Brad Warthen's Blog

Please bear with me on these TypePad problems

This is just to let y'all know that I'm working hard to resolve these problems that some of y'all have identified on the blog (plus some I've discovered myself). I'm just not getting very far.

The problems result from recent changes TypePad has made to the blog platform. Among other things, they have arbitrarily decided that:

• There will be no more than 50 comments on a post, which explains why some of y'all had so much trouble back on this one. This, of course, is totally unacceptable, since that's the point at which some threads on this blog are just getting warmed up.
• A page, including archive pages, will not display more than 99 posts, even if I adjust my preferences to the highest setting. This leads to such absurdities as that fact that if you call up "January 2008" -- a month in which I'm guessing (and since I can't pull up the whole month, all I can do is guess) you only get the month from Jan. 31 back to about Jan. 22. The first three weeks of the month -- the height of blogging about the presidential primaries in S.C. -- are unavailable.

Anyway, just to show you I'm trying, here are my communication threads with TypePad from the last few days:

On Jan 5, 2009 5:54:36 PM, you (Brad) said:

Two problems have cropped up in the comments on my blog in recent days.

First, the names of the commenters are no longer showing up as e-mail or URL links.

Second, quite a few of my readers are complaining that their comments simply aren't showing up. As one of my regulars described the problem, "Same for me. I see the comments count increasing on the 'Wall St./Main Street' topic but don't see anything after your comment on 12/29."

I said I had no idea what was causing the problems, but I would report them...

On Jan 6, 2009 12:18:55 PM, TypePad Customer Support said:

Hi Brad,

Thanks for the note. Can you provide us with a link to a post where these things are happening on comments? They may be related to current issues that we are working on, but it is helpful for us to see the problem in action.

Please let us know if we may be of further assistance.

Thanks,
Melanie

On Jan 6, 2009 12:31:59 PM, you (Brad) said:

Here's one:
http://blogs.thestate.com/bradwarthensblog/2008/12/when-wall-st-woes-hit-main-st.html#comments

Apparently, according to the counter (and this is supported anecdotally by my readers telling me their comments haven't posted), there have been 67 comments on that post. But only 25 show when I call it up.

On Jan 7, 2009 12:12:23 AM, TypePad Customer Support said:

Hi Brad-

All the comments are not displaying due to the missing tags for comment pagination. With the new platform, the number of comments set to display on each page is limited to 50. You can change the number of comments set to display at Weblogs > Configure > Preferences.

Additionally, the templates for your blog will need to be updated with the new tags for pagination:
http://everything.typepad.com/blog/pagination.html

If necessary, we can update your templates with the new tags for you.

The commenter name will only display as a link in the footer if a website URL is entered in the comment form if you have the MTCommentAuthorLink tag set to not show the email address:
<$MTCommentAuthorLink show_email="0"$>

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Thanks,
Jen

On Jan 8, 2009 11:31:10 AM, you (Brad) said:

Jen, that would be absolutely wonderful if you could do that for me.

On Jan 8, 2009 11:46:11 AM, you (Brad) said:

One more thing. I went to Weblogs > Configure > Preferences, and found a 50-POST limit, but saw nothing where I could set the number of comments per post allowed.

FYI, I've had more than 300 comments on a post at times. It would be better to have no limit at all -- I don't want to frustrate my readers -- but if there has to be one, it should probably be 400 or 500. Certainly not 50.

On Jan 8, 2009 7:32:59 PM, TypePad Customer Support said:

Hi Brad-

At Weblogs > Configure > Feedback, you can change the number of comments set to display on each page. Right now, we have a limit of 50 comments per page to improve page load times. We are looking into an option for increasing the number of comments allowed, but we don't have a timeline for when a higher number of comments per page will be implemented.

All the templates have been updated with the new tags for pagination. You can change the settings for the index pages at Weblogs > Configure > Preferences. More information: http://kb.typepad.com/id/72/

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Thanks,
Jen

On Jan 6, 2009 11:32:06 AM, you (Brad) said:

Long ago, when I first started my blog (May 2005), I found a good workaround for the fact that TypePad offers no convenient way to do HTML links or formatting in comments. I did it by composing it as a new post, switching to the HTML tab, then copying and pasting it with the coding into the comment box.

