Category: Housekeeping

I hope everyone is having an excellent Fourth of July weekend! I’m still scrambling from last week, trying to finish up a bunch of odds and ends before I take off to the airport in a little over four hours. I’m not sure what my schedule is going to be like in Hawaii, but I’ll try to post a few stories every day (barring any injuries caused by giant waves, erupting volcanoes, or Da Hui). Now onto the housekeeping items!

– The comment system appears to be working nicely. There are some little quirks every now and then, but I haven’t encountered anything too major. If you do, please let me know and I’ll ask support to look into it.

– Last week was actually a fantastic week to fight with different comment systems. Although comments and comment-related traffic were down while I experimented with Disqus and IntenseDebate, I got a lovely traffic spike from this Rosie Huntington-Whiteley article. Thank you Transformers 3!!!

– I’ve added a Google +1 button at the bottom of each article. If you like something you’ve read, please click on the button. It should help the site get a bit more search traffic and it’s much less effort than posting one of my articles on Facebook/Twitter (although I super appreciate those of you that do!). Actually, even if you have tepid feelings about one of my articles, you should click the Google +1 button. Ha!

Be good guys!!!

After seven attempts, the IntenseDebate comment system is finally implemented across all of RPad.tv! It appears to be working mostly well. The only two problems I see are 1) the mobile version can’t display comment counts and 2) the links in the “recent comments” tab on the right don’t go directly to the comment. Disqus also has the first problem, but doesn’t have the second issue. I can also use the “top commenters” function of Disqus too.

A few things to keep in mind:

• Most of the features are the same. IntenseDebate is owned by the WordPress people, so perhaps there’s some extra stability there.
• RPadholic smartguy noted that IntenseDebate scales better for mobile use.
• Disqus has a few more social features that are cool. I like being able to see when people link a story on Twitter.
• Disqus seems to be more popular, so if you comment on a lot of other sites it’s nice to see all your activity in one place.
• A few of you really enjoyed the picture functionality of Disqus.

So what do you think?!? Do you like IntenseDebate? Or do you prefer Disqus? Perhaps you want to go back to the standard WordPress comments? Please, please, please let me know. I will go with the system that you guys and gals want. After learning about Disqus and IntenseDebate, I’m confident that I can make them both (mostly) work for the site. If you want me to change system, should I do it this weekend while traffic is slow? Please keep in mind that I’m flying to Hawaii on the 4th. It should be a smooth transition, but there’s always a chance that it’ll break and I’ll have to fly off before I can fix it.

Please take the poll and give me some reasons for your choice. I’ll look at the poll results, but also pay very close attention to compelling arguments made in the comments section. Like Captain Planet always said, “The power is yours!”

[poll id=”123″]

It looks like the IntenseDebate comment system is mostly working. I’m still having a bitch of a time importing the old comments; I’m on attempt #6 and it has been stuck at 87% since 5:00AM. Hopefully that will get sorted today. Once that part is done, I’ll be able to fix the other settings so that the new comment system works on the mobile version too. I’m not positive about comment counts on the mobile site though. Now for a few tidbits:

– You’ll notice two new elements in the right sidebar. The first one is a new “recent comments” view. I think it’s pretty neat. Please let me know what you think.

– The other new element is the “top commenters” box. I’m hoping this will be a fun feature that will keep everyone engaged. The top spots are determined by the number of comments posted and the number of “thumbs up” ratings given. Please give each other props for comments that are entertaining, insightful, and fun. Please don’t give me any thumbs up ratings. I want this to be all about you guys.

– You’ll also notice that I’ve taken down the Amazon ads on the site. Unfortunately, California just passed a new Internet sales tax law and Amazon has decided to cut off all of its affiliates in California. This really sucks for me. I was finally getting to the point where Amazon was paying for my groceries. I wasn’t making enough money to live on, but it was helping. Now it’s gone. Hopefully I can find an adequate replacement. Perhaps Best Buy’s affiliate program will accept me…or one of you has discovered a rich uncle that wants to make a donation or purchase 1,000 RPad.tv t-shirts. Ha!

I’m really sorry to do this to all of you, but I’ve changed the comment system…again. Disqus was causing too many headaches, so I’ve decided to go with IntenseDebate. The good news is that it has most of the features that you enjoyed with Disqus. The better news is that it eliminates two issues that have been giving me headaches. Here are a few notes on IntenseDebate:

– Similar to Disqus, after you get an IntenseDebate account, you can change your display name to whatever you want it to be.

