vonkoeller.de » This Site

WordPress Rocks

Magnus — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 17:36:28 +0000

I have spent some time tweaking this site in the last couple of days. In doing so, I have (again) realized just how nice WordPress — the software this site runs on — really is. I have installed a new Captcha plugin to deal with comment spam (I use reCAPTCHA). I upgraded the WordPress version, mainly because of security fixes (though the new version also has a much-improved administration interface). And just now I made the theme I use widget-ready to more easily change the sidebars. All this has been so easy and such a breeze that I am still amazed. WordPress’ plugin development community is extremely active, the upgrade process is painless and themes are quite easy to deal with and adapt for your own needs.

After running a WordPress install for more than two years, I can wholeheartedly recommend this software. It works great and it’s a breeze to maintain.

Spam

Magnus — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 20:38:11 +0000

Spam has become a fundamental problem of the Internet. Without the extremely efficient spam filters available these days (such as the excellent service provided by Gmail), email would have become completely unusable a long time ago. As sad as it is, though, everybody has simply gotten used to email spam.

What fascinates me, though, is the sheer audacity and imaginativeness of spammers. It’s not just email spam, after all. There’s Skype spam now (I get bogus contact requests all the time these days). There is — and trying to prevent this has just cost me the better part of an evening — comment and trackback spam on blogs. You may not even be aware of this if you don’t blog yourself but without filtering I would have had to disable comments on these pages ages ago.

Anyhow, this is just a rant. There is one real implication, though: if you want to leave a comment here, you will have to answer a stupid question in the future. This is designed to deter automated spam bots. Maybe it will work!?

Write More?

Magnus — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 05:22:15 +0000

I always have this feeling that nobody reads what I write here… Then again when I actually talk to people they start nagging me to write more. Now which one is it? If you want me to write, you guys should write, too. I am sure you are aware of the fancy ‘comments’ feature that most sites have nowadays? Anybody there?

Comment Spam

Magnus — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 08:52:07 +0000

Finally, comment spam has started to hit me. I am getting quite a regular stream already — and only now understand what bloggers mean when they complain about how annyoing it is. Ah well, I guess it just means I am an official part of the blogging world now. The only good part is that my email spam filter catches all the notification mails already…

New Website

Magnus — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 04:10:39 +0000

Now being in my trimester abroad I finally found the time to redesign my website. In the course of this I have made a number of rather radical changes. Most importantly, this site is not handwritten HTML anymore but is now powered by WordPress 1.5 and basically converted into a blog. I do not use my in-house gallery scripts anymore but use the infinitely easier to use and genius Flickr to manage my photos. In the course of this some contents have been dropped. They may or may not come back in parts.

I hope you like the new design and site concept. I might be a good programmer but I am certainly not a good web designer. Therefore, I have adapted Clemens’ design, also seen on his blog Living on an Island. I am infinitely thankful for all the work he has saved me with his beautiful template.

Please do comment to let me know you are there and that I am not writing in vain.