We are really getting tired of spam. They get past the captcha and keep posting. We have decided to pay for an Akismet account for Geekswithblogs.net globally and have integrated it into the system. We hope this will take spam down by 50%. My hope is you will see a dramatic decrease in spam and we hope to continue to build the system further in our fix to end minimize the spam on Geekswithblogs.net. I will also be going through the old feedback and running it against the Akismet system to see what...
Over the past few months we have been tweaking the usability of the Geekswithblogs.net Admin Tool for editing posts. We definitely suggest using Windows Live Writer for publishing you blogs due to the awesome plugins and support of image uploads, we understand the need for a non-Windows editor for posts or updates. One of the bugs submitted to us in the usage of our text editor was reformatting of posts when you publish from WLW and then make changes from the admin tool. The tool was eating up all...
Over the past few weeks we have been cleaning up the skins to support most modern browsers and monitor resolutions. This will cause your content area to have more space and support larger images. If you see any problems, please email us at support@geekswithblogs.com and we will get back to you ASAP. We have also added some changes to the “Share Link” feature to make it a little cleaner and support for Facebook, Twitter, and Technorati. We will add G+ once they support the ability to publish from...
After reviewing some of the feedback from our bloggers we added a couple new features to Geekswithblogs.net and there are still more to come. Here is a list of the features we added. Fixed the Twitter parser to better support URLs and Hash Tags Added some hooks behind the scenes to tags posts with common keywords automatically Added Facebook likes and Tweets to the bottom of every post Cleaned up a few skins Images on the main page for bloggers who use Gravatar or Twitter integration Random bug fixes...
It looks like the MVP renewals went out over the weekend and we want to congratulate all the renewed and new MVPs for this quarter. If you are new, renews, or removed from the MVP program and are a Geekswithblogs.net blogger, please let us know @StaffOfGeeks and we will update our system accordingly. Congrats again! Technorati Tags: MVP,Geekswithblogs...
Tuesday, Jeff Julian (@StaffofGeeks) and James Hare were featured in the TOP 5 of Tech-Ed videos! Tomorrow watch for Chris Williams
John is in this video James Hare and Jeff Julian are in the Tuesday video, we will publish it when it is on YouTube. Go Geekswithblogs! Technorati Tags: Tech-Ed,Top 5,Geekswithblogs...
John Alexander and I made it to Atlanta just in time today to get to the Georgia World Congress Center and see the Blogger Hub. Wow, this is a huge area we have to spread the news about Geekswithblogs.net and blogging about IT related topics. Here is a little of what we have in store for you if you are here at #MSTechEd. Reserved Seating for Influential Bloggers (If you don’t have a seat, talk to us about how you might be able to next year). Two Conference Room Tables dedicated to blogging by Attendees...
Next week is a huge week for us at @StaffOfGeeks. We will be at what we think is the best tech conference of the year, Microsoft TechEd. John and I have been going to this event for years and now we have the honor of running the Blogger Hub (formerly the Blogger Lounge) to help generate some buzz around the event, sessions, and experience. So if you are attending, how do you find us? To the cloud….just kidding. We will be in Atlanta! Then we will be at the Georgia World Congress Center: Then we will...
One of the recent perks we have added to the Geekswithblogs.net community is an influencer program made up of those bloggers who have the most influence on the site. Being apart of this program gets you access to some awesome products for review and special contests we run. The latest contest was a free attendee badge for one of our influencers to join @StaffofGeeks at TechEd and as you see from title Chris Williams is our winner. This means Chris will be having the time of his life (well hopefully)...
Going to TechEd 2011? If so, you have an amazing opportunity at TechEd 2011 with the TechEd Bloggers Hub, facilitated by Geekswithblogs.net. Located in the Connect Zone, the TechEd Bloggers Hub is a wonderful resource for the new blogger and the experienced one. In this area, there are experts that can assist you getting started, great tips and tricks on how to run your blog, resources and tools that can make your blog and writing experience better! And Geekswithblogs.net is proud to facilitate!!!...
