the hateful bigoted assholes and their need to spread their missory is something i support.
Heh, figured it out. Apparently you can only modify the url while viewing your profile, not from the actual control panel on your account. Sure, that makes sense. Someone took my preferred name (how could that happen?) but it should be mostly consistent now. Typepad ahoy.
Wow, typekey signin actually worked.
I don’t. I believe in listening to everyone’s views, however repugnant.
I do, however, fully support Professor Myers’ decision to take this emergency measure in order to exclude Mabus (or whatever his name is) from commenting here. I can see how it would be frustrating to have to clean up thousands of identical copies of the same stupid post every day, and it wasn’t adding anything to the discussion.
By contrast, I strongly disagree with the banning of Pete Rooke. I didn’t agree with his opinions, but he wasn’t doing anything wrong. However, since this blog is private property hosted on a proprietary server, Professor Myers has every right to impose whatever restrictions he wishes, and I won’t argue the point further.
Dammit! One more try, and then I’ll stop clogging up the thread with my typepad woes.
Argh.
Looks like you are logged in to me Carlie
what’s wrong?
nm that’s what i get for wading into a thread and reading only the bottom two comments
Since this seems to be the troubleshooting thread now, could anyone enlighten me as to how one makes BIIIIG fonts or Comic Sans for the inanities?
Or is a rite of initiation to discover those on one’s own? Like alchemy or summat – solis sacerdotibus?
I have tried multiple “fixes” for my problem. I am a regular reader, very, very rare commenter. I am resigned to be a -reader, nil commenter- as typepad/typekey has given conflicting information – I can sign in to typepad/typekey account via my email, but outside of my email, I get the proverbial error message.
I love the information proffered “SEED” blogs. I will continue to read but may not be able to post a question or opinion.
To PZ: I understand.
Unfortunately, I’m joining Sven. It’s planting season, and I don’t have time for this for a few months. I usually don’t have much of value to add anyway. so just reading the articles will be enough. My “paranoia runs deep” as the song goes, and I don’t like to register for anything at all (I’ve run out of those little return address stickers that every organization on the planet sends out as fund raising devices) and the only reason I even have a single e-mail address is because this is my wife’s computer. Without her, I ‘d be totally outside the loop.
Most of you are really swell folks, and have given me hope for the human race. Good luck Walton, hope life doesn’t bite your ass. Sven, RBDC, Janine, scooter – keep rockin’.
I play in a song circle at Palmer’s bar on Cedar Avenue (Minneapolis) on Wednesday’s from 5 to 7, if you’re ever there, say “hi” to Kevin.
There is one downside to all this logging and banning and registering and stuff. Now Rev BDC will never get his FINISHED. The Rev even had a place to display it by the upstairs toilet that will now go unadorned.
@ Carlie / paleomom:
Not mine – nor those of other old-timers. Last time (a few months ago?) that PZ became exasperated and enforced TypeKey use, something happened to the visible URLs during the few days of the experiment (though possibly as a coincidence and not a consequence!).
As far as I could make out, it was those of us who had oldish TK IDs whose character strings suddenly (and in a slight security breach by most standards) became their login names instead. Whereas newbies were still getting accounts with randomly generated(?), but thereafter consistent, character strings.
Hey, I’m cool with user registration. Do what you have to do PZ. No need to waste your valuable time on jackasses.
SEF – thanks for the info. Glad it’s not just me! I’m annoyed, but it’s not too much of a reveal for mine. I guess I’ll live with it and wait to see if typepad has another answer, since I thought I changed it but now it still has the original redirected to the new one (fat lot of good that is). It’s not worth ditching my registration and starting over, since I’ve had a few years of typekey stuff, but still.
When i notice a place on the net i like (like this blog, or another blog that i read) i always create an account.
I did so for type pad too some time ago.
Besides, i have nothing to hide from anybody :)
I have been admin of some forums in the netherlands and worked for several isp. I can tell you that they don’t like that kind of spamming behaviour that pzdummy did.
If that canadian isp responds the way they do in the netherlands it’s very much worth it to send them an abuse mail. If pz does zo, and several users (i’m going to send one as well) most often isp’s will listen and slap the user on the wrist. They won’t take his internet away the first time, but after he’s been warned and does it again.. he will have a problem.