It's very important to me to be able to do this, as my comments frequently are about offering links in answer to readers' questions.

Anyway, one of several chronic problems I've found with this new TypePad platform is that this no longer works. For instance, I just tried to post this comment, with the second, third and fourth paragraphs indented to indicate that they were quoted material. The indents did not work when I copied the coded text into the comment. Here is the coded text:

<p>As for Karen's suggestion that it "Mighta also been good if someone had gone out and determined whether the place was 103,000," someone DID, allegedly. That's one of the many outrageous things about this story:</p>

<p style="margin-left: 40px;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; For a $350 fee, an appraiser hired by Integrity, Michael T. Asher,
valued the house at $132,000. Mr. Asher says although he didn't
personally believe the house was worth that much, he followed standard
procedures and found like-sized homes nearby that had sold in that
price range in 2006.<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "I can't appraise it for the future," Mr. Asher says. "I appraise it for that day."<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; T.J. Heagy, a real-estate agent later hired to sell the property,
says he can find only one comparable house that sold nearby in 2007,
for $63,000.</p><p>So much for <em>that</em> check on the system...</p><p></p>

And you can read the comment, as published, near the bottom of this post:
http://blogs.thestate.com/bradwarthensblog/2009/01/the-subprime-mess-in-microcosm.html#comments

On Jan 7, 2009 12:15:31 AM, TypePad Customer Support said:

Hi Brad-

Only limited HTML is allowed in comments. It's likely you were using blockquote tags, instead of the indent tags, previously.

For instance to indent a quoted section of text, you would use blockquote tags similar to:

<blockquote>For a $350 fee, an appraiser hired by Integrity, Michael T. Asher, valued the house at $132,000. Mr. Asher says although he didn't personally believe the house was worth that much, he followed standard procedures and found like-sized homes nearby that had sold in that price range in 2006.<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "I can't appraise it for the future," Mr. Asher says. "I appraise it for that day."<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; T.J. Heagy, a real-estate agent later hired to sell the property, says he can find only one comparable house that sold nearby in 2007, for $63,000.</p><p>So much for <em>that</em> check on the system...</blockquote>

The p style tag is not supported in the comments field.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Thanks,
Jen

On Jan 8, 2009 11:29:53 AM, you (Brad) said:

So what you're saying is, I'm going to have to start entering my HTML coding MANUALLY, because my "compose" page won't code the thing right any more?

I've got to say that this new platform has way more drawbacks than it is worth. For three and a half years, I had this great workaround: I could compose a comment in reply to my readers on the compose form, get it to looking the way I want it on the Rich Text tab, with links and indents and bullets, then copy the version with the coding from the HTML tab over into my comment, and that worked fine.

Now you're saying that won't work any more? Do you have any idea how inconvenient this is?

On Jan 8, 2009 7:34:59 PM, TypePad Customer Support said:

Hi Brad-

Thanks for your feedback. The blockquote tool has been removed from the new editor, but we are looking into adding it back in the future. In the meantime, the blockquote tags would need to be manually inserted into your comments.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Thanks,
Jen

On Jan 8, 2009 11:25:40 AM, you (Brad) said:

Well, this is weird. I was trying to find something I wrote on my blog last January, so I clicked on my "January 2008" link, and all I got was what I posted on January 31 and January 30.

WHERE are the other 29 days of posts?

On Jan 8, 2009 11:42:06 AM, you (Brad) said:

An addendum:

I think I found the problem, but it is not fixable at my end.

I went to weblogs/configure/preferences and found that archives were set to display no more than 10 posts at a time, which of course is ridiculous. I sometimes post 10 times in a day. In January 2008 -- the month of the S.C. presidential primaries -- I'm sure I posted more than 200 times, and probably closer to 300. I can't check now to see, because THE MAXIMUM SETTING ALLOWED IS 50 POSTS.

Which is also ridiculous. You know what 50 posts gives me? It gives me from Jan. 31 back to Jan. 22. So I call up the month, and 21 days of the month don't show.

