Here is some background information about why people are having trouble commenting and/or seeing comments. Please, please, p.l.e.a.s.e, book mark this post and share it because some people do not read the site updates and just go into the comments when the solutions and/or explanations are being provided.
Many people are complaining about not being able to see the totality of comments. Others are complaining their comments are not refreshing with the page. There appears to be a very simple explanation and easy solution for this issue.
CTH 2.0 does not have any tracking software initiated to recognize the user in the comment system. THERE ARE NO COOKIES deployed to track you. There is no system in place by CTH to monitor you or recognize you. This is part of our current privacy position.
What that means is you must initiate a process where YOU request to be recognized in the community. We are not asking your permission to recognize you (ie. cookies) as with 99 percent of websites; you must intentionally engage the commenting system to say you are expressly desiring of recognition.
How do you achieve this status? When you fill out the comment box there is a place for your user name, email address and then it asks you if you wish the site to: “Save my name, email and website in this browser for the next time I comment.” It is a checkbox.
If you check that box [√] you are, in essence, applying a cookie to yourself. You will then be recognized by the commenting software system and see the totality of the commenting conversation. You will see all comments.
If you do not check that box [ ] you are not requesting to be recognized again, and you are dropping an isolated comment into the system. You likely will not see the totality of the comments. You will see only comments attributed to your comment or reply.
Think of it like walking up to the conversation on a porch:
If you affirmatively check [“save my name, email and website in this browser for the next time I comment”] you are saying to the audience, I have something to say and I am sticking around to hear all the other voices.
If you do not affirmatively check [“save my name, email and website in this browser for the next time I comment”] you are saying to the audience, I have something to say, but I am not sticking around to join the conversation or hear other voices.
It appears the software is designed such that if you are not affirming intent, the commenting system doesn’t anticipate your engagement in all the other comments. Ergo other comments do not appear and/or they are not populated in your experience.
This is a privacy and tracking issue. CTH 2.0, as an independent website, is currently not tracking or applying any host generated tracking data of the participants.
Most websites do apply some version of tracking via “cookies” to make your engagement part of an active tracking system (make user experience easier); and/or use those cookies to deliver you targeted advertising. CTH 2.0 has no advertising and no need for a system of targeting.
Due to the scale of emails complaining about this specific issue (approximately 400 today alone), the tech team is recommending that I switch to Disqus for the commenting program. However, if we do that: (A) the same company that targeted us, Automattic, owns Disqus; and (B) without a doubt Disqus tracks users for tracking and targeting.
Some people do not care if they are comment tracked; others don’t care if Disqus is used because they are familiar with it from other websites. However, for me that is an option of last resort and I will not deploy the free version of Disqus because I don’t want to open another door where a third party can start monitoring the conversation. Especially when Automattic has already used the targeting of the original CTH to shut down our voice.
So, with all of that said. Keep this solution in mind. If you want to see all the comments, then check the [box] that says: “save my name, email and website in this browser for the next time I comment”, and hopefully that will eliminate the frustration you are encountering. Fingers crossed.
All other commenting solutions encompass some form of server/host recognition and tracking of the user in the comments section. The current system allows you to make that active decision; any other comment system will make that decision without your input.
Lastly, on the email notifications. Again, we explain that currently we do not have an active email notification system for new posts in place. The reason for the delay is again a matter of privacy. An email auto-notification system is done by a third-party provider.
[…] 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. (read more)
We received well over 100 emails today alone asking us: “where is the email notification system”? The short answer is: we are working on it as a #1 priority.
Be of good cheer, all will be ok.
We cherish you.
Live your best life…. Remember, it’s the only one you will ever have.
Love to all,
~ Sundance
#FightForTrump pic.twitter.com/HyTPyO45e3
— TheLastRefuge (@TheLastRefuge2) December 6, 2020
Enabling Eric
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Nothing to say, other than “thank you for all you do, Sundance”.
Just wanted to register.
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Lurker for several years. Love the site and all the knowledgeable posts.
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Thank you Sundance for your concern about our
privacy and security. I was a long time reader/ commenter
on Breitbart until they started using Discus. (I still miss Andy.)
If China or any enemy “hacker” wanted to scoop up whole lists of
members…. they could have everyones personal info.
I didn’t want that.
Now they fly drones overhead.
We could all curl up afraid and withdrawn….. but…. I believe in LIVE FREE
OR DIE.!
My family (and ansestors) have fought for freedom for at least two hundred fifty years…..I guess I’ve got too much gun powder in my veins to see any other way.
Trying to enable reading all comments.
Thank you!
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Joining the Alliance
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Long time, old lady lurker here, missing my daily updates and notifications.
Hope all is well with everyone in our group. Sending special thanks to Sundance!
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I love that picture of PDJT. As an American of Mexican descent, that gesture has a meaning (FU AKA in Spanish something to do with your mother).
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Still not receiving CTH posts automatically. Don’t understand why
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Thank you very much for all the work you have done to keep this essential site open.
I’m wondering if you have ever considered limiting us to a certain number of posts per day? There are some that post all day and dominate the pages. VERY frustrating and very RUDE on their parts. They, obviously, have no self-awareness and need boundaries!
Just checking in
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This is my first comment on the new CTH website.
Writing this in New Zealand on iPhone XR using Brave browser.
So far I’ve been able to see some comments only, not all.
And the website appears as a full website.
I shall now follow Sundance’s instructions and fill in my details.
I didn’t count all the comments but it looks like they are appearing, as there seem to be more comments per page than before I followed Sundance’s instructions. Hope that helps.
God bless all you do, Sundance.
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The perv. makes my skin crawl, Mad Mike. That poor woman – not as if she could smack him (as tempting as that may be) at a public event.
It would be great if the pagination links were at the top and the bottom of comments. That would let you see which page you are on as you enter the comments to the article without having to go to the bottom to see what page it is.
It also would be great if the link to the homepage was at the bottom of the comments in the footer. That way we don’t have to scroll up to the top to get to the next article or the homepage.
Also if the font and size of replies were the same as the original comment it would be easier to read.
It also appears that it requires us to enter the return character twice to separate the paragraphs. At least on my iPad it behaves this way.
One more item, it would be great to have a link to this article at the top so that people could use that for he’s laying accessing the ability to put in recommendations for improvements or reporting problems as the site continues to evolve.
As an edit and expansion of my previous comment:
One more item, it would be great to have a link to this article at the top in the header with the other links so that people could more easily access and use to put in recommendations for improvements or reporting problems as the site continues to evolve.
Also allowing a little more time for editing would be great. It seems that before I could make the edits on the last paragraph above, the ability to edit it had timed out. Alternately, it may have been the number of edits that I made caused the editing feature to be curtailed.
I made it.. thanks for all you do Sudance..
I have missed the posts since Nov 11 on Glitches; felt like I was in a vacuum and missing not only the updates but also my friends here. I started to look for Sundance and found this post, so I am trying to reconnect.
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CTH follower since before Zimmerman.
Can’t go a day without it.
Checking in.
Joining TCT now.
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OK, so I’ve finally located this blog post to help explain to myself why I lost my email notifications and I’m also attempting to submit this comment to be able to perform the one-time-check to the check box and start receiving all comments, but I’m not seeing the check box?
Can someone post a screenshot (or at least a short description of where to look)? I’m seeing the “Subscribe” drop-down arrow, but no check box – I’ve worked in technology forever, and now I’m feeling like one of the dumb users that I’ve always had to help and show the most obvious things over the last 30 years…
Not sure if my browser (Firefox) has some setting that’s preventing me from seeing it (unlikely) or why it’s not obvious, but any help would be appreciated…