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So, since this site went up three days ago, we've made tremendous progress in getting this site up and functional, and many of you gone above and beyond to try and give us content and provide meaningful comments. I'm completely blown away to say the least. I've got some big news to share, and a list of site improvements made over the last few days. Read on for more details ...Moderation: IT WORKS! I finished implementing the algorithm last night, and purging slash of the old one so they won't conflict. The new algorithm is somewhat of a radical departure from the old one. I won't go into full details in this post, but there's a good write-up in my comments here.
Comment Counts: Got these working (again). ACs will only see a static HTML page which is updated every once in awhile. Logged-in users get the dynamic index which should have up-to-date counts. The fix is a bit wonky, so it might snap again. Let me know ASAP as the moderation scripts depend on this number being present (and correct!)
Theme: As you may have noticed, the site looks less ass. Due to the heroic efforts of audioguy, Paul, and others, we've gotten a steady stream of CSS fixes to make the site look and feel more consistent. Its not perfect (Firefox still has width issues), but its a fair improvement. This is one of the last major launch blockers
Topics: Finally got them implemented after we snapped the site in two last night. For the moment, they're all sharing the same icon, so it seems kinda unimpressive, but hopefully we'll have the art assets sometime soon to get them in place. Editors will notice I updated the labels to make them a bit clearer; two important notes on this: For an article to show up you MUST have "The Main Page" in the topic list (slash will complain if you don't have it).
Signoff Requirements: A new feature of SoylentNews requires that editors must have a peer sign-off an article before it can be displayed to the world. Slash has some limited support for this, and I got it working last night. For editors, stories are now marked in red and state "unsigned" on the index if only one person has edited it. Right now, this check is not enforced, but I plan to hopefully address that soon. For the moment, editors can future date and use the buddy system to get things checked off properly so we can have consistent formatting and quality.
Other Changes: I stripped out some of the dead features that I probably won't have time to fix before launch like OpenID login, and fixed the admin spellchecker. I also have a couple of ideas to get varnish going I need to bounce off Robin.
Comment Counts: Got these working (again). ACs will only see a static HTML page which is updated every once in awhile. Logged-in users get the dynamic index which should have up-to-date counts. The fix is a bit wonky, so it might snap again. Let me know ASAP as the moderation scripts depend on this number being present (and correct!)
Theme: As you may have noticed, the site looks less ass. Due to the heroic efforts of audioguy, Paul, and others, we've gotten a steady stream of CSS fixes to make the site look and feel more consistent. Its not perfect (Firefox still has width issues), but its a fair improvement. This is one of the last major launch blockers
Topics: Finally got them implemented after we snapped the site in two last night. For the moment, they're all sharing the same icon, so it seems kinda unimpressive, but hopefully we'll have the art assets sometime soon to get them in place. Editors will notice I updated the labels to make them a bit clearer; two important notes on this: For an article to show up you MUST have "The Main Page" in the topic list (slash will complain if you don't have it).
Signoff Requirements: A new feature of SoylentNews requires that editors must have a peer sign-off an article before it can be displayed to the world. Slash has some limited support for this, and I got it working last night. For editors, stories are now marked in red and state "unsigned" on the index if only one person has edited it. Right now, this check is not enforced, but I plan to hopefully address that soon. For the moment, editors can future date and use the buddy system to get things checked off properly so we can have consistent formatting and quality.
Other Changes: I stripped out some of the dead features that I probably won't have time to fix before launch like OpenID login, and fixed the admin spellchecker. I also have a couple of ideas to get varnish going I need to bounce off Robin.
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Massive Site Progress - Status for 02/16
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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Logicians have but ill defined
As rational the human kind.
Logic, they say, belongs to man,
But let them prove it if they can.
-- Oliver Goldsmith
(Score: 5, Informative) by NCommander on Sunday February 16 2014, @01:41PM
Fun bit of trivia: neither admins nor editors have unlimited mod points. We get them just the same way as you (and the same rules of restrictions apply). SuperAdmins can access the Security page and use to mass-mod (or use the "bitchslap" script) if we need to fight spam on a massive scale. I *might* make it so editors can post at a higher moderation level (i.e.,
Also, since I fixed moderation, you guys are going to mod this up to +5, right?