Recently, @StaffOfGeeks announced to a select group of bloggers, the Geekswithblogs.net Influencer Program. Here is a little detail about the program. Description (from Influencer Page): Geekswithblogs.net is a community of bloggers passionate about contributing information to the world of developers and IT professionals. Our bloggers are some of the best in the world and receive honors on a regular basis for outside companies (such as the Microsoft© MVP Program). The Geekswithblogs.net Influencer...
Here at Staff of Geeks we love to see the other skins you like from alternative blog sites like WordPress. We want to be able to offer you great skins as soon as possible when a request is made. Some of our skins are outdated or just don't look good on newer browsers. So what do you like? Feel free to leave a comment, or tweet us at @staffofgeeks. If you have a site template you like from Template Monster or some other template site that is relativly inexpensive and could easily be used for a blogs,...
If you are a fan of Lifehacker, they publish photos of their reader's desks all the time, and we always enjoy seeing how other people work. So we want to know what your desk looks like? Snap a photo and document what we are looking at. This could be at your home or work or really where ever you get your best work done. Tags: Desk, Geekswithblogs...
Here is the list of those who were able to post 30 blog posts in 60 days on Geekwithblogs.net: Enrique Lima (60 posts) - http://geekswithblogs.net/e... Dave Campbell (51 posts) - http://geekswithblogs.net/W... Eric Nelson (38 posts) - http://geekswithblogs.net/i... Brian Schroer (34 posts) - http://geekswithblogs.net/b... MarkPearl (33 posts) - http://geekswithblogs.net/M... mbcrump (31 posts) - http://geekswithblogs.net/m... Stuart Brierley (31 posts) -...
Well it looks like everyone who is going to be getting a shirt has made it over the line unless someone goes crazy and starts writing. It has been great to see the quality of content that has been coming out of Geekswithblogs.net during the last few months and I am excited to announce the next contest in the GWB Newsletter. Current Winners of 60 in 30: Enrique Lima (53 posts) - http://geekswithblogs.net/e... Dave Campbell (50 posts) - http://geekswithblogs.net/W... Eric...
Remember, if you want to get your own custom Geekswithblogs.net shirt, this is the week to do it. All you have to do is have a combined 30 posts in the 60 days (starting May 15th) and you are in. The last date is July 14th so get to typing! Here is the list of people who have already won: Enrique Lima (52 posts) - http://geekswithblogs.net/e... Dave Campbell (45 posts) - http://geekswithblogs.net/W... Eric Nelson (34 posts) - http://geekswithblogs.net/i... MarkPearl...
It has been 4 years since we ran our original Geekswithblogs.net Game Development Contest! Wow does time go by fast. George Clingerman wrote a game called Bob the Fish that shocked the world (well our world) getting him the prized Xbox 360 and later allowing us to play his Xbox game, Kissy Poo. That contest was a huge success and several of our most popular bloggers gained their readership from that event. So a long enough time has passed and enough has changed in the way we develop software now...
One month after the contest started, we definitely have some leaders and one blogger who has reached the mark. Keep up the good work guys, I have really enjoyed the content being produced by our bloggers. Current Winners: Enrique Lima (37 posts) - http://geekswithblogs.net/e... Almost There: Stuart Brierley (28 posts) - http://geekswithblogs.net/S... Dave Campbell (26 posts) - http://geekswithblogs.net/W... Eric Nelson (23 posts) - http://geekswithblogs.net/i...
We are very close to having our first blogger to reach 30 posts, Enrique Lima. Stuart Brierley is over the hump with 16 posts and Dave Campbell and Eric Nelson are definitely in the running. If you don’t know what I am talking about, we are running a contest for our bloggers. Anyone who blogs on Geekswithblogs who creates 30 posts from May 15th to July 13th will receive a custom Geekswithblogs.net t-shirt with their URL on the back. This could be their Geekswithblogs.net address or their custom domain....
The contest has definitely ended the first week with a clear leader. One of our new bloggers, Enrique Lima, has posted 20 times since the beginning of the contest with some great content on Team Foundation Server. Another noticeable face we see on the leader board is Chris Williams who is making headway. Chris, are you going to challenge up D’Arcy Lussier for the lead position on GWB again, notice who isn’t on this list :D. Also, Chris House who is a new blogger is making some strong strides. And...
