The Switch To vBulletin

Vbulletin Logo
Don’t mind the dust that is being kicked up by the work I’m doing to the forum. Actually, I wanted to let everyone know that I have decided to plunk down $85.00 and purchased a one year lease on vBulletin. I gave PHPBB a shot and although they have made leaps and strides over version 2, I can’t help but feel how spoiled I was when I managed a forum that was powered by Vbulletin. In my honest opinion, Vbulletin is worth every penny. It’s more user friendly, is packed with power and punch right out of the box, and provides an excellent framework for growth. Best of all, most of the things I want to use in forum software is already built into Vbulletin. I don’t have to spend every waking moment of the day installing 100 mods in order to get the functionality that I need.

Everything that was on the PHPBB forum install is now gone. We are starting over from scratch but this is as good a reason as any to do so. I have experience with Vbulletin and I know what it’s capable of. It might take me a few days to get everything the way I want before I re-launch the forums but it’s something worth waiting for.

Back To Blogging Basics

BlogHeraldLogo Jason Kaneshiro of BlogHerald has written up an interesting post that describes the amount of de-cluttering posts he’s seen published around the blogosphere. In this particular post, Jason describes some of the ways he has de-clutered his own blog. From cleaning up the CSS code, to uninstalling and removing plugins, to digging into PHPMyAdmin to optimize the WordPress database tables. Jason seems to have covered the gamut, in terms of cleaning up his blog.

When Web 2.0 first began with Google and Craigslist, one of the “innovations” was simplicity itself – empty, uncluttered designs that allowed users to get what needed to be done with a minimum of design elements.

I feel this basic concept has been forgotten recently, what with widgets, ads, videos, monetization, polls, spam, and splogs. Some blogs are so obscured with extra stuff that the content – the post itself – is nearly impossible to find.

It may be time to get back to basics.

As for myself, I don’t think I have overloaded the blog just yet. I’ve come close, but have been able to stop myself before it was too late. In all honesty, unless you the reader feels differently, I don’t think I need to do too much in the way of cleaning. I wouldn’t mind performing those database optimizations and I think I’ll see what I can do to clean up this theme and it’s associated CSS code. Perhaps I can substitute a few more images with CSS colors.

The biggest impact on loading time is from having third party widgets displayed on the blog. The page will only load as fast as those sites that the widgets are pulling data from. I’ve already removed the Google Analytics code from the site because at times, it was causing the site to hang. I’ve thought about removing all of the third party widgets on this site and replacing them with local WordPress plugins that provide the same functionality. However, I can’t convince myself to remove the THREE widgets in the sidebar.

What are your thoughts on the whole de-cluttering issue? After reading the article up above, do you feel the need to rethink your blog and go back to basics? If so, how do you plan on achieving that goal?

Also, I’d like to know if you think my blog is too cluttered. Does it load too slow for you? Is there too much crap getting in the way of the content?

Matt Dickman Explains AjAX

Matt Dickman, host of a self produced series called MarketingProfs has created a video which explains what the term AjAX means. Not only does he give you the definition of the term, but he explains how it works using an easy to understand real-world example. I thought it this may be helpful to anyone out their who still doesn’t understand the concept of AjAX.

Steve Ballmer On Search And More

This is a video clip of John Battelle asking Steve Ballmer questions relating to search. Steve describes search the way he and Microsoft sees it. In his outline of a successful search strategy, he pretty much describes the way Google does it. Go figure! It’s an interesting interview that goes beyond search. For example, John asks Steve if they are making money through their deal with Facebook.

A New Spin On Blog Spam

According to Lorelle, blog spammers have developed a new technique of scraping a blogs content and then publishing it on their own blog. The new technique centers around the use of WordPress plugins that excel in scraping the content and then using software or other plugins to replace certain words with synonyms. The result? The same old same old.

Here is an example of some text from an article that Lorelle wrote.

Yesterday, I wrote an analogy of comparing blogging to dancing, and how it helps to know the steps, but I also addressed the issue of blogging in your native language compared to blogging in English.

