If you run a blog you’ve most likely come across spam comments like this: Submit your comments to millions of sites with the ***** submission tool. Generate backlinks, etc etc. Ok, two reasons why this is stupidly funny. First, if you have such a bad blog that you need to spam to get it viewed then you likely wouldn’t read comments on your blog to find this information. Second, the product doesn’t pass through the default Akismet install for WordPress. Why would you buy something that obviously doesn’t work?

While I’m on the subject of spam, I noticed another tactic recently. Generic reviews on services such as MyBlogLog. These reviews say “Great Site” and nothing more. Looking at the user shows they have reviewed dozens of sites in the space of a few minutes. Does this stuff actually work?

UPDATE: Ok, I posted this and viewed the page and the first thing that I saw was a Monty Python advertisement. Hilarious!

It took me less than 5 minutes to upgrade 4 blogs that I’m responsible for on the technical end. If you are a WordPress user who has shell access to your server and you aren’t using subversion to update, then you are just wasting your time.

I have been looking forward to this release for quite some time. The interface is nicer looking on the back end, and threaded comments are available without a plugin. As with any upgrade, please let me know if you experience any issues. I have tested most things on a test site, but there is always the chance something crazy will happen during a release.

WordPress is close to releasing version 2.7, and there is never a better time to jump on the WordPress bandwagon. Some of the best new features are threaded comments, inline editing, comments API, dashboard comment replies, keyboard shortcuts, sticky posts, Automattic plugin install.

I noticed that the dashboard is drag and drop customisable and much more configurable. The idea is to make you more efficient. It looks like plugin installs work the same way plugin updates try to now. Of course, you must enter your username and password in the clear in order to make it work, so that’s not a wonderful solution, but it works. I don’t mind too much because I can connect with a ssh tunnel and tinyproxy, but I would prefer some way to store my real password on the server and use a secondary password such as my blog password to pull that password out and use it for my account.

Check out this page for a video of the demonstration.

WordPress is the gold standard by which all other web applications will eventually be judged. With these additions and automatic software updating, there is not much left to make it easier for the user. I’m sure they will think of something though.