Category Archives: Blogging

Typekey

3

six apart created Typekey. Supposedly a way of proving one’s identity, fighting spam and other wonderful things. A few days ago I went to their site to read a post and I wanted to leave a comment.

sixapart login

No typekey?

Once you’ve signed up for TypeKey, you can use your TypeKey sign in on thousands of websites: from weblogs to six apart?s websites to services made by third parties.

Not on the six apart blog you can’t.
And yes I know it says that using Typekey is optional but you would think a company would support it’s own product.

Still, it was only a comment.

No long post

Reply

I’ve been playing with the command line and cron jobs to produce another backup strategy for my websites and I thought I’d blog the result. I was going to because I could not find what I wanted which is why I scraped together what I read in various places and tested daily to be sure of what I was going to write. It’s just about ready for me to click Publish and I went to check one last thing – and realised that Automator could do every step of the whole thing perfectly. Damn. It was written many times that Automator could do lots but not the ‘how’ and a ‘how’ is nice before you get your feet wet. So on the bad side I don’t need to produce the huge post, on the good side I have learned many commands I’ll not use again. Still, I do get to write ‘crontab -e’ when I do publish it.

Page moved from T2

1

The post I liked the most on my last blog was the one where I asked people what made them happy. It was the only post I really didn’t want to lose. So I exported the DB, created a new user, assigned the page to that user then exported. The resulting file I trimmed of some cats and one import later I have the ‘So what makes you happy?’ post here along with the 254 comments. Adding to that a 301 redirect from the old page and I’m pretty happy. All good.

Would you say what you really think?

8

I moved blogs and drDave is doing something sort of similar. He says he has a blog elsewhere which we can’t find and that may well be the case but it will still be shared with people I assume. But what if you had a blog that was not connected to you at all. It could be a domain with private whois details, it could be a blog at wordpress.com. Would you say what you think, what you really think? We all self-censor be that in how we write or if we write at all so if you had a place where you could throw all those thoughts out would you? The fact that others may come across your words isn’t really the point because they do not know it’s you. So you got a disposable email address and set up a blog. There is absolutely nothing connecting you to the blog. No-one shares your computer so there is no sharing data there. Would you be honest? Really honest? Would it be useful in a cathartic way? If yes, why haven’t you done it?

Dusty guides

3

I checked the cpanel stats at the tamba2 domain earlier. Not because of the blog – apparently 154 people take the feed there for some reason – but because I had an email asking if I would update one of the guides in the /wordpress directory. Some there are still valid, others have fallen behind and I really do not have the time to keep them all up to date. But that part of the domain is well linked (it used to be a PR7). In Feb it got just over 8750 visitors and it is not actively promoted anywhere.
There are 2 parts to Tamba2 – the blog and the guides. That’s it. I was debating completely closing the blog and just keeping the guides which is when I wondered about shutting them too – and then I looked at the stats. So.. do I keep the domain and let the pages wither away, do I try and update, do I sell the domain (wonder how much a splogger would pay?). I have no attachment to the domain anymore – bar an email address and they are disposable anyway – so I’m stuck as to what to do at the moment.
I could just leave it all alone but I feel guilty that what could still be a useful selection of guides is gathering dust.

Taking local voices

5

Yesterday in #wordpress I was talking to someone who was publishing the work of others on their site. The person’s name doesn’t matter. Their site was apparently ‘okay’ being sponsored by Reuters though with WordPress having had ‘sponsored’ themes that word isn’t as clean. What was actually happening was that the work of others was being taken and displayed on another site.

This post should appear in a feed. That’s where I know it will be and where I suspect most bloggers expect their work to stay too. If you take my work and display it on your site then you are not simply giving me an extra link back – you are stealing my work because you intend to use my work to boost your site. I checked one blog from this site – it had the word Copyright in the sidebar and on every single post. Yet the site it was being displayed on did so under a CC license. Another blog had no copyright information but the same CC license was being used. It was a blanket license with no regard to the incoming work.
Something else I noticed – of the 10 or so links I checked, not a single one was a WordPress blog. This means that (a) WP bloggers are not very good at global issues or (b) the incoming links in the dashboard would give them away. My money is with the latter. I also checked to see if these blogs had a notice that they were proud to have been selected to have their work shown on a site sponsored by Reuters. They had no such information. So the bloggers involved have no clue at all that their work was being taken and displayed elsewhere.
The site owner will argue that the blogger gets a link and gets traffic. As the blogger is not being told about their work being shown elsewhere they are not in a position to make a judgement are they? So that argument is nonsense and used to justify their actions.

