One of my top commentators, Rolando, left a comment encouraging me to keep blogging and mentioning how useful he finds my blog.

Except, it wasn’t Rolando.

It was a spammer using Rolando’s name but with a different eMail address and blog URL.

While it went into moderation and did not get posted as a comment, it did change the URL under Top Commentators in my sidebar from Rolando’s site to this spammer’s URL. Even marking it as spam didn’t change that.

The only way to fix it was to completely delete the comment. Then, the sidebar URL reverted back to the real Rolando’s URL.

I’ve mentioned this before, and this serves as a reminder to regularly delete your spam comments, especially if you’re using the Show Top Commentators plugin.

I’d bet the change in version 1.05 (”Change: Changed the logic for retrieving a commentators URL from their most used URL to their last used URL.”) has something to do with it.

Before I eMail the author of the plugin, has anyone else experienced this as well? I’m trying to figure out if it’s an actual issue with the plugin, or if it’s something unique to my blog. If you’re using version 1.05 and are willing to let me post a fake comment on your blog to test this (you can, of course, delete the comment afterwards!), please leave a message in the comments.

If you are using the Top Commentators Widget, this does not seem to be vulnerable to this potential exploit. At least version 0.999 appears to be okay. (Thanks Pete!)

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Sometimes it’s tough to blog everyday. But, once you’ve made that a habit, readers expect to find something new on your blog everyday. So, not posting for a day could cause a drop-off in traffic. So, you best have new content!

Granted, I could say, hey, sorry, there won’t be a post today, but that would be an excuse post, and those types of things are bad.

Naturally, I should have a “rainy day” post saved up, which I do. Unfortunately, all of them are works in progress. Mind you, I do have two things I want to post but neither of them is finished just yet. One is delayed because I’m waiting on someone else to do something, which I know he’ll do the moment I post the post without the last bit of data, but I’d like to get that last bit of data in the actual post. The other is delayed because I’m still working on it! Trying to go deeper to have something that will be Stumble-worthy.

Of course, if you want to get one of your own posts Stumbled, you’re out of luck. If, on the other hand, you’d like to get one of your posts dugg, then I can help you out. Well, not me per se, but me by way of referring you to this article: “Top Ten Digg Tactics.”

I think that was a fairly decent segue. Other bloggers fret over their headlines, but I think good segues are valuable too. And, speaking of segues, if you’re trying to get more traffic to your site, and just can’t get dugg, you might have to promote your blog through advertising.

Wasn’t that a pretty good segue? I like to think so.

As for endings, well, I’m not quite yet the master of the long goodbye. I just sort of end the post and hope you’ll catch on.

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When it comes to blogging, I guess I’m a flip-flopper. I keep changing my mind on how to blog and how to separate my topics. But, that’s okay. There are some very good reasons to change your mind sometimes.

• Things Change
  Things do change. What was true yesterday may not be today. Certain things remain the same. One plus one is always equal to two (in base-10 math). But, other things, especially those regarding human behavior, are more in flux. People may think flashy graphics and music playing in the background is totally awesome one moment, and then become bored or even fed up with such websites months later. So, what was good then, might not be so good now.
• You Learn Things
  Sometimes you need to change your mind because new information becomes available. Or, you begin to see new trends on your website. A new, growing audience demands something different than what you’ve offered before. Or, they are attracted to the things you previously only rarely did, and now you feel you need to do it more often to maintain their interest. And, they may result in cutting back something else.
• You Realize You Were Wrong
  Everything you thought you knew turned out to be incorrect. But, it may not have been your fault. You might not have had enough traffic for patterns to emerge. But, as traffic grew, the patterns the “experts” told you about began to emerge and you have to rethink the way you had been doing things.
• You Have More Time or Motivation
  You may not have done something in the past because you just didn’t have the time or inclination to do it. And, present day, that might no longer be true. You might have gained more time, or you may have become more motivated to do things.

And, of course, it could be a combination of the things above.

With that in mind, I am (most likely and unless I change my mind again) going to start two new blogs.

