If it seems too good to be true…
You know the old saying and so you’d think most people would be on the look-out. You’d further think that someone described as “internet aware” wouldn’t fall for an email scam. But it seems you’d be wrong on both counts.
This story is about an 80 year old woman who’s fallen victim, to the tune of £16,000, to an email scam that promised to net her $30 million, supposedly left to her by some relatives she didn’t know she had. Maybe I’m too cynical for my own good, but wouldn’t alarm bells be ringing with you if someone said “You’ve inherited $30 million, but we need £16,000 in fees”? Take it out of the estate and give me what’s left! I don’t need to pay you anything up front.
It’s sad that someone - whether they’re 18 or 80 - should fall victim to a scam like this, but let’s be honest - there have been enough of these things going round over the last ten years for someone who is “internet aware” to be able to spot them. Greed got in the way of good sense.
Like it did in this case, when an elderly man lost his £70,000 life savings when he was taken in a telephone lottery scam. He hadn’t entered any lottery, but because he was told he’d won a million euros he thought he was quids in. Again, it’s sad that anyone should be taken for their life-savings but it’s not like there hasn’t been plenty of publicity about these things.
Anyway, once my friend in Nigeria (he’s a crown prince, you know) has taken his $23.5 million out of the country with my help, I’ll be able to give both these people some help. How much, Mustafa? £10,000? I’ll write you a cheque now…
Blog scraping or using RSS as intended?
There’s been some discussion this weekend about sites ’scraping’ Wordpress users blogs and stealing their content. This is something that seems quite common and effects most bloggers at one time or another, but this weekend all the complaints seem to be for sites hosted by unix-fu.org.
Various bloggers, including myself, have complained to the email address given in this entry and have had the offending posts removed. However, in a response post the hosting owner, Kris, has raised an issue about RSS syndication and what the expected use of an RSS feed is.
Kris contends that by publishing an RSS feed for your blog (as is automatically done when you have a Wordpress.com blog) you are granting the right for anyone to use that material on their own sites because “When your blog has an RSS feed active, that is saying to the public ‘feel free to syndicate my works’.” It is his opinion that, provided credit is given in some way, the other site is not breaching any rules.
I must admit that this line of reasoning had not occurred to me. In my mind, and I suspect this is true for many other bloggers, the RSS feed is a convenience to allow people to read your content without needing to visit your site all the time. They load your feed URL into something like Shrook or Google Reader and when you publish something new, it automatically gets delivered to them. An RSS feed is a convenience; I don’t believe that most bloggers are tacitly granting people permission to re-publish their work.
It seems that Kris has been rather snowed under with complaining emails recently and not all of them have been polite in their requests, so you can understand why he’s a little ticked off. But does he have a point about RSS feeds, or is he wrong? Also, are you bothered when a site uses your content in this way - republishing your content, with Adsenses blocks all round it - or are you happy that they use your material, as long as they credit you in some way?
This issue is not going to go away, with more and more bloggers signing up every hour and with more and more opportunities for people to earn money off their blogs encouraging content to be re-published elsewhere, so who is right?
Wordpress Forums : some helpful things to know before posting
[It should be noted that this post was written with specific reference to the Wordpress.com forums. The Wordpress.org forums are not covered by many of the items highlighted here.]
Wordpress, as we all know, is a great blogging platform. It’s easy to use, has a number of great features that you just don’t get on other platforms, it’s free and so on. It’s an ideal way to get started blogging without having to go to the expense of getting your own hosting.
But sometimes, things can go awry or it’s not immediately obvious how to do something and so there is a well-informed and thriving help forum that you can turn to. I know that I’ve found many helpful hints there, from how to put your pages in order to how to assert your copyright for best protection of your work. I’ve even been able to help a couple of people myself, which is a good feeling.
However, there are a number of things that keep cropping up that have been answered many times before and so I thought that I’d present a little guide to using the forums, as well as answering some of the main items that come up repeatedly. So, in no particular order:
- Please remember that the forum is frequented by volunteers; they are helping out through the goodness of their hearts. Most of the time they’ll be able to answer your question, but sometimes it will be beyond their remit and you should contact Support using the “Support” tab. Support do keep an eye on the forum, and will post occasionally, but most of the time you’re dealing with volunteers - so if they can’t answer your question, don’t get all shirty with them.
