Blog Archives

We haven’t had any resource problems for the past several hours. I’m cautiously bringing the main index back online. If it starts to flare up again, I may have to go back to the barebones index. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

Is there a program or utility that will tell me what parts of T & S are using server resources? Right now, I’ve got cpanel, and that’s it. So I can watch our resource use spike, and I can turn off plugins. And I can pull the index offline. And see if that helps any. But it would be nice if I could get a more exact picture. (i.e., “server use – 10. Breakdown: 2.0 for index.php, 1.0 for wp-comments-post.php, and 7.0 for blacklist.php” which would tell me “aha, the blacklist is what’s tying up resources”). Suggestions? Be the... Read more »

Okay, that didn’t work. We spiked again, knocked out Apache again. I took down our index file and reverted back to the out-of-the-box default wordpress index. (Pretty, huh?) We’ll see if that helps. Maybe there’s a script in our index that’s crashing the site. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

We just had a technical mini-crisis. I think it’s past. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

This is just a quick note that we’re doing a little bit of work on the technical end around here. It’s unlikely to affect browsing much, if at all. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

Growing up, I always knew better than to mess around with blogs. My parents would tell me, “If you only remember one thing, remember this — stay off of blogs!” And this was easy through high school and through my mission. No one was offering me blogs. In fact, they hadn’t been invented yet (which I must say made compliance with that rule really quite easy). But unfortunately for me, I wasn’t able to stay blog-free forever. The culprit, of course, was Times and Seasons . . . “the gateway blog.” Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

We’ve moved the site from the /wp directory to the root directory. (This move may help restore our burnished Google-rank).* The site is now fully running at the root directory. (Yeah, there was a brief period where it, uh, wasn’t. Sorry about that). There’s also a .htaccess rewrite in place to route people to the new digs, and I’m not anticipating any further hitches. If there are, please let us know. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

We’re doing some slight tinkering. Any feedback is appreciated. (Also, if we break something, please let us know, along with any relevant details — “I can no longer load the page in Netscape” or whatever.) Thanks! Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

Ours is was broken. Now it’s better. Thanks, as usual, to Bryce for able assistance. If anyone continues to have problems with the RSS feed, please make a note in comments, or send an e-mail. Thanks. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

Ryan Bell has just posted about some fishy virus-containing e-mails that he received, allegedly from Greg Call, Nate Oman, Daniel Bartholomew. It looks like there is a virus somewhere in the bloggernacle. This could be as simple as a bloggernacle participant using an infected machine that is sending virus e-mails with false “From” data. Or it could be a more serious issue. For the moment, bloggernacle participants are warned to be very careful opening e-mail purporting to come from Nate, Greg, or for that matter any bloggernacle participant. And as a general matter, bloggernacle readers (like all computer users)... Read more »

Following a string of spam attacks, I’m tinkering with the settings to try to allow it to catch more spam. I’ve tightened a few controls to “wait list” comments that might be spam. (These aren’t deleted, but they’re kept in a queue until they can be individually approved). I’m trying to keep the settings right, and I don’t think that I’ll be catching many legit comments, but there’s a chance that your comment will be put on a wait list, as I figure out how best to work with spam fighting tools. I’m not sure if this particular tool... Read more »

In the switch to WP, certain threads lost some comments. I’ve just fixed all of the threads that lost any comments. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

Our internet host is having some problems keeping up with traffic on this incredibly busy day. The problem is exacerbated since they’re also hosting some official election supervisor sites in Florida. We’ve had one hiccough so far today — about an hour and a half of down time — and we may see more. Just an FYI. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

We’ve been getting a ton of spam lately from a new batch of spammers using new .info sites. So I just added a general moderation rule for any .info sites. I also added a specific unblock for danithew’s site — his posts should go through okay. I don’t think we have any other real commenters who use .info sites. If so, I can unblock them as well. (And this isn’t a true block, it just directs these comments into the moderation queue for individual approval or deletion). Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

There seems to be a minor bug in one of the comment scripts, which is causing error messages when people enter comments. As usual, our crack team of elite experts (hah!) is investigating. In the meantime, as far as we can tell, all comments are going through just fine — it’s just giving an error message afterwards. So rest easy, your comment should be fine. And we’ll get this fixed, like all of the other little bugs that crop up around here from time to time. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

We have been infected with spyware. I’m working on eradicating it. It’s gone. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

Over the next little while, I’m going to be trying to implement the new blogroll feature from WordPress. There will be a bit of lag time as we get our blogroll moved over. During this lag, the new blogroll will only be partially complete. However, it should load a lot faster as it’s not getting data from two other websites. Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

Apologies to all who have tried to comment this morning. Kaimi was messing with comment moderation settings (where we can put “questionable” comments into a queue for individual approval) and accidentally added an extra blank line to the list of questionable comment flags. The software apparently interpreted this as a blank space, so any comment with a space in it was marked questionable. This has been fixed, and everyone’s “questionable” comments have been released from comment jail. (I hear they’re considering a class action lawsuit, alleging unconstitutional conditions). Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

We’ve just got a new filtering software, WP-Blacklist, installed. This should save the bloggers lots of time and energy deleting spam. Filtering software is an imperfect tool. Kaimi just noticed fixed a bug in the software that caused certain entries with multiple dashes to erroneously show up as spam. If anyone notices any other glitches or problems commenting, please let us know. (Thanks!) Meanwhile, if anyone wants to see what happens to comment spammers, try making the following comment. “online-casino” . Enjoy! Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

Readers may have noticed a new feature on the sidebar — under the blogroll, we’ve got a link to a list of our blogchildren. What are blogchildren? As noted in the link, they are the “blogs and bloggers who have stated that they were inspired to start blogging after reading Times and Seasons, and/or who have stated that they modeled their blogs (in whole or in part) after T & S.” Be the first to like. Like Unlike Read more »

I think this is now running. It looks like we just plain outgrew MT. I guess all of the earlier time outs were a warning. Apparently, it doesn’t handle particularly well when there are 1000 entries and 20,000 comments (3 MB of entries and 20 MB of comments). I would have preferred to have kept things in MT, having already done a lot of work in that software, but it looks like we hit the limit. There are still some changes to be made. 1 person likes this post. Like Unlike Read more »

================================ Scheduled: Carol Armga: May 1-14 Patrick Mason: June 12-26 Jonathan Green: July 7-21 Carrie Lundell: August 1-15 Jill Mulvay Derr: End of August ================================ Accepted invitation, no date yet set: Jeremiah John (Adam) (on long-term hold) Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (Julie) Terryl Givens (Fall) (Jim) Jon Wilson (aka Ebenezer Orthodoxy) (Matt) Aaron Brown (Matt) Richard Oman (Nate) ================================ Invited, awaiting response: Mother of Ebenezer Orthodoxy Rob Daines? ================================ Approved by bloggers, not yet invited: Rob Fergus (post-post-post-election) Brother Haglund Sally Gordon Brent Andrewsen? Sarah Aldo Edwards Gray & Young (12Q?) Kristin Smith Dayley Christine Durham (12Q?) ================================ Invited, not... Read more »