Freaky Frugalite » Wordpress

CAPTCHA. Kills Spam DEAD.

Rebecca — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 23:23:17 +0000

Weeeellll…. as much as I hate CAPTCHA for comments (I always find them difficult to decipher), I was forced to install it for my blogs today.

For Blog Jog Day, I anticipated loads of comments! And I sure got them– 1,000 spam comments PER HOUR. On 11/21/10, I logged in to see the spam count pages literally multiply before my eyes. I’m not kidding. When I logged in, there were 70 pages of spam comments just that day alone. And as I sifted through them to check for viable Blog Jog Day comments, I watched the pages increase: 72, 74, 77, 80…. yahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! I had to stop it, and fast, before the spambots overloaded my server and brought all my websites down!

So in a hurry I installed a CAPTCHA plugin. It’s called Conditional CAPTCHA. I don’t know if I like it yet, it was the best thing I could find in 2 minutes! But instantly, ALL SPAM COMMENTS CEASED. It was like…. like TOTAL silence.

:jittery: WOW! I think I like CAPTCHA!

So my apologies to anyone who hates CAPTCHA. I dislike it, too. But the spambots are winning the war, and I must stop them before they destroy me!

Something Screwy Goin’ On Here

Rebecca — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:05:20 +0000

Sorry, I have had to change the theme for this blog temporarily. For some REALLY WEIRD reason, all my sites keep going down, on and off. The problems started when my web host did a server upgrade (Apache). I got 500 Server Errors at the time. I don’t know if the update was the problem or not… but the downtime has been happening since then, for about three weeks. I’ve tried disabling plugins, etc etc… and I can’t figure out what’s wrong.

If any of you WordPress geeks have a suggestion, please leave me a comment. I’m desperate.

So, I’m going to keep this temporary theme up until I can resolve the matter– just in case it is this graphic-intensive theme that is causing the problem.

Another WordPress Plugin Bites the Dust

Rebecca — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:21:30 +0000

I had to uninstall my new, very cool WordPress plugin. Mourn with me, my friends. I loved it. It was the Yet Another Related Posts Plugin. I love how some blogs have that “related posts” thing for all their posts. It’s so cool! So I tried this one, and it made my server crash. :rainy: There was just no way I could get it to work– it forced too many processes to run at once, and during times of heavy traffic, everything came crashing down.

Wah!! :cwy:

Do you know of a better related posts plugin, one that doesn’t eat up available processes? I kinda figure that they all probably do– because by their very nature, they crawl and cache your site, and that eats up resources. But maybe, just MAYBE, there’s one out there that’s a lean mean related posting machine…

Did You Update?

Rebecca — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 14:43:31 +0000

Did you? Believe it or not, WordPress needs another update!! I have eight WordPress blogs, so updating them all is a chore. (I always make backups first– that’s the real chore, actually). At least updating WordPress is kind of easy (but I still get knots in my stomach when I do it). This latest WordPress release, 2.8.4, is a security release, so it’s advisable to do it.

If you are wondering how to update WordPress with their new “one-click” application (they added this great feature in WP 2.7), I wrote a post about it on my technology blog. Also inckuded is a video tutorial on how to import your blog’s XML file.

Have fun!

I Can’t Decide…

Rebecca — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:00:39 +0000

After updating my WordPress to the latest version (2.8 is the best yet!), I had a hankering for a new look. After searching and searching for something kind of funky, fun, and freaky, this is what I ended up with. I’m not 100% sold on it.

What do you think?

Here’s the old theme, so you can compare.

I’d REALLY appreciate your input. I’m having a hard time making up my mind. If the consensus is that this theme just doesn’t cut it, I’ll go back to the old one. Let me know! :D

I Like WordPress 2.7

Rebecca — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:55:17 +0000

Have you guys taken the plunge yet??? I finally did. To the WordPress Dudes: Oh gosh, PLEEAASSSEE no more WordPress updates for a while, k?! I am still relatively new to WordPress, about a year ago. I have had to do seven or eight updates since then, across SIX blogs. I am soo tired of updates that I could scream.

So with that said, I’ve been trying out this new verson. It’s a complete haul of the admin dashboard. Be prepared, lol. It’s organized much better, but it’s very different and it’s taking me some time to become accustomed to it all.

The one aspect I just love is that I can reply to comments from the new Comments panel. I took a snapshot.

You can see the comment above, and the box below is open to enable me to reply to that particular comment (there is a list of more comments below the reply box that you can’t see in the snapshot). I am a lazy commenter, I admit. I read posts and comments, I think thoughts, and I always have something more to say… but going through the hassle of clicking links, reloading a new page or two, inserting information, the captcha, the reload, etc… ugh, I have to really want to say something to comment.

Well, WordPress makes it easier for me to reply to comments now. I really like it.

My WordPress upgrade went very well, no bugs or errors. I manually disabled all my plugins first, though. That’s always recommended. And I used an Automatic Upgrade Tool which went smoothly. So, have you updated yet?

Do You Like the New Look?

Rebecca — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:17:50 +0000

I’ve done it again– rearranged the blog furniture! I was tired of all the nagging little nuisances of the old template (which was actually a combination of two different ones). I just loved the old header, and hate to part with it, but I couldn’t make it work with this theme.

I like the sleekness of this one. I have a small beef– the sidebar loads first, and if it takes long, the main content doesn’t load for a while. I HATE that! Why is it programmed that way? I want it to zip around like Zero Halliburton luggage, but instead it lags like an old wooden chest of drawers…

How about you? Do like this look or do you prefer the old ladybug in a picture frame look? Does it take too long to load? I’d really like to know.

Blogs Down AGAIN

Rebecca — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 18:31:30 +0000

GRRRRRR. If you are trying to access my other websites, New York Traveler.net, New York Renovator, and Mrs. Mecomber’s Scrapbook… they’re down again.

Oh, I just checked and now they are up. But my template to New York Traveler.net is a little screwy. Wha? Any geeks out there have any suggestions? I contacted my webhost (Bluehost) and asked them why my template was messy. They said that when the server was down and restored, the company must have used a backup form to restore my blog. But… these changes in my template are not from backups. The only way these things could have been altered is for someone to tinker with my stylesheet of my blog theme. Is this possible??

I don’t know what it is with me and things like this. I always seem to have problems when everyone else is sailing smooth waters and tech help is more concerned with sexy shoes.

UPDATE: Bluehost informed that they did not have to restore anything with backups. So…. how did my template get changed? And why?

Batten Down the Hatches

Rebecca — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:46:02 +0000

I’m tightening security as best I can, and updating everything and anything for this blog. I’m learning the ropes of WordPress… my favorite site right now is the support forums! lol! So if you happen to find something amiss or not working properly around here, would you please either leave a comment or use the Contact Me form in the sidebar, to let me know? I’m testing out everything I can think of, but I’m afraid I will miss something. Thanks for all your help! :D

Need a New Blog Theme?

Rebecca — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:30:13 +0000

I’m getting that urge again. You bloggers (and obsessive furniture re-arrangers) know what I mean. It’s the urge to get a new WordPress theme! I feel it burning inside again! I just cannot stop browsing wordpress templates!

I read that having a properly-coded blog theme is really important for speed and to mitigate excessive CPU loads. But face it– who on earth wants that hideous Kubrick theme??? Not me! I love this theme here. It’s called TickTockTack. Isn’t it hilarious? I love whimsical themes like that.

Needing a new theme? Here’s a website that has tons of colorful and personal templates: Top WP Themes. They have a support page and an installation help page, too! They are one of my favorite template sites. And they are always creating gorgeous new themes for obsessive theme-changers like me. :D