scratchpad jr. (2nd import)

Policy schmolicy. I finally typed up the guidelines in my head for when to name people on this blog. Several of you have asked me about it, so here it is.

People often ask me about the process of how I blog, so here’s a bit about that.
On my laptop, I use NetNewsWireLite as my main aggregator. I can update the contents, they store automatically (some indefinitely, some for a specific period of time), then return later to read them and blog. At last count, I [...]

Are you thinking, “Well, duh?” I’m not. What being an official affiliate means is that I’m now officially listed on the Berkman Center for Internet & Society’s Web site as having a real connection to them–not just one that many people know about, etc., etc. I’m excited about the recognition. I love the Berkman Center. [...]

Some of the changes I’m not too crazy about in this new version of Manila are to the aggregator. The links to the source, a way to isolate that source in the aggregator, and sometimes permalinks and comment links are all gone. Many times, when I find something I want to blog about in [...]

A few of you have asked me about getting e-mailed responses to comments. In Manila (this blog platform), you have to jump through a few hoops to do it.

If you aren’t already a member of the site, join. Membership has its privileges.
Log in.
Comment.
Go to the discussion group.
Find the comment for which you want notification of [...]

"We are here to find meaning. We are here to help other people do the same. Everything else is secondary."
Hugh’s words explain another reason why I blog and do some of the other activities I do, like public speaking, teaching, and helping people with their weblogs.

Our Manila server has been getting hit hard with comment spammers again. I guess maybe they read my post about comment spam the other day.
Here are some features I would look for in a blog platform that would help me monitor and eliminate comment spam and spammers.

If there’s a membership list, like what Manila has [...]

The comment spammers have been at it again pretty aggressively lately, so I’ve been doing a lot of comment deleting. Sometimes, I’m not always sure what’s comment spam and what might be a legitimate comment. Usually comment spam follows a few patterns.

The number of messages. In an hour, I might get 15-200 comments. Things like [...]

I’ve been pondering that old question about what to put on an about page again. If you could ask me one question (within reason–there are certain things I refuse to answer), preferably about blogging, my career, news or special librarianship, or something related to my professional persona, what would it be?

Wow. I don’t think I’ve seen trackback spam before. If only there was some easy way to comb through thousands of entries looking for trackback spam to delete them … There’s an easy delete option. Finding the spam will be a challenge.
I wonder if Technorati can help with finding these spam posts. There probably isn’t [...]