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Newblog.com: Posting / Editing from NB 2.0 Posted 8/10/2008 2:07:51 PM This is the first post submitted from the new site... editing is up and running as well. I'll probably add some new editing/maintenance features, so you can edit/delete posts without going through your blog pages. I'll probably push these updates up live later this afternoon, after I do some more unit testing - and after I add in the allowable HTML tags checks to prevent malicious posts with scripts. Once I have a few more features done, I'll probably tear down the old site and switch completely to the new one. (oops - line feeds were broken - fixed it ;) (5) Comments

Newblog.com: NewBlog 2.0 coming along well. Posted 8/10/2008 10:03:32 AM I've got almost all of the framework built now (the class objects that represent blogs, accounts, private messages, friends, invites, articles, comments, etc), and have to start building all the pages out - there's a lot. I forgot how much effort went into the original site ;) Kinda struggling with a decision - when to switch to the new site 100% and take down the old. I'm thinking about taking down the old version of the site entirely, and running on a sparse version of the new one, and add features back in over the next week. I could get a couple things up today, like posting new articles, editing articles, uploading a primary photo, editing bio information. Could everyone live a few days without friend invitions, private messages and stuff, to get completely on the new site quicker? --Digression about Newblog 2.0 NB 2.0 though will pretty much put a halt to the mass, automated signups. I'm not throwing this out there as any sort of challenge, but it's worked 100% on Ripway. It's also worked for me on the new GiftCertificates.com site I've been building over the last 9 months (with help from a great designer and a handful of developers), which was launched last month. Any, .NET uses an "viewstate" string in the code, you'll see it if you do a View Source on the home page at members.newblog.com. It can get pretty big, and that can be an issue, but it protects web sites from unwanted, faked form submissions. When a form is submitted, the viewstate has to match what was generated by the server, or it won't accept the form. The cool thing is, since an exception is thrown (an error happens) when invalid viewstates are detected, I get an email with all the details - I have exception handling set up to notify me directly in these events. It's virtually (not 100%!) impossible to "fake" a form, and submit from remote scripts without explicitly permitting it. There are work-arounds, and a few hacks to get past it, but it's difficult, and also easy for me to detect and block. There's tons of other benefits with .NET - performance for one (although the database is still a factor), and stability. I can trace bugs down easier, cause it's a "compiled" language, rather than a bunch of server-side spaghetti-style scripts. It's also all object-oriented, and once I have the "framework" all built, it'll be much faster to generate new features. /end digression Did I spell spaghetti wrong? (6) Comments

Newblog.com: We can rebuild it... we can make it stronger ;) Posted 8/9/2008 2:36:07 PM You might notice the Sign Up link now takes you to a different URL (this is temporary). This URL is the initial baseline of the *new* NewBlog.com. It might not look like it, but a ton of work has gone into the framework for the new site. Most of the links on that site are broken, but the new signup is functional, and the home page is functional. I'm rebuilding NewBlog on Microsoft's .NET platform. I recently re-wrote Ripway.com to C# v.NET, and we've had amazing success with blocking automated signups, which were becoming a HUGE problem on NewBlog. All of my sites - VillagePhotos.com, ImageCave.com, Ripway.com, FileAve.com, PictureWizard.com and NewBlog.com are getting re-built in .NET. This new platform brings us built-in protection from these sorts of issues, as well as scalability and incredible performance increases. Plus, the ability to add new features much quicker. On NewBlog, I've got the sign up, and most of the home page rebuilt (you can check it out at http://members.newblog.com). I've got a lot of the framework built for other features too, but I've got a ways to go. Bear with me. I'll keep both sites up for awhile - until almost everything has been re-written on the new site. For now, blog pages themselves won't change, but that's coming too. We'll probably move user space under the "www" site - so www.newblog.com/users/(your username)/ will eventually be your space. With C# blog pages will load MUCH MUCH faster, and we'll be able to do some cool things - pingbacks for one, and auto-saving of posts while you're editing them (sort of like what Google's Gmail does). Anyway, sorry for the down-time the last few weeks, I had to shut things down to stop what was essentially a Denial of Service attack which was bringing the entire site down. Good things are coming, bear with me, and thanks for sticking around. Scoots (24) Comments

