Counterpointy updates

[Ben Williamson]

Hi all,

An update today: Supporting and opposing points are now laid out side-by-side if the screen is wide enough, reverting to a single column on mobiles. Try resizing your browser window to squash it into the narrow layout, it's fun. I think the side-by-side layout is much easier to understand.

Also I've fixed a session timeout problem that meant you had to log in again if you were idle for a few hours. Sessions now last for 10 years.

And I've written a proper startup script. The server was down for a couple of days on the weekend because I hadn't set that up properly. I don't yet have any monitoring in place, so if you notice that Counterpointy is down, or you get a "Bad gateway" error etc, please mention it.

For that matter, please mention anything else that looks not right. It will help me know what to prioritise.

While still sorely missing any editing or deletion functions, I'm finding the current system useful enough for constructing some example content.  Some starting points:

• Australia should implement a carbon tax.
• Australia should implement a national container deposit scheme.
• Vaccines cause autism.

So far it looks like I'm the only one that holds an opinion on these points.  :)

There are lots more points that could be made in those debates, would be great to see a few added.

The front page and the About link in the footer link to this overview of what Counterpointy is all about. Does it make sense? Is it motivating? Is there anything that might put people off?

- Ben.

[Ben Williamson]

Hi all,

A few more updates:

* The front page is a bit more welcoming, with a list of featured points.

* There's a forgotten password feature that emails you a reset link. By popular demand - thanks Josh.

* Minor spiffyness improvements to the styling.

* URL shortening:

http://counterpointy.org/point/572132cac6e0193864ead5a7f72e49a45cc44634ded47f2c9fc333262655de36

http://counterpointy.org/point/572132cac6e0193864ead5

http://counterpointy.org/point/572132ca

Those all go to the same place. The first is the full URL, the others are truncated. As long as you keep at least the first 8 hex digits, it works.

(Tech note: Points are identified by the sha256 hash of the text. If we ever have enough points that we get some collisions on truncated hashes, you get a disambiguation page that lists all the matches. Tested with truncation to one digit.)

Current user count: 8. I know who you are. If you all keep lurking I'm going to start outing you one by one.  :)

- Ben.