The migration from publishing to my own hosted space to posting to Google's Blogger space is nearly complete. The only hurdle left to clear is creating this whole missing files redirect thing because all of my images and files did not transfer and they're stuck on a site without a domain now.
I would be lying if I said the missing files host stuff made a whole lot of sense because it really doesn't to me. I will continue to work on that part but I will also going back through recent posts and re-adding the graphics so that the site looks more or less the way I intended it to.
I still need to do this for Wal-Mart is Pure Evil too since that's been moved to a Blogspot site.
What fun all of this is and I'm so lucky I don't have anything else to do right now. ** Woops, my sarcasm meter just exploded. **
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
4.28.2010
2.05.2010
Changes Are Afoot
Two fairly significant change are being forced upon me in regards to this here blog (and the others I write as well). The first is that Haloscan, the comment engine I've used for the last several years, is being put out of its misery. Which means figuring out how to move 8000+ comments off Haloscan and into another comment engine.
As the more astute among you will have noticed, there are currently two options for comments on posts. The old one that reads 0 Comments which is Haloscan and the new one that reads 0 Comments and 0 Reactions which is Disqus. The Haloscan option will be removed next week, they gave me a deadline of 2/11 to either take my comments and go home or move to their pay-for system called Echo. I'm sure Echo is lovely and all but I've been interested in Disqus for a while and rather like the soc.net aspect of the comment system. I think I'm going to give it a go. However, I'm having some difficulty in importing all of my exported comments from Haloscan. There's a widget to do it and it seemed easy-peasy but nothing has shown up as being imported as of yet. Which doesn't bode well. I will keep working on it and hope there's an automated way to populate the system with my comments.
For now though, please try to use the Disqus comment option.
The second significant change on the horizon, a little further out, is that Blogger will no longer be allowing this blog (and presumably all of the others) to publish via FTP (that's file transfer protocol, not fluffy transvestite pushing). Not sure why they are doing this and it doesn't really matter why because they are. This leaves me with two options. Either drop my web hosting and move Intellectual Poison completely on to Google's servers or look for another blogging platform.
From the couple of discussions I've had with other bloggers in the same boat, the consensus seems to be moving to a new blogging platform. Which means there's a whole crapload of code tweaking in my somewhat near future. I have ten blogs through Blogger presently with a couple of those pretty well defunct (oh poor Cheddar X and Stump Pond Journal). Not all of them would have to be moved because several are Blogspot blogs and won't be affected. But enough will be affected that I may just relocate the whole kit and kaboodle.
Which should be fun trying to do in the midst of moving my physical house as well. And everything else on my ridiculous laundry list of tasks.
As the more astute among you will have noticed, there are currently two options for comments on posts. The old one that reads 0 Comments which is Haloscan and the new one that reads 0 Comments and 0 Reactions which is Disqus. The Haloscan option will be removed next week, they gave me a deadline of 2/11 to either take my comments and go home or move to their pay-for system called Echo. I'm sure Echo is lovely and all but I've been interested in Disqus for a while and rather like the soc.net aspect of the comment system. I think I'm going to give it a go. However, I'm having some difficulty in importing all of my exported comments from Haloscan. There's a widget to do it and it seemed easy-peasy but nothing has shown up as being imported as of yet. Which doesn't bode well. I will keep working on it and hope there's an automated way to populate the system with my comments.
For now though, please try to use the Disqus comment option.
The second significant change on the horizon, a little further out, is that Blogger will no longer be allowing this blog (and presumably all of the others) to publish via FTP (that's file transfer protocol, not fluffy transvestite pushing). Not sure why they are doing this and it doesn't really matter why because they are. This leaves me with two options. Either drop my web hosting and move Intellectual Poison completely on to Google's servers or look for another blogging platform.
