Subscribe to comments - one year later…
There have been a number of problems cropping up with the subscribe to comments script. My first thought had been that I would completely revamp it - make it use mySQL, etc. - however some problems can not be overcome unless it becomes an integral part of MT. Especially now with mt-blacklist and other comment spam blocking plugins.
I have two questions for you - feel free to email me or leave a comment with your thoughts:
1) Is there a doctor in the house? 
(or rather a PERL programmer?)
Basically is there someone out there that can either write this as a plugin or some other method directly into the MT code? The way it works now is that the comment subscribe script happens BEFORE MT gets the comment and can either deny it based on it’s content or the commenter’s IP address. (So you can probably guess what’s happening) As well, with all the SPAM legislation out there, there are some serious flaws to the script which would need to be addressed in an update. If there is someone out there, I would love to help out however I can (maybe I’d actually learn a little PERL in the process?!) - but in the very least - I can tell you what the script needs to do/how it needs to work.
2) Let it die?
Without the proper update to the code, I’m considering taking the feature down off this site altogether. Basically people who subscribe to comments run the risk of being spammed. I’ve done my best to prevent that - but I’m beginning to throw my hands up in the air… and with the traffic (and comment spam) this site gets, it’s getting out of hand.
So, any thoughts?
November 6th, 2003 at 2:15 pm
Slightly complicated idea (if it’s going to be rewritten from scratch):
Make a new MySQL table called subscriptions with two fields - email and post id. (optionally, 2 tables, one with id and email and another with id (from the other table) and post_id - slightly more structural but a bit more work, too)
When people tick “Subscribe”, add the post to the user (email, that is).
Make a PHP file that is called with rss-comments.php?email=my@email.com that contains the newest comments that me@email.com email has subscribed to. (For example by using the great FeedCreator.class.php (http://www.bitfolge.de/?l=en&s=rsscreator))
People won’t have to change / add RSS files all the time, and everyone is happy (RSS is more practical than email, anyway)
It’s, of course, slightly open to abuse as people can enter others email addresses, but no more than it is today.
November 7th, 2003 at 11:54 am
Jenn mentioned that comment subscriptions do not work in tandem with MT-Blacklist, so I removed Blacklist from Bloggie Broad today. (At least temporarily). Quite a…
November 8th, 2003 at 10:12 am
Re#1: I’m both things, so maybe I could help
I have a very low traffic site so I don’t need mt-blacklist, but I do use the subscribe to comments script, and agree it could be polished up. My biggest problem is finding the time, but I’d be happy to give it a shot. If you haven’t heard from anyone eles on this, send me an email about what you have in mind, and I will try to work up a prototype plugin, or whatever …
November 10th, 2003 at 1:12 pm
Oscar woud be a good choice - he’s a regular MT forum poster and has helped me clean up code snippets
You might consider posting a thread on the forums; that might mean working it out in public, though.
November 11th, 2003 at 3:36 pm
Yeah, it’s broken on mine two. Let’s get Oscar to save the day!
November 14th, 2003 at 5:18 pm
Thanks folks. A couple of us have been working on various versions of this. Mine is coming along I think. So far, you throw one cgi script in the MT directory, and change the comments posting script to point to it. Otherwise, you can leave your current subscribe-to-comments code right where it is. This script post-processes the comment - that is, only after the comment succeeds in being posted is the subscription handled. It uses the MT Perl API, so is more secure than the other and should work with Jay’s plugin. Give me another week or so if the day job doesn’t interfere, and we’ll see if it’s worth beta testing.
November 18th, 2003 at 8:45 pm
The script below is a quick-fix to the ScriptyGoddess Subscribe-To-Comments scripts for MovableType. Jennifer, from ScriptyGoddess posted a call to…
November 23rd, 2003 at 5:57 pm
Jenn mentioned that comment subscriptions do not work with a few ‘issues’ in tandem with MT-Blacklist, so I removed Blacklist from Bloggie Broad today. (At…