After clicking on post it will say unable because of something with the text of my post. So I go back, write my name in again, do the secret code thing at the bottom and then again sometimes it will let the post post, other times it keeps saying it can’t do it because of the text.

If I do not type the code in correct the first time (which is hard to do, especially with some of the letters they use) it kicks it back and says try again, but it erases my name from the comment field and I end up being anonymous if I do not pay close attention to it.
I also type my comment and the text on the page is about a second behind what I am typing, almost like it is checking my text or something. It only happens on belief net websites.

If the “captcha” didn’t time out, a lot of the problems would go away.

Lately (only the last week or less) I’ve been having the same problem Carl Holmes describes. Sometimes the text on the page is noticeably delayed – which is really annoying. Just now it is working fine, but not always.
The captcha text is sometimes difficult to read and I guess wrong – get kicked out …
Sometimes it takes minutes for the comment to appear and it appears at different times depending on the page view and the “path” taken to get to the page. A comment will have seemed to appear, but the address bar has “preview” in the address. If one clicks away and comes back the comment seems to have disappeared, but really hasn’t actually appeared yet. And if that seems confusing – it is because the system is confusing.
In Internet Explorer 7 the name isn’t retained (it is retained in other browsers).
Occasionally (but very rarely) the box will “remember” the wrong text and restore not the text I just wrote, but text from some earlier comment – even a day earlier.
These are the only problems I’ve noticed…

I had to laugh when I saw this post. I pictured the frustrated commentor trying desperately to post a comment to tell of their problematic despair… and of course not being able to because they are having trouble posting comments on Beliefnet!

I’m with Ken. And I should call the phone company if my phone is broken.
Seriously thought the only two times I have tried to comment the verification text has timed out and I gave up.

With Ken, I also chuckled at the thought of frustrated posters not being able to post their problems. One of the funniest phone calls I have every overheard was when a sys admin told a coworker to email him if the network kept going down – which would make email impossible, of course. The ensuing conversation was funny but not terribly edifying…
Last week I commented on the movie quotes post. It seemed that my comment just went away. I refreshed the comments and didn’t see it. The next day my comment was there. The captcha always times out and when I refresh, name, email or link will be missing, depending on the browser used (I use a mix of IE 7, Chrome, Firefox).
I have participated in a number of large-scale web portals and blogs. It is surprising to me that beliefnet can’t save the text the users have typed into the fields. Preserving that sort of information is normal and expected elsewhere. If it were just some guy in a garage I wouldn’t even mention it, but one would suppose that beliefnet has some resources from selling ads to pay an IT staff. I sound terribly snotty for saying it and I feel bad. It’s just that the interface seems so rough, so unfriendly.
For reference, http://www.hanselman.com, slasdot.org (the original large-scale blog , the old JesusCreed site, any typical WordPress blog, etc. – these all preserve the info you type in and don’t lose comments nearly so regularly. Beliefnet is the least friendly blogging interface I can recall using (in terms of having to click multiple times to see the story, then the comments, never the story and comments together, seeing only the tail end of comments and having to click again to see the top of the thread, comments timing out, submission taking along time then sometimes not showing up for a long time).
I don’t want that to overshadow my gratitude for Scot’s and everyone else’s work to make this site possible. The interaction from such a range of people who know what they are talking about, including other respected authors, is a great blessing. I continue to be blessed by and thankful for this site, “cracked” interface or no.
[using Chrome. this comment timed out. it saved name and email but not link.]

I’m using FireFox and don’t have as many problems as others here. I always copy my comment before trying to post it so I can paste it back if a problem occurs.
The most annoying experience I have is that sometimes I hit post and everything seems to have worked okay but my comment doesn’t appear right away so I don’t know if I was successful or not. There have been at least a couple of cases where there has been a delay of three or more minutes.
Also, the one feature I truly miss from the previous version was the check box that, if checked, would send notifications of each comment to me via email.

For what its worth, with comment #8, it did not immediately appear. I kept hitting the refresh button every few seconds until it appeared. It took 45 seconds.

