Glitch: comments posting as by “anonymous”

October 24, 2015 • 8:00 am

For reasons I don’t understand, some (but not all) readers’ comments are being posted as by “anonymous,” even when they’ve filled in their names. I’m not sure why this is happening, but I’ve contacted WordPress about the problem. In the meantime, if you’ve had this problem, for the time being please put the name use when posting IN CAPS IN THE BODY OF YOUR POST. Also, if you haven’t been typing your name in because you have some program that enters it automatically, check to make sure your name’s there.

If you’ve already made a comment and it’s erroneously posted as written by “anonymous”, email me with the comment, the thread, and the name you want to use and I can edit the comment, inserting the correct name. As that’s a huge pain in the tuchus, I hope the problem is fixed soon.

Thanks,
Management

58 thoughts on “Glitch: comments posting as by “anonymous””

  2. Before getting all bent out of shape, may I suggest downloading Ghostery as an add-on for Chrome and Firefox. Ghostery blocks trackers and my experience is that trackers often cause problems such as Dr. Coyne describes here. There are 6 trackers that are paging this site.

      1. Trackers are software that track the traffic on particular websites mostly to figure out how to do targetted ads.

        The Makers of Ghostery explain them here.https://www.ghostery.com/why-ghostery/tracker-basics/

        Now when I tried to post this comment, this computer usually automatically fills in my named and Email, but this morning it did NOT!!!

        (I;ve filled them in though I shouldn’t have to. In case they don’t go through, I am
        JonLynnHarvey.)

        According to WordPress’s tech support online, you have to do something to allow anonymous comments. The default is to ban them. Unfortunately, this requires commenters to register and have an account.

        1. Now when I tried to post this comment, this computer usually automatically fills in my named and Email, but this morning it did NOT!!!

          Could that imply that one of the pages or javascripts that loiter in the background (providing the editor etc) has been updated, and the various auto-infill tools are no longer recognising that page as being one needing an auto-infill?
          Implication being then, that one correct infill of the details, plus saving the new configuration, should restore normal service?

          2. Most of the time, if I change an existing stored password in the fill-in box, FF prompts me with a message box minimally giving me the options to “update stored password now” or “not now”. Often but not always there is an option for “do not ask me this question again.
            I suspect that the “do not ask” prompt only applies to a message box generated in response to programming object com.path.to.library.provider/path/to/web/framework/toolbox/VeryLongObjectClassName.ObfuscatedQuestion(complicatedAnswer), and the FF keeps track of this internally somehow. Which is how banking websites can keep several security questions, but your browser only remember the last one of the several questions which you answered.
            IANA-web programmer ; my understanding of this is from poking the black boxes from the outside and seeing which twitch.

      2. It’s been a loooooong time since Web sites were nothing but HTML markup indicating where to insert the pictures. These days, even the simplest of Web sites have all sorts of JavaScript to do this and that…ostensibly attractive or useful things, such as menus that fly out or putting the area to type a reply to a comment inline underneath the comment you’re replying to instead of all the way at the bottom of the page. But JavaScript is also used to track page views and otherwise spy on you.

        If you’ve ever seen an advertisement for something eerily related to something you just searched for or clicked on or commented about or the like…it’s no coincidence. You really are being spied upon.

        This page right here…Wordpress has “helpfully” provided tracking services to Facebook, Google, Twitter, Gravatar, and Reddit at the least. There’re eleven (at least) JavaScript applications that automatically load with the page.

        There’re ways to greatly limit or even eliminate such tracking. There’re a variety of “NoScript” and “ClickToFlash” and “AdBlock” and “CookieMonster” plugins available for every browser. Most Web sites work perfectly fine without any of the JavaScript at all, and most of the rest only need one or two scripts. The result isn’t always as eye-catching…but the text remains at least as readable, and often easier to read.

        With all the shit blocked, browsing again becomes as lightning fast and pleasant and clutter- and ad-free as it was back in the ’90s. You don’t need some high-end computer just to surf the Web; you just need to cut off the flow of shit into your Web browser.

        b&

        1. I use ADBlock on my PC, but I am not happy with any of the ad blocker’s for my iPhone either for Chrome ( my preference) or Safari.

