Jason added the tool that makes tweets big and readable, so I’m going to try it out. I’ll do a vanity tweet, because I’m so vain.
[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/aroomofherown/status/339072323627933696″]
« Stalking
Testing
« Stalking
Thank you Jason!
Ehhhcellent!
While he’s at it, would it be possible to cajole him to add the standard login for commenting, as PZ and Ed use, to B&W? It is a whole lot more convenient than the existing login (I log in by clicking the FtB icon, which takes me to WordPress, where I log in, then have to click Back, then the Back to B&W link, which takes me back to the main B&W page, whereat I have to manually navigate back to the particular topic and it’s comment form.) Or am I doing it rong?
Yikes. I don’t know. I’ll try to find out.
I’ll bet you think this post is about you.
Don’t you? Don’t you?
Excellent. Being able to read the posts, without eye strain and microscope, makes the post much more enjoyable.
evilDoug: Far as I can tell, Pharyngula and Dispatches both use the standard login form. The thing is, they both require logging in before you can comment. B&W doesn’t. This allows you to enter an anonymous comment without signing into an account.
I do think the sign-in process should be simplified. The intent behind the various buttons is that you can, theoretically, log in to a local FtB account if you choose to sign up for one, or you can sign into one of the other identity services (Facebook, WordPress.com, Yahoo!, Google) and those services send FtB the username and email addy that you’re supposed to be without ever sending us username/password info. This is all very handy, but it’s not all very well-designed UI-wise.
I don’t know how one might go about hacking those into shape though. The process is ultimately just as clunky and clumsy using the default WordPress login screen, or using the icons above the comment form.
Jason, if I try to post without logging in, I get the “possible impostor” business, so because I have a WordPress account I am forced to log in. Using the FtB icon works as I described previously. If I use the WordPress icon, I get trapped (or at least I used to, haven’t tried recently) at the page that comes up at WordPress once I’m logged in. From that page “back” doesn’t work at all.
Anyway, thanks for the efforts and reply.
Sorry, Ophelia. I’m just making an awful mess of your vanity post.
evilDoug: Yes, the impostercide plugin is working as intended. That’s so if you’ve registered an account with us (via any login mechanism), and FtB knows the email addy and ‘nym, it considers them reserved, and won’t let others use that addy and thus slander its owner. It sucks if you forget to log in, but I’ve tweaked it so it spits back your comment at you so if you’re not using a form saver like Lazarus, you no longer lose the comment.
The WordPress icon is for using wordpress.com accounts — for instance, if you’ve registered an account with them, or have your own blog there, you can use that login. It’s not the same as the FtB local login.
I’m not really sure what I can do to change how that SocialConnect plugin does any of its navigation. I really wish I could. WP can take a “return-to-URL” parameter as part of the login sequence… why SC doesn’t use it, I don’t know. It’s even more frustrating to me that I simply don’t have the cycles in the day to poke at it and get it working better than it is.
That IS the chief concern, yes? The fact that SC doesn’t really send you back someplace sensible after you’re logged in?
Jason, yes, it’s just a matter of a little rigamarole. It certainly isn’t worth you fussing about trying to find time to play with it. (I learned a long time ago that sitting down at the computer to do a “ten minute code fix” can roll into hours very easily.) It looks like the “easy” fix is for Ophelia to require login to comment, but that clearly isn’t her intent, and would put non-registered users at a disadvantage. I can live with things the way they are.
Thanks again for your efforts and replies.
If I really wanted to, I could probably write some AutoHotkey code to automate the process. (I very highly recommend AutoHotkey to Windows users who have some programming ability. The syntax is a little strange in some cases, but I find it extremely useful. For example, if I have a URL on the clipboard and want to make a hyperlink of it in a comment, I simply press ctrl-alt-h (my choice), I get a pop-up input box for the “title”, and my AHK code does all the insertion of the html codes and pastes the result into the editing window.) AutoHotkey
Next time I want to comment and I’m not logged in, I’ll try some minor variation of my ‘nym, and see if that works.
evilDoug, I’ve always gone first to Pharyngula or Dispatches and logged in while I was there. Then, as I keep open a tab with something from the network, I’m logged in for everywhere.
Makes me feel all LeeLoo Dallas Multipass.
So that this comment to the Ophelia vanity test thread isn’t off topic: I often log in and go straight to the FTB sidebar for Butterflies and Wheels. 🙂
Works with my hayfever eyes.