Still always moving
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Vanderhoth on Sunday February 16 2014, @01:47PM
"Now we know", "And knowing is half the battle". -G.I. Joooooe
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 17 2014, @11:57AM
I am seeing an issue with moderation. Whenever I mod a post, the page refreshes and takes me back to the top of the page. This will be a big problem with posts containing a large number of comments.
Posting Anonymously to save my mods.
(Score: 2, Funny) by martyb on Sunday February 16 2014, @01:48PM
Amazing work! Hats off to all involved!!!!!!!
Will do, as soon as I can GET some mod points! :-)
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 1) by xlefay on Sunday February 16 2014, @01:49PM
(Score: 1) by NCommander on Sunday February 16 2014, @01:54PM
Still always moving
(Score: 1) by martyb on Sunday February 16 2014, @02:02PM
NCommander wrote:
Oh, I *KNOW* that! I was just hoping someone would take the hint to mod ME up! THEN I could moderate you up, later!!
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 2, Informative) by NCommander on Sunday February 16 2014, @02:03PM
Still always moving
(Score: 3, Interesting) by martyb on Sunday February 16 2014, @02:11PM
That makes sense... thanks for the tip!
Would love to stay and play, but I need to head off to my day job... will be back this evening.
BTW, how do I set things up so that I see all comments expanded on Classic? I just see "headlines" for all the comments here. I set the thresholds to be be very generous, or so I thought.
And, while I've got your attention, one of the things I wished for on /. was the ability to export a summary of all my settings, so that if I play around with something and don't like it, I can find my way back to how I had things before. I dunno, XML, JSON, or even just a plain text summary page with all my settings displayed would be a huge win for me.
Might also make it easier for people to submit bug reports. Just an idea. Keep up the great work - absolutely amazing progress!!!!!
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 2, Informative) by martyb on Sunday February 16 2014, @02:17PM
I know it's bad form to reply to myself, but to save others the need to reply, I wrote:
Never mind... found in my preferences that I had the index mode threshold set to +3; just set it to 0 (zero) and now it's all clear!
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 2, Informative) by NCommander on Sunday February 16 2014, @02:23PM
Still always moving
(Score: 1) by martyb on Sunday February 16 2014, @02:26PM
Nested? Oh yeah. I had that already! That's one of things I loved about the old site. Glad to see it made it over unscathed!
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 1) by ticho on Sunday February 16 2014, @08:25PM
Nested is what I use as well. I never understood how Threaded mode was supposed to be useful, it is pretty awkward. But maybe it's just me missing something about it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 17 2014, @11:48AM
Yes, yes it does! Thank you kindly for the suggestion, in addition to everything else.
(Score: 4, Funny) by NCommander on Sunday February 16 2014, @01:56PM
Still always moving
(Score: 1) by Nerdfest on Sunday February 16 2014, @05:33PM
This is a great idea. I think the humour of the SlashDot crowd is some of the best available, frequently jaw-droppingly funny. It'll be nice to have it rewarded a little more.
(Score: 4, Funny) by dilbert on Monday February 17 2014, @12:34PM
What is this 'SlashDot' you refer to?
(Score: 1) by omoc on Sunday February 16 2014, @05:46PM
I'm curious how modpoints are handed out now, is it a cronjob that runs at fixed hours or does it happen on the fly?
(Score: 1) by crutchy on Tuesday February 18 2014, @11:02AM
in div id "commentwrap", TFA title, preferences, top and search discussion links are blue on a maroon background... can barely read
(Score: 4, Interesting) by janrinok on Sunday February 16 2014, @02:03PM
While many have been involved in varying degrees in the creation of this site, the majority of the work has been done by a relatively small group of very hard working individuals. To them I send a genuine 'Thank You'.
I am taking part in, for me at least, a very exciting project and I've discovered how little I know about lots of things that many of you take for granted. It has been difficult at time, frustrating at others - and I've loved every minute of it! If we can maintain the enthusiasm that I have seen during this last week or so, SN cannot fail!
Thanks to everyone.
(Score: 1) by Covalent on Sunday February 16 2014, @03:08PM
You can't rationally argue somebody out of a position they didn't rationally get into.
(Score: 1) by mtrycz on Sunday February 16 2014, @03:43PM
It's really great to see all this progress in realtime.