And PZ, thank you for this blog. I love coming here and reading your posts and the comments of the other visitors :)
@ Sili #354:
I’m fairly certain a previous incarnation of pharyngula (even after moving to Sb) did list the allowable HTML – for anyone who bothered to explore the additional FAQs and features such as preview …
Anyhow, in its current absence, I did some re-experimenting a few threads/weeks/months ago and recorded the results.
Tags allowed: a, b, i, u, s, em, strong, strike, sub, sup, pre, blockquote, p, br, span
Also allowed: style attribute, named and numbered entities
Not allowed: small, big, tt, code, kbd, xmp, font, img, table, tr, th, td, hr, h1-h6
The thing which probably flumoxes inexperienced HTML users is the absence of “font” (or “big”/”small”) and “img”. However, the presence of other tags, eg “span”, combined with the extremely versatile “style” does make up for those very well, while significantly reducing the number of frivolous (mostly newbie) users. In that sense it’s rather like the way TK registration cuts down a lot on the dross but does so at the expense of a few worthwhile people who just don’t happen to be in on it.
So, to answer one of your questions, Comic Sans as a style can be applied to a blockquote, a paragraph or merely to span some inline text (as long as you get the magic spell just right):
<blockquote style=”font-family: Comic Sans MS”>text</blockquote>
<p style=”font-family: Comic Sans MS”>text</p>
<span style=”font-family: Comic Sans MS”>text</span>
However much I comment here while signed in through Typekey/Typepad, my account profile at the Typepad site still shows that I have “left 0 comments on 0 blogs”…
Weird!!
I have much work to do now, maybe I won’t try to get a Typepad identity before the 23rd…
:-|
I notice that three other people I’ve never seen were banned in the meantime. Reading Pharyngula does seem to have become a full-time job!
I don’t think that’s technically feasible, however, so it would require PZ to simply trust those people.
Which, of course, shouldn’t be that big of a problem either…
More importantly, however, last time PZ turned registration on, he turned it off again after a few days because there was some big bug in it. Surely that bug hasn’t been fixed? Have I missed something?
See above: Mr Markuze either doesn’t always use the same computer, or he’s got a dynamic IP address, or both.
Write
(or any other number instead of 18) respectively
inside a <p>, <span>, <blockquote> or <a> tag.
:-D
1337 inside joke.
SEF at #362, thanks for the illuminating post. Just one thing (going by my rudimentary CSS knowledge), shouldn’t there be a semicolon before the close quote mark, as in:
<blockquote style=”font-family: Comic Sans MS;“>text </blockquote>
Scienceblogs software often screws up the blockquote tag. I wish that did not happen…
On preview, the Pre tag did not work either (hence the convoluted way of writing out the code)!! :( How did you manage it?
The “class” attribute is forbidden by ScienceBlogs, too, which is particularly unfortunate because PZ created the “creationist” class to allow us to quote stuff with the Gumby background (and of course in Comic Sans).
No. The semicolon is only required as a separator if you are going to include more than one statement in the style specifier. Eg you’d need it to change the font size and colour at the same time. However, it doesn’t hurt to terminate a sole style statement with a semicolon if that makes you happier and less likely to forget to use it when you combine statements.
I see. Thank you, SEF.
Why is my
Thank you, SEF, David and Kausik.
I’m so inexperience as to not even know those solutions you say don’t work. But I’ve bookmarked SEF’s post in case I ever actually need it.
David,
Is “inside joke” and inside joke? And sorry for not italicising the Latin.
@ Kausik Datta #365:
It doesn’t happen if you stick to using explicit paragraphs, ie p tags, within the quote instead of using the implicit CR-LF enter/return key method mixed up with that.
It works in its teletype monospace sense. It does not work to absolve you of responsibility for using HTML code correctly within it.
The named entity way – for which it is vital to save your original entry text (swipe and copy to clipboard) if you’re going to use preview, because preview ruins stuff. It’s another of those local bugs.
You can still have gumbies if you really really must have gumbies.
You can have them as a ground.
You can have them round and round.
On their own or set in rows.
Anywhere a background goes.
Re-testing that impromptu Seuss-ism for line-breakage:
You can have them as a ground.
You can have them round and round.
On their own or set in rows.
Anywhere a background goes.
Aha! An amendment to the “br” tag being permitted is that you’re not allowed proper self-closing ones with the / character right next to the r.
oh boy
By not previewing. When you preview and then click “post”, what gets posted is the preview, not what you actually wrote. If you must preview, go back and then click “post”.
