If you hadn’t noticed yet, there are some changes around these parts of the blog. After much sturm and drang and rending of garments from people, you now have the ability to edit your comments! Also, comments are now numbered, making them easier to follow. You can now refer back to the number of a comment to make it easier for folks to understand what you’re talking about.
The social network button have changed as well; we now have Reddit, Facebook (new!), Fark (new!), Stumbleupon, Digg, and the little green sideways V thingy that allows you to access lots of other socnets. And speaking of which, follow me on Twitter for great justice.
There will be more changes eventually, including pink comments for women and blue for men, red for conservatives and transparent for libertarians, as well as the Esperanto filter and unicorn uploader. Until then, enjoy.
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:36 pm
I hope the changes do not include the permanent removal of the “Recent Comments” section.
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:40 pm
That’s a good improvement, but when will I be able to edit other people’s comments, goldarnit?
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Today was the day I first read the word ‘socnets’. I like to take note when new jargon enters my lexicon. Thanks, Phil.
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:49 pm
The facebook link will come in hand. Though I really need a button to create a post over on the Octopus Overlords forum.
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Are you serious about the colored comments??? Because that would be great in determining what gender Naked Bunny With a Whip is!
PsyberDave:
Yes, that’s the first time I’ve herd ‘socnets’ as well. I wonder if it’s referring to the place where our socks end up after going missing from the dryer?
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Ivan3man probably wants the option to edit the BAs posts.
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Do comments with links still go into the moderation purgatory? I ask because while I love it when blogs number their comments, just a single comment awaiting moderation can throw the numbering off the moment it gets approved and have people referencing the wrong comments.
I understand that editing allows you to go back and change the comment # you were referring to (which is good), but it still seems like a pain. EDIT: Okay, I see that there’s a 15 minute time limit to edit a comment. That means that if a comment is stuck in moderation limbo for over 15 minutes, then it could screw up the numbering and other commenters couldn’t fix their posts to reflect who they were actually referencing in their comments.
Anyhoo, I like the changes.
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:07 pm
How did red become the Conservatives’ color? Is there a Republican who can remember Senator Joseph McCarthy and HUAC?
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:17 pm
sturm und drang? Are you a German romantic?
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:22 pm
I’m a Brit who’s been living in the US for over 15 years and I still get confused by the transposition of colors compared to the British Labour and Conservative Parties. Isn’t there an ISO standard covering political party color coding, or something?
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:30 pm
#6. Davidlpf:
Yes, indeed! I have often noticed Phil Plait using “And” and “But” at the beginning of sentences. Those words are conjunctions, which should normally be used within a sentence to connect words or clauses. At the beginning of a sentence, instead of “And”, you should use the word Furthermore; instead of “But”, you should use the word However — like Tuvok on Star Trek: Voyager.
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Bunny with a whip would probably be mauve.
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:33 pm
I’m not posting another word until I get my unicorn uploader.
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:33 pm
“…as well as the Esperanto filter”
That’s terrific, because there is nothing as good as a cup of freshly made esperanto.
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Bah, get back to us when our comment colors match our current auras. Or better yet – Kirlian Komments!
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Wow! Can I go back and edit comments I left months ago to make myself sound like less of an idiot? That would be awesome!
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:43 pm
I’ll be any color you want if I get my unicorn!
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Excellent! Now I can correct my
speulingsupelinspuelligmistakes.May 22nd, 2009 at 1:49 pm
I believe that these days, insisting on the use of “Furthermore” and “However” instead of “And” and “But” is borderline pedantry. Strictly speaking you are correct, but the use of “And” and “But” at the beginning of sentences is pretty much agreed upon as an acceptable practice these days. And
I would also add that blogging is not a very formal setting within which to insist on strict grammatical rules anyway. “And” and “But” work because they are small words that slip by unnoticed, and in settings like this readability is a key factor to a successful post.
Full disclosure: I am writing a novel and use “And” and “But” to start sentences throughout (though I’m careful not to overuse them), particularly in dialogue, where words like “Furthermore” and “However” would just sound weird and stilted coming out of the characters’ mouths.
