Baseball for the Thinking Fan

Login | Register | Feedback

btf_logo
You are here > Home > Jim's Lab Notes > Discussion
Jim's Lab Notes
— Site News, Baseball Talk, and a Bunch of Other Stuff

Monday, October 31, 2011

Please Excuse the Mess

It’s update time. The season is over and a slower news cycle is upon us. It’s time for me to roll up my sleeves and work on the site. First up is the transition of our Content Management System (CMS) from Expression Engine‘s 1.x series to its 2.x series. I had hoped to accomplish this upgrade last March but, unfortunately, some of the third-party scripts the site uses had not yet been updated to the new version, my personal life was much too busy and, frankly, I did not have sufficient funds to pay for a server upgrade and all the script upgrades. Although money is still tight, things aren’t as busy and all the scripts I need are now available. It’s time to get cracking.

The CMS software was almost completely rewritten in this update. As a result, many of their native and third party scripts, and quite a few of my own scripts, either need to be updated or replaced with something new. I’ve already rewritten my homebrewed scripts. Unfortunately a few third-party scripts have no direct upgrade path, so I will need to pay for a replacement or I will need to write a replacement myself. Luckily many of the replacements are actually superior, so in a lot of cases we’ll end up with better functionality as a result.

Getting BBTF updated is a rather large, time-consuming undertaking. I’ve done some trial runs on my development server and I must say the upgrades are not trivial and the process is often problematic. I’ve learned that the upgrade is better done in steps rather than trying to do it all at once by stringing together a series of upgrade scripts. It is also far easier to troubleshoot problems when the process is done piecemeal. This does cause a few problems because, with my schedule, some portions of the updates will need to be done over a number of days. Although I will try to make the transition as inconspicuous to you as I can, my tests suggest some things may not be available (like bookmarking, categories) for a longer time than I’d prefer. 

As in most anything, planning makes perfect. In preparation for the conversion to 2.x, a few items (polling, for one example) will need to be disabled. To keep you apprised of problems, I am creating this thread specially for the upgrade process. Although most of the upgrades will be done in the wee hours, there may be times I will need to take the site offline for short periods during the day. I will try to post a notice at least 24 hours in advance of any planned outage.

With the size of the site’s database I have found less problems crop up during the upgrade when I reduce the number of fields in a few of the tables. Since changing the structures of some of the underlying databases also will make the upgrade of the archives and search features easier, I have decided to make most of these changes prior to the conversion. Again, from my testing, this changeover will, for the most part, be transparent. Nevertheless, I warn you that a few of the older/lesser trafficked blogs may go offline for short periods. I also warn you that the site will most likely be offline for most of the day I run the vendor’s conversion script. I will try to schedule this downtime in late November well before the Winter Meetings. Once again, I will try to give you sufficient notice to lessen the shock (especially for our most hardcore Primates). 

Once the conversion to 2.x is completed I will incrementally update the site. Unlike past upgrades I will try to keep the site’s architecture about the same and will simply incorporate new features into the existing site design. My plan also includes upgrading the site’s servers after the holidays. As I mentioned above, I had hoped to upgrade the servers last March but unfortunately with a wedding on horizon, I didn’t have the time or money to get it done. In the interim I was able to tweak the server configurations to get the site’s performance up to a passable level. I fear, however, with some of the features I have planned, our current servers will not be up to the task. I will do my best to get our servers upgraded this January. 

Anyway, with less stuff going on in my personal life this winter, I hope to use my time wisely to make the site more useful for next season. I hope you will find my additions worthwhile. Thanks for your patience through the process.

Jim

UPDATE: 12/9/2012 - The updates are underway. Due to requests from the Hall of Merit regulars, some of the updates were postponed until after balloting


Donate to BaseballThinkFactory.org using PayPal.com

jimfurtado Posted: October 31, 2011 at 06:32 PM | 193 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
  Related News:

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 1 of 2 pages  1 2 > 
   1. davekemp Posted: October 31, 2011 at 09:07 PM (#3983719)
What kind of stuff are you looking at from a feature perspective? Just curious and hopeful.

Thanks!
   2. Devin has a deep burning passion for fuzzy socks Posted: October 31, 2011 at 09:50 PM (#3983744)
Speaking of late November, I believe the voting for the Hall of Merit election closes on November 28 (assuming it doesn't get pushed back to try and draw more voters). So that would not be a good day to shut the site down.

Thanks for doing what you do.
   3. Gold Star - just Gold Star Posted: November 01, 2011 at 04:19 AM (#3984029)
Jim, here's that site discussion thread I started back in August. There are offers to help with housekeeping.

Here's some suggestions from Harold:
* Customizable hot topics bar (automatically include/exclude threads by topic, for example).
* Mobile features (possibly dedicated mobile apps to handle certain use cases)
* Improved performance (caching, etc.)
* An API to “open up” the site’s data to third-party developers (i.e., the user base). This might be the best way to get mobile apps, by the way.
* Improved lounge interface
* Cleanup of generated HTML so that it is much more modifiable/customizable/scriptable on the client side

As usual, I’m very tempted to offer my time, but can’t really pull the trigger, as I know I’ll under-deliver. Maybe if a few of us build some critical mass to volunteer, that would have a better chance at success.
   4. jimfurtado Posted: November 01, 2011 at 11:57 AM (#3984079)
Gold Star, I'm looking over the forum thread right now. I missed it before or I would have joined in. Sorry. I'll comment here when I am done.
   5. Mattbert Posted: November 01, 2011 at 01:07 PM (#3984097)
Thanks for the heads-up, Jim. Good luck with the updates.
   6. Gold Star - just Gold Star Posted: November 02, 2011 at 03:33 AM (#3984755)
I still believe there’s a great opportunity for growth by expanding into the other major sports - BBTF is a fantastic one-stop shop for baseball fans, and it’s a format I don’t see anywhere for basketball and football. FBTF and BKTF, anyone?
   7. Andere Richtingen Posted: November 02, 2011 at 03:44 AM (#3984763)
Jim, I think the number one issue with the site are these constantly arising periods where performance goes all to hell and page loads take forever. It seems to me that the top priority should be moving away from you personally maintaining a server to virtualized hosting.