          1. I am not happy with any of the ad blocker’s for my iPhone either for Chrome ( my preference) or Safari

            And also in response to Ben’s comment

            There’re a variety of “NoScript” and “ClickToFlash” and “AdBlock” and “CookieMonster” plugins available for every browser.

            I’m not personally familiar with the current apple ecosystem (had one ; didn’t like it ; got rid of it), but isn’t it only very recently that Apple have allowed generic advert-blocking software into their “ecosystem” (I think that’s the term they use not in the fanboi community, so not very sure). As such, I wouldn’t be in the least bit surprised if they refused access to the other types of page-interception and page-rewriting sotware that you mention.

          2. iOS is pretty locked down, but not OS X. With OS X you get good administrator / user security and separation; you’re not going to affect anything system-wide without typing in an administrator’s password, even if you’re the administrator. And they’ve made it so you have to right-click to run an application that hasn’t been signed by a recognized developer, which is also good; it’s no barrier to independent developers, even those who want to distribute software without Apple’s blessing, but also means drive-by installations and mimicry isn’t going to happen.

            Again, that’s all OS X. I understand things are much more locked down on iOS, but I know much less about that side of things.

            b&

          3. You also don’t have root enabled by default. I’ve enabled root on all my macs and my parent’s macs all with the same password for times I have to do things to them that require root access.

          4. No need to enable root at all!

            Use the Users & Groups Control Panel to create a user for administration stuff. Make sure it’s the only account that’s an administrator; the accounts you actually use for doing stuff shouldn’t be administrators.

            The UI will, when necessary, prompt for administrator credentials. Use the username and password you set up for that in the Control Panel. Some software requires you to actually be logged in as an administrator in order to install it; do so when necessary. In a terminal, you can use “su – adminusername” to get a shell for the administrator (password required); after that, sudo(8) lets you do anything you’d otherwise need root for.

            I haven’t enabled root on a Mac in ages. No need, and keeping it turned off shuts down lots of easy avenues for the nasties.

            b&

          5. I need root for forcing a shutdown through terminal. It won’t take an admin password. I’ve also used it for various other things here and there but shutdown is the most common.

          6. No need for root for that! Your Terminal session would look something like this:

            hostname:~ diana$ su – yhwh Password: hostname:~ yhwh$ sudo shutdown -r now Password: broadcast message: system shutdown NOW! (or whatever the text is)

            I have an headless Mac mini I use as a server that I’ve rebooted that way on more than one occasion when I couldn’t get a VNC connection working….

            b&

          7. My Mac has never let me use my admin password for that for some reason. My text always looks like this

            su
            Password
            Shutdown -h now

            Maybe I just have to give it a longer string after su but having root is so much faster.

          8. The bit you’re missing is sudo, I think.

            No need to edit the configuration on OS X; it should be ready to go out of the box. You just have to use it, is all.

            b&

          9. I was thinking more of the OS in iPhones and/ or iPads ; though wheter that’s iOS or OS/x, I’d have to look up. Or power up the iPad I was given a few months ago.
            The ones that go through an “Apple Store” thing for all software purchases. The OS that is robably practically impossible to use without signing up for use of all Apple services and compulsorily letting Apple see everything you store on your machine. Well, that’s what I got from RTFMing while giving the machine it’s first charge.

          10. I do so little browsing on iOS that I’ve yet to bother to investigate such options. But the rare time I do browse on iOS it’s a somewhat visceral shock to see advertisements and the rest of the clutter. People actually put up with that nonsense?

            b&

        2. Javascript has been around since the ’90’s, it’s simply a programming language that can add functionality to HTML documents. The data that is collected on you is done through a variety of codes used to collect and store data, that is initiated with a Javascript command in the site you visit. But it doesn’t mean all JS is malicious, most of the scripts in a typical website are simply functional. It doesn’t make sense to blame data tracking on JS, or to imply that its presence is malicious.

          1. Most of the tracking is done through Javascript, and most of the rest is done through Flash. And most of the Javascript that gets delivered through a Web page is for tracking purposes, and most Web pages use such tracking. Indeed, most Web pages these days use Google Analytics.

            For static content, absolutely no Javascript is necessary nor desirable. If a Web page has only text, pictures, and embedded video, any Javascript that comes along with it is a parasite.

