Working at Home on the Internet » Commenting

A Short Story of Upgrading to WordPress 2.8

Joe Hauckes — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:02:28 +0000

Prelude

Way back in the olden days of WordPress, version 2.5x I think it was, if you wanted to respond to a comment from one of your readers, you would have to actually go to the post itself in order to have a conversation with the reader.

Each and every comment, spread over numerous posts had to be responded to in the same manner. Go to the post & type your comment. Go to the next post & comment. Ad Infinitum until you answered each comment from every commentor.

Then came along Better Comments Manager a plugin by Keith Dsouza. I could actually answer every comment from Within the Administration page of WordPress. They could be threaded, individual or multiple responses to the individuals of the community. Convient for me since I could do it all in the background and not have to access each post to have a conversation.

Lo and Behold, WordPress in versions 2.7x got the idea and ran with it, making it a part of the internal commenting system.

I naturally deactivated Keith’s plugin since I thought it wouldn’t be needed any longer. Then I delected it.

Interlude

All was well until the fateful day of the Upgrade to WordPress 2.8.

Most everything worked, even the Theme still looked good and all the Widgets worked just fine. Only one catch.

I couldn’t respond to comments in the Administration Page as I could before in v 2.7x. I asked people in the know, people who have dealt with this type of situation and I asked for advice. None of them were having problems with their “Reply” to comments in the Admin page. It seemed I was the only one.

The thing seems to be that I am running a Parent/Child theme. A Framework theme that others build upon in order to customize a theme to change the look and feel of a Blog.

Well, needless to say, I am not going to change my theme at this point just for the convience of being able to answer what few comments I get from the Admin Page. That’s when I remembered Keith’s Better Comments Manager plugin and started looking high and low for it.

End

I finally found it in some old zip file I had used way back when to install it in the first place. So, if you are having problems with your theme interface with comments through the Administration Page of WordPress 2.8, you may want to try the Better Comments Manager plugin by Keith Dsouza. It works for me.

Moral

If something works, don’t try to fix it unless something goes wrong. Then be sure to have access to older versions of what Did Work, just in case the fix is broken too.

An Example of a Scam Disguised as a Comment

Joe Hauckes — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:47:11 +0000

I got THIS as a comment the other day. Do you think it is some kind of Phishing Scheme, Scam, Spam or just an idiot trying to get some type of Jollies?

I will pay you $50 to your PayPal within 24 hours if you sign-up with a web-hosting website for just $0.01 with your own PayPal.
You just have to spend $0.01 from your PayPal to earn the $50 from me by PayPal.

Are you interested ?
If yes …..

1. Then plz go to: http:// XXXX.cc/ZZZCA and on that page on the left-below, you’ll see a plan called “Personal” and a little below it, there is an
“Order Now” button. Click on it.
2. Now click on the “I will update my nameservers on an existing domain Or I will register a new domain.” radio-button. After that remember one of the domain
name you own and enter it in the blank field saying “www”. Then click on “Click to Continue”.
3. On the next page, click on “Add to Cart”.
4. On the next page, enter the coupon “1CentPersonal” (without the double quote) in the “Promotional Code” field. And then click on “Validate Code”.
5. Then you will see that the Total price has come down to just $0.01. (The $6.99 fee is to be deducted from next month and you will cancel this subscription later on)
Now click on the “Checkout” button.
6. On the next page, fill up your details. Then click on “Complete Order” button.
7. On the next page, on the top-right you will see a yellow-coloured PayPal subscribe logo – click on it.
8. On the next page, log on to the PayPal.
9. Here you will see that the website is charging you only $0.01 and a small monthly fee of $6.99 payable after 30 days. This is a subscription. That website
will automatically deduct a monthly fee of $6.99 from the next month.

IMPORTANT NOTE : You will accept this $0.01 payment and the $6.99 subscription (payable after 30 days) for the time being only but after 7 days, you will
have to cancel the $6.99 monthly subscription, so that I can recover my affiliate fee from that website.

10. After you have paid, plz go to the website and browse the website for 5 minutes and then log out.

After this, send me an invoice of $50 by PayPal to me to XXX.norris @XXXXXXXXXX .com and write your email adress with which you have signed-up with that
website in the “Message” field (so that I can verify whether you have indeed signed-up or not) and within 24 hours, I will pay you $50 to your PayPal.

Thanx and have some action ! Happy earning !

I can’t believe that some people actually fall for this kind of thing, it’s almost as bad as the Nigerian thing you get in e-mail.