Letting third-party developers get in and add features seems like a great way to add the bells and whistles.

Oh, and congratulations!
   8. bjhanke Posted: November 02, 2011 at 10:56 AM (#3984843)
Your upgrade path sound very good and well thought-out. I agree with the sequence of changes you have in mind and your reasoning. Letting us all know that this upcoming month may have the occasional squirrelly day or feature is a BIG help - I won't get frustrated; I'll just wait a day. Oh, and I am willing to offer help, but I may be too rusty for you. The last time I wrote code for a living was in 2000. If you would like help, let me know what tools you are using, and I'll let you know if I recognize any of them. I wouldn't have offered at all, but you mentioned tables and not relational DBMS. I've never written relational, but I have LOTS of experience with table structures. - Brock Hanke
   9. Greg Pope Posted: November 04, 2011 at 11:37 PM (#3986798)
My biggest annoyance is the cluttering up of hot topics with off-topic discussions. I do appreciate that there's a catchall soccer and basketball thread, but they seem to be continuously on the sidebar. Plus there's the occasional (ha) digression thread that I am not interested in. I would like an ignore function for topics, right up by the Bookmark link. I don't think an "ignore by topic" would work since people don't take the topics seriously when they submit the links.
   10. Joe Kehoskie Posted: November 05, 2011 at 12:29 AM (#3986828)
First, Jim, thanks for the great site. Much appreciated.

The two things that come to mind re: improvements or feedback are:

1. BBTF tends to be inaccessible for about 30 minutes each night starting around 1:00 AM. If that can't be eliminated altogether, is there any way to schedule it for later, e.g., 4:00 AM, long after most people are offline for the night?

2. A longer Hot Topics sidebar and/or a sidebar that watches topics in which one has commented would be great. Hot Topics tends to be dominated by that day's threads, while some older threads remain active but fall out of sight due to less-frequent comments. I know the Bookmarks feature offers the capability to "watch" a thread, but bookmarking every topic in which one posts seems redundant.

Again, thanks for your time and effort here. Good luck with the upgrades.
   11. SoSH U at work Posted: November 05, 2011 at 01:10 AM (#3986841)
Count me among those who would most like to see either a longer Hot Topics or to keep hot topics free from the OT stuff. I think it would help facilitate more discussion of baseball topics if more of those threads were readily visible and accessible.
   12. ERROR---Jolly Old St. Nick Posted: November 05, 2011 at 01:53 AM (#3986852)
Count me among those who would most like to see either a longer Hot Topics or to keep hot topics free from the OT stuff. I think it would help facilitate more discussion of baseball topics if more of those threads were readily visible and accessible.

A longer or customized Hot Topics bar would be great, but since half the "baseball" threads are either pinata posts ("Roger Maris should be in the Hall of Fame"; "Sabermetrics? What's That?"; "Cliff Lee Has No Heart"; "Murray Chass sez....", etc.) or the same topics over and over ("The Wild Card Is An Outrage"; "They're Screwing Ron Santo!"; "Jeff Francoeur Spotting!"), I'm not so sure that the overall quality of the site would improve. The best baseball articles are the ones linked to Hardball Times and similar blogs, and they usually wind up dying after a handful of comments, whereas the Jeff Francoeur fan club apparently can't get enough of him.
   13. Howie Menckel Posted: November 05, 2011 at 02:10 AM (#3986857)
Thanks for your efforts, Jim, and best of luck on all this.
   14. base ball chick Posted: November 05, 2011 at 02:17 AM (#3986860)
hi jim!!!

thank you for all your time and effort. if guys wanna do any complaining they best be coughing up some $$$ to help you implement all the stuff they want done.
   15. Gold Star - just Gold Star Posted: November 06, 2011 at 11:03 PM (#3987561)
bbc, years ago I vowed to put my money where my mouth is. When change is in sight, I'm good for my word.
My biggest annoyance is the cluttering up of hot topics with off-topic discussions. I do appreciate that there's a catchall soccer and basketball thread, but they seem to be continuously on the sidebar.
As to this and the other comments about OT threads - this is why I'm lobbying for an expansion of the Think Factory universe. BBTF has an accessible format I believe would work quite well with other sports. When that happens, then people can go argue NBA on BKTF, which helps BBTF stay baseball-focused.
   16. Gold Star - just Gold Star Posted: November 06, 2011 at 11:04 PM (#3987563)
I don't think an "ignore by topic" would work since people don't take the topics seriously when they submit the links.
They don't? Huh - I'll have to watch for that. When I submit news items, I'm rather fussy about the topics/tags.
   17. Greg Pope Posted: November 07, 2011 at 01:49 AM (#3987630)
People like to be funny like tagging articles about Adam Dunn with Obituaries. Stuff like that. I complained one time but was shouted down pretty quickly.
   18. The Ghost of Sox Fans Past Posted: November 07, 2011 at 05:48 PM (#3987964)
Bumping this up, and adding a couple things.

