Monthly Archives: June 2005

Upgrade to WordPress 1.5.1.3 Out Now – New Security Issues!

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Just released, WordPress 1.5.1.3 fixes a new security issue involving remote procedure calls. While you don’t need to update ASAP, at least you will need to plug the hole by deleting a file on your site (xmlrpc.php).

Remote procedure calls are handy for remote posting of blog contents – but they can be like a ‘remote control’ to your site. So a security here is well worth a quick fix.

For more details, check out the WordPress site right away – and get your blog(s) kosher asap…

Blogs, Legal Issues, and the EFF

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The Electronic Frontier Foundation is one of the few (very few) organizations today that work for the ‘little guy’ (or gal).

As freedom of speech wanes, it’s important to know what you can (and cannot) say. The EFF states it well on their site:

“None of this should stop you from blogging. Freedom of speech is the foundation of a functioning democracy, and Internet bullies shouldn’t use the law to stifle legitimate free expression.”

Some interesting points:

  • Journalism and Blogging do go well together – especially if you need legal protection for sources.
  • What is considered private can be rather surprising – and you should be up on it if you like to blog big secrets.
  • If you are an ISP, you can be protected from what bloggers write on your server – and in fact, you (as a blogger) might also be protected if you open your blog to comments

Well worth a glance – give it a look-see soon.

Why Use Banner Ads?

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I’ve actually been running banner ads for some years now on my various sites. Using phpAdsNew has been invaluable aid in setting them up and monitoring them.

However, in this day and age, one might wonder why use banner ads at all? I have several reasons:

  • Professionalism. A site with good-quality banner ads still comes across a bit more professional, I think. Key of course is ‘good quality’.
  • Advertise other products. If you have multiple sites with multiple products, you can advertise on each of these other sites, benefiting from some cross-over traffic.
  • Testing. If you came up with a banner with a 10% click-through, would you run it? Of course. But testing to get that could be very painful (and expensive) – unless your traffic is free. Ergo, test your banners on your own site – and possibly come up with that ideal banner.
  • Soothe everyone. Perhaps I’m a pessimist, but these days when I visit a site, I find myself asking – ‘what’s the catch’? Most (if not all) business sites are out to sell something online, so by putting a banner up you’re answering that unasked question – and providing a comfort level.

Agree or disagree, banners do have more benefits than outright sales – so consider whether your site would benefit from one – or more…