Monkey Business is a post from: BobdeBilder

Make no bones about this, this update will do Google more damage in the long-term than it will the internet users.

A number of years ago I came of the opinion that Google was a dangerous ally and this last update shows the depth of my concern and the ultimate reason behind my concerns.

One of the tips I try to give new site developers who try to monetise their sites is that they avoid Adsense.

The whole rot is when you come to rely on Google and that you hand the power of your site over to the ‘tin hats’.

However, in Google’s defence, they do face a continual uphill battle in combating the companies and sites out there that try to ‘game the system’.

My thoughts on this is that Google would be better off having human ‘bots’ to check on sites and to be responsive to site owners who complain about their site being scraped BUT whether Google will take note of the feedback will have to be seen.

Currently it looks more like that they will be needing to do ‘damage control’, as rest assured this will have more than ripple effects on the people out there.

Here’s hoping a suitable solution is found

What now Google? is a post from: BobdeBilder

Scratch Scratch Woof Woof is a post from: BobdeBilder

If you take a stroll down to the Google Help area you will find more than a few disgruntled and not so happy campers.

And yes, I am being kind. The level of antagonism and anger directed towards Google is at a level which can be matched at the anger shown towards the world’s bankers.

Because, unfortunately, Google have gambled with their latest algorithm change and in many ways have failed completely to give their users faith in the direction and guidance of the company.

I have long been a fan of Google and they have tested and tried mine and other users’ patience over the years. They falling into a category of a bad football referee with their poor decisions and plain arrogance shown at the damage they are doing to many users who seek to do the right thing but are being punished ahead of out and out scrapers.

How Google puts the ‘mess-up’ right is to be seen however as for me, I am simply put, losing interest in the whole balls up.

Because that is what it is, a damn balls up

Will the burning of Rome from within now begin?

Panda update more than bear bug is a post from: BobdeBilder

Twitter

Well Twitter has kicked in, in a bigger way than some people could have thought possible and even now it is filtering through to businesses who now feel that they need a profile on the most catching buzzword around.

Everyone is looking for the Twitter express and not many even understand where its going or what it can do.

I have looked at Twitter and have created accounts for the various portals and sites as well as for a few clients associated to our structure.

We have come to understand Twitter and how it can work for you however we are not too sure how long the whole buzz will last but realise that the one thing in its favour is its bare bones simplicity, unlike Facebook it is not cumbersome and does not take rocket science to get up and going.

Over the next couple of months I shall chat more and more about Twitter and its workings

Twitter becomes even more of a buzz word is a post from: BobdeBilder

The acronym lol has taken on a whole different dimension in my life and everyday existence, when typing lol online I seem to add a type of giggle hiss, (heeeeeeeee heeeeee type hiss) to go with the typing of lol, this is to voice the laughter associated with what has been written.

However this week I have noticed it has filtered through to my normal chat. While on Skype with a friend in the UK I noted that when I didn’t type lol to what they had verbally said my lol was replaced by the ‘giggle hiss’ … when I noted this I knew that time away from the computer was needed, however when in the car travelling to town today with the wife I did the giggle hiss in response to something she had said, I knew I had lost the plot. The giggle hiss is hardly audible, well due to the fact that normally when typing in response to something the lol cannot be heard.

Once the wife heard the giggle hiss she burst out laughing, it would have been a total ROFL had it not been for the fact that she was driving at the moment of my unmistakable lol

So there it is, the internet has had its affect and I am certifiable

The internet and its effects is a post from: BobdeBilder

It is discussed how fraudsters are utilising Web 2.0 to deliver multi-vector attacks and how unaware users are being duped into downloading viruses et al from sites that have been phished.

What amazes me is the amount of time and money Google has put into tracking users to see what paper they use on their derriere when attending a sit in but cannot put an end to the network of scammers out there.

In the very same way as to when I ask to have the word dating blocked from my Adsense account they find this ‘impossible’ to do, so users have to suffer the indignation of image ads appearing on their site for She Male dating which appears on a site for Granny’s Knitting.

Users can help themselves by being more cautious and developing a pattern to be more security aware and to begin utilising sites that have a higher quality about them and have established a trust with their users.

