[Magazine] Closing comments on old articles?

[Paul W. Frields]

How do folks feel about time-limiting open comments on articles?  We
often see comments coming in on old articles.  We can't reasonably
expect authors to monitor these forever.  It seems to me like 30 days
should be enough time to allow comments, considering the curve of hits
we see on the articles.

What do other folks think?

-- 
Paul W. Frields                                http://paul.frields.org/
  gpg fingerprint: 3DA6 A0AC 6D58 FEC4 0233  5906 ACDB C937 BD11 3717
  http://redhat.com/   -  -  -  -   http://pfrields.fedorapeople.org/
    The open source story continues to grow: http://opensource.com

[Gabriele Trombini]

Il giorno ven, 16/10/2015 alle 14.55 -0400, Paul W. Frields ha scritto:
>  How do folks feel about time-limiting open comments on articles?  We
>  often see comments coming in on old articles.  We can't reasonably
>  expect authors to monitor these forever.  It seems to me like 30 days
>  should be enough time to allow comments, considering the curve of
>  hits
>  we see on the articles.
>  
>  What do other folks think?
>  
>  -- 
>  Paul W. Frields                                
>  
>    
Hello Paul,

good point, sometimes I'm really bored about seeing comments on old
posts; but there are some evergeen post we should leave open (e.g
[1][2][3]) or open for a long time.

IMO posts not related to the release or a specific version of software
should be open for more than 30 days.

Is there a way (e.c. categories) to handle these terms? Are we able to
distinguish amongst posts? Also, are we able to remind to the author
his post is going to be closed, so he can ask to leave open if he
considers that its cycle is not ended?

Thanks.

Gabri

[1]http://fedoramagazine.org/make-github-pages-blog-with-pelican/
[2]http://fedoramagazine.org/how_we_translate_fedora/
[3]http://fedoramagazine.org/use-fpaste-share-problem-reports/

[Justin W. Flory]

I think having a category or some kind of tag to mark articles as 
time-sensitive is a good idea - I also think there are some articles 
that might be better for a longer commenting period and others that are 
useful only for a specific window of time (as mentioned with specific 
Fedora releases). I think this also depends on the author's activity 
with the magazine too.


Cheers,
------------

Justin W. Flory
jflory7(a)gmail.com

On 10/16/2015 03:15 PM, Gabriele Trombini wrote:
>  Il giorno ven, 16/10/2015 alle 14.55 -0400, Paul W. Frields ha
> scritto:
> > How do folks feel about time-limiting open comments on articles?  We
> > often see comments coming in on old articles.  We can't reasonably
> > expect authors to monitor these forever.  It seems to me like 30 days
> > should be enough time to allow comments, considering the curve of
> > hits
> > we see on the articles.
> >
> > What do other folks think?
> >
> > --
> > Paul W. Frields
> >
> >
>
>  Hello Paul,
>
>  good point, sometimes I'm really bored about seeing comments on old
>  posts; but there are some evergeen post we should leave open (e.g
>  [1][2][3]) or open for a long time.
>
>  IMO posts not related to the release or a specific version of software
>  should be open for more than 30 days.
>
>  Is there a way (e.c. categories) to handle these terms? Are we able to
>  distinguish amongst posts? Also, are we able to remind to the author
>  his post is going to be closed, so he can ask to leave open if he
>  considers that its cycle is not ended?
>
>  Thanks.
>
>  Gabri
>
>  [1]http://fedoramagazine.org/make-github-pages-blog-with-pelican/
>  [2]http://fedoramagazine.org/how_we_translate_fedora/
>  [3]http://fedoramagazine.org/use-fpaste-share-problem-reports/
>

[Paul W. Frields]

On Fri, Oct 16, 2015 at 03:19:31PM -0400, Justin W. Flory wrote:
>  On 10/16/2015 03:15 PM, Gabriele Trombini wrote:
>  >Il giorno ven, 16/10/2015 alle 14.55 -0400, Paul W. Frields ha scritto:
>  >>How do folks feel about time-limiting open comments on articles?
>  >>We often see comments coming in on old articles.  We can't
>  >>reasonably expect authors to monitor these forever.  It seems to
>  >>me like 30 days should be enough time to allow comments,
>  >>considering the curve of hits we see on the articles.
>  >>
>  >>What do other folks think?
>  >
>  >good point, sometimes I'm really bored about seeing comments on old
>  >posts; but there are some evergeen post we should leave open (e.g
>  >[1][2][3]) or open for a long time.
>  >
>  >IMO posts not related to the release or a specific version of software
>  >should be open for more than 30 days. 
How long?  90 days?  180?  Forever?