– If you don’t want to get an IntenseDebate account, there are several other login options. WordPress.com, Twitter, and OpenID login options are live. I’m going to try to implement a Facebook option once the old comments are finished importing.

– There are some nifty widget options that might make commenting a little more fun. There’s a “top commenters” widget that is potentially fun and can make a game out of commenting. I’m going to give it a whirl after the import is complete.

– From my test site, it appears that IntenseDebate totally works with my front page and the mobile version of my site.

Thanks in advance for grinding through this with me. I really appreciate it and am sorry to pull another change so soon. I think it’s best for the long run. The funny part is that I wanted to go with IntenseDebate initially, but changed my mind due to Disqus’ popularity. Like Prince Akeem said in Coming to America, “The first reaction is usually the correct one.”

Please let me know what you think of the new new commenting system and if you encounter any quirks.

Good morning all! I wanted to give you a heads up that I’m going to be trying out a new commenting system this week. I want to give Disqus a shot. I enjoy using it on other sites and it should bring more to RPad.tv. Hopefully it goes without a hitch…or at least as few hitches as possible. Going with Disqus should add for better discussion, easier administration, improved reach, more social features, and more fun!

There are a number of ways you can log in with Disqus, but if you want to keep your existing username then I suggest staking your claim at the Disqus web site. Hopefully you won’t mind helping me test this out. If it goes well, it’ll be better for us all. If it doesn’t then I can always switch back to the old system.

I’ll be flipping the switch Monday evening (after wrestling, of course). I wanted to give you some time to get ready before we go full-on with the new system on Tuesday. Thanks in advance!

All RPad.tv merchandise is on sale Monday and Tuesday! From shirts, mugs, water bottles, and more, you can save up to 30% on RPad.tv swag. As always, your support is totally appreciated. Every purchase helps the site stick around for a little bit longer. Here are the instructions from my vendor.

Coupon Code: MondayBlues
Discount: 10% off the base price! No Minimum!

Coupon Code: BigMondayBlues
Discount: 30% off subtotal of $50+

Please enter coupon code MondayBlues or BigMondayBlues before completing checkout. Discount is applied to the base price subtotal and does not include shipping, taxes, or additional charges. The maximum qualifying discount will AUTOMATICALLY be calculated by the website. Email us if you have questions. This offer may not be combined with other offers and only applies to your account. Coupons valid from 3/28/2011 to 3/29/2011 11:59 pm Mountain Time.

Browse the exotic merchandise here (please)!

If you have a Roku streaming video player then you can watch RPad.tv videos on your television! My videos can be found on the Blip.tv channel. Just search for RPad.tv in that channel and you’re good to go. You’ll be able to enjoy the most electrifying man in videogame verbal entertainment on your TV!

[Thanks to my excellent friend Steve for testing this out!]

Opening day is almost here and I wanted to get your thoughts on an RPad.tv fantasy baseball league. My initial thought was to start a rotisserie league using Yahoo!’s fantasy baseball service. Is that cool with you guys? How does a Friday afternoon draft sound? Please let me know if you’re interested in playing!

As some of you probably noticed, the site was down for most of today. I had a major, major issue and my web host…wasn’t the best at resolving the problem. Everything seems to be fine now and hopefully it stays that way. After a week of light content due to GDC, I was really looking forward to cranking a bunch of stuff out today, but the Internet had other plans. Funny how it goes….

I’m totally bummed that I lost a day of prime traffic and that my perfectly planned (and aggressive) schedule for the week was destroyed. It was a super stressful day and I have to rearrange my schedule to make up for the “lost” day. Thanks for your patience and understanding. If the site doesn’t break again, things will be back to normal on Tuesday. I need a beer and a Zoe hug. Ha!

Here’s your chance to save up to $35 on RPad.tv swag. Everything is on sale — shirts, coffee mugs, beer glasses, kitchen aprons, and more! The sale runs until Sunday night. All you have to do is enter these coupon codes and follow these instructions:

PFBDAY$5 Save $5 off your subtotal of $25+
PFBDAY$15 Save $15 off your subtotal of $50+
PFBDAY$35 Save $35 off your subtotal of $100+

You must enter coupon code PFBday$5, PFBDay$15 or PFBDay$35 before completing checkout. Discount does not include shipping, taxes, or additional charges. Offer valid until 02/272011 11:59 PM MST. May not be combined or substituted with any other promotion.

If you can swing it, you can look absolutely awesome sporting some RPad.tv swag and help keep the site going. As always, your support is greatly appreciated.

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