Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable, or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?
I've changed the comment editing plugin I'm using. The new one should work exactly the same as the old one, but has a lot different under the hood. Just like the last one, I don't see what you see. You get the spiffy editing options, but I see the standard WordPress administrator stuff.
Would you be a pal and let me know if it does or doesn't work for you? If comments are so horribly broken you can't say a thing, kindly jot me a note with the contact form.
Thanks, and stuff.
One of the greatest (currently) unaddressed issues in WordPress is that there's no way to moderate user registrations. There are only two settings: anyone can register themselves (the administrator will be notified) and only the administrator creates registrations. There's no in between and no hooks for changing this with a plugin. I leave registrations open so new readers can create an account whenever they want. The problem is that spam bots will also generate registrations. I get three or four spam bots trying to register each week.
If the user name or e-mail isn't obviously spammy, I'll send an e-mail asking for confirmation. If I don't get that confirmation (and I rarely do), then I know it's spam. Here are the e-mails from the latest instance.
The automatic notification:
New user registration on your blog A Feast of Crumbs:
Username: John Doe
E-mail: nondescriptmail@majorisp.com
My challenge:
Hi!
Are you a spam bot?
I get a lot of bogus registrations. If you do not respond to this message, I will assume yours is one of them and will delete your account.
The registrant's response to my challenge:
No I'm not a spam bot. Don't even know what that is. I just got this card from Philip Morris to sign for savings and coupouns for my smokes. I went to the web site it said to and this is where I ended up. So if I'm on the wrong site pllease let me know so I can get to where I need to be. I smoke Marlboros and have for 30 plus years. I just would like to get some coupons mailed to me.
Thanx John
Next from me:
Oh! Somehow you ended way offtrack, friend. You registered on my blog at feastofcrumbs.com. I think what you're looking for is http://www.smokersignup.com/ That's where you sign up for coupons for Philip Morris products.
Next from him:
Hey, Thanx alot friend. I appreciate the info.
Wow. Dude was really lost. I should have asked for his credit card number to confirm his age.
Stupid people suck.
Last night was "Family Night" at The Chicken's school. We missed last year's Family Night so we had no idea what to expect this year. It turns out that what we should have expected was recess with snacks. Maybe there was more to it than that, but the things started before I finished work.
Anyway, we were sitting on the lunchroom style tables noshing on our chips when I couldn't help but overhear a conversation on the other side of the table behind me. An orca fat woman with bad hair would not let her son go outside to the playground with most of the other kids because it might rain. The kid didn't really like this answer, so he argued the point a little. After he gave up and wandered away, the woman turned to the toothless wonder next to her and said "This school needs to start teaching these kids what 'no' means."
Grr. I just about shit.
Fucking assclown. As a parent, it's your fucking job to teach your kids how to behave. Schools are for teaching science and math. If you're not going to teach your child "what no means," don't expect anyone else to do it for you. Oh, and by the way, you need someone to help you choose the right size bra. They're not supposed to be resting on your lap like that, slick.
So yeah. Stupid people suck. However, new plugins do not suck.
I have a new plugin available: Auto Tweet. Auto Tweet provides a mechanism for cross-posting new WordPress entries of your choosing to Twitter when you publish them to your blog. If you're interested, read more and download on the Auto Tweet page.
In my last post, I unveiled my little asides/mini-post/Twitter clone and I asked for input on how to work my site feed. Should I include the mini posts or not? Those of you with a preference were unanimous: keep the mini posts in the main feed. Well, you were mostly unanimous. Three feeds were suggested.
I didn't think of it, but a good idea is a good idea. So… there are now three feeds for your subscribing pleasure.
The main site feed, the one you're most likely subscribed to already, will remain as-is and will include all posts. The feed icon in the upper right will continue to point to this feed, which can still be found at http://feastofcrumbs.com/blog/feed/
Category feeds have always been available, even if you never knew about it, and this one is no exception. The feed for only the Cuppa mini posts is linked in the Cuppa box in the sidebar and can be found at http://feastofcrumbs.com/blog/category/cuppa/feed/
Finally, a brand spanking new option. For any of you who don't care for them, there's now a feed that includes all posts except the mini posts. It's an ugly url, and it took some beating on my FeedBurner plugin, but here it is: http://feastofcrumbs.com/blog/?feed=rss2&cat=-33
All three of these feeds are set for autodiscovery in my theme header. If you give your feed reader the blog url (or the url of any other page, for that matter) you should be presented with a choice of feeds. If you're one of the people who wanted to keep the mini posts in the main feed (thanks for your opinions, by the way), you don't need to do anything. Continue using the feed you have been and you'll continue to see all the content.
Lately I've had an inclination to post many small things. I haven't, mostly because I'd feel a little silly throwing out a lot of ten word posts. So I worked out something different.
