I think these threads would be more helpful (4.00 / 4)

if you posted some sense of what has already been added to the list of things to be fixed, what is under discussion, and what is out. Or maybe you could post a list of the issues already identified in earlier threads (maybe with a poll?)  

On another note, I'd suggest moving some things from the front page - like Liberal Institutions, Older Campaigns or State Blogs. Maybe these could be links on the top (like Home and About...) or they could stay where they are and expand (i.e. click on Liberal Institutions to see the list, but not necessarily load them when you come to the site.)

Support a Pennsylvania Progressive for Governor - Joe Hoeffel

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by: David Kaib @ Sat Nov 21, 2009 at 14:09:47 PM CST

I would like to be able to show disagreement with a (4.00 / 1)

comment without rating it as a troll.  Maybe 5 for agreement, 1 for disagreement, and 0 for troll.  Also there should be a rating system for the Quick Hits comments.

Thanks,

Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me-and I welcome their hatred. - FDR

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by: FLGibsonJr @ Sat Nov 21, 2009 at 14:16:41 PM CST

I'm not sure if this is a good idea... (0.00 / 0)

..but that's mainly based on the fact that I often go against the flow and certainly would collect a lot of the 1s. However, wouldn't it be better to make "0" the rate for disagreement, and use a "H" to hide the comment? This way, folks who more often use other sites (I'm looking at you, Kossacks!) could continue their horrible habbit of "0" rating totally reasonable, but controversial comments, and we would still have a tool to hide real trollish and abusive stuff.

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by: Gray @ Sat Nov 21, 2009 at 17:32:54 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Uh, the main idea for using a letter instead of a cypher... (0.00 / 0)

...for hiding comments, is, of course, that lots of people would misunderstand "0" simply as a rating for stronger disagreement. By using "H" instead for hiding comments it would be obvious that this isn't a "rating", but a way to make a really trollish or abusive comment "go way".

I know that this means the database field has to get redefined from integer to string, and that this would require some new code, but this shouldn't be too hard to implement.

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by: Gray @ Sat Nov 21, 2009 at 17:37:15 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I'd rather not see this happen. (4.00 / 1)

If someone wants to disagree, they should post a comment, like I'm doing now.  That's how you have a productive discussion.  Otherwise, it's far too easy to just get "disagree" ratings without any sense as to why, which kinda defeats the purpose.

I prefer recommending comments that either share my viewpoint ("I agree") or are well thought out even if I don't always agree with them ("I recommend others read this").  Also, it's the comments I disagree with that are often the ones that make me think the most, even if I don't have time to respond to them.  For that reason alone, I wouldn't want to give them a low rating.  I want to encourage debate, not stifle it.

If you don't fight, you can't win.
Never give up. Never Surrender.

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by: Gabriel D @ Sat Nov 21, 2009 at 22:11:00 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I'm sure this is just about the most frequent suggestion you get... (haven't read previous threads) (0.00 / 0)

but upgrading the Quick Hits comment threads to support comment rating and also have them show up in Your Comments would be appreciated.

Also, a place to post quick mini-diaries -- basically just like a Quick Hit, except not only strictly for news -- would also be nice.

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by: illissius @ Sat Nov 21, 2009 at 15:09:57 PM CST

Set a fixed width on each column (4.00 / 2)

My pages load slowly (because our DSL line is really really far from the phone company substation and we have old, dirty copper wires). The main page loads first -- which is good -- but then as the two columns to the right load, the main page shrinks in size in two jumps. If I'm reading a diary, it gets reflowed into the smaller frames twice, which disrupts my reading.

Could you please just set fixed width columns for the three columns so that they all stay the same width as they load. Thanks.

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by: RandomNonviolence @ Sat Nov 21, 2009 at 17:15:58 PM CST

Not that good an idea. (0.00 / 0)

Fixed width will prevent the page from being scalable. For people with bigger screens, this would result in a lot of the screen being white or gray. And for people with a lower resolution, this would result in them having to scroll the page horizontally.

I understand that the page can only be scaled to fit the width if the content has been completely loaded, roght?

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by: Gray @ Sat Nov 21, 2009 at 17:42:07 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I already see tons of gray on either side. (0.00 / 0)

And I don't run my browser full screen.  But it's about the same size as DKos, so I'm not going to complain about that.

I think the thing that annoys me most about the column widths is that the two columns on the right take up nearly half the width of the entire page.  I know the Quick Hits and user diaries are listed in one of those columns, but do they really need to take up that much extra width?

Really, I think the two right columns should be merged into one.  That would free up a ton of space for the main content, and it would make the whole blog feel more open.  Also, as you scroll down a page, you'll notice the right hand columns are blank rather early compared to the main column content.  This is an egregious waste of space, IMO.  DKos does a decent job in this regard.  The rightmost column is only there on the front page.  Once you open a diary or front page story, that column disappears, giving more space to the content and comments.  I'm not saying emulate DKos entirely, but I don't think it would hurt to copy that aspect of their design.

If you don't fight, you can't win.
Never give up. Never Surrender.

