18+ Things You Can Do on the WordPress Comments Panel

The WordPress development and UI team put a lot of work into WordPress comments. Did you know there are 18 features to a single WordPress comment not counting the comment content itself? Rarely do we stop to consider these powerful features in WordPress, so let’s take time now to understand all the different features and […]

WordPress 3.2 Released: Faster, Prettier, Powerful

WordPress 3.2 has been officially released, this time after a fairly short testing time period. To upgrade, use the built-in automatic upgrade. According to the announcement, this is the 15th major release of WordPress. Wow, that just doesn’t seem possible, and yet it also feels like too few. How far WordPress has come since 2003, […]

Mind Blowing WordPress Plugins

In Dallas, August 29, 2010, at OpenCamp I presented “Mind Blowing WordPress Plugins.” Here are the WordPress Plugins and more features during my presentation. Let me first define what my qualifications for a “mind blowing WordPress Plugin” were, as I had to sift through thousands of Plugins and then filter down to include the following […]

WordPress News: LiveJournal Migration Improved, WordPress Plugin Search Improved, bbPress Updated, and More

I’ve just posted this week’s WordPress News: Can You Spot a WordPress Blog? WordPress 2.8 News, Plugin Directory Searchable, iPhone App Tested, and More on the Blog Herald. Can you spot a WordPress blog? Are you sure? WordPress 2.7.1 released. Improvements on the WordPress Plugin Directory search functions. Help for those transferring from LiveJournal to […]

What WordPress Plugins and Features Do You Want on the Comments Panel?

WordPress is working on seriously improving the WordPress Comments Panel in the Administration Panels interface. They are including the ability for the Administrator to reply directly from the Comments Panel, adding keyboard shortcuts for improved accessibility and efficiency, restoring the Edit Comment link, and more features to make handling comments easier. The WordPress email comments […]

Comment Spam Alert: I Read a Similar Article

Bloggers should now be familiar with the blog comment spam ruse of “X wrote an interesting post” to lure us into thinking this is a legitimate trackback, and now comes “I read a similar article also named…” to lure us into thinking this comment is legitimate. As Tony Hung illustrated, the comment spammers use a […]

Scott Reilly: Two Weeks of WordPress Plugin Releases and Updates

In March of 2005, Scott Reilly of Coffee2Code shook up the WordPress Community with 7 Days of Plugins. During that week, Scott created and released: Easy Post-to-Post Links WordPress Plugin: A shortcut code for referencing onsite blog posts by id or post slug name. Obfuscate E-mail WordPress Plugin: Automatically disguise emails within blog posts and […]

When Akismet Goes Bad: What to do when Akismet starts spamming your own comments

The reason why I created Akismet Auntie Spam helper script was because I seem to have a problem few other people do — every couple of months Akismet decides that my own comments and trackbacks are spam. This is unforgivable and a fatal usability flaw in Akismet’s design. Comments and trackbacks from the blog admin should skip the spam check process. I challenge anyone who argues differently to have to deal with always having to double check if their own comments are marked as spam. The delay between posting a comment and it appearing in Akismet almost always assures that you will miss one or there will be an inordinate delay in responding to your commenters.

But enough of the ranting about my problems with Akismet. Here are two things you can do to help when Akismet is marking your own comments as spam.

Attack of the Mean Commenter: Blocking Commenters and Comments on Your WordPress Blog

By now, you all should know that you have total control over your blog’s comments, right? You can choose to allow only registered users to comment, delete any comment you want, edit any comment, and do the same for trackbacks. While it helps to have a good comments policy, you still have total control over […]

James Farmer Takes on Edublogs.org Full-Time

It is with great joy that I announce that James Farmer of legendary Edublogs and all its associated free blog services, is leaving his work with The Age and going full-time to Edublogs.org. Today I handed in my notice at The Age and come July 1st I’ll be working 100% for myself, the majority of […]

Comment Spammers Never Stop, Even When Your Blog is Down

Just a reminder. If you let your comment spam fighting stop for even a few seconds, comment spammers will get into your blog. As many users are upgrading to the newest version of WordPress, their comment spam fighting guard is down as WordPress Plugins must be deactivated during the upgrade, and sometimes a few glitches […]

The Number One Flaw in WordPress: Comments

I’m sure that your “number one flaw” or lacking feature in WordPress might be different from mine, but this is one that really bothers me. I think the solution is simple. So the question is: Why hasn’t something been done to fix this flaw? The flaw? Comments. Comments are critical to blogs. They are the […]

Blogopreneur’s Tips for Making Conversations Work for Blogs

Blogopreneur’s “How to Make Conversations Work for Blogs” is a great look at how to continue the conversation on your blogs. In order for you to be able to make conversations work for your blog, you need to be updated whenever a new comment has been posted on your blog. While it would be good […]

I’m Winning the Battle Against Comment Spam

I’m winning the battle against comment spam. Honestly. Living in the Middle East, I learned to live with the up close and personal issue of life with terrorists and suicide bombers. Among the many lessons I learned was the reality of the phrase “You can’t let terrorists win.” While the United States is still learning […]

Blogging Challenge: WordPress Treasure Hunt

Whether or not you are a fan of WordPress, this weeks’ Blogging Challenge should be great fun. This week, I’m sending you on a treasure hunt. Search the web for the best articles on the following WordPress-related topics. Below is a list of 100 WordPress-related topics. Your blogging challenge is to either post your answers […]