            For most dynamic content, such as discussion forums and shopping carts, the site should run perfectly fine without Javascript, and Javascript should only provide a little bit of polish to do things like refreshing the comments or the contents of your basket without having to reload the entire page.

            In reality…well, reality is far from that, with 99 44/100% of actual use of Javascript being a blight upon humanity.

            No, it doesn’t have to be used for evil. But, with rounding, it always is….

            b&

        3. I was on the phone with someone at work on Friday, troubleshooting a bank file that glitched. Suddenly she got that annoying java exploit that tells you that you have suspicious stuff going on and you need to call a specified number immediately. It beens too.

          I told her to shut down Chrome with a ctrl-alt-del & to open it but not to restore the tabs. This fixed it and I looked all smart.

          My friend had this happen to her on Safari and she panicked and reformatted her whole computer. Her husband emailed me asking me about various things in the restore.

          It’s a jungle out there!

          4. I don’t even know what that was supposed to read. I was typing in my iPad and I am too impatient to proof read.

            Or I had a little mini stroke, who knows.

          5. But, you know what?

            With the right mix of plugins to block automatic loading of stuff…those sorts of things can’t even hypothetically happen. Even with Safari on the Mac.

            No way am I ever going to do any significant amount of browsing again without proper prophylaxis.

            …it’s worth, at this point, providing a shoutout to the Tor Browser, a bundled version of a significantly customized version of Firefox with a Tor client. It’s about as safe and easy as things get these days.

            b&

          1. We had an absolutely fantastic Internet before ads, and much of the increased expenses for running Web sites today can be directly traced to advertisements.

            b&

    2. I had the ‘anonymous’ problem happen to one of my comments here last week.

      It’s interesting that you mention tracking and ad blocking software.

      I’ve used ad blocking software for years and have very seldom had any problems. However, over the last few weeks a number of sites have become extremely glitchy whilst using these blockers.

      Given the number of news articles lately discussing the problems ad filtering is causing for advertising companies I wonder if there is some conspiracy afoot to try and break, discourage, or work around ad-blocking software?

      1. Loss of revenue is adequate reason for companies to try to circumvent user’s choices without needing to invent other conspiracies.
        On the other hand, updates to cross-site third party libraries used by multiple tools may also explain your observations, again without needing to look under rocks for conspiracies beyond protecting revenues.

        1. I think I last clicked on a website advertisement in 2008. It was probably just a mistake.

          1. Oh, I probably do click more often than that. but I’ve run ad-blockers for years too.

      2. Anonymous said:
        “I had the ‘anonymous’ problem happen to one of my comments here last week.”

        Apparently you’re still having it 😀

        And so am I… if I’d known I was going to have to type my pseudonym in every time I posted a comment, I would have gone for a shorter one…

        cr

  3. My experience working with the systems folks on various projects was to explain the problem/bug very specifically and they could eventually fix it. However, when you have outside forces in there, it might be difficult.

    My experience – getting nailed on this was that after a couple of days off the program would stop automatically putting the name and email in the post. If you did not notice this and sent the post without, it would still accept it under the anonymous. So the fix, if this was always the case would be for the system to not send the comment without the name and email.

    1. I have noticed the same. Could be I have been posting without checking that my name and email were automatically inserted. Recently it has been on every comment.

  5. Am I the only n00b (30 year email user) who can’t find Professor Ceiling Cat’s email address?

    I come up as squeekysoapbox usually, although I comment rarely.

      1. first world problems:-( Reminds me of my first computer (an XT) which took so long to boot I could take a shower plus make a cup of tea.

        1. Maybe if you didn’t take the XT in the shower, it wouldn’t of taken so long to boot. 😜

  10. I noticed this curiosity, too and wondered why comments by “anonymous” were making it to the website when they are forbidden. I don’t have sufficient tech expertise to figure out why or how to fix same. Good luck to all with name restoral and emails not scrubbed.

  11. I have just noticed that, in my case at least, my name and mail address are not being automatically filled in, and so have done it manually this time – I wonder if this problem will persist. Of course I had been assuming, and so not checking, that it was being filled in. I hope this gets through all right.

    1. It will (did) but you will have the same problem every time you want to post and if you’re like me, you’ll forget to check those fields about 50% of the time, only noticing you forgot AFTER you’ve clicked “Post Comment.”

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