Lorelle VanFossen, Author at The Blog Herald

WordPress and WordPressMU Merged: Whoa!

Lorelle VanFossen — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 07:26:55 +0000

WordCamp San Francisco 2009 this past weekend was a resounding success, but there is some major confusion coming from the presentation on the State of the Word by Matt Mullenweg about the “merger” of WordPress and WordPressMU.

In his presentation, Matt Mullenweg, the founder of WordPress, told the more than 700 attendees news about WordPress and its relatives under the Automattic umbrella, a form of stockholders report. He also announced that WordPress – the ORG part of WordPress – would be merged into WordPressMU.

Many, including Ozh of Planet Ozh, The Theme Lab, and Aaron Brazell were quick to announce their thoughts about the “merger of WordPress and WordPressMU,” misunderstanding the story they were getting across the live blogs and twit-stream from WordCamp San Francisco.

While I’m waiting confirmation, my understanding from Matt’s announcement is that the long time home of all things WordPress, known by many as the WordPress dot org site, will become a WordPressMU site, with nothing impacting the downloadable versions of WordPress.

With the site’s move to WordPressMU, combining the WordPress driven informational site with the bbPress driven WordPress Support Forums, the site will also incorporate the hot new BuddyPress kit, a combination of WordPressMU specific Plugins that turn a site into a social media community platform, often called “Facebook in a box.”

This is a huge undertaking, with possibly million of registered users, testing WordPressMU, BuddyPress, bbPress, and the WordPress Community as the site undergoes the changes.

Building a Real WordPress Community

In the earliest days of WordPress.com, I really looked forward to the community part of WordPress.com bloggers rising up out of the multiple blogs hosted by WordPress.com. Global tags brought some people together, but individually, not by common interest.

With the move of the WordPress.org site to include the profiles and group “friends” and “followers,” I see that dream of a WordPress Community coming true.

Jane Wells has been working on building a stronger WordPress Community set of volunteers and contributors, moving beyond coders and hackers to every day WordPress fans to help contribute to the development of WordPress in a variety of non-technical ways, from translations to simply their opinion and feedback. Imagine having access through the BuddyPress profiles on WordPress.org to information on the talents, abilities, and interests of all the WordPress users! The WordPress development team could directly consult with those expressing an interest in a specific area of WordPress.

What about WordPress Plugin authors all interested in the Google Maps API. Imagine them working together to create some new mapping feature for WordPress. Or WordPress members living in a region or community wanting to get together to create a WordPress Meetup or Users Group, or maybe a WordCamp.

I’ve found that people who use WordPress want to work with people who use WordPress. They also want to play with them. Think of the possibilities of creating a special interest group on car racing, a sport, knitting, book reading, or whatever interest you have and/or blog about. Why not? I’d love to connect with people interested in what I’m interested in, learning from and with each other by a common bond.

This is what I believe is the intention of converting the official WordPress.org site to WordPressMU and adding BuddyPress. It serves as a fantastic testing ground for BuddyPress, just as WordPress.com does for WordPress and WordPressMU, and will help unite WordPress users in new and exciting ways. With BuddyPress interaction, this may also change WordPress support in some very interesting ways as people may be able to reach out for support directly from the WordPress Community, and not just through the WordPress Support Forums.

I also see WordPress.com embracing BuddyPress as well, hopefully. That would really make my dream come true for the community I so long for from among my millions of brothers and sisters on WordPress.com. It is such a vibrant and mixed community, I’d love to really get to know who they are and what their interest are beyond the Google or WordPress.com search or tags.

In the future, it will be easier to install WordPressMU or “flip a switch,” as many are calling it, between the single self-hosted version of WordPress and WordPressMU, but for now, I believe Matt’s intention was to announce the WordPress.org site going WordPressMU and BuddyPress.

It’s exciting times for the WordPress Community!

The post WordPress and WordPressMU Merged: Whoa! appeared first on The Blog Herald.

WordCamp San Francisco 2009 Rocks the WordPress Community

Lorelle VanFossen — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 06:18:07 +0000

WordCamp San Francisco 2009 was this past weekend and brought together over 700 WordPress enthusiasts to the Mission Bay Conference Center at UCSF. There were many speakers covering a wide variety of topics including Timothy Ferriss of the The 4-Hour Workweek, Cali Lewis of GeekBrief.TV on building an audience with video shows, Scott Porad of Pet Holdings, the parent company of I Can Has Cheezburger? and Failblog.org on crowd sourcing, Dave Moyer of the WordCast and Bitwire Media on podcasting production, Steve Souders formerly of Google and the author of High Performance Web Sites on site optimization, Ann Oyama, aka SuperAnn, a freelance WordPress developer and host of BayAnime.com on WordPress Theme code, functions, and customization, just to name a few of the awesome speakers.

People came from all around the world including England, Japan, China, Spain, France, Canada, Mexico, and from all over the United States including Ed Morita of Baker’s Hours, the first recipient of a permanent WordPress logo tattoo, surprised to be highlighted in Matt Mullenweg’s State of the Word presentation.

I helped Patrick Havens of the WordCamp Report live blog the sessions. He took the upstairs “main” conference hall and I took the downstairs, ducking out when I could to help with the WordPress Genius Bar.

The collection of live blog posts on The WordCamp Report from WordCamp San Francisco 2009 include:

Many were twittering and live blogging the WordPress event of the year, as well as having their say on the information coming out of WordCamp San Francisco. Some include:

Expect a lot more news and coverage of WordCamp San Francisco 2009 to come out over the next few days, along with a ton of pictures of the event and participants.

The WordPress Genius Bar: Helping WordPress Users Use WordPress

The WordPress Genius Bar is on its second year, run by the amazing Lloyd Budd. This year, a ton of WordPress experts, developers, and customer support folks volunteered their time to help people with their WordPress issues. A common question was about transferring their WordPress blog to another WordPress blog, such as moving from WordPress.com to a self-hosted version of WordPress, moving domains, and moving between web hosts. Other popular questions involved SEO issues, permalinks, Plugin issues, images and file uploading and management, redirects, and comment spam.

There were also some really basic questions on how to blog that we loved, especially as many of the volunteers got a chance to learn more about the attendees and what their blogging ideas and goals were. One person told me how much they loved their “interrogation” as they were leaving the Genius Bar. “They were asking me more questions than I was – but I learned so much about how I’m going to start my blog because I answered my own questions!”

One person came in with a double sided, single spaced, typed list of questions for the WordPress Genius volunteers, but found when his first two questions were answered, all of his questions were answered, disappointing a couple of us ready to dig into his WordPress issues. We all laughed and sent him on his way thrilled that this was so easy.

I really recommend that WordCamps include similar helper areas. It’s a great way to learn more about WordPress and give back, but also a great place to get to know people and learn of all the myriad ways people use WordPress. Lloyd Budd does such a great job organizing these, I’m sure he’ll write some tips or offer suggestions to help those interested in adding a Genius Bar to their WordPress events.

Day Two: WordPress Developer Day

The offices of Automattic were packed with a lot of people hungry for more WordPress on Sunday.

The day was more informally structured in the Barcamp style, with three rooms open for different presentations and discussions. Several WordPress Plugin and Theme developers presented their wares and concepts, which I will cover more on soon. It was exciting to see where some are taking WordPress, changing the face and content of blogging in the future.

There were a lot of sessions in the day including discussions and code hacking advice and tips on WordPress documentation, bbPress, BuddyPress, WordPress Plugins, localization and internationalization efforts, Subversion and Trac, and more.

An interesting discussion was lead by Barry Abrahamson, the WordPress server wrangler, about how WordPress pushes their servers to the hilt to maximize WordPress.com blogs and offer tips to others to optimize their server, especially those running high load systems. Barry put the questions and a summary of the answers in the Server Q&A — WordCamp Dev Day blog on WordPress.com using the P2 WordPress Theme.

WordCamp 2009 Summary

As a huge WordCamp fan, and having attended and presented at many WordCamps, the annual WordCamp in San Francisco is a major event, and a unique one. At over 700 attendees, I believe that this year’s event is the world’s largest WordCamp, outdoing WordCamps in Hawaii and Israel by only a few, by my unofficial score.

Matt Mullenweg personally selects the WordCamp presenters for this special WordCamp, people who have influenced his own work and blogging efforts recently or over the years. He believes that if they can change his life, they can change yours. And he’s right.

Each year, through the live presentations and now the video versions hosted on WordPress.tv, WordPress fans from around the world can learn from the best of the best in WordPress, SEO, community building, crowd sourcing, content building, site optimization, and the business of blogging.

With WordPress and Automattic grown now to over 50 employees, most were in attendance from around the world, giving fellow employees and WordPress fans a chance to personally thank and get to know those who make WordPress run and improve. During the breaks, especially around the WordPress Genius Bar, it was exciting to hear WordPress tips and tricks flying around the huge open lobby and halls of the Mission Bay Conference Center.

While WordCamp San Francisco 2009 is over, there are many WordCamps coming up around the world. Upcoming WordCamps include:

The post WordCamp San Francisco 2009 Rocks the WordPress Community appeared first on The Blog Herald.

Nothing to Blog About: Backlogitis

Lorelle VanFossen — Mon, 25 May 2009 22:19:16 +0000

We all have it. The email inbox reaches 1,000 unread messages like some virtual red flashing light indicator of procrastination. You’ve got 600 tweets to read and 45 DMs to respond to. Your WordPress blog is still version 2.5 and your WordPress Theme only works with WordPress 2.1. The To Do pile on your desk resembles the Leaning Tower of Pisa. You’ve got Netflix movies stacked upon Blockbuster videos past due to return. And your blog is begging for a blog post.

The symptoms are all there.

You have backlogitis.

Also known as procrastination syndrome, Backlogitis is when the backlog of things to do saps the energy required to do the things you need to do, like the creative process of blog writing. When the shadow of things undone hovers over your psyche, it’s hard to be creative and inspiring.

When it comes to finding inspiration to blog, you find yourself with nothing to blog about.

The Prevention and Treatment of Backlogitis

Don’t despair. There is hope for those suffering from backlogitis.

Begin by taking things one thing at a time, not 500 at a time. The pile, virtual, mental, and physical, grew one thing at a time. So does the treatment.

The first step is to avoid The List. The List is another symptom. We sit down and look at our backlogitis symptoms and make a list of all the things we have to do to treat and eliminate the symptoms. We start with the first item on the list, then the second, then…well, you’ve been there. The list was so exhausting to make, and intimidating to even look at, you toss the list on your backlogitis pile, adding to the misery rather than the solution.

Skip the list.

Ask yourself what is most important and choose three. Do them. Don’t list them, don’t think about them, just do them. Action speaks loudly against backlogitis.

Then do three more. Take it three steps at a time, never stopping the momentum.

Clean up your backlog. Dig into those emails and clear out the stuff so old, it’s turning into virtual petrified wood.

Get rid of all the emailed newsletters and reports you don’t read. Deal with it and stop them from entering your inbox in the future – forever. If you pick up a new skill on cleaning out the inbox, make a note of the lesson and idea in your idea file, but don’t stop cleaning up the inbox.

Update your WordPress Theme and upgrade WordPress to the latest version. Do the same with all your Plugins. If you aren’t Theme-savvy, get a new WordPress Theme. They are free and there are thousands of great customizable Themes to choose from in the WordPress Theme Directory. If, along the way, you come up with some interesting advice for others in the same spot, jot them down. Keep moving.

If you haven’t watched those movies, you won’t. Return them. Don’t get new ones to replace them.

Look at your blog. What’s undone that is driving you crazy? Then sit down and do them. Write your blog disclaimer and comments policy, along with your copyright policy so you are covered and your readers and abusers know where you stand. Clean up your blog categories and tags so they really represent your blog content.