First, I am going to spin out Antiques into its own blog. For one thing, it doesn’t really fit into this blog anymore, which I’ve said before. And, I even planned to spin it out before. But, then I started posting antique entries here and here. So, once again, I’m spinning…

Second, another blog, which I have previously mentioned, on gardening and houseplants. But, wait a minute, maybe I won’t. Oh, I am so undecided on this one…

Okay, so at least one new blog coming soon. Maybe two. Maybe not.

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All righty then… I haven’t done a list o’links in a while, so here are thirteen for Thursday.

1. Rose (no, not that Rose) wrote about Bloggers Anonymous. If you’re addicted to blogging, and if you’re reading this you just might be, you’ll want to check it out. Even if you just think you might possibly be addicted, it’s worth your mental health to check these things out. Don’t wait until your brain is oozing out your tear ducts. Act now!
2. Michelle shares details on how you might be able to get yourself a vintage postcard, if you’re lucky and willing to spend $3 to take the chance.
3. Robert goes people collecting…
4. The Untwisted Vortex and Rolando decided to have LASIK surgery done on their eyes.
5. Jeanne got robbed, intellectually.
6. Day 33. Joanne is still MIA.
7. The other Michelle (or was this Michelle the other Michelle?) attempts to fend off an invading army.
8. At long last, I updated (the WordPress installation and a new post–all in one night!) the StampReport.com!
9. Whichever Michelle this Michelle is might like this article on scanning objects for use in digital scrapbooking by Scraps of Mind. Then again, maybe not, as using real life objects would mean some cleanup would be involved.
10. Bobby writes about how you can ethically steal blog content, then changes his mind a bit, so be sure to read all the comments too.
11. The Rich Minx went the distance.
12. Mike took a presidential photo.
13. Little Too talks about her surgery.

How about that? A proper base-10 thirteen this time around. Possibly my first…

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About mid-last week, I made a small change. I have dropped the “dcr Writes dot Com” blog (for now) and instead it just redirects to this blog. I would simply redirect it to the dcr Writes category I added, but I haven’t been able to figure out how to edit .htaccess to do that. Well, I could if I kept a separate site for dcrWrites.com and had an .htaccess there redirect to the category here, but that’s a waste of a web account just to do that.

Anyway, here was my introduction for the dcr Writes dot Com site:

“Welcome! Since dcrBlogs.com has become more of a motivational and, dare I say, blogging blog, I figured I would post any of my writings, such as “Darnella” on a separate blog, as stories like that would probably be of less interest to the general readership. Thus, dcrWrites.com was born! Here, you will find my writing stuff. It’ll be probably a few days or so before you begin seeing anything, as I will be getting the layout just the way I want it. Stay tuned to dcrBlogs.com for updates.”
dcr Writes dot Com, January 28, 2008

Thanks to the commentators: Terence, Rolando and Jeanne.

And here was the intro to “Darnella“: “I originally posted this in November on dcr Blogs dot Com, as Joanne wanted a teaser. But as this is my new home for my writing projects, it is being moved here, which is where, obviously, you’ll find future installments.

“Darnella” is an attempt at a more realistic fairy story. What would really happen if fairies were real? Perhaps, for whatever reason, they can only be seen by the eyes of children. What happens, then, if something happens where the occasional teenager may be able to spot them as well?”

I may at some future time once again spin out dcr Writes dot Com as a separate blog. But, for now, I’ll just keep it as a category on this blog. It’s not like I’ve been posting a lot of fiction anyway…

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I had a topic in mind, but wouldn’t you know that something would come up to throw a wrench in my plans?

Namely, I can no longer send out eMail. I don’t know why.

All my settings are right. I’ve restarted both the computer I’m trying to send mail from as well as the mail server itself. Still, no go.

Thunderbird is what I have been using. Haven’t made any changes at all. I can receive mail, but I cannot send anything out.

But, I can get on my old computer, fire up Eudora and, presto!, I can send mail!

But with Thunderbird? On the computer I have pretty much everything on now? On the computer I primarily use for eMail? Nope. No can do. Cannot send mail.