Michael,
I’ve had comments take several minutes to appear. But even more annoying it might appear in the full post with few comments view and then take much longer to appear in the “see all comments” view. Apparently these are separate pages and it takes a while for the comment to be posted to both. And the number of comments will vary until the comment is finally posted everywhere and the system “stabilizes” this can take several minutes.
But having said this – I’m with MatthewS – I still enjoy the interaction. It is worth the nuisance. (I haven’t stopped commenting you’ll note)

i still like to brouse this site but seldom post anymore as even browsing is at least twice as slow as at the old site (i am on dial up)
and on rare occasions tried to post have had the same kinds of problems others name.
the adds are a major nuisance.
and i too miss the click box to get email follow ups.
still it is a good site. Thanks for that.
blessings,
Tim

I totally understand the CAPTCHA element is needed to curb spam.
I would agree though that the original JesusCreed blog was far superior to what’s being run with BeliefNet. Just a professional observation as this is what I do for a living
One thing I sorely miss is the ability to recieve an email when a thread is updated. I believe if you note carefully threads have strunk in size because after a few days they rotate off the front page and the archive is a nightmare to find old entries.
Additionally, I haven’t checked but it would seem that Google Indexing is not being done effectively. I assume that when these articles are written and comments are made … that we’d like other people to find these articles and comments in the future!!! I’m going to try googling for an old RJS post and see how many I find in Google.

Things have gotten better in terms of navigating the page because I now get a pop up box that allows me to exit a stalled script. However, posting is a problem: the delays people talk about, “timing out” after extremely short intervals (such as pasting a comment in) and worst, having comments completely disappear into …. where? Some comments show up late, some very late, some not at all. I agree with others that Scot’s original site was much better. Now I hope this posts!

I do worry that the problems in this particular “cafe” site are driving people away. There’s a threshold in which “just a little bit worse” can translate into “not worth it.”

I’ve tried to post a couple times and it just keeps loading never changing screens. Also, did you loose a post today? I swear I saw something about broadband in my feedreader but now I cannot find it on the acutal blog. Am I going crazy?

Well, right now the whole site is wacky. This makes it difficult.

Yes, everything is screwed up right now (Thursday noon-ish).

Wow, the captcha is gone!

Scot:
I miss the old site. IMO, if BeliefNet wants to keep you, they need to do some overhauling.
Archives are very important. Easy commenting is very important. Email follow-ups are very important. Faster response when browsing is very important.
I am a fan and I read less because everything takes longer. Only determination makes me come back to your blog now. VERDICT: Scot good, BeliefNet bad.
Derek Leman

My experience with the Beliefnet site is significant annoyance.
Ads on every page, ads to be skipped, posts that don’t post because of timing out issues, posts that are anonymous because I forgot to type my name in again, double posts because it looks like it didn’t post the first time, unclear codes which I fail to duplicate properly. I’m enduring but I really miss the old site. Even if the posting issues were resolved.
My question is – what is the upside? Do we have a significantly larger community now that beliefnet hosts the site? Or are we losing some members/having less visits? Does it cost less money to run for you, Scot? I, for one, would be more than happy to support your ministry financially if that is the concern, and I am sure that there are many who would happily join me to get our old site back. I’m not categorically opposed to the change if the benefits outweigh the significant annoyance, but I personally visit a little less regularly.

I think I just experienced every problem listed here while trying to post on the cartoon post just now. RJS’ #4 about posting previous work was a real winner.

Good, the captcha is gone now. That should really improve things!

I concur with all the complaints mentioned so far. I’ve experienced all of them.

I only come once a week now. I am curious, has overall readership increased compared to jesuscreed.org , because I know there are only one-fourth to one-half of the comments.

I only come once a week now. I am curious, has overall readership increased compared to jesuscreed.org , because I know there are only one-fourth to one-half of the comments.
Okay, this is my second time posting. The first time I tried to post this, I didn’t get the security code thing, and waited and waited, and it acted like it had posted, and then I checked it, and it didn’t show up.

I’ve had my share of problems and discomfort with Beliefnet on this site, but on balance I think it’s worth it. It seems to me more may be trickling in at least to listen and perhaps to comment a little. If it can be a means to reach some people with the message of Jesus better than the old site, than our problems are worth it. But I do hope things keep improving, which only makes sense. If there’s a real problem, it should be fixed.

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