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by: Gabriel D @ Sat Nov 21, 2009 at 22:29:15 PM CST

[ Parent ]

"take up nearly half the width of the entire page" (0.00 / 0)

Still, that's not too bad. Just look at the A-blog or the new Salon design! Almost no space left for the text. Which begs the question: What is the purpose of those sites, providing content or navigation links and ads?

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by: Gray @ Sun Nov 22, 2009 at 03:38:53 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Well, if you're going to start making this all relative.... (0.00 / 0)

Yeah, this site's not too bad.  But I thought the idea was how to make this site better compared to how it is now, not compared to how other sites are.  Be a leader, not a follower! ;)

If you don't fight, you can't win.
Never give up. Never Surrender.

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by: Gabriel D @ Sun Nov 22, 2009 at 14:02:21 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Leader? Me? Not a good idea. (0.00 / 0)

I'm much too often confused about the right direction!
:D

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by: Gray @ Thu Nov 26, 2009 at 06:30:23 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Fluid-Fixed-Fixed (0.00 / 0)

is how it should be set up.

I get annoyed by that too - it looks like all three columns are set up with widths of 100%. If you just change the right two columns to their actual pixel width (since they never change anyway) then the blog posts won't shift twice as the two columns load their content. That's particularly annoying when I'm reading on my iPhone.

But what the hell are you guys doing using tables instead of DIVs anyway? ;)

Join the fight to give students a real voice on campus: Forstudentpower.org.

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by: Liberaltarian @ Sun Nov 22, 2009 at 10:17:44 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Make the comments page wider and the indents smaller. (0.00 / 0)

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by: bmull @ Sat Nov 21, 2009 at 19:40:30 PM CST

How do you rate a comment? (0.00 / 0)

I've seen that my comments are rated, but I don't know how to do this. Also, what is the existing rating scheme?

I've looked around on the site and haven't found these instructions.

On site design - I like the way it is. I especially like the straight up and down reading and absence of extraneous visuals. I hope you don't change this.

If you can do it, I'd like to have "your comments" include my comments on quick hits.  

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

George Santayana, The Life of Reason, Volume 1, 1905

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by: Michele Kelly @ Sat Nov 21, 2009 at 21:41:13 PM CST

re: rating (0.00 / 0)

How do you rate a comment? I've seen that my comments are rated, but I don't know how to do this. Also, what is the existing rating scheme?

click the pull-down menu on the bottom of the post. its below the username and the date/time stamp

sorry if you mean something else!

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by: The Big Hurt @ Sat Nov 21, 2009 at 22:05:22 PM CST

[ Parent ]

"what is the existing rating scheme?" (0.00 / 0)

Not much of a "scheme". You can rate great comments with a "4", and trollish, abusive, or personally insulting comments with a "0". If two or more users rate a comment "0", it will become hidden for readers and new commenters. Only after having gathered some "4" ratings (dunno how much) will you be able to see hidden comments.

Again,pls note, "0" (or TR, Troll Rating) is not a rating showing discontent, and should only be used for comments that are really over the top, like obscenities directed at another commenter, hatespeech, or spammers posting commercial links. Here at OpenLeft a tolerant discussion culture is encouraged, and not those rating wars that are typical for other sites (for instance the one with a more orange color).  

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by: Gray @ Sun Nov 22, 2009 at 03:47:58 AM CST

[ Parent ]

thank you both, Big Hurt and Gray, (0.00 / 0)

for the responses. I just never noticed the pull down menu before.

Mysteries solved!

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

George Santayana, The Life of Reason, Volume 1, 1905

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by: Michele Kelly @ Sun Nov 22, 2009 at 13:10:16 PM CST

[ Parent ]

well (0.00 / 0)

This isn't exactly technical, but I would love to see some proofreading of main board posts for spelling and punctuation.

You owe it to yourself to listen to This American Life's fantastic and common-sense explanation of the economic crisis.

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by: whathaveyou @ Sat Nov 21, 2009 at 23:49:22 PM CST

Stop... (0.00 / 0)

Censoring single-payer advocates.  I thought being leftist entailed more that blindly supporting a corporatist President Obama™ and his Democratic™ Congress.  I don't care if he gets a cute signing ceremony.

Rather, I care about how we are on the precipice of enacting health "reform" that will, like the bank bailouts, distribute wealth upwards.  Whatever bill does emerge should be crushed.  But then again, this is not about principled leftism, it's about being "progressive," which most of the public knows as a lame stand-in for "liberal," which is just being representative of economic elites, except without the (faux) populism of the Teabaggers.  But ultimately, I expect more coverage of Teabaggers than single-payer advocates who are being jailed for standing up for the civil right of government-funded and provided health care.  What if we took an opt-out approach or incrementalist approach to the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts?

Also, stop personalizing the inability for Democrats to unfetter themselves from corporate interests; the problem is systemic, as those Democrats would not be so pivotal had not they been enabled by the leadership--Obama™ included.

K. Thanks.

-10.00E

http://stopmebeforeivoteagain....

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by: tarheel-leftist85 @ Sun Nov 22, 2009 at 12:40:20 PM CST