As you can see CTH 2.0 is launching a new comment platform to improve the features and user engagement we have all come to appreciate. Here is some background information about this comment process that will likely answer questions. Please book-mark this post and share it for those who do not read the site updates and just go into the comments.
Because we are free from the constraints of WP/Automattic we are able to explore features that many Treepers have asked for. We have selected comment software from WPDiscuz (not affiliated with Disqus in any form) specifically because we can control the platforms internal content according to our privacy demands.
No outside system is gathering any user data or content on the commenting platform, everything within CTH 2.0 is being built on a very stable and private proprietary foundation.
The ability to add videos, graphics, pictures, tweets, scribd embeds and other functions is now present in the comment section. This is called “Oembeds”, and it is live right now. However, we will not be activating a feature that allows you to upload images or videos directly from your computer. If the image/video has a url, it should be visible.
There are other features we will likely add to the comments section, but we must go painstakingly slow, and here’s why….
At each step in the process of adding features we have to pause and measure the impact on server capacity to support the addition. Each feature creates a small amount of data that communicates with the servers in real time (ie. the bandwidth). Think of it like a pipe, and each feature adds data into the pipeline… the pipe has a capacity… we add, then evaluate, ensure pipe capability/stability, then move on. The issue is scale.
CTH 2.0 is a massive community of simultaneous users. Each user engagement requires a live-time upload of data from server to you. The page load time is directly related to the bandwidth capacity… if there are a lot of simultaneous users the level of data transfer can overwhelm the pipe…. it can clog and freeze.
Additionally, each new feature creates a draw from the server capacity at the end of the pipeline. For lack of a better explanation this is the CDN rate. CDN = Content Delivery Network. CTH 2.0 is a massive load of data that updates for each user as they land on the homepage and visit the articles. Again, it is a matter of scale. As we said before CTH is a community, essentially a social media platform, working inside a website.
Our community engagement, the size of our commenting community, exceeds almost all other types of websites except for social media sites. Those sites are specifically designed for community engagement… CTH 2.0 is leading the charge back to the era before Big Tech took control of content delivered to you.
The content in the community (the comment section) is derived from your choices, your freedom. It is your discussion and we are stewards protecting your conversation.
With 5,000 simultaneous users on-site at any given moment, the bandwidth demand is large. With 100,000+ unique daily users and 500,000 page views per day, the data load (CDN rate) on the servers is large. We are chewing up about 5 terabytes of server space per day even with two cache services hosting the older content. We always knew our data load was heavy, we just didn’t know how heavy. This is why almost all other suggested solutions for our CTH 2.0 launch would not work. It is a scale issue.
All of these are essentially good problems. The rebel alliance is strong and the assembly is large. We just need to consider that each small 4gb feature addition for a single user has a magnitude of impact based on the scale of our assembly.
Think about walking into a bar with 100,000 friends and everyone orders one drink at the same time. The bartenders (servers) are going to get overwhelmed pretty quick, and the beer kegs will run dry fast. Then think about everyone ordering two drinks. That’s the type of scale issue we are navigating while keeping the bar open.
With all that in mind we initiated the new comment system with Oembed functions activated. Now we watch a little while and make sure the pipes (bandwidth) and servers (CDN rate) can handle the data load.
Then we add the “likes feature”, and we watch again… we keep repeating this process with every feature until we have safely checked-off our priority list. There are a lot of features we want to provide while at the same time the server host is trying to figure out what the level of our site demand actually is. Again, good problems, but this is unknown territory.
So the proprietary comment platform we have selected is stable, private and secure. It also allows us to add features that you have requested. We just need to measure the impact of each addition as we move along.
Also, CTH is modeled on an eleven year-old platform theme. It is reliable, but it is also clunky, heavy and not as streamline as modern tech can provide. As described, CTH is a heavy data-tank on a highway with the ability to collapse the road. We need to modernize and get faster while retaining the depth and purposeful mission priority.
We need to change our theme platform to be responsive to the type of device you are using making it easier to navigate the site from phones and iPad type devices. The engineers are working on a proposal, and a test site is experimenting. The good news is our site content is not complex and the modernization should not be too difficult. In essence, CTH presents itself differently, more user friendly, depending on the type of device you are using.