Words carry a responsibility. They convey meaning. They reek with intent. Change a word and you change the meaning.

And here is the text scraped from the article, with certain words replaced with synonyms.

Yesterday, I wrote an faith of scrutiny blogging to dancing, and how it helps to undergo the steps, but I also addressed the supply of blogging in your autochthonous module compared to blogging in English.

Words circularize a responsibility. They intercommunicate meaning. They exudate with intent. Change a word and you modify the meaning.

I don’t know about you, but I have never, ever, heard of the word autochthonous before. Does it even exist? At any rate, if you compare the two excerpts, it’s clear that the second one is obviously some sort of spam. I realize their are people out their who write in this fashion as English is not their native language. However, since the text IS in English, it has to be noted that there is no way a human being would write something like that. It comes down to common sense.

In the end, this is a new technique that is netting the same results. Crappy look a like posts which don’t gain any value for the spammer, unless the trackback link makes it through the spam filter.

Near the end of the article, Lorelle goes on to discuss various aspects of copyright law and if this new spamming technique violates a bloggers copyrights. Here is a published quote on her blog from Jonathon

Fortunately, the law is very clear on this subject. Copyright is not merely the right to copy one’s own work, but a set of rights that includes the right to create derivative works…This right to create derivative works covers the right to create translations and any other work based on copyrightable portions of the original. Spinning, since it starts with a copyright-protected work and creates a new work based upon it, violates that right.

Fair use arguments fall equally flat in the eyes of the law. Spinning is not transformative as it is designed to replace the original, it offers no commentary or criticism, it is for commercial use, it can greatly harm the market for the original work and usually is unattributed. There is almost no fair use argument left for the spammers who modify the posts they scrape, leaving the door wide open for rightsholders to take action.

Interesting, but here is my point regarding this mess. You’re more likely to waste time and energy going after these sploggers than actually accomplishing anything worthwhile. Most of these sploggers are automated, meaning they can be tracked to a particular location, but the only thing you’ll find is a machine with a programmed set of instructions. The reality of the situation is that, spam, splogging, feed and content scraping are all part of the game known as blogging. It happens and there is no PRACTICAL solution to combat the problem.

Here are some tips to help you go up against a content scraper:

Do as my friend Brad of Strangework.com has done and add a text link that says something like “By NAMEOFBLOG“. Because sploggers scrape the entire content of the post, this link will always be presented in the spammers post which will not only raise a red flag that the post was stolen, but will allow people to follow the link back to the source.
Instead of publishing the FULL RSS FEED, switch to only publishing a PARTIAL FEED. I don’t like partial feeds and neither do alot of other people but it helps in dealing with the spam issue.
If you notice a trackback URL on one of your posts, be sure to visit the blog the link points to. If the offending site has posts covering all sorts of topics with no rhyme or reason, chances are, it’s a spam blog. Instead of deleting the URL track back, submit it to Akistmet by selecting the SPAM it option within your commenting admin panel.

This post has inspired me to write up another article called, ‘What To Look For On A Blog You Suspect To Be A Splog‘. Look for that in the coming days.

What do you think of the issue of content scraping and splogging in general? If you’re a blogger, let me know how you do deal with issues and what you look for when deciding if a comment or trackback url is considered spammy.

Free Chat Bubble PSD Resource

Aaron of PhotoShopCandy.com has released a free PSD file which contains a slick looking chat bubble. You know, the ones that look like comic book captions. This bubble would look great in online ads, comics, or an animated gif of someone shouting every Web 2.0 buzzword known to man. If your into this sort of thing, be sure to check out his post and download the PSD file. Here is what the chat bubble looks like.

Web2.0 Chat Bubble

51 Creative RSS Buttons

Bloggers Journey has an interesting post today which is nothing more than 51 different RSS buttons that you can use on your blog. They range from the typical RSS orange square to the huge RSS orb. Do you find it weird that I don’t have any big orange RSS icons on this blog? I guess I’m different that way.

At any rate, here are some of the icons featured on the site.