From the couple of discussions I've had with other bloggers in the same boat, the consensus seems to be moving to a new blogging platform. Which means there's a whole crapload of code tweaking in my somewhat near future. I have ten blogs through Blogger presently with a couple of those pretty well defunct (oh poor Cheddar X and Stump Pond Journal). Not all of them would have to be moved because several are Blogspot blogs and won't be affected. But enough will be affected that I may just relocate the whole kit and kaboodle.
Which should be fun trying to do in the midst of moving my physical house as well. And everything else on my ridiculous laundry list of tasks.
1.30.2010
Please Stand By
With the recent email from Haloscan saying the service will be permanently shut down on the 11th of February, I'm starting the process of converting all of my blogs over to Disqus.
Tonight was the first step in that process. We'll see how the export from Haloscan and import into Disqus goes. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.
Tonight was the first step in that process. We'll see how the export from Haloscan and import into Disqus goes. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.
11.08.2008
Blogging vs. Twittering
I was just reading an article in Wired that basically says Blogging is Dead. The reasons they lay out make some pretty broad assumptions about the reasons that people blog. For example, they say the chances of a well written article/post by a nobody like me showing up high in search results is virtually nil. And I can accept that. I used to blog with an eye to notoriety and expected book deals, groupies and Google AdSense millions to come my way anyday.
While I wouldn't complain if that happened, it is no longer even in the top five or ten reasons why I blog. Sure, I'd love to get paid to blog but it pays me in other ways. Like having gotten to know good people like Amy, Ryan, Lujza, Nutsy, Rick, Jack, the rather awesome fellas at the Mint 400, Easy and more (apologies if I didn't list every single blog I read here, it started to get silly). Blogging has become a sort of therapy for me. Mixed in among the ejaculate posts about politics, celebrity idiocy and news are posts about what makes me tick, about things that are important to me. Plus, it gives interested members of my family, who are mostly bound to the east coast, a chance to check in and see where my head is at, leave a comment or two and stay in touch.
Twitter, as much as I love it for its immediacy, funky community and brevity, has no staying power. A great tweet is off the page in an hour and gone for good in a day. During one of the presidential debates, I took part in a live Twitter chat during the debate (I'm sure Jay remembers the hundred or so tweets in an hour and a half). And I have some wicked funny comments, one liners and observations. But they are all so far down my tweet list now as to be gone forever.
And, maybe its my age showing, but I rather enjoy a little bit of permanence. Plus, the blog is a measure of my feelings, thoughts and what was important to me at the time. And yes, even the stupid low-brow attempts at political humor count.
Blogging offers a way to explore events and feelings in far greater depth. Twittering is, in many ways, a symptom and manifestation of our ADD society.
I remember a tweet by Brittneyg to the effect that she had such a short attention span, she wasn't even reading full tweets anymore, she was skimming them. What does it say about our society when we can't even slow down enough to read 140 characters?
I don't think blogging is dead but it might be if you're planning on starting a blog to change the world and get rich. That landscape has been claimed and is now being dominated by professional writers with teams of researchers. And, oddly enough, I don't read many of those blogs because they are so impersonal. I prefer blogs written by just a couple of people who I can possibly develop a relationship with, discuss things with and not be yet another anonymous commenter.
But Twitter has its place too. And I'm sure there's something else just around the corner that will shoulder its way into the mix as well. Like Flickr, Vimeo, YouTube and other social networking sites (things like Facebook but not Facebook because I absolutely refuse to agree to their ridiculous terms of use).
While I wouldn't complain if that happened, it is no longer even in the top five or ten reasons why I blog. Sure, I'd love to get paid to blog but it pays me in other ways. Like having gotten to know good people like Amy, Ryan, Lujza, Nutsy, Rick, Jack, the rather awesome fellas at the Mint 400, Easy and more (apologies if I didn't list every single blog I read here, it started to get silly). Blogging has become a sort of therapy for me. Mixed in among the ejaculate posts about politics, celebrity idiocy and news are posts about what makes me tick, about things that are important to me. Plus, it gives interested members of my family, who are mostly bound to the east coast, a chance to check in and see where my head is at, leave a comment or two and stay in touch.