Newblog.com: Back. Posted 8/9/2008 10:58:45 AM I'm trying to get the new signup form up today on the new platform - the first page that will get released. Until then, signups are down. (8) Comments

Fun Stuff: Funny video Posted 4/2/2008 12:25:43 PM I captured this a long time ago (DVR's are great), never bothered to share it. (4) Comments

Newblog.com: Better? Posted 3/21/2008 10:21:36 PM I see the mods have been able to kill some spam off while I'm off to work... and I haven't see any mass signup attempts in the last week. Looks like things are improving. One other thing I have in mind... a massively improved default template. When I get around to re-writing this site in .NET, I'll probalby re-create the default template to be much less late 90's. I'll admit it's pretty lame as-is. (25) Comments

Newblog.com: Mods? Yeah. Posted 3/13/2008 8:15:35 AM I've assigned 4 users minimal mod rights, all recommended by various members, and all of whom I've known to be consistent, great people. I won't say who they are - if you're not a mod, it doesn't mean 1) I don't like you, 2) other people don't like you, or 3) whatever. I grabbed the first four people I saw consistently nominated, who I recognized. It was that simple. Any squabbling over the decision and I'll go back to having no mods at all. These people will see a "suspend" option on the site - initially on the home page, then later in other areas (as I get to it). Mods - for now, is a one-way termination. Please be careful, and ONLY use the suspend feature in cases of spamming/abuse. Not because somebody is in a flamewar or posts a topic you don't like. (16) Comments

Newblog.com: Spammers (update) Posted 3/10/2008 11:22:10 AM Last night spammers created about 40,000 new accounts. The script that kills these off isn't keeping up, so I made some changes to it and they're getting mass-removed, but it's going to take awhile (there's about 90,000 spammer accounts that need removed right now). Going to add some additional verification features in the account signup to try to prevent these "attacks" (which is what they really are). (15) Comments

Newblog.com: How to report problem accounts Posted 2/26/2008 9:49:27 AM I've been trashing a few thousand auto-generated accounts over the last week (it's taking forever). Meanwhile, please, report any phishing or other malicious activity to help@ripside.com That email is monitored by people other than myself, and is the best way to report this stuff. Please do NOT submit reports of people just generally being a jerk, flamewars, etc. I'm looking for the illegal, malicious activity, that we need to address immediately to avoid causing real problems for our users or visitors. Also - I just fixed the script error people have been seeing when they try to post. (11) Comments

Newblog.com: Nominations for mods here... Posted 2/17/2008 5:03:22 PM I'm accepting nominations for moderators... who will have access to suspend malicious accounts. Please do not nominate yourself (or create new accounts to nominate yourself from). I'd like to see at least 3 nominations from long-term users before I consider somebody a possibility... (16) Comments

Newblog.com: Cneaup Posted 2/17/2008 4:59:07 PM Quick update - removing a TON of malicious accounts today. (6) Comments

Tech issues? Posted 1/10/2008 7:36:02 PM Heard there were some technical issues - read all of my messages, don't see anything in there, so pls leave a comment here if you're having problems with NB - and I'll get it taken care of. (3) Comments

Merry Christmas Posted 12/25/2007 8:23:23 PM Okay, yeah, I haven't had time to get on much the last 5 months. My new day gig is taking a lot more of my time than I expected. It's going well, but I've been handed a lot more work, and responsibility than I thought would happen, and I pretty much spent the last 2 months working 12 to 16 to 18 hours days to keep up. Now that Christmas is almost over, that will slow down. I've learned a few things at the new gig, including .NET, I've become pretty comfortable with it in just a few months of crash-course training. I plan to start re-writing all of the Ripside properties, including NewBlog, in .NET, which will bring a lot of cool new features - including pages you can design by moving elements around, better image/file uploading, better response time and security, and better overall performance. Anyway, Happy Holidays to all - and once things slow down I'll have some time to catch up on NB. (4) Comments