Look at all the left over and undone things on your blog. Are they dragging your attitude down? Get cracking.

Action Begats Action

Like me, do you belong to Backlogitis Anonymous. Are you overwhelmed with your life and is your blog getting in the way, adding to the backlogitis pile? There is a solution.

The more I self medicate with action, the more action is taken, the more that is accomplished, and the more energy – creative energy – I have.

This blog post was inspired by cleaning out my email inbox, as was this whole series. You never know where an idea will come from. It came from my backlogitis.

Cheryl Richardson, author of Stand Up for Your Life, Take Time for Your Life, and Life Makeovers, explained that when you clean up and empty the junk around you, be it physically or mentally, you make room for new things to come into the space. Without the empty space, nothing can get in. This includes new ideas, motivation, inspiration, and energy.

If your blogging content ideas have dried up, maybe it’s just too cluttered and backlogged in there. Stop putting off today what you won’t get done tomorrow and catch up with yourself. You might find you’ve survived Backlogitis to blog another day.

Articles in the Nothing to Blog About Series

The post Nothing to Blog About: Backlogitis appeared first on The Blog Herald.

Nothing to Blog About: Not Every Blog Post Should See the Light of Publish

Lorelle VanFossen — Sun, 24 May 2009 22:56:11 +0000

As mentioned in the last article in Nothing to Blog About, not every idea is worth publishing. Not every blog post is publishable. Not every blog post should see the light of the public eye. And sometimes that type of blog post is stopping us from producing blog content.

I can’t tell you the many hours I’ve spent struggling over a blog post, determined it had value and needed to be published. I’d beat at it, thrash it, rip and tear it apart, only to decide it wasn’t ready, nor was I, to have this ever be published.

Has this happened to you? A blog post you want to publish sits in your drafts or stares at you from your blog screen screaming, “NO! NOT YET!”

Are you listening?

Not all ideas are good ones. We think they are at the time, but as we develop them, the spark in the idea melts away and we are left with a hollow sense of purpose. What happened?

We all start many things full of energy and enthusiasm, then figure out midway through that it’s just not right, expends too much energy, or it just runs out of steam. The passion is gone. It’s not as exciting as it once was. It’s boring.

When I review something I’ve written and get bored, I know my readers are going to get bored faster than I am. It’s time to spice this thing up, or let it sit and mellow until I can find a way to add some color or flavor to the recipe.

Other times, I’ll look at the article and think, “It’s not done.” It’s incomplete, missing something, or just lacking. Or I’ll realize it says too much. I don’t know how to cut it down, but there’s too many points and not enough clarity.

If you get an intuitive itching at your creative spirit that says don’t hit Publish, don’t. Trust it. Not every blog post must be published.

If you find yourself spending too much time and energy on a blog post without moving to out of the draft bin, stop. This post is not only sucking away valuable energy and passion, it is a black hole you might never pull away from. It is draining your energy from other more productive and entertaining writing and content generation projects, ideas that need that energy.

Keep it in draft or delete it. Either way, stop messing around with it. You can come back to it later, but walk away. Put your energy where it will do it’s best work.

Articles in the Nothing to Blog About Series

The post Nothing to Blog About: Not Every Blog Post Should See the Light of Publish appeared first on The Blog Herald.

Nothing to Blog About: Hit the Ideas File

Lorelle VanFossen — Wed, 20 May 2009 22:36:54 +0000

If people judged me by the number of ideas I generated in single day on the subject of WordPress and blogging, I’d be the Einstein of the blogosphere. If they took a peek into the all the various files, folders, virtual and physical, I have to store all of those ideas, they’d pack me up and send me to the mental institution.

I come up with ideas for things to blog about constantly, rarely running out of ideas. The problem is that few of these see the light of day, or I get so caught up in the ideas, I can’t get past the idea to the Publish button.

As part of this series called Nothing to Blog About, we’re talking about how to stir up your mental pot when the bloggy brain bogs down and content cannot be found. From among the various options suggested already, I’d like to resurrect the traditional idea file.

Ideas Came Drop By at Any Time

Ideas are elusive. When the well runneth over, the ideas come faster than you can jot them down. When the well dries up, you’re left scavaging around the dusty corners of your brain for something – anything to blog about.

Take advantage of when the ideas flow fast to jot down or type up all of your ideas. Whatever system you use, write out the full idea. Don’t be reliant upon a few keywords to trigger the memory when you return to your notes. It could be 5 minutes or 5 years later. What’s the likelihood that “mystery cat Enumclaw 78” is really going to mean much to you after two or three years?

Write the full thought and idea, including all the keywords, phrases, resources, everything that triggered the idea. I call it a “mind dump,” getting it all down on paper so when I come back, the concept I wanted to convey is clear and I can pull a story from it.

You don’t have to publish every idea you come up with. Save them and let them mellow with time. Some actually improve.

Store Your Ideas in a Findable, Searchable Method

I’ve been keeping an Ideas and Drafts collection in various forms for years. I have bits and pieces of paper stuffed into a giant file folder or typed up in long lists in text files on my computer. There are a variety of systems, from sticky notes, scraps of paper, and napkins to word processing or text file documents. Some people use computer note taking or to do list and task programs, others simply pop it into an email and email it to themselves, then applying a filter tag or label to those types of emails and storing them in their email inbox.

When the don’t-wanna-blog anxiety hits me, I hit those ideas and drafts, so it is critical that it is in a form that is quickly accessible and easy to transport.

I plow through them, mentally tossing out this idea and that. I poke and pick at a few, thinking these might be good ideas, then shove them aside when they lose interest. If I lose interest in them, they aren’t ready for prime time.

Often I will stumble over a great unfinished article or idea that revs up my writing motor. Maybe it’s a combination of two ideas noted a year or two apart that come together to create a fresh new concept that lights my writing fire.

Aging also changes perspective, shedding new light and energy on an old subject and concept that now makes a lot more sense than when it did when it wasn’t a fully formed idea.

You never know what will inspire you back to your blog, so keep your idea list easily accessible and dig in on a regular basis.

Checked Your Bookmarks Lately?

In addition to your Ideas file, when when was the last time your really went through ALL of your bookmarks and feeds? I have over 1,000 feeds in my feed reader, accumulating published articles in thousands, though there are only about 300 that I track on a regular basis, 150 that I pour over faithfully on a weekly basis.

What are all those other blogs and websites up to? I subscribed to them for a reason, and usually that reason was quality, inspirational content. They are a living Ideas file, so why not check out what others are doing to find inspiration for what you should be doing on your blog.

Articles in the Nothing to Blog About Series

The post Nothing to Blog About: Hit the Ideas File appeared first on The Blog Herald.

Nothing to Blog About: Are You Blogging What You Should Be Blogging?

Lorelle VanFossen — Tue, 19 May 2009 22:14:38 +0000

In the last article in this new series called Nothing to Blog About, I asked you to go back to your roots, in a sense, to start over and find that “lovin’ feeling” you’ve lost about your blog subject matter to re-energize your creative blogging spirit.

What happens if you can’t find it? What happens if you’ve really lost that lovin’ feeling?

Are You Blogging What You Should Really Be Blogging?

In the early years of Lorelle on WordPress, I thought I should be writing only about WordPress. I felt limited and constrained by the subject matter, restricted to only WordPress subjects. As much as I am a WordPress fan, that got boring really fast. If I didn’t expand the subject matter, I felt that my blog would stagnate and so would I.

It wasn’t until I stopped and asked myself, “Are you blogging what you should be blogging?” that I realized that using WordPress wasn’t just about WordPress but the act of blogging. Web publishing. Community building. Having a voice and identity on the web.

Once I opened up the door to blogging topics in general, my writing energy flowed. I had a lot more things to write about. My site stays WordPress-centric, but I’ve been a blogger longer than WordPress has been around, so why restrict my expertise on that blog?

Teaching workshops and training programs on blogging and social media community building around the world, many participants walk through the door with a bloggy agenda in their heads. They know exactly what they want to blog about and why. Their goal is set.

As I take them through the step-by-step process of blog planning and creating a blog focus, it’s fascinating to watch them struggle with their blogging voice and identity, especially when challenged to come up with enough content for six months to a year of blogging. The concept that a blog isn’t a one night stand, fast publishing way to online marketing success often comes as a surprise. They soon realize they need to reassess their original goals and change their content intent.

If your goals are not realistic, fuzzy, and unclear when it comes to your blog content, then maybe you are blogging about the wrong subject, or at least from the wrong perspective on the subject.

It could be time to let that go and find your real passion in blogging.

A blog is not set in concrete. It is an ever evolving publishing platform that represents your ever evolving content intentions. You must grow with your blogging abilities and topics, or you, too, will stagnate and lock up without enough subject mater to blog about over the long haul not short run.

If you are struggling to find something to blog about, maybe you aren’t blogging about the right subject. Maybe it’s time to rethink your bloggy goals. There are no laws that say you have to finish your life blogging on the same subject you started with. Maybe blogger’s block is a sign that you need to change the subject.

Articles in the Nothing to Blog About Series

The post Nothing to Blog About: Are You Blogging What You Should Be Blogging? appeared first on The Blog Herald.

Nothing To Blog About: Go Back to Your Roots

Lorelle VanFossen — Mon, 18 May 2009 22:42:01 +0000

In this new series called Nothing to Blog About, we’re looking at the various ways your blogging creativity can be temporarily dried up and plugged up, and how to break the dam. Today, my recommendation is to go back to your roots.

Go Back to the Beginning

I know all there is to know about blogging, right? I’ve been doing this longer than most people, in fact, before some tweeters and bloggers were even born (that’s a scary thought!). I’ve been through all the various blog struggles and hoops there are to blog through. I’ve survived all the names changes from website to online journal to weblog to blogging to microblogging and the belief that social media is a new concept. I’ve had my content stolen, been accused of stealing other people’s content, abused by trolls and comment spammers, survived changes in web technology and many upgrades, and lived to blog on another day. So I’ve been there, done it all, haven’t I?

Have I? What I’ve done is forgotten what is was like to start blogging. To be the new kid on the bloggy block.

I’ve forgotten the risky feeling of exposing my thoughts publicly, beyond the journal under my mattress. I’ve lost track of the emotions as I struggle to find the words, make my point, tell a story, and find the moral conclusions that helps others change their thinking. Today, the words come easily, it’s second nature to think “blogging” in my head. Maybe it’s time to relive those and find a fresh perspective rather than an old, dried out stance.

Have you gotten arrogant, too? Maybe it’s time for you to go back to your beginnings, wherever and whatever they are, and remember what it was like for you with your blog topic.

If you write about technology, do you remember how hard it was just to save a file when your only storage method was a 1.5 megabyte disk and you had a two megabyte file or program? If you blog about writing, do you remember when you kept the thesaurus near you so you wouldn’t repeat the same adjective in a paragraph?

Articles in the Nothing to Blog About Series

The post Nothing To Blog About: Go Back to Your Roots appeared first on The Blog Herald.

Nothing To Blog About: Leave, Quit, Stop

Lorelle VanFossen — Mon, 11 May 2009 22:34:39 +0000

That’s right. Leave. Get out of here. If you got nothing to say to the world through your blog, leave, quit, stop. Get away from your desk, your computer, your office, your home, your life. Go away.

Not forever, just long enough to clear your head and mind and find your creative juices again.

As part of this new series called Nothing to Blog About, we’re looking at the various ways your blogging creativity can be temporarily dried up and plugged up, and how to break the dam. My first recommendation is for you to leave your blog for a vacation.

When I travel, leaving the “regular life” behind, I’m often besieged with blog ideas. Most of them don’t see the light of day, but they do see my Article Idea notebook, stuffed with scraps of paper, napkins, sticky notes, business cards, and whatever was available to jot down an idea or thought.

