Category: Pointless Digressions || By

To put it simply, the comment form on Tube City Almanac sucks and blows at the same time.

It stinks. As they say in Latin, "excrementum," or in Russian, "crapski."

To paraphrase Ross Perot, "I know it, you know it, and the American people know it."

There are many reasons. Mainly, because the software that runs Tube City Almanac is almost as out-of-date as a Ross Perot joke, and like a Ross Perot joke, no one wants it. So the software is very hard to update.

The spam filter, which was already crummy when I first turned it on, is now a joke of a different kind. It blocks many, many, many legitimate comments --- for no apparent reason! --- while letting the spammers through. Yippee! It's the worst of both worlds!

I'm honestly not trying to censor comments. (There are some lively conversations happening on our Facebook wall, often with readers telling me I'm full of excrementum. You don't have to be a Facebook user to see them.)

Why don't I just fix it? Because the guy who runs our server is a one-man operation and, like me, he has a full-time job. He is updating all of his servers, but it's taking time.

He and I want to rebuild the site with new software. (Like everything else, we could use some help in that department.) When we do, I am hoping to add a plug-in, off-the-shelf, up-to-date comment system. (There are a few, like LiveFyre, that are tied to Facebook, Twitter and other social media networks.)

In the meantime, this is my promise: If you try to post a comment and it's rejected, please, email me at tube city tiger at gmail dot com, and I will make sure it appears. I would prefer you sign your name, but if you need to remain anonymous or want to use a pen name, Tube City Community Media Inc. will never, ever release your identity, short of a court order.

If you're still worried, send an anonymous letter via U.S. Mail to P.O. Box 94, McKeesport 15134. You can't get much more private than that.

Just don't bother sending me a complaint about the comment system. I know. I know. Crapski.

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