Additionally, one of our priorities right now is establishing an email notification system where you can subscribe to automatic notifications of new posts etc. As with almost all systems of this type (there are many) it involves the use of a third party email transmission process. Y’all are aware that privacy is a CTH priority, so we are being very careful about vetting the service and setting up this notification system to protect CTH users.
CTH does not compile user information, does not engage in the manufacture of processes that assemble lists of users or any user data. We are working to ensure we do not end up creating an external list of subscribers that would be vulnerable to exploitation. Your privacy in all matters related to CTH engagement is my priority. This new commenting platform can also deliver that type of email notification service, we are evaluating.
Thanks again for bearing with us as we work through some technical issues, search for optimal solutions, and fiercely retain the original values and mission priority of the Treehouse. The Truth Has No Agenda
Myself and the incredibly hardworking site admins consider ourselves stewards to this community. YOU are what matters. Your ability to analyze, discuss, crowdsource and provide your comments on the subject matter is what makes CTH home. We will NEVER remove a commenting function from our website.
In fact, it is the crowd-sourcing work we have done as a community that has been the most thrilling and brilliant part of our work together. I will never lose that focus. The key to Treehouse 2.0 is recognizing we have built something within a big tech ecosphere that wants to see us removed. By being proactive we have avoided some serious challenges and that makes us better stewards for our conversation.
Remember, YOU are the important part.
Without you CTH doesn’t really have a purpose. Individually we could stand outside shouting at trees with no impact; but together, sitting on the figurative cyber-porch, the conversation is rich with unique skill-sets, subject matter experts and life-long experiences that make discussion so much more valuable. Myself and the CTH admin team cherish the value you represent.
Please share your feedback and suggestions on the comment platform. Does it work for you? What do you like or not like about it. We will modify, when possible, based on feedback.
Love to all,
~ Sundance
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Ok I am on page one, how do I get to page two? See above, which is what I find at the bottom of page one.
I must be really stupid.
Would like to change my avatar, but cant figure out how. Anyone know how and can tell me? Thanks!
Not sure why my first response disappeared. These steps from liberty Forge helped me:
See the posts by Liberty Forge and Dances with Wolverines
on the previous page.
I tried copy and pasting here but it keeps disappearing.
Would like to change my avatar but dont know how. Any help would be great! Thanks!
This from Liberty Forge on the previous page helped me:
Gravatar uses your email address to link your avatar with
your comment.
Only lowercase letters and numbers allowed for the username.
Gravitar can grab images from your computer, your webcam,
and the internet.
Then click “G” for your rating.
around the world will have your avatar.
Would this lead to a privacy issue? I’m kinda hesitant to give my email to them, and have them issue an avatar to all blogs and forums that I might use. Sounds like they would all be linked that way…
What is your advice?
It is a concern I share. The email I used to set up the
WP account is one that I use for unimportant things –
fakebook etc.
Apart from my branch at the CTH and
one other Conservative Forum, I am not a big
user of social media for that very reason.
Most other platforms – Rumble, Bitchute, Vimeo
and so on, I view without signing up.
Means I can’t comment but that’s okay.
I have contemplated getting a Parler account
but I have not bitten that bullet as yet.
Chances are I won’t. Unless President Trump
ditches the twatter machine and joins Parler.
So for me I simply mitigate my exposure by not
registering on every available “conservative”
thing out there.
Thanks for these instructions!
OMG! This new layout is beyond satisfactory. Love everything. Thank you!
I’ve asked before, but trying again!
Does anyone know a different way to get an avatar besides using Gravatar??
I’ve never joined WordPress and when I tried, they said my screen name was already in use. I definitely want to keep the same screen name that I have use here for 5 years. I just want an avatar!
I did a search and found several different programs for creating avatars.
Problem is once I was done creating the avatar I could not find
a way to link it to my screen name here so I gave up and used gravatar.
Also wondering about progress on getting the mobile version up and running….
Test. Looks like that the ? button isn’t working yet.
Tested again. The thumbs up does work.
Dear Admin. My apologies for the confusion. I inadvertently used the
wrong email when I set up a Word Press account to create an avatar.
Its still ‘li ole me
I have a question – what is the relationship between the “Nofity of” selector at the top left and the the little bell on the bottom right? Do I need to use both? When I see the bell with a line through it, does that mean I click to turn on or click to turn off?