There is something about exposure to the “new” and “different” that seems to energize the brain. There are stories everywhere. So leave behind your normal day and get out, even if it is for a walk around a new block.

There are stories everywhere – even under rocks

There are stories everywhere. The problem is not the number of stories, or even finding them. The struggle is finding a story you can relate back to your blog.

Honestly, it doesn’t matter if they relate. Sometimes the mental games we play with story ideas is enough to stimulate the brain into blogging.

Bored with blogging over a year ago, I took my motor home between speaking gigs, hoping the adventure would help clear my head and make me more receptive to new ideas. I looked for stories everywhere, in everyone I met and everything I saw. I challenged things, I asked questions, both verbally and mentally.

I asked myself about why this road was built. Who was it built for? Who maintained the road I drove on? What lead someone to say, “Let’s build a road here!” and not over there? Why are the shops and malls here along the road? Why pick this out of the way place to put an outlet mall? Why not put it in the heart of a city where more people could visit and spend money instead of relying upon tourists and travelers to make your outlet mall a destination? How has moving stores beyond the bounds of the concentrated population centers changed the landscape of our country? For that matter, how has the automobile, and the motor home I’m driving, changed how we live and travel and where we decide to live and travel to?

The creative juices began to flow and ideas for new angles to talk about the worn out subject of blogging began to tickle the back of my head. A visit with one of my best friends led me to an idea to start podcasting on Lorelle on WordPress, interviewing people about their blogging tips and WordPress. To get started, I sat down with my friend, Jo, and asked her about blogging as the digital recorder caught our ever word.

And received a shocker. Jo didn’t know how to talk blogging.

All the years I’ve been blogging, she hasn’t got a clue. I even gave her a blog! She doesn’t consciously read blogs, and has no idea what to do with the blog I set up for her. While she reads my blogs once in a while, and listened politely when I talked blog, she had no idea what I was talking about. She’d just smile and be supportive, as a best friend should.

We didn’t have the jargon, a common language to talk when it came to my work. She didn’t understand terms like social media, Twitter, SEO, black hat, spam, splog, or scraper. Copyright is text found inside a book that reminds you to not photocopy it’s pages and sell them, not an part of her day to day experience and fight to protect what is hers.

Instead of being motivated to teach her and others more basics of blogging, I was depressed and frustrated. If I couldn’t get through to her after all these years, what the hell was I doing with my own work and life. A few hours later, Liz Strauss called me and literally kicked my ass.

The end result was the inspired and classic post, “10 Really Rad Righteous Blogging Tips” by my alter-evil, Lorraine. Done as a form of April Fool’s Joke on Christmas Day, unbelievably this post has become a great example of what not to do as well as examples of what people are really doing with their blogs.

Inspiration can come from anywhere, but it begins by leaving home. I had to leave the cocoon of my bloggy world where everyone speaks the same language, to discover I still had something relevant to say and contribute to the world of blogging.

So quit. Not forever, just long enough to walk away and find your bloggy spirit again. Then come back, recharged and revitalized, ready to blog again.

The post Nothing To Blog About: Leave, Quit, Stop appeared first on The Blog Herald.

I Have No Idea What I’m Going to Blog About, But Here Goes

Lorelle VanFossen — Mon, 11 May 2009 13:19:50 +0000

I’ve been at this blogging thing since before 1994 and faced many a time staring at my computer with dread. Not again. Honestly. Ain’t nothing left to say. It’s all been said before. And I said it. Tank’s empty. It’s boring. I’m bored.

A blog calls to you, begs you to feed it. Your readers want your words, and the need must be fed. What do you do when you can’t think of anything of value to add other than what you ate for lunch?

A couple years ago, when blogging was still in its infancy, a post title like this was fairly common, along with titles such as:

Nothing Happened Today
I Don’t Have Anything to Say
Not Much, You?
Been a While
Sorry, I Haven’t Been Around Much Lately
Distracted
What should I say next?
I have to write something here

Now, as an experienced blogger yourself, you know that these post titles are ineffective and time wasters since they give no information and have no keywords or search terms in them. You’ve also learned that people don’t care about your excuses and don’t want to read them, so stop making them. Just blog and get to the point.

But what do you do when you look at your computer screen and think, “I got nothing to say.”

It’s not writer’s block, or the more modern blogger’s block. That’s a more serious issue. It’s normal to confront your blog and feel compelled to write something, and yet have nothing to say.

I don’t know how it started, but blogging comes with an implied requirement: You must contribute something of value.

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to offer some ideas that might compel you to move beyond the “I Have No Idea What I’m Going to Blog About” phase into the bloggable energy phase.

Along the way, I hope you add your suggestions for how to overcome the got-nothing-to-blog syndrome and help others overcome their temporary blog blocks. We all get them, and knowing you aren’t alone can be the first step in recovery.

What blocks your creative blogging flow and how do you get past it and back to blogging?

The post I Have No Idea What I’m Going to Blog About, But Here Goes appeared first on The Blog Herald.

Weblog Tools Collection WordPress Plugin Competition 3.0

Lorelle VanFossen — Thu, 07 May 2009 23:52:44 +0000

There is no doubt in the WordPress Community. The best Plugin competition has started: The Weblog Tools Collection WordPress Plugin Competition 2009 (3.0).

If you are new to the WordPress Community, you may not even know that you are probably using a WordPress Plugin generated during a past WTC WordPress Plugin Competition. There have been some incredible great and innovative – not to mention useful – WordPress Plugins such as:

Where do you think Alex King got his start? The award for his very popular Popularity Contest WordPress Plugin helped put him on the map as a WordPress expert in the 2005 contest. Ozh of PlanetOzh has been in the past couple of contests with really innovative efforts, as well as Vladimir Prelovac who just published the leading book on writing and developing WordPress Plugins, “WordPress Plugin Development Beginner’s Guide.”

There are some changes in this version of the contest, which is why founder Mark Ghosh is calling it the 3.0 version.

For WordPress Plugin authors, the WordPress Plugin Competition is a chance to generate a lot of enthusiasm and exposure for their WordPress Plugins, and a chance to win great prizes. While there are thousands and thousands of Plugins out there, there are always needs not being met. I’ve still got a few on my own personal Plugins Wanted List.

For WordPress users, this is chance to see the brightest and best come up with the most innovative ideas and turn them into something we can use. We get to cheer them on and then take advantage of their brilliance on our WordPress blogs.

For sponsors, this is a chance for tremendous exposure to millions of WordPress users around the world. By contributing financial or material prizes, you are encouraging and investing in the creative, open source spirit that so defines the WordPress Community. WordPress users run the gamut from individual personal blogger to corporate blogger running huge publishing company or commercial sites around the globe.

Sponsors also help encourage students. Many Plugin authors are enthusiast students studying computer science, programming, design, and development. They are the future of the tech industry, and some day, you will want to hire them as they are helping to change how the web works, especially how blogging and social media work with WordPress.

I expect to see some WordPressMU and BuddyPress Plugins in addition to single hosted WordPress Plugins in the list this year.

I’ll be listing some of the entrants in my Blog Herald WordPress News and Lorelle on WordPress. Stay tuned for an exciting WordPress Plugin Competition and here’s to all the winners, both entrants, users, and sponsors.

The post Weblog Tools Collection WordPress Plugin Competition 3.0 appeared first on The Blog Herald.

WordPress News: BuddyPress News, WordPress 2.8 News, WordCamp Toronto & Virginia, WordPress.tv Feeds, and More

Lorelle VanFossen — Thu, 07 May 2009 23:02:31 +0000

WordPress 2.8 News: The final stages of development, testing, and patching is underway for the release of WordPress 2.8. The latest news on the next version of WordPress includes:

Design Tweak Poll Results: The results of the Design Tweaks Poll are in and the Fluency-style was clearly the winner. The design team is looking at all the feedback and incorporating it into a final decision on how to clean up the style of the WordPress Administration Panels. For the most part, they will do very little to change the look and feel of the Administration Panels, other than some core clean up from the previous version.
Listing All Your WordPress Tags in WordPress 2.8: While not out, Justin Tadlock offers a tutorial on creating a page with all of your WordPress tags for category, post tags, and link categories in a cloud format for the upcoming WordPress 2.8.
WP Security Escaping Functions: Standardizing and shortening the WP security escaping functions should improve security and Plugin issues.
Accessibility Improvements for WordPress 2.8: Improvements in WordPress 2.7-2.8 for accessibility including improved functionality for screen readers.
Has-Patch Marathon Results: The results of the Has-Patch Marathon for WordPress 2.8 are in and 44 patches were committed to the core, with 20 new ones added, with a total of 102 tickets closed. Expect the release candidate for WordPress 2.8 to be out soon.
Widgets Redesigned Finally: The long awaited redesign of the WordPress Widgets are in the Appearance panel is done and undergoing testing. Some visual improvements are needed, but it is close to done. Widgets are now able to be added to WordPress by extending WP_Widget, which allows multiple instances of the same WordPress Widget in the sidebar. They note that all existing Widgets must be converted to this new system as previous API functions will be removed in WordPress 2.9.
Plugin Management Panel Updated: The Plugins Management Panel has been updated to match the other Administration Panels and now includes status filters for All, Active, Recently Active, Inactive, and Update Available, as well as a search and option for setting the number of Plugins to show per page.
New Favorite Actions: The new Favorite Actions feature is a drop down menu that allows you to set your most redundant actions on the Administration Panels. It recognizes what page you are viewing on the Administration Panels and helps you to navigate faster through them.

More Usability Testing: Jane Wells and her team are doing another round of usability testing to check how the new interface for WordPress 2.8 is holding up and where some improvements can be made. In Contributing to WordPress, Part III: Usability Testing, she explains the process of how the usability testing works, and how WordPress is going to tap into the WordPress Community for testing purposes and feedback participation. Stay tuned for more announcements on this as the usability department shapes up with WordPress.

BuddyPress News: There is a lot of news coming out about the hot BuddyPress Plugin and social media Theme framework for WordPressMU, and soon for single versions of WordPress. Here are some highlights:

BuddyPress 1.0 is out and people are using it on WordPressMU sites around the world.
You can now customizable pageview slugs in BuddyPress.
It’s slow, but there are now a few BuddyPress Themes coming out to style your BuddyPress community blogs.
There are also a few BuddyPress Plugins to extend the functionality of BuddyPress.
BuddyPress, bbPress Integration Plugin Bug calls attention to a bug in the Plugin by Michael Eagan, A bug in the WPMU Enable bbPress Capabilities, which doesn’t play nice with BuddyPress and bbPress.
Weblog Tools Collection now joins the ranks of BuddyPress users and communities on their blog.

Weblog Tools Collection WordPress Plugin Competition: The best Plugin competition has started. The Weblog Tools Collection WordPress Plugin Competition 2009 (3.0) in on and it is expected to rock the WordPress year this year, even more than the past 4 years. They’ve made a lot of changes and improvements so if you are a WordPress Plugin author, check out the new instructions. For WordPress Plugin fans, this is like eating candy. Non-stop awesome Plugins.

No Spam = SEO Winner: In “Eliminating spam is good SEO,” the folks from Akismet talk about how cleaning out your comment spam can tremendously boost your SEO value as well as improve your visitor’s experience. Comment spammers are getting smarter and smarter and it’s harder than ever for us to determine what is spam and what is legit, since “Nice post” and “Great blog” are the top of the charts in spam comments. Akismet learns, but it won’t learn unless we teach it. With millions of users, it is learning pretty darn fast, though. The article covers a great list of how leaving comment spam on your site can seriously hurt your site’s SEO and integrity.

Akismet Working for US: In the recent article on comment spam and SEO on the Akismet blog, they hinted that they are working on some new methods to help protect our blog from spam comments that put our blog, and our visitors, at risk from security issues.