In capitalist America, ads view YOU!
(Score: 1) by Gaaark on Sunday February 16 2014, @02:24PM
This has been extremely interesting and the whole process has taught me a lot...
Thanks to all involved for the efforts given.
I shall now 'Use the Preview Button!' and 'Check those URLs!'
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Popeidol on Sunday February 16 2014, @04:04PM
While the signoff requirements are initially to help with quality control issues, the idea has a bit of promise long term. By requiring some level of peer review, you're basically introducing meta-moderation into the editing process.
It could lead to a larger pool of editors with a much lower workload, it could be used to identify if an editor has an obvious bias for certain subjects or sites, or it could just be used to subject new editors to a more rigorous check than established ones. There's a whole raft of possibilities here.
Sites like reddit base their posts on raw popular opinion, but I like my content curated. This idea could, eventually, become a solid middle ground between the two extremes.
(Score: 1) by mrbluze on Sunday February 16 2014, @07:45PM
I agree fully. The system now is quite honest and open but also rock solid. I reckon at some point there should be an article on just how much power admins HAD with the old slash.
Do it yourself, 'cause no one else will do it yourself.
(Score: 1) by Solaarius on Monday February 17 2014, @06:11AM
This.
If there was ever going to be a fundamental change to the way the site worked, why not start here. Much like Wikipedia's content is created by the community, I really like the idea of a discussion site with primarily user-generated articles (i.e. published by users, not just stories submitted by users) .
Keep up the good work, folks!
(Score: 1) by rcamera on Thursday February 20 2014, @08:07PM
i know i'm a newb here (4-digit-uuid),but here's an original thought; allow anonymous submissions to some sort of system which we can call "firehose", which anyone can up/down vote a submission. once they get voted high enough, the editor (without so much as a proofread) accepts the submission.
brilliant!
(patent pending)
/* no comment */
(Score: 2, Informative) by Foobar Bazbot on Sunday February 16 2014, @05:02PM
Was the other important note something to do with drinking your ovaltine?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Khyber on Sunday February 16 2014, @06:00PM
Having been watching this almost since its inception, I've been quite happy to say the progress made here is far more measurable than any other site I've visited, and everything so far seems to be shaping up quite nicely!
Just a small group of people have almost faithfully recreated the slashdot of yore. Now we just need to get the older crowd here.
Destroying Semiconductors With Style Since 2008, and scaring you ill-educated fools since 2013.
(Score: 1) by janrinok on Sunday February 16 2014, @06:40PM
How much older do you want me to be - I was born in 1952!
(Score: 1) by unitron on Sunday February 16 2014, @07:23PM
"How much older do you want me to be - I was born in 1952!"
Yeah, some of us are getting older as fast as we can, whether we want to or not.
something something Slashcott something something Beta something something
(Score: 1) by bigjimslade on Monday February 17 2014, @07:51AM
are you talking vacuum tube old?
or are you talking discrete transistor old?
or through-hole IC old?
or surface mount IC old?
or BGA old....oh wait, that's not old.
(how about finned selenium rectifier old)
Remember, Tuesday is Soylent Green Day
(Score: 1) by Khyber on Monday February 17 2014, @08:00AM
Shellac audio old!
Destroying Semiconductors With Style Since 2008, and scaring you ill-educated fools since 2013.
(Score: 1) by DECbot on Tuesday February 18 2014, @12:37AM
or string and tin can old?
or pen and paper old?
or tablet and chisel old?
or club and forehead old?
I doubt you'll see too much of the club and forehead crowd, but then again, neo-club to forehead communication never seems to be too far out of style.
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 1) by pacov on Monday February 17 2014, @11:18AM
Have to agree the speed which my new home was brought into existence is simply amazing. I quite like the layout and look forward to seeing the direction the founders take the site.
Thank you all for the hard work you put in during the transition!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 16 2014, @07:53PM
T͢o̧ ͢i͢ńvoke ҉th̀e ̴h͏i͢ve̵-mi҉nd͞ rep҉ŗe͏se͢ntin͝g̷ c͢haos̴.
In͏v͏o͜kin͘g the feel̀įn͢g ̷of ̛cha̧os.̷
̨Wi͝th̴ ̧o͢ut̨ ̕o̸rder.̶
The̵ ̡N҉e̴z̛p͝e҉rdia̷n̢ ̴hi͡v҉e-mi͟nd҉ ҉o͠f ch͠ao̢s͟. Zalg͠o̢.