I’ve never needed it (at least on ScienceBlogs, haven’t tried elsewhere).
SEF, please explain how to make a background – I can only view the source code of the entire page, and it’s just too big…
No, I was merely alluding to the fact that it’s in Latin. Only insiders know Latin anymore.
But I don’t really know Latin.
I just stole it from Holy Blood, Holy Grail …
But… but… I have been told repeatedly on this forum that Preview is my friend! [innocent eyes, tears welling up]
Thank you, SEF and David, for some great pointers.
WHAT IS THIS I DONT EVEN
Although I was fortunate to be among one of the newer users for whom it kept the numeric string, it was, in my view, a major security breach. It makes me very wary of using it again, and probably nervous enough not to comment anymore if I have to do so through TypeKey. I simply don’t trust it.
The first thing you need to know is the URL for the image you want. In this case, PZ’s (transparent) little gumby is:
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/tiny_gumby_trans.gif
The second thing you need to know is the part of the magic ritual/spell which goes into the style attribute (to be applied to some suitable holding tag – probably p or blockquote rather than span):
style=”background: url($) no-repeat; width: #px; height: #px”
You put the URL where I’ve put the $ placeholder for a string. You can include the “no-repeat” if you want just a single gumby (as PZ tends to do these days). The default will be an all over “repeat” but other options are “repeat-x” or “repeat-y” (for a row or column respectively). You should only use the explicit width and height if you want to include a single image precisely (in lieu of the img tag) and will probably put an “nbsp” entity in as the nominal text contents of the tag to ensure the thing shows up at all.
Finally, you need to know how to exercise restraint. Not merely because excessive styling looks tacky all over a thread but also because Sb/PZ may take all the nice toys away if they are overused and ramp up the bandwidth of pages. Note that I’ve known how to do all these things for years and contrast that with how very few of my posts here include anything other than the bare minimum of styling for making content more readable.
Yeah the gumbys are neat but it makes it a royal pain in the ass to read over them.
Though there are a few that sure deserve them.
Just wondering whether this will work for future postings.
Why does SEF know so much? Stop knowing so much, you’re hogging all the knowledge.
Yes but as everyone knows there is only so much one person can know so it is entirely likely that SEF has sqeezed out something else when he (I’m assuming he for no reason other than I am and that I’ve never considered SEF’s sex) added the gumby knowledge.
Maybe it was how to set the clock on the microwave or how to tie a bowline knot or how to stop the Nuclear reactor from melting down.
Who knows?
sigh
squeezed
It’s more than a PITA (royal or otherwise), it basically defeats the entire purpose since it renders the content unreadable. The contrast is totally destroyed, making it impossible for those of us who don’t have the perfect eyesight of a 10year old to read whatever it was that was said.
Dammit, I signed up with that TypePad thing – shouldn’t it show up?
Trying again.
DAMN!
Yes,, that’s always a problem with background images.
Elsewhere, I’ve gone down the route of only having an area fill background (eg whole page body) and placing the text in cleared containers (eg table cells) on top of that. In other instances, I’ve created special extremely washed out backgrounds, pale for black text or dark for white text, but that relies on controlling all aspects of the display and some users may have images turned off and/or have their own font colour overrides, rendering it unreadable in another way. A further option is to make the text bolder and/or slightly larger (depending on the level of detail of the image). I’ve used that for making cartoons by placing text on pictures.
Overall though, background images are best avoided.
I’m a natural scientist, polymath / renaissance-man type and a member of the geek class (orthogonal to upper / lower / working / peasant class distinctions). Isn’t learning stuff a major motivation for many of the rest of you here?
I thought I was, somewhat riskily, disseminating it. :-/
As far as I’m aware, a virtual me (ie encapsulated in the form of code) is still successfully handling that task somewhere.
WELL NOT ALL OF US CAN LEARN NEW THINGS MISTER SMARTY PANTS
Also for the bg images: maybe try something a little lighter? if the images work by links maybe upload a washed out gumby tooops I should have read more:
see this is what I mean :[
On the plus side: for the first time I am using code thingies! Yay!
Does that mean you have learned something after all then …? ;-)
I had to forget how to tie my shoes
:[
One word: Shoelaces. You tie your shoelaces. Not your shoes.