The site having no ads is not a claim for good. In fact I think if it had ads it would be more honest. Whoever set this up wants more work, they want this site to enhance their reputation and they are currently using the work of others to do that. So saying there are no ads and therefore no gain is at best disingenuous and at worst plain lying.

The fact that the aim of the site was to raise awareness and do good is of no importance. It’s still wrong to take without knowledge. Fact is that Reuters have strict usage policies on their output (“All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.”), so why is a blogger of less importance?
Strange that the parent site does acknowledge contributions – http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/for-bloggers but that this site only links to ‘some’ – http://voiceswithoutvotes.org/blogs/.

Here’s what should happen.
The site asks blogger for permission to use certain posts.
The blogger is then being acknowledged as the owner of their work.
The blogger knows that certain posts will be getting a wider audience so may actually produce better posts.
The blogger gets the chance to set their own license.
The blogger gets the chance to link directly to the other site.
The blogger gets a buzz from knowing their work is deemed to be good enough to be added.
The overall project gets more links, more traffic, more visibility.
Total cost of the above? “Hi, I’d love to use some of your posts on our site…”
Make a proper contributors page – hardly a lot of work but makes people feel even better.
It would probably enhance the site and the person behind it even more.

You’d think that a site such as this would do the right thing … http://voiceswithoutvotes.org

TaTaT2

12

A couple of posts ago I mentioned that I was debating a site move. Someone left a snide comment that because this was on the web I could do what I wanted then move on and reinvent myself. I am changing domains, I do intend to blog less contentiously, I do intend to blog better but I’m not doing it to reinvent myself.

This blog started in it’s current form in January 2004. Between then and now my family has changed, we went through bankruptcy, my mental health went from up to down many times and has now settled somewhere closer to the norm, I have aged and now see certain things in a different light, much of my anger and frustration has waned (though it will return of that I am sure) and none of this is reinvention. It’s how things are and things change. This domain is now wrapped around memories and choices which I made at the time and they were right at the time – but much like the haircuts we get, the clothes we wear, the foods we eat and maybe even the music we like our tastes over time change. We are no different than we were 5 years ago because we are still the same person but we are very different on the inside. Just because it is on the net does not mean it has to stay on the net. Just because there is digital evidence at archive.org does not mean you should be able to come back to a site to see the same state. I’m not ashamed of what was here, I would defend what I said at the time, my family all know and have read whatever they wish it’s just that I will feel more comfortable without it around me – in precisely the same way that I left ‘podz’ behind.

In around 2001 I met some people from uk.people.bodyart for the first time. We all shared an interest in bodyart but if we were all to meet up again then while our interest maybe close to the same level our participation would have dropped (I’d not let Martin pierce my hand again for instance…) But we aren’t reinventing ourselves – we are just changing as people do.

I get some comments on really old posts and when I go back to read the post I most of the time have no clue what on earth I was on when I wrote whatever the post was. It reads like it was written by a stranger – and given what has happened between then and now maybe I would be.

Am I doing it because of work? Nope. If you have read this blog for a long time you will have seen the post frequency fall and just recently it fell a lot more. That happened incidentally. The recent part – yes there was a reason and no it was not work.

Anyway…… all the posts and pages here were made private. I’m not deleting it, but it’s just for me should I choose (which is like those embarrassing photos we all have but won’t throw away but won’t show). Some posts are back published – those I like or whose comments are well worth reading ( I apologise for the feed doing what it did). Some other posts will follow because I know they exist I just can’t find them yet. The new domain is bought (today, so there is no history to google…) and when there is a theme I’ll drop back to this post and edit the link in.

