Tag Archives: irishblogs

WP Super Cache 0.6

It’s been a while since the last release of WP Super Cache, so it’s about time to release the updated code on the world!

This plugin allows a WordPress blog to be served directly from static HTML files just like another popular blogging engine.

When this plugin was originally released some users noticed strange folders being created in the root folder of their blogs. I was never able to replicate it and despite my efforts to track down the bug it remained unfixed. Well, I fixed that bug thanks to whooami and to Jennifer who allowed me to login to her server and debug my script. Barry was astute enough to figure out why it happened.

Other changes include:

  • Compressed cache files are deleted properly now, props John Pozadzides.
  • Documentation got a serious update. I added a FAQ, and the Troubleshooting section has been expanded.
  • The .htaccess is not updated until the user clicks a button in the backend now.
  • The listing of cached files is gone for this release as it was inaccurate. It didn’t include super cached files.
  • The backend admin page has been rearranged slightly. Advanced features go at the very end, and if you’re only using the WP Cache functionality, the Super Cache items disappear. The mod_rewrite check and .htaccess items are only enabled if Super Cache is enabled now.
  • Not all blogs have permalinks ending in a slash so I added a slash back into the mod_rewrite rules. If you use .html at the end of your permalinks you’ll appreciate this. props Michael R Aulia for that.

One more thing to note. If your blog is visible at a URL with or without the www you should decide which one is more important to you and download the Enforce www preference plugin. Super cached files are stored in a directory named after the hostname so if you go to the www URL and someone else goes to the url without the www they won’t see the static html file. Deciding on one URL avoids any issues with duplicate content too which is probably much more important too.

Grab WP Super Cache 0.6 from the download page!

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1800 seconds is such a long time, right?

  1. It’s 30 minutes.
  2. It’s 0.5 hours.
  3. It’s 0.0208333333 days.
  4. It’s also 5.70397764 × 10-5 years.

And it’s not long enough for me. phpMyAdmin logs you out after 1800 seconds, obviously for security reasons. That’s fine if there are other people about, if I was in an office with people coming and going, but I work from home. All I see for most of the day is my family, the radio, my messy desk, computers, and the view out the window. Time to figure out how to make that 1800 second limit a little longer or remove it altogether.

After a little digging, I discovered that extending the time limit to a day is actually quite easy. Open your phpMyAdmin’s config.inc.php and search for or add the following line:

$cfg['LoginCookieValidity'] = 86400;

Refresh your logged out phpMyAdmin and presuming you haven’t left it idle for 24 hours, you’ll be logged in again!

If the time limit really bugs you, you need http authentication. Look for the “auth_type” line in the config.inc.php and change that to “http”. phpMyAdmin won’t log you out as long as your browser is open. Perfect!

If you’re concerned about sending your MySQL username and password in the clear each time you make a request to phpMyAdmin you can either use SSL or try the “config” auth_type. Make sure you fill in the username and password fields in the config file, and secure the phpMyAdmin directory with a htpasswd file.

How to Insult the Mac Brigade

I’ve insulted the Mac Brigade. I am so sorry. I didn’t realise that putting stickers on an Apple Macbook was such a heinous crime. HOW COULD I HAVE BEEN SO STUPID?

Well, that’s how Bernie puts it anyway. Sort of. He posted a photo of my Macbook at BlogTalk and the response surprised me. Hahahaha. Thud! (Laughing my head off)

For those who missed the original shot, here’s one I took moments ago. There are stickers from Laughing Squid (and a button too), getfirefox.com (Thanks Nikolay), Zooomr.com, Hyku, that WordPress crowd who get everywhere, and 2 from Om Malik: FoundRead and NewTeeVee.
The other button says, “hard bloggin’ scientist” and I got that from Jan Schmidt last Tuesday at BlogTalk. Thanks!

Macbook

Lovely isn’t it? Who’s on your laptop? Anyone got a Dell sticker to put on the Apple Logo? It’d shine through nicely!

A Photowalk in Cork on Sunday

If you’re not subscribed to my photoblog, In Photos, you may have missed my photowalking announcement.

Next Sunday, the 9th of March a number of us will converge on the scenic Lough area of Cork for a few hours walking and snapping. The Lough is a protected wild life area (and one of the oldest in the country), it teems with swans, ducks, geese and I don’t know how many other types of birds. There are always people about, kids feeding the birds, sometimes fishermen, couples walking by the water’s edge. It’s a beautiful place to go for a walk.

And at 3pm we’re going to descend on the area with our cameras. If you’re around Cork and free, why not join us? It doesn’t matter if you only have a point and shoot camera, or you’re only starting out in photography. A photowalk is a great chance to practise and learn. There’s also a local bar giving us a chance to put our feet up and relax, even if driving home means minerals are the order of the day.

So, see you on Sunday?

PS. there’s still time to buy a Daffodil picture before lunchtime tomorrow!

Paul Walsh is a true woman

Go chat with him in Oslo. Better than all that reality tv stuff!

Oh, this is good, if the web business doesn’t work out Paul should consider reality tv. He’s here now. He has possibly missed his flight because his laptop time is on UK time. He’s number 4 in the queue with the airline. Good luck Paul!

Edit: check Paul’s Twitter for further updates. The video is here now!