And what would you, as a commenter, a reader, or an editor, expect to
happen with the comments left after a certain period?

>  >Is there a way (e.c. categories) to handle these terms? Are we
> able to
>  >distinguish amongst posts? Also, are we able to remind to the author
>  >his post is going to be closed, so he can ask to leave open if he
>  >considers that its cycle is not ended?
>  >
>  >[1]http://fedoramagazine.org/make-github-pages-blog-with-pelican/
>  >[2]http://fedoramagazine.org/how_we_translate_fedora/
>  >[3]http://fedoramagazine.org/use-fpaste-share-problem-reports/
>  >
>  
>  I think having a category or some kind of tag to mark articles as
>  time-sensitive is a good idea - I also think there are some articles that
>  might be better for a longer commenting period and others that are useful
>  only for a specific window of time (as mentioned with specific Fedora
>  releases). I think this also depends on the author's activity with the
>  magazine too. 
The built-in function in Wordpress is global.  Either comments are
open, disabled on articles after a certain time period, or closed.

I found a plugin that accomplishes what we want on an individual post
basis:  https://wordpress.org/plugins/comment-expirator/

We should probably test that elsewhere before trying on the site.  The
plugin has a pretty low uptake, although it looks simple enough.

-- 
Paul W. Frields                                http://paul.frields.org/
  gpg fingerprint: 3DA6 A0AC 6D58 FEC4 0233  5906 ACDB C937 BD11 3717
  http://redhat.com/   -  -  -  -   http://pfrields.fedorapeople.org/
    The open source story continues to grow: http://opensource.com

[Gabriele Trombini]

Il giorno lun, 19/10/2015 alle 09.55 -0400, Paul W. Frields ha scritto:
>  On Fri, Oct 16, 2015 at 03:19:31PM -0400, Justin W. Flory wrote:
>  > On 10/16/2015 03:15 PM, Gabriele Trombini wrote:
>  > > Il giorno ven, 16/10/2015 alle 14.55 -0400, Paul W. Frields ha
>  > > scritto:
>  > > > How do folks feel about time-limiting open comments on
>  > > > articles?
>  > > > We often see comments coming in on old articles.  We can't
>  > > > reasonably expect authors to monitor these forever.  It seems
>  > > > to
>  > > > me like 30 days should be enough time to allow comments,
>  > > > considering the curve of hits we see on the articles.
>  > >
> >   
>  > > > What do other folks
> think?
>  >
> >   
>  > > good point, sometimes I'm really bored about
> seeing comments on
>  > > old
>  > > posts; but there are some evergeen post we should leave open (e.g
>  > > [1][2][3]) or open for a long time.
>  >
> >   
>  > > IMO posts not related to the release or a specific
> version of
>  > > software
>  > > should be open for more than 30 days.
>  
>  How long?  90 days?  180?  Forever?
>  And what would you, as a commenter, a reader, or an editor, expect to
>  happen with the comments left after a certain period?
>  
>  > > Is there a way (e.c. categories) to handle these terms? Are we
>  > > able to
>  > > distinguish amongst posts? Also, are we able to remind to the
>  > > author
>  > > his post is going to be closed, so he can ask to leave open if he
>  > > considers that its cycle is not ended?
>  >
> >   
>  > >
> [1]http://fedoramagazine.org/make-github-pages-blog-with-pelican/
>  > > [2]http://fedoramagazine.org/how_we_translate_fedora/
>  > > [3]http://fedoramagazine.org/use-fpaste-share-problem-reports/
>  >
> >   
> >   
>  > I think having a category or
> some kind of tag to mark articles as
>  > time-sensitive is a good idea - I also think there are some
>  > articles that
>  > might be better for a longer commenting period and others that are
>  > useful
>  > only for a specific window of time (as mentioned with specific
>  > Fedora
>  > releases). I think this also depends on the author's activity with
>  > the
>  > magazine too.
>  
>  The built-in function in Wordpress is global.  Either comments are
>  open, disabled on articles after a certain time period, or closed.
>  
>  I found a plugin that accomplishes what we want on an individual post
>  basis:  https://wordpress.org/plugins/comment-expirator/
>  
>  We should probably test that elsewhere before trying on the site. 
>   The
>  plugin has a pretty low uptake, although it looks simple enough.
>  
>  -- 
>   
I'm guessing about categorized  articles:

A) general (like mine a couple of years ago [1], "how do you Fedora"
series[2] or groups related [3] and similar [4]-> no closing terms;

B) events (Fudcon, Flock and so on) -> closed when new events happen (a
year?);

C) election, meetings and so on - manually(?) closed when things are
over;

D) Fedora/n: -> automatically closed every new release;

E) Software, hardware, howtos and so on: -> manually(?) closed when
updated or rewrote;

This is very hard to handle; it needs almost an admin manual check, so
I think we should determine deadlines for each category we would
maintain. 

