Articles

Measure Once, Cut many

Eventually I'll be able to stop looking for construction-themed images
Photo by JESHOOTS.COM from Pexels

All in all the transition went pretty smoothly compared to migrations that I’ve done in the past, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t things that need fixing. Here’s a list of issues I’m still trying to resolve:

  • RSS Feed Issues. At first I thought the problem was “hey my RSS subscribers are going to see their RSS feeds go away,” but it turns out I was able to use a redirect plugin for WordPress redirect the old feed URLs to the new ones. (With caveats: I may not have managed to snag all of them.) The current problem is that it appears images are screwed up. It looks like they’re all pointing toward the site I was using when I started migrating data (dtcweb.com) instead of pointing here (eviscerati.org). I’m going to try to fix this. The good news is, looks like you can keep your old feeds!
  • Commenting Issues. So far everyone’s comments have been getting stuck in moderation. I assumed it was because I was training a new spam catcher in a new environment–no, it’s because WordPress defaults to forcing everyone to get approved at least once before they can comment freely. I can appreciate the thought that went behind that design decision on that one, but there’s no way I’m going to be up at 4AM to push comments through, so I turned that off. If comment spam becomes a huge problem I’ll turn it back on again.
  • 4K Display Issues. If you have a 4K display, some of the images on this site are ridiculously huge. I don’t know why. I don’t have a 4K display so I can’t test it. I’m not even sure where to start on this one. If you have advice on this (and experience using/modding WordPress themes, this is new to me) I’d love to get a little help on this. Until then, people with high res displays, please enjoy your ridiculously oversized site images. 😉

I’ll update with more issues as they arrive. Meanwhile, I’m off to add the Help Desk archives and work on Curveball Issue 36, A Rake by Starlight Chapter 29, and The Points Between Chapter Three.

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14 comments

mtlqc 13 January 2019 at 11:35 AM

Well, I’m back. Used to be “rhl2000” here (since 2012), but my account appears to have been lost in the overhaul process. No big deal, I’m OK with getting a new ID, and the new name is pretty much as significant (to ME) as the old one, so… onward and upward!

Keep up the good work Chris. This looks pretty good…

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CBWright 13 January 2019 at 11:51 AM

@mtlqc

Sorry about that. There was a way to migrate the old accounts over to the new site, but there were a lot of spam accounts registered and I couldn’t think of a way to bring just the regulars over. I would have wound up missing someone…

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mtlqc 13 January 2019 at 11:48 AM

No tracker page, it seems? I used to have that page in my favorites, as a way to quickly know what was new since my last visit. Oh well…

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CBWright 13 January 2019 at 11:57 AM

@mtlqc

The tracker was a uniquely Drupal item, it seems. If I can find a plugin that reproduces what it does (or if WordPress actually provides that functionality, but does it differently) I’ll be happy to add it, because I miss it too. :-/

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Not CB Wright 13 January 2019 at 12:05 PM

@mtlqc

So it appears that when you create an account on the site, you get access to the Dashboard by clicking on the little Eviscerati.Org link at the top left part of the page. It provides a list of both recent posts and recent comments — not quite as complete or in-depth as the tracker of old, I’m afraid, but it’s better than nothing.

I’ll still keep an eye out for a proper replacement though.

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Great Scott 15 January 2019 at 11:38 AM

Have all of the Help Desk archives been uploaded? Most of the various comics have dates of 2015 and prior, and I thought that you did a somewhat recent HD update in the past year 2018 or so.

(Hopefully this works — I think I used to be stjen in the old system…)

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CBWright 15 January 2019 at 12:18 PM

@stjen

Hello, welcome back!

All the other comics are up, but Help Desk is currently through February of 2000. I am constantly bringing more in, though.

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Opus the Poet 15 January 2019 at 5:29 PM

I came by in my monthly check for an update to Help Desk, only to find nothing later than 2015 under the comics links and no Help Desk. I understand migrating to new servers and support software, so I will continue monthly checks.

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Stretch Longfellow 16 January 2019 at 4:26 AM

Not sure if you are even interested in fixing this, but Comic Rocket is throwing a fit over your new website trying to read the different comics.

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CBWright 16 January 2019 at 9:33 AM

I’m not sure how to fix it, to be honest. And it’ll ultimately be broken until I get all the Help Desk archives back up (we are now up through April of 2000).

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Great Scott 16 January 2019 at 12:10 PM

Something I hope you can fix (eventually) is to restore the “Comics” front page so that it just shows the most recent of each of your 4 strips, instead of the last bunch of whatever you finished uploading. (It also used to show the most recent article and the most recent fiction piece, so it was generally a one-stop shop for me, so I could see what you published and go read it if needed.) If I have to change to a different link to get that (when you’re done), ok…

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CBWright 16 January 2019 at 3:11 PM

The front page pretty much does that now, doesn’t it?

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Great Scott 16 January 2019 at 6:13 PM

The /comics/ front page has 2 old skool, 1 pctown, and 7 kernel panic, with no help desk.
the main / page does have one of each, but all of the comics are down in the middle of the page instead of the top, so I have to scroll down to find them. (I got used to seeing the same help desk on top, and the next newest stuff just below that.) I may have to change my “favorite” link — later. We’ll see.)

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CBWright 16 January 2019 at 7:03 PM

Well, I spend a lot more time on the fiction than the comics these days, so that’s more of the site’s focus at the moment.

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