Bokashi Blog » blog-p

Another reason to curse Internet Explorer

Al — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 06:41:25 +0000

This is the way my blog looks in Internet Explorer 6.0:

I get some kind of validation error:

Sorry, I am unable to validate this document because on line 623 it contained one or more bytes that I cannot interpret as utf-8 (in other words, the bytes found are not valid values in the specified Character Encoding). Please check both the content of the file and the character encoding indication. “The error was: utf8 “\xBB” does not map to Unicode”

that I cannot figure out how to fix.

In trying to solve this, I have

1) Disabled all plugins
2) Removed all widgets
3) Written the theme author

That’s why there is a note that says “This blog looks great with Firefox.” in the top right column.

As it appears that many site visitors are using IE, I thought I would attempt to get it fixed.

Suggestions welcome and appreciated.

When you out spammers, do they stop?

Al — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 06:32:52 +0000

Within hours of writing my Sourcing Splog post, the incoming links disappeared from both technorati and my WP Dashboard page. Nice.

Jessica, I noticed that the number comment spams I received went down a lot when I added Spam Karma as a plugin in addition to Askimet.

Here are the anti-spam/splog WordPress plugins I am using on this blog:

Akismet
AntiLeech for my RSS feed.
HoneyPot for use with Project Honey Pot which requires a bit of setup.
Simple Trackback Validation – I changed the settings on this today to make it harder for sites to link here without being moderated first.
Spam Karma 2

This last one is not a WP plugin. You can see it in the “Extras” section of the left column.
Spam Poison

[Spam Poison] will redirect email harvesting bots to trap sites that will feed it with an almost infinite loop of dynamically generated fake email addresses, mostly on known spammer owned domains! This will render their harvested lists pratically useless and of no commercial value.

[Added 08Apr07 0527] Again, this is not a plugin: I use gmail to filter my own domain emails.

email@mydomain.com is forwarded to email@gmail.com then sent by gmail to a second mydomain email address. Gmail deletes all spam after thirty days so I have time to check for mistakes. Since I use more than one email address for this purpose, gmail is protecting me from receiving 500 – 700 spam emails a month.

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Technorati Tags: splog, splogiverse, wp, wordpress, plugins, anti-spam, anti-splog, tools, spam

Sourcing splog

Al — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 03:07:16 +0000

Incoming links boost my Technorati ranking but I prefer them from people I know or have communicated with directly. It took me a few days to figure this one out, but when I did I decided to share it.

A technorati search of bokashiman shows that these splogs

zarko.multimediaserwis.com.pl

springy-madness.multimediaserwis.com.pl

woodworks-connections.multimediaserwis.com.pl

stock-updater.multimediaserwis.com.pl

have a link to some of my content.

Mark Brewer attacking ZR cameras, but since the free bandwidth exists, and the YouTube community now represents a viewing market unto itself, … YouTube & Google merger on track My YouTube adventures the other day gave me the kind of belly laugh that I have not had for a long time.

When I went to the website listed, I could not find the content anywhere until I looked in the RSS feeds: http://zarko.multimediaserwis.com.pl/rss.xml

It is in all of them.

The RSS feed contains any mention of YouTube, so they are using a keyword splicer that puts that content into their feed.

[Correction: The content comes from this splog:
http://tinyurl.com/3x5bp8 and it is already Trackbacked on my blog.]

At the bottom of every splog: “Quadruple your income with Blogs”

http://www.gomore.ws/blogsolution/

What their product offers is splog creation:

BlogSolution creates thousands of blogs on each of your domains.
Blogs are created based on YOUR keywords. Named – titled – subtitled.
Your blogs are created on a custom blogging platform.
All blog interlinking is done for you – spiders move freely between your blogs.
We give full video tutorials guiding you through your projects.
NO outside software is needed.
Your blogs are fully customizable. Unlimited potential here.
You can post links to one, some, or all of your blogs.
Post as many links as you want, whenever and to wherever you want.
The Smartjobs system. Blog creation even when you’re not around!
Automatic updates and pings.
Randomization. Everything in BlogSolution can be randomized – posts, pings everything.
Everything is managed from one simple interface.
24/7 support. We’re always here for your questions.
Built in help articles that will guide you through the process.
Completely plug and play. Effective for both beginner and expert.
Flexibility. This system bends to what YOU want.
An advanced cloaking system.

Matt Cutts of Google has something to say about search engine cloaking

HOW IT PAYS…

Adsense income.
Affiliate income.
Tens of thousands of indexed blogs.
Search engine spiders like you have NEVER seen (it’s our secret ingredient).
Tens of thousands of one way back links to and sites you want.
Your new sites indexed FAST.
Simplicity.
A system that flies under search engine radar, but profits from them.
Time to make more money. Or play.

No thanks!

Whois Record

DOMAIN OBJECT:
domain: multimediaserwis.com.pl
registrant’s handle: nta5754 (CORPORATE)
nservers: ns3.of.pl.[91.121.1.226]
ns1.of.pl.[87.204.60.2]
ns2.of.pl.[81.210.25.74]
created: 2007.02.22
last modified: 2007.02.27

REGISTRAR: NetArt
Zabawa 118
32-020 Wieliczka
Polska/Poland
+48.801 800 700
+48.12 4244010

SUBSCRIBERS CONTACT OBJECT:
company: Osemka Internet Media
street: ul. Lubelska 43A
city: 10-410 Olsztyn
location: pl
handle: nta5754
last modified: 2005.09.20

Anyone know a Word Press plugin I can use to stop it from happening again?

Please note: Everyone has a right to make a living and I hold no ill will towards any of the companies, persons or blogs mentioned in the posting above. I ask that you remove my content from your feed [the link to this blog] and refrain from doing so in the future. The content on this site is protected by a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Creative Commons license. Yes, you did give Attribution, but the purpose for running your blog is commercial and in violation of those terms. All you had to do was ask me. I might have said “Yes”. To late now….

Update:
Spam in Blogs and Social Media
“As social media systems such as blogs, wikis and bookmark sharing sites have emerged, spammers have quickly developed techniques to infect them as well. The very characteristics underlying the Web, be it version 1.0, 2.0 or 3.0, also enable new varieties of spam.”

- includes .pdf file of the presentation.
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Technorati Tags: splog, blogsolution, multimediaserwis.com.pl, search, engine, cloaking,

Feedblitz email delivery back on

Al — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 17:22:22 +0000

Not sure why it was off, but if you want to catch up on what I’ve been posting you have to view my blog directly.

Urban Wilderness is officially retired

Al — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 07:10:56 +0000

I had the idea that I would still post messages to it every now and then but after spending the entire weekend configuring this one, there is only so much I can do.

By making the categories look/work in a way that matches my “Focus” statement, I can consolidate my needs and interests all in one space: here. I’m also trying to find out if this template will allow people to subscribe to a feed for only the Category they want to.

My last post directs all readers to this one. I need to keep the name Urban Wild – I have many online connections associated with it – but where possible I will use my real name from this point forward.

See the “About” section here for more details on my journey to this point.