On different perspective, I expect to happen:

- as commenter: fill in a comment, waiting for author reply and going
on if we might discuss; guessing how long it can last it's really hard.
But probably those kind of comments become obsoletes when points D) and
E) above happen.  
- as reader: the same of as commenter, difference is small. In this
case I'm only following the discussion amongst other people.
- as editor: I'm expecting a lot of people send me thanks for the
article and I'd be really glad to start a discussion and if it's a
generic article, seeing other's point of view and sometimes change my
opinion or change people's opinion. 

Either fedmag is a resource to browse, study, read, deepen and view as
a Fedora living historic memory or make it a sort of feed reader just
setting up a cold expiration date everywhere.

That's what I think.

Thanks Gabri


[1] http://fedoramagazine.org/we-are-everywhere-you-need/
[2] http://fedoramagazine.org/major-hayden-how-do-you-fedora/
[3] http://fedoramagazine.org/about-fedora-infrastructure/
[4] http://fedoramagazine.org/join-fedora/

>

[Lord Drachenblut]

Is there any way to give authors of an article the choice for how long to
allow comments?

On Mon, Oct 19, 2015, 2:56 PM Gabriele Trombini <g.trombini(a)gmail.com&gt;
wrote:

>  Il giorno lun, 19/10/2015 alle 09.55 -0400, Paul W. Frields ha
> scritto:
>  > On Fri, Oct 16, 2015 at 03:19:31PM -0400, Justin W. Flory wrote:
>  > > On 10/16/2015 03:15 PM, Gabriele Trombini wrote:
>  > > > Il giorno ven, 16/10/2015 alle 14.55 -0400, Paul W. Frields ha
>  > > > scritto:
>  > > > > How do folks feel about time-limiting open comments on
>  > > > > articles?
>  > > > > We often see comments coming in on old articles.  We can't
>  > > > > reasonably expect authors to monitor these forever.  It seems
>  > > > > to
>  > > > > me like 30 days should be enough time to allow comments,
>  > > > > considering the curve of hits we see on the articles.
>  > > > >
>  > > > > What do other folks think?
>  > > >
>  > > > good point, sometimes I'm really bored about seeing comments on
>  > > > old
>  > > > posts; but there are some evergeen post we should leave open (e.g
>  > > > [1][2][3]) or open for a long time.
>  > > >
>  > > > IMO posts not related to the release or a specific version of
>  > > > software
>  > > > should be open for more than 30 days.
>  >
>  > How long?  90 days?  180?  Forever?
>  > And what would you, as a commenter, a reader, or an editor, expect to
>  > happen with the comments left after a certain period?
>  >
>  > > > Is there a way (e.c. categories) to handle these terms? Are we
>  > > > able to
>  > > > distinguish amongst posts? Also, are we able to remind to the
>  > > > author
>  > > > his post is going to be closed, so he can ask to leave open if he
>  > > > considers that its cycle is not ended?
>  > > >
>  > > > [1]http://fedoramagazine.org/make-github-pages-blog-with-pelican/
>  > > > [2]http://fedoramagazine.org/how_we_translate_fedora/
>  > > > [3]http://fedoramagazine.org/use-fpaste-share-problem-reports/
>  > > >
>  > >
>  > > I think having a category or some kind of tag to mark articles as
>  > > time-sensitive is a good idea - I also think there are some
>  > > articles that
>  > > might be better for a longer commenting period and others that are
>  > > useful
>  > > only for a specific window of time (as mentioned with specific
>  > > Fedora
>  > > releases). I think this also depends on the author's activity with
>  > > the
>  > > magazine too.
>  >
>  > The built-in function in Wordpress is global.  Either comments are
>  > open, disabled on articles after a certain time period, or closed.
>  >
>  > I found a plugin that accomplishes what we want on an individual post
>  > basis:  https://wordpress.org/plugins/comment-expirator/
>  >
>  > We should probably test that elsewhere before trying on the site.
>  >  The
>  > plugin has a pretty low uptake, although it looks simple enough.
>  >
>  > --
>  >
>  I'm guessing about categorized  articles:
>
>  A) general (like mine a couple of years ago [1], "how do you Fedora"
>  series[2] or groups related [3] and similar [4]-> no closing terms;
>
>  B) events (Fudcon, Flock and so on) -> closed when new events happen (a
>  year?);
>
>  C) election, meetings and so on - manually(?) closed when things are
>  over;
>
>  D) Fedora/n: -> automatically closed every new release;
>
>  E) Software, hardware, howtos and so on: -> manually(?) closed when
>  updated or rewrote;
>
>  This is very hard to handle; it needs almost an admin manual check, so
>  I think we should determine deadlines for each category we would
>  maintain.
>
>  On different perspective, I expect to happen:
>
>  - as commenter: fill in a comment, waiting for author reply and going
>  on if we might discuss; guessing how long it can last it's really hard.
>  But probably those kind of comments become obsoletes when points D) and
>  E) above happen.
>  - as reader: the same of as commenter, difference is small. In this
>  case I'm only following the discussion amongst other people.
>  - as editor: I'm expecting a lot of people send me thanks for the
>  article and I'd be really glad to start a discussion and if it's a
>  generic article, seeing other's point of view and sometimes change my
>  opinion or change people's opinion.
>
>  Either fedmag is a resource to browse, study, read, deepen and view as
>  a Fedora living historic memory or make it a sort of feed reader just
>  setting up a cold expiration date everywhere.
>
>  That's what I think.
>
>  Thanks Gabri
>
>
>  [1] http://fedoramagazine.org/we-are-everywhere-you-need/
>  [2] http://fedoramagazine.org/major-hayden-how-do-you-fedora/
>  [3] http://fedoramagazine.org/about-fedora-infrastructure/
>  [4] http://fedoramagazine.org/join-fedora/
>
>  >
>  --
>  marketing mailing list
>  marketing(a)lists.fedoraproject.org
>  List info or to change your subscription:
>  https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing 
-- 