This is unacceptable, as are many other recent changes to TypePad.

On Jan 8, 2009 7:38:16 PM, TypePad Customer Support said:

Hi Brad-

As mentioned previously, the blog had not been updated with the new tags for pagination. When I updated the Individual Archives Templates for comment pagination, I also updated the Main Index, DateBased, and Category archives with the new tags. At the end of the pages, you will now see a Next links to go to the next page of posts.

You can increase the number of posts set to display on each index page to 100 posts by updating the MTEntries tag in the Main Index, DateBased, and Category templates from:

<MTEntries>

to:

<MTEntries lastn="100">

Please note the maximum number of posts allowed on an index page is 100. If you enter lastn="999", only 100 posts will display.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Thanks,
Jen

On Jan 9, 2009 10:37:39 AM, you (Brad) said:

Jen,

I appreciate that you're trying hard to help me with this. Unfortunately, there seems to be no way of solving my problem without a policy change on TypePad's part.

And this really needs to change. It makes no sense to have, for instance, a link on my blog's main page to "January 2008," when the reader can only see a third or a fourth of the posts from that month when he or she calls it up. I can't even see it myself, which is particularly maddening, since the way I blog, I need to refer back to what I've written in the past A LOT.

So basically I need to know where to go to lobby for this policy change. A limit of 99 posts on an archive page, or a limit of 50 comments on a post, absolutely does not meet my needs, or my readers'.

So where do I go to express this?

Thanks again for your help thus far.

-- Brad Warthen

Blogger runs for school board

Among the e-mails awaiting me upon my return today was this one:

Happy New Year!

You know me from my writing and protesting about the Confederate flag: I write the blog takedowntheflag.  Some of you also know me as an active volunteer for Barack Obama and for Anton Gunn.

I’m writing to tell you that I’m running for the vacant seat on the Richland Two School Board.  There are nine candidates, and whoever gets the most votes gets elected (no runoff).  The election is on Tuesday, Jan 20, and in-person absentee voting is going on now.  One of the major tasks of the school board will be the oversight of the building of new schools.  The voters passed a $306 million bond referendum for new schools in November.

In Richland District Two, we need to

• build new, well-designed schools to accommodate the amazing growth in our community.
• provide more technology for students and more ways for students to be engaged in both curricular and extracurricular activities.
• develop strategies to address No Child Left Behind and Act 388 so that we’re serving all students, teachers, parents, and everyone in our community.

I'm a public school teacher, and I have a PhD in engineering from Northwestern University.  I teach math in Sumter (we have a carpool); my sister Tracy teaches math in Hilton Head; my sister Kelly teaches math in Atlanta; and my brother Kevin also teaches math in Atlanta.  My wife Amy and I have two children. Our son Aidan is 6 years old and is a first-grader at Polo Road Elementary School (we like the Spanish program there). Our daughter Kate is 2½, and we plan to enroll her in one of Richland Two’s child development programs this fall.

What I’m saying is: I'm a public school teacher and a well-qualified candidate. I've got a huge amount of interest in the position, and I will do an awesome job.  Please check out the attached flyer “A Step Ahead” and my candidate website for more information about me and about the issues.  Also, I invite you to the Candidate Forum on Tuesday, Jan 6 at 6pm in the District Auditorium at Richland Northeast High School.  Please spread the word about my candidacy to any voters you know in Richland Two.  I could use all the help I can get between now and Jan 20! 

Thank you!

Best Regards,

Michael Rodgers, PhD

www.michaelrodgers.org

Maybe Doug Ross could offer him some advice, having also run for that board, if I recall...

By the way, here's the attachment to which Michael referred.

Today's computer puzzler

Last week, the folks in our Information Services department came up with a new -- well, it's new to me -- laptop to replace the one that got stolen, the one I'd had ever since I started this blog. Which is great; they've even programmed it to do cool and mysterious things my old one never dreamt of.

