New Users and Comments

[rj]

I have found not a few people on other forums complaining that they cannot make comments on my blog. Some say it is too bad comments are not allowed while others say there is no comment option.

When comments are ZERO new users do not see any reference to comments in the artilcle footer. Thus they do not think they are allowed.
This is part of the reason why my blog gets no comments!!

Very much I would like to change that so all new users see the comments link whether it is 0 or not. I think this is very important and have never understood why it is set as it is to no show unless therre are previous comments. It does not make sense to me.

Thanx

RJ

[yellowled]

Very much I would like to change that so all new users see the comments link whether it is 0 or not. I think this is very important and have never understood why it is set as it is to no show unless therre are previous comments. It does not make sense to me.

This is not a s9y default behaviour. There should at least be a link like "Comments (0)" in your entry footers when there are no comments yet. It may be template-specific in your case, so which template are you using? Can we have an URL to your blog?

YL

[rj]

You do understand I am talking about not yet registered users?
I want not yet registered users to be able to see and click comments (make them then register) even if there are no comments yet.

Am using Carl Contest which I have tweaked considerably.

http://rackjite.com/

Thanx!!

RJ

[judebert]

Bulletproof uses a language constant for when there are zero comments, but functionally the code looks the same as an unmodified carl_contest. It seems to me that your $entries.has_comments has been set to false somehow; that really shouldn't happen unless you've disabled comments, either in the config or in a plugin.

Meanwhile, you can display a custom string for when there are no comments. In the entries.tpl, change:

Code: Select all

<br /><a href="{$entry.link}#comments">{$entry.label_comments} ({$entry.comments})</a>

to:

Code: Select all

<br /><a href="{$entry.link}#comments">{if $entry.comments == 0}No comments yet{else}{$entry.comments} {$entry.label_comments}{/if}</a>

If you're feeling particularly bold, you can remove the {if $entry.has_comments} and its matching {/if} to see what happens. I'm pretty sure that's the reason the comment link isn't being displayed.

[sonichouse]

You do understand I am talking about not yet registered users?
I want not yet registered users to be able to see and click comments (make them then register) even if there are no comments yet.

For the entries where comments are disabled have you checked the "allow comments" for that article in the extended attributes ?

[rj]

thanx guys! I am going to wait on applying that code Judebert until I am sure we are clear on all this.

For a year I have had virtually no comments on a blog that does about 1000 a day. I think this issue is why that is...

First if you would go to an individual article to see how it is presented.

Individual article with no comments:

http://rackjite.com/archives/2344-Steph ... -Face.html

And Frontpage with non comments:

http://rackjite.com/I think there are two issues here.

New users are about 90% of my traffic. 20% of those come to the domain or the front page. 80% of them come to an individual article.

1) On the front page if there are no comments (0) then new users do not see the comment option and conclude (rightly so) that comments are not possible or allowed for that entry, that they are personally excluded. As such they get an attitude about the blog itself and the author of that article. WE ARE CLOSED TO YOU! WE DONT WANT YOUR COMMENT! WE ARE SNOOTY ASSHOLES!

2) 80% of new users come to the blog to a single article. Whether there are comments or not this is what they see below the article.

---
No comments (or not)
Only registered users may post comments here. Get your own account here and then log into this blog. Your browser must support cookies.

The author does not allow comments to this entry
---

It is all in bold red and that last line is false. Allow comments is checked everywhere. Even the first prompt that begins ONLY REGISTERED.... is harsh to new uses and creates a negative attitude. It should be nice. Something like... We would love to have your comment! But for the Spam of things we have to ask you to Please register...

So there are really three things I need done here:

1) Allow new users (unregistered) to see (comments 0) so they know comments are a possiblity.

2) To eliminate the line: The author does not allow comments to this entry. Which is not true.

3) Where does one change the wording of that regististration line to make it nicer and more palatable?

Thanx

RJ

[sonichouse]

2) To eliminate the line: The author does not allow comments to this entry. Which is not true.

This is defined in lang/serendipity_lang_en.inc.php

Code: Select all

@define('COMMENTS_CLOSED', 'The author does not allow comments to this entry');

HTH Steve.