1. Loads of thinks to Jim.

2. How about a few more people hitting that "Donate" button on the upper right hand corner? That would help Jim a lot, and it's only fair.
   19. Jose is an Absurd Sultan Posted: November 07, 2011 at 06:15 PM (#3987996)
My biggest annoyance is the cluttering up of hot topics with off-topic discussions. I do appreciate that there's a catchall soccer and basketball thread, but they seem to be continuously on the sidebar.
I'm a regular in the soccer thread but I'll second this. Now that there is an "OT" designation on those I think that should be a separate sidebar to itself. In other words you'd have "Hot Topics" then below it (or wherever) "Off Topic".

I don't think a STF or BKTF is necessarily going to start here. One of the things that is great about this place is that we have created a community here. I am genuinely interested in what people have to say and I find I often learn something in off topic discussions. The soccer thread for example generates about 700-800 comments a month so we're talking 25 a day, not a lot and it's more a function of "hey, within this group of people I share a baseball fandom with there is a subset that enjoys soccer" and that creates a nice diversion. I don't really want to go to an "all soccer all the time" site because my interest is not that high.

I don't see why there is a backlash against stuff people are not interested in. At any given time three of the last ten baseball-related posts are not going to be interesting to me. I don't think the soccer/football/basketball/hockey threads really take up that much space. This time of year obviously they get a bit more attention but the fact is there is not that much baseball related to discuss right now.
   20. bjhanke Posted: November 08, 2011 at 03:20 PM (#3988502)
I just took a thorough look at my BTF page, and the current Hall of Merit discussion thread isn't there, anywhere. I'm pretty sure that's not intentional, so I'm noting it here so that whoever is in charge of such stuff can fix that. If we want to do things like recruit new HoM participants, that thread needs to stay visible throughout the process. - Brock
   21. Randy Jones Posted: November 08, 2011 at 03:36 PM (#3988517)
Is it possible for you to control the ads that are shown on the page? In particular, the ads for some game or something called Palisade Guardian cause my mouse cursor to flicker on the screen and it is a tremendous annoyance.
   22. Misirlou cut his hair and moved to Rome Posted: November 09, 2011 at 01:29 AM (#3988937)
Is it possible for you to control the ads that are shown on the page? In particular, the ads for some game or something called Palisade Guardian cause my mouse cursor to flicker on the screen and it is a tremendous annoyance.
I came to this thread to mention the same thing. The cursor flickers not only on this site, but on all other open Firefox tabs as well. I usually have to refresh 4-5 times to get an ad that doesn't cause that.
   23. O Tempura, O Morays ('Spos) Posted: November 09, 2011 at 01:40 AM (#3988938)
I keep reading the title as "Please Excuse the Mets"
   24. Zonk Won the Mental Acuity Golf Trophy at his Club Posted: November 09, 2011 at 02:08 AM (#3988957)
I came to this thread to mention the same thing. The cursor flickers not only on this site, but on all other open Firefox tabs as well. I usually have to refresh 4-5 times to get an ad that doesn't cause that.


Firefox's plugin container is an abomination. It's still leaps and bounds better than MSIE, but I'm starting to lean more towards Chrome because I'm tired of manually killing the damn thing.

Oh - and just in case any web ad folks happen to be reading this - you should know that I and many others continue to lobby for making usage of Flash a capital offense... I'm neither an Apple zombie nor an Apple basher, but Steve Jobs' pathological distaste for supporting Flash, I consider his greatest legacy.
   25. Greg Pope Posted: November 09, 2011 at 03:58 AM (#3989015)
I don't see why there is a backlash against stuff people are not interested in. At any given time three of the last ten baseball-related posts are not going to be interesting to me. I don't think the soccer/football/basketball/hockey threads really take up that much space. This time of year obviously they get a bit more attention but the fact is there is not that much baseball related to discuss right now.

I'll emphasize that I don't have a problem with the off topic threads. I just don't want them cluttering up the Hot Topics. Having an Ignore similar to Bookmark would work fine for me since many baseball threads that are properly tagged will turn into off topic posts. So unless the tags can be changed if the conversations veer off, it wouldn't help. And I don't think that kind of maintenance is practical anyway.
   26. Ron J Posted: November 09, 2011 at 05:04 AM (#3989041)
#10 I'd bet serious money that this is the backup. Databases and backups are at minimum tricky to manage, and I suspect that whoever is doing it wants to be able to keep an eye on the site (since it's probably shut down the database, back up anything that's changed, re-start the database. And sometimes those restarts fail)

There are products that can back up live databases but they're pricey. I'm a late nighter too but I can live with the way it works now.
   27. DJ Endless Grudge Can Use Multiple Slurp Juices Posted: November 09, 2011 at 08:19 AM (#3989083)
There are products that can back up live databases but they're pricey.


Jim uses MySQL, right? Xtrabackup is free and can do live backups of MySQL no problem. mysqlhotcopy comes with MySQL and it works for some cases, too.
   28. jimfurtado Posted: November 10, 2011 at 08:49 PM (#3990584)
The backup of the database (specifically the comment database) is what causes the problem around 2AM. The issue will be minimized somewhat by a database server with more memory and faster processors. I will look into alternative backup solutions if that doesn't make the problem manageable.

On my To-Do list is customization of the Hot Topics menu. Logged in members will be able to select from a few different default snapshots (no off-topic, personalized, etc.). I will also try out some Ajax powered/iframe solutions. (A customized Hot Topics would remain on the page and would automatically refresh itself every few minutes.)

I will also be improving the bookmark system. Bookmarked threads would automatically be added to the personalized Hot Topics. Members will be able to update their Hot Topics preference using Ajax right within Hot Topics, which means you'll be able to switch between different snapshots at any time.

