Feature Release: Posting to Current.com made simple -- [Current.com Blog]

You are correct. This is the way. But there are many problems on this screen. For those of us who have a lot of connections only a small list (some connections) show up. I keep a text document with a list of my connections. This worked great in the past, but with the new "features" you can not paste many at a time because there is no scroll bar and you then can not get to the button "send".

And this rude slideshow is why you aren't on staff here. Although you think you are. Just a tad bit too much. But in retrospect, I really don't care. I will post as it allows me to as long as I can get the information out there. I certainly don't need to read your rude and vulgar responses to those who have legitimate concerns about posting here.

I just showed you how to share to your connections within Current! I don't know what else to tell you.

Ugh. Ok. I apologize for being an asshole. It just irritates me to no end when people are given everything they need to do things but are completely unaware of how to do it. Call it a pet peeve of mine.

@Conniepae -- did you try logging out of your account on Firefox, then logging back in? Also, try clearing your cache on your Firefox browser as well.

reloading the page in Firefox usually does it for me

Me too :) Not just you. Strength in numbers :P

@RFIDemocracy and @Xiola -- Would you do me a favor and send me the exact release version of Firefox you are using?

If on a Mac, click Firefox > About Mozilla Firefox.

If on a PC, click Tools > About Mozilla Firefox.

Thanks!

Interesting. I could out that feature to use.

@plusaf -- We have a refresh of the comment system on the backlog for future development, at which point we'll be revising the UI and workflow for comments on Current.com. We'll keep this one in mind.

@plusaf, Great idea! I would love to have this fearure!

@plusaf -- Thanks for the suggestions. The individual URL box only serves to point out to both the system and the submitter that "this is the desired link for the top of the story."

What is missing from this version is a form of acknowledgment that a link pasted into the description has been identified as the "desired link" by the system while you're still in the submission tool. We don't need an individual URL box for this to happen.

We're working on some changes based on everyone's feedback, so keep it coming!

mario

Thanks plusaf. Would you mind copying and pasting all of this into an email, include your system specs (OS and browser), and email it to support [at] current.com.

We're trying to get to the bottom of all of these for you guys.

thanks,
mario

Yes, I'm having that problem too. The letters aren't keeping up with my typing, by far. It's odd. The cursor also jumps around some when I'm trying to submit things. But, yeah, right now it is taking forever for the letters to appear as I type them... Thanks very much for your response. I hope they get this sorted out soon. At least I know it's not just my computer. At the beginning of this line, my cursor jumped up to the top and started there. Grrr :)

This has been the most frstrating thing about the new posting feature, the delay that it takes for the letters to appear in the text box. I type pretty fast and it is quite frustrating. However I think its an IE8 problem, too. I don't have the text slowness in Firefox.

I do have the same problem.

hey guys,

have you tried logging out, and then logging back in? please do, and if the problems persist send descriptions of these issues to support [at] current.com along with your system specs (browser and OS).

thanks everyone,
mario

Hey Mario,
Thanks for your response. :) I'm not sure if I've logged out, so I'll try that and let them know if that fixes the problem.

and thanks for letting me know, motherfortruth, that you are also having this problem. I appreciate knowing it's not just me and my lil computer... I thought my Dell was just effing with me again.

mario, I did logoff but the problem still persists. Very frustrating to type the response and then type right over it. Please fix. Thanks.

@MotherforTruth -- thanks for the update. We're working on it.

@xiola, it has to do with the browser you use. I bet you are using IE8?

hiya Jubal :) Yeah, I'm using IE8. I'm sure many of us are... Hope they can get all this sorted out. I'm typing and it takes forever for the text to present itself...

Thanks, we're looking into this.

I'm still able to do that. Looks like a bug on your end. Try logging out of your account and logging back in. If that doesn't work email support@current.com to get it sorted out.

@MotherForTruth -- Is this still continuing to happen?

yes it does... I submitted this problem to support and hope it will be resolved soon

@Conniepae -- Thanks for the heads up. Could you do me a favor and email this to support@current.com? Also include your system specs (what browser do you use, OS, Mac or PC, etc.

Thanks!

Did you put the link at the top of the submit box?