Safety tip: Don’t tie your left shoe’s laces to your right shoe’s laces.
Test
Test
Test
Test
and so on, just to make enough space
Okay…
Test
Test
Test
Test
Test
more placeholder text
After due consideration, I won’t be registering.
I’ve been reading since Crackergate. I comment every so often but mostly I lurk. I need to stop – blogs have weirdly triggered some sort of ADD and are also feeding my ingrained procrastination tendencies. I cannot afford the time I spend here and on other blogs as I am sitting for the Bar exam this summer. And this new ADD means I have trouble concentrating on my case books. Not good at 44.
Anyway, so long and thanks for all the fish!
Good luck, BMS.
All this talk of needing to comment makes me think of yesterday’s Sinfest.
Both good pieces of advice.
If only I had read this about 3 minutes earlier.
Rev.BDC at #384 wrote:
Yeah! Can SEF play the accordion, fer instance?!
Quite possibly, as it happens! :-D My only recollection is of a little one a long time ago but I would expect to be able to take up a full-sized one and give it a plausible go, much as I have with many other musical instruments.
These days there’s velcro for shoe fastenings and many children don’t learn how to tie laces at all.
Is that (children not learning how to tie shoelaces) actually true, or is it an urban legend?
Testing. Did this work?
I know the children personally. They are not abnormal in that way for their generation. Eventually the laces did become unavoidable though, owing to certain activities. But I expect other children would have been able to carry on with only velcro trainers and slip-on shoes (including boots). I think black patent leather buckle shoes for parties still exist. Otherwise buckles are also something of a rarity these days.
As for the urban bit, I wonder whether it does differ significantly in very rural areas (other than extremes such as the Amish might represent). There would be places in other countries where flip-flops or leather sandal equivalents are more likely to be the norm.
My child had stretchy laces that look like normal ones and fit in any general shoes, but stretched enough that he could leave them tied and still use them as slip-ons. Cut down significantly on his getting dressed frustration for a few years.
SEF, “urban legend” has nothing to do with urban/rural location; it’s simply a name for modern folklore. (The Wikipedia page suggests the term “contemporary legend” should be used to avoid precisely that confusion.)
Weirdly, I’ve just realized that except for my boots, all my shoes and sandals use buckles. I (currently) have no Velcro-attached shoes at all (which is purely coincidental, I’ve no problem with Velcro).
I’m still not convinced there are significant numbers of children who can’t tie shoelaces, albeit it may be the case there is a trend to learning the trick a bit latter than when us old farts learnt.
I know that! But it did make me wonder if urban kids were more likely to be ignorant of such things than rural ones. My guess is that modern “culture” is fairly omnipresent in the UK though.
Maybe I was wrong about Silver Fox being a Poe … sigh. I guess I get my laughs where I can take ’em :)
As for the stretchy laces, Carlie, I love them. I’m not a kid anymore (um. 18. That’s not kids-age, is it?), but I like being able to not-tie my shoes all the time. Mostly because I’m always rushing out the door at the last minute and don’t have the time.
I used to wear slip-on shoes as a kid, so I didn’t learn to tie my laces until later than most–now look at me. I can’t wear slip-ons any more, as I have a high instep/arch, so I lace my shoes a bit loosely, and treat them as slip-ons, using a shoe-horn when available–and that’s only partly because it’s harder to bend over than it used to be. I worked out a knot that lasts for weeks, and find it much more convenient to avoid the whole daily tying hassle.
I tried some stretch laces years ago, and found that they really squished my foot when tight enough to keep the shoe on. Check your kid to be sure he’s comfy with them.
Just testing comment ability – all systems go..
Check, check. Just testing.
just checking my typekey account
And yet you demonstrate yourself to be one.
Turn cookies on unconditionally, surf for a month, then look at what’s in them.
So? Anything alarming in them will be information you provided to the site associated with the cookie. What problems there are with cookies, such as tracking browsing behavior, can’t be seen just but looking at them.
Try reading http://computer.howstuffworks.com/cookie5.htm and the associated articles. If you’re going to be paranoid, at least do it based on knowledge and understanding.
I have no frakkin’ idea what’s going on with that. I can’t find any options to deal with the url on the user info
They don’t let you change it because, if you did, all the links on your previous posts would be dead. You’re stuck with paleomom unless you create a new typepad ID.
everyone else’s shows up as a nice weird string of numbers and letters.
