September 28, 2018 2:00 pm
Dear Readers,
For reasons unknown to me, many of your comments are being held in moderation.
That means that they won’t be posted until I personally approve them.
This is happening to many people who are regular readers.
I can’t explain it.
WordPress never accepts responsibility for anything.
In the past few years, WP has kicked readers out completely, blocked them from receiving the blog or commenting. I have contacted them on behalf of many people, and WP always says it is the readers’ fault. My own brother was kicked out, and I lost hours trying to restore him.
I don’t know what’s going on with WordPress.
If your comments are delayed, it’s because I am offline, as I was last night when I went to dinner and theater. I came home to find 24 comments in moderation.
I am truly sorry that the Blog is hosted by WordPress. At this point, with six years of history on this site, I suppose I’ll just have to deal with it.
I sincerely regret the hundreds or thousands of readers who were excluded from the blog without my knowledge or theirs.
Diane
Posted by dianeravitch
Categories: Education Reform
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But I’m still actually in moderation, right?
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By dienne77 on September 28, 2018 at 2:03 pm
no
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By dianeravitch on September 28, 2018 at 2:11 pm
Then something is going on, because every one of my comments has gone into moderation for the past month or more.
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By dienne77 on September 28, 2018 at 3:14 pm
yes, you were in moderation because you over-annoyed me. I forget why.
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By dianeravitch on September 28, 2018 at 3:19 pm
Okay, except that one.
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By dienne77 on September 28, 2018 at 3:14 pm
“I like beer.”
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By The General on September 28, 2018 at 5:09 pm
Welcome to Trumplandia. CBK
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By Catherine King on September 28, 2018 at 2:04 pm
William Cozart
Is WordPress controlled by Republicans? And therefore controlled by a group of unprincipled human beings who are doing everything in their power to destroy American democracy (e.g. the Kavanaugh confirmation).
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By William Cozart on September 28, 2018 at 2:15 pm
I wonder, too.
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By Yvonne Siu-Runyan on September 28, 2018 at 2:25 pm
Diane, the main reason appears to be that there is a list of verboten words that, if used in a comment, will automatically send a comment to moderation. One such word is the last name of a certain SCOTUS nominee who likes beer. Another such word is the name “Ch@rles” — here substituting an ampersand for the letter “a” to avoid moderation. Having never moderated a WordPress blog, I don’t know how you would go fixing this. But I would assume it’s fixable.
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By FLERP! on September 28, 2018 at 2:22 pm
WordPress has a stable of “Happiness Engineers” who are supposed to fix problems. They are very cheerful. I seldom get the same one twice. They never fix the problems.
The biggest problem is the incessant banning of readers who no longer receive the blog and are not allowed to comment.
I don’t know how many but the number is very large.
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By dianeravitch on September 28, 2018 at 2:41 pm
FLERP,
Send me a comment with Kavanaugh’s name and also the word “Charles” as a test.
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By dianeravitch on September 28, 2018 at 2:41 pm
You can tell that the Supreme Court hearings has totally thrown me off my work schedule. I have two more chapters to write to finish my book.
I can usually blog and write the book at the same time, and keep up with Words with Friends, but the SCOTUS hearings have knocked me back where the book is concerned.
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By dianeravitch on September 28, 2018 at 2:42 pm
Diane I still think the Democrats are playing Charlie Brown to the GOP’s Lucy.
I’ll be surprised if this new FBI investigation doesn’t prove to be just another football that will be grabbed back by the GOP once the Democrats think they are going to get some fairness. CBK
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By Catherine King on September 28, 2018 at 8:33 pm
Kavanaugh likes beer. Do you like beer, Charles?
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By FLERP! on September 28, 2018 at 2:43 pm
that comment went into moderation.
Now try to write one with only one name, then another with the other name.
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By dianeravitch on September 28, 2018 at 2:49 pm
My name is Brett Kavanaugh. I liked beer. I still like beer.
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By FLERP! on September 28, 2018 at 2:50 pm
Kavanaugh went into moderation.
