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 should be labeled as spam. Akismet is not perfect and it still lets a lot of posts through, but it definitely helps!
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 that good formatting and making the post ugly. Well we fixed the bug and now it should keep the nice editing from WLW. The example plugin I have used to ensure the good formatting is “Code Snippet” for WLW, which is totally awesome.
Sample Code:
private void SetCommentControls()
{
if (!Config.CurrentBlog.CommentsEnabled)
{
chkComments.Enabled = false;
chkCommentsClosed.Enabled = false;
}
}
If you see any other bugs on Geekswithblogs.net, please submit them to support@geekswithblogs.com
Thanks,
@StaffOfGeeks
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 a link without their plugin. It is hard to fit the plugin into all the skins.
If you would like us to make another modification to the system, please let us know as well. We are always open to suggestions. We really want to bring the homepage into the 21st century as well as publish some video tutorials for new bloggers and members.
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 based on Log
We are definitely working to make Geekswithblogs.net faster and better. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to share them with the team. On a side note, if that suggestion is move to WordPress, I will reply to you with stop writing ASP.NET for your day job and move to PHP. That request is the equivalent in my eyes. If we have enough bloggers leave the Microsoft .NET Platform for their main source of income, we might consider it.
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
“Utt ohh, someone’s got their frowny face on”
Yesterday we were part of the group of Internet sites that were down for a few hours due to a DoS attack from Saudi Arabia. The site should be up and running just fine again and we apologize for the outage.
James Hare and Jeff Julian are in the Tuesday video, we will publish it when it is on YouTube. Go Geekswithblogs!
John walks you through the Blogger Hub at TechEd 2011 Atlanta. If you are here, you should swing by.
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
- Couches where you can talk to other bloggers and get ideas on how to make your blog better
- Whiteboards for telling others about your blog
- Interview Stations for you to interview key folks who are at Tech-Ed
- Hanging out with @StaffOfGeeks!
Tomorrow we finish up setting up the place, but keep your eye out on this blog and @StaffOfGeeks to find out what is going on at Tech-Ed 2011 Atlanta!
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 be in Build B on the First Floor:
Then we will be in the Connect Zone section of the Expo Hall:
Finally, we will be in the TechEd Blogger Hub!
If you can’t find us from these maps, ping us @StaffOfGeeks and we will help you get to the Blogger Hub from there!
See you all next week!
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) attending sessions, going to parties, and hopefully blogging about his experience from the Blogger Hub in the Connect Zone, facilitated by us, @StaffofGeeks.
If you are interested in seeing how you can be part of the influencer program, let us know and we will share with you tips and tricks to make your readership go up. Some of our influencers have been around a long time, but most of them are newer bloggers who just have something important to say that readers want to hear.
As Staff of Geeks is gearing up for Tech-Ed 2011, we’d like to highlight a couple of important tools that you should really be using if you are attending! If not, it’s not too late! Click here for some resources to help convince your boss and learn more!
The first tool is Schedule Builder. With over 800 sessions and 250 exhibitors listed in the catalog, it’s important to take time before the event to map out your on-site experience.
Why?
First and foremost, as Tech-Ed alumni, the number one complaint we’ve heard is “Why isn’t the room for <insert hugely popular session title> bigger? I really wanted to see that”. By selecting the Sessions in Schedule Builder NOW, you assist the planning team with several things, including room sizing and catering! Big win for everyone!
Second, it comes in very handy to have your schedule printed out or synced with your Outlook calendar onsite. You can then use the map in the Conference Guidebook or the minimap to make sure you know where you are going beforehand. This can help tremendously when trying to get from one Session to another on opposite sides of the conference center.
We’ve used Schedule Builder many times at past Tech-Eds and it has proved a loyal and efficient assistant, helping us create our own personal agendas for the week to streamline our onsite experience!
This year, you can also add Exhibitors to your schedule and within two weeks of Tech-Ed you’ll have the ability to sync with your Outlook calendar two weeks before the event
To get started, log-in to myTech·Ed, and then navigate to the content catalog. From there you can begin adding Sessions and Exhibitors to your own schedule.
What’s MyTech-Ed?
MyTech·Ed is a new tool for 2011 that allows you to customize your Tech·Ed experience. Find the content, make the connections and join the conversations that interest you, year-round. Create your MyTech·Ed profile and get personalized technical education and connect with community of experts and peers that share your interests, 365 days a year.
Through MyTech·Ed, you can:
-
Create your personalized conference schedule, including sessions, labs and exhibitors to visit
-
Use the directory to find other attendees with similar interests, even after Atlanta, so you can continue to develop social and professional connections
-
Arrange meetings, social activities, or a cab to the airport with like-minded attendees
-
Join discussions—or create your own on whatever interests you
-
Ask the community for:
· Recommendations on sessions or speakers
· Details on vendor-sponsored parties and meetings
· Suggestions on evening activities, and more
These two great tools will streamline your Tech-Ed experience if you take advantage of them! Get started exploring now!
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!!!
Whether you are a beginner or an experienced blogger, at TechEd 2011, you have a place with a hardwired connection for writing posts, the ability to interview TechEd presenters and Microsoft staff, and learn and share ideas on how to make our blogs better. Your community is in the center of TechEd! If you are attending, please stop in and post from there! Oh, and say “Hi” to Staff Of Geeks!
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 Program is our way as Staff of Geeks to show our appreciation for those bloggers who have the greatest influence on the site. Each influencer in the program is awarded by the amount of posts, views, and comments they receive on their posts in the previous quarter. Each quarter, we select the top 25 bloggers of influence and give them special access to products and services we have obtained through our network of partners.
Here is how it works. Each quarter we select the top 25 bloggers bases on the amount of posts that created in that quarter, and apply points to the views and comments those posts receive. The selection is purely off of the numbers, we do not select any based on any other basis. In fact in the first round, several of our key bloggers did not qualify in the top 25. Though they are still loved dearly, we wanted a program that anyone could be a part of if they put in the hard work.
This said, the first quarter ends at the end of March and we will have another round of influencers joining us. Keep the posts rolling and maybe you will be selected as an influencer!
Visit the influencers page to see who has the greatest influence on Geekswithblogs right now.
Technorati Tags: Geekswithblogs