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:50 pm
<mode type=”Homer Simpson”>Mmmm… Comment editing…<mode>Let’s see how it works…
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:52 pm
I don’t see any way to edit. I have noticed a large black bar under the datestamp of new posts I make, but nothing that says “click here to edit” or similar. (Firefox 3.0.10 on Windows.)
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:56 pm
I am always amused by the news media’s choice of colors for liberals and conservatives. Are people really fooled by the assignment of blue to the socialists and red to the conservatives when it obviously should be the other way around. It seems to me to be much the same psychology as adding 9/10 cents to the price sign for a gallon of gas…maybe no one will notice the cover up.
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:57 pm
C^u vi vere havos Esperantan alts^arg^eron?
May 22nd, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Before socialism, red was the imperial colour. ‘Nuff said.
ETA: Ken B, that black bar has light text in it saying you can click your name or text to edit. Try selecting it?
May 22nd, 2009 at 2:03 pm
But I use words like “Furthermore” and “however” to start sentences, tacitus. And I resent you telling me it sounds stilted
May 22nd, 2009 at 2:07 pm
tacitus:
That may be so, but I had an irascible English teacher who did not like the use of the conjunctions “But” and especially “And” at the beginning of sentences in essays.
May 22nd, 2009 at 2:13 pm
I bet you never had a teacher that deducted half-a-mark for every undotted “i” and uncrossed “t” in you work! (Yes, there really was a grade school teacher who did that in my school.)
May 22nd, 2009 at 2:17 pm
That may be so, but I had an irascible English teacher who did not like the use of the conjunctions “But” and especially “And” at the beginning of sentences in essays.
An irascible English teacher who was obsessed with buts. Hm. Sounds sort of like “pedant”…
May 22nd, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Naked Bunny with a Whip
What do virgins eat for breakfast?
May 22nd, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Red is for Labour, socialists, and communists!
So having red for conservatives seems plain daft, as blue is more appropriate.
However, American’s insist in printing dates in the wrong order – so what can one expect?.
May 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 pm
RE: Red and blue
Originally, red and blue were swapped between Democrats and Republicans, but as WikiPedia notes:
“After the 2000 election, the color red became associated with the GOP, although it has not been officially adopted by the party. That election night, for the first time, all of the major broadcast networks used the same color scheme for the electoral map: states won by Republican nominee George W. Bush were colored red, and states won by Democratic nominee Al Gore were colored blue. Although the assignment of colors to political parties is unofficial and informal, they have come to be widely recognized by the media and the public to represent the respective political parties (see Political color and Red states and blue states for more details).”
J/P=?
May 22nd, 2009 at 2:36 pm
tacitus:
I think that we went to the same school!
May 22nd, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Not surprising. When I went to college, we were expected to be writing in “full formal” mode. You not only didn’t start sentences with conjunctions, you also didn’t end them with prepositions. You also made damned sure the commas went inside the quotes, you didn’t use a hyphen after a word ending in “y”, and you didn’t confuse “who” and “whom”. In the end, the essays were formally correct, but they would have sounded forced and pompous in an informal setting.
I prefer to write how I speak when I can.
May 22nd, 2009 at 2:42 pm
The colour change is because the NWO operatives from left wing parties from Canada and Great Britain have benn trained to take over GOP. The plan is to make the party look like an extremists organization and to get Obama in the Whitehouse to undo the moral character of the states so Canada can takeover the world. Then everyone would have to be in gay marriage and smoke pot. Unfortunely they only packed red ties. Uh-oh there are two man in dark glasses and suits coming, oh what a cute kitty they have with them.
May 22nd, 2009 at 2:54 pm
However, and, and but can begin a sentence when using informal English–as in a blog or a blog comment, for example. Listen to Fillet Mignon(sorry Ms. Fogarty, I couldn’t resist).
http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/starting-a-sentence-with-however.aspx
May 22nd, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Would really really like the recent comments back.
