Comments feed working

@Fiona: Thanks for the feedback. The posts without headings are asides or, as I call them, “notes”. I don’t think a couple of sentences need all the grandeur of a title — though if you were reading this blog in an RSS reader you’d find that they do actually have titles “under the hood”.

The varying position of the comments link is a usability issue, yes, but I’m not going to give any priority to fixing that. The page layout is set by the Tarski theme, and if the Tarski authors fix it, fine. Otherwise I have higher-priority things to deal with.

@Fiona: Sure. And the URL of your website is…?

@Fiona: Pot. Kettle. Black. Watch the attitude. No personal attacks, thanks. I don’t care what you do elsewhere but when you’re in my space I expect a more civilised standard of debate. First and final warning or, as Zhasper accurately puts it, you can fuck the hell off.

(And before you bother with a “He started it” routine, it’s worth noting that the people who seem to get away with a “robust standard of commentary” here are old friends or people who’ve contributed to a more intelligent standard of critique. You have yet to prove yourself worthy.)

What did you say the URL of your website was again…?

@Zhasper: Nah, not hypocritical. You’re politely pointing out a real usability issue. But, like Fiona’s whinge about comment links being in different positions, it’s still a fair way down my list of priorities.

@Zhasper: Slow night at work?

Don’t worry about fanning a potential flame war, for two reasons…

1. I produced more than 4000 hours of talk and talkback radio for the ABC, and only the gods know how much for others. I’ve been online since FidoNet days. I reckon I’ve seen every kind of trolling and flaming there is to see. I’ve been personally abused by professionals at the game — ministerial chiefs of staff have a particularly rich palette of colourful terms of abuse. In a “complex” personal life I’ve seen a swathe of attention-seeking behaviour too. And, for that matter, I’ve talked The Crazy Guy with The Knife into handing me his weapon. This is kid’s stuff — figuratively and, I’m guessing, literally.
2. I know where the “delete” button is.

You know, Point 1 there contains the seeds of far more interesting conversations, doesn’t it!

@’Pong: Nah in politics you actually need to understand how your comments will be received and the impact they’ll have on your own political capital.

@Snarky Platypus: Yes, I did think that Costello’s effort, calling the PM a failed economic manager, was a bit of an own goal.

@Zhasper: I haven’t had a chance to look at that comment bug yet. Maybe on the weekend. Maybe not. I might leave it there a while to annoy you personally and deliberately.

Just for the record, Fiona just tried to post a comment which was nothing but a stream of personal abuse. It will not be published — and neither will anything else she writes.