All posts by The Artist

WordPress Issues

Akismet Activated

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When I first started this blog, it was very quiet, very clean. As days go by, more and more spam comment kept hitting my blog. I really do not understand how they could even find my blog or the permalinks of specific posts. Anyway, I tolerated them and even found some to be really funny.

Until a couple of days ago, I consistently received more than 50 email alerts of comments on the blog which are 99% spam. I don’t know why Blogger blogs could stop spam from hitting but WordPress can’t. I don’t even get as many spam from all my Blogger blogs combined since day one compared to one day on one WordPress blog.

After tolerating for seven long months where it got exceptionally bad this past couple of months, I finally moved my butt over to wordpress.com to register for an account sans blog just so that I could get the free Akismet API key. Well, I think it’s mighty redundant to have to do so. I mean, I don’t even want a wordpress.com blog and neither have I ever logged in to read other blogs. I’m not that free. I’m not bored up to that level yet.

That’s the main reason it took me this long to get the key but now that I have finally activated my Akismet, whoa, only one or two wayward spam comments managed to hit my inbox PER WEEK. It’s so effective (for now) 😀

Computing & Internet

Driving Traffic To Your Blog

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A couple of weeks ago, I was introduced to the personalized news portal of Thoof.com. I was told that I could gain more traffic by submitting my blog post to Thoof.com. I registered with Thoof.com without further ado, it’s FREE, after all, and promptly submitted my article to Thoof.

However, I was too impatient that I submitted my article BEFORE my registration was confirmed. So I was not assigned a ThoofRank Badge which I was supposed to place at the end of my post on my blog. Having this ThoofRank Badge will even drive more traffic to the blog. I know, because there was no way to rectify my submission and so I submitted another article to Thoof and this time, managed to embed the code for ThoofRank Badge at the end of my post.

With a post without the Badge and one with the Badge, I would see the vast difference in traffic. I believe everyone who blogs is hungry for traffic. Having multiple blogs, I *AM* hungry for traffic. Bloggers could write a killer post but if it is not read, it doesn’t make an impact.

Thoof allows us to market our posts to a wider international audience and share our thoughts with other Thoof members. If our blog has great content, we can convert random article readers to our loyal blog readers and that is what every blogger needs!


Blogging

Value In A 3 – 5 Line Post

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I have been blog hopping reading random postie blogs and I see so many people either having a whole page of sponsored posts or have short posts as long as only three to five lines.

I would like to know, is there any value in such a short post? What is a blog? Posts as short as that make the blog seem like a notice board and as far as I can see, ultra short posts like that cannot convey any good information to the reader and there really isn’t any value to at it all. Sooner or later, people won’t even bother coming by to read. I know I won’t.

To me, a blog post have to be at least 140 words to be of any value to the reader and taking this into account, I do not see what good a three to five line “interim” post will do. What do you think?

Charity

Reaching Out To The Needy Through Car Angel

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I came across a very good charity organization that takes car donations in Los Angeles. I have known that to be charitable, we can actually donate anything we can, but this is the first organization that I come across that accepts cars big time, even providing free towing in Southern California.

I always believe that as an individual, it is difficult to make a difference but if we all combine forces, yes, we can make a difference. And with the co-ordination of Car Angel, which, by the way, also accepts trucks, boats and even Recreational Vehicles, even if they are no longer road worthy.

Donating to Car Angel, which supports single mothers, orphans, rehabs, widows and prison reforms, we can actually select which charities we would like to support with our donation. The good thing is that Car Angel issues us a full fair market value receipt so that we can get a tax rebate.

L.A. car donation is so easy now thanks to Car Angel who will take care of everything for us as soon as we decide to donate our car. I would surely donate my car in Los Angeles if I live in Southern California.

That being said, Car Angel is surely a unique organization that helps us to help the needy in a hassle-free way. I believe that more and more people would lend a helping hand once they realize the ease of reaching out to those who need our help the most.

WordPress Issues

Itchy Fingers

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You know what, as if I am not busy enough, I am thinking of setting up a NEW BLOG!!!! GASP!!!!!

This time, I am thinking of buying a domain name and let Blogger host it. This is because I am seriously sick of Word Press! Really, I get so confused over the codes, plug-ins and what not, I feel like abandoning my WP blogs and hop back to the security of Blogger!

While I am still keeping my Blogger blogs active, I wonder how it would be like to let Blogger host my blog, but with my own domain.

I suspect, being the muddle-headed me, I would require assistance in the initial set up, but once everything is set, I am sure I never have to worry about my blog anymore and also the tedious task of backing up my blogs every single day. Now, backing up is not a problem but when I say tedious, I mean that I have to REMEMBER to back up my blog after every post. Gah!!!

In The News

Heavyweight Roman Greenberg Fights Damon Reed

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I was told that there will be a very exciting boxing fight in Sandy, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA at the South Town Exhibition Center on 18th August, 2007, between heavyweight, as yet undisputed Roman Greenberg against veteran Damon Reed. With a ten year age gap, we will have to see if Damon Reed still has what it takes in the ring!

I have previously written on Roman Greenberg before on this blog. He is a very talented boxer who was born in Russia but raised in Isreal. He now trains in the UK and he has been sponsored by Backgammom Masters from the onset of his boxing career.

For those of you who do not know Backgammon Masters, it is a site where backgammon lovers can play backgammon online with other players from around the world.

Backgammon Masters offers free download of its top class backgammon software plus provide feature articles on how to get started on playing backgammon, including rules, tips and strategies.

You may be wondering why I am talking about sports and casino games on this blog, but I remember that some time back, Backgammon Masters hosted a charity auction on Roman Greenberg’s boxing shorts in support of Arab and Jewish youth in distress. I am interested to see if there will be another charity auction in store should Roman Greenberg win this bout against Damon Reed. What do you think?

Blogging

Moo No More

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By now, I am sure the whole internet world knows that there is no more John Cow and johncow.com redirects to JohnChow.com instead. Oh wow, what an additional number of links to the already heavyweight.

Anyway, if you read my other entry on John the Cow, you would know that I am no fan of his. Sure, he is rather funny at first but I don’t believe that he’s doing it right by riding on another person’s fame and making fun of his family name. This is very disrespectful in Chinese culture.

Anyway, now that the cow is being led to the slaughter house, so to speak, or at least being milked dry, what happens to the contest where we were promised a prize worth $500? Ah ….. there goes my Sony Playstation 3.

Well, I didn’t believe one bit that I would win anyway, not after I made fun of his mad cow a$$ 😀 but he did ask for a link with the keyword “mad cow” and that was the best I could come up with!