I’m noticing an increasing number of comments that say something like “Hey Great Post”.

While everyone likes to be praised, I am coming to the conclusion that some of these posts aren’t really praise, but merely self-serving flattery. Why? Because in the process of the commenter telling me what a great post I have done, they never seem to fail to place a URL back to a commercial product website.

Clever…(finger taps side of nose), but I think I am catching on.

Akismet (awesome wordpress plugin) does a great job of culling most of the comment SPAM but sometimes it misses these innocuous posts.

However I am tightening my definition of an acceptable comment post:

• It must have content that displays a good knowledge of the post it is attached to.
  e.g. “I loved this post especially the part where you mentioned that the best approach is placing some sort of barrier between you and the food”… as opposed to “I love this post. Good work! Keep it up”.
• If I Google a comment and it comes up at other sites it’s a goner
• Likewise the author email and website. If you are just into commenting to get a Google booster shot then it get’s deleted, unless it fulfills my comment caveats as posted here
• Unless you contribute to the value of my blog post with further information, adding to the knowledge of the post and thereby increasing the value of the post, then I am unlikely to allow a comment that has a URL pointing back to a commercial website.
  ( I am aware we all want an SEO leg-up but hey if I feel the comment reduces the value of my Technology & Things Blog then I won’t accept it )
• Drivel can be published in many other places on the internet
• I don’t believe in Evolution, so I’m unlikely to submit my Blog to hundreds of poor comments believing that somehow a good one will come crawling out of the slime of mediocrity. Ubuntu users especially know the pain of sifting through a help forum and having to read a dozen “Me too” posts before someone adds something helpful.
• Good, solid, well thought out comments, even ones containing criticism stay
• I blog to learn, and blog to retain that learning. Teach me something in a comment!
• I don’t always get the details right. Help me straighten them out and the comment stays
• English has never rightly been punctuated with crudity & swear words. Neither will my blog
• Humour is always appreciated. Entertain and the comment stays
• You can definately tell me about Speling errors & tiepo’s.

I don’t generally do what I call opinion blogging (that’s what newspaper columnists and talk back radio hosts are paid to do). However this is my opinion on blog comments. Enjoy!

Here is a tip for the ladies…

Your husband, if he is typical of husbands, would probably prefer to be neutered than to spend a whole day shopping. This is not his fault—it’s genetics.

What to do?

Take him to the Shopping Centre, but put him in a ‘Husband Creche’. For my Wife and I, this is Border’s Book Store. It has a Coffee shop, comfortable chairs and plenty of stuff to keep a husband(me) amused while the wife is involved in the serious business of shopping.

If I am required she know’s where to find me, and I am not prone to be underfoot at every womens-ware store in the complex.

Sigh… We are both happy.

Spread the word. For marital bliss use a Husband Creche.

IIBYGTKBP. I saw this acronym on the linux-users email list

A Google didn’t enlighten me. So I delved into wet memory and came up with what it means by recalling the poster who used the full version of IIBYGTKBP in the past.

So here it is – IIBYGTKBP: If it breaks you get to keep both parts

I’m moving my website to another provider.

A friend of ours has started an online business selling good quality boutique handbags and accessories. My wife has already purchased an Oxygen handbag, which she loves.

Oxygen Handbag

All you need is a paypal account and you’re good to go.

Head over to http://www.brigitashandbagsandaccessories.com.au and have a look

“You ask her the time and she tells you how her watch is made”

Today 7 Jan 2009 we have an all day power outage starting at 8:30AM.

Seeing as this webserver sits under my desk at home and the UPS is a tiny one that means that we are going offline for the duration of the outage.

Be back at about 4:00PM

Here is my contribution to such web acronyms such as ROFL and LOL

NANP – Not A Nice Person
NPOW – Nasty Piece of Work

My lovely Wife has gotten us a pet Fish. Here is a picture of it lurking in it’s vase.

I was a bit concerned about it on the first night but I think it was just acclimatizing. Seems it’s a tropical fish and they need reasonably warm weather so a heater may be on the shopping list.

Now it’s swimming around and around and up and down. Fish are fairly passive pets it’s not like you can cuddle it or teach it to talk. On the upside it’s never going to jump on me when I have good clothes on and I won’t be worrying about it getting run over.