Adding comments

Introduction

As of September 2009, my b.log entries come with a simple little script that permits you to comment on what I have written. Replies to your comments may be added as subsequent comments, or perhaps form the basis of later b.log entries.

Crash course...

Editorial policy

While both myself and common sense specify that you should not write rude, malicious or otherwise damaging content, there is a deplorable lack of common sense in the world. Thus I reserve the right to delete comments that I feel are problematic. The sole decision on this rests with me.
Additionally, by posting a comment, you should be aware that it may be used and/or quoted in a subsequent b.log entry.

Identification / abuse

There is no requirement to log in, and a determined person could post comments claimed as coming from other people. Where this sort of abuse is identified, the comments concerned will be deleted.
Please accept that I do not have control over comments submitted, and that comments go 'live' immediately. Where an undesired comment is identified, it will be deleted, but I do not have the time to check this every minute of every day...

Identification

You should provide your name. It is also recommended that you provide your email address.
I believe if you are going to say something, put your name to it or shut up, so please use your real name!

Your email address, if given, is not shown on-screen.

The final ID sequence is that you should enter a series of five digits in reverse order. It's a lot better, I feel, than those hard-to-read check images that some sites provide. For your assistance, note that the sequence is always numerical - zero is zero, one is one. No letters to muddle up...

The comment

There is no arbitrary restriction on comment length - this isn't Twitter. You can give a short tweet, or you can write in something that looks like English is supposed to look. Up to you!

To aid in your writing, you can include HTML glyphs. For example, to write "日本語" (ni-hon-go, or Japanese in Japanese!), simply write "日本語".
Note that if you wish to write a single ampersand '&' character, you should write "&". If you forget, most decent browsers will automatically correct this, but some may not, or may not do it entirely as you wanted...

You cannot embed HTML.

You may also wish to include linebreaks. Simply press Enter and leave such linebreaks in your comment text...

Keeping track of it all

I have had requests for people to be notified if anybody replies to their comments. Well, I don't have MySQL running, nor do I like the idea of polluting people's email with notifications.
So what I have decided to try is a unified system to auto-generate an RSS feed for every comment which is posted. While this is not specific to your comment, it can help to guide you to other added comments...
Anyway, let me know what you think.

Nerdy

Rick's b.log comment system, version 0.11, 2022/11/28.
Written by Rick Murray.

Revision history:
0.01 - Initial, basic, buggy version.
0.02 - Now asks for, and checks, email address. Bodge to prevent endless lines messing up wrapping.
0.03 - Now asks for a verification code. Entry form slightly redesigned. Various modifications to permit Japanese ideographic characters to be used. Added \n and \p support. Upon an error, a try-again appears so you don't have to entry the comment all over again as people probably wouldn't bother...
0.04 - Made the email address optional.
0.05 - Now reports a brief message if there are no comments to display.
0.06 - Now creates an RSS file for comments posted.
0.06b - Minor modifications for changes in layout in the b.log2 system.
0.07 - Removed \n and \p support. Now? Just press Enter and make the appropriate newlines in the comment text!
0.07b - Minor tweaks for b.log2 revisions.
0.08 - Output was missing </tr> tags (browsers assumed this behaviour anyway, so no difference in rendering). Fixed. Also removed note about not needing obscure codes for newlines. Pushed the "Submit" button to the right, more in line with typical GUI styling.
0.08m - Revisions to the mobile part to support simple comment entry on mobile devices. Desktop side not altered.
0.09/0.09m - David Pilling drew my attention to vanishing comments due to an oddity in how the server behaves when it runs out of allocated space. Because of this, the comment code will attempt a dummy write to a test file, and if that fails, comment addition will be disabled. Fixed bug where early exit (due to no date being available) would terminate php execution too early. Fixed issue where mobile help image had watermark stuck across the bottom (and it obscured content due to restricted palette). Fixed some other minor stuff too trivial to mention. ☺ 0.10m - Disabled email entry stuff, as notification emails not being sent to me so this data was effectively lost, therefore no point offering it as an option.
0.10b - Re-enabled (optional) email as emails now work. Also did some tweaking: set name, validation code, and comment as being required fields, and added placeholder text to the comment field. 0.11 - It's no longer possible to use "Rick" as a name when writing comments. This is why.

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