Scot describes a way to use .htaccess to block spam robots based on the referrer to the comment script, making sure it is coming from a blog visitor.

birdhouse.org: Referrer Madness

Since I put in the spam password on comments a while back, MovableType has developed some sophisticated anti-spam features. Upgrading to version 3.2 basically wiped out the spam password technique, which I thought I would have to figure out how to put back in. But in looking at the new features, I’m not sure we need the password.

MovableType is rating comments as junk or not. And it is learning what we all think is junk. So it may be that we do not need a password. For example, Mom just posted a comment that got rated +1 (plus is good minus is bad. I don’t know how or low the numbers go.) It decided +1 because of this:

Final Feedback Rating: +1

SpamLookup Email Memory +1.0 E-mail was previously published (comment id 18).

Since I’ve allowed comments with her e-mail before, that is considered positive. I can turn on auto-publish for comments that have a positive rating.

More testing needed, but it would be good to not have to have passwords. Then well-intended acquaintances can add comments. What do you think? Leave a comment. 🙂

Will need to support e-mail services if we are going to sell web hosting services…

Email Servers and Mac OS X

The iTunes Party Shuffle playlist quit working properly. It would show all songs in the library. Refreshing or changing settings did not fix. I found the fix here. Highlight all of the songs in the Party Shuffle playlist and delete them. (It does not delete your songs.) And then hit refresh.

Ask Ein: Party Shuffle shows every song in my iTunes library

A news story about the creaters of MovableType (and TypePad.)

Yahoo! News – Couple Build Startup Into Blog Powerhouse

Guided again by Scot, I installed AWStats for web traffic analysis. I already like it better than Analog (see comparison) because I got it installed quicker and because it is easier to run/access from the web.

Click on the little “AWStats” button at the bottom of mac.fiveforks.com to see stats.

The install log is attached with comments for future reference. Had a few hiccups that were cured with setting the config file, permissions, and creating a couple of directories.

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I purchased an “Unlimted Personal License” to MovableType ($99.) This is the only way to move forward with future upgrades. No more free lunch (unless you want to only have one author… we have 12.)

I did a test upgrade on the old Blue Mac, and all went well. Watch for some changes the next time you log in. I’ll point out new features as I uncover them.

One of the biggest changes is the (optional) integration with TypeKey to help combat comment spamming. I like our common password method, though. It seems to have solved the problem and did not require everyone to register with TypeKey.

A Japanese poem:

How clearly I can see the moon,

Now that my storehouse is burned.

From: Fond Remembrance of a Difficult Building Job.

A link for Greg’s Dad:

Jabba and Greedo

I enjoyed the addition of Jabba in the first Star Wars Movie. It was a scene George Lucas wanted to have, but could not afford. He had a goal of more interaction between strange aliens and humans that were limited without the yet created computer animation that would allow it.

I agree with the “Greedo Shoots First” complaint. Nasty guy, Greedo. Shootin’ him first was ok with me.

Here’s a link for Greg himself… and anyone else interested in the Box DVD set of Star Wars being released today.

Betty Claire is interested in setting up a family blog like this one. Without a resident web person or two, I don’t think our set up can work. So I looked at using Blogger (acquired by Google) which can integrate with photo-websites like Flickr.

I set up this test site to show her. It includes a photo of BC on the beach.

Stonegate on Blogspot.