I’ve doubled-up on posts the past couple days, so I’m going to phone this one in.

Plus, it’s not like anyone’s reading anyway.

So, what to say?

Okay, not much done today. Been busy with something else so haven’t had a chance to work on that To Do list.

It still stands at nine items left to do. Maybe ten because there’s something I’m thinking of adding.

Anyway, that’s what’s up.

So, what’s up in your corner of the world?

Eh?

Speak up if you’re reading this.

Apparently, that’s what this is.

Sent a message to one of my webhosts yesterday, this morning and again this afternoon. Usually, they reply within hours.

Nothing.

Sent a message to a friend yesterday.

Nothing.

Sent a message on a website forum I joined today to ask a question.

Nothing.

Sent a message to someone earlier in the day who was looking for a something for which I may have a solution.

Nothing.

Sent a message earlier in the day to my customer service rep at a company I buy supplies from. Heard back on the first message, but not the follow-up message.

So, it is apparently National Do Not Reply to Dan Day.

Weird.

In other news, I received an eMail notice of a new follower on Twitter. Name sounded familiar, so I checked and it’s somebody I was already following and who had followed me in the past… to the tune of 77 times in the past 6 months.

Yeah, that’s one of those people that uses the trick of staying in the first couple pages of someone’s follower list in order to get followed by new people.

I unfollowed him and blocked him.

First time, I think, that I’ve done something unfollowed and blocked someone for something like that, but 77 follows/unfollows in six months? Sorry, but no thanks.

I just cracked open a fortune cookie.

There was no fortune.

Nothing.

Nada.

El zilcho.

Not even a blank piece of paper.

Just nothing.

Nothing but cookie.

Apparently, the fortune cookie thinks I have no future.

Current Mood: Sad. Very, very sad.

This is a trick I learned long ago and was reminded of it again while reading a thread on a marketing forum. I don’t think I’ve ever shared it, but I probably should have.

This is another trick that spammers use to get their comments approved on your blog.

A lot of times, comment spammers will be so obvious that you can’t miss them. Usually, they’re full of Viagra links and whatnot. So, if it gets past Akismet or whatever you use to block spam, you can spot it right away and vanquish them to the cornfield.

Others will seemingly leave a worthwhile comment, but then they have their name as a keyword to a Viagra site or car parts or appendage enlargement pills or whatever they are selling. Akismet usually gets most of them, but if one slips through, it’s reasonably easy to identify.

The trickier ones, especially to newer bloggers, are the ones that leave a real name and appear to leave a worthwhile comment, but link out to some spam website. You have to be careful of some of these. Still, if you pay attention to the comment and what they are commenting on, you may spot them more easily. For example, I had a spam comment saying how my insightful post was so very helpful to them on their college assignment. That comment was left on this post. Anyone who found that post useful for a college assignment is probably going to a really crummy college. But, alas, it’s just an idiot spammer.

However, there is another trick they might use to get past the doorkeeper. (The doorkeeper being you, of course.) And that is to not leave any link! They’ll just leave what appears to be an insightful comment, maybe a couple of them, enough to get past you. You’re supposed to think, wow, this guy is offering some good insights. I want to keep him commenting on my blog.

Of course, what you should really be wondering is why this guy doesn’t have a blog or website of his own. Most people who comment on blogs have blogs of their own. Not everyone, of course, and that’s what these tricky spammers are counting on.

Once they get in the door, then they will begin adding their spammy links to their comments.

Don’t fall for it!

I try to follow a general strategy of no link, no approval. Unfortunately, it may keep out a few legitimate commenters, but, more likely than not, comments without a link are spammers wanting to trick you.

It’s gotten down to the point where I’m counting down the time until I reach 1000 daily posts in a row, which, as I recall, is December 27th. But, really, I’m counting down to December 31st, which will give me two full years of daily posts.

And it seems to be dragging on.

Fortunately, I never said they had to be particularly good posts, which is a good thing because a lot of them have been pretty fine examples of “phoning it in”, so there is that. Still, it’s a bit of a pain to pound out even lame posts these days.

The bummer is that I’ve branded myself as “dcrblogs” all over the freakin’ place.

Anyway, I have had sporadic ideas for new posts, but I’m pretty much saving them for my new blog. I’m figuring this blog here might be well past saving, so I might as well start fresh with the good stuff somewhere else.