A rating system will also be added. Members will be able to rate the linked article and comment thread in a number of ways. You'll then be able to display the top rated articles/comment threads. It's important to me to make the rating system as easy to use (and unobtrusive) as possible so that the people who are interested in rating content (or seeing rated content) can do it easily, while anyone who is not interested can either ignore it or, if it's your preference, hide it altogether.

In any event, I am open to making site improvements.

I've been doing some of the backend work that needs to get done before the EE upgrade. So far, I don't believe what I've been doing has even been noticed. Hopefully that will remain the case.

Thanks for your input and patience.
   29. Randy Jones Posted: November 10, 2011 at 09:02 PM (#3990600)
I came to this thread to mention the same thing. The cursor flickers not only on this site, but on all other open Firefox tabs as well. I usually have to refresh 4-5 times to get an ad that doesn't cause that.
Firefox's plugin container is an abomination. It's still leaps and bounds better than MSIE, but I'm starting to lean more towards Chrome because I'm tired of manually killing the damn thing.


Just to be clear, I am using Chrome and still get the stupid cursor flickering from that ad and it also affects all other open tabs in all Chrome windows. Thankfully as of today, that ad doesn't seem to be around.

I will also try out some Ajax powered/iframe solutions. (A customized Hot Topics would remain on the page and would automatically refresh itself every few minutes.)


iframes are awful, you should really never use them.
   30. Padgett Posted: November 10, 2011 at 09:14 PM (#3990614)
Thanks for the great work, Jim. If I could make one small, technical suggestion regarding bookmarks:
I will also be improving the bookmark system. Bookmarked threads would automatically be added to the personalized Hot Topics. Member will be able to update their Hot Topics preference using Ajax right within Hot Topics, which means you'll be able to switch between different snapshots at any time.
Is it possible to move the location of the "DEL" link used to delete a thread bookmark? It's currently aligned directly below the "last thread page" link, and the close proximity of the two has lead to accidental deletions on more than one occasion. Even shifting the "DEL" link so that it is aligned flush-right on the same line would be a great improvement from a usability standpoint.
   31. Zonk Won the Mental Acuity Golf Trophy at his Club Posted: November 10, 2011 at 10:00 PM (#3990654)
iframes are awful, you should really never use them.


Yup - spiffier plug-in, no more.

Don't bother and start learning HTML5.

BTW - just read the other day that even with Jobs dead, it appears Flash is giving up.

The more integrated HTML5 framework is the future -- I just hope browsers keep pace so you can easily disable intrusive or resource intensive scripting that people will inevitably be popping directly into pages. Otherwise -- in a year or 3 -- we're going to back in the old GeoCities world, but with more multimedia rather than just ugly aesthetics and CSS problems for a temporary bit.
   32. jimfurtado Posted: November 12, 2011 at 04:10 PM (#3991804)
Zonk, thanks for the HTML5 tip. One part of the site which certainly needs an overhaul is the design. It's the one part of the process that I dread, however as it's incredibly tedious and acts like a black hole for my time. This site's design is, at least, five years behind in usability.
   33. Lassus Posted: November 12, 2011 at 04:31 PM (#3991821)
One part of the site which certainly needs an overhaul is the design. It's the one part of the process that I dread, however as it's incredibly tedious and acts like a black hole for my time. This site's design is, at least, five years behind in usability.

Lord, yes.
   34. Gold Star - just Gold Star Posted: December 05, 2011 at 06:54 PM (#4007276)
Following a 90-minute outage this morning, I thought I'd bump this thread so it shows up on Hot Topics.

Jim, any updates you'd like to provide?
   35. jimfurtado Posted: December 09, 2011 at 03:12 PM (#4011329)
Gold Stars, an errant system process, that could not be killed, was running on the web server and using 100% of the processors. To fix this problem, I had to immediately restart the server. Unfortunately, the server did not come back online immediately and the data center was not prompt in fixing the problem which caused the server to not respond.
   36. DL from MN Posted: December 09, 2011 at 03:44 PM (#4011360)
There are two HoM elections going on right now. I'd appreciate it if the site were up at ballot end times especially. We're trying to end the MMP election next Wed at 4:00 eastern.

If it is easier to create Hall of Merit threads at the end of this process I'll be thrilled.
   37. ERROR---Jolly Old St. Nick Posted: January 05, 2012 at 09:19 PM (#4029993)
UPDATE: 12/9/2012


This is another test. Did it work?

Needs new calendar.
   38. ERROR---Jolly Old St. Nick Posted: January 05, 2012 at 09:20 PM (#4029994)
UPDATE: 12/9/2012


This is another test. Did it work?

Needs new calendar.
   39. The Primer Chimp Posted: January 05, 2012 at 09:27 PM (#4029999)
What calendar?
   40. Greg Pope Posted: January 07, 2012 at 09:53 AM (#4031081)
Anyone else having to re-login pretty much daily?
   41. jimfurtado Posted: January 07, 2012 at 09:59 AM (#4031082)
Clear your cookies.
   42. ERROR---Jolly Old St. Nick Posted: January 07, 2012 at 10:15 AM (#4031085)
Login works fine, but still no bookmarks, and what happened to the delete tab?

Also, what's the function of the "code", "@", and "Close Tags" tabs?
   43. Ray (CTL) Posted: January 07, 2012 at 10:27 AM (#4031088)
Bookmarks are coming.
   44. villageidiom Posted: January 07, 2012 at 10:31 AM (#4031092)
"Code" tab: preserve format, like for a table or something. Usually supposed to represent actual programming code that isn't to be executed, but the table format thing is what it's used for mostly around here. For example:
a    b    c
1   23  456
7    8    9 


"@" allows you to put in a link to an e-mail address. .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) Rarely called for here.

