Yes, the site rebuild is going live.
No, at this point, we are not even remotely interested in your comments, requests, or critiques.
Yes, when we are finished, we will solicit comments so we can tweak things.
No, this does not mean we don’t love you. We would just love you more if you would shut up until we’re done.
Villago Delenda Est
(insert generic cranky comment about site rebuild here)
Joey Maloney
YOU LIE!
shoutingattherain
For the first time in a couple years this site loads without me turning off Java. Stop now.
morzer
I demand to speak to Tunch! No, not some underling named Cole. I want the boss, online, right now!
Don’t you hang up on me!
Fucking soc.ialist cudlips!
Mutter, mutter, mutter……
That’s a blood-libel that is!
tweez
…like waving a red flag in front of a bull..
matoko_chan
what is your avatar? freelancers is jeesus.
that splains a lot.
morzer
@tweez:
Or a Red Bull in front of a flag….
Svensker
You talkin’ to ME? Huh? Huh? Who loves ya, baby?
Violet
Avatars!
morzer
I demand to speak to Tunch! No, not some underling named Cole. I want the boss, online, right now!
Don’t you hang up on me!
Fucking soc.ial.ist cudlips!
Mutter, mutter, mutter……
That’s a blood-libel that is!
matoko_chan
moar avatars plz.
BGinCHI
Is it avatars now? Did I miss the announcement on that?
matoko_chan
morzer wat does ur avatar represent?
Woodrowfan
please add a “home” button. linking the site logo at the top would be great. ty
BGinCHI
How do you load the avatar?
I’m avatar curious, but inexperienced.
Allan
It’s already working better over here in Windows 7/IE 8, thank you. It’s so nice to have text that doesn’t scroll off the right side of the screen to infinity.
morzer
@BGinCHI:
Go thou unto the site which is named http://www.gravatar.com, create an account using the email thou signest in with here, and then upload a picture to thy account. After so doing, clear thou thy cache and may thy days be long in the Land of Tunch.
BGinCHI
The site is changing as this thread progresses. It’s like being in a sci fi novel. But with fewer energy weapons.
BGinCHI
@morzer: Many thanks. Will do. Of course now I have to fucking decide on something. This could take weeks.
I need to clear my schedule.
beltane
I am traumatized at the thought of having to chose an avatar. The stress is killing me.
matoko_chan
@BGinCHI: mine is from google. i dunno if coles rebuild supports other flavors like wordpress.
Violet
@morzer:
Oh, jeez. Not gravatar. Blech. Bad, bad association with that site. So bad I try to avoid any site that uses it. Urgh.
roshan
Oh, so this is how it will look when the Kenyan Usurper finally takes over the internets. At least the site loads faster though. Takeover is a go!
shams
testing
cleek
yipe!
and just FYI for all the pie filter users: the pie filter will not work until i update it to handle the new site. and that won’t happen until it looks like they’ve stopped changing things.
LosGatosCA
Shields up – arm the photon torpedoes. Also, Scotty, we must have more power, now, too.
morzer
@Violet:
Hey, don’t shoot the messenger. Cudlip solidarity, right, sister?
Wiesman
I, for one, welcome our new avatar overlords.
Violet
@morzer:
Cudlips untie!
matoko_chan
wordpress avatars work but im in moderation because the system doesn’t “know” me.
excellent job, Cole! props to your webmaster.
4tehlulz
Man, this site loads fast now.
(Even faster when you block gravatar, though)
matoko_chan
@cleek: can u make a pie filter for frontpagers so we can not be forced to read that useless glibertarian whanker EDK’s titles?
Stacy
@Woodrowfan: The tagline actually links to Home since the entire header is a background image.
matoko_chan
@Allan: loads MUCH faster
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
Look! It’s Cisco the basenji in a White Sox hat. D’aw.
morzer
@cleek:
Can you arrange a filter to automatically remove matoko-chan’s minor acts of cerebral flatulence?
jeffreyw
Right now the only thing I can see to bitch about is this comment box, the right side extends into the blog roll. Prob my settings in Firefox. Old fart like me needs bigger fonts and I’ve fucked with the advanced settings so many times I’ve got the path-tools>options>content>fonts and colors deeply rutted.
