You are not stuck in traffic… you are traffic.
By being there, you are making the problem worse.
You are part of the problem and that makes you part of the solution! 
“I hold it true, whate’er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
‘Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.”
Alfred Lord Tennyson
A while back Ari Herzog wrote a blog post about a new comment spam filtering system called GASP. Ari decided to use it as an alternative to Akismet which is a very popular plugin that many bloggers use. I like Akismet it works, but very occasionally a good comment goes into spam and a bad one gets approved.
The think I dislike about Akismet is the fact that I have to trawl through loads of spam comments to check that there are not any legitimate ones stuck in there. However not any more… I hope.
GASP (which stands for Growmap Anti-Spambot Plugin) is a plugin which puts a little tick box in the comment box. All you have to do is remember to tick it and your comment will get through. If you create an account and are logged in you won’t need to tick the box, which is just as well as I am useless at remembering to!
This which is why I refrained from using it for this long. But I am really bored by the masses of spam comments now, so I am implementing the GASP plugin on my blog.
Tick the box and your comment is through, forget and you will see this message
I always forget too. You didn’t tick the box under the submit button and for that reason you are seeing this message. Go back and tick it and all will be good
Then just go back and tick the box. You will need to have javascript enabled for it to work, and if you don’t you will need to enable it to be able to comment.
Tick the box under the submit button and all is good!
If you really hate the new box that you have to tick, it will go, but if it doesn’t bother you and it gives me more time to write, then it will stay.
As for Akismet, its future is uncertain. If GASP works really well then it may go, but currently I am leaving it on so that I can minimise spam.
If you are a blogger why not try GASP for yourself? I have, Ari has, Kieth has, Justin has, Chadrack has…
Happy spam free commenting
Ether today or yesterday, Google updated a large majority of its indexed sites PageRank. If you don’t know what PageRank is you might want to read my what is PageRank post on my technology blog.
My philosophy blog is still very new and therefore is not properly and fully indexed by Google which is probably why it remained at a PageRank of 0. It often the case that a site needs to be established for some time before it gets a decent PageRank.
Another example of this is AriHerzog.com – his site was a PageRank 4 before he moved his blog (previously found at AriWriter.com) to this domain name. Due to the blog being extremely new it hadn’t had the time to gain enough credibility in Google’s eyes to go back up to a PageRank 5 which is what AriWiter.com was. Will to Know (a blog written by Joy Mystic) is another site which is very new and therefore despite it having some very good articles, it doesn’t have a high PageRank, yet.
Despite the 0/10 for my philosophy blog, my technology blog seemed to fair much better, acquiring a PageRank of 3/10 which I may add is very impressive for a blog of its size!
My social blog and website stayed the same as before at a 2/10 and 3/10 respectively, with some surprises, as many internal pages increased in rank.
My website also had some more useful sitelinks, so when you now view my site in the search engines, you will be able to go straight to certain pages and blogs without having to even go into the site, making your browsing quicker!
The circled area shows my websites Google sitelinks
Overall I am very pleased with my rankings, as it shows that my site and blogs are gaining greater status on the Internet.
Do you own a blog or website? If so how did you do in the latest update?
If you need any tips on how to increase your PageRank, check out my technology blogs article how can I increase my PageRank?
In this new year, grant me the serenity to accept things I cannot change,
grant me the courage to change the things I can,
and grant me the wisdom to know the difference.
Grant me the patience for the things that take time,
grant me the appreciation for all that I have,
and grant me the tolerance for those with different struggles.
That was my adapted version of the Serenity Prayer.
You are currently browsing the Christopher Roberts Philosophy Blog blog archives for January, 2011.
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