BBTF.org/m/site_news : Please excuse the mess

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Granillo: “Rise of the Robot Umpires”

(www.baseballprospectus.com)

posted on April 17, 2013 at 09:31 AM by Repoz to site news | 24 comment(s)

It troubles me that the world is just one big rip-off of Ferro Lad.

We’ve all thought it. Heck, many of us have even said it. Watching the exploits of Eric Gregg, Phil Cuzzi, Jim Joyce, and so many others, it’s hard not to believe it at least once. “We want robot umpires!”

A new project by Dan Levy is working to explore just what might happen if baseball ever heeded that call. Rise of the Robot Umpires is a graphic-style novel set in the not-too-distant future where the commissioner finally ...

Reader Comments and Retorts

Go to end of page

Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.

Page 4 of 5 pages < 1 2 3 4 5 >

151. Scoriano Flitcraft posted on January 16, 2012 at 09:50 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Jim, things improved sometime this afternoon. I will email if it occurs again. Thx!

152. Jim Furtado

posted on January 16, 2012 at 10:44 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Handle, I turned off secure forms. Apparently, it was causing you problems. We can continue to get by without it for now.
---
I've turned off Rank Denial for user submitted links for now. As HCO, said the spammers probably don't notice anyway. I will implement Vinay's suggested EE addon for applying nofollow to links, so members will be able to still see links when they hover over them. I will have to come up with another option for the forum links.

I've spent some time going over EE's logon code. They overhauled the logging in process. Some of the changes enhance security; some of them don't have a real purpose. I've made a change to one of the ways EE processes cookies. They were doing something funky that, frankly, makes no sense at all. I'm still poring over the code to see if they are anything else worth amending.

Can people clear their cookies and let me know whether the logging in situation has improved?

153. Greg Pope thinks the Cubs are reeking havoc posted on January 17, 2012 at 01:23 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Things are working better, I think. I logged in at home last night, and when I came to the site at work this morning I did not need to log in. I will test on the iPad also.

154. JJ1986 posted on January 17, 2012 at 01:25 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Yeah, same for me today.

155. Ray (RDP)

posted on January 17, 2012 at 02:05 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Hmm. I see my bookmarks list when I'm on this page (they're old, of course) but not when I'm on other pages.

156. SoSH U at work posted on January 17, 2012 at 02:36 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Hmm. I see my bookmarks list when I'm on this page (they're old, of course) but not when I'm on other pages.

I do as well. I wonder if bookmarks are returning in stages.

157. Jim Furtado

posted on January 17, 2012 at 09:29 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

I'm testing some changes on this blog, primarily the way the underlying templates are put together. As you can see, I have the basic bookmark stuff done. I'd like to take one more crack at the bookmark Ajax code, though. Bookmarks should be back on the whole site in another day or two.

158. bobm posted on January 17, 2012 at 11:51 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

My log-ins now seem to persist on both PC and BB. Thanks.

159. Harold can be a fun sponge posted on January 18, 2012 at 12:00 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

I have not been able to log in on my iPhone at all in at least a few days. I see the log-in form, enter my info, see a page saying "Thank you! You are now logged in," but it doesn't take -- if I'm trying to access the lounge, I get bounced back to the login page; in the mainland, I go back to my mainland screen, but am still logged out. I've cleared all cookies, history, data, etc., numerous times.

Frigging iPhone. If this was happening on a real browser, I'd tell you what's happening with my cookies, etc. Anybody else still having problems like this? I'm using an iPhone 4S on the latest version of iOS.

Thanks for all the effort lately, especially the debugging. I know it's not fun. Also, thanks for changing the linking back -- I know a lot of people have posted that they're happy about this.

160. Lowry Seasoning Salt posted on January 18, 2012 at 12:20 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

Harold, if you haven't already, go to Settings > Safari and hit Clear Cookies And Data. Yes, this will impact any site for which your phone is already storing log in information. If you'd like to first try a less nuclear option, go to Settings > Safari > Advanced > Website Data and remove the listing for BTF (or just hit the Remove All Website Data button).

161. Padgett posted on January 18, 2012 at 12:28 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

Thanks for all the effort lately, especially the debugging. I know it's not fun. Also, thanks for changing the linking back -- I know a lot of people have posted that they're happy about this.

I'll second this. Thanks, Jim.

162. Jolly Old St. Nick Done Jumped The Ship

posted on January 18, 2012 at 01:41 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

Hmm. I see my bookmarks list when I'm on this page (they're old, of course) but not when I'm on other pages.

I do as well. I wonder if bookmarks are returning in stages.

Same here. I'm also seeing them on this page only.

163. Jim Furtado

posted on January 18, 2012 at 11:00 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

Andy, I answered this question in comment 144.

164. Jolly Old St. Nick Done Jumped The Ship

posted on January 18, 2012 at 11:18 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

My bad, Jim. I got in late last night and glazed by your answer to SoSH.

