{"id":11007,"date":"2021-05-29T17:16:05","date_gmt":"2021-05-30T00:16:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/douglaslucas.com\/blog\/?p=11007"},"modified":"2021-06-03T16:00:26","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T23:00:26","slug":"more-commenters-features-colombia-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/douglaslucas.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/29\/more-commenters-features-colombia-news\/","title":{"rendered":"More features for commenters; Colombia news blast"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Note: In 2021, I\u2019m blogging once a week, usually on Saturday. This is entry 21 of 52.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note (added 3 June 2021): The optional “Your comment is approved!” emails described in this post have in their subject line [DouglasLucas.com Blog] (without italics of course) for those commenters who might want to set up filters in their email systems<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Urban mailman circa 1923. United States Postal Service.<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Continuing last week’s spiffing up of this blog’s leave-a-comment area, this week I’ve added another feature. Now, if readers input their email address along with their comment, they receive a one-time notification email letting them know if\/when their comment is approved (comments are initially held for moderation). Please let me know if anyone has any trouble or concerns with this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, a malevolent third party could comment entering someone else’s email address, thus spamming them if<\/em> I unknowingly approve the comment \u2014 perhaps the bad actor would be trying to get my blog’s email address put on spam lists \u2014 but since I moderate each comment myself, I think I’ll catch most such attempts, if any happen. Also, the notification emails instruct recipients to email my personal address for help if they didn’t actually leave a comment themselves. Furthermore, while moderating, if I’m unsure about a comment’s legitimacy, I can personally email the address to ask, sort of a manual version of double opt-in subscription<\/a>. I’m curious to know if anyone who’s moderated a high-traffic blog has ever had significant trouble with commenters typing in bogus email addresses sans<\/em> double opt-in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"As
The new leave-a-comment area. Verbose mode<\/a> ON!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This week I clarified the instructions for the various leave-a-comment fields, too. So if you’re considering leaving a comment, and you’re wondering if, say, typing in your email address will or will not result in your email address being displayed publicly (it will not), then the leave-a-comment section now tells you such things up front. Readers don’t have to guess anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I still need to fix a few more things, some of them invisible from the reader’s point of view, around this blog. First and foremost, there’s an odd problem with the website field in the leave-a-comment section. If you’re submitting your comment, and you include a URL in the website field, then the blog post webpage might reload without showing you a preview of your submitted comment, and I might or might not receive the comment. I’ll try to fix the problem next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My blog has needed these improvements for quite a while, but it’s a significant amount of work to get them in place. (For me, maturity has involved better scheduling of my time, acknowledging<\/a> how very long some work can take, and rather than living in a puffed-up, grandiose headspace that pretends Rome can be built in a day, instead focusing on simply adding brick by brick across months or years.) So lately I’ve been dedicating my weekly post-writing time to just taking care of these improvements. Sorry if that’s made things a bit dull around here! There has been, however, some recent news in the world I think more people should know about:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

News blasts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Myanmar (aka Burma)<\/strong>. My post last week explains in more detail, with lots of links, the basic situation happening in Myanmar: The military, also known as the Tatmadaw, seized power in a coup d\u2019\u00e9tat back in February. The Tatmadaw, which since the coup has killed more than 815 pro-democracy protestors, has lost most public support. Instead of acquiescing to the coup, the Myanmar public is joining ethnic armed militias and a civil disobedience movement to resist. On June 1, compulsory formal education<\/a> is expected to resume, an upcoming deadline that perhaps will spark even more resistance. Something people can do is contact government officials locally and worldwide \u2014 or protest them publicly \u2014 demanding they support the proposed arms embargo against the Tatmadaw<\/a>, i.e., reducing or eliminating the Myanmar military’s access to imported weaponry. Two videos embedded below provide additional information\/context. First, a nine-minute video titled “What’s Happening in Myanmar?<\/a>” from Al Jazeera’s “Start Here” program. Second, an even better video just under five minutes titled “What’s Happening in Myanmar Explained<\/a>” by YourAnonCentral<\/a> aka YAC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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