How to Access Banned WordPress.com Blogs

As discussed in WordPress.com Banned Again: Why Aren’t You Concerned?, WordPress.com continues to be a target for censorship and blocking from various countries and groups around the world attempting to penalize the whole for the “wrongs” of the few the courts or governments decide to penalize, those cutting off thousands of blogs from access. I […]

Weekly Digest: Interviews, Non-stop Writing, Setting Clocks, and Challenging You to Blog Better

It’s another week in the blogging neighborhood of Lorelle’s World with plenty of activity and action. A few minutes ago I competed a podcast interview with the Download Squad on the topics of blogging and blog writing. I’m working hard on my two upcoming big article series on blog writing and personal blogging. Working on […]

Weekly Digest: Writing About Writing, Working on Books, Lots of Speaking Gigs, and Blog Struggles is a Success

I’ve been working non-stop on my upcoming big article series on blog writing and personal blogging. I’ll be posting some requests for your assistance on these issues soon. I’m also working on two books, as well as the ebook version of Blogging Tips, so stay tuned for more announcements on that. My schedule is starting […]

10 Really Rad Righteous Blogging Tips

Hey, I’m Lorraine, the alter-evil twin of Lorelle. She’s off doing the holiday whatevers and I’ve taken over her blog. Don’t tell, okay? She thinks I don’t know nothin’ about all this blogging stuff, but I know what I’m talking about here. I gots me a couple blogs, stuffed with ads, and I’m sitting back, […]

Are you a Blog Curator or Caregiver?

In Blogging is About Caring Not Curating, Anne Helmond makes a very good point about how a blog is different from a directory, catalog, and many other “categories” a blog can be dumped into, summarizing it with: A blog is more than a collection of blog posts on a certain topic. A blog is never […]

Ask Yourself How You Should Get Me to Read Your Blog

In How to Get Me to Read Your Blog, Thord Daniel Hedengren tells us how to convince him, and others, to read your blog. Chances are I’m not reading your blog. That’s not because I don’t like you, most likely I don’t even know you exist, and that’s your fault. Yes, you heard me. Your […]

Blogs and Conspiracy Theories

Ian of Letters from Home asked me about my article series on the Blog Herald about conspiracy theories and blogs, wondering why I was doing such a series: …what’s the point of this series on conspiracy theories? Why encourage people to muddy the waters further? Is it all in the name of generating hits, traffic […]

The Dos and Don’ts of Blogging

In Basic Blogging Etiquette, Do’s And Don’ts, Plagiarism, Deb shares some tips to help bloggers blog better: I’ve discovered since I started blogging that it’s not possible to be a lone ranger. If you had started your blog as a private diary and you’re satisfied with three visitors a day: your mother, your boyfriend and […]

Blog Struggles: When Are Too Many Comments Too Many Comments?

Recently, what appeared to be a thoroughly delighted fan went through my blog with a vengeance and left over 40 comments within a two day period. Each were personalized and directed to me, with enthusiastic comments and reflections on what was written. At first I was pleased, as I always am when my blog touches […]

Point and Counterpoint in Mistakes Beginner Bloggers Make

In an interesting “debate” or rather “continuation of the conversation”, two bloggers take on the concept of the 7 Blogging Beginner Mistakes and how to avoid them. It began with Puiu from the Lost Art of Blogging on 7 Blogging Beginner Mistakes And How to Avoid Them, which made some very good points, much of […]

Do Business Blogs Need Help Pages?

By Greg Balanko-Dickson I was wondering what might happen if a blog or website had a set of help pages? We expect help pages when using a software or web application. We see About pages and FAQ on blogs but how often do we see a set of “Help” pages on a business blog? Never? […]

Two Months of Blogging and WordPress Tips

As a writer, blogger, and talker, I’m having a terrible time expressing myself when it comes to thanking everyone who came to my two month party celebrating two years of WordPress.com and Lorelle on WordPress. Thank you just isn’t enough. To all my beautiful and wonderful friends who stopped in to entertain and educate us […]

Weekly Digest: End of Two Months of Guest Bloggers, More WordPress Tips, and Heading to Reno, Israel, and Seattle

This weekend is the last of the two month celebration of the two year anniversary of WordPress.com and this blog. For the past two months, I’ve opened this blog up to guest bloggers from around the blogosphere, sharing their thoughts and expertise on blogging and WordPress tips and techniques. It has been amazing. I’ve learned […]

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.

Weekly Digest: WordPress Tips Month, Grateful to Guest Bloggers, WordPress 2.3

We are down to the last week of the two months of guest blogging fun celebrating the two year anniversary of WordPress.com and this blog. This month is dedicated to WordPress tips and has been stuffed with a ton of tips, techniques, resources, and news about WordPress by myself and my fabulous guest bloggers. I’d […]