165. Mark S. is bored posted on January 18, 2012 at 11:24 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

I have not been able to log in on my iPhone at all in at least a few days. I see the log-in form, enter my info, see a page saying "Thank you! You are now logged in," but it doesn't take -- if I'm trying to access the lounge, I get bounced back to the login page; in the mainland, I go back to my mainland screen, but am still logged out. I've cleared all cookies, history, data, etc., numerous times.

Frigging iPhone. If this was happening on a real browser, I'd tell you what's happening with my cookies, etc. Anybody else still having problems like this? I'm using an iPhone 4S on the latest version of iOS.

Thanks for all the effort lately, especially the debugging. I know it's not fun. Also, thanks for changing the linking back -- I know a lot of people have posted that they're happy about this.

I had this problem and I finally figured out that in the Settings->Safari the AcceptCookies flag keeps getting set back to "Never Accept Cookies". I had to toggle it again this morning to get it to work for me.

166. The Ghost of Sox Fans Past

posted on January 18, 2012 at 05:25 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

I have the 4S as well, so I appreciate the help from you guys, Harold and Mark. I haven't Lounged from it much, especially since this happened, so if it ever starts working "right", please let us know here. Thanks.

167. Mark S. is bored posted on January 18, 2012 at 06:07 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

I have the 4S as well, so I appreciate the help from you guys, Harold and Mark. I haven't Lounged from it much, especially since this happened, so if it ever starts working "right", please let us know here. Thanks.

As far as I can tell, it's working fine for me on my iPhone 4S now.

168. Guapo posted on January 19, 2012 at 01:33 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Hi Jim,

The formatting buttons are missing from the "submit a news story" page.

169. An Athletic in Powderhorn™ posted on January 21, 2012 at 01:21 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Jim, several of us in the Lounge have noticed that the Search function has been having problems. If a keyword is found in many replies in a thread, upon clicking the "Search this thread" link it gives an error saying that the search did not return any results. And a couple of days ago I searched for a phrase that was present in that day's lounge and that I knew had been used in several previous lounges. That search also didn't return any results. I assume that this is another SNAFU with the latest EE update, since I haven't had either of those problems before. If you could look into this I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

170. Jim Furtado

posted on January 21, 2012 at 01:46 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

I will look into the search problem in the Lounge. If you could send along a couple of searches (send it through the site email) to illustrate the problem, I would appreciate it.

171. An Athletic in Powderhorn™ posted on January 21, 2012 at 02:49 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Email sent.

172. bobm posted on January 21, 2012 at 03:30 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

The comment count in the OT NBA thread (2630 now) seems to disagree with the actual number of comments (2610 now).

173. Jim Furtado

posted on January 21, 2012 at 04:52 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

I've confirmed the search problem and the formatting buttons problem. I am troubleshooting both issues.

I have fixed the NBA thread comment count.

174. fra paolo posted on January 22, 2012 at 10:11 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

We seem to have lost access to Newsblog entries earlier than July 2011, which is a bit awkward for some work I'm doing right now.

175. Jim Furtado

posted on January 23, 2012 at 11:10 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

fra paolo, sorry. I'm in the middle of restructuring the site's archive structure. If you have the links, you should be able to display them now. Eventually, though, Newsblog entries older than six months will only be accessible in the new site archives. This is being done both for organization and for performance.

176. Guapo posted on January 23, 2012 at 05:12 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

The old links are appearing, but all the comments have disappeared.

177. Jim Furtado

posted on January 24, 2012 at 04:50 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Can you give me a link?

178. SoSH U at work posted on January 24, 2012 at 04:53 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Can you give me a link?

Here's an example.

It lists 89 comments, but none appear.

179. Jim Furtado

posted on January 24, 2012 at 09:15 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Fixed. Thanks for the heads up. Eventually though, Newsblog posts older than six months will only display within the much improved archive section.

180. Monty posted on January 30, 2012 at 01:49 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Never mind!

181. Misirlou is bad, he's nationwide posted on February 04, 2012 at 11:40 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

Does anyone know how to delete bookmarked threads now?

182. Jim Furtado

posted on February 05, 2012 at 07:43 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

Does anyone know how to delete bookmarked threads now?

Thanks for pointing this out.

Visit the thread and click "Bookmarked".

I may change the description to something else. Would "Unbookmark" be better?

183. Joe Kehoskie posted on February 06, 2012 at 07:41 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Jim — Thanks for the site updates and improvements. Glad to have bookmarks back, etc.

I just noticed the problem mentioned in #100 seems to be back, at least for the Starlin Castro thread. As I'm writing this, the links in the sidebar (Hot Topics and Bookmarks) have the thread at 5195 comments, but the thread actually has 5202 comments. It's not a big deal, but the link takes people to the wrong page when the discrepancy occurs around a page-flip (i.e., last comments are in the high '90s or low '00s). Thanks.

184. Greg Pope thinks the Cubs are reeking havoc posted on February 08, 2012 at 05:52 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Jim, was the "ignore thread" possibility a no-go? I do appreciate the longer Hot Topics list, but the soccer and NBA threads still end up at the top quite often and I have to scroll down more.