Interview With Mark ‘Rizzn’ Hopkins

Rizznite Logo

Mark Rizzn is a contributing editor over at Mashable.com He’s also the host of a popular podcast called Daily Politics And Tech with his co-host Art Lindsey. I’ve sort of known Mark since the days of him doing his podcast Live on Talkshoe. Mark is moving up in the world of New Media and online Journalism so I thought I could talk him into doing an interview that sheds some light on how he’s reached this particular point of his career. Thanks Mark for doing the interview, enjoy.

Jeff: Please tell us a little bit about yourself.

Mark: I’m a jack-of-all trades, in a manner of speaking. You name the tech job, and I’ve probably held the title at one point. I started out running a BBS when I was a kid, and graduated to Internet Tech Support when it came to town. I dabbled in web design for some fairly well known firms (Group M7 and Satima). I worked for Apple for a short time on the assembly line, and I helped deploy one of the first cable modem systems in the USA (using a now defunct product line from Terayon). I worked at Nokia for about a year in the Digital Services department, where my team wrote the first protocol for transferring custom ring tones from computers to phones via SMS.

After the tech bust and 9/11, I did a stint for WABC in NYC as a “Cyber War Correspondant,” reporting mostly on the various digital issues facing America in the new post 9/11 world. Then when the tech market began to bounce back, I ran the gamut of startups, working at various levels of executive managment (from CTO to CFO) for handheld software and hardware firms, an online travel firm, and online credit service firm.

Somewhere in there, I decided that the risky world of startups (not based on my own ideas, at least) just wasn’t for me, so I turned to full time online journalism with blogging and podcasting, and never looked back.

Aside from what you can find out on my Wikipedia entry (which is horribly out of date, BTW), I’m a newly converted family man. I’ve been married a year to the most beautiful woman in the world, have a brand new son that is six months old, and a six year old stepson.

Jeff: How long have you been a part of this thing we like to call, New Media?

Mark: I guess you could say I was New Media before New Media was cool. Back when I was knee-high to a webserver, I ran a local e-publication called JBM. It was mostly the random musings of the local BBS scene in East Texas, but we also distributed shareware, and reported on general technology news as well. This was about the time that magazines were into the trend of distributing 3.5″ Floppies with their paper issues, and here we were a full fledged graphical point and click magazine contained on a 3.5″ disk. We came inches from getting a distribution deal with Ingram Periodicals before my BBS buddies tired of waiting for that magical Dot Com money to start rolling in, and in essence folded the project.

In the present incarnation of what you could call New Media, I’ve been at it coming on ten years in December as a blogger, and I think around five or six years as a streaming radio host/podcaster. I’ve only been full time at it these last couple of years, though.

Jeff: I noticed you also do a Daily Politics And Technology podcast. How long have you been doing this podcast and what was your inspiration for doing it?

Mark: Art Lindsey and I have been doing this particular incarnation of the podcast for less than a year (we do the show five days a week, and we’ve just finished recording episode 171 today). Art and I have been working together for several years prior, though, through RantRadio. I first came on there with a call-in comedy/variety program called the “Mark and Darrell Show.” After that show ran it’s several year course, I did a solo political show called “I’m Right.” When Art joined me, the program went semi-daily, and we renamed it “Out in Right Field.” We did a few months of that, and then took a sabbatical until the current incarnation of RizWords was born.

Jeff: Congratulations on your position as Editor at Mashable.com. Tell us a little bit about what it’s like to work and write for one of the most popular sites on the net?

Mark: Thanks! It’s really a hoot to get to work over there as a Contributing Editor. The schedule can sometimes be grueling, especially trying to keep pace with Kristen. :-p

In all seriousness, I enjoy it so much that I don’t think I’ve even had time to post to my personal blog in a couple weeks. There’s very little I want to say that the editors won’t let me put out there, so aside from the occasional picture of my kids, it’s very much the same thing I’d be doing without getting that fat Mashable! money. Don’t let Pete know I said that, though. :-)

Jeff: Your a reporter and because of your position at Mashable, your right in the middle of the Web 2.0 craze. What are your thoughts regarding the Web 2.0 phenomenon?

