Update: Either Facebook changed something or WordPress did or the plugin I was using did, but the Facebook integration no longer works and quite frankly I don’t care to fix it because Facebook is not my favorite thing. The commenting thing might work, but I’m not sure and don’t have time to test it. If it works for you, then great. If not, then that’s the way the cookie crumbles, I suppose.
Original post:
The rumors are untrue! I have not gone into a diabetic coma from too many Milky Way Caramel bars, nor did I spend any time in the hospital due to my ill advised attempt to combine the aforementioned candy bar with a 3 Musketeers. I’ll have you know that I already ate all my 3 Musketeers bars never had any of those to experiment with in the first place! Now that we’ve settled that, how about we move on to other things.
As the title suggests and the new box in the sidebar illustrates, I’ve managed to wrangle Facebook and this site into playing nicely. It wasn’t easy, let me tell you. Initially, I thought I had it all worked out, with installing the plugins in WordPress and creating the apps in Facebook, but every time I tried to test it, something would go wrong. When I fixed the wrong thing, a new error would pop up. This went on for some time. There may have been a lot of angry yelling and some tears. Maybe a lot of tears. I don’t remember much, it’s all kind of a blur. Suffice it to say that at this point I believe I have resolved all the issues involved in the integration. If you see anything broken, by all means let me know in the comments.
So, what is this vaunted Facebook integration that I speak of? Well, due to what is clearly black magic, you have a couple of things you can do with Ask the Fatty on Facebook. First, if you like apps, you can add a box to your wall which will update whenever I update the site. You can then choose to go to the site directly or you can use the app and actually view the content of the post right from Facebook. You can leave comments on it there, and they will show up here. It’s kind of like having a clone of this site dressed up in Facebook formatting and mirrored there. I think it’s pretty cool, but then at this point I have to think it’s pretty cool considering all the tears hard work that went into it. So that’s integration #1.
The 2nd bit of integration that is now live is the ability to come to this site and not have to enter in any of kind of info to leave a comment. If you’re already logged into Facebook and then you come here, some sort of arcane ritual is performed whereby 1000 black shoggoths, dark as night, are sacrificed and Ask the Fatty! will just know who you are. So here’s an example of how it will work. Say your name is Kitten Santiago, a completely fictional name and person that I made up right now which has no relation or resemblance to anyone living or dead, and you have a Facebook profile. Kitten Santiago is checking her Facebook profile and notices via her Ask the Fatty! app that I’ve made an update. “Great!” she thinks. “I’m heading over there to see if he’s had a heart attack and keeled over yet!” So over she comes to see if I’m posting from a hospital bed, but alas, it’s the FIFTH article on marzipan. “The hell is wrong with him? Enough with the marzipan! If he posts about marzipan again, I will murder him right in the face. You know what, I’m gonna tell him that!” So Kitten wants to engage in some constructive dialog. Normally, she’d have to enter a user name, an e-mail, and maybe the spam blocking software holds her comment for moderation. This is annoying for everyone involved. Now with the new Facebook integration, threats of bodily harm can be left much more conveniently! The first time she comes to Ask the Fatty!, she can choose to allow the site to connect to her Facebook profile, and from then on, leaving a comment here will work the same way as when you leave a comment on Facebook. It’s science!
You know, the whole Facebook integration thing would probably have gone a lot faster if I could pull myself away from Mass Effect. :(
Oh, and here’s the link to add Ask the Fatty! to your Facebook page: Clicky!