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By dianeravitch on September 28, 2018 at 2:51 pm
Charles in Charge was an American sitcom starring Scott Baio. It aired for a total of 126 episodes over five seasons.
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By FLERP! on September 28, 2018 at 2:51 pm
So did Charles!
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By dianeravitch on September 28, 2018 at 2:52 pm
I told you!
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By FLERP! on September 28, 2018 at 2:52 pm
I think I fixed the Charles problem, as our very own Charles is always in moderation to prevent him from posting comments here 100x a day.
I put down his email instead of his name.
Kavanaugh is inexplicable as there is no such name in moderation by me.
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By dianeravitch on September 28, 2018 at 2:53 pm
done
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By FLERP! on September 28, 2018 at 2:44 pm
Well that was fun! FLERP!/Diane CSI.
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By GregB on September 28, 2018 at 3:32 pm
OMG Diane I am in awe that you have only two chapters left while meanwhile hosting a very active & fun [for me] several months here!? Scarcely a day has gone by w/o multiple current posts, or a couple of meaty ones, or — briefly — links to past posts worth a re-visit.
Wow!!
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By bethree5 on September 28, 2018 at 6:41 pm
Loved the beer jokes!
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By LeftCoastTeacher on September 28, 2018 at 8:10 pm
Diane, I’m sorry that this issue of moderation puts more pressure on your time. Who wants to look and find 24 statements that you have to approve? I’m glad that you do this because I’ve had many that go into moderation.
Using the K******** name in its full is a guarantee. Why is a mystery.
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By carolmalaysia on September 28, 2018 at 2:23 pm
I haven’t experienced this issue on my blog. I can say that if someone puts multiple links in a comment that will send someone into moderation. If they comment from a new IP address that can do it as well. I set all my comments to moderation last Winter when a crazed woman repeatedly attempted to go after me with false accusations about my family. As well, she exhibited tons of anger towards anyone who disagreed with her. Maybe it is just some weird kind with WordPress right now. Or something is up because you speak so many truths that some don’t want to get out!
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By Kevin Ohlandt on September 28, 2018 at 2:35 pm
It is very odd.
People who have commented here for years have been put into moderation. Not by me.
I have had a longstanding problem with WordPress simply banning readers, some of whom have been receiving the blog for years.
Then when I try to work it out (unsubscribe, resubscribe), they can’t get back on.
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By dianeravitch on September 28, 2018 at 2:39 pm
My speculation was that “moderation” was a catchall for a few things. One was related to the volume of comments that came in simultaneously. “Moderation” winnowed the amount to a manageable queue number. The comments were held to be distributed at a later time, providing for a more regulated flow through the circuits (for lack of a better word). Diane’s website is popular which creates the need for safeguards to prevent crashing the website.
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By Linda on September 28, 2018 at 3:44 pm
Everything in moderation, including this comment.
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By Tim on September 28, 2018 at 3:32 pm
FLERP! Your name used to get my comments put into moderation. Along with many other mysterious reasons I could never figure out except that it is wordpress.
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By Duane E Swacker on September 28, 2018 at 4:09 pm
There was a period when I was in moderation (I had assumed I was blocked entirely, but maybe it was just “moderation”) for bad behavior.
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By FLERP! on September 28, 2018 at 4:52 pm
hanging out with guys like Duane…
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By ciedie aech on September 29, 2018 at 1:29 pm
I appear to be in perpetual moderation as my posts often prove to be inconvenient. It is hard for me to tell, but i don’t think responses to my posts are moderated, but that might be because people refer to me as TE, rather than my name.
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By teachingeconomist on September 28, 2018 at 10:51 pm
You are always in moderation because you are argumentative and hostile, bordering on hostility. I don’t trust you to speak with civility as one is expected to do in my living room.
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By dianeravitch on September 28, 2018 at 11:48 pm
In the six years of posting here, have I ever been uncivil?