"Close Tags" I don't know.
   45. Lassus Posted: January 07, 2012 at 10:39 AM (#4031111)
Jim, you're getting spam posts in the Bloom thread.

Actually, it's happening in multiple threads now.
   46. ERROR---Jolly Old St. Nick Posted: January 07, 2012 at 11:19 AM (#4031130)
That "weddingtop" spammer is really Gaelen, which you'll discover once you put him on ignore. I guess this is his brilliant way of making Joe Posnanski suffer.
   47. JC in DC Posted: January 07, 2012 at 11:48 AM (#4031145)
Andy: is that really true?
   48. ERROR---Jolly Old St. Nick Posted: January 07, 2012 at 11:57 AM (#4031152)
Put him on ignore and his former screen name shows up. It also says that he's a "lapsed" SABR member.
   49. The District Attorney Posted: January 07, 2012 at 12:12 PM (#4031172)
Ah, but I had Gaelan on ignore and yet I can see "weddingtop."
   50. ERROR---Jolly Old St. Nick Posted: January 07, 2012 at 12:19 PM (#4031175)
Ah, but I had Gaelan on ignore and yet I can see "weddingtop."

But if you put "weddingtop" on ignore, all you'll see is "[ Ignored Comment ]" instead of those dime store jewelry links under his name, which would probably crash the computer of anyone dumb enough to try to open one of them.
   51. Lassus Posted: January 07, 2012 at 12:33 PM (#4031182)
In other problems, the edit has stopped working.

All that happens when you click what is a now blue EDIT link at the end of your post is that it takes you to the top of the page, with no edit available.
   52. Ray (CTL) Posted: January 07, 2012 at 01:18 PM (#4031214)
The new edit feature has a narrower box, which is less ideal.
   53. cardsfanboy Posted: January 07, 2012 at 01:42 PM (#4031228)
both 52 and 53. When it works it's probably too narrow. And second the loss of the del key. It doesn't works still just no easy option.

edit:edit works in non-newsblog threads like this one.
   54. Lassus Posted: January 07, 2012 at 01:45 PM (#4031231)
When it works it's probably too narrow.

I didn't mind that so much, really.


edit:edit works in non-newsblog threads like this one.

And, hilariously, it's an infinite edit. I can edit my comment of over an hour ago.

   55. Greg Pope Posted: January 08, 2012 at 12:10 AM (#4031509)
Clear your cookies.

Jim, was this for me? Clearing cookies didn't help. It's possible that I have to log in when I switch devices. So I'm on my iPad and can get in without re-logging in. But if I go to my PC and log in there then the next time I use my iPad I have to log into the site again.

If you'd like I can experiment more.
   56. Ray (CTL) Posted: January 08, 2012 at 12:22 AM (#4031513)
Jim has confirmed that weddingtop was not Gaelan.
   57. jimfurtado Posted: January 08, 2012 at 02:26 AM (#4031525)
I fixed the width of the edit box. Can you let me know where the edit box isn't working? It might just be I haven't updated some of the other templates, which is why I'm doing some work consolidating embeds.

Currently you can edit comments until the thread is closed. EE now supports comment editing natively. They seem to have a bug in the timely code. Hunting down and fixing the bug is on my to-do list. I'd describe the time issue as slightly annoying and not hilarious, however. :)

What is the "del" key? Are you talking about one of the styling buttons about the comment box? If it was, tell me what the function was and I will add it back.

EDIT: I have found the bug in EE's code regarding the time limit for comment editing expiration. Comment editing now expires after 15 minutes.
   58. Ron J Posted: January 08, 2012 at 06:51 AM (#4031537)
#57 Not for me it doesn't.

I have the option to

Edit | Close

on every single comment. Not just my own.

I know I could always do this before, but I couldn't do it easily (and more to the point, accidentally)
   59. ERROR---Jolly Old St. Nick Posted: January 08, 2012 at 08:09 AM (#4031545)
Aside from restoring the bookmarks, which has already been addressed, it'd be nice to have the "strike" function restored above the comment box. It's a low priority, but sometimes it adds a bit of flair to those "FIFY" comments.
   60. Ray (CTL) Posted: January 08, 2012 at 12:54 PM (#4031614)
I have the option to

Edit | Close

on every single comment. Not just my own.


Well, Andy's comments *do* tend to need serious editing and re-working :-) So you could use your omnipotent edit capability for that. But it would be a full-time job...
   61. Sean Forman Posted: January 08, 2012 at 01:24 PM (#4031624)
Jim,

Just to throw this out there, but using our bookmarklet you could add a link near the comment box that would let people replace player names with links to their bbref pages.


This link was generated when I typed in Alex Rodriguez and then clicked the bookmarklet I've saved to my browser, but you could just add a link to the bookmarklet.
Alex Rodriguez

Here are the details on the bookmarklets.
http://bbref.com/linker/
   62. Ray (CTL) Posted: January 08, 2012 at 01:39 PM (#4031636)
This link was generated when I typed in Alex Rodriguez and then clicked the bookmarklet I've saved to my browser, but you could just add a link to the bookmarklet.
Alex Rodriguez

Here are the details on the bookmarklets.
http://bbref.com/linker/


That would actually be great. (Even better if the link opened up a separate browser window.)

I'm forever having to take separate time to access a player's b-r page during a discussion.
   63. cardsfanboy Posted: January 08, 2012 at 02:00 PM (#4031652)
Am I the only one now having problems putting comments in the Transaction Oracle (zips projections)side of the site?
   64. NJ in NJ Posted: January 08, 2012 at 02:16 PM (#4031672)
That would actually be great. (Even better if the link opened up a separate browser window.)