̸H҉e w̶h̛o W̕a͞i͝ts ̨Behi͏n̨d͏ T̀h̢e҉ W͡a҉ll̵.
͞Z̸A͡L͝GO͠!̵
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 16 2014, @08:17PM
Unicode emoticons...
ಠ_ಠ /╲/\╭ºoꍘoº╮/\╱\ /:€
Ծ_Ծ
ಠ~ಠ
ఠ_ఠ
ಠ_ರೃ
ಠ_ృ
ಠ╭╮ಠ
◔_◔
⥀.⥀
⊙_ʘ
◴_◶
◕ ◡ ◕
(๏̯͡๏﴿
(͡๏̯͡๏)
◔̯◔
⊙︿⊙
◕︵◕
●︵•
◉︵◉
ಡ_ಡ
ಥ_ಥ
ಢ_ಢ
ಢ_ಥ
⊙﹏⊙
( ﾟoﾟ)
⋋_⋌
〴⋋_⋌〵
ಠ益ಠ
ヽ(｀Д´)ﾉ
(ノ≥∇≤)ノ
(︶ε︶メ)
˚▱˚
⊙▂⊙
⊙▃⊙
(ΘεΘ;)
(ﾟヮﾟ)
〓D
(´ー`)
(´▽`)
(ﾟ＊ﾟ)
(｡･_･｡)
♥╭╮♥
≖◡ಎ≖
(///_ಥ)
(≥_'o’)> ♥ ‘o’)> v( ‘.’ )v ‘.’)> v( ‘.’ )v
♪┏(・o･)┛♪┗ ( ･o･) ┓♪┏ ( ) ┛♪┗ (･o･ ) ┓♪┏(･o･)┛♪
Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ
(* ･(ｴ)･ *)
(\/) (°,,°) (\/)
⊛ठ̯⊛
ತಟತ
’;‘
˚⌇˚
ಈ_ಈ
ⓧ_ⓧ
⨂_⨂
✖_✖
×̯×
‹•.•›
•ﺑ•
(० ्०)
ôヮô
¢‿¢
!⑈ˆ~ˆ!⑈
•(⌚_⌚)•
(▰˘◡˘▰)
۹ↁﮌↁ
乂◜◬◝乂
ತ_ಎತ
ಠﭛಠ
⏠⏝⏠
⇎_⇎
흫_흫
句_句
໖_໖
༺‿༻
ಠ , ಥ
१✌◡✌५
१|˚–˚|५
โ๏௰๏ใ ื
◜㍕◝
◷_௰◴
◎ܫ◎
(˚ㄥ_˚)
(˚இ˚)
ộ_ộ
◘_◘
◙‿◙
δﺡό
⊂•⊃_⊂•⊃
ح˚ᆺ˚ว
❂‿❂
❐‿❑
☾˙❀‿❀˙☽
(ΘL_Θ)
●¿_●
《〠_〠》
حᇂﮌᇂ)
ಠ︵ಠ凸
┌∩┐(>_)┌∩┐
‹^› ‹(•¿•)› ‹^›
✄————-
╰▄︻▄╯
▄︻┻┳═一
(̅_̅_̅_̅(̅_̅_̅_̅_̅_̅_̅̅_̅()ڪے
( ̲̅:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅[̲̅ ̲̅]̲̅:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅)
ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡
lıllı ((((|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|̲̅̅=̲̅̅|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|)))) ıllı
┣▇▇▇═──
┣▇▇▇═───────────
╰☆╮
ϟ
source: wrttn dot me slash 30dbfd
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 16 2014, @08:52PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 16 2014, @08:56PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 16 2014, @09:01PM
Ｗｉｄｅ ｃｈａｒａｃｔｅｒｓ．．．
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 16 2014, @09:16PM
∀(x, y ∈ A ∪ B; x ≠ y) x² - y² ≥ 0
(Score: 1) by cx on Monday February 17 2014, @12:58PM
So how does this work? I just paste Unicode characters?
∀(x, y ∈ A ∪ B; x ≠y) x² - y² ≥ 0
(Score: 1) by cx on Monday February 17 2014, @01:01PM
Obviously not. Anyone able to provide a hint?
