The Case of the Disappearing Comments
In a sign of things to come, I fear, a brouhaha has bubbled up over missing comments to a book review I wrote back in 2005 for the New Communications Review. Author Gerry McKusker first commented to the review, then later sent me an email asking why his original comments to the review were not appearing after the site was redesigned. Not being responsible for the site myself (I simply write for it from time to time), I passed on the request to the editor, Jen McClure. Apparently, the issue has not been resolved over the past month since I passed it along. For this, Gerry has the right to be irritated!
While this is getting resolved (as I am sure it will), I would advise Gerry to write another comment to the post addressing my criticisms. I have no way of knowing if the original comment still exists in an archive somewhere, so in the interest of time -- even though it might be a bit of a pain in the butt -- I hope Gerry you can re-address the criticisms now, together with an explanation of why you are doing it again.
Why is this a sign of things to come, as I stated above? Because linkrot and commentrot and trackbackrot are real problems as people move to new blog and publishing platforms over time. The movement of past content from one to another is far from a seamless process (one reason I stay here on TypePad, I must admit). The comments and trackbacks can be the trickiest parts.
So, brilliant tech folks - help solve this problem! In the meantime, I hope Gerry follows up with a comment to the review.
Nicely worded, Elizabeth -- kudos and a tip of the Akubra to you.
Posted by: Lee Hopkins | March 27, 2008 at 05:31 PM
Ta Elizabeth,
Here’s the situ from my side - I have been waiting 6 weeks for this to be sorted.
12 Feb - I posted a comment under Eliz’s review on the new comms site (no reply; does New Comms Review respond to or ignore blog posts?)
22 Feb - I emailed Elizabeth asking politely for the comments to be reinstated (you said you’d notify Jen)
6 Mar - I tried to email what I thought was the webmaster to get progress (drezdon1@yahoo.com); zip!
13 Mar - received email from Jen thanking me for patience, saying she’d move to sort it.
25 Mar - I blogged about my concerns
http://www.prdisasters.com/?p=558
Isn't this like the customer service rep who berates the disgruntled customer by telling them to fill out another form (which I guess I will have to).
As per your suggestion Elizabeth, I have also pasted a few counter reviews under your review for now.
Ta for your efforts to clarify.
Gerry
Posted by: Gerry | March 29, 2008 at 03:01 AM