- Before posting, you should read 7 Things to Know Before Posting in Wordpress.com Forums. Trust me, it will help.
- Make sure that you’re in the right place. If your blog has an address that includes wordpress.com, the support forum you need is at http://en.forums.wordpress.com/. If your blog address does not include wordpress.com, then you likely have a Wordpress.org blog and the forum you need is at http://wordpress.org/support/. You should read this thread for further information on the differences.
- The FAQ’s are there for a reason, too. Are you sure your question hasn’t been asked before? Do yourself a favour and check out the FAQ’s first.
- Do a search of the forums, too. Think about your question and what the key parts of it are and search for those. Just because something isn’t in the FAQ’s, doesn’t mean it hasn’t already been dealt with on the forums (see later in this post for some examples). If you still can’t find the answer, please feel free to post your question.
- One of the biggest mistakes people make when posting a question is not giving enough detail. At the very least, make sure you include a link to the blog about which you have a question. You should also give as much detail as possible about the issue you are having; that way, you’re more likely to get a quick answer. For instance, if your blog is not displaying the way you expect it to, make sure you give details of the operating system and browser combination you are using.
- Link your user name to your blog. When you post a comment or question to the forums, your username is displayed. Attach your blog to that name by clicking on View Your Profile, then go to Edit and add your blog URL (including the http) in the Website box. That way, even if you forget to include a link to your blog, people can still click on your username to go there.
- Remember, you reap what you sow. Be polite and courteous and people will be polite and courteous back (most of the time). If you decide not to be, be prepared for the consequences….
So, what are some common issues and questions that get raised time and again?
Advertising
Advertising on a wordpress.com hosted blog is against the Terms of Service. This means that you can’t have Adsense, PayPerPost, etc. There has been talk of a paid upgrade to allow users to have advertising, but this is not yet available.
Javascript and other code
There’s lots of widgets out there that you’d probably like to add to your blog but find that you can’t do it. This is because most of the use Javascript or other code that is not allowed on Wordpress.com. According to Wordpress, this is to keep the platform secure from hackers, spammers and the like. There has been debate that this explanation does not hold water but the reality is that this is the position, so we have to make the best of it. You can add HTML to your sidebar widgets (although not forms, as far as I understand) so if there’s a widget you want, see if you can get an HTML version of it.
Using the Visual Editor to write your posts
In my experience, the Visual Editor can be temperamental with certain browsers and / or operating systems. One of the major culprits is Safari on the Mac, but it can also effect Internet Explorer 6. The issue is that when you click “Save” or “Publish” all your line breaks will get stripped out. The same can also apply even if you’ve used the Code Editor to put them all back in.
For Safari users, the problem seems to be solved if you turn off the Visual Editor. You can do this by going to your Dashboard, then go to Users > Your profile and uncheck the box that says “Use the visual rich editor when writing”. This may also work for non-Safari users that are having this same issue.
Generally, Firefox and other browsers that are based on Mozilla seem not to have this issue (although I’m not going to guarantee it) so you may want to try Firefox, Bon Echo or Camino. Personally, I now use Flock which does not have this problem and also has a built-in blog editor that works well with Wordpress.com blogs.
You can also use an offline blog editor to post your blog. This has the added bonus of saving a local copy of each entry, so you automatically get a back-up of your blog. Timetheif has a review of some of the most popular ones here.
Something doesn’t look right when I look at my blog
Again, this can be a problem caused by your browser. Try a different one and see if you still have the same problem. If you don’t, it could be that the first browser is not interpreting something on the blog correctly.
If you’ve only recently had the problem, try reversing any updates that you’ve done and see if that fixes the problem. Remember to clear your cache, cookies, shut down your browser (hey, even re-start your machine just to be sure) after you change something to see if it’s fixed. This is becoming known in Wordpress circles as The Cookie Dance!
My blog has been hacked
Unlikely, according to Wordpress. What has probably happened is that your password has become compromised, because someone has guessed it or seen what it was when you typed it in. Also, if you ever update your blog from a public terminal (ie an Internet cafe) always remember to log-out before you leave the machine. If you have access, clear the cache and cookies before leaving the machine, too.