WordPress.tv is Hiring: If you have some online video skills, WordPress.tv is hiring. For more job openings with the Automattic team, check out the Automattic jobs page.

Feed on WordPress.tv: Michael Pick has announced WordPress.tv feeds to bring WordPress.tv video tutorials right to your feed reader. Using Miro, you can download, watch, sort, and browse web video, video podcasts, and video files, or use the new iTunes feed version of WordPress.tv.

Consolidating the WordPress Subversion: Barry Abrahamson announced the WordPress Code Repository, a consolidated version of all the small projects previously released across multiple domains. They’ve set up a Trac instance for bug reports, too. If you are involved in the code side of WordPress and Automattic projects, check out the new lightweight subversion repository.

WordPress.com News

New Theme for WordPress.com Members: WordPress.com announced a new Spring styled Theme to their Theme collection called SpringLoaded.

WordPress 2.8 on WordPress.com? There have been some subtle changes and improvements to the WordPress.com interface, increasing usability and adding a few new minor functions. Are these tests? We’ll see when WordPress 2.8 comes out. Remember, WordPress.com is the testing ground for a lot of new features in WordPress. Your feedback helps WordPress grow and evolve.

WordPress on Your Calendar

WordCamp Toronto and WordCamp RVA in Virginia are this weekend, rocking the social media world with tons of WordCamp news, tips, information, and news.

Upcoming WordCamp and WordPress Events include:

May 2009

June 2009

Each week, the Blog Herald features WordPress News, a weekly column by Lorelle VanFossen of Lorelle on WordPress featuring the news from around the WordPress Community. You can follow more WordPress news, WordCamp and WordPress Event information, WordPress tips and help, see Lorelle on WordPress and her Twitter account, @lorelleonwp, where she posts a WordPress Plugin and WordPress Tip daily. If you have a WordPress news item or tip to suggest, please contact her at: lorelleonwordpress@gmail.com

The post WordPress News: BuddyPress News, WordPress 2.8 News, WordCamp Toronto & Virginia, WordPress.tv Feeds, and More appeared first on The Blog Herald.

Glenda Watson Hyatt: Is Your Blog Disabled?

Lorelle VanFossen — Wed, 06 May 2009 13:10:05 +0000

At the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers Conference (SOBCon) this weekend in Chicago, the famous Left Thumb Blogger, Glenda Watson Hyatt of the Do It Myself Blog rocked the attendees world with her powerful How POUR is Your Blog presentation, reminding us that if our blogs don’t meet web standards for accessibility, it could be disabled.

Glenda’s powerful presentation wasn’t the typical dry stuff of web accessibility. Dry? Boring? That’s not possible with Glenda around. She has a wicked sense of humor and used it in her PowerPoint presentation, accompanied by her voice program, Kate, which read her presentation out loud. I’ve never laughed so hard over such a serious subject as web accessibility.

Glenda has cerebral palsy. It restricts her movement and speech but it doesn’t impact her intelligence, though many have labeled her otherwise in the past. In her book, I’ll Do It Myself, she shared the trials and tribulations as well as the challenges of being a highly intellectual woman trapped in a body that just can’t keep up. I highlighted Glenda in How WordPress Changes Lives, showcasing how WordPress changed her life by giving her a voice that connects with people around the world through her blog.

One of the great points she made was on how to justify using ALT attributes in your blog images:

A good test to determine if a text equivalent is useful is to imagine reading your blog over the phone. What would you say when encountering the image to make the page understandable to your listener?

She also helped us understand what text should go in the ALT description. Not just a title but a description. It must describe what the reader is looking at, not a bunch of SEO keywords or poetic license. In her example from last year’s SOBCon photos, it read, “SOBCon08 Devoured; SOBCon09 in the Oven.” The crowd roared when she asked, “What is SOBCon? Food?”

These simple examples showed all of us there that web accessibility isn’t hard to do, nor expensive, but also makes a lot of sense.

She talked about how to correctly define acronyms and all the jargon we use that only the enlightened can understand. When we saw ADA up on the screen as an example of an acronym, most of us made some assumptions on what it meant. The crowd laughed when they found out that it could be Americans with Disabilities Act or American Dental Association? How many of us have made those same assumptions in our blog posts, expecting readers to also be able to read our minds.

What about GND? It is used on Twitter and Instant Messaging services and even in email. Do you know it? Most of us didn’t, though we’d seen it. GND means “Getting Nothing Done.”

Glenda spoke about formatting links and link and font colors, showing excellent examples of the abuse of bold, colors, and underlines, making it hard to tell when which is which and which one is the link. You have to move your mouse over all of them in order to figure that out. But what if you can’t use a traditional mouse? That’s a lot of work to find a link!

The presentation was entertaining, informative, educational, and took her over three months to painstakingly produce using only her left thumb. Glenda types about 10 words a minute with the help of keystroke assistance program. She uses a joystick which she whacks around to position the cursor on the screen. Pinpoint accuracy is nearly impossible, but the perfectionist in her fights on to move the cursor over the tiny link spots most blogs and websites feature today.

The audience was already eager for copies of her slides before she even finished, and as usual, Glenda did them one better. While giving her presentation, the blog post with a link to download an ebook version of her presentation was published simultaneously, giving everyone access to the information and resources.

On a personal note, I was fascinated to see the response to her presentation. People were smiling non-stop from the first slide. Glenda has that impact on people. She is so full of sunshine and laughter, you can’t help but smile and feel positive in her presence. She is the first one to laugh at anything and everything.

When she finished, we all felt that we’d learned how simple it is to make your blog more accessible – on many levels – and how helping these few steps are for everyone, not just a few. We also found someone who was very accessible and approachable. For the rest of the three days of the conference, people crowded around Glenda asking questions and sharing their stories and challenges. For someone once labeled non-verbal and recommended for institutionalization, our world were changed at SOBCon by the power of this young woman’s voice and spirit.

I’ve included a short video excerpt of her program. She explains some technical aspects of blog and content navigation, then spanks us with a great punchline at the end.

Defining the Untapped Market and Size of the Disabled

Glenda’s message was serious as well as highly entertaining, and she added to the statistics other presenters on the subject offered. In general, about 15-20% of the world’s population is disabled, though Glenda’s husband, Darrell Hyatt, wisely adds that everyone will be disabled at least twice in their life, when they are born and when they get injured or elderly (or need glasses, canes, etc.). The Ever-Shifting Internet Population reports that 38% of Americans with disabilities surf the web and almost 20% of them say that their disability makes web browsing challenging. There are a wide range of estimates, but at least one in four visitors to your blog are disabled.

That’s a huge customer base you might be missing and not serving.

Many think that the disabled are poor. Some statistics for the disabled report only about 30% of the disabled in the United States are at or below the poverty level, depending upon your definition of “disabled.” That leaves 70% above the poverty line. In an article on the issue of the legal and economic issues for the disabled in the Global Atlanta news, an expert claimed that if you compare the disposable income of the disabled in the US to the disposable income of teenagers, a huge target audience for retailers and advertisers, the disabled income is twice that of the teenagers, yet little is spent towards this ever-growing target market.

In 2008, the retail and online store, Target, agreed to pay about USD $6 million in compensation in a class action lawsuit to people who are blind in California for failure to have a accessible website. The Olympic Committee for Australia was also held responsible and lost in court when their site was found to not meet web standards for accessibility. Laws are found in most major countries that require at least government websites to be accessible, but more and more laws are in place that require all public sites to be accessible, too.

In an article from the Guild of Accessible Web Designers (GAWD), the author states that it is important from a variety of perspectives, beyond the stats, on why you should make your site serve the disabled:

If web developers or designers ingrain in their coding acumen the basic fundamentals of web accessibility, such as proper title and alt tags in all images or not forgetting to list out your doc type or assign a language to your html tag, it’s not moving mountains or spending gobs of money to make your site easier for assistive technologies and disabilities browsers to get around.

It’s not only becoming more and more of a legal issue, it’s also an issue of ethics. It’s maybe hokey and Wilford Brimley-esque to say “It’s the right thing to do,” but really it is. Are you really willing to say that what you’re trying to sell or convey on the Internet isn’t important or relevant to would-be disabled visitors?

You can’t make a site 100% accessible to everybody — it’s just not realistic and somewhere you have to draw a line. But following basic standards will not only make your sites easier for blind, deaf, and physically-limited surfers to get around, but they’ll tend to be more standards-compliant and easier to navigate for -everybody-.

That’s an all-around win.

Glenda made the point better, showcasing her powerful presentation abilities with a very strong message. We work so hard to be inclusive on our blogs, while often excluding those most in need of inclusion.

It’s not just about excluding the disabled from reading and participating in your blog. What about those using mobile devices? Small or very large screen sizes? Those on dial up? Or with JavaScript or Flash disabled? Think about all the ways you might be disabling your blog.

The post Glenda Watson Hyatt: Is Your Blog Disabled? appeared first on The Blog Herald.

Exploring Social Media: What’s in Your Bio?

Lorelle VanFossen — Wed, 06 May 2009 02:13:15 +0000

In “Five Tips for Composing a More Effective Social Networking Bio” by Maria Langer of Maria’s Guides, she asks if your social media bio is really saying what you want it to say and makes a good point:

Your bio is your primary way to tell people who don’t know you what you’re all about. If they’re heard about you from someone else or stumbled upon one of your Twitter tweets or Facebook wall posts, they might be interested in learning more. They might even want to become your . . . wait for it . . . friend.

…Think of your bio as bait on a fishing line. Who will it attract? But, at the same time, how many people will ultimately be disappointed by the mismatch between what your bio says about you and who you really are?

She includes some basic tips for creating a virtual biography such as be brief, accurate, meaningful, careful with word choice, and avoiding really personal and private information, but let’s take the picture you paint of yourself online in these various sharing outlets a step farther.

What is most important for you to share publicly?

How Much of You Should You Share and Why?

When working with clients on structuring their virtual public profile, I ask them to list the key things people need to know about them, keeping the list as specific as possible to their goals and intent.

This last part is very important, so I’m going to repeat myself with emphasis. Your public profile must specifically reflect your goals and intentions.

What you share online is only important if you understand why you are sharing it. If you are a parent blogger, then sharing parental private issues is important to establishing your credentials online. It’s expected that you share on your Facebook page how cute (or not) the bowl of spaghetti on the baby’s head was, or what you used to clean up the mess. It’s part of your online job description to talk about diapers, baby bottles, first days of school, etc. It’s important your public profile and bio state the number of children, your child-raising experiences (and hair raising experiences), and the expertise that comes with parenthood such as PTA meetings and Little League support. It’s expected. If you are a political blogger, it isn’t – unless you have no intention of defining yourself as a professional political blogger.

If you are in the business world and your blog and online presence represents that business, your public profile and biography must represent your intentions as a blogger and business person, and clearly establish your goals. Maybe baby diaper stories will enhance your professional reputation – or hurt it. Only you can decide what to share depending upon what your goals and intentions are for your online identity.

What are your goals? Your intentions? Why are you exposing yourself online? Is it for the work you are doing now, or the position and job you want in the future? Just to create an online identity or use the web for professional purposes? Is it to establish your reputation, or support your current reputation? Is it to sell products or services? What do you want to achieve by participating publicly online in the various social media sites and networks?

Just as you should customize your resume for the job and position you are applying for, so you should customize your online profile to match your goals and intentions online. Once you have that list, you know what you can, and cannot, put in your online bio, and why.

Should You Customize Your Online Profile for Each Social Network?

A client recently asked if she should have a different online profile for LinkedIn than Facebook. Again, it depends upon your intentions and goals. Should they match? Do they have to?