(Score: 1) by Non Sequor on Tuesday February 18 2014, @12:55AM
Pimp tight!
Write your congressman. Tell him he sucks.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 16 2014, @09:34PM
ಠ︵ಠ凸 ｆｕｃｋ ｂｅｔａ
(Score: 1) by combatserver on Monday February 17 2014, @12:59AM
Dear God...for a moment there I thought you were testing CAPTCHAs.
I hope I can change this later...
(Score: 1) by umafuckitt on Sunday February 16 2014, @08:24PM
It's been wonderful to watch the process unfold and I'm really impressed with the speed and dedication of those involved. Thanks everyone!
(Score: 3, Informative) by Dopefish on Sunday February 16 2014, @09:10PM
This SoylentNews project is taking off faster than I would have envisioned it. I have a great team to work with, bugs are being quashed left and right, and quality submissions are flowing it at a decent pace. Thank you all for making this possible!
(Score: 1) by pbnjoe on Monday February 17 2014, @09:57AM
Hear, hear. Just a few days ago this site was a single wiki page; now it's flown out the gate. Thanks to all the hard work going on around here!
(Score: 2) by deimios on Monday February 17 2014, @09:16AM
Can we have part of the summary in the description tag in the RSS feed?
(Score: 1) by VLM on Monday February 17 2014, @02:13PM
Missed a golden opportunity to launch on the hostname beta.soylentnews.org.
There's still time if you want to put in a CNAME or redirect.
Aside from that, I'm guessing "contribute story" has a karma threshold or something?
(Score: 2, Funny) by iWantToKeepAnon on Monday February 17 2014, @03:56PM
Just after its TV broadcast and before the sleep cycle, NASA asks 13 to stir the tanks. I always yell "DON'T STIR THE TANKS!" They never listen. :-/
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." -- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 17 2014, @07:43PM
Former Slashdot(RIP) user here...
I just want to give you guys a heads up about a cool Greasemonkey script which works on Soylent News:
Slashdot Expandable Comment Tree v2
Adds [+][-] symbols next to all comments allowing you to expand and collapse any of them for viewing.4 [userscripts.org]
The script is here-----http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/3818
To modify the script to work on SoylentNews:
Open the script in a text editor, and add this line:
// @include http*://*soylentnews.org/*
Cheers
--AC
(Score: 1) by Litron286 on Thursday February 20 2014, @11:20AM
This should be implemented without additional scripts
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2014, @03:01PM
As a developer, I can accept a few hiccups and gotchas along the way to building a solid site. One minor beef I have is how the MOD points are applied (note, I am posting AC as I have been awarding mod points. I go by bucc5062 (#699)). On the "other site", when I awarded mod points they would be reflected right away. In the case of SN I feel like I've gone back to the early 2000s where I select the comments I want to mod, read the rest then click 'Moderate' which applies all the changes at once. Meh! Since it tosses me back to the beginning I have to go to the end of all comments or scroll back down. It also does not adjust my mod points till applied so if I go all mod crazy I can over spend and get spanked later.
If I was a developer in PHP I'd be happy to help on this one, but I can only point out what I feel was a good process. The old style wont stop me from enjoying SN, but it would make moderating less onerous. All in all, Well Done!!
(Score: 1) by bucc5062 on Tuesday February 18 2014, @03:03PM
Is this a bug? Now I am posting as me since SN was pretty clear I lost the points I awarded to others.
The more things change, the more they look the same
(Score: 1) by quacking duck on Tuesday February 18 2014, @06:13PM
That is how it's worked on /. for awhile now, months at least (when I ran into the same issue); possibly years if it's unchanged in the source code SN is using.
(Score: 1) by bucc5062 on Tuesday February 18 2014, @07:21PM
Having mod points on the other site I tested that supposition and turns out you are incorrect. If I award points then in the same article post AC those awards are not removed.
Not a big thing here, but it is a difference. After reading the daily summary I see now why the old system is in place (D1 vs D2). Makes sense.
The more things change, the more they look the same
(Score: 1) by Non Sequor on Thursday February 20 2014, @01:50AM
I believe the other site revokes mods if you post anonymously while logged in.
Write your congressman. Tell him he sucks.