As we work through bugs associated with CTH 2.0 launch, consider this a thread to provide information, report user issues, ideas and concerns. Please read the information provided below as it might answer many questions in advance.
Again, my sincere apologies for any site disruption and/or user issues you may have encountered or might be continuing to encounter as we level the ship.
The majority of major site issues have been reconciled over the past 36 hrs. CTH 2.0 is flying even and stable.
The DNS issues are resolved, and all inbound links to TheConservativeTreehouse.Com should now be landing on the correct and most recent homepage. There was an issue with dual cache conflict between our new server host and a mid-way cache service intended to assist with the overall site demand. That was causing older pages to propagate upon user entry. That problem has been resolved.
Given the short time-window we were operating with; and considering the objective of Big Tech Automattic to disrupt an ongoing conversation adverse to their interests; we succeeded in keeping the CTH community voice in the fight. Trust me, this was no small effort to achieve and is cause for much appreciation and celebration in the big picture.
The rebel alliance is alive, well and we have made new ‘rag tag’ misfit friends. Your support was/is critical in achieving that objective. We are humbled and thankful.
Now that we have an essentially fully-functioning architecture in place, we are able to start a slow and methodical process to enhance the features most important to our community.
Each feature must be installed, applied and evaluated for downstream issues. It is a painstaking process and takes a little time to ensure we don’t attach a feature that creates an imbalance or impact upon the essential functions of the site.
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.
To the details:
♦ 50% of site traffic comes from desktop/laptop computer use, and 50% comes from mobile devices (phones, pads etc). This is one of the issues with our older theme still in place, and a team is working on it right now. When CTH first launched mobile platforms were in their infancy, in the modern era mobile devices are now the norm.
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.
♦ 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.
♦ Next, we are working on a return of the “like comments” feature in some manner or form. The issue with a like feature is a direct all-time link between the user engagement and the host server. In essence, to have a “like feature” there is a continual feed every millisecond attached to the server. That is ok, but as with all things in tech world can create a draw -own of site performance given the scale of our assembly.
Don’t worry about “likes” being off-the-table, they are not. This function is actually important to me, and we will restore them because that engagement is actually a precursor to something else, something unique, that I want to see on the site. A sidebar on the page drawing attention to the top ten highest-rated comments in a real time feed. You click on the user name, or perhaps the avatar, and it takes you to the comment.
♦ Another new feature I want to execute is a “most liked articles” widget. Similar to most liked comments, this would be a real-time propagated graphic showing the articles that users are most following or reading on other sites. Instead of me aggregating the information and/or directing attention to interesting external articles, this awesome community of smart commentators can do that themselves.
In essence, you share links to important external articles or content in the comments, and the top five articles (as clicked/read by commentators) automatically shows up in this sidebar feature: “Hot Topics and Articles.” [This is a little challenging, but the technology exists to accomplish it.]
♦ The team is also working on restoring a system that will allow embed pictures, tweets and videos to populate in the comments section. This is a process/system called “OEmbed Comments”. We needed to reconcile the scale of server use/demand by the commenting system before we could contemplate this feature.
Now that we have a dual library system in place for the 7.5 million comments, we can start the process of evaluating server capacity for OEmbed functions. It is not a matter of “if” this will happen, it is simply a matter of when those functions return.
When you write a comment it creates a metadata file. Each comment is a unique url. Your unique id is part of that metadata, your gravatar or avatar is part of that metadata, the content of your comment (what you write) is part of that metadata and any article links, citations, pictures, gifs, or tweets -each carrying a unique url- is part of that metadata.
The average number of lines of unique metadata in one comment is six to ten lines of code, regardless of the length of your comment. Your comment creates a mini data-file with its own unique id (the url). The library of pre-existing comments was 7.2 million. Multiply that by the lines of metadata and you get well over 40 million lines of code in the pre-existing comment file alone. (more)
Again, it is important to remember much of this server capacity exploration is in uncharted territory on a non-social-media platform. Fortunately, we have the ability to scale-up; our server hosts are just trying to figure out the actual scale we need.
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 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 system 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.
♦ Taking all of the above into consideration, if you are still experiencing issues with the site in general or specific terms, feel free to drop your feedback in the comments and we will review to see of we can intercept and/or correct any issues.