The most important, and often overlooked in today’s social media culture, place to put the key information that defines who you are, what you do, and why you are active online is your blog and its about page. No matter where you go on the web, your blog should be your home base, your business card, resume, and billboard from which all else flows and reconnects. Networking services restrict what you can or can’t add to your bio or profile, but your blog is wide open for you to add whatever information you want or need to help people get to know you better.

LinkedIn is often thought of as an online professional resume service with some networking and social. It’s not really a highly interactive social network, though a few use it for that. It is mostly about making connections – professional connections. If your intentions are to use LinkedIn for professional business purposes, then let your LinkedIn profile reflect that. If your goal is to be found on LinkedIn for casual purposes, then use it accordingly.

Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter are highly social and interactive, usually considered more informal than LinkedIn. If your goal in using Facebook, Twitter, etc., is to be purely social, and not for professional purposes, than let your bio reflect your personal side, with lists of hobbies and interests in addition to some professional expertise.

If your goal is to promote your business, highlighting hobbies and special interests is nice, but do it as you would on a resume. Keep it short and sweet and not

Twitter is a strange duck when it comes to defining yourself and your identity. It’s turned into a private conversation pit for public viewing, which helps to build and reinforce your online persona while offering you another way to communicate with others regardless. People are using Twitter like IM and email – sending messages back and forth with little regard for reputation.

While your Twitter profile is visible on your Twitter page, few ever visit. With the proliferation of easier and better to use third-party applications, when was the last time you visited a Twitter page? Profiles and avatars are pulled into Twitter apps without visiting the page. Make sure the information you provide is enough. Honestly, there isn’t much information you can provide, so make sure they can easily find your blog to learn more about who you are.

How do you define you online? Do you have the same information everywhere in your various online bios? Or do you customize it for the different services? How many do you need?

And wouldn’t it be wonderful to have one spot to put all your profile information (one personal, one professional) so you don’t have to keep filling in all the blanks on those forms?

The post Exploring Social Media: What’s in Your Bio? appeared first on The Blog Herald.

TalkPress: The Forum Revisited and Revitalized

Lorelle VanFossen — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 21:22:13 +0000

Recently, Sam Bauer announced TalkPress, the WordPress.com of bbPress.

With the power of the WordPress Community behind it, could TalkPress ignite the fire under forums?

WordPress.com has been an incredible success with millions of bloggers registering millions of blogs and having their chance to blog free, or for a small fee for some services. Blog topics range from personal and private to politics and raising social consciousness. Some WordPress.com blogs have become popular and even famous, such as Robert Scoble and icanhascheezburger.

As a hosting company, WordPress.com hosts some of the largest websites and blogs in the world including icanhascheezburger, CNN news sites including Political Ticker, the Dow Jones’ All Things D, GretaWire, Time’s The Page, People Magazine’s Style Watch, and more. These companies provide the revenue to keep the free blog hosting services rocking and prove that WordPress has the strength and capabilities to support serious demands from users and servers.

WordPress.com has many features and benefits including a free support forum, easy importing and exporting, multilingual versions for over 50 languages, multiple authors, design options, and more.

The lessons learned there for bloggers prepared them for the herculean task of launching TalkPress for forums. They will need international localization, flexibility, customer service staff, community building tools, and most of all, a stable and durable server system.

TalkPress is going to be the bbPress forum version of WordPress.com’s model, a hosted forum service. Imagine, having your own free forum. The user controls their individual forum and users.

There are a lot of challenges to creating TalkPress.

Can bbPress become the Next WordPress.com for Forums?

First and foremost is the ability, or lack thereof, to connect the blogs from WordPress.com, or possibly other WordPress or non-WordPress blogs, to TalkPress. Will the same login information work on WordPress.com as it does on TalkPress, or will they be two separate sites and services? Will these be stand-alone forums or easily integrated with blogs?

In the announcement, Bauer says that work is being done to handle the huge user tables of WordPress.com – but I believe this implies the quantity of users not connecting the two user databases.

bbPress is also still in development. Matt Mullenweg admitted that bbPress has long been the ignored sibling to WordPress. Sam Bauers took over the project and shook it to its knees, adding powerful code, strengthening its weaknesses, and improving a lot of functionality. There is a tremendous community around bbPress with loyal fans, haters, and code hackers. Still, bbPress has limitations, at least for those providing volunteer support on the WordPress Support Forums and WordPress.com Forums daily, as described by MichaelH’s recent review and recommendations on Weblog Tools Collection. Bauer has agreed to review all these recommendations, and the responses, to improve the functionality and usability of bbPress on those forums, which should bleed into bbPress in general.

I recently covered a lot of bbPress news, tips, and plugins, and I know bbPress is plenty powerful to handle such a task, but it will be interesting to see how much the world embraces the new forum fever.

Bringing Forums Back Into Vogue

In the earliest days of the web, the communities were called forums, places where like-minded individuals came together to network and connect. As websites developed, some took their forums with them, along with their communities, but the web became fragmented, little islands in the sea. As online social media developed, so did enthusiasm for bringing forums back into popularity.

With the development of a free hosted forum service, forums could once again rise in popularity as well as demand.

Many bloggers debate over whether or not their blog should have a forum, and many go with them. Sites and services are best served with a forum where there value a community or customer service.

Would you have a forum on your blog?

More importantly, would you get a free forum from TalkPress if they were available? What would you do with it?

What would such a free forum service have to do in order to get your attention and fulfill your online needs?

What I’m really waiting for is the BuddyPress version of bbPress – which would totally change the sense and structure of a forum, bringing back the old CompuServe format that was so incredibly successful.

The post TalkPress: The Forum Revisited and Revitalized appeared first on The Blog Herald.

Exploring Social Media: Twisasters

Lorelle VanFossen — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 02:32:39 +0000

With the recent fears of a pandemic with the Mexico Swine Flu and an earthquake today in Mexico City, there is a lot to be nervous about. Add to it the continued spread of the conflickr/downadup virus online…with all the manmade and natural disasters and our obsessive interest in them, you would think that there would be an easy way to find out what there is to be worried about in the world.

Oh, wait. There is. Meet Twisaster.

Twisaster is a third-party app for Twitter that monitors disaster keywords on Twitter, including:

Accident
Bombs
Cyberwar
Earthquake
Flood
Hurricane
Murder
Terrorists
Volcano

Twisaster isn’t pretty and doesn’t have to be. It just gives you the core information you need. Created by Benedikt Koehler of Metaroll directory of German language blogs, Twisaster tracks the Twitter conversations for those keywords, giving disaster fans, educators, researchers, and the media a live perspective on the things that make us lose sleep in the night.

It’s not a perfect tracker but it is close. The scan doesn’t just look for those specific words, it looks for synonyms and similar words. Tweets such as “she calls me her volcanic god” or “his kiss was an earthquake” come up in the list, as would be expected.

In general, it does tell you a lot about the conversations on those subjects. In the volcano category, I found some interesting educational links and comments on volcanoes, volcanic glass, and active volcanoes around the world.

I’d like to see more categories associated with manmade and natural disasters tracked, such as disaster storms like tornadoes and tsunamis, and illnesses such as flu, virus, epidemic, and pandemic, becoming a CDC tracker in a way. This would make it very relevant today with the spread of the swine flu globally.

Working from this basic keyword tracking scheme, Benedikt created other apps for tracking a variety of themed keywords in German and English:

Twetter to track the “weather in Twitter County” for mentions of different types of weather.
EatFeed for Döner (Dinner), Pommes (fries/chips), Wurst (sausage), Sushi, Schnitzel, and Pasta.
DrinkFeed tracks the drinking and eating categories on Twitter such as coffee, wine, beer, tea, milk, vodka, cocktail, and soft drinks.
EcoFeed tracks Global Warming, Alternative Energy, Sustainability, Organic Food, Environmentalism, Endangered Species, Inconvenient Truth, and Urbanization.
GrapeFeed bringing the latest mentions of wine on Twitter, a tool Gary Vaynerchuk probably has in his arsenal of social media tools.

There are a lot of possibilities with such a Twitter app. Why not track restaurants and cafes to see what people recommend to eat, in addition to drink. Why not track software, hardware, or other core subjects?

I’d love to see this app turned into something user-driven. I’d want to create my own set of keywords with synonyms to track in this very simple format.

What would you like to track categorically on Twitter? What tools are you using to do so?

The post Exploring Social Media: Twisasters appeared first on The Blog Herald.

WordPress News: WordPressMU Updated, WordPress 2.8 News, WP.com, WordPress Events

Lorelle VanFossen — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 01:25:50 +0000

Some Administration Panel Redesigns in WordPress 2.8: While WordPress committed to no changes in the WordPress Administration Panels interface, there will be a few minor tweaks. In “Design Tweaks: Who’s In? (An idea in three acts),” Jane Wells explains that your help is wanted to redesign the header area of the interface. UX and design guidelines have been posted and you are welcome to have your input until Tuesday, April 27, 2009. The submissions will be offered for voting for only one day due to the pressure to get WordPress 2.8 released.

WordPress 2.8 News: The final stages of development, testing, and patching is underway for the release of WordPress 2.8. The latest news on the next version of WordPress includes:

Has-Patch Marathon Results: The results of the Has-Patch Marathon for WordPress 2.8 are in and 44 patches were committed to the core, with 20 new ones added, with a total of 102 tickets closed. Expect the release candidate for WordPress 2.8 to be out soon.
Widgets Redesigned Finally: The long awaited redesign of the WordPress Widgets are in the Appearance panel is done and undergoing testing. Some visual improvements are needed, but it is close to done. Widgets are now able to be added to WordPress by extending WP_Widget, which allows multiple instances of the same WordPress Widget in the sidebar. They note that all existing Widgets must be converted to this new system as previous API functions will be removed in WordPress 2.9.
Plugin Management Panel Updated: The Plugins Management Panel has been updated to match the other Administration Panels and now includes status filters for All, Active, Recently Active, Inactive, and Update Available, as well as a search and option for setting the number of Plugins to show per page.
New Favorite Actions: The new Favorite Actions feature is a drop down menu that allows you to set your most redundant actions on the Administration Panels. It recognizes what page you are viewing on the Administration Panels and helps you to navigate faster through them.

WordPress MU 2.7.1 Released: Donncha announced WordPress MU 2.7.1 has been released. The new features include a revamped WordPressMU Plugin system, a new “My Blogs” page to feature the user’s blogs and set the settings, and the ability to set a Global Dashboard blog for those without blogs. WordPressMU 2.7 now permits upgrading directly from inside the MU Administration Panels.

BuddyPress Release Candidate Out: The BuddyPress 1.0 RC-2 is out for serious testing as it moves towards final release. BuddyPress is a WordPressMU Plugin and design package that incorporates social networking features.

WordPress/Google Summer of Code Students Announced: The students participating in the Summer of Code Students have been announced along with the projects they will be working on. There are some exciting projects from which the majority of WordPress users will benefit from when completed.

WP Super Cache WordPress Plugin Updated: The popular WP Super Cache has been updated again. It is used to speed up the loading process and slow down the server load on your WordPress or WordPressMU blog site.

WordPress.com News

WordPress.com is now WP.com, too: The WordPress team has now acquired the domain name for WP.com which currently redirects to WordPress.com. Matt’s debating about doing more with it, but that’s where it lands now.

WordPress on Your Calendar

Upcoming WordCamp and WordPress Events include:

April 2009

May 2009

Past WordPress News Reports

The post WordPress News: WordPressMU Updated, WordPress 2.8 News, WP.com, WordPress Events appeared first on The Blog Herald.

Year of Original Content: Make Money From Copyright Thieves

Lorelle VanFossen — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:13:37 +0000

I and Jonathan Bailey of Plagiarism Today have long been advocates of copyright protections and education, leading the way with projects such as “Ask First,” the “Year of Original Content,” “5 Content Theft Myths and Why They Are False,” and “The 6 Steps to Stop Content Theft.”