I'm forever having to take separate time to access a player's b-r page during a discussion.


Agree with this.

Aside from restoring the bookmarks, which has already been addressed, it'd be nice to have the "strike" function restored above the comment box. It's a low priority, but sometimes it adds a bit of flair to those "FIFY" comments.

And this.
   65. cardsfanboy Posted: January 08, 2012 at 02:25 PM (#4031681)
For Andy, the strike function still works, if you really want it. I agree with preferring to have it on the top of the comment section instead of having to manually put it in. (I highlight what I want to strike choose italic bold then edit it to del.)

agree with Ray and NJ on Sean's suggestion.
   66. Ray (CTL) Posted: January 08, 2012 at 02:40 PM (#4031687)
Sean, is there any way for you to make b-r show just select categories on demand (such as year and OPS+, or year and OPS+ and WAR)? Most of the time when I'm listing a player's year and OPS+ here I'll have to switch back and forth between the websites on my browser to enter the data, or print out the player's b-r page and enter the data in.

It would be easier if I could just select to only show year and OPS+, and then be able to just cut and paste that data into a BBTF window.

   67. bestergonomicgamingchair.com Posted: January 08, 2012 at 02:47 PM (#4031692)
Edit function isn't saving changes for me.

Clicking on the edit link opens the edit box, but the save button doesn't do anything when pressed.
   68. cardsfanboy Posted: January 08, 2012 at 02:51 PM (#4031695)
It would be easier if I could just select to only show year and OPS+, and then be able to just cut and paste that data into a BBTF window.
Go to the top of the table you want, click share, select X (x inside of an arrow will delete every category right of the x)on the categories you want to eliminate, then hit close(yellow box says sharing toolbox)
   69. Ray (CTL) Posted: January 08, 2012 at 03:01 PM (#4031704)
Wow, that's fantabulous. Thanks, cfb.
   70. cardsfanboy Posted: January 08, 2012 at 03:16 PM (#4031718)
Wow, that's fantabulous. Thanks, cfb.

and of course if you click pre, then copy and paste it inside of code, it should come out right. Just don't make the table too big or else you'll piss everyone off. (should work without using pre just haven't tried it that way)

Year                       Tm    G   PA    R    H  HR  RBI   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS OPS+
                                                                                   
1968                      STL    2    4    0    1   0    0 .333 .500 .333 .833  156
1969                      STL    5   16    0    3   0    3 .214 .250 .357 .607   69
1970                      STL   82  324   29   69   3   24 .243 .333 .317 .650   74
1971                      STL  133  563   64  155   7   77 .304 .347 .424 .771  114
1972                      STL  152  629   70  180  16   96 .303 .336 .465 .801  127
1973                      STL  161  690   62  192  13   91 .310 .370 .438 .808  124
1974                      STL  152  662   66  163  20  103 .272 .327 .447 .774  116
1975                      STL  157  649   80  193  18  100 .332 .396 .491 .887  142
1976                      STL  150  625   60  159   5   75 .291 .371 .394 .765  117
1977                      STL  150  601   82  164  21   95 .318 .408 .500 .908  144
1978                      STL  152  604   71  148  22   80 .287 .377 .512 .889  148
1979                      STL  123  521   68  127  26   87 .283 .369 .507 .875  135
1980                      STL  145  562   84  150  21   98 .303 .375 .505 .880  140
1981                      MIL  100  413   45   82  14   61 .216 .262 .376 .638   87
1982                      MIL  137  581   73  145  23   97 .269 .309 .451 .759  112
1983                      MIL  153  650   76  185  13  108 .308 .351 .448 .799  126
1984                      MIL  132  532   44  110   4   52 .221 .269 .300 .569   61
1985                      MIL  143  592   60  144  12   76 .273 .342 .402 .743  103
1986                      ATL   76  144   14   32   4   25 .252 .313 .386 .698   88
1987                      ATL   73  200   20   49   4   30 .277 .350 .390 .740   93
1988                      ATL   78  123    6   21   2   11 .196 .293 .308 .601   71
21 Seasons         21 Seasons 2456 9685 1074 2472 248 1389 .285 .348 .437 .785  117 


   71. jimfurtado Posted: January 08, 2012 at 03:53 PM (#4031747)
Strike is added back to the comment buttons.

Sean, I have added your suggestion to my to-do list. I should get to it some time in the next day.

CoB, there is a 15 minute time limit. I've just moved to EE's built in code for the edits. I put in a feature request to add an error message when the timeframe is exceeded. Can you verify that the text gets updated if you try to edit your comment right away?
   72. cardsfanboy Posted: January 08, 2012 at 03:59 PM (#4031751)
I've lost the ability to comment in both transaction oracle, and the thread where you vote for the hof(I don't need to comment there, was just reading it and noticed that)
   73. Javy Joan Baez (chris h.) Posted: January 08, 2012 at 05:01 PM (#4031782)
Used to be that when you ignored someone, in place of a post you saw a message in brackets or italics or somesuch. Now it just looks like a normal comment.