I know it is goofy to geek out about such things, but I am a pretty goofy geek. Today we published support for the Apple icons for devices like the iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. Now when you add Geekswithblogs.net to your home screen (via the little + in Safari) it will load the icon to the left instead of a screenshot of the site. We have been using my iPhone and iPad to surf to GWB for awhile and we were tired of that screenshot. Simple Google/Bing search and a little Photoshop CS5 (Amazing!!!)...
We have struggled in the past with different approaches of getting feedback from you as bloggers. We really want to know what you would like to see, what other systems have that is helpful, and where we need to grow. This community is made up of many different individuals so the system for feedback needed a voting or liking tool for us to gage what was a popular thought or just one guys request. We would love to put every request in, but that would make the system function for some and unusable for...
I want to officially let everyone know the 30 posts in 60 days contest has started. The current standings as as followed for those in the “Top 10” (there are twelve due to ties now). For those who don’t know about the contest, we are ordering custom Geekswithblogs.net t-shirts for those members who post 30 posts in the 60 days, starting May 15th, 2010. The shirts will have the Geekswithblogs.net logo on the front and your URL on the back. Top 12 Bloggers in the 30 in 60 Contest Christopher House...
Geekswithblogs.net - May 2010 Newsletter Was your newsletter messed up? If the first newsletter we sent was all white with links all over the place, I apologize. We haven’t sent a newsletter in quite some time and I forgot the rules of theming for email clients. TechEd 2010 New Orleans - Who is coming? John and Jeff will be at TechEd 2010 New Orleans for a short time to pass out shirts to our bloggers. These are the standard GWB shirts you see some of our other bloggers wearing and one could be yours...
We just wanted to send a shout out to all those who have entered or have been renewed into the MVP program. I always wondered why they wouldn’t move the April date off of April Fool’s Day cause that would be an interesting email to get on April 1. If you are a GWB blogger and an MVP but your name does not have an MVP logo next to it on the homepage, let us know via support and we will get you added. Related Tags: Geekswithblogs.net, MVP, Microsoft...
We have been getting hit very hard with comment spam as of late. As mentioned in the last post, this is something we typically deal with on a regular basis for the past 6 years, but some weeks are like this week where it is just crazy. Because of the way things are right now, I have disabled the ability to toggle on or off the CAPTCHA controls for comments. I know some bloggers are going to get mad, but we need to see if the lack of CAPTCHA on some blogs is the key cause of SPAM or if they are manually...
I don’t know a member on Geekswithblogs.net that is not frustrated with the amount of spam they get. It is a major problem that we have been dealing with for 6+ years and trying to come up with new ways to fight. As spammers get smarter, we have to continue to upgrade the tools we use to combat it. Just like any spam filter, sometimes good comments will get caught up. This has been a huge concern for some bloggers causing us to tame what we call spam and not spam. So this post is here just to state...
The first suggested item (and only at this point) was a higher level of skin customization on Geekswithblogs.net. Currently we have over 10 skins to pick from and the ability to change the CSS for those skins. In the skins list, you will find one labeled Naked that doesn't add any formatting, but allows you to define what items look like and what gets displayed. I understand our skin approach is not good by any means and needs a dramatic update. Here is what we came up with in our conversation with...
Well after 3 years of .Text it is time to move on. For the next version of Geekswithblogs.net we will be implementing a spinoff of .Text named SubText. Our team is currently working on a smooth import process as well as adding the features of .Text that we added to make SubText a very smooth transition. This move will change some of the blog skins by adding new ones and we hope to support some of the older ones as well. This move is still under development, but we see it completing within the next...
I would like everyone to welcome Box3 to our community. Box3 will be handling Geekswithblogs.net traffic along with Box2 and load balanced (using hardware, not software) to direct traffic correctly. So everyone, welcome Box3! This puts us at 2 web servers and 1 database server. Each machine is dual-core dual-Xeon servers with enough RAM to make everyone salivate. Please let me know if you see any problems or slowness in the site. If you to, report it to support@geekswithblogs.com. Technorati tags:...
