Comments

  1. raven says

    They’re looking good so far.

    I wish but so far, they are looking like they are on a shakedown cruise and finding a lot of bugs.

    I followed a few blogs from Patheos to OnlySky.
    The comment program they are using is way underpowered compared to Disqus, which is what Patheos used. It also is buggy and sends large numbers of comments to moderation for no visible reason. It doesn’t support HTML which is a basic function that most comment programs support.

    I do wish them well and hope they manage to join the 21st century blogging standards.

    My observation, which is typical, is that blogging is a form of social media. If you allow comments and have a good feature supporting comment program, it vastly increases your readership. Because we like to be interactive and engaged and be participants as well as readers.

  2. billseymour says

    I just tried it and it seems to be mostly eye candy.  There’s actual content; but it’s difficult to find; and when you do load an actual blog post, adds for Only Sky itself seem to take up as much space as the text.

    Also, whenever I move from one page to another, it asks me yet again to allow cookies for things like advertising.  That’s not what I would consider a trusted website, and I don’t think I’l be back.

  3. says

    billseymour @ #3:

    Also, whenever I move from one page to another, it asks me yet again to allow cookies for things like advertising.

    Yeah, that’s really annoying and unacceptable.

  4. ORigel says

    There are good bloggers at OnlySky, including Captain Cassidy and Neil Carter. However, the commenting system sucks so far– they seem to have a nanny filter, you cannot upload images, comments go into moderation for no reason, no editing option, no bolding or italicizing text…I wish it used a halfway decent commenting system like Disqus.

  5. blf says

    @3/@4, That only happens (for me) when I open the page in a new tab. For me, if you open the page in the same tab (obviously replacing the current page), the cookie-question does not appear again.

  6. billseymour says

    blf @6:  I did open the new pages in the same tab.  It’s more likely due to my having third-party cookies turned off in my browser (Firefox).

  7. blf says

    @8, Interesting. So do I (also using Firefox, on Linux). However, I have other protections — VPN, various filters & blockers, and other measures — and I suppose what I’m seeing might be connected (e.g., almost certainly the reason I’m not being bothered by any ads). In any case, there is something badly borked about the cookie policy implementation (I didn’t check the actual policy itself). And I concur the layout heavily leans to the whiz-bang distractions (“eye candy”) than anything easy-to-use or comprehend (it took me a surprisingly long time before I found any new (dated this year) content).

  8. larpar says

    Not really a launch, more of a fizzle. Remember the MythBusters episode where they tried using gummy bears as rocket fuel. A few sparks out the bottom, no lift, then the nose cone and parachute fell off.
    Also, I signed up for email notification of the launch a month ago and still no notification, so I don’t know if they are officially launched or if they opened some blogs early to work the bugs out.

  9. billseymour says

    PZ @11:

    Every blog network has these kinds of glitches when they’re set up. I’ll give them time to shakedown.

    Generally a good idea, but in this case, I think I have to disagree.  It seems to have been set up more to be flashy than to be informative, kind of like my local TV news, and not a problem that’s likely to be fixed.

    I hope I’m wrong.  I guess I’ll try again in a few months.

  10. birgerjohansson says

    OT
    Meat Loaf has rocked away on a motorbike at age 74. He was too cool to need an afterlife, he lives on in our hearts.

  11. Reginald Selkirk says

    In need of ‘fake healing’? New Age meets Ice Age at Lake Harriet’s Art Shanty Projects

    Before entering the shanty, participants recite the three commandments of fake healing: We do not have any healing powers. We do not need any healing. But we are going to do the best we can with what we have.

    Gray offered the group some “holy medicine” and then shouted: “Tin foil is life!” Smavy had everyone chant “you are released!” 10 times. Waytuz hummed a song, “Summertime,” and everyone sang along.

  12. says

    Great American Satan@18

    If my guess is correct, a network news (usenet) reader from way back. To my surprise it’s still alive.

    You could say that reddit is kind of a usenet clone. Except that usenet is distributed.
    It’s like a group of public e-mail lists, organized by topic but duplicated over several servers.

    Not sure how many providers still carry usenet these days.

  13. davidc1 says

    Ed Brayton’s Dispatches From the Culture Wars is on Patheos .It is still accepting comments from his loyal
    readers. But still getting comments left by wackaloons like jose antonio.
    Don’t know what is going to happen to it.