Any chance that could be changed? Not a big deal, but it's somewhat distracting.
   74. bobm Posted: January 08, 2012 at 05:22 PM (#4031795)
[70] of course if you click pre, then copy and paste it inside of code, it should come out right

When I click PRE and then copy and paste inside of code, the spacing comes out wrong in the preview and when posted. By wrong I mean multiple consecutive spaces are treated as one. Here, the player column label and the player names should be aligned right-justified, with varying numbers of leading spaces:


Rk Player HR Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Pos
1 Barry Bonds 73 2001 36 SFG NL 153 664 476 129 156 32 2 137 177 35 93 9 0 2 5 13 3 .328 .515 .863 1.379 *7/D
2 Mark McGwire 70 1998 34 STL NL 155 681 509 130 152 21 0 147 162 28 155 6 0 4 8 1 0 .299 .470 .752 1.222 *3
3 Sammy Sosa 66 1998 29 CHC NL 159 722 643 134 198 20 0 158 73 14 171 1 0 5 20 18 9 .308 .377 .647 1.024 *9/8
4 Mark McGwire 65 1999 35 STL NL 153 661 521 118 145 21 1 147 133 21 141 2 0 5 12 0 0 .278 .424 .697 1.120 *3
5 Sammy Sosa 64 2001 32 CHC NL 160 711 577 146 189 34 5 160 116 37 153 6 0 12 6 0 2 .328 .437 .737 1.174 *9
6 Sammy Sosa 63 1999 30 CHC NL 162 712 625 114 180 24 2 141 78 8 171 3 0 6 17 7 8 .288 .367 .635 1.002 *98
7 Roger Maris 61 1961 26 NYY AL 161 698 590 132 159 16 4 141 94 0 67 7 0 7 16 0 0 .269 .372 .620 .993 *98
8 Babe Ruth 60 1927 32 NYY AL 151 691 540 158 192 29 8 164 137 0 89 0 14 0 0 7 6 .356 .486 .772 1.258 *97


When I copy and paste inside of pre, the spacing comes out right in the preview and wrong when posted.

Rk         Player HR Year Age  Tm Lg   G  PA  AB   R   H 2B 3B RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS   BA  OBP  SLG   OPS  Pos
1     Barry Bonds 73 2001  36 SFG NL 153 664 476 129 156 32  2 137 177  35  93   9  0  2   5 13  3 .328 .515 .863 1.379 
*7/D
2    Mark McGwire 70 1998  34 STL NL 155 681 509 130 152 21  0 147 162  28 155   6  0  4   8  1  0 .299 .470 .752 1.222   
*3
3      Sammy Sosa 66 1998  29 CHC NL 159 722 643 134 198 20  0 158  73  14 171   1  0  5  20 18  9 .308 .377 .647 1.024 
*9/8
4    Mark McGwire 65 1999  35 STL NL 153 661 521 118 145 21  1 147 133  21 141   2  0  5  12  0  0 .278 .424 .697 1.120   
*3
5      Sammy Sosa 64 2001  32 CHC NL 160 711 577 146 189 34  5 160 116  37 153   6  0 12   6  0  2 .328 .437 .737 1.174   
*9
6      Sammy Sosa 63 1999  30 CHC NL 162 712 625 114 180 24  2 141  78   8 171   3  0  6  17  7  8 .288 .367 .635 1.002  
*98
7     Roger Maris 61 1961  26 NYY AL 161 698 590 132 159 16  4 141  94   0  67   7  0  7  16  0  0 .269 .372 .620  .993  
*98
8       Babe Ruth 60 1927  32 NYY AL 151 691 540 158 192 29  8 164 137   0  89   0 14  0   0  7  6 .356 .486 .772 1.258  
*97 


EDIT: now it comes out right when posted inside of pre on my computer, at least. I hadn't seen that before when posting on BBTF.
   75. cardsfanboy Posted: January 09, 2012 at 01:06 AM (#4031971)
When I click PRE and then copy and paste inside of code, the spacing comes out wrong in the preview and when posted. By wrong I mean multiple consecutive spaces are treated as one. Here, the player column label and the player names should be aligned right-justified, with varying numbers of leading spaces:


What I don't get is why your copy and paste inside of code is not blue like my copy and paste inside of code?

My example above is where I selected pre on bb-ref, then highlighted the rows and columns I wanted, copied, then came here clicked code, then pasted in between the code.
The rest of the text in the comment is outside of code which is why it's not blue, not sure why your code is coming up with normal text color.
   76. Infinite Yost (Voxter) Posted: January 09, 2012 at 02:02 AM (#4031977)
I have to say, and this is a relatively minor thing, that it's a bit strange to have "You are ignoring [XXX poster]" instead of, "[Ignored Comment]", in part because I end up thinking that certain posters keep posting that they're being ignored.
   77. Padgett Posted: January 09, 2012 at 01:43 PM (#4032245)
I have to say, and this is a relatively minor thing
It's more than just a minor thing, because the new formatting makes the ignore message appear to be an actual post. Plus, it takes up more space than a real one-line post since there seems to be an extra set of p tags around the "You are ignoring X" text. The previous formatting worked well because the italicized text was easily recognizable as something one's eye can skip over as an ignored comment. Can the ignore tool return to using that previous format?
   78. Javy Joan Baez (chris h.) Posted: January 09, 2012 at 01:53 PM (#4032254)
Glad it's not just me on that ignore thing.
   79. SoSH U at work Posted: January 09, 2012 at 01:58 PM (#4032260)
This seems to be the appropriate place to say thanks for the longer Hot Topics.
   80. jimfurtado Posted: January 09, 2012 at 04:17 PM (#4032482)
I believe the formatting on the ignored post is back to the old format. I'm sure you will let me know if it isn't. :p
   81. Javy Joan Baez (chris h.) Posted: January 09, 2012 at 04:48 PM (#4032513)
Yep, it sure is back. Thanks, Jim!
   82. Padgett Posted: January 09, 2012 at 04:53 PM (#4032516)
Looks good to me, too. Thanks, Jim.
   83. The District Attorney Posted: January 09, 2012 at 05:00 PM (#4032524)
I can't tell; I have Jim on ignore.
   84. Ray (CTL) Posted: January 09, 2012 at 05:24 PM (#4032543)
Why not just skip over posts you wish to ignore? It works fine for me.
   85. Joe Kehoskie Posted: January 09, 2012 at 05:29 PM (#4032550)
I'm amazed by the popularity of the "ignore" feature. I might understand it at sites with no adult supervision, but I've yet to run across anyone here whose opinion I never want to see (or whose opinion is unlikely to ever advance the discussion).
   86. Javy Joan Baez (chris h.) Posted: January 09, 2012 at 05:34 PM (#4032556)
Why not just skip over posts you wish to ignore? It works fine for me.