Love to all,
~ Sundance
Try to avoid a fight. Never be the first one to start a fight. However, when it does come down to the fighting, you need to fight like the third monkey on the ramp to Noah’s ark…
…and brother, it’s raining !
As someone who has done a huge amount of tech support, may I suggest, for those reporting a problem, to please include the device and browser (and browser version) you are using? Some problems are specific to particular configurations, and stylesheets have to be tweaked accordingly.
Thank you!
Great advice…
Always.
All is well on the CTH Front, now we need to gear up and assault with extreme prejudice our Front and the Flank (Rino’s) that we see…
*** I propose here and now a new Party called the Liberty Party with ALL Trump followers and exposing any R left behind that doesn’t follow OUR lead. This is OUR party!!! ***
Someone did that one already.
https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/united-states-and-canada/us-history/liberty-party
Thanks, Kracken. I was just thinking off the cuff of a name that represented all of us Deplorables.
Possibly the Patriot party…just something to divorce us from this current (and decades old) Republican party that has not represented WE THE PEOPLE in a long time.
I’m very serious about this…the R’s attitude is, “Oh, our supporters will always support us! I mean what other options do they have…?”
We need to have another option that doesn’t give the Democrats power back. The R’s need to be sent a message. A shot across the bow. H*ll…sink their ship!
Thank you Sundance
Comments number changed from 314, to 377, to277.
Not sure what is going on
Dominion software?
Nope. No fractions.
Thank you
The one problem that I am experiencing is when I read comments and hit the older comments link it takes me to a page with the article but no comments.
I use a tablet so it may just be one of the issues you were speaking of.
I really enjoy reading everyone’s comments.
Thank you
When I hit older comments I only get one comment.
Me also. I’m on an I-pad.
Very frustrating, as when I get time to browse, I can’t catch up on past posts.
Try hitting the box in the Comment section, “Save my name, email, and website…” and that seemed to work for me to now see all the older comments. I don’t know why that worked for me?
Ditto on my pad.
Ditto on my very old desktop PC still plugged into the network.
Same issue here, goes from ‘X’ comments down to ‘K’ comments then to zero comments, after each click of the ‘older comments’ button.
Using a 2014 vintage MacBook, Firefox as browser.
Stay safe and thanks soooo much for getting the Treehouse back up and running!
God Bless All Here.
To show my appreciation for all you do I made a donation.
I donated once to the firefighters and now I get calls from so many organizations wanting money that I swore I would never donate again. But I will donate to you, GLADLY! Can’t thank you enough!
Right? I am going to try and double my yearly Treehouse donation. I hope it will help maintain our “home”. I really love this place and appreciate all who keep it running.
I hope you really donated to firefighters. I knew someone who worked for a telemarketing company that got donations they were told were for the police. They made them do things to make it seem like they were police officers calling personally for donations. I hope some of the money got to the police but who knows, the employees didn’t know. All I know is if someone calls soliciting money it’s not police and firemen on the line, that’s for sure. They can’t be doing donation requests. And why aren’t your taxes covering the fire department? What embezzler it stealing money if the fire department doesn’t get money first?
–We now know Dem cities ballot stuff so they can stay in office embezzling, as only 5% of funds get to the people. Now we see RINO’s are vote stealing too.
–If your party would steal a vote from their own president and take bribes from China there’s nothing you can trust them with.
Sandy,
In regards to charitable giving, especially monetary donations, consider yourself blessed if you are able to give and don’t worry about how the donation is ultimately utilized. Charity is love and from the heart. If you are willing and able to give simply do so and leave the rest to God. It’s that simple.
I agree that being able to give is a blessing. However, I believe Sandy is addressing the fact that there have been issues over the years with phone solicitors not being entirely truthful about where the money they’re asking for is going. You may think you’re giving directly to a police or firefighter organization but that may not be the case, or perhaps only a small percentage goes to the charity itself and the rest goes to the company doing the asking. Unless you’re familiar with the veracity of an organization by name alone, how could you really tell if it was reputable? I stopped donating to anything solicited by a phone call and instead ask for an online link or a mail in form so I can do a bit of research before donating. There are too many scams out there. That said, I’m off to make another donation to CTH!
Test.
Question: Why is the entire title of the post displayed with each new ‘Recent Comment?’
It was much easier to glance down the list on CTH 1.0 . Just curious.