May 22nd, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Is there any way to make moderated comments drop to the bottom of the list after they’ve been approved? That would solve the problem. This should be comment #37. Let’s see if it stays there.
May 22nd, 2009 at 3:53 pm
On a tactical map, red means “The enemy” whereas blue or green mean “something that’s not actively trying to kill me.” From my standpoint, the association is obvious.
Personally, I’m really looking forward to the unicorn uploader. When is that planned?
May 22nd, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Naked Bunny with a Whip:
Hmm… if I did that, it would result in me violating Phil Plait’s commenting policy and, consequently, my comments would get deleted as well as getting myself banned.
May 22nd, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Phil, as a member of the green party, can my comments be colored green?
May 22nd, 2009 at 4:31 pm
The red and blue come from the colors of the flag, with white filling the obvious role of “not yet called”. Various color schemes were used by different networks over the years; absent evidence to the contrary, I expect it was sheer coincidence that they all (?) chose the same scheme for the 2000 election. But then some reporter somewhere came up with the “red state, blue state” thing, and the meme caught on, and is now fixed.
Democrats aren’t really Left enough to be Reds, anyway, though I suppose it would make more sense if the colors were reversed. But personally, I’d choose red for the Republicans and green for the Democrats, not based on any political considerations, but just on my own synesthesiatic reading of the words themselves.
May 22nd, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Esperanto Uploadoe filterio!
Atthay isway eatgray! Aybemay ethay ulletinbay oardbay ouldcay
avehay Esperontoway anslatortray orfay “Againstway ethay
Ainstreammay”?
May 22nd, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Chip, your grammar is appalling!
Even if “Uploado” were a real Esperanto word, your “e” on the end would make it an adverb. You cleaerly want to use an adjective here! Maybe “Uploada”?
May 22nd, 2009 at 6:05 pm
OK what does “transparent” for Libertarians mean. If you go to http://www.Boortz.com and take his test you might find you’re more Libertarian than you thought.
May 22nd, 2009 at 6:08 pm
(all the white space being reduced messed up my joke)
May 22nd, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Oh, I didn’t read carefully…. transparent is a FUTURE change….
May 22nd, 2009 at 6:43 pm
IVAN3MAN : (May 22nd, 2009 at 2:36 pm)
tacitus : I bet you never had a teacher that deducted half-a-mark for every undotted “i” and uncrossed “t” in you[r] work! (Yes, there really was a grade school teacher who did that in my school.)
I think that we went to the same school!
My teacher was so strict he took marks off if our full stops were upside down!
@ The Bad Astronomer : Many thanks – Love the new changes esp. the editing ability & I’m eagerly awaiting my unicorn uploading. (Whatever that is!)
PS. Where’s Grammar nazi got to? This would be right up his /her alley.
May 22nd, 2009 at 7:43 pm
As I suspected, the preview was held up for some over-the-top functionality.
OTOH the over.the.top functionality is great!
That is so funny. I was at first glance thinking “wow, dedicated nets where people can sock it out”, then I read again and grasped that it is dedicated nets where people can sock it out.
May 22nd, 2009 at 7:49 pm
@Harold,
I would whole-heartedly endorse a limited temporal reversal feature. Not only would it allow retroactively smarter comments, but indeed complete erasure of the comment from the timeline. Not only would the comment disappear, but all secondary uses and memory of it would be purged from the continuum.
Long live the Krenim!
May 22nd, 2009 at 8:13 pm
Another vote for “recent comments” back please here.
May 22nd, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Neat.
-O
May 23rd, 2009 at 1:49 am
I just turned 44 on the 19th, and I still have nightmares about my Grade 12 English teacher! I keep dreaming that I am in Grade 12, coming up to the end of the school year, and I have not done several papers that U need to get a passing Grade… It’s the same dream each time. It was more fun when I used to dream I was walking down the hallway naked, and no one noticed…
Actually, that wasn’t fun either… no one noticed…
May 23rd, 2009 at 3:52 am
Arrrgh, Cap’n!
