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 !
Ok found an issue – when using the link to go to older comments whether on desktop or tablet/phone it doesn’t load all the comments.
like
Testing a hunch: the site worked fantastic for me, until about when I cleared all FFox data. Then “older comment” pages started only having one comment.
I just posted, and now things work differently; replies to comment dont show up.
But, before, I had checked the “save my info” box, and did not this time.
This post, I will check that box and see if site behavior changes.
Well look at that!
The site works perfectly for me again.
Posting and checking the “save my info” box made a HUGE difference.
Can anyone else missing comments on “older post” pages confirm this?
Sorry, didnt mean to include previous message text in email sent to CTH.
i’ll try your sugestion
after posting with the “info” box checked everything went from not working properly to functioning beautifully. before i was only seeing 1 comment after using “older comment” button, now i see all the comments. you solved it !!
Great! That should make it easier for the programmers to track down the bug.
Can anyone else confirm?
Checking……
That’s affirmative, CB. Thanks!
I was able to load two pages of older comments and return to this page with great speed.
I still end up at the beginning of the thread when I post and have to find my way back.
But not this time! Unlike the previous post, this one left me right here.
It’s working a little better every time I visit.
Checking to see if your suggestion solves my problem of not being able to see all the comments…
Yay! It worked! Thank you!!
Yes, clicking on that box immediately below the text box resolved all the issues for me. Thank you for the helpful hint.
Maybe that will solve my dilemma too…..
CovfefeBerserker,
Thank you for that information, Checked the box on another thread and everything worked well.
Came to this thread and it works GREAT.
Treepers are the BEST ????
12/04/2020 posted 10:02 pm
I have a question regarding not being able to remove a cookie I found installed on my computer today.
C:\Users\Paula\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files
View History where I found: Cookie:[email protected]/
What I found at Cookie:[email protected]/Properties states:
General Tab
Cookie:[email protected]/
Type: (note nothing entered here)
Size: 130 bytes
Cache name: RH8HIYOI.txt
Expires: 1/2/2021 5:48 PM
Last Modified: 12/3/20202 5:48 PM
Last Accessed: 12/3/2020 5:48 PM
Information found at Temporary Internet Files states:
Name: Cookie:[email protected]/
Internet Address: Cookie:[email protected]/
Type: TXT File
Size: 1 KB
Expires: 1/2/2021 5:48 PM
Last Modified: 12/3/20202 5:48 PM
Last Accessed: 12/3/2020 5:48 PM
Last Checked: 12/3/2020 5:48 PM
I have never seen this on my computer at any time during the years I’ve been visiting CTH so not sure how this got here, why it is here, and why it won’t delete when I try to clear my temporary internet files, cookies, cache, et al., etc.
Can someone please help me to understand?
Here’s an odd one. On this page of comments it says there are 474 Responses. If I wish to see Older Comments, I click the link and get a page that says 371 Responses with only two comments showing on that page. If I click Older Comments from that page I get a page that says 277 Responses with only one comment displayed and if I click Older Comments one last time I get a page with with no comments displayed and no recorded number of responses. On an iPhone with Safari.
Toolnut:
Exactly the same happens on my Windows 7 Laptop (just tried the very same steps you did with the very same results). I think it has to do with the “Reload this page” function.
There is also no “Newer Comments” option to let users move backwards and forwards through the comments.
I’m sure CTH will get it figured out.
try CovfefeBerserker ‘s solution 4 or 5 posts above
Same thing happened to me on my iPad. One person made a comment and checked the “save my name,” box and was then able to use “older or newer comments” but Adrem sure doesn’t need all of us having to make comments just so we can read them all which just produces more volume to deal with.
It is stunning what has been accomplished since the deplatform 2 week notice. We are so lucky to be back so soon because this Treehouse is our refuge from the disheartening events happening all around us. God Bless you all.
I can no longer reply/comment from my samsung mobile, only from my laptops and sometimes the article header is unclickable via mobile… but who cares, it’s fantastic to have a site w stats and facts and w/o partisan commentary, ty Sundance!
Spoken like a True Deplorable Treeper !
You Rock too !
Special thanks to the moderators and invisible geniuses who help folks climb back up on their treehouse limb. I lost the grip on the branch briefly, but they caught me and no harm came to pass.
Me too! Glad everything is running well.
Thanks for all you do! If this publishes then all is well
Has comments being separated into pages been disabled to mitigate the user impact of the “older comments” links being semi-broken currently?
I notice the December 4th Presidential threads most current page of comments seems to have far more than usual on a single page.
I think it’s a good temporary (and who knows, maybe long term) fix.
Interesting. Behind the firewall on my work computer CTH renders badly: The burgundy background covers everything, text formatting is all messed up. But on my personal computer at home it’s fine.
I did “inspect element” and saw that my work computer was disabling several HTML commands.
As someone who has been writing software for decades, I am very impressed .