Twitter, as much as I love it for its immediacy, funky community and brevity, has no staying power. A great tweet is off the page in an hour and gone for good in a day. During one of the presidential debates, I took part in a live Twitter chat during the debate (I'm sure Jay remembers the hundred or so tweets in an hour and a half). And I have some wicked funny comments, one liners and observations. But they are all so far down my tweet list now as to be gone forever.
And, maybe its my age showing, but I rather enjoy a little bit of permanence. Plus, the blog is a measure of my feelings, thoughts and what was important to me at the time. And yes, even the stupid low-brow attempts at political humor count.
Blogging offers a way to explore events and feelings in far greater depth. Twittering is, in many ways, a symptom and manifestation of our ADD society.
I remember a tweet by Brittneyg to the effect that she had such a short attention span, she wasn't even reading full tweets anymore, she was skimming them. What does it say about our society when we can't even slow down enough to read 140 characters?
I don't think blogging is dead but it might be if you're planning on starting a blog to change the world and get rich. That landscape has been claimed and is now being dominated by professional writers with teams of researchers. And, oddly enough, I don't read many of those blogs because they are so impersonal. I prefer blogs written by just a couple of people who I can possibly develop a relationship with, discuss things with and not be yet another anonymous commenter.
But Twitter has its place too. And I'm sure there's something else just around the corner that will shoulder its way into the mix as well. Like Flickr, Vimeo, YouTube and other social networking sites (things like Facebook but not Facebook because I absolutely refuse to agree to their ridiculous terms of use).
5.06.2008
Changing Priorities
Once upon a time there was almost nothing more important to me than page views, entry pages, exit pages and time spent on site. I had a compulsion to check my SiteMeter stats multiple times per hour, dozens of times per day.
Because there was, at the time, a sense of clicks = cash. And there still is an equation that relates greater income production to higher click throughs.
Only, somewhere along the way, I stopped caring in the least about traffic. I stopped caring who read my blogs and started caring alot more about who comments, who comes back and who has their own blog I can read as well.
I can't remember the last time I checked my site stats nor can I remember the last time I got a check from Google AdSense for the traffic I do generate on my alternative blogs but I'm sure another will show up some day and it'll be nice to have a "free" $100 to spend. Usually it just goes back into the tech, either some new widget or webspace or a domain registration.
Anyway, I just thought it was kind of an interesting evolution of my blogging to have cared soooooo much about traffic to now not giving it the slightest thought.
Because there was, at the time, a sense of clicks = cash. And there still is an equation that relates greater income production to higher click throughs.
Only, somewhere along the way, I stopped caring in the least about traffic. I stopped caring who read my blogs and started caring alot more about who comments, who comes back and who has their own blog I can read as well.
I can't remember the last time I checked my site stats nor can I remember the last time I got a check from Google AdSense for the traffic I do generate on my alternative blogs but I'm sure another will show up some day and it'll be nice to have a "free" $100 to spend. Usually it just goes back into the tech, either some new widget or webspace or a domain registration.
Anyway, I just thought it was kind of an interesting evolution of my blogging to have cared soooooo much about traffic to now not giving it the slightest thought.
4.15.2008
Losing My Edge
Apparently I'm not as edgy as I thought I once was. I accidentally clicked a link to check out my blog from work and, unlike previous attempts when the filter blocked me, my site loaded up lickety-split.
So I have either not been swearing as much as usual or the district has decided that I'm fairly innocuous. Either way, its nice to be able to see my site directly and not through Google's "cache lens."
So I have either not been swearing as much as usual or the district has decided that I'm fairly innocuous. Either way, its nice to be able to see my site directly and not through Google's "cache lens."
4.11.2008
Affecting Change
It was with great pleasure that I read an email from my favorite blogging artist, 14, late of Gallery of the Absurd and recently blogging at Circus Hour. The pleasure was fast, strong and lasted all the way through to the end of the email.