You can; this just makes it easier.

I have very few people on ignore; I reserve it only for those who really do piss me off to the point where I cannot take reading them anymore. It's usually less about stupidity and more about pure dickishness.
   87. Obo Posted: January 09, 2012 at 07:30 PM (#4032660)
This seems to be the appropriate place to say thanks for the longer Hot Topics.

Seconded. The Hot Topics list is life-and-death for many discussions and this should allow a few more baseball-related ones to hang around a bit longer.
   88. ERROR---Jolly Old St. Nick Posted: January 09, 2012 at 07:39 PM (#4032668)
Any idea of when the bookmarks are coming back? They seem to been kind of lost in the shuffle.
   89. jimfurtado Posted: January 09, 2012 at 08:42 PM (#4032714)
You don't have any patience, Andy. I said they would be back in about a week. If you look above, you will find a "Bookmark" link. Although I want to gussy up the Ajax a little, that part is just about done. I still need to finish the bookmark Hot Topics, however. I want to add some additional features to the code I will be using for the new bookmark's Hot Topics so I can reuse it for other things, like a Hot Topics for the entries you commented on.
   90. Andere Richtingen Posted: January 10, 2012 at 10:39 AM (#4033073)
Post deleted... I thought I saw a problem with the Edit function, which seems now to be fine.

   91. Randy Jones Posted: January 10, 2012 at 10:51 AM (#4033093)
So any chance you could fix the login issue? I think it appears to be a problem with logging in on multiple machines as I now have to log in every morning on my work machine and then when I go home, I have to log in again at home. It's minor, but rather annoying.
   92. ERROR---Jolly Old St. Nick Posted: January 10, 2012 at 11:15 AM (#4033143)
You don't have any patience, Andy. I said they would be back in about a week. If you look above, you will find a "Bookmark" link. Although I want to gussy up the Ajax a little, that part is just about done. I still need to finish the bookmark Hot Topics, however. I want to add some additional features to the code I will be using for the new bookmark's Hot Topics so I can reuse it for other things, like a Hot Topics for the entries you commented on.

Yeah, now that I look at your e-mail from the 3rd you did mention "a week" towards the end of the message. In any case thanks for the information, which is all I was really asking for.
   93. Mr. Hotfoot Jackson (gef, talking mongoose) Posted: January 10, 2012 at 11:17 AM (#4033148)
So any chance you could fix the login issue?


Maybe it's fixed? In any event, not that I was thinking about it till I read your post, but this is the first morning in several days (or so it seems like to me) that I haven't had to log in.
   94. David Nieporent (now, with children) Posted: January 10, 2012 at 11:24 AM (#4033160)
So any chance you could fix the login issue? I think it appears to be a problem with logging in on multiple machines as I now have to log in every morning on my work machine and then when I go home, I have to log in again at home. It's minor, but rather annoying.
This. I think it may be a multiple machine thing, too. I read BBTF on my iPhone, iPad, work machine, and home machine, alternatively, and it seems to happen when switching. But whatever the cause, it's very annoying.
   95. Greg Pope Posted: January 10, 2012 at 11:28 AM (#4033166)
Yeah, I posted in #40 and I still seem to be having the problem. I've stayed on one computer for the past 2 days and haven't had to log in. But when I switch to my iPad I have to log in there. Then when I come back to the PC, it makes me login there again.

I have the same devices as David. Maybe most posters don't.
   96. JJ1986 Posted: January 10, 2012 at 11:30 AM (#4033169)
I have the same devices as David. Maybe most posters don't.


I have three PCs and a WebOS phone and I have to login each time on every one of them.
   97. Ray (CTL) Posted: January 10, 2012 at 11:31 AM (#4033172)
It's a multiple machines thing for me, too.
   98. Greg Pope Posted: January 10, 2012 at 12:20 PM (#4033224)
I have three PCs and a WebOS phone and I have to login each time on every one of them.

What if you don't switch between them? Like, close all of your browsers on all machines and then only access BTF from one machine for a while.
   99. Greg Pope Posted: January 10, 2012 at 12:23 PM (#4033229)
Anyway, I think it's a real problem. I've cleared my cookies on the iPad (don't really want to do it on the PC since I'll have to re-login to all sites) and that didn't help.
   100. Javy Joan Baez (chris h.) Posted: January 10, 2012 at 12:57 PM (#4033259)
This is weird...hot topics says this thread has 102 posts, but I can only see up to 99. Even if I click on the "Last" -- which theoretically would take me to the second page -- I still only see one page and 99 posts. (And the URL correctly has the /P100/ on the end, too.)

EDIT: hot topics now says 103, and lists my post as last...and I see 100 posts instead of 99.

EDIT #2: fixed numbers for accuracy.
Page 1 of 2 pages  1 2 > 

You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.

 

 

<< Back to main

BBTF Partner

Dynasty League Baseball

Support BBTF

donate

Thanks to
A triple short of the cycle
for his generous support.

Bookmarks

You must be logged in to view your Bookmarks.

Syndicate

Page rendered in 0.5247 seconds
58 querie(s) executed