Thanks for the improvements!
Nice. I’m really happy this place has survived censorship. I haven’t been here long, but I consider this Home Base.
.
.
Test 2
Testing to see if I can post.
I really like the new system – except one thing.
The right side justification by splitting words is, well, wrong. I know there are stemming algorithms that do a decent job of finding places to break words apart, but the one you are using isn’t very good at all. The word breaks that I’m seeing look basically random. There is no other reason I can think of why election might become ele-ction, for example.
Also, I don’t think I’ve seen one in use in at least 10 years, maybe 20. Is there any need for it here? Most modern systems refuse to break words apart except when they are super long, like chemical names. Browser typesetting is good enough, 99% of the time, to wrap on whole words only.
LOL. in my own comment. stemming becomes s-temming, a comma jumps down to start a new line (!), seeing becomes seein-g, might becomes m-ight, any becomes a-ny, when becomes w-hen, and enough becomes enou-gh.
MADNESS
Other than that, love the new comment system, and the site.
Seems one must comment to recreate the cookie so that all posts appear (because I browse w TOR and cannot get it to keep this cookie – it deletes all cookies upon exit – no exceptions [unless I overlooked something]); so that’s what this post is – cookie recreation.
(Better here than polluting the main articles and threads).
ok, how do I get an image to show?
I’ve put in a valid link but it only displays the link text, doesn’t show the image
sorry iswhat, I meant this to be a free-standing comment, not a reply to you
forgot that I need to go back up top and enter it there
trying some test also, actually checking to see if I can get browser to accept and store coookies now.
Test
URL’s and one other issue.
From the address/search bar –
theconservativetreehouse.com is not secure connection
naturally https://theconservativetreehouse.com is a secure connection
Other:
I run a script that maps a mouse button to invert the screen colors here (blind).
Something on CTH is killing my local script.
Do Not Pause !
Testing
edit test,
The comment box on my android phone lacks bold, underline etc. Anyone else experiencing this?
Still working test,
glad to out of the serious discussion threads while i work on this, hopefully I don’t annoy anyone in the process
now the bell check function, check on my sett up.
Testing an emoji
?
Whew! Was a bit concerned for a moment because when I pasted it it was larger than a dinner plate…. i held my breath as it flew thru cyberspace…..then…. hooray….. it shrunk.
So odd. The font in my 6:48 comment is larger than the 6:52.
HEY! I think I may have figured it out…………the “reply” is supposed to be smaller????
hmmmmm
Nope, guess not. Oy vey.
To comment, there is a 1″ by 3/4 inch
Block to type my comments.
I can’t see my comments as they scroll up into the block.
If I want to edit my comments I don’t have that capacity on the iPhone.
Thank you so much for all this work you’re doing and know that I contribute financially as I can. And everything is moving in a good direction. ?
Needed to comment… cleared my history. Thanks again to SD & all moderators.
Attn Ad Rem:
On 12/8 I received an email regarding ‘Subscription Confirmation’ for CTH. Is it legit? I do not recall my having ‘subscribed’ at any time. Anyone else? Thanks!
Best of luck, Sundance. Thank you for all you do.
Still having trouble – every time I post I get ” awaiting comment approval”. HELP
subribing to emails
What’s the status on the Chapel and the Prayer Requests? Will we be able to comment there again?
Just how does anyone sign up for this last refuge to be sent directly to my in box. The way I used to get it everyday. Many times 6 or 7 different post from Sundance everyday.
I get Nothing now. I found an old email from Sundance dated back in November that I checked a box to receive new comments. This is what I reading now. BUT HOW DO I SIGN UP FOR ALL OF SUNDANCE’s postings
The email to your inbox is not yet functioning, except for the email update daily. This will take time. Patience. Truth and freedom are at stake. WordPress chose to rip the rug out and the timing was/is also suspicious. God Bless Sundance! Amen.
I have been hoping to get your site since you changed from World Press but I don’t understand how to sign up for daily emails. I miss seeing you in my email when I open it each morning. I miss reading everyone’s comments and thoughts. Can someone tell me how to sign up again? Thank you!
I was just told by Stella that the newsletter is not currently being produced, and if you’d like any help working around this to contact them directly via the contact email listed near the top right corner on the home page, which is [email protected]
How do i change my picture?