A word or two on Akismet

August 30, 2007 | 1 Response

This blog uses Akismet to fight nonsense posts. It is a very popular free plugin. All you need is a Wordpress.com API to activate your protection. Akismet checks your comments to see if they are spam and then it decides what to do with them. To Post or not to Post.

The odd thing is that I have had to manually approve some legitimate comments that were relevant to the discussion. I don’t know what caused them to be marked as spam but I’ve noticed more of it happening recently. It makes me wonder how many have slipped through.

So how does Akismet work? I checked on Google and it told me the FAQS were a good place to start. Google make me feel small.

When a new comment, trackback, or pingback comes to your blog it is submitted to the Akismet web service which runs hundreds of tests on the comment and returns a thumbs up or thumbs down.

And if a regular comment gets marked as SPAM, you just have to mark it as NOT SPAM. Pretty simple.

In other news, I’ve shut off the moderation of comments. Akismet recommends you to use the moderation queue. This doesn’t sit well with me. I see a lot of other blogs where my comment is posted instantly, even if it is the first.

One of the issues with WordPress is that it can sometimes be really hard to fight the right plugin to do the right job. There are many duplicate plugins. And comment plugins are in especially high volume. I’m not talking about SPAM related, just a lot of the different things that many bloggers want on their comment board. Dofollows, anti-spam, top commentators among others are in large demand and it isn’t always clear which plugins are the top contenders.

5 Scripts you should know about when starting a website

August 27, 2007 | 6 Responses

When starting a website, a little coding knowledge goes a long way. But it can also save you a lot of time and money to know if what you need in a website isn’t sitting out there waiting for you. Here are some scripts that have saved me loads of headaches whether it be coding one myself or hiring someone to do it.

Wordpress - Wordpress is arguably the best open-source blogging platform in existance. Written in php, it is a robust blog script with no shortage of features (or extensions) that can be skinned to your liking with ease. It can serve as your entire website in one script. A little CSS and XHTML knowledge are required when it comes to building your own theme. The admin area is very straight forward. Installation requires you to write your own config file, but cpanel can autoinstall Wordpress for you.

Development Status: Production/Stable License: GNU General Public License (GPL)

If you are looking for something with more user input and is also more feature driven, there is another website-in-a-box solution below.

Plogger - Plogger is an open-source image gallery script written in php. They are still currently in beta but the last stable version was tops. It was easily integrated with your existing site’s theme and had plenty of bells and whistles (including a slideshow feature!).

Note: Plogger 3.0 has cause me some problems with integration. They have promised it to be easier to mod and create widgets, though

Development Status: Beta License: GNU General Public License (GPL)

e107 - This is probably one of the best open-source CMS solutions out there. e107 has an impressive set of plug ins that will do almost anything you can think of. You will find it has a very easy admin system and installation is a snap. PHP knowledge isn’t an absolute must but it will always help.

Development Status: Production/Stable License: GNU General Public License (GPL)

phpBB - Quite possibly the most popular open source forum script. It rivals its paid counterpart, Invision Powerboard, on many levels. A lot of the same features are present and, in some ways, are easier to use. Due to the popularity of the script, security can sometimes be an issue. As well can your vulnerability to spam. People who are really really serious about foruming should probably look at one of the paid solutions.

Development Status: Production/Stable License: GNU General Public License (GPL)

and finally… the content management system currently at the top of its’ game…

XOOPS XOOPS is a dynamic open source portal system written in PHP. IT is the ideal tool for developing small to large dynamic community websites, portals, weblogs and much more.

Development Status: Production/Stable

License: GNU General Public License (GPL)

Spend time building your business, not your website

June 3, 2007 | 0 Responses

AIM Promote’s new crm software allows you to focus on making sales instead of learning how to use the software. Customer Relationship Management software is what you use to relate and keep track of sales from your website. When a potential customer signs up as a buyer you are able to keep an ease of flow between you and the buyer. Software like this used to have a somewhat high learning curve. Now its as easy as sending an email.

The value they present far exceeds that of their competitors as they offer a 14 day free trial, have no set-up fees and will implement their flagship sales lead management software into your website free of charge. You will also have access to tech support professionals should you run into any trouble along the way.

Online startups are one of the easiest ways to make money online. If you have an idea for a business that can take shape on the world wide web you can rest assured knowing that building the customer relationship software is something you need not worry about. Spend more time building your business than building your website.

This freebie is a must for anyone looking at starting an online business.

Hair Raising Anime Adventures

April 10, 2007 | 0 Responses

I’ve always enjoyed really off the wall and zany anime cartoons, so when I got the opportunity to review Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo and be part of a select few (hundred;) to preview the first few episodes, I jumped at the chance.

So the rundown goes like this: Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo is the afro dude who is out to save hair everywhere from being shaved off by Baldy Bald of the evil Chrome Dome Empire. Bo’s weapons of choice: Extending nose hairs and military grade boogers.
Check out the Official Website!

Along with the irreverent, slapsticky humour suggested by the subject matter alone, theres also a healthy dose of cultural parody and satire to be enjoyed by the thicker skinned humour enthusiast.

Hilarity ensues throughout the insane adventures and Illumitoon Entertainment have taken anime irreverence to a new level on this one.

Illumitoon had been critisized for putting English subtitles instead of the Japanese subtitles on it’s DVDs. Some fans were upset so, in order to show they were paying attention, Illumitoon issued a trade-in program that allows anyone with “Dubtitled” versions to send their DVD in and get the Japanese Subtitled version.

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