It seems that the rest of the world is waking up to the fact that stolen content is big business. Within the past two years, there are a variety of services you can use to track where your online content has gone, report and stop it. A new project is underway called the Fair Syndication Consortium that might put a dollar amount on that stolen content, paying you for others abusing your content.

In an article called “Should Ad Networks Pay Publishers For Stolen Content? The Fair Syndication Consortium Thinks So.” on TechCrunch, Erick Schonfeld talks about the Fair Syndication Consortium, a project by Attributor that also includes a consortium of media publishers such as Reuters, the Magazine Publishers of America, Politico, and others, to fight back against, and make money from, those who use other people’s content, specifically theirs.

The Fair Syndication Consortium is initially trying to address a legitimate problem on the Web: the proliferation of splogs (spam blogs) and other sites which do nothing more than republish the entire feed of news sites and blogs, often without attribution or links. There are tens of thousands of these sites, perhaps more. Rather than go after these sites one at a time, the Fair Syndication Consortium wants to negotiate directly with the ad networks which serve ads on these sites: DoubleClick, Google’s AdSense, and Yahoo primarily. For any post or page which takes a full copy of a publisher’s work, the Fair Syndication Consortium thinks the ad networks should pay a portion of the ad revenues being generated by those sites.

Erick talks about meeting with Attributor and the new Consortium and learning about the numbers behind the stealing of other people’s content. In one example, assuming a USD $0.25 CPM (Click Per Million) value, approximately $13 million could be earned by the ad revenues on splogs using publishers’ content.

That’s a lot of money going to those who benefit from the abuse of other people’s content. So why not get a cut? It’s your content. It’s your hard work. It’s your work!

In the past, we’ve tried attacking spam blogs by stopping the spread of their blog comments via tools like Akismet and demanding that services like Google’s Blogspot clean up the splog abuse on their services while profiting from the ads generated by the abusers. I’ve long been a proponent of stopping splogs at the source, but people don’t seem very responsive to that idea, allowing black hat bloggers to proliferate the web, and the sites that continue to host them to benefit as well. It appears that money talks louder than moral fiber.

The newest proposal by the Fair Syndication Consortium is to go after those who pay sploggers, the ad networks that permit ads to be put onto stolen content.

Go after those three ad networks, and the majority of the problem could be solved. There is certainly precedent for this type of approach. Look at YouTube’s Content ID program, which splits revenues between YouTube and the media companies whose videos are being reused online. Except this proposal would take money that would otherwise be distributed to the splog sites themselves, and give a portion of it to the publisher as an automatic syndication fee without the consent of the site owner.

Jonathan Bailey calls it “getting paid for being copied.” He says:

Content monitoring company Attributor, announced a new initiative yesterday, entitled the Fair Syndication Consortium, which it hopes will revolutionize the way publishers of all sizes deal with content reuse by turning copyright infringement and plagiarism into a profit center.

The consortium hopes that, by working with advertising companies, they can redirect a percentage of revenue from sites that use content without permission. This will, in theory, reduce the amount of DMCA notices filed and will content copying and redistribution rewarding for both content creators and for those performing the distribution.

Right now, this would benefit the big publishing companies as they can afford to support such services and the technology for tracking and invoicing the various agencies involved. However, Attributor offers FairShare a free service that helps bloggers and others track what content of theirs is being abused, and others are working on similar projects. What services would be available for regular bloggers to get money back from the advertisers who permit others to abuse your content…that’s the big question we all are waiting to be answered.

There are a lot of other questions that have to be considered before you could really benefit and see the money from those who use your content without your permission.

How Vague Can Your Copyright Policy Be?

There would have to be guidelines on copyright policies before compensation and participation in such programs could be implemented.

If your copyright policy is vague or licensed for free use of your content, then there isn’t much you can ask for if you aren’t specific up front. For example, your copyright license may say “no commercial usage” but what does that mean? Does that mean using your content on a site that pays their authors (but not you), on a site with ads (how many ads define commercial?), or just any site that someone uses to generate any income?

How much of their content could they use before crossing your copyright policy barrier to prevent the content use or generate compensation? I like the 10% or 400 words policy, but others are more flexible.

Since tracking copyright violations are done with machines, some parameters need to be established, possibly even customizable to the needs of the copyright holder’s desires, before you could participate. What would those look like?

What Kind of Compensation Do You Expect?

What would compensation look like? That’s another important question to consider.

Would a link back be enough? If all you want is credit to the source, you, then maybe a link back is enough compensation.

For others, it’s not. If money is being made, people want a piece of the pie. So how much compensation would you expect from such a program? And how much would you be willing to pay or give back as part of Attributor or other companies collecting fees?

The copyright tracking and invoicing companies are in this for the money. And there is a ton of money to be made. Participation in such a program would have to be financially beneficial to the member, but there is more to the process than that.

I participated in the early days testing of Attributor’s FairShare program and while it has drastically improved, it can be a time consuming to check and verify if the content is really being stolen and if the site meets my copyright policies for full or Fair Use usage. The more work involved in tracking, reporting, and identifying those who abuse our content, the more compensation I want in return.

The easier the process, especially if I as a user would have to do little or nothing other than sign up and set up a few criteria parameters, the more willing I would be to give up 5 – 25% of the income derived from such a service. Better yet, a flat fee based upon whatever criteria the service would offer, like USD $25 to $100 a year.

This is an evolving business model, helping writers, photographers, musicians, publishers, and bloggers get money back from the abuse of their content, and it is, indeed, big business. What do you think it will look like? What do you want out of it? What are you willing to put into such a program?

And would you even participate?

The post Year of Original Content: Make Money From Copyright Thieves appeared first on The Blog Herald.

Blog Design: What You Don’t Know About Your Blog Audience Can Hurt

Lorelle VanFossen — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 22:02:36 +0000

I had an interesting discussion with a client last week about when and how to implement a new blog design. She wanted to warn her readers that a change was coming, and take a few months to implement the changes step by step.

We talked about the process and created a timeline for the slow unveiling of the site design, a smart decision for those with a large audience, especially when making dramatic changes to the site’s navigation and content handling. Some audiences can handle it, and love design changes, but some can’t. They just don’t respond well to change.

We talked a little more about her readership, covering some basic web analytics such as where her readers come from, how they access the site (through the front page, single pages, tags and categories, or through aggregators, email or feeds), and I stumbled upon some stunning facts that shifted the entire game plan.

While her site gets a steady stream of visitors, several thousand a day, only 10% return. Of those, only three percent return to the blog at least once week. Honestly, that’s about 9 people a week.

This changes everything.

Sure there’s something wrong with the blog with that low ROI on visitors, but there’s a bigger problem here that directly impacts the design development process.

If you are making your design decisions based upon the assumption that your reading audience doesn’t respond well to change, slowing down the design development process over time, and your web analytics tells you that this change would really only impact the small number of return visitors, that’s a big assumption to make – and I fear, the wrong one.

Designing For Your Audience Means Understanding Your Audience

With more investigation, I found out that it was the client that didn’t respond well to change, not her readers. She wanted to go through this process slowly. Nothing to upset her process of relearning how to navigate her own site.

Nothing wrong in that, but when you put your assumptions on your readers, something’s wrong.

Do you really understand your audience? Who are they? What are they really doing on your site? What are their needs? Are you really fulfilling them?

Where do you get your information? Your statistics? What numbers are you looking at? Which ones are influencing your decisions?

There are a lot of things we can know about our readership, but there are a lot of things we can’t assume because the numbers don’t tell us. What assumptions are you making? And how is that impacting what you do with your blog?

The post Blog Design: What You Don’t Know About Your Blog Audience Can Hurt appeared first on The Blog Herald.

WordPress News: 2.8 Patch Marathon, TalkPress, and Commercializing WordPress Plugins

Lorelle VanFossen — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 05:01:05 +0000

WordPress 2.8 Has-Patch Marathon: Jane Wells announced The Super-Awesome WordPress 24-Hour Has-Patch Marathon to attack 500 active tickets on WordPress 2.8. The invitation included developers, hackers, and coders to dig into the code of WordPress and fix all kinds of things and test them from April 16-17. We’re awaiting results of the marathon.

TalkPress: Imagine combining the architecture behind WordPress.com with bbPress. The end result is TalkPress. In a recent announcement on the bbPress blog, Sam Bauers explained that TalkPress is going to be a hosted forum service using bbPress with the HyperDB extension for WordPress to create a WordPressMU style network of bbPress forums. It is currently being tested by corporations such as Time’s Health.com site.

Help Test Subscribe to Comments WordPress Plugin: Mark Jaquith is looking for beta testers for his popular Subscribe to Comments WordPress Plugin who are running the latest version of WordPress and have a large number of comment subscribers and are familiar with backups and restores of their WordPress database – in other words, willing to risk their blogs to test the Plugin.

Commercializing WordPress Plugins: In Adding Commercial Intent to WordPress Sites, A Solution For Plugin Developers? Vladimir Prelovac digs into the issue of how WordPress Plugin authors could fairly be compensated for the work and support they put into their WordPress Plugins without breaking the GPL. The idea of a free market for WordPress Plugins has been played with in the past, but he brings up some interesting new thoughts on how it could work to benefit everyone.

iPhones Community Forums: iPhone for WordPress now offers a forum called the WordPress for iPhone Community Forums.

WordPress.com News

Improving What You Find on WordPress.com: Instant Findability was announced by WordPress.com, part of the WordPress.com search engine. The improvements make the process faster and include content in the search results as soon as you publish.

March Stats and News for WordPress.com: The March Wrap-Up is out with some more impressive numbers. 389,819 blogs were created and 423,744 new users joined. There were 1,191,390,256 pageviews on WordPress.com, totally 2,309,498,060 total across all WordPress hosted and tracked blogs. Matt’s favorite stat is the word count and 1,456,062,555 words were published in March.

WordPress.com Gets TED: If you are a fan of TED, the entertainment and educational video network, you can now embed TED in WordPress.com (Video).

WordPress on Your Calendar

Past WordPress News Reports

The post WordPress News: 2.8 Patch Marathon, TalkPress, and Commercializing WordPress Plugins appeared first on The Blog Herald.

What Changes Your Mind About Leaving a Blog Comment? Some Criteria

Lorelle VanFossen — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 03:32:20 +0000

In my article, “What Changes Your Mind About Leaving a Blog Comment,” I talked about some of the issues around debating where and when to leave a blog comment on a blog that hosts information or opinions you don’t support, or is filled with blog clutter, a clue that something isn’t right. About how your comment may be seen to support the blog, and impact your reputation by association.

As I wrote that post, I looked back over all the WTF Blog Clutter articles in the series and realized that many of these issues are ones that impact my willingness to comment on a blog. Sure, they impact my ability to even read the blog, let alone return and tell others, but they also impact my willingness to endorse a blog with a comment.

I started thinking about all the blatant, subjective, and even unconscious reasons that prevent me from leaving a comment on a blog. Here are some of my self-discoveries, most of them associated with various aspects of blog clutter. I’m sure you have more you can add, but these are big clues that this is a blog that doesn’t deserve my participation.

