Comments on This Blog

I have received several emails lately from FMF readers who have tried to leave comments. In many cases, they seemingly posted the comments only to have them disappear. I have been working with Typepad (my blog software and host) to try and determine what the problem is, but they can't seem to crack it.The situation is made worse by the fact that there seems to be no pattern to the problem. It's not like all comments are blocked as I have had hundreds of comments left over the past week. Just some seem to get caught and lost somehow.

If you've had this problem, please send me an email with a DETAILED (the more detail the better -- which post, how long was it, what browser were you using, and so on) explanation of what happened. This information will be vital to helping them sort out the issue.

As most of you know, I do not delete comments as a matter of policy. Spam comments do get deleted as do some that are offensive (name calling, bad language, etc.) or useless (like "great post.") But I usually error on the side of keeping as many comments up as possible. Even those that seem like they are left to help with keyword Google "juice" are often left up if they are valid (though I do change the keyword.) Bottom line: if you've left a valid comment here and it's not showing up, it's not because I've deleted it. It's because the system has somehow eaten it. Hopefully, we can get this resolved quickly.

Thanks for your help and understanding.

Comments

[Michael Goode]

Great post! lol

[jim]

Once in a while I've caught myself leaving a comment, hitting the "POST" button and then going on to other things assuming it was posted. But then I browse back to this window and notice that the 'captcha' code box came up and I didn't even notice it. It seems sometimes the captcha didn't show up so I could see it on the screen and I'd have to scroll down past the previewed version of my comment to notice the captcha code box below. I saw the previewed version of my comment and just assumed it was posted but didn't notice I had to take the extra step to fill in the captcha prompts. Its possible this could be happening to other people. Or the software could be randomly eating posts or thinking stuff is spam. Spam filters have a tendency to be very wrong randomly.

[Old Limey]

My problem only happens under this situation.
1) I have entered a lengthy post and by the time I am ready to click on "Post" I get the "We cannot accept your post" message.
2) I then use the Edit command at the top of the window to "Paste" the post into the window buffer.
3) I then try again, as follows:
In the "Post a comment" window I type a single character which activates the Post and Preview boxes.
I then use the Edit command to "Copy" the contents of the window buffer into the comment box.
Everything looks good so I just delete the single character at the top of my post and click on "Post".
4) I receive the reply that my comment as been posted however the anti-spam box of a few blurry characters does not show up.
I then refresh my screen and my post is nowhere to be seen.
I have even saved my post to a file, restarted my computer and go back starting at step 3). This also produces the same outcome.

For your information I have used this technique ever since I started posting and it has always worked up until about a week ago.

[Old Limey]

Also for your information the post that I just entered at 12:52pm did not present me with the anti spam box of blurry characters and yet, as you see, it is there OK.

Bottom line - Typepad has made a change recently that is causing the problem.

[FMF]

Old Limey --

What browser are you using?

[Old Limey]

Likewise, the 12.55pm post did not present me with the anti-spam box.

[Old Limey]

I am using Internet Explorer 8
Version 8.0.6001.18702IC

[Old Limey]

A simple remedy that would eliminate the problem I have experienced would be to merely increase the elapsed time before the "We cannot accept your post" message appears, such as doubling it.