Web Tech: Ooops, they did it again Posted 6/27/2007 6:23:23 AM Our upstream internet provider had a switch fail (again) today. My pager went off about 5:30 this morning. This is twice in about 6 months, which isn't a very good track record for gear that should last several years without being touched. I'm looking at our options. (2) Comments

Newblog.com: Back to the corporate world Posted 6/20/2007 9:50:25 AM I ran accross an opportunity a few weeks ago to go to work for a large dot-com here in town - as Directory of Integration Engineering and Application Architect. Basically, the opportunity was too good to pass up, and I'll be accepting their offer today. I'll be working with some great people I've worked with in the past, and I'm pretty excited about it. This doesn't mean anything with NB, or other Ripside services will be changing. We'll be bringing on some more part-time staff to fill my shoes. Since 99% of my work has been strictly customer service and account management lately, I'm not really needed that much. I can pay people to do those things. I'll probably be able to check in on NB once in a while during the day, but I'll be doing most of my Ripside/NB work at night, so I've gotta ask you all to behave yourselves while I'm out. Update - I've accepted the position of Application Architect / Director of Integration Engineering. I start Monday. (10) Comments

Newblog.com: Negativity ends now - blocking added Posted 6/18/2007 2:07:40 PM You can now add blocks - look in the same section where you'd PM somebody on their blog. A blocked user (if logged in) cannot view your blog. If they aren't logged in, they'll be able to view your blog, but won't be able to comment on it. They also cannot contact you via private messages or send you Friend Invites. I'm aware of the problems going on between some people here lately - and have been digging through posts, comments, PM's, copies of PM's, etc, to try to "pick a side", but there's too much that's been deleted to make a real opinion of where it all started. That said, I probably will not be deleting anyone's accounts. But, I am ordering that the flame wars between these 2 parties cease. As of this point, I will be keeping "score" of what's going on. Negative, hassassing posts will be counted against you. I don't want to have to play babysitter - we're all adults here (mostly) - but I can't afford to have users leaving because they feel like they're being harrassed. For those involved, if you don't want to have your account removed, end this now. (93) Comments

180 gallon tank project: Aquarium project progress. Posted 6/6/2007 11:47:04 PM (copied from my very long thread over at AquariumAdvice.com - click here to view it) Salt, heater (I need 2x300W), 6 jumbo raw shrimp, a couple powerheads (I need more) has all been added. I only added enough mix for 160G - so I need to get another bucket, but the LFS was out of Reef Crystals. Still no circulation via the built-in drains/returns. The specs on the sheet said the overflows were 1" ID vinyl tubing inserts - they're not, they're apparently 1 1/4" ID, so I have to return the 28" of 1" for the 1 1/4". I'll get a foot of it first this time to make sure. I'm running all this off a temporary extension cord (a heavy-duty one), as there isn't yet power in the house, except for a single box. I'll need to get another line before adding the 2x300W heaters. Right now I just have a 50W, which I doubt will come close to being enough, unless it really warms up. The returns are definately 3/4" bulkheads/inserts. It was fun dumping a full bucket of salt in all at once The canopy doors are actually two pairs of doors, hinged in the middle, so when I swing them open, the entire front of the aquarium is accessible, with no dividers ("styles") in the way. I need to seal up the top of the tank for a couple days, because they'll be staining/sanding/varnishing soon. Rather lose air exchange than get that stuff in my water. (1) Comments

Fun Stuff: My turn Posted 6/3/2007 1:30:08 PM Mrs. Scoots will kill me for this, but... Funny, some of the women they pulled up are in my "top 10 hottest women" list. Okay, there's no official top 10 list, but just the one in the back of my mind ;) The facial recognition wasn't as kind to me: (1) Comments

Fun Stuff: Do you Oekaki? Posted 6/1/2007 11:17:27 AM I forgot that a long time ago I setup a Oekaki site, which lets users draw/paint pictures (primarily anime), to share with others on the board. It records every step you make during the drawin, and others can watch the playback of the animation later. If you have an artistic side, stop by and check it out. (2) Comments