[yellowled]

You do understand I am talking about not yet registered users?
I want not yet registered users to be able to see and click comments (make them then register) even if there are no comments yet.

I'm pretty sure that doesn't make a difference, at least it shouldn't logically. If only registered users are allowed to post comments, that doesn't (or: shouldn't) mean they're not allowed to see the number of comments or the comments.

You might as well post your entries.tpl (or maybe just the entry_footer part of it to save some space and reading) here so we can take a look at it before you actually apply Jude's code snippet.

YL

[rj]

I am thinking that perhaps I see this all differently in that 90% of my traffic is unregistered users. Which may not be the case for everyone else!

I found the line in the lang/ directory which btw was in the subdirectory UT8/.

As that horrible line of text is wrong and always present, instead of deleting it I changed it to

Please Register, your comments are important to us. Thank you.

Which also takes the edge off the "Only registered.... " text above it.

So now the important issue is to get unregistered users, when viewing the blog as frontpage to see "comments 0" in article footers.
Without that they will not know comments are even possible.

As it stands, a new user will see no option to comment if there is not yet a comment, and how can anyone comment if they dont see the option to comment? Its like a catch 22.

Not seeing a comment option causes unregistered users to assume the blog and or the author is not interested in them or cares what they think and does not want them to participate. Just the opposite of what a blog is striving for.

Perhaps my model is different in that 90% of my traffic is unregistered when many blogs could be just chatty places where everyone is registered?


Thanx RJ

[judebert]

Okay, I'm looking at your template in its unmodified version, and it should display a comment string whenever $entry.has_comments is set.

Looking in the core code, $entry.has_comments is set whenever comments are allowed on the entry, OR comments are neither allowed nor denied on the entry, OR the entry actually has some comments.

Since you only get the display when an entry has comments, I'd say that your entries are all marked as not allowing comments.

I don't know how that happens, or why, but that's what's happening -- unless that piece of the template has been changed.

You can remove or comment out the {if $entry.has_comments} and its matching {/if} to verify this. (Smarty comments would turn them into {*if $entry.has_comments*} and {*/if*}, respectively.)

If the comment link shows up then, then we'll have to look into why your entries are incorrectly marked.

[garvinhicking]

Hi!

The serendipity_plugin_adduser plugin sets the "comments_allowed" flag to FALSE, when you are not registered.

So judebert's solution is perfectly fine, just removing the {if} check should do away in your case.

Regards,
Garvin

[rj]

Before I do anything, as I am not clear of the WHERE of that code, I want to make sure we are on the same page. My work around for the AUTHOR DOES NOT ALLOW COMMENTS is really fine with me!

In the footer of each article, unregistered users do not see the availability of COMMENTS unless there is already at least one comment. The comment process does not exist for for them in that article. I think that is wrong. It sends a negative signal to new users.

I would like that footer to show COMMENTS 0 or COMMENTS anything link to everyone whether they are registered or not.

[judebert]

We're on the same page. The reason they don't see a link for comments is because something is marking your entries as not allowing comments, and the entries.tpl has an {if} that only displays the link if comments are allowed.

To fix it, just remove the if. Then the link will always be displayed. (Of course, you have to remove end-if as well, or the computer will get confused.)

The original template has the if on line 44. It looks like {if $entry.has_comments}, and the matching {/if} is 8 lines below. Either delete them or turn them into Smarty comments like I showed above.

The other, nastier message is in plugins/serendipity_plugin_adduser/. There's one copy in each language file; you might be using the lang_en.inc.php, or there might be another one in UTF-8/lang_en.inc.php. Either way, you can change the message to something more inviting.

[rj]

You the man Judebert, you the man!

Now a new user sees this on the mainpage if there are no comments

First Comment! ( I like that one, either way they read it, it helps get a click

And on an article page they see

Be the First to Comment and Win a prompt Reply!

Only registered users may post comments here. Get your own account here and then log into this blog. Your browser must support cookies.

Please Register, your comments are important to us. Thank you.

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I will let you know if it acutally matters in getting more comments!

Thanx

RJ