Archive for Blogging

We are currently testing out a new commenting system on this site, powered by Intense Debate. You can now have the ability to create “threads” out of comments, which is basically a reply feature. Instead of copying and pasting comments for replies like many of us have done previously, now can now simply “Post a Reply” to someone’s comment. A reply will be displayed right after the previous comment and indented so it looks like a reply. Further replies to replies will be further indented, I’m sure you get the drift.

You can also post a regular comment of course. Adding your own avatars should also be easier to do with this new system. You can also “vote” on other people’s comments – this will allow you to vote down pointless or sensitive comments. You can also report defamatory or ISA-magnet comments easily via the report function. Pages with hundreds of comments will now have their comment pagination (split into a few pages) so the comments will be faster to load and easier to navigate/read.

Do you like it or do you prefer the old system?

UPDATE: I see that some of you like it and some of you don’t. I’ll try to solve all of your questions about how the new system works over the next 2-3 days, if its still too uncomfortable then I’ll revert back to the old system. I have replied to some of your complaints in the comments of this post, please check and reply me if you can, I’m trying to work out all the problems.

This blog will be intermittently inaccessible until a server move has been completed tomorrow night. The new current dedicated server has been experiencing connectivity hiccups thanks to a certain monopoly’s total incompetence at maintaining hundreds of thousands or perhaps millions of ringgit worth of network equipment.

The server will be moving to a datacenter run by an infinitely more competent team tomorrow night, so bear with the lack of updates and difficulty to access until the move is complete. The media and video server remains at Jaring, which is run pretty well, despite being plagued by connectivity problems between their side and Streamyx occasionally, but I’m sure you can guess whose fault is that.

I’ve already began to act on some of the suggestions that you’ve given in the currently on-going survey. One of the most requested features was an improved search function, as Wordpress search is pretty much very basic with limited functionality, purely keyword based and chronologically ordered without any regard to relevance at all.

What I’ve done to make the search better is integrate Google’s amazing search engine into this blog. All you have to do is choose the paultan.org radio button and it will perform a search based on your keywords on all the articles in this blog. Much better, and more relevant. It make it easier for you to do whatever research you have to do.

P/S: If you haven’t done the survey, please do it if you have time! Completely 100% optional of course.

I am currently conducting a reader demographic survey for all readers of this site. It will only take up a few minutes of your time, perhaps even less than five, but it will really help me alot in planning the future direction for this site’s development. So please help me out here, your time is very very much appreciated!

Take the survey!

Due to increased level of traffic for the past week or so, some of you have been having problems with your experience with this site. Sometimes you get the message saying the comment post failed even though in reality it went through, causing many double comment posts. This is because posting takes too long, and the server thinks it has failed. Obviously something taking too long is a bad thing.

To enhance your user experience, I have taken the liberty to upgrade the hosting for this site to a dedicated server. Previously it was hosted on a shared server, which is akin to taking up a few units in a condo building. A dedicated server is having the whole condo to yourself. I will continuously try to improve this blog’s performance to keep up with the traffic levels. Do let me know if you encounter any problems.

I’ve just installed a new feature to track the statistics on my blog. It’s available for your viewing by clicking the Statistics link on the sidebar. Here are some of the statistics it’s gathered so far, you might find it interesting.

10 Most Commented Stories

1. Perodua Myvi – 513 comments
2. Jeremy Clarkson annihilates the Perodua Kelisa – 428 comments
3. Proton Savvy Photos – 368 comments
4. Proton Satria Neo 1.3 and 1.6 In-depth – 358 comments
5. Proton Gen2 1.3 in showrooms – 325 comments
6. Proton Chancellor 2.0 V6 – 316 comments
7. Joint letter by Tun Dr. M and Tengku Mahaleel – 280 comments
8. Proton disposes of MV Agusta for 1 Euro – 225 comments
9. Perodua Myvi TRD Bodykit – 193 comments
10. Gory Car Crash – 181 comments

Top 10 Members with the Most Comments

1. Joe Ooi (917)
2. motorhead (688)
3. raybrig85 (507)
4. mystvearn (439)
5. honda_driver (427)
6. aksMS (421)
7. szw (415)
8. protonGL (346)
9. DOG THE WAN (329)
10. SEE FU (320)

You can view all of their comments by clicking on the name used to comment on this blog. This data is as of 5.00 AM, 18th March 2007 and will definitely be outdated in the future. For updated stats, go to the Statistics page.

Sorry for posting this here, but I’m running out of places to post this. Will also be running an ad in StarJobs soon, so if you know anyone who might be interested, please do let me know! Text is after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Wanted: Web Developer/Programmer

Based on popular demand from readers, I’ve set up an additional discussion area here for you guys to interact. While interaction on this blog is limited to the topics I post, the new paultan.org forums will allow you to discuss anything you want, as long as it’s related to the topics I’ve defined of course.

Of course, it’s appreciated that you limit discussion on entries I’ve posted in this blog on the entries itself rather than creating a new topic in the forum, for the sake of keeping things clean and organised. This feature should be considered BETA for the moment, and I will monitor the progress on how it is performing. Please read the announcement I’ve put up here, in the forum’s News and Announcements section.

Access forum: http://paultan.org/forum/

Under the weather, so no updates today, although there’s seriously too much news for me to update in time and I need to catch up. I’m afraid I’ve not been living up to the term “internet speed” these days, referring to the speed at which news is updated on the internet, which is usually instant, or very very fast.

Normal blogging to resume the next day. In the meanwhile, the title of this post will give you a hint of what’s to come in the year 2007 for this website. In the meanwhile, let’s hear your feedback, comments, or just any general thoughts about your experience with this site throughout 2006, as well as future suggestions.

There’s something new on this page. You should see it around. Your user experience is important to me, so please use the contact form to give me feedback or thoughts.