Journals Alerts: They're Fixed?

Hi folks, as the header shows, this is part question/part statement.

The
tech folks think they've isolated the cause of most of the recent
Alerts trouble (which was nondelivery of comment alerts), and fixed it
by bouncing (or rebooting) a balky server, which seems to have made things a whole lot better.

In fact, that may have been why I couldn't duplicate the problem on Thursday.

Anyway,
let me know if your Alerts situation has gotten better. The tech folks
are putting in some additional monitoring so we can keep tabs on that
server.

Note that even if this solves our primary problem with
comment nondelivery, there may be other Journals Alerts problems
floating around, so please let me know via comments or e-mails.

For example, I've seem some comments from people who have said that they have never gotten comment Alerts, which seems kind of odd.



One thing (and I hesitate to mention this, since you already know this,
so I guess this is for the other folks), is that you have to subscribe to comment alerts -- they're not turned on automatically. 



You can subscribe to comment alerts by going to the main page of your
Journal; up at the top (by your Journal editing buttons), there is a
link that says, "Alert Me as Comments are Posted" (if you're not the
owner of the blog you're looking at, it will say "Alert Me as Entries
are Posted."):

Click this link to subscribe to your comment Alert. 

If you want to check on your current Alerts subscriptions, you should go to http://alerts.aol.com,
where it will show you all of your active (and inactive) Alerts, as
well as the delivery method (online, e-mail and e-mail archive) used
for each one.

If you're still not getting your comment Alerts,
try unsubscribing from your comment Alert, then resubscribing (hey, it
can't hurt).

I've also seen reports of people getting multiple comment alerts
for a single comment, which is also kind of odd. Please keep letting me
know about these things so I can ask the tech folks to take a look.
Thanks -- Joe

Arrrr.

So, I was a little surprised to find out this morning that my picture was on the People Connection main screen:

Ron and company chose the photo (which I had used to illustrate a blog entry about Talk Like a Pirate Day) to anchor (ugh) a story about a cruise ship that escaped a real-life pirate attack.

Updated: The story gets even more interesting -- the writeup in BoingBoing links off to a Sunday Times (U.K.) article, which says that the cruise ship used a sonic weapon to repel boarders:

"The
liner used a sonic blaster to foil the pirates. Developed by American
forces to deter small boats from attacking warships, the non-lethal
weapon sends out high-powered air vibrations that blow assailants off
their feet. The equipment, about the size of a satellite dish, is
rigged to the side of the ship."

Arr. -- Joe

New Guest Editor's Picks for 11/4 (11/7 Edition)

Hi everybody. As mentioned on Friday, I had to hold off on some blog entries to tie in to a promo, so I'm catching up now.



In case you haven't seen yet, as posted in the Journals Message Board on Friday, our new Guest Editor's Picks are up on the Journals Main Page:

Our Guest Editor this week is Terra, whose featured blog is 8 Is Enough. Here are her top blog picks:

* Classy of 68
* The Hadonfield Myers Experience
* Dust Bunny Protector
* The Main Attraction!
* Emily's Purple Pages
* Public Thoughts

Terra
has no particular theme picked -- she's just got a mix of blogs that
she just enjoys reading. And that's just fine with me.



As noted, I owe you a bunch of updates, so let me get to it. Entries to come.



Thanks. -- Joe

Tag: Guest Editor's Picks

Won't Someone Think of the Children?

So here's a shocking fact:

Teens Like Blogs

A new survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project finds that more than half of all teens online have created content for the Internet. (Check out the survey [PDF file])

Being a content creator is a relatively dry term that includes posting photos, music or video, making Web pages, and of course, writing blogs.

As with any new-fangled technology, the young types have latched on in a big way: 19% of teens (12-17) have created a blog, compared to just 7% of adults.

So what are these teens doing with their blogs?

According to some recent attention in the media (including a few overheated accounts) they're engaging in risky business (embedded video) -- detailing their sexual exploits ("My kid would never do that!"), talking trash, drinking, drugging, thugging and in general, revealing way too much personal information.

With much wailing and gnashing of teeth, adults are seen crying out: "But what do we do?"