At the top of the sidebar I now have a special block just for those short posts, titled "Cuppa." It's essentially the same thing as "asides" you might have seen on other blogs. It's kind of my own answer to Twittter. With that block, they're removed from the flow of the rest of the blog so if you don't want to see them, you don't have to.
One question, though. Should I separate that in the site feed? Would those of you who subscribe to my feed prefer a second feed for those posts?
Bullet points make for a pretty easy post.
There was no bike riding practice last night (shitty weather) but The Chicken was doing smashingly on Tuesday evening. He's doing well enough he's now to the point where he's trying to show off for girls. A girl named Ines, one of his classmates, was at the park when we were there. Every time Chicken rode past, he had to look to see if she was watching. Once when she was checking him out, Chicken tried to stand up to pedal. He's never done this before and we've not yet encouraged him to do this. He nearly wiped out and quickly sat down again. And then looked to see if Ines was still watching. Any time he fell, he always jumped up like he was sitting on a spring, and then checked to see if Ines saw his crash. Cool boys don't whimper about banged knees, you know.
Ines rides the same school bus and also loaned him a Pokemon book last week.
I think he's sweet on her. Little playa.
The other day I mentioned the construction in my neighborhood. Well, it's easily more annoying now than it was then. All the construction is now around the corner, so my street has a quickie asphalt patch. This patch has settled and now has more bumps and contours than the dark side of the moon. I go around the block so I don't have to drive over it.
I heart playing around with code.
I just finished a small project that was befuddling me off and on for a few weeks. In the end it turns out I was overthinking it. The finished script is only 30 lines of code. I always feel a little dumb when I realize something is much simpler than I expected. But I also feel like a fucking super hero when I see the elegance of the results.
I love this shit.
It's Thursday. I fucking love Thursdays. Not only is it almost Friday, but it's also the day I have breakfast at work in the morning and a coffee "date" with Bunny in the afternoon.
Sometimes I also do some work on Thursdays.
Everbody's buddy Denise tired of the PPP Blogger's Choice and decided to run her own awards. I'm nominated for Sexiest Male Blog. Be a pal and vote for me in her comments.
PS - I like sticky posts.
Sweet! How cool is it to go away for a few days and come home to award nominations? I've been nominated for four Blogger's Choice Awards. Be a pal and go vote for me for Best Blog About Blogging, Best Geek Blog, Best Blog Design and especially Hottest Daddy Blogger.
Update: Nevermind, but thank you anyway.
So I got this e-mail a week ago. Apparently someone wants to advertise here. Because I think it's interesting, here's our e-mail conversation so far.
Hi there,
I'm interested in doing some music related advertisement on your site that I think is unique and non-intrusive to your visitors and even adds extra benefits to your blog.
Please let me know if you'd like to hear more about my idea.
Sincerely,
Ad Guy
I'm skeptical, but I'm curious. I'll hear what you have to say. What do you propose?
The Fish
Hi sorry for the delay, had a very busy week
Ok so what I had in mind is every week I compile a list of new songs that will come out in the future that either leaked on the net or have been officially announced. I would like to promote that list. The advertising method, I don't want to put it on the side and have users look at it every time they're on a page but instead at the bottom of a post when you make one, once a week. So on one post a week it would have a small list at the very bottom of it and by tomorrow it's already old news and within a few days most likely on the back pages and archives. The way I can see it's beneficial is it's not taking up room on the side so you can still make more money from conventional advertising. It provides your users with relevant content (new songs) and a user may or may not be interested in it but if a user ever wanted to know upcoming popular songs they need not search google but just visit your site instead.
What do you think,
Ad Guy
Is this list text-only, or does it include images?
Will this carry any restrictions on the content of the post to which it is attached? Will I be free to editorialize on your advertisement in any way I choose, even if it's disparagingly?
Will there be any contract or other obligation? Will I be free to end my involvement at any time, for any reason?
How many items would be in this list? Three? 10? 50?
Is advertising content always chosen by you, or is there a "cafeteria style" option where I can choose one of several ads for any given week?
Will I be free to present that list any way I choose or are you expecting that list to appear in a particular format, ie, will you be sending me a block of code to paste or a script to reuse?
If the ad must be displayed in a specific way, do you have an example I can see?
Will I be free to exclude the advertisement from my site feed if I choose?
Will your advertisements attempt to set cookies with my visitors? If so, from what domains?
Do you have a privacy policy I can read? If so, what parts of that policy might apply specifically to people viewing your ads on my site, as opposed to viewing content on your site?
Will your ad trigger pop-ups, pop-unders, windows that resize themselves, JavaScript alerts, etc?
On what basis will I be compensated? By pageview? By clickthrough?
