Clean your comments, sir or ma’am?
Update: I’m taking a bit of a break from this service – but if there is an emergency, I will still do it.
I’ve got a WP client who I have admin access to and had left my own email address in the admin section. So, needless to say, I get the moderation queue notifications. Recently, that blog has been getting harrassed by permutations on one theme. They all go to something-top-pharmacy (dot net), and I’ve seen hundreds of permutations of it. It was this particular client who inspired me to go and change the moderation.php to make it check ‘delete’ by default, instead of ‘do nothing’. I got tired of clicking.
So, I did a search for this bottom-feeding-scum-pharmacy along with the term “comment spam” to see if anyone had gotten tired enough of them to come up with some sort of block (from the site, not just via a blacklist or moderation queue). Didn’t find any, but boy did I find blogs, mostly MT blogs, with lots and lots and lots of comment spam they’d never gotten rid of.
So, I’m offering a new service. Call it “blog cleaning lady, if you will”. If you have a blog with spam problems, or know someone who does, please read on. And if you like the idea, please link, so I don’t get tempted to start spamming blogs with ‘remove your spam’ offers. 
spam spam spam
Quick fix for trackback spam on WP. Rename your wp-trackback.php to something like wp-trackback.php.txt so they can’t find it, and so it won’t run even if they do.
I’m testing some more complex fixes/blocks so I’d really appreciate getting trackbacks for testing, especially from people using blog software other than WordPress. Mail me: blogmeister at this site (you can figure it out) if your trackback doesn’t get through. Thanks much!
PS… I’m doing trackbacks to a few others who have been hit… that I’ve been helping out. You guys can delete this. I’m just doing it to be sure I haven’t killed your trackbacks or anything.
[last update, I hope] IF you understand htaccess redirects, there is a zip file here that has some tricks that should help, along with explanations. If you do NOT understand htaccess redirects, please ask someone who does know to help. If you are one of my bloghouse clients, or an ex-client with another host who has lazily left me with access, I may have already updated your htaccess file. And I will be trying to get to everyone I can. If you are using front page, I have no idea how to do anything with htaccess without blowing up FP. I’m told it’s possible but I don’t know how to do it.
If you can’t handle zip files for some reason, mail me and I’ll send it to you in text. (Trying to keep bots and spiders away from it, even though the info is available elsewhere, the longer it takes them to find out what is going on, the longer it takes them to find another way to get through. )
Update, WP users who don’t understand htacess or can’t use it because of your host, check the spampop plugin at Candy Genuis’ site. She also has modified Drupal’s comment module to do the same thing, Drupal users may want to ask for a copy of that module.
Moving from MT to WP?
This is for a move from MT to WordPress. I can also do moves to/from other blog software, prices may vary. Just ask!
1). Install WordPress, including setting up a new database (or insuring WP won’t mess up your old one if you are on a host that doesn’t allow multiple databases), uploading and running the install and setting you up a cron-based daily database backup if your server allows (I just throw that in because it can save your butt — it did mine once — and almost no-one does them). $25, unless you are on a host with a really odd setup.
2) Moving the database: $30 for the first 1,000 posts, $10 for each extra 1,000 (or portion thereof — though I won’t charge extra for just a few over). That’s because I have to make sure the database (both comments and posts) is ‘clean’ of things that can mess up export/import, plus which huge data files often time out on import and/or export). So the bigger the database, the longer it takes. I’ll throw in the necessary .htaccess redirects from MT to WP (if possible). I also use my own export/import methods to try to keep ID#s for posts and comments the same.
3) Translating your design to WP, straight out. $75. New design… depends on how fancy you want to get (Note: I’m a wiz with CSS, but I am NOT a graphics artist). Use of the default WP style or one of these styles is no charge. Note that using the default or one of these designs means that you get to put all your links and suchlike into the template. All I do is set up the theme.
4)I’ll also install extra plugins, for anything from $1 to $10 each, depending on whether they are ‘plug and play’ or need some reconfiguring of templates or settings setups. If I have to write a plugin just for you, we’ll negotiate…
Six Apart has gone bats.
They have a new licensing structure for MT 3.0, which is leaving people with the choice of either using MT2.661 (or earlier) forever or moving to other software.
Just looking at some of the people hosting here and pricing if they want to upgrade. Quick check of Harry’s Place counts 4 authors (maybe more), that would be $120 for them. Dodgeblogium has 3 who post regularly and several more who post occassionally, $120 minimum and probably $150. Horizon has only two, so they could get by with just $70, as could On The Third Hand.
And here’s a cute one, from their free license (the only one I can read):
Making Copies
You may install the Software on only one (1) computer or server having a single CPU. You may make one (1) copy of the Software in any machine readable form solely for back-up purposes, provided you reproduce the Software in its original form and with all proprietary notices on the back-up copy.
The bloghouse server, just for your information, runs on 4 CPUs. Every other decent host on the Internet also uses multiple CPUs. Cute, eh? I’m hoping they aren’t really being that sneaky, that they copied some license stuff from other software and didn’t think to fix that (yet). However, at this point I’m not sure.
There are plenty of alternatives out there, both pay and totally free. I will be looking into which ones have scripts and/or guides for migrating MT to their program. I know already that there is help available for WordPress (which is completely free). PMachine has a script for conversion also, I’ll see what I can find out. If anyone knows of other alternatives to MT that offer reasonably easy conversion, please leave a comment!
Nucleus looks good but has no conversion scripts. Sigh.
I will be offering services to anyone who wants to convert to other software. Not free, but definitely cheaper than MT’s new “special offer” $69.95 license.
[update] I’ve found instructions for migrating from MT to Drupal. I’ll probably try that as a test for my own MT blog. I absolutely love Drupal (it’s what I run the design area on). I’ve also found instructions and script for migrating from MT to Textpattern. [update 2] Having looked further at the Drupal instructions, I think I’ll stick with WordPress or just start OTTH anew…
Thanks to Deb, in the comments at On The Third Hand, for this link to an update on Mena’s blog. Turns out that CPU thing, as I thought it might be, was an error and has been removed. They’ve made some other changes/improvements, as well.
Payment Buttons
Ladies, Gentlemen, and others:
We now have easy payment buttons. They are through PayPal but you can pay by credit/debit card if you don’t have a PayPal account, as well as directly through your PayPal account if you do. Just click the button for your account type. You can pay for multiple months if you wish. One note! If your account at Paypal is not an e-mail account that I’d recognize you by, or if you are paying on behalf of someone else, please send blogmeister (at bloghouse.net) a separate e-mail and let me know which account to credit. Thanks!
services, design — and all other one-time payments — you fill in the amount.
Please note: Bloghouse is no longer taking new web hosting accounts; the information below is for existing accounts.
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