It only took me 2.5 years since the big wordpress move to finally get my blog into shape with jetpack, which now means I am logging on via the .com site again rather than .org and it’s all a little confusing. When it comes to upgrading systems that aren’t exactly broken, I am a horrible conservative but so far I am loving all the extra functionality (yay related posts)!
Since the somewhat frosty look of my old style got to me, I have also taken (yet) another opportunity to update my blog’s shiny layout and header. While I’m not 100% happy with the image yet, it feels a lot warmer and more well, adventuring vagabond to me. The free SUITS theme for wordpress is quite sexy, so I can definitely recommend that if you’re currently undergoing your own blogexistential crisis.
Quality of Life Improvements for my Commenters
While tweaking stuff, I was made aware of a rather astounding number which is my blog’s total count of comments for all time: 4’589 to date. Naturally as my regular visitors will know, half of these belong to me because ever since day one, I’ve made it my mission to get back to 99.8% of all comments that I receive. That still makes this comment count incredibly awesome and I know that without all these engaging and fun encounters and debates over the years, I probably wouldn’t be blogging today. So now that I am fixing the blog up for reals, it’s time I also did something for my commenters and regular visitors!
A list of the new comment features installed:
- You can now spellcheck and edit (yes!) your own comments for the duration of 10mins, as long as nobody has replied to your specific comment in the meantime.
- You can now subscribe to follow-up comments or new posts per email and never miss replies again.
- You now get to see a max. character count per comment, in order to keep the overall discussion within an agreeable frame for dialogue (3000 is still a lot honestly).
- Frequent commenters get their own honorable VIP-badge, starting at rank 1 (20 posts) and going all the way up to 7! Yeah, this one is more of a goofy gimmick but I like it – even if it seems to depend on IP too.
For now, I will give these a go and wait for feedback. It’s all in a testing phase for me, so let me know if a particular feature doesn’t work or if you think it needs adjusting. And as always, thank you for your comment!
I’m guessing that if I want to tinker with graphics like your header I’ll really need to use Photoshop, won’t I?
/sigh
Not necessarily – you could use GIMP. Not as simple to use but it’s freeware and there are tonnes of guides out there just a Google away. 🙂
What J said. If it’s just for cropping, you could use something else but generally speaking, it’s good to have a program because 9 times out of 10 you’ll need to adjust stuff over and over til it fits. 😉
For someone who doesn’t like achievements in games, it’s ironic to be using a ‘progression’ system to entice more frequent commenting, ain’t it?!
P.S. I knew it, Bhagpuss has more comments than me, durn it! And Redbeard too! *feels inadequate* 😉
Haha, oh dear I didn’t even think of it this way. 🙂 I find them funny to look at and it seems like a playful way to say, ‘hey welcome back’! – there’s no reward after all. I tell you what though, if you ever reach rank 7 there shall be a super special shout-out, assuming I am keeping this of course… 😛
My IP is dynamic, not static, subject to change locale whenever it feels the need. I wonder how that would work with the new comment system, though, I’m a horrible commentor. Always mean to comment more on the blogs I read, rarely ever do. 🙁
Like the look! Will have to check jetpack out more soon!
Thanks alot! Haha the pressure is on already…no really, it’s all good. I won’t ever have comment likes or similar because for me all comments are created equal (okay most are) and I’m not a news site with thousands of commenters – the badges seemed like a funnier, inconsequential and cosmetic thing to me. But I will rethink them for sure. 🙂
I have likes on comments on one of my blogs but, for the life of me, I don’t know where it came from. I got an email alert that someone had liked a comment and it took me a bit to fully understand it was a comment on MY blog. Assuming it was a WP update of some sort.
How could I not leave a comment, after reading about the updates to the commenting system?
Still 2902 characters to go.. 2878.. 2871… 🙂
Weeeeee, thanks !
Wow! the site looks amazing! I love it!
Thank you Jeremy! ^^
Oh, what mod are you using for the comment rank thingy? That’s a cool idea.
It’s called WP comments VIP. It has almost zero settings other than defining the comment count for all 7 badges!
I like the comment changes! I never really thought to expand past email notifications, comment luv, and the basic stuff that comes with WordPress and Jetpack. Partly because I already have quite enough plugins, however.
Yeah, am not sure I’ll keep all of these either but it seemed like a good idea to ask well, the commenters. 🙂
Comment editing is going to make such a difference! I do a ridiculous amount of on-the-fly cut&paste alteration as I comment and I always seem to lose chunks or leave floating words without seeing the error until I read the posted comment back.
Yes that one I always loved on some Disqus blogs, sometimes it’s just about fixing a typo or remembering that link you wanted to include. Am not generally opposed to someone fixing their post immediately after. Even if someone censors their own tone right after submitting the first time, it’s cool with me if they wanna edit once they cooled down a minute. 😉 Not that I get so many angry posts mind, hehe.
Neat. I really like the new theme, and the commenting VIP badges are a fun idea. 🙂
W00t!! Am happy to hear that 🙂
I love those comment improvements! I’m definitely guilty of quick typing and more often than not find horrible typos in my comments afterwards. (English not being my first language may also help in this regard.) I wish something like that was available for Blogger.
On another note, comments are really what keeps me blogging as well. I feel silly that half the comments on my blog are mine, but not replying to them would be way worse. I know *I* always check later if anyone has replied to my comment on another blog, so I wouldn’t want to disappoint others either.
Nice job on the new layout! 🙂
PS Edited out 3 typos after posting this comment, so it’s clearly a success! 😉
Hah, that is great! I love that you can edit your typos now, I am very obsessive of my own!
And ye, blogger is a bit restrictive that way but in the end, you’re among friends here and many of us aren’t native speakers either, so you won’t hear me complain. It’s awesome enough we do all this stuff in a second language! =D
I think you’ve done a great job. I love the look, as it all looks a lot cleaner. New artwork and features are a huge plus too!
I’ve been reading your site on feedly for the most part but had to come check out the newish changes – very swish! It does give me a slight panic attack when I think of organisation my rambling blog – part of me feels I should move games, poems, stories and art into their own categories and part of me is too busy/lazy to even think about working out how to do that.
Anyway – awesome site is awesome my friend!
Thanks Scott ^^