But there's one problem -- whenever I'm typing, suddenly my typing cursor will jump, without warning, from where I'm TRYING to type to some other random part of the page, either in the middle of some previous sentence or out of the text box completely. This happens two or three times per sentence, and it's sufficiently maddening that, as you might have noticed, I didn't post at all yesterday.

The only "explanation" I could offer is that the typing always leapt in the direction of wherever the mouse pointer was at that moment.

The folks in information services figured it out today -- the problem is that the laptop has a touchpad, and I've never gotten used to the things, so I plug in a USB mouse. The problem is that the heel of my hand, or ball of my thumb, or whatever you call the parts of the hand near the wrist, keep brushing against the touchpad. Every time that happens, it's the equivalent of a mouse click, so the typing cursor jumps to where the mouse pointer is, if you can follow that.

So all I had to do was go to the control panel, and deactivate the touchpad. Simple. Obvious. I should have thought of it.

Only one problem: There's nothing in the control panel about the touchpad. And nothing down in the right-hand corner of the taskbar, either (I'm running Windows XP). As far as this computer is concerned, it doesn't HAVE a touchpad. Except that it does.

I'm sure the folks in IS will figure this out on Monday. In the meantime, I've got a piece of cardboard over the touchpad, and that's working. But I was wondering -- between now and then, does anybody out there have any suggestions for turning the blasted device off?

Now we're REALLY in trouble: The WSJ quotes ME on the economy

Just this morning, after taking two days off, I pondered my three-day growth, and the overused disposable razor by the sink (I really need to buy some more this weekend), and thought this would be a perfect time to grow the beard back, just in time for Christmas. But then I thought it might confuse the twins as to who I was, and no amount of convenience was worth that.

So I shaved, and then came in to work, to find that my boss, Publisher Henry Haitz, had e-mailed me a story from The Wall Street Journal, which started like this:

Growth Area: Beards on Laid-Off Executives
Released From Staid Offices, More Men Free Their Facial Hair; the Professorial Look vs. ZZ Top

By CHRISTINA BINKLEY
    Call it the face of freedom.
    After Jorge Hendrickson lost his job at a Manhattan hedge fund three weeks ago, he stopped shaving. "I've shaved for so long, and it's nice to be able to look at the positive side" of losing a job, says Mr. Hendrickson, 24. "I'm changing my lifestyle while I can."...

This, of course, is not the kind of message you want to receive from your boss after taking a couple of days off (and almost deciding to grow your beard back), on the same day you read that David Stanton -- the only person at WIS I could name, a guy who went to work there the same year I joined The State -- has been unceremoniously laid off.

But then I saw Henry's note at the top of the e-mail, which read "Assuming you saw this in wsj yesterday, 4th para from the bottom....." Here was the graf to which he directed me:

Ben Bernanke's furry jawline gives the Fed chairman the look of a trustworthy intellectual. But Brad Warthen, editorial page editor for The State, a Columbia S.C., newspaper, recently pondered what would happen if Mr. Bernanke were to shave. "Could this be the bold stroke that is needed to jolt the economy back to where it should be?" Mr. Warthen posited in his blog.

So now you know the economy is really, really in trouble. The collapse of credit markets, the swan dive of the Detroit Three automakers, the apparent refusal of consumers to spend on Christmas, on and on --all that was just preliminaries.

It has now come to this: The venerable Wall Street Journal quoting my meanderings about what the Fed chairman's facial hair might mean in terms of the world economy's future direction. Sure, Bernanke is from South Carolina -- from the Pee Dee in fact, just like me -- and that gives me special insight, but still...

The time has come to curl up into a ball and pull the blanket over your head. It's the only rational response...

Another view on Nikki and the Speaker

We've heard from different sides of the divide -- or one of the divides -- that split S.C. Republicans on the subject of Speaker Harrell's heavy-handed treatment of Nikki Haley and Nathan Ballentine. Now I see that Tim Kelly, who is no kind of Republican, has also weighed in on Nikki's behalf:

There are probably about six things in life that I agree with Mark Sanford on - and it would still take me about a day-and-a-half to figure out what they are - but his efforts to introduce more transparency and accountability into South Carolina government is definitely at the top of that list.  About the only argument I have against his efforts to restructure government to give the governor actual control over the executive branch is that we could end up with Mark Sanford exercising that control....