Cheers

Matthew "Lord Drachenblut" Williams

[Paul W. Frields]

On Mon, Oct 19, 2015 at 07:50:40PM +0000, Lord Drachenblut wrote:
>  Is there any way to give authors of an article the choice for how
> long to
>  allow comments? 
AIUI the plugin I linked to makes this a per-post override, so yes.

-- 
Paul W. Frields                                http://paul.frields.org/
  gpg fingerprint: 3DA6 A0AC 6D58 FEC4 0233  5906 ACDB C937 BD11 3717
  http://redhat.com/   -  -  -  -   http://pfrields.fedorapeople.org/
    The open source story continues to grow: http://opensource.com

[Lord Drachenblut]

Then perhaps the best option if, AIUI can be setup to do this, is to set a
default time of 3 to 6 months and then allow the author to override from
there

Matthew

On Wed, Oct 21, 2015, 5:57 PM Paul W. Frields <stickster(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote:

>  On Mon, Oct 19, 2015 at 07:50:40PM +0000, Lord Drachenblut wrote:
>  > Is there any way to give authors of an article the choice for how long to
>  > allow comments?
>
>  AIUI the plugin I linked to makes this a per-post override, so yes.
>
>  --
>  Paul W. Frields                                http://paul.frields.org/
>    gpg fingerprint: 3DA6 A0AC 6D58 FEC4 0233  5906 ACDB C937 BD11 3717
>    http://redhat.com/   -  -  -  -   http://pfrields.fedorapeople.org/
>      The open source story continues to grow: http://opensource.com
>  --
>  marketing mailing list
>  marketing(a)lists.fedoraproject.org
>  List info or to change your subscription:
>  https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing 
-- 

Cheers

Matthew "Lord Drachenblut" Williams

[Joe Brockmeier]

On 10/16/2015 02:55 PM, Paul W. Frields wrote:
>  What do other folks think? 
I think 30 days is a bit aggressive. There are also a number of articles
where a reply after even a year might be useful (e.g. - an article about
Technology Foo is high in Google Ranking and the piece is outdated and
better information lives elsewhere now, thus a commenter wants to ensure
other folks have some idea what is currently true).

