Follow comments anywhere

To all you newsbusters, I think you'll like this. The template I came up with in March works great if the particular blog doesn't run past one page of comments. But if it is a hot topic, or if the trolls jump in, it can quickly expand to two or more pages. That's where the procedure I gave you earlier, falls down, as any of you that have tried it, know well. If, for example, your comment is on page two or three, the old procedure will take you to the top of page one, and you have to search all comments if you want to find what you are looking for. Well, no longer.

We will still follow the same basic template as before, like this:http://newsbusters.org/node/zzzz#comment-zzzzzz ....where z is a digit.

Note that at the top of the page in the address bar is a URL that has a four digit node number, which takes you to the blog itself. There is also a five or six digit comment number which will take you to the comment itself, if it is on the first page. I have noticed that sometimes the page needs to be scrolled up a little to find the comment. Don't know why.

If you have a comment that has been pushed onto page whatever, then when you go to that page, you will notice some new characters in the string in the URL in the address bar. What I noticed is that it is consistent, and also that each page past 1, has a value of 90 or a multiple of 90. This is to set the number of comments at 90 per page. So, now, if your comment is on page 2, use this format:http://newsbusters.org/node/zzzz?from=90&#comment-zzzzzz

If on page three, use the following:http://newsbusters.org/node/zzzz?from=180&#comment-zzzzzz

and so on.

Here is the template all together:



FORMAT TEMPLATE
Page one: http://newsbusters.org/node/zzzz#comment-zzzzzz

Page two: http://newsbusters.org/node/zzzz?from=90&#comment-zzzzzz

Page three: http://newsbusters.org/node/zzzz?from=180&#comment-zzzz


Notice that the only real change when going to page two or more, is the " ?from=zzz& " in between the node number and the # symbol preceding the word comment. As before, I keep a Notepad file, with time/date stamp, and comments to help me remember what the post was about. I have found this to be handy when trying to find older posts/comments that refer to a current post. I'm going to have to start another notepad page due to this one getting fairly lengthy.

Here are some examples of what I have on my notepad (If you can make sense of them):


1:14 PM 5/7/2006 rt: Noel Sheppard blog re:Bill Maher comparing Moo-sowie to Exxon CEO/link to American Thinker article re: Junk science/greenpiece/nuclear power OK w former heads of greenpiece & FOEhttp://newsbusters.org/node/5251#comment-104272
Also: rt: balboa re: global warming/extinction, etc.http://newsbusters.org/node/5251#comment-104494
Also: rt: Roger the Shrubber re: MassLib's lib checklist.http://newsbusters.org/comment/reply/5251/104704


1:19 PM 5/7/2006 rt: balboa re: bill maher comparing moo-sowie to exxon CEOhttp://newsbusters.org/node/5251#comment-104275


6:18 PM 5/7/2006 rt Mr Bishop re: illustrating absurdity re: p kennedy & ambienhttp://newsbusters.org/node/5246#comment-104306


10:19 PM 5/8/2006 rt: KarlRove re: 9 yrs left till meltdown of ice caps/don't look under bedhttp://newsbusters.org/node/5251#comment-104868
Also: rt: Karlrove re: someone moderating conservative comments: deep into page 3http://newsbusters.org/node/5251?from=180&#comment-104877
Also: rt Dan the man2 re: algore globalwarm comment; found one by JFKerry here:http://newsbusters.org/node/4542#comment-77303 (the link to the Kerry comment)http://newsbusters.org/node/5251?from=90&#comment-105406 (the reply to dan the man2 on page 2, way down)



You will notice that in the first grouping, that starts with the reply to (rt) the Noel Sheppard blog, on node 5251, if you paste any of those links into your address bar to see where they go, if they are past page one, all you get is that very unflattering picture of Bill Maher. In the second grouping, which starts with a rt: (reply to) Karl Rove, and follow those links, they will go right to the post, even if it has been moderated. The notes were just notes I made prior to working this out, so that I could have a record of where the comment could be found from the first page of the blog. One other caveat that I can think of at this time, is, if, since you commented, the blog has gotten a lot of activity, you will have to reset the page. For example, in the first grouping from 5-7-06, I think all the links were to page one comments. I remember looking at it later that night and it was still only one page. But then, the next day, I checked it out again, and it was up to three pages and all I could get was Bill Maher's face. Whoa!

If you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to let me know, either here, or e-mail at the NB site. Hope it helps.