How often is payment sent, and by what method?
How long has this advertising program been in existence?
How many other bloggers participate in this program?
What's the turnover rate for participants in this program?
I might have more questions later. This is just what I have right off the top of my head.
The Fish
I haven't heard back from him yet. Do you think I will? Can you think of any good questions I should have asked?
Update: Ad guy responded very early Friday morning. His responses are italicized. Spelling mistakes are all his. My response follows.
Is this list text-only, or does it include images?
Text with a few links and no imagesWill this carry any restrictions on the content of the post to which it is attached? Will I be free to editorialize on your advertisement in any way I choose, even if it's disparagingly?
You can edit it any way you want just have ot elave the links in tactWill there be any contract or other obligation? Will I be free to end my involvement at any time, for any reason?
Absolutly not, 5 seconds of your time one day a week is all that's neededHow many items would be in this list? Three? 10? 50?
On some weeks 3 on some up to 10 varies on how many songs are announcedIs advertising content always chosen by you, or is there a "cafeteria style" option where I can choose one of several ads for any given week?
We do have different stylesWill I be free to present that list any way I choose or are you expecting that list to appear in a particular format, ie, will you be sending me a block of code to paste or a script to reuse?
You are able to do it any way you wantIf the ad must be displayed in a specific way, do you have an example I can see?
Certainly, here's an example (this is a week with more then usual songs)Will I be free to exclude the advertisement from my site feed if I choose?
The content would not be allowed to be removed from the post, however, you may exclude it from your feed.Will your advertisements attempt to set cookies with my visitors? If so, from what domains?
no cookies, it's just text and a linkDo you have a privacy policy I can read? If so, what parts of that policy might apply specifically to people viewing your ads on my site, as opposed to viewing content on your site?
it's nothing that serious that requires anything drastic such as thatWill your ad trigger pop-ups, pop-unders, windows that resize themselves, JavaScript alerts, etc?
Defiently notOn what basis will I be compensated? By pageview? By clickthrough?
Flat fee per post. $10 or so per postHow often is payment sent, and by what method?
Paypal, weekly and within minutes after you put the code upHow long has this advertising program been in existence?
It's private by us, it's not a mainstream thingHow many other bloggers participate in this program?
Maybe 7 or so that we contactedWhat's the turnover rate for participants in this program?
Not quite sure what you meanI might have more questions later. This is just what I have right off the top of my head.
Sure but this is not anything that's extreme or ties you into any contractual agreemnts, we're simply just looking for a few extra places to put ads without any strings attached
I thought of two more questions.
Can I choose a different advertising interval? Say, twice a week, once a month or every three months?
If I decide to stop participating in your program, is it possible to resume participation again later?
My friends also have two questions I should ask you.
A reader wants to know if all the links will be at the same url or if you're building Page Rank with new urls every week. This question seems particularly savvy since he asked this before he saw your response to the battery of questions I asked in my last e-mail. Given that I'm able to change the presentation of your links any way I please and I'm able to exclude them from my feed but I'm not allowed to remove them from old posts, this does give the impression that you're less concerned about clickthroughs than you are about the long-term existence of incoming links. Are the ads all about Page Rank then, or what?
Also, another reader wants to know the airspeed velocity of a laden swallow.
Thanks,
The Fish
I await his next response with tingly nipples.
Ok, so you're not whiny. Well, some of you are whiny, but I heart you all anyway. The sidebar has returned with full bells and whistles. Some elements of the abortive v3.0 design are staying too. I particularly like the tab bar and the archives page. I'll need to do some tweaking yet to sort out what should be on the tab bar and what should be in the sidebar.
Best of all, my page generation times are still pretty snappy. If you're curious enough to view my page source code, you'll see most of the sidebar content isn't there. The sidebar is now mostly just a framework. The content is loaded into each little box via AHAH. Without all the sidebar content, each page generates quickly. But with the asynchronous fetches, you're still downloading the same amount of data and you're using more transactions to do it. The overall time it takes for a complete page to load might have even increased, but there's still a noticeable improvement in the time it takes to load the main content and make that page usable. I think that's a fair trade.
So I suppose rather than being snarky, I should be thanking you for pushing me to solve my problem more creatively.
Pfft. Whiners.
Have you heard of Chinese Democracy? It's supposed to be the next Guns N' Roses album. It's been in production since 1994, which is long enough to turn it into a complete joke. ("We'll see democracy in China before we see Chinese Democracy.")
This weekend I downloaded an album labeled Chinese Democracy. Some of the tracks are studio, some are live. Who knows what version of what tracks will really be on the album, should it ever actually arrive?
Real or not, I am loving the track "Better." He might not be in the band anymore, but you can't deny Buckethead's influence on this one.