So, I’m busy trying to sort this out.

Argh.

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Could you use an extra $2,500.00 right now?

If you had set aside $5 per week 10 years ago, you would have more than that right now.

And, if you had just stuck that in a bank with minimal interest, you’d still have even more.

It doesn’t seem like $5 is much, but it adds up over time. Imagine if you had set aside $10 or even $50.

And, if you had made wise investments, you would have even more money.

We often blame such things on the folly of youth, but how old were you ten years ago? Five years ago? How old are you now?

No matter where you are now, save whatever amount you can each week and hide it away. Lock it in your own personal time capsule of sorts. Stick it in the bank. Whatever. Just save. Something.

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Sorry. Not as alliterative as “Thoughtless Thursday” but can’t do repeats so this will have to do!

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As mentioned previously, I wanted to figure out a schedule for blogging, whereby I blog on different topics depending upon the day of the week. Well, here is that schedule:

• Sunday Screening - Short films and animations. How-to’s may still be posted on Tech Tuesday, but Sunday Screening will be focused on viewing and not creating.
• Mundane Monday - (Click the link for examples.)
• Tech Tuesday - Technical stuff, which may range from animation techniques to blog plug-ins. I realize that’s only technically A-B but we’ll cover the whole A-Z range of tech stuff.
• Wordless Wednesday - Pictures. Usually.
• Thoughtful Thursday - Thoughts, which were previously posted on any ol’ day, but now we’ll limit the thinking to one day a week. Why tax our brains?
• Photo Phriday - Photos.
• Success Saturday - Tips and stuff on achieving success, making more money, etc.

In addition, some days may get double posts, as I’ll still do general blogging tips whenever and also the occasional “Weird Stuff You Can Win on eBay” post, plus other stuff that doesn’t readily fit into any of the standard daily topics.

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I made some changes to the blogroll yesterday. (Well, actually today (Monday), but this post won’t be posted until tomorrow (Tuesday) which is then-now today.)

I eliminated a couple blogs that haven’t been updated in a while, or that I just don’t read as often, or that don’t visit here and I have links to them elsewhere.

Here are the latest additions:

Joe Knueven - He was the “world’s oldest SYSOP.” If you’re from the Cincinnati area, you may remember him from TSO. He passed away a few years ago, but his website is still up and running, so I’m adding the link as a memorial of sorts. He was always helpful on TSO, plus he helped me out a bit when I set up my BBS, Canville Virtual Village.

Revellian dot Com - I’m sure many of you know Bobby, so no introduction needed there. I read his blog sporadically, which works out nicely as he blogs sporadically.

LocoChihuahua.com - The old, now-relaunched blog I mentioned the other day.

The Internet Entrepreneur Diary - I already had Terence listed, but still under his former blog name, Almost a Billionaire. He changed the name a while back, but I never updated it in the blogroll. The URL is the same; just a name change.

I also added Pete, but then I took him out.

I added a new category too: Photo Blogs. Under Photo Blogs, I put these links.

Between the Waking and the Dream - Jon used to have a regular blog like the rest of us, but then he decided just to post pictures. A picture says a thousand words, as they say, but I still miss the wordy blog.

My GPS Camera Phone - This is where I put Pete after removing him from the regular blogrolls. His site is pictures, so this was a better category to put him in. And, that reminds me, I need to answer his eMail…

So, those are the new links. Check ‘em out if you haven’t visited them already!

As a side note, since there is a limited amount of space in the sidebar, I might start getting more harsh in terms of who I put there. So, if you don’t update your blog regularly, or if you decide to turn it into a porn site, you may get the boot. I’ll make exceptions if you take ill or take a long vacation or something, but if you otherwise stop blogging regularly, I may remove you from the blogroll. It’s not that I don’t like you anymore, and I do have links elsewhere like on the Blogs O’Plenty and Viral Blogs pages, but I just don’t want my sidebar full of inactive blogs. There’s a couple in there now that will probably be removed the next go-around if there isn’t some activity with them. Thanks for understanding!

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