How does Kinja Work? (OT)

"Dale Franks" (DaleFranks)
10/14/2014 at 02:23 • Filed to: Kinja

Occasionally, I notice that comments to various posts on Gawker sites just disappear at some point in the day. They're there when I make them. Heck, sometimes, I've even gone back and edited them to correct typos. Then, later in the day...poof...gone.

I guess I don't get how that happens. Just like I don't get how one gets promoted out of the gray section of the comments.

One gets the sense that Kinja is either all too arbitrary—or, if one is of a more conspiracist bent, all too curated—to be completely reliable.

DISCUSSION (15)

Marriokart > Dale Franks
10/14/2014 at 02:28

Kinja just kinda decides what it wants to do on its own. I'm pretty sure you get out of the grey by having the poster follow you. Not 100% sure about that though.

Dale Franks > Marriokart
10/14/2014 at 02:31

Hm. If so, that seems like a system designed to give the OP incentive to un-grey commenters he or she agrees with. One would think a more empirical system could be designed.

Xyl0c41n3 > Dale Franks
10/14/2014 at 02:32

Your disappeared comments have likely been dismissed by the people you've made them to.

Being promoted out of the grey occurs one of two ways: either an author or an approved commenter replies to or stars your comment to "bring it out" of the grey. Doing that only brings a specific comment out of the grey. To be permanently out of the grey, IOW, an "approved" commenter, a blog author has to "follow" you on behalf of the blog. IE: a Jalopnik author has to follow you for Jalopnik.

Since you're an author here on oppo, you are also an approved commenter, so all your comments here should be in the black. You also have the power to approve greyed commenters.

Dale Franks > Xyl0c41n3
10/14/2014 at 02:35

Your disappeared comments have likely been dismissed by the people you've made them to.

Ah. That is disappointing, since I usually comment to the OP.

If this is the case, then much is made clearer about the interest Kinja authors have in opposing, non-trolly viewpoints. Good to know.

Xyl0c41n3 > Dale Franks
10/14/2014 at 02:42

There's a way to check... if you have the direct link to a comment you've made, you can still access it, even if it's been dismissed. If you can still access it and you see a little red "pending approval" in the upper right, that means it's been dismissed. If you can't see it at all, then that's likely a kinja glitch and the OP didn't dismiss it. If you don't have a direct link, you can still try to find it. Go to the menu in the upper right accessible where your avatar is and select "private view." There you should be able to see every single post and comment you've made. See if you can find one of your disappeared comments and click on it to see whether or not it's been dismissed.

kaheff (L20E) > Dale Franks
10/14/2014 at 07:23

I think the system provides very little incentive to un-grey commenters in general. I don't think that many authors look into the greys to push comments up. It's more of an obligation for approved readers to un-grey those comments. I normally look into the greys and try to push those comments up that seem interesting to me. But I do that once and won't come back to see how the discussion developed. I made one exception though when Torchinski had this little "let's photoshop cars into paintings". I came back to the post several times to push comments out of the grey because I had the feeling that many commenters put effort in to the shops. I think this shouldn't be an obligation of commenters though...

And if you look at the posts of BMWBLOG that are on the FP from time to time where everyone is in the grey is just comical...

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > Dale Franks
10/14/2014 at 07:46

The interest in said viewpoints never changed. The tool used, which now has the side effect ability for someone to construct their own ideological bubble (should they desire), is what changed.

Dale Franks > Xyl0c41n3
10/14/2014 at 12:29

Well in the specific case I was referring to yesterday, my comment doesn't show up on my Private View either.

It seems unusual to me that a comment that had previously been saved and edited just vanished. Usually data that is clearly saved in the database doesn't just disappear, in my experience. But, what do I know? I've only been developing front-end web and desktop applications for enterprise databases for 20 years.

Dale Franks > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs
10/14/2014 at 12:30

Yes. That seems consonant with the way the culture, in general, is headed.

Dale Franks > kaheff (L20E)
10/14/2014 at 12:33

OK. That is funny, Hundreds of comments...all grey.

Xyl0c41n3 > Dale Franks
10/14/2014 at 12:40

Um, huh? I never made any subjective statements about your knowledge of "front-end web and desktop applications" so I'm not sure I understand the snark at the end. You asked a question and I tried as best I could to answer it. I don't have the experience you do, but I am an avid kinja user and was just trying to answer from that particular vantage point. I'll reiterate again that if your comments are just going *poof* it's likely a kinja glitch. You should contact one of the guys at tech: Ernie, Ariel, or Steve are all very helpful. They'll usually respond pretty quickly and will want as many details as possible about whatever examples you have. It won't be the first time they've dealt with magically disappearing comments, either.

Dale Franks > Xyl0c41n3
10/14/2014 at 12:56

The snark at the end wasn't directed towards you. You answered the question, thanks.

The snark was general frustration at comments disappearing after they've been saved. That doesn't happen with well-designed systems. See: Wordpress, Disqus, LiveFyre, etc.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > Dale Franks
10/14/2014 at 13:44

It's called politics, which is derived from an old Greek word which is purported to translate "What I want is pure and good, and therefore everyone else is a poopyhead".

#TheOriginalFalseDichotomy

kaheff (L20E) > Dale Franks
10/14/2014 at 15:48

On the other hand: We are all equal on BMWBLOG. They are probably making a very subliminal statement against Kinja no one has noticed yet.

user314 > Dale Franks
10/15/2014 at 13:40

Kinja in action:

Kinja'd!!!