I am no longer receiving post notifications in my email inbox, and I’ve been looking for where I can re-signup to receiving the notifications.
Thank you for everything, rag tag bunch, I have missed you all!
Would really appreciate a notification system for replies, on-site (not having to go to email.) I do miss the WP bell.
Not only would that allow for the conversational flow we used to enjoy, but also allow users access to their own comments.
Yes, I don’t like having to check email. In the old site, you could hit the link to be notified but I never did for that very reason, hate checking email lol.
In time I think this site will be even better than it was before being sent packing.
Never give up. They picked a fight with the wrong group of people! Bring it you techy a-holes!
I never did get email notifications for replies, only for likes. And I signed up for it, but again, I only got ‘likes’ notifications by email.
Yes, the bell on top was nice. How can I get notifications for replies?
TIA — and if I don’t reply right away, it’s because I don’t know when I get a response unless I find the page where the comment was made.
That’s my concern. After a short time, with comments coming in so fast, I would never be able to find a reply
to an earlier comment of mine and I don’t like people thinking I’m blowing them off. If I haven’t replied, I didn’t know about it ! I do miss the bell Thanks for all the hard work team Sundance!
Like ?
But how do I sign up for email notifications about replies?
CTH is working on a notification system and is working on restoring a “Like” type function (as per the article above).
Meanwhile:
A way to check to see if anyone has replied to a comment you have posted is to save it as a link (to your “Favorites bar”). Do this immediately after your post shows up in the comment section…You can then click that link and the page should open to your comment – then you can scroll down to see if anyone has replied to your post…
With the “old” WP you could set up email notifications (or use the Bell) to check for responses to your posts… My experience was that the email notifications for “Replies”stopped coming 6-9 months ago but “Like” notifications continued to be sent.
WordPress was and still is a clunky service…
Thank you for that, SharpShorts. I will do that favorites thing.
Appreciate it.
I am having problems reading comments. The most recent comments come up but when you hit older comments it shows one comment at a time with the box to leave a reply, or it just shows the comment box.
I also miss the photos that went along with links for articles , or twitter.
Forward, onward Sundance!
Thanks to all Admin.
With you always.
Happy SCOTUS gave a WIN to Churches!!
Woot!!
on an ipad…..when I press “older comments” only the first comment of the page turns up. Press again, only the first of the next page, and so on. I am guessing because of the time stamp that I see on what appears, it keeps jumping back a few hours.
In my role as a network admin, we frequently had to troubleshoot application updates. When people use this site, think logically and document your experience. Repeat actions and document. Then report to Treehouse Admins. It will help them massively.
chickenhawk great advice. Programmers have to think through each individual
step needed in coding a function, so it is really helpful if troubleshooters follow that same idea.
Again, well done it seems (I only understood about a third of the post!).
Just a tho’t, something for the wish list. It would be super nice if the site would warn me that I am posting a URL that has already been posted 11 hundred times today on one or more articles here.
If you are looking to show most popular comments, most discussed, obviously we’d all like to be on the same page discussing that one URL, etc., and adding any related links within that one chain.
Can I get an AMEN?!
AMEN!
And how about a God Bless America too?!
Ask and you shall receive.
Good one! One of my pet peeves is people posting the same thing over, and over, clogging up the threads. (Which they wouldn’t do, if they’d read the whole thread as per guidelines – but some get too long.)
(TwoLaine, LOVED your reply about Kevin Sorbo the other night, LOL!)
What do you mean? That was a sunglasses ad. 😉
This is a golf club ad.
CTH loud and clear. Thank the Lord!
I am mostly checking in on my iPhone.
All is working well and the postings go fast.
As you go Sundance and Team, everything will be great.
A million THANKS!!!
Seems to be working well. I definitely hope we can get the “bell notification” about likes & comments, especially if you have asked a question!
Looking good from my branch ?
Hmm. Maybe a bug template for people to use would be good because our devices tend to become an extension of ourselves.
Device and browser, (OS? maybe not.) Event / desire explanation, severity and desired priority?
I was thinking the same thing yesterday. A form with required fields, with the understanding it is for info only, and that there is no expectations that CTH admins become techies for all communications transponders. That is not where I want them spending their time.
test
test
test reply
Godspeed Sundance!
God bless you, Sundance, and all of you fellow misfit Treepers! Trump will win.
Test
Test …. and thanks a million Sundance, We The People need you!
