Does this blog need the Monday minutiae ? I think not.
Instead:
From the stable of the Spammer’s nemesis comes the latest code: Referer Karma which is now duly installed here. According to my referer logs, I’m getting hit just like everyone else but they seem to be failing to get through the door because of the T2 / t2 quirk so this install is both to combat any problem and also to establish just how much of a problem I actually have. If you have any problems, let me know ? Ta :)
The ‘nofollow’ tag is now being applied in WP1.5 and later I’ll use a plugin to stop that behaviour.
It was Google and other search engines that decided how to rank sites and it’s Google that is not trying to sort it out, relying instead on the w3c. But enough of that …. hiding spam.
Given that PHP can identify strings of text and manipulate them enough to kill spam, can it also not allow spam through, but tag it for us ? The issue now – or at least very soon – isn’t just the ranking, it’s the fact that spam is seen by us and our visitors, and all the nofollow tags you like can change that one. But {display:none;} could.
A spam filter could tag spam with a class, or tag that corresponds to some css that hides the whole comment. So even if the crap gets through, it just isn’t visible. A page in the admin area could display all such tagged comments, and even an SQL query to “delete where post_tag=spam” could be effective couldn’t it ?
There is rightly a huge fight to keep the junk out of the blog, but once it is inside, is this a viable proposition to start dealing with it ? (My thinking is that it is not, but I don’t recall reading about this method so I may as well blog it.)
I’ve got 3 penguins on my Desktop !
Like OFJay, I’ve never liked the appearance of WinXP, but then he went and found CrystalXP and much much better it looks. Installation was no problem and with the Black style applied, I actually quite like the whole show now. (You need Windows Media Player 10 – an 11meg download – and the pack itself weighs in at 54meg).
Mind, one thing that comes with that is ObjectDock, and I know I’ve said this before, but Aqua Dock is possibly a better bet. The former is a 7meg+ download, but the latter is only 740K and system performance is slower (for me) with ObjectDock installed. I’ve certainly never had any problems with Aqua Dock.
Plugins – I’ve restored the Blogtimes plugin below, and also put in WP Pulse. The line monitors comment activity for the past x number of posts – don’t go letting me flatline now !
As for further playing with the layout, that’s on hold. I’ve much other work to do – and much thinking as to how to do it (that’s the WP stuff) – it’s not as straightforward as I first thought – so playing here isn’t on the agenda.
And I’m playing Metroid Prime again. Went to resume, and the save had been erased, so back to the beginning I went …
The WP forums have had quite a few posts lately about this issue, and there is new code around – you may want to use it.
I’m lucky so far in that I can count the spams I’ve had on one hand, but, like Justin, many people are not. My guess – and that’s all it is, is that the spammers have taken a long time to break down the integral spam protection that WP has, and are making up for lost time. Whether that’s right or not doesn’t matter – it’s arrived.
Because of this rash of spammer activity, there is an equal force at work with the WP coders. As of now, Owen has released a new plugin, TechGnome has written some useful code (on my WP Spam page), Kitten has compiled a list of IP’s to block (duly blocked here) and there is still more to be found in the forums. As I said, I have no problem (and is that tempting fate or what ?) but today I’m installing a variety of techniques to make sure it stays that way….
Using the ‘subscribe to comments’ feature on some blogs isn’t such a hot idea when they get hit with comment spam – I get copies too.
Latest CVS code added, all still seems well.
I’ve jigged with Laughing Lizard’s Sortable Nicer Archives code and it now works in 1.3. If you want it, click for the phps file.
I feel like a librarian at the front desk with people coming in and asking me “Do you have any books ?”
Been using the Shadow Experimental bittorrent client for a while, and just recently it’s been really slowing my system. Not sure if it was an SP2 issue, but it was certainly the problem program, so that’s gone to trash and now BitComet takes it’s place. It grabbed about 200meg of files yesterday and the system stayed fine, so it can stay awhile.
GTA San Andreas out tomorrow – the girls have told me to go get it :) (Well they can’t buy it themselves can they ;) )
I’ve altered a 1.2mingus file if you wanted to see what changes I’ve made. Please backup your existing file first though :) edit-form-advanced.phps
The actual file I altered – 1.3cvs – is here.
I have re-catalogued all the posts here – 827 of them.
A process made very easy with the Mass Category Change plugin from Stephanie. Took a while – as it would – but it worked flawlessly. Thoroughly recommended plugin.
Another dinky file I uploaded today is Category Map.
Click on the link over to the right so see the effect and reload the page a few times.
IP’s. I got the swedish leeches !! I have just added this to my .htaccess:
deny from 82.209.134.*
deny from 82.209.135.*
deny from 82.209.136.*
deny from 82.209.137.*
deny from 82.209.138.*
deny from 82.209.139.*
deny from 82.209.140.*
deny from 82.209.141.*
deny from 82.209.142.*
deny from 82.209.143.*
deny from 82.209.144.*
deny from 82.209.145.*
That covers the company Bredband2 who are based in Malmo, Sweden.
I still have some looking at the access log to do (it’s 1.5meg) – and if only it was exported in Excel format it would make analysing it so much easier) but the biggest leech has gone, and that can only be a good thing. The spider trap hadn’t got them – it’s got no-one yet – but following IP links had to pay off in the end.
I don’t care for them myself, but I just got this working for Danithew, so I figured I’d post the method:
In index.php, find this line:
<?php if ($posts) : foreach ($posts as $post) : start_wp(); ?>
Comment it out like this:
<?php // if ($posts) : foreach ($posts as $post) : start_wp(); ?>
Right under that, paste this:
<?php
if ($posts) {
function stupid_hack($str) {
return preg_replace('|</ul>s*<ul class="linklog">|', '', $str);
}
ob_start('stupid_hack');
foreach($posts as $post) { start_wp();
?>
The next line should be your date call, and straight under that, paste this:
<?php if (in_category(14) && !$single) { ?>
<ul class="linklog">
<li><?php echo wptexturize($post->post_content); echo ' '; comments_popup_link('(0)', '(1)', '(%)' ) ?></li>
</ul>
<?php } else { ?>
Now scroll down, until you see this:
<?php endforeach; else: ?>
<p><?php _e('Sorry, no posts matched your criteria.'); ?></p>
<?php endif; ?>
Comment those lines out too – like this:
<?php // endforeach; else: ?>
<p><?php //_e('Sorry, no posts matched your criteria.'); ?></p>
<?php // endif; ?>
And instead, paste these lines:
<?php } // end if in category ?>
<?php } } else {
echo '<p>Sorry no posts found.</p>';
}
?>
That should install the ‘Asides’ hack.
NOTE !
1 – BACKUP YOUR INDEX.PHP FIRST
2 – Change the ‘category(14)’ number to the one you have set for your asides.
3 – You will need to style ‘ul linklog’ in your css.
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Edit: This has been posted to my ISP space, and is mirrored here as well. Links in the menu.
I’ve made a page for any WordPress users to have a link to their page be displayed on the world map. If you were on my other one, you are already on the new WorldPress page.
and ….
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