Too Many Or Ugly Ads: If the ads outweigh the content, my perception is that they are in it for the money not the passion nor community. I’m gone, leaving no comment behind.
More Business than Personal: I’m finding myself avoiding purely business-oriented blogs, wanting the personal touch. If it screams old fashioned corporate, I’m not interested. I want the new personal and social corporate touch.
No Human: If the blog post byline reads “admin” and there is no human, real sounding name in the blog title or anywhere visible above the fold, I’m gone. If it is hidden in the post meta data at the end of the blog, maybe I’ll hang around, but it makes me doubt. I want to talk to a human, not a machine or anonymous.
No Original Content: If the content even has a hint of plagiarism, with little or no sign of original connect, I’m gone. If I find a blog post copied by someone else, even if it is within Fair Use, if there isn’t original commentary to accompany it, giving me something to respond to, I’ll comment at the source not the copy.
Spam-filled Comments: If there are spam comments in the comment queue, I’m gone. Clearly this blogger doesn’t care about their blog to keep it cleaned up.
Lots of Signed Comments: Like comment spam, if I see a lot of comments signed, especially signed with a lot of links, I think this is a blogger who either doesn’t care, doesn’t pay attention to details, or is into link spamming, thus allows abuse of their blog comments. Either way, they’ve lost my interest and respect.
Closed Comments on Old Posts: If I find that the blogger closes comments on old posts, leaving me no way to comment except through their contact form or new posts, I won’t be back nor comment in general. If I don’t know, and comments are open, I’ll comment, but if I do know, they lose my respect.
Ugly and Old Fashioned Designs: I can spot an “old website” or blog design in a second. Can’t you? One that screams pre-1999 table-based design or the Kubrick Default WordPress Theme. If they don’t care enough to update their blog design or Theme, then I’m suspicious. I won’t comment unless it is clear from the content they really don’t know what they are doing.
Different Fonts in Different Posts: We’ve all seen it. Post one has good looking, readable fonts. Post two has tiny, hard-to-read fonts. This is usually a sign of 1) a scrapper blog or 2) someone who copies and pastes – plagiarises – other people’s content. Sorry, that’s another clue that I’m not interested in participating on a blog without original content.
CAPTCHAs, Quizes, and Human-versus-machine Tests: Won’t do it. I’m so tired of jumping through hoops to leave a comment on sites using antiqued (or modern versions) of CAPTCHAs, Quizes, and other comment torture tests, I have to have a serious incentive to comment on blogs with those. Let nothing get in the way of your post and my comment.
Blogspot/Blogger Blogs: I apologize openly to all Blogspot/Blogger bloggers, including my friends who use their services. I HATE the old fashioned way comments are handled. While many are now using the new commenting system, if I have to jump through hoops to leave a comment, such as clicking a link that takes me to a page without the blog post on it, I won’t comment any more unless I’m desperate. I hate it that much.
Selling WordPress Stuff: I don’t mind bloggers who promote themselves legitimately as WordPress experts or offer WordPress Themes or Plugins for pay. I will not, however, participate on a blog that violates the WordPress trademark on the domain name or sells itself as the paid solution to all your WordPress needs. You know who you are.

Some of these reasons not to comment are biased and prejudice, but they cross my mind as I look at a blog and contemplate commenting. I don’t care about the mythology of nofllow and dofollow as an incentive to comment. I don’t comment for SEO link juice. I comment for purpose. I comment for conversation.

While I may sigh and whine about poorly designed comment boxes, I will still comment if the motivation is there, even if I’m given only two lines within the comment box textarea. I lose motivation the harder I have to work to comment, though.

There are a lot of reasons not to comment on a blog, and these are some of mine. What are yours? What stops you from leaving a comment on a blog?

The post What Changes Your Mind About Leaving a Blog Comment? Some Criteria appeared first on The Blog Herald.

What Changes Your Mind About Leaving a Blog Comment?

Lorelle VanFossen — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 05:05:44 +0000

A few minutes ago I followed a trackback to a lovely blog post about one of my blog posts. It was quite complementary and made some good points. I was in the middle of composing a reply when I glanced over to the sidebar and saw the listing of the most recent blog posts featuring what were clearly pay-per-post or sponsored post titles. Ick!

That was my first response. Ick. Yuk. Oooey gooey, as one of my nephews would say.

We’ve talked about a lot of different design detail clutter and distractions in the ongoing series, “WTF Blog Design Clutter“, but we haven’t addressed the issue of perception when it comes to inspiring blog comments and conversation.

It’s true that a lot of people comment on blogs for link bait and Google juice. While that may be true, what is unsaid about the importance of a blog comment is probably the most important consideration when it comes to commenting on blogs: Association by commenting.

A blog comment says you want to participate in the conversation. It says you are interested in the topic. It says you are supportive of the blogger. It says you are who you say you are. It says that the link in your comment form takes the reader to your blog, which should speak well of you and match the quality of the blog you are commenting on. It says you want to be a valuable contributor to the blogosphere and the world of communication. Right?

No? Well, maybe it should.

Your Comment is Your Clutter on Their Blog. It Better Speak Well of You – and Them

When I leave a comment, it’s a mini resume. It’s a small representative of me, of what I stand for, what I believe in, and, in many cases, what I blog about. It points to me, exposed for all the world (and search engines) to see. It better speak well of me.

Therefore, by association, if I comment on a blog doing something or covering a topic I’m not in favor of, or on a blog stuffed with ads or comment spam – by leaving a comment am I encouraging them? Would someone seeing my comment on such a blog associate me with such practices? Will their poor content and bad blog decisions rub off on me and my reputation?

If the blogger is a hate monger, blogging dark and negative stuff, it’s easy to judge them and distance yourself from associating with them. “I’d never comment there!” is easy to say, but things get a little grayer when the line slips and slides in the sand of judgment.

If the blogger does the occasional pay-per-post, that’s not the end of the world. That person may be a great person, and be totally sincere in their blog writing on sponsored posts.

The first appears cut and dried. No matter how many wonderful things they may write about you and your blog, you may not want to participate on theirs when they are the opposite of what you believe. It gets more complicated when what they blog about, and what the put on their blog isn’t right for you, though it may be right for you. Some people’s clutter is another person’s art.

It’s something to consider.

Judging How We Judge Others

We are often judged by our friends, the relationships around us. I learned early on that much of who you are is determined by who you hang out with. Your friends’ behavior, attitude, fashion sense, and reputation say much about the choices you make.

At one of my first high school reunions, a fellow student told me I’d changed since high school. “I used to think that you were one of ‘those’ kids.” “Those” kids, by her definition, were the “popular” kids, the ones who got all the attention and fame.

I was stunned. The kids I hung out with were the outcasts and loners, the chess club, computer geeks, and the band. Yet, when she remembers me singing in the choir, messing with the band, and involved in the acting club. Around me were the “stars” of the school, so she assumed that these were my friends and judged me accordingly. So did many others, I learned when I started asking around, inquiring with others which groups they thought they belonged to in high school.

It was amazing to see how many perceived others belonging to a specific group by association rather than reality. That perception can carry more weight than the truth influences the public and professional decisions I make.

By leaving a comment on a blog that I would not normally condone or support, by association I fear my reputation. Do you? Does the message your comment sends mean that much to you?

Tomorrow, I want to look at some of the ways we judge other bloggers, and our desire to comment or not on a blog. Where do you draw the line when it comes to commenting, linking, or trackbacking?

The post What Changes Your Mind About Leaving a Blog Comment? appeared first on The Blog Herald.

Security and Hacking: Reporting Cyber Crime

Lorelle VanFossen — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 04:48:09 +0000

Over the past few months, I’ve been writing a lot about cyber crime and security vulnerabilities, especially as it impacts social media and blogs. The April 1, 2009, expansion of the Conficker/Downadup Worm Infection worried many as the 1 in 16 ratio of infected computers increased dramatically around the globe and attacks were aimed at social media services like MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter.

With the increase in cyber crime and security issues, and the growing profit found in cyber crimes, where do you go to report cyber crime if you find it or are a victim of it?

The first step is prevention. As a rule, don’t open email and delete all blog comments that look suspicious. Never click on a link that looks suspicious. Keep your web browser upgraded and patched to ensure your protection from attacks from malicious websites.

Pay close attention to detail. Never give out passwords, usernames, or private information. Never publish your email, phone, or contact information unless you want to invite a response from anyone and anything.

If you won’t do it in your offline life, don’t do it online.

These simple steps will help you prevent a lot of cyber crime, but what happens when you experience it?

How to Report Cyber Crime or Security Issues

In Security and Hacking: Protect Thyself and Thy WordPress Blog, I wrote about how to protect yourself and your WordPress blog and how to report security vulnerabilities and bugs to WordPress. Let’s look beyond WordPress to how to report cyber crime in general.

If you spot unusual behavior on your blog, on other blogs, on social media tools, or elsewhere on the web, report it to the blog owner/webmaster or company immediately. It could be a simple problem with their design, code, Plugin or Theme, or it could be something worse. Report it to the person most likely to respond and take action.

Take care reporting security issues to the world before reporting them to the proper authorities. Know the difference between a bug and a security vulnerability. For WordPress users, bugs in WordPress are to be reported via the WordPress Bug Report, but security issues are to be made to security@wordpress.org. The same applies to other online applications and programs. Know the difference and report it appropriately.

The United States is part of the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime and other international agencies fighting against cybercrimes. To report a cyber crime, US citizens should read “How to Report Cyber and IP Crime” for information on cyber crime reporting within that country. In Canada, try the Reporting Economic Crime On-Line, and in London, the Metropolitan Police Service – Computer Crime Unit handles cyber crimes.

Other international organizations that track and help report cyber crimes include:

Internet Watch Foundation (UK)
INHOPE (European Internet Hotline Providers)
Safer Internet Action Plan (EU)
UNIRAS aka CPNI – Center for the Protection of National Infrastructure and the UK Government Computer Emergency Reponse Team
The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)
US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (FTC Complaints, tips and complaint form)
United States Department of Justice (USDOJ)
EC Safer Internet Action Plan
CERT Coordination Center for Home Network Security.
CERT/CC (US)
US Government CERT (Computer Emergency Readiness Team)
EC Safer Internet Action Plan
InSafe – European Network of e-Safety Awareness Nodes (EU)
US-CERT (United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team) – Current Activity on phishing, blog, and computer scams
UK Council for Child Internet Safety
US Better Business Bureau
Reporting Economic Crime On-Line (Canada)
Network Abuse Clearing House

There are just a few of the locations for English speakers I found for reporting cyber crimes. Find out where to report them in your area and language.

Remember, comment spam and content theft are generally not yet considered a cyber crime, nor is most spam email. These are handled differently.

Cyber-stalking is a cyber crime, as is harassment. Misleading, fraud, theft, worms, viruses, computer infections, hacking, and online criminal activity are cyber crimes. The odds are that if it is illegal to do it offline, it’s illegal online.

Articles on Hacking, Cyber Crime, and Security on the Web

The post Security and Hacking: Reporting Cyber Crime appeared first on The Blog Herald.

Twitter is a Public Way to Have a Private Conversation

Lorelle VanFossen — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 05:16:42 +0000

My husband was doing his best to explain Twitter to non-techy friends of ours. As the experienced web user and teacher, I was fascinated to hear how he would explain something he’s never used.

Twitter is a public way to have a private conversation.

He’s very right. In “Silly Out-of-Context Tweets — Can They Hurt?” Liz Strauss brings up the “elephant in the room” that describes much of what Twitter is, does, and can do, especially when Twitter meets search engine, exposing your tweets to the world.

Ever heard someone describe something you weren’t prepared to hear about? Ever had it happen online? Ever had one of your random “tweets” show up in a Google Search or a Google Alert?

…It can be weird. It can be funny. But the potential of words out of context doesn’t feel good. We know what we meant, but not everyone who see those out-of-context words would.

…Imagine how a random tweet might seem to folks who just dropped in to see who we are, to get reference, or to explore some social media topic our comment was in. It’s probably a good thing most clients or family wouldn’t start with Google Blog Search or a Google Alert.