Great work Sundance & team. I like the tech updates as a techie.
Live Long and Prosper Rebel Alliance
I haven’t read any of the comments so this might be repetitive of previous posters. I’m not high tech so this is from one of the older simpler posters on this sight. I miss the top of the page button. I feel like I’m on the front porch but no one is with me anymore. Without notification that someone likes my post or someone has responded to it with a comment I feel like I’m talking to myself. The only way now for me is to write down the time I post a comment or the time of an original poster I’m responding to and on which one of Sundance’s blogs. Then I go back and check every so often to see if there was any comment about it. I don’t know of any other way to do it. I’m not complaining what Sundance and his IT team have done is massive and impressive! Just giving feedback on my experience on the new site. I’ve had some comments never show up like others. I can’t wait for tweets and videos to “populate”! Til then I will provide a summary of the tweet along with the link. I wish I knew Grandma was ok?
I’m on a desktop running Windows 10 and using Firefox as my browser.
We’re with you, Bubby, all around you on every branch.
Tree’s just a little shakey right now, not because it’s in trouble, but because it’s getting a fabulous make-over.
We’re all hanging on and enjoying this ride with Sundance and gang, so if we don’t seem as gabby as usual, it’s ’cause we’re holding on to our branch!
But we’re here with you, Bubby, that is for certain!
The link that was at the bottom that takes one to the Home page is so helpful.
Love the spelling assistance! We are going to be so smart with no more corrections. Yay!
I’m not a techie by a long shot. I’m not a patent attorney either. The several patents I have paid the rent and kept shoes on the 4 kids. Changes in Intellectual Property law a decade ago means that if I am the first to Apply for an idea, I have timely priority over you, the real Inventor. And once the Application is Granted to me, you are as nothing to me. The unscrupulous will cut you off at the knees. I know.
If the CTH is developing something kinda cool, you must bring in a IP attorney post haste. You may contact me and I will prompt you on the questions to ask the firm you are considering. I won’t offer names.
Maybe what your elves are doing is old hat. If I had a clue, would I be working in oilfield artificial lift products?
Add a script for viewport and should become responsive, no? Seems like I must be missing something but we used to use viewport 10 years ago and would become responsive page view
It’s a single line of code on load
Let me know when we are meeting at the old mill and riding at midnight
Sundance, at this stage, most of us are having trouble getting out of bed.
You are amazing.
No apologies needed..
Sundance, at this point most of us are having trouble getting out of bed.
You are amazing.
No apologies needed.
My issue is with the comments function. With this article as an example, if I click on the older comments link from the most recent posted comments page (shows 434 comments), it takes me back a page but only shows the first comment from that previous page (277 comments). Additionally, the previous page does not have a newer comments link to go back to the page that has newer comments. If I click the link for older comments it takes me to a page that shows 301 comments and is a full page of comments, and still no newer comments link. If I click on the older comments link again it takes me to a page that shows 77 comments. I then either have to go to the home page to return to the article to go back to the most current comments, or use the browser back button a few times. Using Firefox browser version 83.0 for Linux.
I hope this helps your team troubleshoot this issue.
Sundance, your work is much appreciated, and thanks to you and your team for all you do.
i can go back 1 page and see the “277 comments” with only 1 comment, but if i click older comments button again i get a page with no comments, no buttons.
i commented on page 3 and then it disappeared at 5:44, haven’t been able to see it since
When I comment from my Kindle fire tablet. It saves my info and i only have to log in once. When i use my android phone i have to sign in every comment. I confess. My phone is 4 years old. That might have something to do with it! It’s running android 7.0
Keep up the great work!
But considering the short amount of time you were given to migrate … I think #BogTech was hoping you’d fail – as much as we, your followers were hoping & praying you’d succeed!
AND – succeed you have!
My thanks you Sundance and your team!
P.S. “We Get Questions” may need to be checked/updated at some time in the future to explain the capabilities of your/our new platform!
At the end of each article on the old website, ‘The Last Refuge’ was a live link at the bottom left-hand corner on EACH PAGE of the ensuing readers’ comments, When you clicked it, it returned you to the home page which was convenient.
We all know you are immensely busy. This is not high priority, but would be nice to have again as your time permits.
Thanks for all the hard work. This isn’t easy and new sites are high pressure.