MoonBatista
Consider this a comment in which you are not even remotely interested. Hmmph.
cleek
@matoko_chan:
the current version of the filter does that (well, it used to. but it probably doesn’t now that the site is being changed)
Woodrowfan
@Stacy:
thank you!
AhabTRuler
Obligatory.
matoko_chan
@morzer: its eemom methane farts, you smell mozer…or possibly your own. ;)
eemom
man, this is some effed up shit.
Where are the pix coming from??
BGinCHI
Avatar test. I’m so nervous.
beltane
I hope this new system won’t mean that the comments section here will start to suck as badly as at Atrios’s site. The avatars there are much better than the comments, which never have anything to do with the story they are attached to.
beltane
@BGinCHI: Looks great if you’re into bicycles.
lamh32
Oooh, fancy.
matoko_chan
@cleek: yay! merci mille fois por tous vos infinites des gentillesses.
when you have have upgraded we cannot be forced to read that assclowns titles ever again.
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
Not so great looking on my pc but much better looking on my phone.
morzer
@matoko_chan:
Where do they teach you to talk like this? In some Panama City “Sailor wanna hump-hump” bar, or is it getaway day and your last shot at his whiskey? Sell crazy someplace else, we’re all stocked up here.
John Cole
Test.
BethanyAnne
now to figger out the new avatar
BGinCHI
Success! Thanx morzer.
I know, boring bike pic, but I’m still a newbie with the avatar thing. Plus the pics are so small it’s hard to see what’s there. Surprised you can’t click and enlarge. But maybe that’s a good thing.
Assume front pagers will have avatars now?
50 bucks Doug chooses Tom Brady.
gnomedad
“This is a new blog!” was amusing.
morzer
@BGinCHI:
You got wheels, dude!
morzer
@BGinCHI:
You got wheels, dude!
blahblahgurgleblegblah
The new site sucks. You suck. And real football is played with a round ball!
BGinCHI
@beltane: All good people are into bicycles.
Does the font seem really small to anyone else??
BGinCHI
@Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel): Your dog is cute. My wife really wants to get one of those.
eemom
how does one make a avatar?? Please don’t make me ask my kids….
morzer
@BGinCHI:
Let’s just say that the binoculars really do help….
MattF
Well, it’s not All Comic Sans, and it isn’t blinking. So.
BGinCHI
@morzer: De Rosa. Like Mike Steele, I only roll on the best.
morzer
@eemom:
Go thou unto the site which is named http://www.gravatar.com, create an account using the email thou signest in with here, and then upload a picture to thy account. After so doing, clear thou thy cache and may thy days be long in the Land of Tunch.
SIA
Now I can’t read on my blackberry. Margins too wide. Damn it.
cleek
@eemom:
http://en.gravatar.com/
BGinCHI
@eemom: Go upthread and see morzer’s post to me. It was really easy.
Edited to be extra repetitious.
beltane
@blahblahgurgleblegblah: You know that XTC song with the line: “And all the world is football shaped”? It took me years to realize they were not referring to an American football, and this realization made the song far less profound than I had once thought it to be.
jacy
Fuck, we have to have avatars? That’s too much pressure.
Violet
@BGinCHI:
The font seems smaller, but not really small.
Tim
OMG…CHANGE! I can’t handle it!
Also, too, I love when John is bossy and mean to us…very hot.
matoko_chan
@morzer:
catholic girls school.
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
Actually, for today, let’s make it Sid Luckman.
morzer
@matoko_chan:
Clearly they couldn’t afford English or French teachers in Panama….
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
Ahem, let’s try that again. Sid Luckman!
BGinCHI
@beltane: Sergeants and majors work hard….
Great, now I will be singing that song for a month.
beltane
@BGinCHI: The font does seem rather small, which is a problem considering most of us who comment here are Gen Xers approaching the cusp of middle age. Soon we will be demanding that Cole give us our AARP discount whenever we comment here.
blahblahgurgleblegblah
@beltane:
Wait a minute. So there was a time in your life when you thought an XTC song was profound? You just keep on Truck’n!
matoko_chan
@John Cole: niiice.
i tried my wordpress one from talkislam, but its caught in the moderation filter.
i could see it tho.
Ked
Lotta white space, and I hope the current font doesn’t stick. And this has got to be some sort of conspiracy what with the GOS makeover happening roughly about the same time.
Has anyone ever seen Cole and Kos in the same room?