So far, not a lot of votes out here in the real world for the Speaker on this...

Nikki Haley's letter

Nikki Haley sent me a copy this morning of a letter she sent out to her fellow lawmakers Wednesday. You remember what happened to Nikki on Wednesday, right?  Here it is:

December 3, 2008

Dear Colleagues:
    I feel compelled to share with you some events that occurred earlier today.
    This morning, I was informed that I had been assigned to serve on the Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee and, honestly, I was a little surprised given the differences the Speaker and I have had recently over "on the record" voting.  As I said to you when I took the floor yesterday none of this was personal it was all about policy and to his credit the Speaker set aside those disagreements - or so I had thought.
    It is no secret I had intended to run for Chairman of LCI, but given the events of the past few weeks I recognized that I was no longer in a position to achieve that goal.  I called Representative Sandifer and the Speaker on Monday night to let them know I was dropping out of the race.  This morning, I attended the LCI Committee meeting and closed nominations for committee chair asking that we vote Representative Sandifer by acclamation.
    After the meeting, I returned to my office.  Within minutes the Speaker's chief-of-staff hand-delivered a letter to me from the Speaker informing me that I had been reassigned to serve on the Education and Public Works Committee.  Needless to say I was disappointed.
    The Speaker wanted to send a message and I got it loud and clear.  That message is this; if we as individual representatives disagree with the Speaker over policy about which we feel passionately and share those disagreements publicly, we will be punished for doing so.  The actions he took today are in direct response to my aggressive pursuit of "on the record" voting.  I believe I acted in the best interests of the people I represent and because of my actions I was removed from a committee on which I had served honorably.
    The Speaker and other members of House Leadership will undoubtedly take issue with my account of what happened.  But, make no mistake, the manner in which I was assigned to LCI and then reassigned to Education and Public Works was intended to embarrass and punish me for working to pass a comprehensive "on the record" voting bill.
    I wanted you to know that this punishment handed down by the Speaker will in no way affect the manner in which I go about trying to increase transparency in the Legislature, bringing reform to state government, and working to improve the lives of the people we represent.

Sincerely,
Nikki Haley

And so, to quote the governor, "to be continued..."

I replied to Nikki that I'd put her letter on my blog. Unlike certain other bloggers, I don't have to worry about what the Speaker will do to me. But you know what -- Nathan's not letting it shut him up, either.

A blog goes silent

As a sort of sidebar to my last post -- remember how Nathan Ballentine took up the cudgels for Nikki on his blog? Well, you don't see that any more.

Suddenly, just as you might wonder with greater curiosity than ever what Nathan might have to say about all this, he goes silent. The Speaker has thoroughly shut him up, apparently. Or maybe it's like with me -- he's busy living his life, and hasn't gotten around to posting about it yet. Which do you think it is?

Meanwhile, Earl Capps, who is not under the Speaker's thumb, is still writing about it. He's using a rather reserved tone, though.

Whither the blog?

Seems like this comment I put on this comment string is worth a separate post, since I'm looking for feedback:

Above we have 32 comments. Seventeen of them are by or about Lee Muller (10 by him, including the first and the last; seven about him.)

That means the majority of comments are not about the subject at hand. The subject at hand, of course, is my effort to elevate public discourse above the level of polarization and pointless shouting.

I'd like to thank Harry, Karen, Phillip, Bart and, eventually bud (once he decided not to "harp on the past") for engaging the topic positively, and Randy and David for at least engaging the topic.

Anyone have any suggestions as to what do do with the fact that most of the string was occupied with polarizing distractions? This is a serious question, because now that the election is over I'm evaluating how much energy to put into the blog, given that we are so short-handed and I'm so harried these days.

When I started this blog, I had a staff of six full-time people (including four associate editors) and one part-timer to write for, edit and produce the editorial pages. And even then it was extremely difficult to squeeze out the time from a 24-hour day to blog. Now I have three full-timers (down to two associate editors) and one part-timer in the editorial department. Finding time for the blog long ago reached the point where most people would say "impossible."