I still wonder how the 419 scammers are able to dupe users out there and can only put it down to the same attitude as people and the Government they elect or maybe don’t elect

nuff said

Web 2.0 Phishing and internet security is a post from: BobdeBilder

Having been involved in forums as a moderator and forum owner for the last 7 years I have formed my own opinion about the running of forums and their value.

In 2001, I first became a moderator on a forum for persons related to a specific country and the behaviour and in-fighting left a great deal to be desired. The attitude of those who used the forums was bewildering and the outright selfish and inconsiderate manners was appalling to say the least.

Those forums closed down due to the owner of the site simply having enough of the user mentality and what came with it. The experience was invaluable however I did not then put this experience into the development of a set of forums that I started with a ‘partner’. Initially we had a tremendous amount of users from the previous forums join the new forums.

Now before going further what must be discussed is do you really want to start your own forums and why do you want to start your own forums?

If the bottom line is money then it is a long hard and grinding road.

If you want to start the forums so as to have a group of like minded persons together to share a space on the internet then that may be a decent enough reason however make sure you know what the reason for these forums are.

You need to draw up a game plan to what you want to achieve and how you want to achieve those goals.

With Facebook having become more and more popular it is even more difficult these days to start your own forums and make them a success but it is certainly possible.

Due to me having developed a website for running information which has achieved an amount of success I had an example of what to do if you want to create a successful site.

In 2008 this site according to AWstats received 1,200 000 visitors and continues to grow and the incredible aspect of the site was that there were no forums attached, people simply wanted information on a subject that interested them. The bottom line was information.

This site now has forums however it is to discuss the content and training programs which can be found on the site.

The users who come there use the forums to get feedback and further explanation to the data found on the site, I am sure that once the forums become more popular there may be problems however one thing sticks out, you do not have to have busy forums for it to be deemed a success, you want numbers reading your content and then those users who join the forums to ask questions does not have to be a massive amount.

Over time the running forums will be built and there are plans afoot to deliver even more information and features to the users, this is all part of a business structure plan.

Information Information Information is the success to any site, select your topic and provide information on that topic. You control the content and therefore you able to control how your users use your forums, if you do not have a game plan then do not start a set of forums and if you do start your forums with a game plan make sure you as Admin maintain the aspect of control, never allow your users to determine what they want, never relinquish the control and direction over your forums to your userbase.

This is the recipe for disaster, if you going to own forums then realise that it will come with problems in the future and this is part and parcel of the joys of forum ownership and the internet.

Once you on your way with your forums there is the maintenance and control of these forums and there will be future posts regarding this topic but for now I have either inspired you or put you off starting your own forums, if it is the latter then thank me

Oh and those forums I started with the now ex-partner, those were restructured in the hope to have them work on the same module as the running information site, we now have more users reading the content and less users posting on the forums, the numbers reading grows and the admin of the forums without user problems is a joy. One word of advice, beware of using ztmc.

More to follow

Starting your own Forums is a post from: BobdeBilder

So now we have Forums and with it forum software

The main forum software I use is vBulletin and for very good reason, it has proven to be a remarkable platform to attach hacks onto and the usergroup handling of users makes the Admin control all that much easier.

I shall be writing a series of blogs about Forum development and maitenance over a period of time

vBulletin Forum software is a post from: BobdeBilder

Having completed a DTP course (good old Desk Top Publishing) which covered Quark Express, Photoshop and Illustrator; all this on a Mac, a friend asked me whether I would like to develop a website for him while learning to make web sites.

I purchased the book Frontpage 2000 in easy steps by Michael Price and set about developing my first website for said friend.

The site was an Accommodation portal and it made for an interesting start.

I moved from the country I was living in to a new non-English speaking country and I continued developing the site.

He had paid me in RAM for a computer, had bought a scanner for me which I still use till this day, as well as giving me a 2nd hand computer which maybe was better suited to a council dump. I am not sure whether I also got cash for the project.

I became so enthusiastic with the project that I began adding places to see and started working on maps for the site where accommodation was relevant to various places of interest and sight-seeing.

There was no charge for what I was doing as I was having fun experimenting and learning more however my enthusiasm for what I was doing was not matched by his show of appreciation, so I decided to develop a running information portal.

And this was how my biggest portal to date came into being.

The site is still has its original warts and all HTML which is in dire need for updating in 2009.

Web design in the beginning is a post from: BobdeBilder