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June 11, 2005

Renovations

Hi.

I'm rebuilding this thing. Been getting the itch to start updating again.

... the problem lies in me not feeling like saying anything for a little while.. then I kind of get into a groove of not saying anything and then, even when I do have something to say, I still don't say anything. And then the moment passes.

Anyhow, the art site is being rebuilt as I have the time. It will stay up as it is untill the new version is done. This bloggy thing will be overhauled. As it stands now, it's just a big bullseye for spambots. They pound it with a couple dozen spams daily. I let it build up over the last week.. ended up with about 400 instances of spam across the comments and trackback features.

New comments are being numbered as comment number 1200+ in the system.. but out of those, only 107 have been honest comments. And I get about twice as much trackback spam as I get comment spam. As such, I'm probably going to disallow all trackback in the future. Little benefit. Whole lotta spam. Comments stay, naturally. Communication should flow both ways, I think.

I'm upgrading my Movable Type software. The newer version is more resistant to spam, in addition to have more features, etc. The most immediate, stabbing change you'll notice is that you're going to have to log in with TypeKey to post comments. It's a free registration, and it's with the people who made Movable Type, and, well, they're good people. They're a good example of two smart, quirky, charming little geeks with an idea to make it really easy to create journals on the internet.. and created it. They realised how good it was and took a shot at doing it for a living by turning it into a small business. ... a couple years later, they're a major force in the online publishing industry. Two happy little geeks. Oh, and recently they hired on a guy with business sense to act as CEO, but the geeks, who are lovebirds I believe, are still in charge.

So, what I'm saying is, if you gotta trust what is ostensibly a media corporation with your email address so you can get a free login, it's them. They are you. They know what sucks and they don't do it.

... Incidently, I had the same damn idea. And I had it before they did. Back in late 1998 I bought a perl programming book and, as I endeavored to teach it to myself (with some success) I started thinking about how you could apply it, and perhaps turn it into the back end for a rapidly-updatable website for use as a journal, art gallery, etc. Granted, I'm not the only one with such ideas, but Movable Type is very close to what I had in mind. They just had the know-how and drive to make it happen. If I did.. well... maybe I never would've gone to Ringling and maybe I'd be rich. Oh well. Good for them. It wasn't my path. I just wish they'd get around to implementing the same kind of visual-formatting and image-posting-and-arrangement capabilities I was thinking of.. it's all possible with CSS and DHTML. It just needs a succinct, easy to use interface that follows the same themes as the current text publishing functionality.

Thing is, this kind of thing keeps happening. See, that's why I need to start writing this stuff down, so that after I'm dead, obsessive fans can point excitedly at gravitonic resonance technology and shout "IT WORKS JUST LIKE HE SAID IT WOULD! Eric Chapman was a GEEEEENIUS!!" to which I'll reply from the nearest computer bank (since I had myself uploaded upon stoppage of my heart) and say thank them.. and then upload myself to a server on the other side of the solar system so as to prevent an akward, raving fanboy moment.

See? I have stuff to say again!

Posted by Eric Chapman at 03:51 AM | Comments (0)