Sox Machine Business: Commenting upgrades

Just a quick note: I upgraded the site’s commenting system to the newest version. I’d held off on it for a few versions since it changed the look of the discussions considerably, and had a few bugs that were in need of ironing out.

It’s worth trying now, for a few reasons:

No. 1: Replies identify the comments being replied to.

The nesting of comments could get confusing when multiple discussions were happening within the same thread, especially on mobile. Now on replies to comments, you’ll see “Reply to ” with a link to the specific comment at hand.

(You can also mention users by name with the @ symbol. It will generate a link for that person’s name, at least if their display name matches their user name. No harm in swinging and missing, to my knowledge.)

No. 2: You can search your own recent comments.

If you wanted to track your comments across various posts, you can click on the person icon next to the comment count at the top of the discussion, which launches a window with your recent activity.

No. 3: Tweets now auto-embed by link.

It’s always been simple to embed images in the comments via image URL, as long as it started with “https” and ended with the file format (https://media.giphy.com/media/jpbgnQgnKxcvQ6nzAQ/giphy.gif, for instance). Now you can do the same with tweets. Dropping the full URL of the tweet should automatically embed the tweet in the discussion, rather than displaying a clickable URL. This should come in handy if and when the tepid stove heats up.

Try to get used to it over the next few weeks, and let me know if you encounter any issues or bugs. I have the option of rolling back to the old format, but it’s a dead end, so I’d rather hang with this one and benefit from further advancements.

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Jim Margalus
Jim Margalus

Writing about the White Sox for a 16th season, first here, then at South Side Sox, and now here again. Let’s talk curling.

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ParisSox

Looks good so far. Have to play with it a bit but the biggest thing for me is being able to easily recognize new comments when I go back into an article. How does that show on this new format?

GrinnellSteve

Quickly picking out new comments in a popular article has always been important to me, too.

GrinnellSteve

So far that’s the way it’s working. Before, it was hit or miss as to whether the new comments would show differently. The little bit I’ve seen of the new setup looks real good. Well done, Jim.

ParisSox

Indeed it is working. The trick now is for the site to keep me signed in.

Pointerbabe

Looks good-much easier to follow a thread.

asinwreck

asinwreck

Oh, that’s nice. Thanks for this (and all you do with the site), Jim.

dwjm3

I like Sherman quite a bit. I think he is well informed.

However, I do think the National media forgets some of Jerry’s quirks when making prognostications. The quirk in this scenario would be the refusal to give out long term contracts to pitchers.

dwjm3

Looks sharp on mobile

Oddvark

comment image

dwjm3

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/30462167/sources-philadelphia-phillies-open-trade-offers-right-hander-zack-wheeler

The Philadelphia Phillies have communicated to other teams that they are facing a financial crunch and are open to offers for their second-highest-paid player, starting pitcher Zack Wheeler, according to sources.

Slugger Bryce Harper is the team’s highest-paid player, but there is no indication yet that the Phillies will look to deal him off their books.

I wish they would deal Harper. Jerry loves fixed costs where he doesn’t have to compete in the open market…see Rios, Alex

GrinnellSteve

Harper has a full no-trade. That’s not an insurmountable problem, but I believe he had a desire to sign one final contract and play out his days there.

As for Wheeler, I wonder what his desire to stay in the area would mean to his willingness to go somewhere. Of course, he could pout all he wants. He’d still compete when called upon because that’s what players do.

denman

After a year of marriage, Wheeler might welcome playing farther away from the in-laws. The question is whether Philly will accept a prospect package that doesn’t include Vaughn, Kopech or Crochet.

Last edited 2 years ago by denman
asinwreck

Middleton denies Wheeler is available.

The managing general partner of the Philadelphia Phillies said Sunday afternoon that the team will not trade starting pitcher Zack Wheeler under any circumstances.

“If they offered me Babe Ruth, I wouldn’t trade him,” John Middleton said angrily in a phone conversation, adding Ted Williams and Mike Schmidt to Ruth’s name for good measure. “I have authorized no one to have a conversation about trading him.”

I mean, Schmidt’s in his 70s and Ruth and Williams are deceased, so I’d pass on those deals as well.