Readers may recall my recent rant against the collaboration with Circus Hour and my regret in having to unsubscribe to all of it rather than continue to wade through Candy's posts (which I had no interest in) to get to 14's posts (which are digital gold to me).
It seems that my comment on GotA started the ball rolling for 14 to re-evaluate, reconsider and then, eventually and happily, return to blogging at GotA. Which makes me a very happy blogger indeed.
Readers may recall my recent rant against the collaboration with Circus Hour and my regret in having to unsubscribe to all of it rather than continue to wade through Candy's posts (which I had no interest in) to get to 14's posts (which are digital gold to me).
It seems that my comment on GotA started the ball rolling for 14 to re-evaluate, reconsider and then, eventually and happily, return to blogging at GotA. Which makes me a very happy blogger indeed.
4.04.2008
When Collaboration is a Bad Idea
One of my favorite blogs, Gallery of the Absurd, merged with Circus Hour many months ago. The author of GotA is 14, a very talented artist with a very sly wit and a finger on the pulse of what's hawt and tawdry in celeb-gossip.
Candy, the author of Circus Gallery, is also focused on celebrity gossip so you'd think the combination of their blogs would result in a Grade-A kickass blogaliciousness.
However, Candy's posts are less sly and witty and alot more snide, snippy and kind of just come of as the rantings of someone who's sort of bitter. I'm sure she isn't bitter and I'm sure plenty of people love her posts. Far too much of her posts are trying to be clever and funny and they just come off as desperate and mean-spirited.
But the signal to noise ratio of 14's superb posts to Candy's annoying posts quickly became more of a hassle than a pleasure to read. Sometimes collaboration isn't the quickest route to a better blog. Sometimes you should just stick with what's working as its working.
As it is, I stopped reading Circus Hours months ago and just tonight I finally unsubscribed from GotA because it is no longer going to be anything resembling the blog I once liked. And Circus Hour is just annoying.
And I'm kind of pissed off about having to drop the blog because they wouldn't set up RSS feeds for each blogger, just the whole blog and Candy posts probably five times as much as 14. And, as stated earlier, Candy's posts were just a waste of my time.
Candy, the author of Circus Gallery, is also focused on celebrity gossip so you'd think the combination of their blogs would result in a Grade-A kickass blogaliciousness.
However, Candy's posts are less sly and witty and alot more snide, snippy and kind of just come of as the rantings of someone who's sort of bitter. I'm sure she isn't bitter and I'm sure plenty of people love her posts. Far too much of her posts are trying to be clever and funny and they just come off as desperate and mean-spirited.
But the signal to noise ratio of 14's superb posts to Candy's annoying posts quickly became more of a hassle than a pleasure to read. Sometimes collaboration isn't the quickest route to a better blog. Sometimes you should just stick with what's working as its working.
As it is, I stopped reading Circus Hours months ago and just tonight I finally unsubscribed from GotA because it is no longer going to be anything resembling the blog I once liked. And Circus Hour is just annoying.
And I'm kind of pissed off about having to drop the blog because they wouldn't set up RSS feeds for each blogger, just the whole blog and Candy posts probably five times as much as 14. And, as stated earlier, Candy's posts were just a waste of my time.
3.27.2008
Accountable Difficulties
Some of you may have noticed a rather obvious lack of Intellectual Poison-itude yesterday. In fact, the entire website was gone for most of the day. And no, not because I didn't pay my hosting service or the sharks who pose as my domain registrars.
Nope, instead a rabid bug got loose in my hosting service's network and decided to snack on the logical side of my account. And the service started sending me garbage emails demanding immediate payment of no money. Which was odd enough. But then the account bug decided fifteen nanoseconds was too long to wait for payment it didn't get or need so it shut off my site, twice.
My hosting providers says they've got things sorted out and that they appreciate my patience. They've now overlooked two requests for a credit to make up for the pain in the ass and hassle they inflicted upon me. I'll request one more time and then I'm going to go shopping for a new provider. And I'll happily list their name here so that others can be made aware too.