/*-- Geekswithblogs.net Site Update --*/ We should have a new server configuration later this evening if all goes well that will help out with some of the performance issues and Illegal character issues you may have seen on the site. We will let you know when the new configuration is in place. Technorati tags: Full Control, Hosting, Geekswithblogs...
I just wanted to let everyone know I updated the FreeTextBox version on Geekswithblogs.net to hopefully get a cleaner interface to adding information to your blog. I have been using Live Writer or w.Bloggar for so long I forgot how hard it was to use the textbox offered in administration. If you notice any issues with this version, ping support@geekswithblogs.com with your problem and screenshot if you can. Technorati tags: Geekwithblogs, FreeTextBox, .Text...
With a stable version of Community Server finally out in the form of 2.0, John and I are investigating the transition. We have a few things to look at and we as a community need to realize that this site is more than a personal site. It is a real production system. Just like the ones you and I go to work with and maintain everyday. Have you ever heard you company say, lets upgrade to this new out-of-the-box system without any worries of how it will effect your company? I think not. Here are the things...
It has been awhile since I have discussed the deal we have with DiscountASP.net, so I thought I would bring it up again to new readers and bloggers. If you need a hosting account for personal web site or a business site, check out the deal we have with DiscountASP.net. You get 6 MONTHS FREE and no setup fee! That is an incredible deal. Geekswithblogs.net is hosted with them and I can say their support and uptime is the best I have seen around...
You may have noticed that Entrepreneurswithblogs and Geekswithblogs were down for a short time last night. We had to do an update on the servers and figured it would be best to do them all at the same time. Everything should be up and running now, thanks for your patience. - Jeff Julian...
Post operation failed. The error message related to this problem was as follows: Specified cast is not valid. I have fixed this issue in the system, so if it shows up again, please let me know
As you can assume, a developer running the server configuration for a site like this can be hectic from times. Each month this site continues to grow in members, readers, and content, so some failure was going to happen with the default settings of IIS. Through the month of January we started receiving Deadlocks and "Server Too Busy" errors on the site and it was becoming unstable. Is started debugging and researching the issue, finding most results saying, "throw more servers at it!". Well I really...
We were experiencing problems with the Main Feed for the past 24 hours, but everything seems to be fixed with a solution I have put in place. Thanks for your patience
As many of you have seen, Microsoft and Mozilla have agreed to use a new icon to represent RSS feeds. If you want to use it in your posts, I have hosted it for us and it can be found at http://www.geekswithblogs.n...
Just in time for the holidays, we have released a paging feature for the homepage of Geekswithblogs.net. Now you can see what you missed if you didn't check the feed or homepage in time. Next up, fixing the duplicate posting issues with aggregators
Once I installed the new version of RSS Bandit, I had my blog repost everything. I have been trying to recreate this problem for some time. RSS Bandit seems to be calling 'www.geekswithblogs.net' and then later 'geekswithblogs.net'. This www and no www problem is becoming a major problem with GWB (images get messed up). So, I am on it now finding a solution to this problem
Sarah posted her frustrations about .Text images, so first off I want to point her at my post for how bloggers should you images on the site. So now that we know we are suggesting Flickr instead, what about images now, why won't they work. .Text inserts images into a directory based on domain. So if you uploaded your photos from www.geekswithblogs.net, it gets placed in a folder www_geekswithblogs.net and is accessible from only www.geekswithblogs.net. So geekswithblogs.com will go to geekswithblogs_com....
Yesterday, working with Daryll from Microsoft Academic, we added 10 new bloggers from the Faculty Advisory Board (K-12) for Microsoft. I would like to welcome these new members to our community. Here is a list of the members: Pat Phillips Brian Scarbeau Tom Indelicato Judi (Judith) Heher David Jacobus Judith Hromcik Chap Percival Susan Canaga Reg Hahne Dan Forhan...
John and I decided to launch a separate blog for Geekswithblogs.net related news so you guys have a blog to subscribe to when issues are fixed and announcements are made. Thanks for being part of this community