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Feb
10

Aggressive Moderation

By | Development, Focus

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NOTE: I was made aware after this was posted that there were further off-forums discussions between the poster in question and forum moderators that warranted this kind of immediate behavior. As there was no way I could know this beforehand, my opinions were based entirely on what I observed in the forums.

I get it. Sometimes a person posts something that gets on our nerves and we just want them to go away.

Trust me, it’s a common response.  Remember, I moderate a few forums myself, so I know how it feels to be on the defensive against a to-aggressive community member.

Still, that’s no reason to abandon your own decorum and go on the offensive yourself.

A few days ago, I was pointed to a thread in a forum featuring a poster with a particularly abrasive personality. 1  He didn’t like the way a certain programming practice was documented, tried to change it, and had his changes removed.

Understandably, he wanted an explanation.  This is where things went down hill. [Read more...]

Notes:

  1. I’m being intentionally ambiguous here so I’m not subsequently labelled a troublemaker in the same community. Remember, these are my personal opinions, and should you take offense, feel free to leave a comment so we can discuss. ↩
Feb
08

Data versus Meaning

By | Development, Focus

1 Comment

Data Cloud

At a conference last week, I was subjected to all kinds of talks on data, data integrity, data storage, data in the cloud, and data-centered design patterns.  One speaker summed things up perfectly:

If you make the center of your world data, then everything else becomes easy.

This got me thinking.  From a computer-centric viewpoint it all makes sense.  Our machines are built specifically to store data, crunch data, and present that data to the user.

But I don’t just work with computers.  I also read a lot.  And I write a lot.  And I publish books.  And even in the computer world I spend a great deal of time working on WordPress – a tool used primarily for writing.

From the media-centric viewpoint, this argument stops making sense.  The most important piece of this blog, for example, is the content.  And that content is stored, essentially, as blobs in the database.  The data on my server consists of titles, keywords, post dates, views, comments, and other meta information that adds little value to the content itself.

This meta doesn’t provide any meaning to the data/content it’s meant to represent.  And that, is a huge failure on our part as developers. [Read more...]

Jan
13

Domains, Registrars, and DNS … oh my!

By | Development, Focus

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About a year ago, I bought a short url so I didn’t have to use tinyurl.com or bit.ly on Twitter.  It’s a .me address, and at the time the best/cheapest .me registrar was GoDaddy.

I don’t host sites there, but I registered the domain there anyway.  Then I immediately pointed the domain at my old shared hosting account over on 1and1.

Things worked perfectly!

After a few weeks, I decided to add an email at this short url.  But I didn’t want to use 1and1′s email system, so I set up Google Apps for the domain and pointed my MX records at Google.

Again, things worked perfectly!

Then … two weeks ago I started getting inundated with spam.  Lots of spam.  I got about a hundred or so “Out of office” emails an hour from a mailing list in Russia.

All in response to an email that seemingly originated from my address.

Turns out, some spammer was using my email address in the “from” field of their messages.  As a result, I got all of the “unsubscribe” and “out of office” responses.

One system even blacklisted my email address as a known spammer.  I didn’t find out until several angry client phone calls – why haven’t you sent us the code we paid for?!

Simple Solution

Google recommends setting up authentication for your email to prevent this.  It’s actually pretty easy.  Just add a TXT record to your DNS with some encrypted strings that Google knows.  Then email recipients can verify that messages appearing to be from you are actually from you.

Well, simple if you don’t use 1and1.

You see, shared hosting accounts with 1and1 use a very basic DNS system.  You can use their name servers, or remote name servers.  You can use their MX records or set your own MX records.

But you can’t add a TXT record.

Migrating

I was one of the many who jumped ship when GoDaddy announced their (shortlived) support of SOPA.  I quickly moved my email domain (and several other domains) over to Namecheap.

But to keep things simple, I had left the DNS in place – still pointing at 1and1.

To add a TXT record, I moved my DNS registration to Namecheap for my .me domain as well.  I figured it would be easy enough:

  • Keep the domain registered with Namecheap
  • Register the DNS with Namecheap
  • Set the TXT record I needed for authenticated email
  • Set an A record to point back at my 1and1 hosting account

And sure enough it worked!  The spammy emails stopped.  My sites still worked.  Everything was happy.

Until I got the email …

The Problem

We at 1&1 Internet have noticed that you have changed the name server of your eam.me domain. Your new settings are:

DNS1: dns3.registrar-servers.com
DNS2: dns2.registrar-servers.com
DNS3: dns5.registrar-servers.com
DNS4: dns4.registrar-servers.com

Because of these new settings, your website hosted with 1&1 Internet can no longer be reached via the eam.me domain. The e-mail addresses included in your Developer Package, if any, have also been disabled.

If you still intend to keep using our services, you can enter the following name servers with your registrar by February 23, 2012 at 11:46:00 PM and continue using our services as usual.

DNS1: ns51.1and1.com
DNS2: ns52.1and1.com

If by February 23, 2012 at 11:46:00 PM you have not registered with our name servers, we will remove the eam.me domain from our systems. If you want to use your domain with your 1&1 Package after February 23, 2012 at 11:46:00 PM, you can specify this configuration on the Control Panel once more and enter the name servers specified there with your registrar.

