Messing with Comments

Hey all,

I copied all of your comments from last week about the comment section, fed them to Copilot (which turned out a pretty good summary), sent that summary to Disqus and then had a Teams meeting with the Disqus folks. Here’s where we’re at (Disqus actions are bolded and italicized):

A. False “You Have Been Banned” Errors (Top Issue)

Symptoms

• Users are incorrectly told they are banned when posting, often intermittently.
• Refreshing, force‑quitting the browser, or switching devices often allows posting.
• Messages often followed by “You have already made this comment” after refresh.

Characteristics

• Occurs disproportionately on mobile devices, especially:
  • iOS Safari
  • iOS Chrome
  • Android Chrome
• Frequently device‑specific but not account‑wide (user can post from another device).
• More likely when replying to comments than when starting a new top‑level comment.

Likely causes (inferred from reports)

• Session cookie desynchronization
• Third‑party cookie blocking
• Expired or invalid auth tokens
• IP reputation/VPN/Apple Private Relay interference

Severity: 🔴 Critical (prevents basic site participation)

B. Login State Desynchronization / Session Loss

Symptoms

• User appears logged in (can upvote, sees avatar), but cannot comment.
• Error: “You must be logged in to post.”
• Logging out/logging in or refreshing resolves temporarily.
• Frequent forced re‑logins across posts; sessions do not persist.

Platforms

• Desktop Firefox (Windows, Linux)
• Mobile browsers (iOS and Android)
• Particularly common when cookies or enhanced tracking protection are enabled.

Patterns

• Cached page shows logged‑in UI while backend rejects authenticated actions.
• Strong correlation with:
  • Third‑party cookie blocking
  • Firefox Enhanced Tracking Protection
  • Safari privacy features

Severity: 🔴 Critical

Solution: Publish KB article for recommended Firefox and Safari browser settings – IN-PROGRESS with Disqus Support team

C. Mobile Scrolling Freezes / Page Lockups

Symptoms

• Comment section freezes after scrolling ~10–20 comments.
• Page becomes unscrollable until:
  • Switching tabs
  • Tapping Reply/Like
  • Minimizing/reopening app
• Repeats continually.

Platforms especially affected

• Chrome on Android (most complaints by far)
• Android Firefox (less severe but present)
• iOS browsers with ad overlays

Workarounds reported

• Switching permanently to Firefox
• Keeping finger touching screen
• Triggering UI events (reply button)

Severity: 🔴 Critical for mobile usability

Solution: Potential Chrome Browser team fix in Chrome 147, tracked here: https://issues.chromium.org/issues/491512337

D. Comment Editor Failures (Mobile, esp. Firefox Android)

Symptoms

• Cursor jumps to beginning of comment on every keystroke.
• Text duplication (“lolooks like ththis”).
• Edits insert text at wrong location.
• “Jumbled” or reversed text.
• Only partial fixes via toolbar interaction (“Aa”).

Highly reproducible

• Firefox on Android
• Multiple independent confirmations

Likely cause

• JavaScript editor incompatibility with Firefox mobile event handling

Severity: 🟠 High

Potential solution: Attempt to implement workaround for text editor framework. Related Issue linked, but potentially other issues are involved. Requires further investigation:  https://github.com/ianstormtaylor/slate/issues/5130

E. Image, Video, and Link Posting Problems

Symptoms

• “Not authorized” when posting images despite being logged in.
• Comments with multiple links or YouTube videos flagged as spam.
• Embedded videos cut off titles.
• “Network error” when adding images mid‑session.

Patterns

• More common when login occurs via Disqus rather than site (LGM) login.
• Often fixed by relogging via site host.

Severity: 🟠 High

Solution: Seems related to 1B, authentication issues in Firefox or Safari. Publish KB article for recommended Firefox and Safari browser settings – IN-PROGRESS with Disqus Support team

F. Comments Marked as Spam / Moderation Black Hole

Symptoms

• Legitimate comments silently sent to moderation and never approved.
• Breaking text into single paragraphs sometimes bypasses.
• No clarity on trigger words or thresholds.

Severity: 🟠 Medium–High

3. Threading, Navigation, and Notification Bugs

G. Missing or Disappearing Replies

• Replies vanish under long threads.
• “See in discussion” links fail to scroll to comment.
• Only one branch of a subthread shown; siblings and children hidden.
• Loading more comments can cause already visible‑ replies to disappear.

Severity: 🟠 Medium

H. Notification / Alert (“Red Bubble”) Failures

• Notifications take minutes to hours to load.
• Sometimes never update or clear.
• Dashboard replies and voting fail except via direct thread view.
• Votes disappear when page refreshes.

Severity: 🟡 Medium

Solution: Seems related to 1B, authentication issues in Firefox or Safari. Publish KB article for recommended Firefox and Safari browser settings – IN-PROGRESS with Disqus Support team

4. Ads and UI Interference (Often Site‑Specific but Compounding Issues)

• Bottom banner ads resizing viewport repeatedly.
• Invisible ads hijacking click targets (Reply → ad).
• “Do Not Sell” badge covering UI buttons.
• Ads contribute to scrolling freezes and misclicks.

Severity: 🟡 Medium (but worsens other failures)

Site specific UI layout, not directly addressable by Disqus which is ad-free on LGM.

This is an ongoing project but I’m hearing good things from folks who had been getting “banned” messages. Will update with the rest as Disqus follows up. Additional reports of issues and suggestions of what can be done are certainly welcome.

Best,

The Management