by Ethan Semendinger
December 27, 2024
***
Yes, I've heard you. Loud and clear.
On Commenting: To Appear, Or Not To Appear
Over the past many weeks, I have heard and read about the concerns from users and commentors of this site that the comments are not loading on posts. I have also had these problems arise for me, not only on my laptop but also on my phone. Believe me, it is extremely frustrating having a product that you've designed not work as intended, especially when that problem is not on your end.
I am, and have been, in communication with Wix (our website host) about fixing these issues. In my talks with technical support, they have alerted me that this is not an issue just for StartSpreadingTheNews, but across many of their other users and sites. There is currently work being done to remedy this problem, and I have pushed this website to the top of the list to be fixed. They have promised that the fixes are coming.
For now, however, until the problem is fixed, these are the steps you should take to help remedy the problem on your end:
Make sure you have an account with StartSpreadingTheNews (see below), to access comments.
* Note: If you can comment on the site, you have already made an account with us.
Clear the cookies on your browser.
* If you are unsure how to do this, click here.
Refresh your page.
* Note: It may take multiple refreshes to load the comments. (Yes, I know this is frustrating.)
Please understand that this is not an issue with StartSpreadingTheNews. I take a lot of pride in this website and the community that has been fostered here. The comments I've read stating about how we are poorly run are disappointing to see.
Please remember that this is a website that is written for, tended to, and produced out of the goodness of my heart, Dr. Paul Semendinger's heart, and the heart of all our writers. We have been operating for over 7 years now, completely free, while providing no fewer than 3 articles a day. That's over 7,500 posts that our readers (and the world) never been asked for a penny for. We've also painstakingly avoided putting too many ads on this site (especially those annoying pop-up ads), to keep the website itself readable, easily accessible, and to keep loading speeds as high as possible.
What we do here is not found elsewhere on the internet in today's world.
If you believe you can do better, please reach out and volunteer your time as a website developer, IT tech, human resource manager, writer, etc. We would be glad to welcome in people who can improve this website to make it the best it can be for our users.
On Spam:
Recently, you may have seen a change to creating an account or logging in. Unfortunately, this website has become a target for spam commentors and we are doing everything we can to keep this from becoming a larger problem. We spend tons of time each day just clearing out the spam and the junk comments.
Because of this, to combat the spam, you now must be logged in with a Wix/StartSpreadingTheNews account in order to comment on our site. This will submit a request to become a member, which we will approve as soon as possible provided you are able to respond to our request to connect via Wix, and showcase that you are a human.
In addition to our fixing the ongoing comment spam, Wix is also planning on implementing a commenting filter. The roll-out date for this new feature is to be determined, but once finished, it will allow us to (hopefully) reduce the number of steps necessary to comment, as our automatic filter will prevent bots from posting.
Thank You:
I think you all know that we work hard to make this site run. Again, we provide free articles each and every day. We don't litter the site with ads. We keep the site fan and family friendly. We believe that no one gives the high level of content that we do - for free. We thank you for all your support, for your patience, and for your understanding. We care, deeply, about provideing the absolute best product possible - and will always work towards those ends.
Technology is wonderful when it functions and works as intended and when there are problems people get frustrated. As a daily reader of SSTN I appreciate the site, the content and the writers. Sounds like you are on top of the issues so THANKS for you hard work. 👍
I just want to thank you for the quality, and quantity of this site, I enjoy it very much, and I read it daily..so Again Thank You.. keep it up, I'm patient, and loyal, will be a fan as long as it exists 👌👍☮️🙏🎄
Chris Dederick
cdederick@outlook.com
Ethan, thanks for being so persistent in working with WIX to resolve the issues that exist with commenting. However, having walked through the backend of this site over the years with Ethan, I can tell all of you that there is no one better positioned to handle this than Ethan. Having seen Ethan's work firsthand, the problem for sure resides with the hosting platform.
Ethan's site redesign pushed this site forward in ways I didn't imagine 7 years ago, and he continues to make it better as we move along. I'm sure we'll all be satisfied in short order.
Thanks for your hard work on this Ethan!
yeah, you do quite a fine job and provide good and free content
but is that an excuse for your egregious failure to pay people who provide comments?