There were:
3,150 posts.
10,148 comments.
2,063 different nicknames represented in the comments.

Post 3152 will not happen.

Thanks for putting up with me here :)

Developer Hut aka Jon Warass steals your blog content

15

This domain just stole my content.

Whois:
Domain Name:HOWSHITWORKS.ORG
Created On:23-Apr-2007 05:12:04 UTC
Last Updated On:18-Oct-2007 16:37:37 UTC
Expiration Date:23-Apr-2008 05:12:04 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:GoDaddy.com, Inc. (R91-LROR)
Status:CLIENT DELETE PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT RENEW PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT UPDATE PROHIBITED
Registrant ID:GODA-030591892
Registrant Name:Developer Hut Inc Developer Hut Inc
Registrant Organization:Developer Hut Inc
Registrant Street1:P.O Box 3743
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Idaho Falls
Registrant State/Province:Idaho
Registrant Postal Code:83403-3743
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.2087579111

Hosted at http://hostingloser.com who have no sitemap, no contact, no aup / tos.
So the loser that steal anyone’s blog content hide away in the State of Idaho.
They have http://www.buyblogcomments.com, they sell ads and have ads on stolen blog content.

Google ‘developer hut inc’.

And the jerk behind this? The man who steals? The man who takes the work of others to make himself money? Jon Waraas. Behold – a thief.

http://www.jonwaraas.com/who-is-jon-waraas/

–

Update 12 Dec.
I find http://growablog.com/ as part of my work. Why do I find it? It’s spamming. Spamming trackbacks.
And guess who it is?

Registrant:
Developer Hut Inc
P.O Box 3743
Idaho Falls, Idaho 83403-3743
United States

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: GROWABLOG.COM
Created on: 02-Jun-07
Expires on: 02-Jun-08
Last Updated on: 18-Oct-07

Administrative Contact:
Developer Hut Inc, Developer Hut Inc developerhut@gmail.com
Developer Hut Inc
P.O Box 3743
Idaho Falls, Idaho 83403-3743
United States
2087579111 Fax –

It’s that thief Jon Warass again. He is stealing from every blog he can scrape.
Oh yes, and I did email him to ask him to stop stealing. His response was that I got 2 free links from him. Well hell yes, that’s just great eh? He’s still Jon Waraas – thief

Update again – Tuesday 24 March 2009

Developer Hut, Inc.
P.O Box 3743
Idaho Falls, Idaho 83403-3743
United States
1-208-608-5133

Dear Mark R,
It has come to our attention that your Dec. 11, 2007 blog posting on tamba2.org.uk, “Developer Hut aka Jon Warass steals your blog content,” is making false and deceptive claims that are or may be misleading customers about Developer Hut, Inc. We request that you immediately cease and desist from continuing to make any such claims. We further request that you immediately remove such claims from your website, including Web site pages.

Developer Hut, Inc. is Internet Marketing company based out of Idaho Falls, Idaho. Since 2006 we have been offering web based advertisement to company’s looking to increase there SEO ranking. Developer Hut, Inc. is widely recognized for our quality seo services and has a well-deserved reputation of providing our customers quality seo link building. This reputation has been harmed, and will continue to be harmed, by any and all false and deceptive claims that tamba2.org.uk has made.

In light of the foregoing, we request that you immediately cease and desist from continuing to make any false, deceptive or misleading claims, statements, assertions or representations — whether explicit or implicit — regarding Developer Hut, Inc. We further request that you immediately remove all such claims from all your website, whether in written, electronic, verbal, visual or audio form, including, but not limited to, advertisements, emails, Web site materials, press releases, announcements and correspondence.

If you fail to take this requested action within 2 business days, Developer Hut, Inc. will have no choice but to pursue all available legal remedies against you, Mark R.

You will also be receiving a certified cease and desist letter sent to your whois address. If you have any questions or would like to talk to our lawyer then please set up a time for a conference call. Your full cooperation in this matter is appreciated.

Sincerely,
Developer Hut, Inc.