As for when this new blog might go up, well, there is this list of things to do that I need to get done first. On the plus side, the next thing up on my list will also be very similar in nature to what I’ll need to code for the new blog, so once that’s done, I’ll also have a good chunk of the code I need for the blog done as well.

And that new blog will require you to have an account in order to leave a comment. So, those of you who have already signed up as “pioneers” on my forums will be all set to comment on the new blog. That means if you’re not a pioneer, you may wish to request your stagecoach pass right here, right now.

What does being a forum member get you? Well, you can sit back and relax away from the information overload you get everywhere else. Just hang out and chat with your friends. Make new friends. Comment on my new blog. Play games (at some unspecified time in the future because that feature is not built yet…). Comment on other articles as well.

Still not sold? Well, how about this…

Remember a time when the neighborhood was alive with the sounds of neighbors gathering and conversing, when kids rode their bikes down the sidewalks, and an occasional dog barked for the frisbee to be thrown so he could run off and catch it and bring it back to you?

A time when the hot summer sun met its match in a cold popsicle stick brought to you by the roving ice cream truck, whose tell-tale song could be heard several blocks away?

Remember how scraping your teeth across that frozen popsicle would make your mouth feel all funny and send a shiver down your spine, which was weird but strangely appealing in the summer’s heat?

Remember those days?

Well, those are the days you can have again in our online community. You’ll come as a pioneer, but you’ll become a neighbor.

Won’t you join us?

I didn’t get a lot done as far as coding goes yesterday. I did a little bit, mostly in the wee hours of the morning, but I think I was mostly burned out on coding after the day I had on Sunday where things that I thought would be fairly simple turned out not to be.

Again, thanks to all the pioneers. Two of you have already been exploring.

For all those who have been there, or will be going, please be sure to check out the Village Center. In there, I have started a thread entitled “Functionality Status Thread” which is something I should have done before letting anyone in!

In it, I explain the navigation system and what is and is not working. Also, there is a logout button, so that’s explained. Beyond the navigation system, it also details the other things left to do. Assuming, of course, I haven’t forgotten any!

So, once you check in for the first time or again, please check out that thread. You can also post questions or suggestions there.

I cannot wait until I get all the coding done so that I can concentrate on content rather than all the code…

Okay, stagecoach pass applications have been sent out, although I referred to them as backstage passes in the eMail…

Anyway, I’ve sent them to (I think) everybody that requested them, except Speedy because I’m not sure if he actually requested one or not. His response was in the form of a question, so I don’t know. So, Speedy, if you want one, just ask… clearly. Don’t confuse me, which is too easy these days.

And one of you has replied already, so I’m going to finish this blog post and then respond…

So, here is where I am at. There are nine things left to do on the To Do list. Three of them are things I needed to get done before letting people in and another is one I wanted to get done before I let people in. Two of the needed ones are halfway done. They are not completely done, but they are done enough that I can let people in. The other one is not critical to have done, but I really wanted to get it done, but I also want people to be able to start exploring the site. So, I can let people in and work on it in the meantime. On the wanted item, it goes along with the last needed item. Hand-in-hand, as it were. So, I’ll work on that as well while people explore.

The other big thing I need to finish is the navigation system. Parts don’t work. But, I can explain to people what parts so they know how to find their way around without it.

So, that is where I am at. I don’t think I’ll work on anymore tonight. The last couple things–that I thought would be easy–ended up taking a lot more time than I thought.

Okay, so July’s traffic numbers are in. And, for the year so far, July is the second worst month of the year in terms of traffic. (It beat February by 7 visitors.) On the plus side, it had more traffic than last July. In fact, it’s traffic was better than each of the five worst months last year. (Last year, July was the third worst month in traffic.)

Anyway, in terms of updates, as you may recall, on Friday early morning, I had 22 out of 318 things done in that second big block to do. As of now, it is 317 things out of 317 things. (Yeah… Either I counted wrong or I missed one somewhere. Gotta recheck later…) That includes the third and fourth parts of that block. All that’s left is some miscellaneous clean-up.

Along the way, I’ve discovered that the “fix” I made on the navigation system isn’t working. It works for the first level, but not past that. Fortunately, that was already counted in my list of things to do, as I wasn’t sure if the navigation system was truly finished until I could test it after the big blocks of stuff were done.

I’ve also found other issues I need to correct, plus took care of others, so, right now, my list of 14 things remaining to do has shrunk to 13 things left to do. It would be 14, but I already fixed one of the new problems that cropped up. Of those, 5 are things I need to do before I can let people in.

With any luck, that’ll be soon.