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By teachingeconomist on September 28, 2018 at 11:58 pm
Not uncivil. Caviling. Negative. Quarrelsome. Nitpicking. Seldom a positive contribution. Maybe never. Your contributions are solely to point out how wrong everyone else is. If this were a dinner party, you would never be invited back.
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By dianeravitch on September 29, 2018 at 8:08 am
I am glad that you have no reason not to trust me to “speak with civility as one is expected to do in my living room”.
I must admit that others in your living room do speak uncivilly to me. One of your guests repeatedly hurled misogynistic sexual insults at me with everyone’s silent approval. That is how the ideological purity of the blog is maintained.
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By teachingeconomist on September 29, 2018 at 8:37 am
There is no such thing as “silent approval” on a blog. There are thousands of readers every day. Silence is not consent.
I said you are civil but you are also negative, quarrelsome, and a fault-finder. You play the role of the know-it-all who arrives to prove everyone else not as smart as you.
The Blog is not ideologically pure, although we do share respect for teachers and opposition to privatization of public goods and services. Some part of this approach bothers you. You play the role of the nay-sayer. If you were writing on a wine blog, you would be saying that wine is bad for your health.
Misogynistic insults are usually directed at women. I haven’t seen any directed at you.
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By dianeravitch on September 29, 2018 at 8:47 am
Yes, I have noticed that if I type K’s full name, I get put into moderation. This is the first I have ever been in moderation.
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By Mamie Krupczak Allegretti on September 28, 2018 at 4:39 pm
Different theory- Too many comments coming in at the same time? “Moderation” is like the spillway for dams?
The simplest answer.
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By Linda on September 28, 2018 at 6:00 pm
Who owns “World Press”? Are they, by chance wealthy Republicans?
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By Kenneth Kolk on September 28, 2018 at 5:24 pm
The wellbeing of civilization — from the financial market to basic communication — has been placed under the efficacy of faulty algorithms.
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By LeftCoastTeacher on September 28, 2018 at 8:13 pm
In other words, the blog and all of civilization is VAM damned.
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By LeftCoastTeacher on September 28, 2018 at 8:16 pm
Isn’t it fun to have the fate of your comments decided by a computer algorithm! The fate of your social networking life decided by algorithms! The fate of elections decided by algorithms! Imagine having your employment and reputation, your whole life, decided by an algorithm. VAM is ridiculously wrong — no, not ridiculously; there’s nothing funny about it.
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By LeftCoastTeacher on September 30, 2018 at 6:30 pm
Don’t feel badly, Diane. It’s not your fault. Computers and software and the Internet are great–when they work. I have had tons of problems with all of these over the years.
And yet, this is how I’m supposed to “personalize,” and how I’m supposed to, “engage the students.” Except that nothing works the way it’s supposed to, and I don’t have enough computers relative to my huge class sizes.
Tech is NOT the savior many think it to be, but you’re certainly doing your best to use it to a good end. Thank you for all you do.
I hope dinner and the theater was fun.
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By Threatened Out West on September 28, 2018 at 9:42 pm
Haven’t you heard? Computers can do it all, and there’s no need for the pesky teachers that actually expect to be paid….at least according to Gates and company.
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By retired teacher on September 28, 2018 at 10:47 pm
Grr, you are so right ThreatenedOutWest. It burns me up that pubsch K12 teachers have to put up w/trialling all that rigid, binary, glitch-prone malarkey, much less being forced to use it (to “personalize?”). Computer apps strike me as so, just, wrong right now, in the 1st 2 wks of my yr providing PreK Span enrichment [where I am free to teach the way I find best]. At ages 2.5-5, class groups are wildly different from each other in terms of ability/ degree of engagement (but I suspect that’s true at any age based on my brief yrs teaching hisch). I am kept completely on my toes adapting content — at one end slowing & simplifying to avoid overwhelming, at the other end, diving forward into techniques I notice they’re ready for long before expected.