No, I wouldn't expect a reply from an author a long time after a piece
is published - but that doesn't *necessarily* mean comments will no
longer have value.

Older pieces can be a major target for spam, so if this is something we
need to do in order to retain sanity from moderating spam, then I'd be
reluctantly +1.

Best,

jzb
-- 
Joe Brockmeier | Community Team, OSAS
jzb(a)redhat.com | http://community.redhat.com/
Twitter: @jzb  | http://dissociatedpress.net/

[Paul W. Frields]

On Fri, Oct 16, 2015 at 05:41:08PM -0400, Joe Brockmeier wrote:
>  On 10/16/2015 02:55 PM, Paul W. Frields wrote:
>  > What do other folks think?
>  
>  I think 30 days is a bit aggressive. There are also a number of articles
>  where a reply after even a year might be useful (e.g. - an article about
>  Technology Foo is high in Google Ranking and the piece is outdated and
>  better information lives elsewhere now, thus a commenter wants to ensure
>  other folks have some idea what is currently true).
>  
>  No, I wouldn't expect a reply from an author a long time after a piece
>  is published - but that doesn't *necessarily* mean comments will no
>  longer have value.
>  
>  Older pieces can be a major target for spam, so if this is something we
>  need to do in order to retain sanity from moderating spam, then I'd be
>  reluctantly +1. 
Do you think 90 or 180 days (or some other number) is a more useful
window?  I think we should be open to alternatives -- including not
limiting at all.  I like the idea of doing this by category, so that
non-time limited articles wouldn't be closed as aggressively (or
ever?) compared to, say, specific release-related articles.

Perhaps a good solution might be:

* A shorter window for certain short-lifespan articles --
  e.g. security update for an app, likely subsumed or obsolete within
  a few months (maybe 90 days is as short as it should get?)

* A default window of some period, maybe 180 days

* An unlimited window for concept pieces that will apply for a long
  time (like our upcoming systemd series)

My concern is more about picking up random comments with little value,
as opposed to spam.  As Ryan pointed out elsewhere, we have fairly
decent (sometimes a tad aggressive) spam filtering in place.  There's
a constant pressure on any article comment section to serve as
substitute help forum, often for unrelated topics.  I doubt it does
readers good when we create an expectation their comments will be
answered over a very long span.

-- 
Paul W. Frields                                http://paul.frields.org/
  gpg fingerprint: 3DA6 A0AC 6D58 FEC4 0233  5906 ACDB C937 BD11 3717
  http://redhat.com/   -  -  -  -   http://pfrields.fedorapeople.org/
    The open source story continues to grow: http://opensource.com

[Chris A. Roberts]

+1 to a 30 day limit

- Chris Roberts
________________________________________
From: marketing-bounces(a)lists.fedoraproject.org
<marketing-bounces(a)lists.fedoraproject.org&gt; on behalf of Paul W. Frields
<stickster(a)gmail.com&gt;
Sent: Friday, October 16, 2015 2:55 PM
To: marketing(a)lists.fedoraproject.org
Subject: [Magazine] Closing comments on old articles?

How do folks feel about time-limiting open comments on articles?  We
often see comments coming in on old articles.  We can't reasonably
expect authors to monitor these forever.  It seems to me like 30 days
should be enough time to allow comments, considering the curve of hits
we see on the articles.

What do other folks think?

--
Paul W. Frields                                http://paul.frields.org/
  gpg fingerprint: 3DA6 A0AC 6D58 FEC4 0233  5906 ACDB C937 BD11 3717
  http://redhat.com/   -  -  -  -   http://pfrields.fedorapeople.org/
    The open source story continues to grow: http://opensource.com
--
marketing mailing list
marketing(a)lists.fedoraproject.org
List info or to change your subscription:
https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing

[Ryan Lerch]

On 10/17/2015 04:55 AM, Paul W. Frields wrote:
>  How do folks feel about time-limiting open comments on articles?  We
>  often see comments coming in on old articles.  We can't reasonably
>  expect authors to monitor these forever.  It seems to me like 30 days
>  should be enough time to allow comments, considering the curve of hits
>  we see on the articles.
>
>  What do other folks think?
>  
As one that regularly monitors the comments, and the spam queue (a 
suprising number of legitimagte comments end up in the spam queue), i 
think this is a good idea -- we rarely have comments outside this 
timeframe anyway, so it would not be a big loss, and if it helps out our 
few authors, Im for it.

+1 from me.

cheers,
ryanlerch