Migrating legacy code and content at scale is a daunting task.
Methinks its time to make a donation.
test
I’m on an android tablet, and out of 475 comments, I can only see 3. The “Older Comments” button used to work just fine on my mobile device before the upgrade to CTH 2.0, but doesn’t now.
I’m hoping someone can reply to this comment, because if someone has already posted a fix in prior comments, I can’t see them.
I miss so much reading Grandma’s prayers every day on the Presidential thread, but can’t get to that anymore.
Thank you for any help you can give.
Try making sure cookies are accepted, and when posting click the “save my info” box.
Thanks, I will try your suggestions.
I may have missed this. Right now I have to do a search to get current posts, where before I got a notification in my email. I guess it would be a “subscribe” link somewhere that I haven’t found. Thanks
Email notifications were one of the things left behind when leaving the WP platform.
And not to sound condescending, but if you had read the content of this post from SD, you would have seen the following:
“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.”
😉
Check
Test
A few scattered thoughts along techie lines.
If you want notifications of new CTH posts, I get “emails” in my Outlook folder via the CTH twitter feed, TheLastRefuge2. Need MS Outlook, install TwInbox (free, via TechHit), and need a twitter account. It creates a subfolder in Outlook Inbox. No notification popups by your clock like regular emails. THIS is the folder I keep open all day long, since I get regular notifications for regular emails via those popups.
I also get CTH via my RSS reader. I use RSS Owl. Its free, easy to load, and updates in bold when there are new posts. The feed link is
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/feed
That has worked continuously during the entire transition period.
I also have about 50 alternative sites cataloged there for one stop non MSM shopping.
(ZH, Newsmax, Kuntlser, Rappaport, OANN, and dozens more.)
If you want to save a comment, the “permalink” is the timestamp on a post. Save link location as a bookmark URL, or whatever.
I use CCleaner to ditch temp files and caches, etc. In options/cookies, you can select cookies on the left and drag them to the right so that certain ones are NOT cleared when you do that. I have the CTH cookies preserved in the right pane.
test
Purpose of test: To confirm if checking the ‘Save my name’ function will aid in seeing older comments.
WooHoo! Success!
Also, older comments show and the button for newer comments is now visible and works as before.
Everything appears to be up and running without problems on this end.
To all the dedicated crew involved in keeping this site available, I stand in sincere appreciation of your accomplishments. While I will never fully understand the magnitude of the job you’ve done, I might liken it to changing the wheel and tire on a steam locomotive……while the train is fully loaded, and at operating speed. A tremendous amount of details to address, simultaneously.
……………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…………
Please don’t ever feel the need to apologize. Thank You for giving us this web site.
You’re operating at 90% and that’s good enough for me! A little inconvenience with a few functions is a small price to pay for getting the news at the only source I trust!
Still Testing
I don’t have the like option and I have to sign in to post. Just sayin’! I’m assuming it will clear up soon!
Thank you, Sundance,for all your hard work — both your analysis and commentary, and your work to keep this site up and running. Missed you and the wonderful Treehouse community and admins during the transition. Don’t know what I would do without this site. Kudos for landing us safely in a new home! We can be patient while the kinks get worked out, no apologies necessary!
Trying the Save info checkbox idea.
Nice. Now I can see all the older comments. : )
Test to see if posting a comment with saved info fixes viewing older comments on my iPad. Never commented before (normally only read the comments), but if it fixes the issue of only seeing one post when clicking on the older comments link then cool.
That worked, I can now see all the older comments with the older comments link and also now see the newer comments link too after posting my very first comment ever with the save my info checked. Hopefully this little bit of info helps in the debugging because I’m sure there are others like me that like to read the comments without normally ever commenting.
Also I’d like to say thank you guys for all the work you do on this site.
I’m trying your method to get older comments back.
Testing to see if every comment I make is still in moderation.
Yes, I am still having every comment in moderation. Now, it’s just getting irritating.
Sorry….you’re not on any Treehouse moderation list. 🙁
Would you like to be…? lol
Hey Sundance…
Have I told you lately that I Like your Style….
You Rock !
signed,
Snailmailtrucker
CTH 2.0 ??? STRONG
Checking to see if CovfefeBerserker suggestion works
Seems to work.
Live_Free_Kevin,
CovfefeBerserker appears to work with my Samsung Notepad,
A point of information, if you clear out your cache, cookies and browser history it all goes away. So I am replying, to see if this will be corrected.
Yes it does work,
Should be CovfefeBerserker’s suggestion appears to work…
Treepers are the BEST and now I am able to go backward and forward through the comments.
Thanks Sundance etal for getting the transition over to this new site so quickly.
test
Purpose of test: To confirm if checking the ‘Save my name’ function will aid in seeing older comments.
WOO-HOO!
It worked! I can finally get my ‘many times a day’ fix of reading all of the comments!