Or do they? If someone is researching your credibility, reputation, and identity, especially if they want to do business with you, isn’t the first spot they hit usually Google? It used to be enough that they found your old college pranks and drunken episodes on YouTube or Flickr. What are they going to think if they find your tweets? Especially your tweets out of context.

As Liz goes on to say:

Can silly out-of-context Tweets hurt? The Internet has a long memory and no eraser.

Twitter is one big party, a giant social gathering you wander through, catching ear fulls of things you might just smile at, others ignore, and even more likely, over hear bits and pieces of a conversation that shock.

We’ve all done that. While some liken Twitter to the “Some Enchanted Evening” phenomenon where “you may see a stranger across a crowded room” – in this case, across a crowded room could mean a life long lover or a destroyed reputation.

Twitiquette

Here are a few tips and twitiquette to help you avoid that over-heard-misunderstood and out-of-context online statement.

Your Grandmother Will Read This: Pretend or assume that your grandparents, parents, or people whose trust and respect you desire will read what you tweet.
Your Boss or Client Will Read This: What if someone you depend upon for your income will read your tweet out of context. What will they think? What will they assume about you? How will they react? Is it worth your job?
Your Kids Will Read This: What you say today may haunt you forever. Online data is being preserved at a phenomenal rate and what you say today online may be found by your children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and beyond. Think about what a historian or anthropologist finding your tweet 200 years from now will think. Tweet for posterity.
Does This Really Represent YOU: There are two ways to think about this. Does your tweet really represent you, the real you, or does it represent the you that you want the world to see? The professional you? The one who gets out of the sweats and into the business suit, ready to make the money roll in? Remember, there are different sides of ourselves we show the world. Which one do you want the virtual world to see in your tweets?
Will This Enhance My Reputation: If what you are about to submit to the world will enhance or build your credibility and reputation, then hit submit. If it will hurt, don’t.
Your Reputation is Based Upon You and Job Performance, Not Your Tweets: In the end, it’s what others say about you that makes or breaks your reputation, not just what you say online. Make sure your tweets are retweetable and you and your online content are worth tweeting about.
What You Say Can Be Held Against You: Libel and defamation from online conversations and public postings are making their way through the courts. What you say on Twitter or other social media sites can be held against you in a court of law if what you say breaks, or even just bends, the law. Tweet carefully and know the laws about freedom of speech and expression in your country and around the world. What you say in one country could be against the law in another. The Internet is breaking down those barriers, as is the international court system.
If In Doubt, DM: If you are ever worried about how something you tweet might be interpreted, or misinterpreted, direct message or email it. Keep it out of the public eye.

Remember, it’s okay to have fun. It’s okay to make jokes online. It’s even okay to play with satire. Just remember that you are writing words with only emoticons for emotional punch. Twitter and online social networks are no different from email, blog comments, and live chat. What you may think is funny can easily be interpreted by others to be mean.

Liz ends with the following that we also need to remember:

Twitter is more than 140 characters that float away on the stream.

Check out the rest of the posts in this series on Exploring Social Media on the Blog Herald.

The post Twitter is a Public Way to Have a Private Conversation appeared first on The Blog Herald.

WordPress News: Widget API, Bye-Bye Kubrick, Query_Posts Plugin, and Template Tag Plugin

Lorelle VanFossen — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 18:03:50 +0000

New WordPress Widgets API Feedback Wanted: The WordPress developers are seeking testers and feedback on the new Widgets API which will be released with WordPress 2.8.

Time to Say Bye-Bye to Kubrick? Weblog Tools Collection asks if it is time for Kubrick to retire. Known as the Default WordPress Theme that comes with every installation of WordPress, many have been calling for a replacement.

Integrating bbPress with BuddyPress: While many are working with WordPressMU to integrate bbPress, Trent Adams writes about integrating bbPress with BuddyPress.

WordPress 2.8 News and Development: The WordPress Development team has confirmed that WordPress 2.8 will be released in April. Articles and features worth noting on WordPress 2.8 development include:

New Screen Options have been announced for posts, Pages, Categories, and other Administration Panel views.
WordPress 2.8 image header cropping will now use Jcrop from Deep Liquid.
Lester Chan covers the new WP_Widget Class for WordPress 2.8.
The new WordPress Widgets API will include converting all default WordPress Widgets to work with the new API.
Optimizing Script Loading improved with tips in part 2 and part 3.
Lester Chan has tips for using JavaScript in WordPress Plugins for WordPress 2.8.
Changes to WordPress Themes include new functions and body classes, automatic_feed_links, and more.
A new template tag, the_modified_author(), has been added.
Matt Mullenweg says that OpenID and OAuth will be in upcoming versions of WordPress, possibly WordPress 2.8.
Maggie is being replaced by SimplePie.

Query_Posts WordPress Plugin: Query_Posts WordPress Plugin by Justin Tadlock uses the query_posts template tag to generate a variety of post lists. There is now a video tutorial on WordPress.tv.

Template Tag Shortcodes in a Plugin: Justin Tadlock has created the Template Tag Shortcodes WordPress Plugin to insert WordPress template tags into blog posts and Pages so they will initiate the PHP or WordPress code function.

WordPress on Your Calendar

Austin, Texas – The Austin WordPress Meetup Group – April 7, 2009

Past WordPress News Reports

The post WordPress News: Widget API, Bye-Bye Kubrick, Query_Posts Plugin, and Template Tag Plugin appeared first on The Blog Herald.

The Outing of a Blogger: The Fear of Being Found Out

Lorelle VanFossen — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:27:04 +0000

In “The Outing of a Blogger: Social Transparency or Violation?” and “The Outing of a Blogger: Is it Legal to Reveal a Blogger?” I’ve covered some of the issues around the outing of an Alaskan blogger by a local politician and the legality of such actions.

There have been a variety of blogger outings lately, some with positive outcomes. Fake Steve Jobs Blogger, Daniel Lyons, admitted that he was stunned that it took so long to be uncovered, enjoying the attention. For Lyons, his blatant lampooning of Steve Jobs turned into a career booster. Lyons expected to be found out. Most anonymous bloggers worry they will be.

One of the greatest things about blogging is the freedom and ability to have your say, no matter what it is. One of the greatest fears is being found out.

Many bloggers live in fear of being found out, some at the risk of their lives. Others fear that their right to express themselves without persecution, even of the social kind, will be taken away by exposure. For those who blog anonymously, the law is one issue, but the social stigma is a bigger one.

Living in Fear of Being Found Out

Life in the NHS reported sadly on the outing of the Fat Doctor blog in 2007, a blog that continues to be updated in spite of the unwanted attention.

Some wicked person had found it, printed the whole thing out and shown it to her boss, now that is below the belt. For those of us who blog about work, and in particular those of us who have professional responsibilities to uphold we are always in a precarious position. Fat Doctor provided us with some wonderful insights into her life, yes her work life but also about her home and family life, her childcare arrangements and of course her illness. I know that those of us who read her recently will miss her and hope she will be back very soon.

The thought of being discovered and outed is on my mind a lot now, so I am becoming increasingly worried about blogging about work per say unless I am talking about things personal to just me or so general as to not really matter. It does tend to cause your creativity to suffer though. Why am I worried? Well I am now doing a job which is specific and only I do for the whole county. If anyone who knew me well were to find this blog it would take them just a few minutes to discover it was me and while I don’t think I have broken any codes of confidentiality, professional practice or indeed moral responsibilities to my employer it is still a consideration. Hopefully I don’t know anyone quite as mean as the person in Fat Doctor’s office, but you never know.

Before the unfortunate outing, The Fat Doctor shared her fears over the anxiety of being publicized on a major industry newsletter and being found out.

So why am I nervous? Because a lot of my colleagues, including those I’ve griped about in this venue, subscribe to ePocrates…what if Colleagues are more particular about their e-mail than I am? What then? They will no doubt recognize me, and that would be misfortunate to say the least. Will my boss force me to take the blog down? I’ve written my fears of this before. Time and again. If that were to happen, I’d be back with a new moniker.

This determination to “have her say” has kept her blog going, in spite of the exposure, though she continues to keep it as anonymous as possible. Her fan base has definitely grown as she’s not only set an example, but continues on with her passion in spite of the obstacles.

Reading through the many posts written in support of the Mudflats revelation by US state representative Mike Doogan of Alaska, the issue of anonymity came up but wasn’t that important. Most agreed that they didn’t care if the blog writer was a journalist, expert writer, or professional anything. They liked what they read and were drawn in by the sincerity. Some readers were also bloggers – including anonymous bloggers – so they understood with a profound empathy, and suffered at Mudflat’s exposure.

OmegaMom, a fellow anonymous blogger, wrote in support, saying:

I’ve been anonymously blogging for about three and a half years now. I was anonymous on boards and listservs before that. Oh, not anonymous anonymous–anyone who really wants to figure out who I am and where I live can probably do it. Part of it has been a general sense of “there are some Real Whackos out there, so it’s a good idea to keep the whackdom at arm’s length”, and since I started blogging the main reason for the anonymity is so that the dotter won’t find her name spread far and wide on the ‘net when she starts googling it. (Also so her friends and enemies in high school won’t find same and start the taunting circuitry a-jangling.)

….On the whole, my approach when reading a blog is to first check the quality of writing, then to check the quality of the thinking behind the writing, and then to see how well that first impression is maintained as time goes on. In other words, I judge a blogger by his or her output, not by whether the blogger posts using a pseudonym or a “real” name.

In The More Child, SwitchedonMom was also attracted to AKMuckraker because of the interest in Sara Palin, and soon became a fan. Now, she’s as concerned as the others are about this issue of anonymity because it is happening to her.

…one of the places I landed was a blog called Mudflats written under the pseudonym AKMudflats. I liked it. The writer was based in Alaska, and like me, was just a person, offering a perspective on things from where he/she sat (for quite awhile I had no idea of the writer’s gender), offering his/her reality. Speaking her (because it turns out it is a “her”) truth. (God, I know that sounds pretentious.)

The reason I am sharing this is because this morning I and other Mudflats readers received an e-mail from AKMuckraker with the subject line “AKMuckraker ‘outed’ by Alaskan Politician.” …the timing and the subject are a little uncanny. Because it seems I may have my own miniature AKMuckraker situation going on, although not with a government official, but “officials” nonetheless. In late February I received an e-mail to my personal IRL e-mail address, addressing me by my real name, warning me off for the content of one of my posts. The person clearly went through some effort to ascertain my identity…

In an newsletter written by members of The Mudflats Forum Moderator/Administrator staff published on W. Va. Fur and Root they claim this is the first known case of an anonymous blogger being cyber-stalked by a politician, though not substantiated.

Whether or not people support AKMuckrakers opinions, it seems most people support her right to remain anonymous. We feel it is a right that everyone on the internet is entitled to – people make the decision for their own reasons, some because they have been cyber stalked in the past, some to prevent being cyber-stalked in the future.

This may be the first known case of an anonymous blogger being cyber-stalked by a politician determined to find out their real identity and out them, though!

Their post goes on to list the many blog posts writing on the subject, as do many of the other concerned and supportive bloggers.

There is a lot of anxiety behind making the decision to blog anonymously, especially if you don’t want to be found out. It takes a lot of energy, too. Constantly taking care not to blog something too revealing while being revealing and open with your words. To not name names or respond in a way that might exposure who you are. Many think blogging anonymously is easy, but it’s not. It’s hard work.

In the next in this series on “The Outing of a Blogger,” I’ll highlight some of the backlash and support and reactions by many to the outing of the Mudflats blogger. Whether or not you believe bloggers should blog with total transparency or not, this hopefully will give you a new perspective on how bloggers stand up against such attacks, and what bloggers think about those who attack bloggers, and how they respond to those who out.

Article Series: The Outing of a Blogger

The post The Outing of a Blogger: The Fear of Being Found Out appeared first on The Blog Herald.