Rants: Can I have the 80's back, please? Posted 5/18/2007 2:36:58 PM I'm sitting here doing some customer service, listening to the Jesus and Mary Chain, and thinking about how much I can't stand 90% of the music that's out today. I guess you could say I was an "emo", back before there was any such thing. I couldn't get enough of the Cure, Depeche Mode, Housemartins, Jesus and Mary Chain. Queen. The Cars. Forigner. SRV. Hell, even Van Halen. MTV played music videos all day (I remember the first time the guitar riff came on, and the giant MTV logo crashed on the moon). It was a great time. But every since record exec's discovered you could use music to make money, beyond the LP's and cassettes, it's all gone down hill. You didn't have to have a cel phone, a pager, and 3 email accounts to keep up with the world. Just a bangin' boombox with lots of D batteries on hand, a couple mix tapes, or a set of wheels with some Kenwood 6x9's in the back deck with a good ol' radio shack stereo in the dash. Half the stuff I hear on the radio are whiny young 20-something's, who've probably never gone a day without chatting up their mom on the phone, and whipped up by some overpaid overpriced studio exec. It's shoved down our throats in celebrity magazines who turn ever radio star into a fashion conglomerate, television ads, and the radio, which is of course all owned by Clear Channel now, so it's all nice and consistent. And plastic. And processed. Who care's what Fallout Boy is wearing, or where they buy their mascara? Do they have any good songs that didn't come out of the Play-Tone library of music? How about they spoon-feed us a little bit of independant thought, some creativity? Kudos to the few musicians who've stuck it out, and refused to sell out. Tori Amos keeps on her path. A few others do the same. But if I hear Avril Lavigne's "Hey Mickey" equivalent one more time today, I'm gonna spew Hi-Def, Hi-fidelity technicolor chunks. (14) Comments

Photography: I won ;) Posted 5/17/2007 3:25:45 PM Somehow, without knowing it, I won the April Saltwater photography contest on one of the biggest aquarium forums on the 'net ;) I think I posted the pic here a long time ago - check my "Fish" category. It's the red fish on the front page: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/ Sadly, that fish is no longer with us, as he decided to find out what life on dry land was like. I found him behind the tank one day when I noticed my cats going nuts over something. Still not sure how he escaped, since my tank is completely covered, but he did. (0) Comments

Web Tech: ImageCave image hosting now offering unlimited bandwidth Posted 5/11/2007 2:45:53 PM ImageCave.com is now offering unlimited bandwidth for all free and paid users. Previously free members were limited to 1GB per month of data transfer. ImageCave provides customizable albums, image management tools, an easy to use interface, and a rock-solid sevice with a large cluster of servers, and redundant internet feeds to maintain high availability. (2) Comments

Photography: Another model session yesterday Posted 4/28/2007 7:14:35 PM This is Kaci, another local model I shot yesterday. I might have her back in sometime, as I had some problems with one of my lights, and missed a few critical shots... But I did get a few good ones... Click thumbs to view the full-sized image. (5) Comments

Photography: Another glamour photo from Sunday Posted 4/18/2007 9:31:31 PM I dig this one - I don't think I played with this one at all, just cropped it a bit and converted to JPG. . Feedback always welcome. (5) Comments

Photography: My first glamour shoot (updated) Posted 4/17/2007 9:36:45 AM I had my first glamour shoot on Sunday with a local model. It was a blast. Here's a link to an album with a few pics from the session. Watch the file sizes - one of the B&W is full-sized, and about 4MB. See more pics at http://www.jotstudio.com. And another... And one more: Now I need to find some more models to work with ;) (10) Comments

Ripway.com: Unlimited Bandwidth for Ripway premium users Posted 4/15/2007 1:18:12 PM I've updated Ripway today to provide unlimited bandwidth for all upgrade users. If this goes over well, we'll look at doing the same thing on all of our other specialized hosting services, like ImageCave.com and VillagePhotos.com. (2) Comments

Web Tech: Newblog Chat Posted 4/14/2007 12:18:16 PM Try this out. I used to use this on some other sites, it's been years, but used to be pretty popular. I'll have to tweaks to make if people actually use it: Newblog WebChat You can continue browsing while you've got the chat frame open. Enjoy, and LMK what ya think. (5) Comments