185. Jim Furtado

posted on February 09, 2012 at 08:18 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

Greg, some of the the changes will be implemented after the move to the new servers and within the new design. I am completely re-factoring the data structure and back-end template code. By doing so, I'll be able to provide many more customization options for members to satisfy the individual needs of as many people as possible.

For example, some people are asking for more off-topic content, like football and basketball. Other people, like you, are asking for the ability to ignore such content. With the re-design, members will be able to choose whether to include those sports or not in the site-wide Hot Topics box by setting the option in their Profile Settings. Additionally, each member will have his own "My BBTF Homepage" (name may change) where he can subscribe to specific content topics by blog (BBTF, Hall of Merit), subject (Red Sox, Steroids), or category (Baseball, Football).

Look for a new Updates post in the next day or so. In it I will discuss some of the upcoming features and ask for a few more Alpha/Beta Testers.

186. SoSHially Unacceptable posted on February 10, 2012 at 01:06 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

Anyone else having problems tonight? New last posts (and higher nunmbers) are appearing temporarily on the sidebar, but they don't exist when you click on the thread.

187. Greg Pope thinks the Cubs are reeking havoc posted on February 12, 2012 at 11:08 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

I'm not having that problem, but for a couple of days there's something funny going on with caching. I go to the home page and it's cached from last time. I have to refresh to see the updated Hot Topics. So I refresh the home page and, for example, the Jeter thread says 47 comments. So I click on the link from Hot Topics and I go to the page and it only has 38 comments, the same as earlier today. I refresh the page and see all 47.

So I'm guessing my IE is caching the pages, but the site never behaved like this before.

188. Mefisto posted on February 13, 2012 at 12:38 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

I'm having the same problem Greg. It's been going on for a couple of days now. I'm also using IE.

189. SoSHially Unacceptable posted on February 13, 2012 at 01:06 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

So I'm guessing my IE is caching the pages, but the site never behaved like this before.

That's basically what is happening to me. It just took me a while to figure out that refreshing would update the pages to the actual count.

190. Greg Pope thinks the Cubs are reeking havoc posted on February 14, 2012 at 10:49 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

In some preliminary testing it does not seem to happen in Firefox.

191. DL from MN posted on February 14, 2012 at 10:55 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

This was happening to me with IE so I switched to Chrome. Works fine in Chrome and Firefox.

192. Jose Can Still Seabiscuit posted on February 14, 2012 at 12:26 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Additionally, each member will have his own "My BBTF Homepage" (name may change) where he can subscribe to specific content topics by blog (BBTF, Hall of Merit), subject (Red Sox, Steroids), or category (Baseball, Football).

This sounds fantastic.

193. Don Geovany Soto (chris h.) posted on February 14, 2012 at 12:51 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

This sounds fantastic.

Agreed. I am beyond stoked for this. The inconveniences have been rather minor anyway, but even so they're well worth it given what's on the horizon.

194. Jim Furtado

posted on February 15, 2012 at 01:50 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Thanks for the additional information on the caching issue. I have added it to my bug fix list.

Can the people having the IE caching issue please let me know which version of IE they are using?

@Chris and Jose: I more excited about the upcoming changes to the site than at any other time in the site's existence, and I include when Sean and I first released BaseballPrimer.com. My primary focuses on the updates are serving pages as fast as I can, enhancing the community nature of the site, giving users more control over what content they see, helping them find the news they are interested in, and making the site as easy to use as possible.

195. Greg Pope thinks the Cubs are reeking havoc posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:08 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

Can the people having the IE caching issue please let me know which version of IE they are using?

From Help/About:

IE9, version 9.0.8112.16421
Update Versions (whatever that means): 9.0.5

196. base ball chick posted on February 16, 2012 at 11:49 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

Jim Furtado Posted: February 15, 2012 at 12:50 PM (#4061561)

Thanks for the additional information on the caching issue. I have added it to my bug fix list.

Can the people having the IE caching issue please let me know which version of IE they are using?

- IE 8

My page is still stuck on Feb 14 at about 9 AM CST, which is weird because i wasn't on the computer then. No new posts are showing at all. I tried closing, clearing and restarting and have the same problem

197. Jim Furtado

posted on February 16, 2012 at 12:47 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

bbc and Greg, let me know if the problem has been resolved.

198. Greg Pope thinks the Cubs are reeking havoc posted on February 16, 2012 at 09:38 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Not for me. Gary Carter thread was on 42 earlier today. Checked now, still on 42. Refreshed and saw 55. I used Ctrl-F5 the whole day in case that was the problem.

199. base ball chick posted on February 16, 2012 at 11:58 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

jim,

it is now working fine on my computer

200. Greg Pope thinks the Cubs are reeking havoc posted on February 17, 2012 at 10:32 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

Still not on mine.

Page 4 of 5 pages < 1 2 3 4 5 >

You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.

/m/site_news

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Granillo: “Rise of the Robot Umpires”

Reader Comments and Retorts

Site News Think Factory