But I’m sure it’s a good thing, as the old site has been creaky for years.
Amir_Khalid
I shall stick with the blank avatar. It looks the most like me.
I have a fashion question. Are “boot cut” pants the kind you tuck into your boots, or they the kind roomy enough in the leg to go over a pair of big boots? For some reason this question has been stuck in my head for the past few weeks.
Linda Featheringill
Testing for avatar.
BGinCHI
@matoko_chan: I begged my parents to send me to a catholic girls school.
Damien
You know, I thought things looked ‘crisper’ today. Now I know why. Though to be honest I’ll be blocking the gravatars. In large threads they tend to be resource hogs
morzer
@Linda Featheringill:
Don’t forget to clear your cache.
morzer
@Linda Featheringill:
Very nice! Congratulations!
beltane
@blahblahgurgleblegblah: The concept of a world shaped like an American football seemed rather avant garde to my MTV addled young mind.
BGinCHI
@beltane: It could be just slightly larger, but not too much.
No one who eats at Old Country Buffet could read this type.
JamesKPolkEsq
Does the edit function still work?
gwangung
Looks different in different versions of Safari.
Wheee!
morzer
@BGinCHI:
I got expelled from three… admittedly after enrolling as a “Special Needs” student.
eastriver
Still hungover, huh?
Sorry. Exhausted.
(from drinking)
jacy
Avatar check, or, am I too old to use this new-fangled technology?
morzer
@gwangung:
Gwangung, I always thought you had a red face and a massive beard, not to mention a Green Dragon blade somewhere around.
BGinCHI
@Linda Featheringill: That is a very, very big cat, Linda.
TaMara (BHF)
Okay, loaded an avatar, this is a test. Morning all.
blahblahblah
avatar test
matoko_chan
@morzer: shows wat you know. je parle francais avec une accent impeccable, quand j’ai visite Paris se meprendre une indegene.
BGinCHI
@jacy: Great looking BT. I like those dogs. Lots of personality.
schrodinger's cat
@Amir_Khalid: Boot cut pants:
The one you tuck in the boots are skinny jeans or straight-leg pants.
schrodinger's cat
@Amir_Khalid: Boot cut pants:
The one you tuck in the boots are skinny jeans or straight-leg pants.
PeakVT
Here’s a screenshot of the old layout in case you’ve forgotten already.
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
@BGinCHI: I have 2 and a half and adore them all. I would advise doing some research on them and meeting a few if your wife has her heart set. They very unlike other dogs. More like half-cat, half-dog, half difficult toddler dogs.
I am involved peripherally with Basenji Rescue And Transport (BRAT) in Illinois. I can hook you up, dog!
Three-nineteen
@Amir_Khalid: Boot cut pants are wider than normal pants, so you can wear boots under them. If you want to tuck in, wear skinny jeans.
MonkeyBoy
If you just search for Cudlips you get too many returns containing humans who are really cudlips. However if you search for human Cudlips” you get more information about humans who are merely cudlips.
Roger Moore
@matoko_chan:
Just skip his posts if you don’t like them. It’s a lot easier to skip a whole FP post than individual comments within a thread.
BTW, your avatar is Motoko, not Matoko.
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
@BGinCHI:
Plus they like to be told, It’s Nearly Africa.
matoko_chan
@Amir_Khalid: boot cut refers to cowboy boots actually.
@schrodinger’s cat: cigarette jeans. is your avatar going to be tthe chesire cat or a closed box?
BGinCHI
@Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel): Thanks. That’s good to know, and I’ll keep your BRAT cred in mind.
Colonel Danite
Avatar test. Cool
Neil
Oh my God. I’m back. I’m home. All the time, it was… We finally really did it. You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!
SIA
Oh well. I spend too much time reading the blasted blog anuyway.
morzer
@matoko_chan:
Somehow, I can imagine they mistook you for many things, but given that your “French” is shockingly ungrammatical (and sometimes partly Spanish) I very much doubt that anyone took you for anything but a transmarine imbecile.
Hint: don’t try using the reflexive when switching subjects from yourself
Second hint: the word “on” is your friend when trying to say “They mistook me for a native”.