Web Tech: My interview with Network World Posted 4/2/2007 10:55:08 PM I dropped a comment on a blog a few weeks back on a article about web hosters profiting from phishing accounts. I have some experience in this subject. The author, Paul McNamara contacted me with some questions about the topic, and about my comments. Here's a link to the write-up, followed with a link to the original article which I commented on. First-hand account: How free Web hosters profit from phishing sites Do free Web hosting services welcome phishers? (3) Comments

Music: Alanis does Fergie Posted 4/2/2007 10:49:17 PM Well, not really, because that would be just too cool. But here's a video of Alanis Morissette covering (parodying) My Humps by Fergie... This is a bit wierd, but I'm a huge Alanis fan, and thought this was pretty awesome - not quite Tori Amos' cover of Smells like Teen Spirit, which is just completely classic, but still cool. Enjoy. (2) Comments

Fun Stuff: Google TiSP service - FREE broadband internet for everyone! Posted 4/1/2007 8:43:26 PM Google is offering a beta of their free broadband internet service. Check it, you won't regret it! http://www.google.com/tisp/install.html. (1) Comments

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General Comments Unie Posted 10/2/2008 1:22:41 PM Happy Birthday, Scott...Hope you have a great day. its-just-cindi Posted 10/2/2008 12:16:23 PM Hope you have a wonderful birthday! magicalmysterytour Posted 10/2/2008 9:42:45 AM a rousing happy birthday is wished to our fearless leader brianwb2277 Posted 10/2/2008 8:08:15 AM hey yo happy birthday young feller Snoop Posted 8/24/2008 6:26:48 PM Yay for .NET... Meaghan Posted 8/19/2008 1:13:10 AM Hi! :) Brian says that you own Imagecave or something like that. It says that I get unlimited bandwidth to upload pics but I only got 10MB total. wierderthanthou Posted 8/10/2008 3:32:13 AM actually big guy...it was one of those small black dome numbers they belted each other with...ya know, the cheap ones? sheryl Posted 6/28/2008 1:24:36 PM Why is it that I have not been able to post a bog for days? I have tried multiple times to no avail. brianwb2277 Posted 4/2/2008 12:07:47 PM dang, Scoots I am getting annoyed at these spammers who are blocking me I cant have no fun at all LOL brianwb2277 Posted 3/31/2008 12:13:08 PM sccots I notice myname stays on the homepage at least 45 minutes to darn near an hr after I log out why is that? Mistletoe Posted 3/21/2008 8:58:02 AM Hi Scoots! Great to see you here. :o) Have a nice, peaceful Easter. Mistletoe Posted 3/16/2008 8:58:52 AM Thank GODS you came! I was getting desperate here! LOL :o) brianwb2277 Posted 3/16/2008 8:53:50 AM holy crap I cant believe the amount of spam today . oh well I dont gotta go to work till four heh Mistletoe Posted 3/13/2008 8:15:49 AM Hi Scoots. One question about suspending accounts..what if i come across with an account that says "member since 10/08/2006 last seen 10/08/2006"? Am i allowed to suspend those? Obviously that person isn't going to use his/her blog... brianwb2277 Posted 3/10/2008 10:27:39 AM ok thanks scoots these guys are pissing me off Mistletoe Posted 2/26/2008 9:56:57 AM WOOHOO! Congrats, Scoots, i read your comment on SmokedSilly's page, you are doing a great job. I know it takes forever to get rid of all the spammers. But i'm willing to wait. :o) Way to go!!! Mistletoe Posted 2/22/2008 11:13:33 AM huhuu? anybody here? natives are getting restless again..let us know your decision! :o) flappertball Posted 2/18/2008 10:51:56 PM Thank you for making this site usable; we appreciate it. Mistletoe Posted 2/18/2008 6:42:30 AM VERY IMPORTANT!!! Read your PM. :o) wierderthanthou Posted 1/28/2008 4:00:09 AM scoots...you know i dont come to you often but denise_11 is showing flat out vulgarity porn on the site! please do somethin! Please login to post a comment.