Sure, some of it may be overprotective parenting, but there is a very real threat of sexual predators and pedophiles.

In one famous recent overreaction, a Catholic high school in Sparta, N.J. decided to ban blogging outright -- not just on-campus and during school hours, but totally, on threat of suspension.

As I said in my earlier writeup on the blogging ban: If you know any teens, I'm sure you'll guess how effective this ban is going to be.

Like it or not, blogs & social sites, including MySpace, Facebook and others, are integral part of their lives, and they're having a big influence on the rest of society.

Wired has a feature story right now about MySpace's influence on launching bands, even to the point where MySpace is starting its own record label.

This is not to say that people: parents, politicans, policymakers -- you know, The Man -- won't try to regulate teen blogging. And why wouldn't they?

They're trying to regulate political blogging, by declining to exempt blogs from Federal Election Commission oversight.

Companies are trying to defend against perceived attacks from "digital lynch mobs."

China has just reportedly shut down a pro-democracy blog.

However, all is not lost.

The Internet in general, and blogs as a specific part of it, is a disruptive technology. When you introduce a disruptive technology, things change -- a lot. People, companies, and governments experience pain as they try to adapt. Not everyone can make the adjustment (like in the classic buggy whips example).

As we're discovering, the Internet and blogs are just way too darn useful to ban, because they're just too good at bringing people together in a meaningful way.

Of course, I would be lying if I told you how it was all going to turn out. So I'm going to stop now.  But I would love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks -- Joe

Update on Comment Alerts Investigation

Hi folks -- here's an update on the investigation of comment alert nondelivery.

I
just got done working with one of the Alerts people, trying to recreate
the nondelivery problem by posting a bunch of test comments on a few
different test Journals.

This is the same procedure I used yesterday, when I only got alerts for about half of the comments I left. That's not so good.

Today, with the tech folks watching? 10 for 10, across the board. No problems at all.

This
is what makes a problem like this so frustrating. We know it's out
there, but we have to be able to reproduce it consistently so they can
figure out what's wrong.

As the tech folks reminded me, even a 1% failure rate is unacceptably high
(because if something happens 1,000,000 times, a 1% failure rate means
it didn't work 10,000 times) -- however, that 1% means that it happens
infrequently enough to make it tough to reproduce and diagnose.

Anyway, here's what you can do:

* Please continue reporting
comment alert and entry alert problems to me, either in e-mail or in
the comments to this thread. (If you just post angry entries in your
blogs, I won't know about it....let me know, then post your angry entries in your blogs.)

* Any technical details
you can provide would be helpful: time and date, links to particular
entries, the type of alert delivery you usually get: online (IM),
e-mail or both, the number of comments (that you know of) that you
didn't get alerts for.

Thanks -- Joe

Scheduled Private Journals Work, 11/3, 4-6AM ET

Hi folks -- the tech folks have asked me to give you a heads-up: They're going to be doing some work on rostering early tomorrow morning (Thursday, 11/3, from 4-6AM ET).



Rostering is the list that controls who can and can't see your Private Journal.



During this time, you may not be able to view someone else's private journal.



Private journal owners should still be able to access their blogs,
though your list of readers may change or disappear during this time.



Public journals should continue to function normally.



If you experience trouble with your private journal roster, either as an owner or a reader, after 6AM ET
on Thursday, please leave a comment or send me an e-mail (if you send
me a mail, please include the address of the private journal so we can
investigate).



Thanks -- Joe

A Few Quick Tech Updates

Heya folks -- just a quick update on a few things:



* Comment Alert Nondelivery -- Your favorite and my favorite
issue is still going on. I am at the point where I am jumping up and
down, stamping my feet and threatening to hold my breath until this
gets fixed. I will keep you updated here (unless I pass out).



* The Face Wall (Gallery of Bloggers) -- If you're having problems seeing the top gallery on the AOL Blogs main page, please let me know. Be sure to tell me if you're on a dial-up or broadband (high-speed) connection.  Also please let me know if you're having any trouble trying to submit a photo.



Thanks -- Joe