PD Author Weblog

New Sidebar for Links

Introducing the PD Linkblog, for those times when you'd like to share a link but don't want to write paragraphs of commentary around it. The Linkblog (located on the top right side of the home page) is designed for brief, single-sentence announcements with links to interesting places. You can post a link to the linkblog by selecting the link at left ("Post a Link on the side").

FYI, to include a link in anywhere on the site, the format is like this:

"Text to display":http://example.com

I've also included a link to complete formatting shortcuts at left.

Happy linking!

No More Spam E-Mail

The site continues to be deluged with comment and trackback spam. For months, because of this site's crappy host, I had been unable to remove any of it, but I have finally found a workaround and scraped the site clean of its 2000+ spam messages (15 at a time, I might add).

Removing the existing spam from the site has seemed to have slowed down the onslaught of new spam. But in case it hasn't, I have disabled e-mail notifications for new comments and trackback (when other weblog authors link to your article) pings. This is not an optimal solution, but I think it's for the best now, given that most comments and trackbacks currently are spam.

If you are still getting spam in your inbox from the site, please let me know.

Dates in Articles; New Authors

Articles now have the date they were written just below the headline, in an effort to better distinguish to search-engine visitors fresh content from old.

Also, I'm proud to announce that two of my four parents, Pegi and Sweeney, are joining the editorial staff of PD. Pegi will pen an "Ask Mom" column, and Sweeney will contribute "Movie Reviews for the Common Man." Please join me in welcoming our most mature contributors.

Newer, Smarter Ads

You may have noticed that the advertisements throughout the site have been switched from those that link to amazon.com to those sponsored by Google. The new Google ads have several advantages to the old amazon ads:

1. They are less obtrusive. The new ads are mostly all text, and all in the color theme of the rest of the site. They never blink or flash or show tacky cartoon pictures with bright colors. This makes them both more stylish and less distracting from the important content you contribute.

2. They are much more relevant and interesting. The ads served up are not pre-determined by me or anyone else; they are determined based on the content of the page. So, if you write an article about red socks, you might find an ad to buy red socks. Write an article about John Kerry, find a link to organizations that support him. Browsing around the site, I have clicked through several of the new Google ads just because they piqued my interest. Honestly. And while the ads certainly are not there to provide editorial enhancement to the site, at least they do not detract from it.

3. They generate more revenue. Plain and simple. They pay by the click, rather than the purchase (as on amazon.com). The rate is better, probably because they are more relevant. The site costs $85 a year to host, and the revenue the ads generate should make a decent dent into that cost.

My goal with including the ads on the site has always been to help defray the cost of hosting it whilst never permitting it to degrade into looking like a piece of shit or appearing too profit-motived. It appears the new ads serve both these ends, as well as provide links to other interesting content (not all the ads, I have found, are links to purchase things -- some are indeed to other complementary articles around the web). Note also that Google reserves a portion of the ads for nonprofits, free of charge to them.

Thanks for your continued support. Poke around the site and look at the ads -- I think it is always interesting to see which ones match up with things I have written. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Gmail Accounts

I have acquired several Gmail invitations -- would anyone like to register for Google's new email service? E-mail me.

Periodic Diversions 2.0

Announcing the new and improved Periodic Diversions.

I have implemented several features to the site that should improve both its presentation and ease of use for authors (you).

First and foremost, the spam you have been receiving in both your PD entries and your e-mail inboxes should be greatly reduced going forward. First, some background to the problem: spammers have discovered that they can manipulate their sites' ranks in search engines by posting spam on various community websites such as this one. By posting comments containing links to the sites they promote, those sites are featured higher in search engine results. Of course, PD was never intended to create a forum for cheap hucksters, and such spam will no longer be tolerated. I have gone back and removed all the offending comments (apologies if I removed any legitimate comments in the process) as well as installed software that should greatly reduce if not eliminate such spam in the future.

Second, I have installed this "author weblog" so that you all can be kept up to date with changes to the site or general announcements. Note that on the left side of the page, under "Author Tools," you will find links to several useful resources as a PD correspondent, including a link you can use to post new articles.

Thank you all for your continued support of the site and all the interesting stuff you have posted. I hope you will continue to do so.

If you have suggestions for improvements to the site, or if there is any way I can make your experience writing for the site a more pleasant one, please let me know.