Yes, yes, I know WordPress has solid built-in spam-catching functions; I must simply admit that receiving an e-mail everytime a spammer posts a comment, so that I can decide whether to approve or reject it, is getting tiresome. I could also tighten the features and make it so that these messages are deleted without even asking for approbation first, but given that some of the genuine comments I receive here sometimes get caught in it too—much to my dismay, since I see no reason why (they don’t even contain any links), I don’t want to take the risk.

This is the reason why I’ve installed Spam Karma 2. I had been testing it on another blog that had become a spammers’ target, and so far it’s been working pretty well. This is the second version, too, and there shouldn’t be any “false positives” (genuine posts caught as spam), but if any of you were to experience their comments being blocked and not appearing on the site even after one day or so, please send me an e-mail about it (the address is in the Author section on the right). The plugin sends me a daily digest of blocked spam comments, and I can restore them if I want to, yet it can happen that I miss one.

Y Tags: spam+karma | plugin | wordpress

It was almost a given that I’d write about this soon, given how much I like using WordPress and am convinced that it’s really one of the best free blogging platforms available out there at the moment. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to test it myself as of yet (it’s not live yet, and on invite only at the moment). Not a problem, though, I already know enough to realize that whether I can test it or not, it’s going to be great.

So what’s the fuss about WordPress.com? All that simply, it’s a system very similar to TypePad, in that it will host a blog for you in exchange for a payment (how much will this be, I don’t know yet; Typepad is 4.95$/month for the basic membership, if this can be a tool for comparison). The difference, evidently, is that said blog will be powered by WordPress and not Movable Type. The user doesn’t have to worry about renting webspace, tinkering with databases, going through the whole installation, and the likes. Sign up, create a blog, pick a theme, start blogging: that’s all there is to it. It’s not really a complicated process, is it?

For more information, you can head at Lorelle’s blog at WordPress.com, where she posts about what you can and can’t do with this “new” installation. Sure, it won’t be free like, say, Blog*Spot. However, it’s also way better, and depending on the pricing and what one’s ready to invest, it can be a very valuable choice. Time will tell (soon, I hope) how this venture is going to turn out.

Y Tags: wordpress

As you, faithful readers, can tell from the new layout here, I didn’t have too much time today to peruse more in depth the woes of the writer or the Secret Art of Blogging. My apologies for this. It’s past 10 pm, and I very much doubt that I’ll still have the energy to write a long, meaningful post before bedtime.

With this said… Did I grow tired already of my former layout? Not exactly. I simply had this urge to tinker more deeply with a completely different kind of theme, this time in three columns (and not purple!), as it had been a while I was considering one. I did test it on a… test blog, yes, and with three browsers (namely FireFox 1.06, IE 6 and Netscape 7.0). However, if you were to notice any problems with it, please let me know. I’ll feel obliged to learn more by breaking the theme into pieces again and trying to fix the problem.

Y Tags: theme | wordpress

A little quickie about a plugin I’ve been testing in the past two weeks, and that has turned out to be quite a nice one to use. It’s name is StatTraq, and just like its name easily gives it away, its aim is to provide more useful statistics about your WordPress blog than the basic ones available in the Dashboard (if these can even be called “statistics”...).

Developed by Randy Peterman, the StatTraq plugin is currently at its beta 1.0b version, and can be downloaded here. It may not be as exact as the SiteMeter tracker (that I haven’t really tested yet), but it can sure already give a few good stats to all those geeky types who, like me, appreciate being able to look at graphics and numbers of visitors.

Y Tags: wordpress | stattraq | statistics | plugin

Even though there are more than two hundreds WP themes currently available, the same ones tend to come back more than often. Hopefully, the ones on V4NY’s Box haven’t been used by everyone and their dog yet—and most of them are really worth the look, whether one is looking for a two- or three-columns template or for one in light tones.

These themes are all free of use (provided credit is given, of course), with modifiable colors and images; a demo is also available on this page.

Y Tags: wordpress | theme