One phenomenon seen in blogging is that when someone posts something that resonates with lots of people, lots of people link to it from their blogs, and if the original blog allows trackback pings, lots of trackbacks show up in the comments. While this does bring more attention to the original entry and to the...
[read more]

One spam solution I've often heard bandied about is to launch DDoS attacks against the perpetrators. This would be done by having spam filters automatically load and reload every web page linked to from email it identifies as spam, and perhaps crawl the websites pointed to. With enough spam filters responding this way, the spammers'...
[read more]

Yesterday, I was reading an article somewhere that mentioned in passing that RSS 2.0 is more widely deployed than 1.0 because it's easier. The part of me that has been influenced by Dilbert is arguing that it's really because CEOs are demanding, over the objections of engineers, that they use 2.0 because it's the latest...
[read more]

In April 82% of email was spam--a new record. And yet, 36% of those using spam filters don't refine them after initial installation. Even worse, 28% of companies in the same survey don't use spam filters at all. I read these statistics, and they sound alarming. Why would so many people leave themselves so woefully...
[read more]

Yesterday, I questioned whether legislation can stop spam. Today, I found and article discussing whether technological solutions can stop spam. The level of optimism in the article seems about on par with the level of success that technology is having in blocking spam: it helps, but the battle is far from over.

One proposed solution...
[read more]

Moblogging: Moh ' blah ging n. 1. Mobile web logging. Web logging from a mobile device, esp. a mobile phone. 2. Another term that I don't like.

The problem with the term moblogging is that it's too easy to misread it "mob logging". It sounds like some kind of activist activity--artificially spontaneous crowds forming and...
[read more]

If you're like me, you've seen not a decrease, but a dramatic increase in spam since the US anti-spam law was enacted. Why is this? Honestly, I don't know. Does it mean that anti-spam legislation doesn't work? It's obviously not a cure-all. But last month, the first four spammers were charged under the act. While...
[read more]

After a wait longer than the fiasco after the 2000 presidential election, the results are in. And the winner is...the candidate with the second greatest number of votes! From the general populous that is. The candidate with the most votes from the electoral college of judges won the day. "Webfeed" was selected last week as...
[read more]

Am I contradicting myself again? Yesterday the question was "to embrace or to extend?" No, I'm just talking about a related, but separate issue. When a digest format doesn't support something you want or need to do, do you try to get it into the spec, or create an extension?

One of the current issues...
[read more]

You may be familiar with the css Zen Garden...or you may not. It's a very cool experiment in the use of CSS in web design. Many designers have contributed many good, bad and ugly designs to it.

The other day, I had a mental arc--why not create a similar site with a slightly different focus....
[read more]