When are we salty coves agoin’ ta be given the chance to preview our HTML dangly bits?
A few of us here below-decks cann’a read the guides, (steady on, Bosun Baden-Powell), wi’ enough alacrity** to git it right on t’ first go.
You told us to never sumbit until ye is sure!
I means, sir — whene’r Oi enter Arrrgggh!!! , it dinnae render in the subtle shade of red, wot I expected. If youse get’s me meanin’.
Arrrrgh, oh bugger, got me mainbrace caught ’round me cannon balls.
Able Semen Gray
** Got it off a sailor in Portsmouth
May 23rd, 2009 at 2:40 pm
38. JediBear,
In that case, they should all be Red, except the Libertarians. Transparent works. It allows one to sneak up on the enemy. However, transparent can be difficult to read.
I write with too much stream of consciousness to be able to throw a bunch of Howevers in there. I start sentences with And and But because I need to end the sentences somewhere. If I end one sentence, that needs to be followed by the beginning of a new sentence, unless it is the final sentence. But there is always more to write.
Terrorized by an English teacher? Silly people. I terrorized the English teachers.
As far as McCarthyism is concerned both McCarthy
terroristsboobs – Joseph and Jenny – are clearly Indigo.And how come the Able Semen gets his own color? Perhaps he should bring that up with a doctor.
May 23rd, 2009 at 6:39 pm
“for great justice” Excellent one! “You know what you doing. Move ‘ZIG’”! Har har!
May 25th, 2009 at 5:05 am
tacitus -
It is ALWAYS improper to speak or write against the rules of language. The quick and dirty rules you speak of are improper.
The reason for this is that the general public will almost always be lazy and speak or write improperly when presented with enough “evidence” that such improper behavior is “acceptable” to others. It makes them sound (to me, at least) ignorant.
I even hear our erudite President mismatch numbers occasionally.
Just because someone wrote it on the Internet doesn’t make it right.
May 25th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
“transparent” for Libertarians, eh?
If you aren’t going to listen to me, then why on Earth should I post here? If you aren’t even going to weigh the merits of my comments (or would rather not bother trying), then how on Earth can you call yourself a scientist, or a rationalist?
Perhaps that was just a bad political joke, at my expense.
But, all things considered, perhaps it would be best if I stopped reading this site and refrained from further participating with people who would rather not read what I have to say. There are, after all, a variety of venues on the Internet, many of which are amenable to skepticism and which do NOT consider rendering opposing views “transparent” a virtue. If I wanted to be ignored, ridiculed, and muffled when I make thoughtful comments, I would post on FreeRepublic.
Good day, Dr. Plait, and feel no need to reply. I won’t see it.
Damian Tatum
(winning designer of the Skeptologists Logo)
Proud skeptic, aerospace engineer on Space Shuttle Program External Tank, transparent libertarian and ex-Bad Astronomy reader.
May 25th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Damian, in case you do visit — and I have found that most people who make proclamations before leaving tend to come back to see what kind of things were said about them after they’re gone — do you really think I made that joke because of you personally? I mean, really?
Wow.
And if you do come back, feel free to read my commenting policy. While again that’s not written with you specifically in mind — a whole bunch of things on this blog were written without me even thinking of you once, if you can imagine! — you may read yourself into it at your leisure.
May 26th, 2009 at 10:10 am
I love the new “edit your comments” feature, Phil! I imagine, like a good many people, I suffer from that weird, undetectable computer virus that puts various typos and poor grammar into a post when you click “send.” That way, errors can only be discovered when it’s too late.
I suspect this virus was invented by a radical blogger who wished to make his detractors look like fools.
May 26th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
@ Joe Meils :
Aha! yes that explains it!
I think my computer suffers a particlualrly bad case of that typos virus …
Thanks again BA for the new editing ability!
Also like others here I kind of miss the ‘recent comments’ bit too. Any chance we can see that back again?
May 27th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
Phil Plait said:
I assume this is a joke?
October 14th, 2010 at 2:10 am
@^ CelticMinstrel : No.