Site X is stealing my content
This is common and is part of the whole blogging experience. Ideally, what we as bloggers would like is that anyone that uses our material just uses an excerpt that links back to the original post. However, there are blog-scraping sites (sploggers) out there who just take the whole post, slap loads of ads all round it and stick it up on their site. Most of the time they will also include any links that were included in the original.
Some bloggers are not upset to see their material used in this way, figuring that they’ll get a bigger audience. But why should someone else be earning money off your work?
You can’t always get these sites to take down your work, but it’s worth asking. Check the site for a contact email address, or leave a comment on the site. If that doesn’t work, do a whois search and find out who the hosting company is. Send an email to them at “abuse”, explaining your grievance. If the site contains Google Adsense blocks, you can also email them.
This link and this one will give extra information on what you can and how you can do it, in this situation.
Themes
Some problems can be caused by the theme you choose to use. If your blog is not behaving in the way that you would expect, try changing your theme and see if that solves the problem. As Wordpress.com users we don’t have the option (unless we buy the CSS upgrade) to make any changes to the way our themes look, so if there’s something that you want to do or if something doesn’t do what you want it to, consider changing your theme. (The CSS upgrade will not allow you to change how your theme works, though.)
I’d also recommend having a test blog to try out changes before you commit to them on your main blog. This could save you lots of headaches in the long run.
If you want to choose a new theme, you can find the ones that are available to Wordpress.com users from your Dashboard, by going to Presentation. You can preview themes to see what they’d look like with your content in them, and then apply the one you’ve chosen.
Resolved topics
The final thing is that, if you do post a question and one of the volunteers is able to help you out then please, please, please, please, PLEASE mark the topic as resolved. It’s big help to everyone and really easy to do - there’s a link at the top of the thread!
- - -
So, there you go. A brief introduction to some of the common issues experienced by Wordpress.com users, to give you a “heads-up” before you post to the forums, as well as to help you post your question in a meaningful way that will get your question answered quickly.
I’m indebted to the many users of the Wordpress forums who give their time so freely and are actually willing to answer the same questions over and over again. There are too many to name them all, but some of the ones who’s answers I have incorporated into this entry include TimeThief, TheSacredPath, Sulz, Judy, RainCoaster and DrMike (who’s site seems to be down, so I can’t link to it at the moment).
If anyone spots any inaccuracies or omissions - or feel that I haven’t explained something well enough - please let me know in the comments and I’ll change it.
So here it is…
This seasonal survey has found that more than 25% of all UK adults don’t know where Jesus was born. They are also lacking in knowledge when it comes to other aspects of the Nativity.
I’m sorry, but when did it become required to have in-depth knowledge of fairy stories?
FIA at it again
This story adds more fuel to the fire of the inconsistent nature of rulings by the FIA, the ruling body of Formula One motorsport.
In case you’re not aware, earlier in the year the FIA fined McLaren-Mercedes - who were then leading the Constructors Championship - $100 million and excluded them from the Constructors competition for being in possession of technical information from Ferrari, their major championship rival. It was not proved that McLaren had used any of the information in their possession to later their car or gain a performance advantage and Ferrari were shown to have been just as deeply involved as McLaren but only McLaren were punished.
It was later shown that Ferrari had run an illegal car in the first race of the season, but no punishment was made. If - as happened with Honda a couple of season ago - they had been docked their points, Kimi Raikkonen would not have been world champion this year.
McLaren are also going to be under intense scrutiny for 2008, with FAI President Max Moseley saying that “Finding something will not be easy. On the other hand, there are sources we are going to deploy who will give us as good a chance as its possible to have to find it.” Which says to me that McLaren might as well pack up and go home, as they haven’t got a hope of not getting penalised for something this season.
But now Renault are the subject of the FIA’s inconsistency. It seems that they obtained McLaren techincal data back when an ex-McLaren employee joined the team. It has been suggested that they did use the information gained to alter their car, but - apart from being found guilty of the charges brought against them - they have not been punished. They did the same thing McLaren were accused of, there was apparently more evidence against them, and they get away without punishment.
I’ve become very cynical about Formula One, the FIA and Max Moseley over the course of the 2007 season and it seems to me that everything done in the sport is done to serve the interests of Ferrari. I’m sure Max Moseley would argue that this is not the case, but lets see him prove it by having a bit of consistency with the application of the rules. Otherwise, the 2008 season is not going to be worth watching.
Wolfs Stuff
Wolfs Helpers
-