Typepad now does that to avoid your problem of being stuck with an identifier you no longer want. Note that your profile is reachable either via that permanent URL, which is used in the link on people’s posts, or the changeable profile URL (the one you presumably tried to change to make the link on your posts change).
I hope PZ Myers sees this suggestion even though it is comment number 400-something…
I’m just wondering, instead of requiring all of us to get a TypePad account, why not install OpenID?
SourBlaze, cf. #91.
No, it’s not a now thing. It’s something which was around before and which then got broken for older accounts (? that seems to be the rule) during the time of PZ’s last experiment. I actually saw it happen between page refreshes (because, being a natural scientist rather than merely a trained monkey, I’m the sort of person who continually and habitually peers at what’s going on behind things).
One moment I, and others, had a nicely anonymous code string. The next moment a whole bunch of us had our login names revealed. New (to TypeKey) people who came alongand posted didn’t. Fortunately (or, rather, by design!), I’d been relatively discreet all along. Other people hadn’t.
Sympatico is usually pretty good about dealing with those who use their service to spam.
Especially if ALL of us complain about one user, they can act to stop him. It’ll only be temporary (until he gets set up with Videotron) but it will still be a nice break for the rest of us. :)
@ PZ #91:
Actually, I’m provisionally going to blame you – at least in part. Though not at all for MT failing to provide you with decent tools in the first place.
I’ve been googling to see whether other people had similar problems (since I can’t see far enough behind the scenes here to check all your setup directly) and I found this:
http://markpasc.org/code/mt/openid_comments/
That chap says that the fundamental incompatibility is on the requiring of an email address (ie not on use of MT per se):
It’s possible that’s also what’s stopping some or all of the other ID schemes from working.
BRAVO!!!! CHEERS!!!!
Nobody can blame you PZ!
Looking a bit further, at TypePad/TypeKey’s account of its operations:
http://support.typepad.com/cgi-bin/typepad.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1338
It looks as though what some people are getting in their TypeKey URL behind their names here is the site-token (or at least 18 characters of something like that, since that FAQ shows 20 characters) while others get the URL formed from their login name.
However, while I was examining this, there has been another shift in behaviour. Now, when you click on the link of some of those anonymous code-string holders, the page redirects to one which has the login name in it instead. Eg: “nothing’s sacred” ended up as a “nothing_sacred” URL, whereas “blf” remained in anonymous code-string form (as did “DebinOz”, “Scooter Dee” and “Leigh Williams”).
It appears that TypeKey simply can’t be trusted on that front.
Meanwhile, there’s probably still that impersonation problem (due to the field Sb uses for deciding to indicate blog ownership in comments) …
Oy. Is there any reason he’s stuck with Typekey (as in a Seed requirement) or can he go to a different type of registration, I wonder?
Some one has to keep the compete idiots out or there is no discussion at all.
However, a bit of opposition is also good as it makes us think and, hopefully, our responses makes them think.
A blog where all we do is pat each other on the back will get boring pretty fast.
One datapoint: I’m not a kid anymore (however immature), but I didn’t learn to tie my laces till I was approaching my teens (as I recall it). Couldn’t get any velcro after that for some reason.
Currently I have mainly laced shoes (and a pair of winterboots), but also loafers and one velcroed pair.
At #400 SEF wrote:
Making people jump through hoops so that they may post won’t stop anybody who really wants to post – regardless of their intentions.
An IP-based blocking system seems worth thinking about, but forum moderation by a few dedicated Pharyngulizers may be our best bet.
In the interest of keeping communication honest and worthwhile, something needed to be done. Here’s to open discussion!
Cheers.
Just testing the TypeKey.. Should work fine, but one never knows.
@ Biomusician #425
As described earlier by PZ, it’s not so much that he expects this system to stop the trolls but that he expects it to make cleaning up after them much easier – because the work of finding all their account’s posts, littering the various threads, will be done for him automatically.
OK PZ all signed in
what next, you want I should send the boys around to turn Mabus into a Möbius.
And before anyone goes off the deep end, its a joke OK…..
yes his behaviour would seem to be in vioolation of his ISP’s acceptable Use Policy
http://service.sympatico.ca/index.cfm?method=content.view&content_id=938
I wonder if this worked.
Maybe I’m old fashioned or something, but how can you tell if someone can actually play an accordion?
test