I did take out the links and sent this to the Spam Folder. Do you run into this type of junk getting through your Spam Filter? How do you respond?

Update: I just got the EXACT same comment on a different post using a different e-mail address that WAS CAUGHT by Akismet.

How Important Are Comments? How Do You Get Them?

Joe Hauckes — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:55:54 +0000

Last night Liz Strauss of Successful Blog and SOBCon fame had an Open Comment Night, as she does every Tuesday night. Subject: How do you get comments on your blog?

It was a lively conversation touching on different plugins we use, types of posts that attract comments, how we can start a conversation with our readers, how to handle nasty comments and flame wars just to name a few of the topics covered.

I don’t want to steal Liz’s thunder (not that I could), but I think it is a topic well worth continuing to explore. After all, if you blog, you want comments and want to build a community around your blog.

Business or Personal, I think the reason we all blog is not because we have something to say, but rather because we have something to SHARE.

For those of you who missed OCN last night, I usually do a synopsis of the conversation in the form of a (sometimes hokey) poem as a sign off and to say good night to everyone.

I would like to share the little ditty from last night with you.

We all want community
On the Blogs we run

The way we measure success
Could be many comments or none

We should put more value
On what readers write

Than the numbers of comments
Community is what gives us might

So comment away whenever you can
Add to the conversation, don’t just look

After this gathering in comments
Maybe Liz has a New e-book?

Burma Shave

Nite Liz
Nite All

So, join in either here or over at Liz’s house (or both) to continue the conversation. Or if you’d like, write your own post on the subject and share it with other bloggers who are as hungry as us for comments.

I’ll be here all day, as always. So, let’s talk.

Here We Go Again, Akismet Is Eating My Comments

Joe Hauckes — Wed, 23 May 2007 15:35:39 +0000

Â Way back in November of 2006, Akismet started eating my comments. I have no idea why except somewhere, somehow, I got stuck in someone’s Moderation or Spam cue and ended up being reported as Spam to Akismet.

At the time, I wrote a post about My Comments being Eaten. I got some good advice from my friends, but it just took a lot of perseverance and de-spamming to get the problem solved.

I do moderate my comments and try to de-spam everyone who makes legitimate comments, but it is starting to get a little overwhelming with well over 500 spams caught a day. It is getting to be very time consuming and takes away from other business responsibilities.

I know exactly When it started, but not Why. I was participating in Open Comment Night over as Successful Blog and had No Problems. But after I left and answered a comment on my own blog, My comment didn’t show. I immediately went into Akismet (after my last experience) to see if it was there. Shore enough, I was caught, right there in my own Akismet cue.

The last time, it went on for over a full week which led me to write a rant called Akismet Sucks. I was so fed up with not being able to comment anywhere I almost stopped using Akismet. However, not too long after that post, things started showing in my comments that I had written, then they started showing in other peoples comments on their blogs.

The problem went away all by itself, really with a lot of perseverance and monitoring of comments, and I got happy again and stayed with Akismet.

So, help me out here, if I comment on your Blog and it ends up in your spam cue, Please release me, let me go.

Hopefully, it wont take as long as the last episode. I don’t need the aggravation.

I Was Forced To Write a Comment Policy

Joe Hauckes — Sat, 05 May 2007 14:56:27 +0000

Â Did you notice the little icon in the sidebar?

It’s been there for about 2 weeks. I thought I would quietly reward all of the people who contribute to the Blog by Commenting. And I intend to keep it there for as long as I own this site.

I never really got the reason behind “no follow” other than as a tool for the SE’s in the Fight Against Spam. Since I have Akismet, that is not really a problem any longer for me, so allowing links to get credit as a link back to the commenter is not a problem either.

However, there are always Some who try to take advantage of the kind-hearted nature of Bloggers and people that have a community built up over time by trying to get link backs for things that are Totally Unrelated to the Content of Posts or the Intent of the Blog Itself by posting Totally Irrelevant Comments just for the Sake of a Link. (sorry for the run-on sentence).

Therefore, I Have Been Forced to Write a Comment Policy. I never wanted nor did I find the need for one before, but I feel it has become a necessity. So, I will have a link to the page in the sidebar for those who have questions if I Deleted Their Comment(s).

Sorry for the inconvenience to any and all of the regulars who visit. Please don’t be discouraged from commenting. We are still a strong community and the “Do Follow” will Stay as Long as I Own This Blog.

[tags]do-follow,comments,spam,splogs,Comment Policy[/tags]