AZDana

Archive for the ‘Commerce’ Category

Recently, I was helping someone set up a blog, and they asked if they could skip using Askimet because they didn’t want their readers to have to wait for their comments to be approved. I told them that spammers could drown a blog with their spam attacks, but I thought I would also provide visual proof. Here’s a screen shot I just took:

I found Wix.com last night and haven’t had a chance to play with it much, so I thought I’d post about it and encourage someone else to take it for a test drive (hint, hint) .  It says it allows you to create sites without using html, you just drag and drop and the end result will be a stunning site with flash.

Like I said, I’ve hardly tried it all, but I have to confess I was transfixed by the koi swimming under the text. I plan on going back and really trying it out asap, but in the meantime, have fun and if you make anything cool, I’d love to see it.

OH! It’s free too! I don’t know how companies can give away free stuff like this, but then again, I’ve never fully understood the  internal combustion system.

I admit that I don’t use a feed reader. I figure that if I want to read blog posts, then I might as well go read the posts where the blogger put them in the first place, lol. But since everyone else on the planet seems to like feed readers, I might as well learn what FeedBurner is all about. I just found a great tutorial, “Beginner’s Guide to Using and Building Traffic with FeedBurner” and I’m mostly posting it here for my own benefit. The author says, “I started this guide with every intention of putting out a short 2–3 page guide with tips for using the FeedBurner service for newbies, but it grew into a 22 page report. ” It’s free, and I downloaded it, and it’s very easy to read while being full of good hints that will come in handy for me if I ever install FeedBurner here.

I also found an article at Associated Content, “7 Ways to Increase Your Blog Traffic with FeedBurner“, which would be handy for those that are concerned about getting more traffic to your blog. As for me, I don’t think I have very much traffic right now, unless I count the people looking for my post titled Islam Supremacy and hatred taught by Muslim Mickey Mouse clone. I probably should update that soon, that clone has been replaced by another character, but that’s another post, another day.

Why I’m up at 3 a.m:

“Mom, please refresh the page”

“What about now?”

“Did you use cntrl F5???”
I’m hoping that if they’re not done soon, at least they’ll give me time off for good behavior.

I joined 125exchange.com months ago, I don’t think I ever bothered to activate the account. Normally, they send me three or four snide emails a week,  and I usually just delete them.  Tonight, they will not stop spamming me. So far, I have received SEVENTEEN emails in less than an hour.

I have emailed them back, demanding that they stop and take me off the mailing list immediately, but they persist. I am about to report them for violations of the CAN-SPAM Act to everyone I can think of, including pulling their IP address off their header and reporting them to their host. I feel bad for all the bloggers in their system, having to put up with this kind of garbage.

The worst part of their stupid emails is that they offer NO way to unsubscribe, or opt out. You are stuck in their clutches forever, receiving rude emails like, “I always wonder why some bloggers don’t want extra visitors to their blog?”

or

”What happened? You joined the 125Exchange system X days ago but haven’t created your ads yet.”

Here’s what happened, you nitwits. I decided I didn’t want to be part of your group. When I got the first email saying my account was inactive, I was glad and thought that meant we would be parting ways. Little did I know that you would continue to send me noxious junk, trying to  induce me to become an active participant in your program.

I’d have more to say about them, but they just sent even more emails that I have to delete.

I use Akismet on all my blogs, but never gave it much thought till now. Can you imagine what the blogosphere would be like if it had never been created? How many of us would just shut down our sites instead of having to wade through the vile and disgusting drek that Askimet catches? I think we all owe a big debt of gratitude to “Matt Mullenweg of WordPress and his merry band of Automattic rascal hackers“, as well as Matt’s sister, Charleen, who came up with the name.

Although this is meant for one person, I’m putting this bit of wisdom out there, so everyone can learn from one person’s mistakes:

If you are hired to do a job, do not send an email asking for a week’s delay because you have to make an emergency trip to your sister in another country, and then spend that same week posting on your personal blog about shows you’re watching on American cable tv.

“Bob”, I don’t know if you read my blog, but I just visited yours and it looks like you’re relaxing and having a grand time. Well, the good news is that I don’t plan on taking up any more of your time, so looks like you’re going to have PLENTY of time to watch even more tv because you sure won’t be working for me anymore. You probably thought you were invaluable because your pay kept getting bumped up. Yes, you did a good job, but you’re also easy to replace. Good luck in your future endeavors, “Bob”, but don’t count on me for a positive reference on your work ethics.