After extensive testing, and some excellent help from Iain and Kate, I think we've licked the problems under Windows servers. The problem has to do with the way that Movable Type handles the path when processing plugins. MT-Moderate and some other plugins use a new technique known as a plugin envelope to make using the plugin a bit easier. Everything is installed in one location - typically a subdirectory of the plugins directory.
The problem is that Windows servers supply the path as a Windows path - something like C:\MT. Then regular expressions like those used in MT interpret the \M as a special character, which blows up the plugin. It will often still work, but it will cause error messages at the very least.
With version 1.1.0, you can place the code files for MT-Moderate in one of two places. Either in the plugin directory, which will make things easier going forward, or you can place part of the code into the extlib (which is where it has previously resided). The code in MT-Moderate will adjust for this accordingly.
The end result is that MT-Moderate 1.1.0 ought to work equally well under all systems.
One downside is that a lot of potential solutions were tried prior to settling on this method, so there are some old files left from prior installs. You should pay extra close attention to the steps in the documentation (in the archive) and make sure you remove all of these old files, to minimize any potential for conflicts.
Update: Yes, I've updated things already. Mostly the CSS in the list_ping.tmpl file - I had the styles defined inline for ease of getting it done, and Boris subtly reminded me that it should be done differently. Version 1.1.1 is now available when you follow the download link.
Comments (31)
Something odd is going on. I added MT-Moderate last night and two people have commented since. Those comments show as "approved" but they do not display on the individual entry archives. Is there a setting to force the individual page rebuild?
MT-Moderate doesn't have anything to do with rebuilds. It only runs a callback during the Comment (and Trackback) post process. If the comment is approved, MT-Moderate isn't doing anything at all. As such, it's very unlikely that this problem has anything directly related to do with MT-Moderate. Sorry.
After getting fed up of having umpteen million (well, a couple dozen) gambling-related trackbacks sent to my blog, I realized something needed to be done. Your plugin fits the bill perfectly, and your efforts in writing this script are much appreciated! The tagline at the bottom of my site now reads "Powered by Movable Type and MT-Moderate". Thanks for an excellent addition to an excellent blogging platform!
Your update says that the download link should yield Release 1.1.1, but I just downloaded the .zip file and all the files within say Release 1.1.0.
Did the Release numbers in the files not get updated, or is the link not taking me to the revised .zip file, or what?
Thanks for taking the time to put this together, by the way.
-Brent
Looks very promising. I just unpacked the file and uploaded it, but it seems the plugin.pm file isn't in the package. According to the documentation it should go into:
MT_DIR/plugins/jayseae/lib/jayseae/plugin.pm
Is this plugin.pm dropped from the .zip file, or should it be in there and I need another pair of glasses?
Some of the version numbers were not updated in the 1.1.1 archive. Also, the plugin.pm file is not needed. This was a test configuration that never did anything useful for us, so it was removed. The documentation wasn't updated.
The download link should now provide you with 1.1.2, which should have correct version numbers and should also have a corrected text file that includes plugin.pm only in a list of files to remove if it exists.
Let me know if you have any problems.
Good, because it works without a hitch here and that tends to worry me! Thanks for the hard work, jayseae.
It would be a nice touch if Movable Types main menu could say
Total Posts: 710 | Total Comments: 57 | Total trackbacks: 17 | Total Authors: 1
although I don't know if it's doable and it's certainly not necessary.
Thanks for a great tool!
I'm having odd problems with this.
I tracked-back some of the oldest entries in a blog on our server and the entries are marked pending in the trackbacks list, but they appear on the page.
I have MT 3.15, MT-Blacklist, MT-Moderate 1,1,1 (w/comments.pm removed)
I have some older plugins (MT-simple comments) to thread trackbacks and comments and either a plugin or a hack to rebuild on trackbacks.
Do you know why this would mark a trackback pending approval and then post it anyway? What can I do to help you track this down?
--Michael
The method used by MT-Moderate to keep trackbacks from appearing will work with any standard MT rebuilding tools - for instance, rebuilding on a trackback.
It will not, however, work with other tags - for instance, Adam's SimpleComments. I've attempted to contact Adam about this, but have received no reply from him.
That tells me that he is likely very busy and doesn't have time to make this change. For the time being, the two are incompatible.
I am similarly very busy and have no time to hack at his plugin to make it work correctly. I will do so if I get the chance. Until then, you will only be able to use one or the other. Sorry.
Thanks, I'll see if I can hack SimpleComments. I really prefer the interlaced layout. I'll reply here if I get something working.
I've been running the plugin for a few days and notice that trackbacks do indeed show up as "pending" in the list, but are also still visible on my site. Is there anything I should be looking for to explain why it doesn't work?
I am running:
Version 3.15
with only MTCloseComments, and nofollow
you can see an example of what I mean here.