On Tuesday I join the Bebo Generation at BlogTalk

Sigh. The local free newspaper, The Cork Independent, covered BlogTalk 2008 here in Cork and lead with the headline, “Bebo Generation descend on Cork”. Bebo? *mutter* *mutter*

Anyway, I’ll be sitting on a panel titled, From blog-style commentary to conversational social media which pretty much spans the entire blogging and social media experiences. On the panel with me will be Stephanie Booth who I have conversed with a few times on IRC but never met, Bernie Goldbach who I have met a number of times and always has something interesting to say, and finally, Jan Schmidt who I had never heard of but his bio suggests someone who will know a lot about the topic of social media!

How do I feel about the current crop of social media sites? I quit Facebook! Well, no I didn’t, but I will, soon!

Three killed at Dunboy Castle

Three young men were killed today when their car fell into the water at Dunboy Castle just outside Castletownbere in Co Cork.

Investigating gardaí say that the three local young men had been driving in the grounds of Dunboy Castle when their Ford Fiesta got stuck in grass close to a laneway below the castle which is currently being renovated.

Two other friends came to their rescue with a jeep, but for reasons which are not yet clear, all five were in the Fiesta when it slipped from the embankment and into the water.

Sad and shocking as it is, I wouldn’t mention it here except that I drove down there with my family only a week ago. We enjoyed a lovely meal in Castletownbere during which we were told that Dunboy Castle was worth a look. On the way out of the town the castle is signposted so we decided to go look. Here are a few pictures. Judging by the picture on the RTE website I’d say they went into water very close to where I parked a week earlier. That freaks me out a little bit.

Dunboy Castle

Dunboy Castle

Dunboy Castle

Dune vs Queen: Who Wants to Live Forever

The first time I heard this Dune cover of Queen’s “Who Wants to Live Forever” I thought, “Oh Wow! That’s good!”

Then, 30 seconds into the song I thought, “Wait a second. This is actually fairly boring. The voice that sounded nice at the start really sounds weak, there’s no feeling, it goes nowhere and the video is rubbish.”

Here’s the original song by Queen. Turn the volume up. It’ll send a shiver down your spine and you’ll realise how good Freddie’s voice was. Amazing stuff.

How to successfully spam blogs (and how to fight back)

What you’re about to learn isn’t anything new. It’s not particularly earth shattering either, but a lot of people don’t know it.

NOFOLLOW DOES NOT WORK (properly)

You may have noticed legitimate looking comments on your blog from people with suspect names. Usually the name will be a brand name, service or literally anything that sells. The commenter’s website is obviously related to that business. Why do they bother using special keywords when Google is supposed to not follow those links? Do they know something you don’t? Yup. They know that keywords, even on nofollowed links, matter. I’d provide reference links to SEO blogs explaining this but then they’d know I’m reading and they might shut up.

So, how do you go about spamming blogs? (And how do you defend against those spammers?) Here are two examples:

How to spam a niche blog

George, who runs 858graphics obviously makes signs in San Diego. I’m sorry that his store was egged last year, but he’s obviously trying to manipulate Google. Unfortunately, he succeeded. He is #2 in Google for “San Diego Signs”. Strangely enough there are no links to his website.

How to spam a niche blog

This second guy isn’t quite so successful, and to think he’s spamming my poor Shih Tzu, Oscar. The spammer’s domain is near the bottom of the first page of a Google search for Shih Tzu Checks. That’s still pretty good considering he doesn’t have any links to that page either.

How did these guys find my blog? The first guy searched for WordPress blog posts with comments. The second looked for a page saying, “leave a reply”, an open invitation to spam if ever there was one!

Out of curiosity I followed the Google search a recent spammer used. On the blogs surrounding my blog in that search I found traces of him everywhere. He left legit looking comments but the link was always full of keywords for his business.

Stuffing keywords in nofollowed links certainly helps rank for keywords.

So, you want to know how to fight back? It’s very simple if you’re using WordPress:

  1. Install my Comment Referrers plugin. That will add a line at the end of the moderation emails with the referrer of the visitor. Some referrers should ring alarm bells!
  2. Install Delink Comment Author. This plugin removes the link the comment author left as their URL. I modified my install so it removes the email too as I moderate comments from new users.
  3. I was planning on coding this next plugin, but I found Lucia’s Link Love first and that saved me the trouble. I modified mine so it doesn’t hyper link the name of a comment author who has left less than a certain number of comments. See this comment as an example. That “Landscape Artist” never came back to my blog again so his “name” isn’t linked to his site.

So, chances are a few more people are going to try this technique now that I’ve blogged about it. I bet many more blog owners will be more vigilant of it now though. It’s your blog. If you don’t want to be pawn to a spammer then fight back!

Edit: Here is my version of Lucia’s Linky Love. Just rename this file to .php and drop into your plugins folder. If you’re not logged in or have a comment cookie in your browser you should see some comment author’s names won’t be linked.

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Consider installing a browser extension that blocks ads and other malicious scripts in your browser to protect your privacy and security. Here are a few options.

  • uBlock Origin is a free, open source, ad blocker for your browser.
  • Use pi-hole if you have a spare Raspberry Pi on your network.
  • Set the private DNS settings on your phone to dns.adguard.com to block adverts and trackers.