Third hint: indigene not indegene
blahblahblah
Here’s an uplifting story about a bank that foreclosed on a little old dirty fucking hippie lady who couldn’t concern herself with making a last mortgage payment simply because she was hospitalized. If you can’t handle paying your last bill due to little severe illness, you’re just not prepared to live in this ownership society! Personal responsibility, bitches!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110114/ap_on_bi_ge/us_foreclosure_missed_last_payment_1
Amir_Khalid
@schrodinger’s cat: Many thanks.
schrodinger's cat
@matoko_chan: I haven’t decided, it will probably be my big tabby kitteh, Yogi.
matoko_chan
@Roger Moore: it would have been disrespectful to take the Major’s exact name. all the links would go to her identity.
watashi wa otaku desu.
BGinCHI
@Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel): OK, I don’t get that one. plz splain.
Like your avatar, btw. That guy could really wear a sweater.
Roger Moore
@John Cole:
I think you need to use a picture of Our Lord and Master Tunch for your avatar.
BGinCHI
@Colonel Danite: Masochist.
Sirkowski
The frame problem seems to be fixed.
Edit: Yay, avatars!
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
@BGinCHI:
One of their best songs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pzRYBr1wbY
WaterGirl
So when people say “we are all Tunch now”, it could really be true.
We could all use Tunch as our avitars.
Kristine
test
eemom
testatar
13th Generation
Just in case anybody cares about this stuff anymore..
http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/44717/is-gravatar-a-privacy-risk
BGinCHI
@Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel): Shit, I thought it was a Basenji reference! XTC. Got it. Underrated band.
Linda Featheringill
I finally got the avatar to work!
[now this stuff is really important!]
eemom
keeeeewwwl!
matoko_chan
@morzer: im sure they were more tolerant because they could physically see me. ;)
je regret, j’etudie seulement au lycee, peut etre j’ai oblie quelquer choses.
Amir_Khalid
@matoko_chan: So I take it I would only need boot cut pants if I had cowboy boots, right?
Sapristi
Sapristi!
jacy
Somehow this all just smacks of personalizing your Trapper Keeper so you can be one of the cool kids.
Strandedvandal
All this change!
eastriver62
go JETS
BD of MN
trying the avatar thing…
woohoo!
cleek
ruh roh
daveX99
Hmm. I don’t want to be left out of the pre-griping. I will just say reflexively that the new site sux & get it over with.
Actually, it looks fine.
I want an Avatar like the cool kids. How?
BGinCHI
@Amir_Khalid: Dude. Are you practicing for an open mic standup routine?
Because you’re gonna bomb.
PurpleGirl
Testing. Testing. 1, 2, 3… Testing.
ETA: My avatar isn’t showing… (frown).
Montysano
A year or so ago, I got banned from another WordPress blog. The comment that did it, IIRC, was “The thought that Barack Obama is a soshulist is laughable”.
Since then, I’ve been unable to log in to this blog and other WP blogs, reset passwords, etc, although I can log in just fine at wordpress.com. Any suggestions besides FYWP?
shams
oooh wordpress works. you just have to be introduced to the site.
this is matoko’s avatar from Talk Islam, the Arabian Nights.
blahblahblah
@beltane:
Truly profound songs from that era include: Dolby’s, “She Blinded Me with Science!”, Madonna’s “Material Girl”, and let’s not forget Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” for their undeniable prescience. Put these acts together and you’d have an Apple Genius Bar! Or something.
Josie
avatar test
Yay – I’m not a complete and utter computer failure
Violet
@13th Generation:
So even if I’m not signed up with Gravatar, they grab my email address? The f*ckers. I DETEST Gravatar to the point where I avoid blogs that use it. Ugh.
jacy
@daveX99:
go up thread, something called gravatar, so easy even I could do it.
Still, too much pressure, does my avatar truly represent me? I’m torn.
(going off to look for an avatar of Cthulhu playing hockey with Doctor Who)
shams
@Amir_Khalid: well…that is the origin of the name. what kind of boots do you have?
eemom
@daveX99:
look upthread to morzer’s response to my asking of that question.
Judy in SD
testing, 1,2,3, testing
Roger Moore
@Amir_Khalid:
Or some other kind of boot with a top that’s wide enough to tuck stuff into, like high cut hiking boots. It’s most common for cowboy boots, though.
13th Generation
@Violet:
Here’s another link:
http://www.lifestyleignition.com/tag/gravatar-security-risk/
matoko_chan
@jacy: cartman riding Cthulhu would be easier to find.