I'm not an expert, but I'm just thinking that that might be why....maybe? =P

I was trying to pull an image from outside the story linked...

@dabne -- Apologies for just getting back to you on this. The best thing to do is put the links in the description field. The submission tool will pull images from up to 5 sources, so if you have the original source AND a source that has the image you wish you use, you can link to the original source and pull the image from the second one if you have it in the description.

Here are a couple examples:

#1 http://current.com/items/91327716_breaking-bunker-fuel-leaking-from-tanker-in-th...

+ Note: The first link is a story with video that cannot be embedded. the second link is the KRON story with the video Leah used for her story on Current.com. you can scroll through the available media with the arrow buttons on the top right of the media selector.

#2 http://current.com/items/91327125_honduras-reaches-deal-zelaya-returning-to-powe...

+ Again, the first link is the story that Andrew wished to highlight, and the second link is a blog post from last June with the photo he wished to use for the story.

ANOTHER OPTION

If you don't want to go the "add links to the description" route for photos, you can click the "add video/image/webcam" link to put the direct link to the desired photo in. The choice is yours.

Let me know if you have questions!
mario

@JanforGore -- Sorry to hear about this. The "replace this asset" should not remove the text or the links. Would you mind logging out, logging back in, and then trying again? Let me know if it continues to persist.

thanks!
mario

Yes, Yes,....Oh please GOD yes! Let it be so! I second moms motion.

@MotherForTruth -- This is definitely on the list. Eventually we hope to redo commenting on the site, at which point the linking thing will be looked into.

That's one of the best suggestions I have read. My time lately at current has been quite limited. I don't always have the time to go through the whole post to respond the the comment, which was in my email. It would sure make it easier for me.

Thank you, mario_a. This feature would make me very happy!

If you can't find the link, I find that Plusafs suggestion of using the @ symbol to direct a response to the person who posted the comment you wish to respond to works well; even if you can't find the original comment. I like doing that especially when there are over a hundred responses. It can be more time consuming to fish for the original response.

@jubal, I will try that. Thanks.

Some internet browsers like mozilla firefox have one. You should check your broswers options and settings to see if your's does.

I dont have a spell checker either . Not one I can find anyways

What browser do you use? If you use Firefox, you can download a free spell check add-on that works well.
Another good FF add-on is 'linkification' which turns any link pasted in comments into a hyperlink.

@plusaf, unfortunately IE didn't think to add spell checker, but it may be available as an addon. Firefox has it and you can ad your own words to the dictionary like you can in WORD.

I don't understand the first point about submission. You submit things that don't get posted?

@O2 -- Thanks for the feedback. Here's some insight into what's going on:

You said:

"You guys never put my submissions up at all. It would seem as though a plan were afoot to force only designated providers - while the promise is held as Bullshit."

I've taken a look at your submissions (http://current.com/users/02/submit.htm), and there are a couple things to consider. When we pick stories for featuring, we look at a combination of interestingness, popularity, relevance, and trending. These can seem fairly vague, so let me explain:

Interestingness: These are stories that are potentially under reported, but have unique angle that could spark worthwhile discussions.

Popularity: These are ongoing mainstream stories that are also picking up page views, comments, and votes on Current. We take a look at these and determine which ones to feature throughout the day.

Relevance: As expected, stories get repeatedly submitted from different sources outside of Current. When we find a story that is feature worthy, we consider whether or not the story is still relevant (timely), and we also take a look at the overall submissions on Current while asking the following questions:

+ Is this the first version of the story?

+ Is there a newer version of this story that has updates, developments, or new information?

Trending: Sometimes a story on Current is not popular with the mainstream crowd, but is picking up steam on Current via discussion, page views, and votes. We identify this trend and feature these stories.

So, now that you have an idea about how we pick stories for featured spots on Current, let's look at your recent submission. You're last submission was 10 days ago. Here are the details:

"Anthropologist Peter McAllister: "The Science of the Inadequate Modern Male."" http://current.com/items/91222242_anthropologist-peter-mcallister-the-science-of...

This is a great story, and definitely could have been feature worthy given a couple circumstances. It definitely meets the interestingness factor. It doesn't fall into the "popular" designation, but that's OK. We love unique stories.