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By bethree5 on September 28, 2018 at 10:53 pm
And sometimes, the mess is done by one’s own school district. The district that I teach in has its own in-house grading system, and it worked pretty well. THEN, they decided to start a new system, but launched it before it was fully done, and it had NEVER been tested. It’s be a catastrophe, and every teacher I know is SO upset about the extra time it takes and the many flaws that it has. But the district told me that “we’re not going to change it, so you’ll just have to adapt to it.”
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By Threatened Out West on September 29, 2018 at 10:40 am
Sorry ThreatenedOutWest, just catching up on responses after being out w/a virus. So can I assume that the district’s new grading system is — computerized, full of bugs & glitches? Or maybe just totally user-unfriendly, or requires more teacher input but helps teacher less? What about its precedent, the system you liked — also computerized?
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By bethree5 on October 6, 2018 at 11:11 pm
I enjoy reading your political perspectives on issues, Diane. While I agree with 100% of the educational opinions, I disagree with many of the other political opinions. But I always find what you write to be well reasoned and interesting.
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By A Furious Teacher on September 28, 2018 at 9:51 pm
Thanks. I wondered about this, as my comments regularly get the “moderation” thingie.
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By democracy on September 29, 2018 at 5:52 am
Not so much for you. CarolMalaysia is the one most likely to be in moderation.
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By dianeravitch on September 29, 2018 at 8:01 am
WordPress (as is the case with most other Internet services like email sites, etc.) is frequently updating their software to add features, fix bugs, and plug security holes. Sometimes “improving” some features inadvertently breaks others. Best to just report the problem in as much detail as possible and hope it gets fixed. Of course, no one wants to spend their time doing this kind of thing, but it is critical to proper software upkeep.
I worked in the software industry for some time, and most complicated programs have lengthy “to-be-addressed” bug lists. Often bugs on these lists are only triggered infrequently or by unusual configurations or by high traffic volumes. It is analogous to having a sporadic problem in your car, taking it to a mechanic and then finding out that it can not be fixed because it doesn’t recur while the car is at the shop. Very annoying!!
When one fully understands the underlying complexity of modern software, it is amazing that things generally work out reasonably well! All told, despite these annoyances, Diane, your blog has performed well and provided a valuable service to an extremely large number of people. I, for one, am thankful for it.
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By David Kristofferson on September 29, 2018 at 11:06 am
Thank you, David. Just this morning I got a letter from a reader in Germany who told me that he has not received a post in three weeks. This is the second time he has been kicked off by WordPress. I referred the problem to them. I wonder how many others were kicked off and didn’t think about contacting me to ask why.
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By dianeravitch on September 29, 2018 at 11:12 am
That’s exactly why it is important for people to speak up, but, of course, then things can go to the other extreme when they do!
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By David Kristofferson on September 29, 2018 at 11:15 am
Diane, quite often I have to click on the WorldPress icon before anything will be printed. Either that or I’d have to sign in again and I lost my password.
I know that Gordon Wilder misses getting your posts. He was not able to get back on.
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By carolmalaysia on September 29, 2018 at 11:19 am
I went thru several iterations of screen names and email accounts to find something that kind of works. Now I get posts on one account and answers on another. I’m sure some comments never make it to me.
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By speduktr on September 29, 2018 at 11:47 pm
PS – usually the tech support people that you contact via chat are “first level support.” If something is really annoying and you don’t seem to be making progress, try asking to have your problem escalated to someone higher up in the organization who is more familiar with the details of the software. While most companies do not allow customers to talk directly to a software engineer, occasionally it does happen.
You have a high volume blog, but the WordPress software is also used to run many major sites such as the New York Times, etc., to the best of my knowledge. Those sites, however, obviously run the software on their own computers and have their own IT staff. For WordPress’ hosted sites like yours, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were in a pretty high traffic percentile. I would think this fact would make you more deserving of a higher level of support.
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By David Kristofferson on September 29, 2018 at 11:26 am
And finally in response to some comments above, I don’t think the WordPress founders are Koch brother allies. They developed their blogging software with the idealistic intent to allow everyone to publish their point of view and facilitate democracy, not hinder it.
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By David Kristofferson on September 29, 2018 at 11:31 am