GregB
Testing…one..two..three…
morzer
@daveX99:
Go thou unto the site which is named http://www.gravatar.com, create an account using the email thou signest in with here, and then upload a picture to thy account. After so doing, clear thou thy cache and may thy days be long in the Land of Tunch.
gwangung
@morzer: Old country. New country, new gods. (And I hang with a wench named Famulan…..). (Arts fartsy literary reference there).
Violet
@13th Generation:
So is Gravatar stealing our email addresses even as we type on Balloon-Juice? Or only if we sign up with them. I’m not clear on that.
I notice you’re a hold out like me. No avatar. Heh. Viva La Resistance!
daveX99
I can haz avatar?
EDIT: …I CAN haz avatar, but first I must be ‘moderated’. I feel dirty. This is so unfair. It’s like one of those lines in front of the cool club I can’t get into.
13th Generation
@Violet:
I only know what I read from others who seem to know more than me. I do know that I’ve been concerned with privacy issues on the internet for some time, especially facebook.
But I’m paranoid like that.
PurpleGirl
Don’t have time to fix the avatar problem right now… cause it does show at other places… (continues to frown).
Amir_Khalid
@shams: They look kind of like construction/hiking boots, with laces and the padded bit at the top, and they only go up a couple of inches past my ankles. Bought them 10 years ago because I found myself visiting the occasional factory on assignment as a reporter — and sure enough, I ever saw the inside of a factory again after the purchase.
Gravenstone
@matoko_chan: E5I5O
Violet
@13th Generation:
Yeah I’m paranoid like that too.
@PurpleGirl:
Yeah, what if you visit lots of sites but want various avatars for each. Someone might not want, say, their American Idol or Glee avatar showing up here.
MuonkeyBoy
I just signed up for Gravitar (and had to change my name to do so) but did not give it a gravatar image – which they say will result in my icon being the site default. TESTING to see if that exists.
Also TESTING to see if blockquote can quote multiple paragraphs without using the double-underscore hack.
TA DA?
EDIT:
Hmm, I’m in moderation. But no ‘site’ icon displayed for what I can see and blockquote doesn’t work. I’ll try the underscore hack next.
Ta Da?
EDIT: Youza – double underscore still works.
xian
twitterers, for a chuckle, check out the #applausegate hashtag and ongoing mockery of the wingnuts by @jamesurbaniak
lee
test
ImJohnGalt
I wrote a script that took a front pager’s posts off in response to a Michael D. dare. I have to say I’m not proud of it, but it could probably be repurposed.
matoko_chan
@Amir_Khalid: boot cut should work fine, but you could go all emo with skinnies and tuck them in.
matoko_chan
@Violet: it takes the avatar from your email addr. just make different emails.
Stacy
Edit test.
matoko_chan
whats relly funnie is lookin at the old threads, where people are caught with their avatars exposed.
freelancers avatar is jesus…that explains a whole lot of his antipathy to me.
matoko_chan
Question;
Does the system prefer a facebook mugshot if you have fb page?
Asiangrrlmn’s is very cool, watever it is.
Cassidy
do not want
Amir_Khalid
@matoko_chan: I’m 50 in July — WAY too old for that.
LiberalTarian
Shut up shut up shut up! That’s why!!
martha
OK, let’s see if the avatar thingy works
ETA rats, it doesn’t. Back to the drawing board.
WyldPirate
Little gravatar test
WyldPirate
daddgum. wonder why I went into moderation on the previous?
WyldPirate
ok. test again
WyldPirate
test
martha
Ok, clearing the cache worked…yay.
Cain
cranky git.
henqiguai
Really ???
Jade Jordan
Anticipating this great day!
Isn’t this the day that John Cole gets upgraded so he is no longer pissy and cranky? Bout time.
Ms.B
testing testing testing
platosearwax
I’m just testing my avatar.
M. Bouffant
Avatar test too. Hey, where are all the adverts?
suzanne
If I sign up at Gravatar, I can’t be “suzanne” anymore? WTF?
WaterGirl
@suzanne: Looks like the avatars may be gone anyway. Hurray for that!
Comrade Luke
I think you need to add or increase the padding attribute in the css for the comments section. Right now all the comments are so close together it’s hard to read.
Comrade Luke
Woa, that’s weird. They look great now. Did someone do this literally just now?