Yeah … this doesn’t work for me.  The applications (namely YOURLS) are still running on my shared hosting system over at 1and1.  But I need the DNS running through Namecheap so I can keep the TXT entry available for email authentication.

I tried one workaround – setting a CNAME record for the domain to point to my 1and1 account – but this ate my MX and TXT records as well.

At the moment (assuming no one offers a better alternative) it looks like I’ll just need to move my applications to a different system entirely.  That is not an optimal solution … and this entire c****** f*** has me wanting to dump 1and1 altogether.

Update

I emailed 1and1 a potential workaround that I found in their own knowledge base.  Essentially, it recommends setting the external domain, pointing it at an external DNS system, then pointing the external DNS system back at 1and1.

My email was along the lines of “I found a solution posted on your site, had you directed me here in the first place, it would have saved us all a lot of time.”

They responded … by directing me to the exact same link:

Dear Eric Mann, (Customer ID: XXXXXXXX)

Thank you for contacting us.

We advise you to use the method on the link below.

How do I use my own name server for a 1&1 domain?

http://faq.1and1.com/domains/domain_admin/dns_settings/18.html

The technical subdomain for your account is sxxxxxxxxx.onlinehome.us

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

> For the record, I have found a way to make this work. According to your
> own knowledge base, it *is* possible to host a site with your system while
> the domain and DNS is registered elsewhere:
>
> http://faq.1and1.com/domains/domain_admin/dns_settings/18.html

I’m not sure why … but this irritates me even more than the original fiasco.

Dec
22

Post Supplements – A Concept

By | Development, Focus

10 Comments

The Art of Manliness adds an author box, a Facebook "like" button, a related content gallery, and a subscription feature to the bottom of each post.

A few months ago, WordPress UX Lead Jane Wells posted a request to WordPress’ Trac ticketing system.  The idea was to find a better way to insert “stuff” below WordPress posts:

Inserting the sharing and like rows at the bottom of the post text before the byline/classification metadata seems wrong. It should go below that, so it is closely related to commenting, not part of the content itself. The plugin-generated widget is not “by” the post author, after all.

I haven’t used very many social media plugins for exactly this reason.  Nor have I ever used a “related posts” plugin.  They always seem to conflict with one another and build up a bunch of unnecessary cruft below my content.

So for the past few months, I’ve been thinking about different ways to handle this. [Read more...]

Dec
21

Apple Patents Multi-tasking

By | Development, Focus

4 Comments

The Apple-vs-Google-vs-EveryoneElseInTheWorld patent battle has gotten beyond ridiculous.

I just read that Apple’s latest patent victory is for:

A portable electronic device displays, on a touch screen display, a user interface for a phone application during a phone call. In response to detecting activation of a menu icon or menu button, the UI for the phone application is replaced with a menu of application icons, while maintaining the phone call. In response to detecting a finger gesture on a non-telephone service application icon, displaying a user interface for the non-telephone service application while continuing to maintain the phone call, the UI for the non-telephone service application including a switch application icon that is not displayed in the UI when there is no ongoing phone call. In response to detecting a finger gesture on the switch application icon, replacing display of the UI for the non-telephone service application with a respective UI for the phone application while continuing to maintain the phone call.

In plain English – Apple has patented the feature where you can switch to another app on a device while maintaining a phone call.  Considering that the phone system on an iPhone is, itself, an app on the device this means that Apple has laid the foundation for patenting the ability to switch from one app to another without turning either one off.

Haven’t we been doing this for years already?

Does the fact that one of the apps is a phone app really make this a unique, non-obvious invention or innovation?

I would argue no.  And even though I am not a lawyer, I stick by that argument.

Nothing in Apple’s patent application seems to be anything more than an “ante-in” offering for any sophisticated electronic device.  The fact that they can now, legally, prevent other software developers from releasing a feature we already have, use, and expect from even entry-level offerings is, in a word, laughable.

My prediction: Apple’s next patent attempt is for a handheld computer capable of also making phone calls.  Really, that patent would be no less legitimate than the one they were just awarded …

Dec
16

Should Free Software Have Free Support?

By | Development, Focus

10 Comments

I do professional (paid) consulting for WordPress.  But I also write and distribute free plugins and themes for WordPress.  My paid business depends a lot on my reputation on the free side of things.

And that’s where I face a dilemma.

A lot of people use my free stuff.  And several of them come to me from time to time asking for new features, bug fixes, or just regular “I can’t figure this out” support.  Up ’til now, I’ve offered that support for free.

And that’s proven to be a bad idea.

So my question to you, how much is reasonable to charge for ongoing development and support?

Please complete the following survey to share your thoughts on how much (if anything) is reasonable to charge for support, on-going development, and feature requests when it comes to open source software. 1

Complete the survey through Google Docs

To say “thank you” I’ll be giving away a handful of Amazon.com gift cards to those who complete the survey.  How many I give away and the exact amount on each card will depend on how many people complete the survey.

Notes:

  1. For the record, I will not stop giving away free software.  I’m just considering a few different ways I can continue to earn a living while doing it. ↩
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