Where it gets the hook is in the relevance department. You see the same story was already submitted to Current by another community member. Here's a search on the last name "McAllister" (sorted by most recent):

http://current.com/search/items/0/q/mcallister/loc/false/sort/newest/s/1/v/1/r/0...

remanns version of the story preceded yours by 5 days. If any version of the story were to be featured, it would've been remanns' because the two stories contain identical information.

As it turns out, neither version of the story was actually featured, and this has to do with the trending portion. Discussion on these two stories never really picked up, and both had relatively low votes and pageviews. When compared to other stories trending in the system, both were seconded to other stories submitted that were a better fit with our featuring designations.

I hope this helps explain things a bit more.

You said:

"Secondly, the organization of submissions that are presented needs a careful redesign. One needs to easily find the information desired and not the irrelevant, far afield. Is this what the new system is? Or not? Otherwise it can become just a bunch of talk and pointlessness. Current could be an extremely powerful machine - or a venue for people addicted to wasting their lives online. And, of course, creating a cash-flow for "reporters"."

As for a redesign of our homepage, it's in the works. We are carefully considering how to best re-structure our homepage considering the variety of things our site has to offer. Frankly, we have a lot on our plate with regards to this. Our yet-to-be-released new homepage will attempt to balance community stories with the content that we produce, while re-introducing the "picked for TV" concept so many miss from Current News.

Hope this all helps.

Mario

JJammer: Yes, It doesn't matter whether it's serious - as most were - or whether a certain group with leaning passions would have loved it, it a no show, every time. I've even gone so far as to suggest to one of the constant contributors, that I could email a suggestion where she might then publish it.

But - I've given up.

@O2 -- Are you saying you are unable to post at all to Current? Is this an issue with featuring or the ability to actually post to the site?

I might see some, red-hot item, early - I know it is something that this readership wants to see and discuss - I race and bring up current and post the article. (before somebody else :-)

ZERO. Always zero.

Current has a shit list somewhere and any of the insiders can doc a name if they so please - obviously.

Yeah, you probably don't do a very good job of marketing your stories. I've never received an invite from you and it doesn't look like you're on Twitter or Facebook which are extremely useful tools to promote your Current activity. You need to make yourself more visible and send your stories to friends if you want them to be popular.

02---I get my stories up and they are never in line with currents viewpoint so I dont know what the hell you are talking about. If theres a shit list. I would be one of many that are on it. We all get our stories up

No problem. We're looking to tackle the redundancy aspect, so thanks for the feedback.

Yes. It really makes sense to have a "This article inspired me to post: " in the description, followed by your personal take on the story. It adds to crediting back to the source.

We're always looking at ways to improve this experience so we'll keep was to improve this in mind as well for future enhancements.

@unimatrix0 -- Click the edit button to pull the submission tool back up. If you already have an image selected, you'll need to click the "replace this asset" link next to the image. That will re-pull the media from your link, and the link to "add "embed code/image URL" will reappear.

sorry, i don't see the news link at all.

@elive -- JulianCommongold experienced something similar on the Comedy channel. Here's what I told him:

"I think I know what happened here. Some of the ads we serve have splash overlays that are initiated when you click on the ad unit. Is there a chance that you accidentally clicked on the ad, expanded the overlay, and then click on the "Post to Comedy" button?

If that's the case, you would need to exit out of the ad for the time being. We're reaching out to our partner to see if we can adjust the settings for this going forward."

Is it possible that you also accidentally clicked on the ad unit?

mario

@lookatmypix -- the submission tool will pull the first link you place in the description. I see two links in your story:

- #1: (a link to your story, not the actual news story) -- http://current.com/items/91318707_the-true-cost-of-cheap-christmas-presents.htm

- #2: (a link to the Organic group) -- http://current.com/groups/organicgreen/

Link #1 is redundant (it's a link to the story on Current.com, which is odd), and since it's the first link in the story you submitted, it gets linked beneath the Title of the story (we call this the "parent link").

Try editing your story, erase that link and replace it with the actual news story. The submission tool should re-pull the media from the link and when you click Submit, the news link should be the top link below the title.

Let me know if this helps.