Still problems for me trying to access older comments. The last page I can see in full.
Every time I click on “Older Comments” each page shows only one older comment.
Test 1
A humble man gives grace to others and apologizes even when no apology is necessary.
Thank you, Sundance, for all you do, and for being a humble man.
test
Finally, I’m back
Thank you for all of the work that you put into the Treehouse, Sundance. I tend to lurk more than I post, but I’m still sit-in here on the same branch. I always enjoy my time at the Treehouse. God Bless you!
Bravo! Sundance
Working just fine for me, completely transparent. Thanks for all your hard work.
Swing by my site some time. Cold Beer or Coffee, what ever your heart desires. Jim
Now when I click ‘older comments’ on this post, no comments are visible. And the Leave a Reply text box is already opened with no input from me.
When I post a comment the page refreshes, but no comment shows. When I hit the refresh button it refreshes the page but with only one comment showing. If I go back to the home page with all the articles, click on the article where I posted my comment, it pulls up that page with all the comments including mine. Roundabout way of doing it, but it gets there.
Thanks for all your work, Sundance and everyone who has been/is working this.
test comment
computers can utilize the “older comments” tabs no problem.
mobile devices can not….goes back one page and just shows 1 comment rather than a whole page of earlier posts.
This is my first comment!
Welcome to the Treehouse Stu! 😀
🙂 🙂 🙂
Sign up for a gravatar here:
https://en.gravatar.com/
Thanks for addressing my issue. I’m a real patient man. Only God built the earth and heaven in 7 days. . .Think about that one. ?
Stu, I hope you don’t mind my piggy-backing on yours, as this is my first comment on CTH, as well. After many months of peering in and lurking through the fascinating comments and discussions on the curators’ impressive, decade-old article library, I have yet to receive a reply to my multiple emails concerning my perplexing inability to add a comment directly below any given article. Apparently, I can only leave a post underneath another’s comment, in other words. Right after the CTH 2.0 migration had completed, I did see a well-lit, conspicuous “COMMENT HERE!” type of box, with the usual “name, email, website” field boxes below it, as I see here below Stu’s comment. However, that area has since disappeared and not returned, that I can see. I have noticed many of the same voices/commenters interacting during my recent visits, yet, even after reading the entire “Guidelines for Comments” tab content, I still have no idea how to accomplish this seemingly simple task. Starting to feel like an outsider whose voice is not welcome at this point, and that is not a good feeling for me. I have thought for many months now that I needed to have a social media account in order to participate in these discussions, but alas, I am “one of those” who do not wish to engage on that level or style of platform. If there is ANYONE here who can assist me in understanding exactly how this commenting section of CTH works, I would be forever indebted to you, as I’m sure many other newcomers would also. This should really not be this difficult, if in fact all voices are welcome. I hail from downstate of the Lower Peninsula, but I didn’t know that made me an outsider to an otherwise intelligent and kind-hearted community. Heh. I like what I see and would like to engage further, if I may be permitted, so please reach out and help if you can, and if my presence doesn’t cause too much of a stir among the more “established” voices here. BTW, I use a MacBook Pro with updated Big Sur OS, and updated iOS 14.something on my iPhone. I rarely use my phone for interacting online, though, so my go-to is my Mac. Thanks, Peace & Aloha! SS/cc
Thanks for commenting. I am sorry that we missed your emails. We have, between all of us admins and Sundance, answered thousands of emails in the last days and that is not an exaggeration.
Many people are in email with questions that are answered in Sundance’s post.
At this time I cannot answer why you can’t find a comment box except to reply. I will make sure Sundance sees that. You can register with WordPress to comment so that you do not have to enter an email and name every time you comment.
If you do enter an email each time, and you change your information or name, you get held up in pending because the system sees you as a new commenter.
We will get all these problems worked out. I’m so sorry you’ve had troubles, and hope you stick with us.
I just wanted to take a moment to say a sincere Thank You for all the hard work and effort that you, Sundance, and the whole CTH admin gang have done to get CTH.2 up and going!!!!
have you looked at the very bottom??? I hafe a box “reply” at the bottom of this page (but I write on a desktop computer).
Somethings never change ?
Yes, Patriot, I’m experiencing this same problem on my cell where I cannot see all comments of the post. If I click on “older comments, “I only see one comment per page, maybe at the most, three comments. And it never shows me all the comments.