My Sunday column spoke directly to why I do this blog. It's about carving out a place that is an alternative to most of the hyperpartisan blogosphere, which reflects the style of nondiscourse framed by the parties, the advocacy groups and the shouting-head television "news." A place where people can interact constructively, and even listen to each other.

I deeply appreciate those of you who try to have a constructive conversation in spite of all the shouters in the room. Unfortunately, there are many, many people of good will who simply won't try that hard.

Anyway, anybody have any constructive suggestions for going forward?

Of course, the very first comment I get it likely to be from Lee. But after that, I'd very much appreciate some relevant feedback from the rest of you.

My laptop was stolen last night

Folks, this is awful timing, but you won't be seeing as many blog posts from me as you normally would, on account of this:

Someone smashed the window out on my truck last night and stole the newpaper's laptop, the one that is my primary work platform. I do all blogging, all e-mail, most working of photos and cartoons that I handle, plus all of the video and other stuff I do for the blog. All administrative files, such as evaluations and budget info, were on the laptop, plus all of the photos I had taken of candidates for this fall's elections.

My truck was one of 10 broken into on my street.

That the computer was in my truck was just the worst possible luck. It's probably been years since I've left it there overnight, and I only did it this time because on Monday I came to work without it, which put me way behind on the week, and with the confusion of election night and all, I wanted to make sure I remembered it this morning. Add to that the fact that I normally don't take it home during the week, but only did so last night because it was election night and I was going to be working from home. I still can't believe this.

Now I've got to run out and deal with the guy who came to replace the window in my truck; he's here now.

Back to you later.

Now watch this: Lee will blame this on Obama.

My predictions

Here are my predictions as to what I think will happen on the contested races that we dealt with in our endorsements. As always, endorsements are about who should win, not who will win. To fill that vacuum -- and to help you see the difference -- here are my prognostications (in which I place far less faith, because they are not nearly as carefully considered):

• Obama will win the presidential election -- the real one (electoral college, with at least 300 electors) as well as the popular vote. He'll win it decisively enough that we'll know by midnight. BUT McCain will win in South Carolina, probably 55-45. We endorsed McCain.
• Lindsey Graham will easily win re-election. No prediction on the numbers; I have no idea. In fact, I'm only doing numbers on the presidential, because I really have no idea on any others. We endorsed Graham.
• Joe Wilson will win against Rob Miller, but it will be close. We endorsed Wilson.
• Jim Clyburn will have a blowout victory over his GOP opponent. We endorsed Clyburn.
• John Spratt will win with a margin somewhere between Wilson's and Clyburn's. We endorsed Spratt.
• Nikki Setzler will survive the challenge from Margaret Gamble, and thanks to the Obama Effect, it will be the first time it helped him to be a Democrat in 20 years. We endorsed Setzler.
• Anton Gunn will beat David Herndon, but it will be fairly close. We endorsed Gunn.
• Joe McEachern will cruise to victory over Michael Koska. We endorsed Koska.
• Chip Huggins will roll right over Jim Nelson, who will NOT benefit appreciably from the Obama Effect. We endorsed Nelson.
• Nikki Haley will win big, again in spite of Obama. We endorsed Ms. Haley.
• Harry Harmon will again be Lexington County coroner. We endorsed Harmon, although we again made the point that this should NOT be an elective office.
• Elise Partin will -- I hope I hope -- win the Cayce mayor's office (this is the one I have the LEAST feel for, since we've never endorsed for this office before). We endorsed Ms. Partin.
• Gwen Kennedy, despite being best known for a Hawaiian junket the last time she was on Richland County council, will ride the Obama Effect to victory over Celestine White Parker. We endorsed Ms. Parker.
• Mike Montgomery should prevail (note my hesitation) over challenger Jim Manning, who seems to be running as much as anything because he felt like there should be a Democrat in the race with Obama running. We endorsed Montgomery.

Oh, and Ted Pitts will roll to victory over his last-second UnParty challenger. We didn't endorse in this one, but if we had, we would have endorsed Ted.