Test
test…
I’m a newbie to posting but have been reading the treehouse for years. I can’t find the words to express what this site has meant to me. Thank you for making me feel I am not alone and realizing how many wonderful people are out there. Trying to read all posts which I have not been able to since the new site came up. Praying hard for America and Canada.
Welcome to commenting at the Treehouse Lee! 😀
Test save my info
Not sure why I am in moderation?
TSET
I have an iMac desktop. When I go to older comments I get a page with only one or two comments.
“Save my name” checked – test
“older comments” clicked twice to empty comments – test
“Leave a Reply” with NO comments displayed – test
First Post! /s
“Reply to TJ” – test
1. “First Post” test: Navigation to “older comments” successful.
“newer comments” navigation appeared for the first time.
Back and forth navigation “Newer/Older” successful.
2. Upon reaching first page of “older comments”, clicking “permalink”, brought me to the last page of fully populated comments.
3. When making the “First Post” comment(on what appeared to be an empty comments thread), I returned to the last page of comments, fully populated.
Success.
Using the “Save my name, email….” suggested procedure to get at older comments only works during the session that you are currently in.
If you leave the CT site, then return, you have to post something first (Oh crap, another “Test” post) then, again, check the “Save my……” box.
Better than nothing, I guess. But it really needs a better fix to get at the older comments.
My guess, your browser is clearing data when you exit. Do you have an option to make CTH an “exemption?”
CTH is working perfectly on my Win10 and Android once I post with the “save my info” checked, but everything goes south if I “quit,” which I have set to “clear website data.”
Should have added that is with Firefox on both. Android version does not allow “exceptions.”
Test
YAY 🙂 After reading stuff up page about clicking the box it’s working.
Kudos to CovfefeBerserker & buqqq !!!
I’d make a heavy bet that this is enough info that the systems engineers working on the site will be able to find an fix the problem tomorrow.
I also am having problems with seeing older comments so am going to try clicking the info box. If it works ,thankyou CofefeBerserker.
It worker. Thank you so very very much!!!
Thank yall for everything you are doing
I am so thankful and grateful beyond expression here is words for the CTH Thank you Sundance and all the admins for giving US such a safe haven in stormy and dangerous times. You all have done a master’s work and a double thanks to the techies and engineers who have so greatly built 2.0. In almost 70 years of being upright and taking ‘fluids’ I have learned extreme patience and extreme vigilance. My continued prayers for all who tread here.
On the homepage, if one clicks the older posts link on the homepage right now, the next page jumps to December 1st. It appears to be missing a few postings on the 2nd and 3rd.
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
………………Can this be fixed?
Whenever you use a different email address or different IP you’ll go to moderation for a comment or two.
I’m running Windows 10 on a laptop. Like others, when I click on ‘Older Comments’ I can see only one or two comments and there is no ‘Newer Comments’ option. On a popular article with many pages of comments, it is the same — click on ‘Older Comments’ multiple times and it takes me to a new page but only one or two comments appear.
Anyone else experiencing slow loading? Like 10-20 seconds between clicks? Could be local problem but I’ve had it for about a day.
Just noticed that it seems to hang connecting to analytics.aweber.com
bla bla
testing blocking aweber.com in noscript.
That works… reply was instant this time.
test
Another thing that needs to be looked at is that when you click to “Reply” the “Leave a Reply” Comment Box comes up, with the Name, Email, Website and Save my name… Box as well as a “Post Comment” Button. All great, however there is no “Cancel Reply” or “Cancel Comment” option.
Maybe I picked the wrong Comment to Reply on, maybe I did not have all the info yet that I wanted to include, or maybe I just changed my mind and realized I shouldn’t Feed the TROLL. 😉
In any case, we need a “Cancel Reply” and “Cancel Comment” Button, that perhaps takes us back to were we started before we hit Reply or tried to Comment.
Currently I have to do a Full Refresh (CTRL+F5) to get out of the Commenting/Replying sub-Box.
Trust me, I can live with this, I know what to do. It is not a high priority. Just a suggestion.
<3 you all!
Take your time, i.e., let your tech assistors take the time to do vet stuff thoroughly.
One suggestion: I would avoid – or put last in the priorities – standing up some SMTP mail interface to notify folks about new stuff and here’s why:
I will bet that better than half check this site as part of a “first thing in the morning” route they run for the day’s information gathering and then, perhaps, a few to several times a day. They can check back on their own and, besides, there is the CTH Twitter feed they can follow (without needing to even have a Twitter account) for near real-time updates. Thread or post email notification is a solution in search of a problem.
Standing up an email notification server, or an interface to a contracted one, is fraught with problems (and security concerns). The properly cynical ones on your tech staff can speak to that. Put this one way, way down on the furthest back burner.
If I had a ship, or hell even a bass boat now, I’d raise the flags for Bravo Zulu:
Well done!