Nope, instead a rabid bug got loose in my hosting service's network and decided to snack on the logical side of my account. And the service started sending me garbage emails demanding immediate payment of no money. Which was odd enough. But then the account bug decided fifteen nanoseconds was too long to wait for payment it didn't get or need so it shut off my site, twice.
My hosting providers says they've got things sorted out and that they appreciate my patience. They've now overlooked two requests for a credit to make up for the pain in the ass and hassle they inflicted upon me. I'll request one more time and then I'm going to go shopping for a new provider. And I'll happily list their name here so that others can be made aware too.
2.19.2008
I Got Nothing
Astute readers will have noticed that its been a little while since I've written anything here. And its not because I'm just sitting and staring at the wall with nothing happening, there's plenty, plenty to keep me busy these days. Just not a whole lot of translatable events that make for good or even decent blog posts.
That plus I'm suffering from a sort of blog fatigue. As Ryan posted the other day, the internets have changed, there's a new guard, a new something or other and the ol' blogosphere doesn't feel like it used to.
I've found that the numbers of blogs I regularly read dwindles unless I make an effort to replenish blogs as they die off or become boring or veer off into foci that are of zero interest to me. Or, perish the thought, if they lose their sense of humor.
There are very few blogs I take the time to comment on, for various reasons. Amy's comments are turned off as often as not because of loser comment spammers (seriously, there are few lower life forms than idiots who comment spam), the Mint's comments are password protected and I almost always forget what my password is, Ryan's comments break on me more often than not and I get frustrated trying to comment there sometimes.
And, sad to say, there's just too much going on outside the internets these days. I've got two beautiful and wonderful little boys that want my attention, I've got a wife that needs me, a dog that needs walks and runs, a house that needs repairs, trash to take out, poop to scoop up and more and more and more.
It isn't that I'm going to go away so much as that I think I'm going to start evolving my blog again. It needs something but I'm not sure what (and no, Ryan, it does not need images of my backside thankyouverymuch). I don't know, I'm just sort of not feeling it so much these days.
But I expect that'll change once I've gotten resettled into a routine with my work. One can only hope.
That plus I'm suffering from a sort of blog fatigue. As Ryan posted the other day, the internets have changed, there's a new guard, a new something or other and the ol' blogosphere doesn't feel like it used to.
I've found that the numbers of blogs I regularly read dwindles unless I make an effort to replenish blogs as they die off or become boring or veer off into foci that are of zero interest to me. Or, perish the thought, if they lose their sense of humor.
There are very few blogs I take the time to comment on, for various reasons. Amy's comments are turned off as often as not because of loser comment spammers (seriously, there are few lower life forms than idiots who comment spam), the Mint's comments are password protected and I almost always forget what my password is, Ryan's comments break on me more often than not and I get frustrated trying to comment there sometimes.
And, sad to say, there's just too much going on outside the internets these days. I've got two beautiful and wonderful little boys that want my attention, I've got a wife that needs me, a dog that needs walks and runs, a house that needs repairs, trash to take out, poop to scoop up and more and more and more.
It isn't that I'm going to go away so much as that I think I'm going to start evolving my blog again. It needs something but I'm not sure what (and no, Ryan, it does not need images of my backside thankyouverymuch). I don't know, I'm just sort of not feeling it so much these days.
But I expect that'll change once I've gotten resettled into a routine with my work. One can only hope.
11.06.2007
Something Somewhere Ain't Right
I've been having a devil of a time getting my posts to post properly lately. The connection times out and I have to redo it again and again until it finally decides to play nicely. Posts I wrote and tried to put up this morning didn't go live until tonight when I was able to babysit them for twenty minutes or so.I don't think its Blogger (this time) so the culprit is most likely my hosting provider but I just don't have the energy to deal with a customer service call tonight. I barely have enough left in the tank to hope it works better tomorrow.
Oh and the picture? I just posted it with this one because I like it alot.
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