Mark: The last week and a half is a great example of the wide variance in the highs and lows of Web 2.0. Today is most undoubtedly a low point, as there was as several people put it, “an over-abundance of news barely fit to print.” Then you look back to last week, when we had Android and OpenSocial news dominating, as well as very big Facebook discussion looming large. It’s exciting, but then it’s also disheartening to have to a week later do write-ups for knock-off services because no one else is announcing anything newsworthy.

All in all, it’s one of the most exciting times and places to be a journalist. This, for me, started with the podcast but was even more magnified with the job at Mashable – it’s the ability to speak with, at a moment’s whim almost, just about anyone in tech I care to talk to. It’s a matter of tracking down the number to the CEO or pundit I’d like to get an opinion from, and hitting the record button on my phone.

Jeff: For sites like Mashable and TechCrunch, it’s all about the information sources. What sort of tips or tricks could you give out to others who are looking for original sources of information to publish on their own sites?

Mark: First of all, RSS. That’s your staple and fall back position. If you’re not getting your news from RSS, you’re wasting immeasurable amounts of time. My personal favorite reader (and I’ve used nearly all of them) is Google Reader. Also, stay away from feeders that try to find the news you’re interested in for you. You do that, and you’ll very easily miss the diversity of opinion in the lesser known blogosphere.

Secondly, pay attention to podcasts. Pick a cadre of podcasts that suits your market, and listen religiously while you work. It not only informs, but helps stimulate original thought, as more ad hoc analysis tends to take place on your better podcasts.

Lastly, but certainly not least, you need to be on Twitter, and you need a wide base of people on your list. The large group of people helps you not only promote your work, but gives you tips on what’s going on out there on the ground. The quake story I did for Mashable scooped the San Jose local news by ten minutes, and CNN by two hours. I owe that entire story to Twitter – someone from my list mentioned “Quake!”, which then cued me to track the “quake” and “earthquake” keywords. Within seconds, I had every bit of important information about the quake, which then allowed me to blog it.

Jeff: Your podcast is filled with great information on two topics that seem to blend well together, not to mention, there is an insane amount of interests for both. Do you mind telling us your daily routine that helps you prepare for the podcast?

Mark: Well, my daily routine has evolved into mostly just surfing the feeds voraciously. I grab my morning cup of coffee, and try to catch up on the thousands of feed items that somehow pile up between the hours of 2 AM and 10 AM. I have about three queues I tag things as – one is my shared items feed. That ends up on the link blog on my front page. Other stories more suited to a Mashable write-up only go to a private “Mashable Stories” tag for later review. Around noon, I take the previous 24 hours of shared stories and comb through them to find the best ones for use on the podcast.

The thing I love best about the process (and I’ve been told that this is technically called Web 3.0 functionality, but whatever), is that the feed goes directly into my Tumblr account, which is then the public face for the show-notes – no muss no fuss.

Jeff: Do you have any history in broadcasting or journalism that you think has helped you get to where you are today?

Mark: Well, having been at it off and on at various levels of professionalism and amateurism for around 15 years does provide a wisdom and second sense about it, but quite honestly, the whole process has come naturally from day one.

Independent journalism is a different animal, and you need to be open to it leading to things to help string you along financially. Consulting is a hand-in-hand job to independent journalism, when you’re starting out. If you can’t be good at business and marketing, you need to find someone who can educate you and partner up with you.

In college, I actually did major in journalism for a semester, but to be quite honest, I learned more about the business through self-education and bootstrap experience. My best advice for those wanting to get into independent journalism is to do a bit of careful research, but mostly just jump right in and try it.

Jeff: Thanks Mark for taking the time to answer those questions. Please take this opportunity to say anything you’d want to get off your chest or something you want the public to know

Mark: Not much I need to say other than what you asked already. Just pay attention to the good things on the horizon over at Mashable! and the RizWords podcast! You can find the podcast at http://feeds.feedburner.com/rizwords and of course Mashable! over at Mashable.com

Thoughts and Insanity From Jeff

The Musings Of Jeff Chandler