On some threads, at the moment I'm thinking of Hannah's cycling one, we get replies to a post, that get replied to, with the columns getting thinner as each post goes in. Then another post goes that is reply to a one much higher up the chain. Scrolling back up, it becomes very difficult to to tell what point is being responded to.

My suggestion, which I recognise may be totally impossible, is to have a marker for the tier you are responding to.

It would work like this; The first comment to respond to the original post would be tagged with a 1, perhaps positioned beside that little curved arrow. A response to that comment would then be tagged with a 2. A response to that comment would in turn get get a 3. The next comment comes in, but is a response to the OP so it's tagged with a 1.

Thus when you get long chains the count of responses could reach 10 or higher and so when someone comes in with a comment responding to, say, the 3rd tier it would be marked with a 4. It's then easy to scroll back up the page and find the comment that is being responded to.

This may be complete bollocks, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

Thanks.

When The Word Podcast changed over to "subscriber only" a while back I discovered a few older editions of the podcast that I had never heard. I gleefully downloaded them to my phone and enjoyed listening my way through most of them until I got to the the last few. For some reason they all stopped part of the way through, at no regular point (some after just a few minutes and some close to the end). In all cases I shrugged my shoulders, put it down to experience and corrupted files then moved on to the next episode. However, yesterday I was particularly enjoying episode 115 which was a hilarious edition marked at just over an hour long and featuring Danny Baker, and so when that stopped after 27 minutes, with DB in mid lyrical wax about the King Crimson re-issues, I was too disappointed to let it drop with just a shoulder shrug. This morning I've downloaded the episode from the archive onto my PC and tried playing it through desktop media players. Windows Media Player didn't recognise the format for some reason, but both iTunes and Spotify played the file yet only recognised it as a 27 minute episode, leading me to the inevitable (although not necessarily correct) conclusion that somehow the archive files have been truncated.

Has anybody else come across this problem and, if so, did you find a solution or simply arrive at the same conclusion as me? More importantly can anybody point me in the direction of a link to a full version of Word Podcast 115 because I NEED to know why the King Crimson re-issues are essential purchases!

Thanks.

Steve.

I've recently become a subscriber ( sitting by the letterbox each morning waiting for the new issue ) and have been systematically downloading all the podcasts, starting with the earliest. I've noticed with a few of them that they cut off before the end. The latest one I had this problem with was the one on the smell of record shops, with Rob Fitzpatrick. The downloads went fine as did the transfers to the iPhone ( I listen to them that way to offset the tedium of long bus journeys ). Any idea why?

I realise this is only a minor irritation in the scheme of things in relation to, say, the Eurozone debt crisis, but would still like to know if anyone else has this experience.

I've just been blown away by the depth of knowledge on the possibly the greatest music ever written thread, recently taken the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel and transformed my Friday night playlists thanks to the call for groovy instrumental tunes a couple of months ago. All thanks to the folks of this parish.

The question: Which threads have inspired/transformed/educated you? Your three favourites, please.

My Yank mates never understand how deeply insulting being called a 'toerag' is. Two uberly innocent words thrust together to form an epithet. Yet....

Another fave is 'dog vomit', from Raymond Chandler, no less. His genius with the English vernacular is pretty bloody spiffy, FWIW IMHO OBE on the QT.

Any other epithets out there conjured from the innocuous?

Any language will do.

Righty-ho! 'Tis nearly the time again for the Londonish Massive to meet up, drink up a pint or three and munch up a bit of cake.

Looking forward to seeing everyone... and if you've not been to a London mingle before, then please join us! We've already got a number of new faces promising to come to this one, so how about you too?

Venue details in the post below... along with the sign-up sheet...

See you then. Mine's a sparkling water. It always is.
Hannah xxx

It can now be revealed that diminutive 'At the Zoo' hitmaker, Paul Simon, often hangs around the Word blog, reading the entertaining and thought-provoking posts. He enjoys the blog so much that he is releasing a re-recorded version of the S&G song 'Blessed' as a celebration of the Massive. We can now exclusively reveal the re-written lyrics:

Blessed are the geeks, for they shall inherit
Blessed is the spam whose junk flows
Blessed are the understudies, old buddies, posting in the nuddies
O Word! You have overtaken me!
(I've got no place to go
I've hung around the blog for the last night or so
Ah, but it doesn't matter, no.)

Blessed is the aspidistra and hatstand
Blessed is the man who is actually a woman
Blessed are the RT-baters, cover-image-haters, stay-up-too-laters
O Word! My FPO's forsaken me!
(The thread trickles down, like a discussion
That I have no intention to end)

Blessed are the slow loaders, Windows goaders
Blessed are the outcasts, podcast hepcats
Blessed are the uke pluckers, hard luckers, groovy fuckers
O Word! You are always there for me
(I have hung around in this perfumed garden
Much too long)

Happy Christmas, everyone.

The London Massive have spoken and the date has been chosen for our next meet-up.

EVERYONE WELCOME: whether you're a blog regular, a newbie or you just enjoy lurking. Come and say hi, newcomers warmly welcomed, it's a very friendly crowd and it's always a cracking night.

We've already got a number of new faces promising to come to this one, so how about you too?

Venue details in the post below... along with the sign-up sheet...

See you then. Mine's a sparkling water.
Hannah xxx

I find that whenever a topic grows to more than one page the little yellow "new" tags don't appear when a new reply is added to the second page. Is it just me or do others get this too?

Is it just me, or is The Word website incredibly slow tonight?

Magnificent cover. Good work.

I normally find this site pretty slow to load pages, but this afternoon it suddenly sped up hugely. Is it just me, or did Fraser just feed some spinach to the server?

...does it normally take between subscribing* and receiving the first issue? I subscribed back at the very start of June and I still haven't received anything.

Am I being impatient or unreasonable? I subscribed to another magazine around the same time (nothing dodgy, I hasten to add) and I've just received my third issue from that subscription already. Which makes me wonder what's happening at Word Towers...

john

* I'd had a subscription but forgot to renew so subscribed again when I realised... resulting in at least three or four missed issues so far :(

Helloo!

Right, who's up for a drink and lots of nattering about music?

Everyone welcome: whether you're a blog regular, a newbie or you just enjoy lurking. Come and say hi, it's a very friendly crowd and it's always a cracking night.

Sign-up sheet below, along with more details about the venue.

See you then. Mine's a sparkling water.
Hannah xxx

On page 22 of the new issue, Paul Weller is referred to in terms of "...how alarmed they had been by the hitmaker's middle-life conversion to...".
Clearly, there has been a sub-editing error in removing something from between "the" and "hitmaker's". I reckon it's "Changingman".
Give us a couple of days Rob, and then let us know who's posted the right answer.