A Welsh View

Replacing Typepad Comments With Disqus

I've just installed a new commenting feature on AWV from Disqus. The system has been around for a couple of months and is designed to either be a replacement to your existing commenting system (e.g. Wordpress and Typepad) or will allow comments to be added to systems where they didn't exist before (e.g. Tumblr).

Disqus turns your comments into a threaded conversation complete with profiles and a rating system (here's a good post showing it in action). Another great feautre is video comments. If you already have a Seesmic account you can use that to record a comment but if you haven't you can still go ahead and record one. Who's going to be brave enough and post the first video comment on AWV?

You don't need to signup to make a comment but any comments that you make will need to be approved. If you want to use the extra features you will need to have a Disqus account. The signup process is easy and once logged in you can comment on any blog that has it installed.

There are a few different reasons for wanting to replace the Typepad comments with a better system. The Typepad system is slow for users and having to make them type a CAPTCHA each time that they want to comment is a pain. Another reason is that by having more features it may encourage more people to interact through the comments. I'm not sure how Disqus will cope with spam messages but it does allow you to easily remove comments and block problem commenters/spammers from within the blog post.

Disqus can be used on Typepad (Pro accounts only), Wordpress, Blogger, Tumblr and Movable Type. The Typead installation is a bit of a pain especially if like me you have already fiddled around with your templates and have a ton of files to publish. It appears to be really simple to install on the other systems.

You can learn more about Disqus here.

"Google AdSense and Blogging Brought Me This Car"

Not me, Amit Agarwal from Digital Inspiration. I think it's time to review my ads.

A Welsh View Moving To Wordpress - Update

Just a quick update regarding me mentioning moving to Wordpress. After I first posted about moving to Wordpress, a product manager from TypePad contact me to tell me that people at TypePad read my blog and that she would like me to stay on the platform. She mentioned that maybe a move to Movable Type (the platform that TypePad is built on) would be smoother than moving to TypePad.

I did try out Movable Type before I started using TypePad and I found it a little difficult to use. Does anyone use Movable Type and if so how is compared to TypePad and Wordpress and what options are available regarding plugins and themes?

Welsh View Moving To Wordpress - Your Opinions

After being with TypePad for almost 5 years I've decided that it's time for a change and I'm going to make the move to Wordpress. There are a few reasons for wanting to make the switch. One reason is that it's very flexible and much faster than Typepad. Another reason is that I've grown tired of the existing design and layout of AWV and I think a switch to a new, more featured design will give me extra motivation.

There's been a lot to weigh up such as whether or not I can move existing posts to Wordpress, what will happen to my PageRank and what will happen to those who find my site via search engines.

Whilst it's possible to move my posts to Wordpress I think it's easiest to make a fresh start. My TypePad account is paid for until early 2009 so the old posts would remain there for sometime. One reason why there's probably not much point in spending time moving posts is that Google has listed my 16,000+ with the domain 'xo.typepad.com' so visitors would still be going to the TypePad blog.

To help with the transition I've come across a service that can offer 301 redirects that will help search engines find the new blog.

One part of the transition that I'm undecided on is what design to go with. I'm very tempted to go with a magazine-style theme similar to Mimbo or Wordpress Themes Market - Magazine Theme. Their layout is different to a normal blog and either section off the content or categorise it. This layout would be a complete change for me and whilst I like it, I'm not sure if everyone else does.

Before making a decision I thought I'd consult my readers. So, what do you think of the magazine style? Should I go for that style or stick with the regular blog format? Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Term 'Weblog' Is 10 Years Old

The term 'weblog' is 10 years old tomorrow. It was coined by Jorn Barger of Robot Wisdom on December 17, 1997 to describe the daily list of links that "logged" his travels across the web. Here's a list of 10 tips for new bloggers compiled by Jorn. [via & via]

New TypePad Changes

TypePad are gradually introducing some changes that I've wanted for years. The first is automatic pagination of category pages. This is extremely useful as I know it was a pain for people to have to load every post in a category. Popular categories like Cars would load every post all the way back to 2003!

The second feature is the ability to turn off commenting on older posts. Whilst I love receiving comments from readers, I get fed up with receiving (generally) pointless comments on old posts. I'm not sure what the options will be for when comments can be turned off but if it's user-definable I'll probably switch them off after a few weeks.

Blogstorm's Top 100 UK Blogs

Blogstorm has started charting the top 100 UK blogs. There is already a top 300 UK blogs list over at Technoranki but this one differs.

Blogstorm calculates its ratings based on Technorati and Alexa data whereas Technoranki uses a variety of ways to measure popularity but one major factor is a blog dropping some Javascript code onto it's pages to count the number of impressions. Also, the system is closed to public membership so results in fairly biased results.

Blogstorm appears to be more accurate and picks up a lot of very popular blogs (e.g. Mashable) that Technoranki misses. One thing I do like about Technoranki is that it places me at number 3 whereas I'm at number 30 on Blogstorm.

Celebrities That Blog

Celebrity Cowboy Gossip has a list of 66 celebrities that blog, plus commenters on Digg have been adding more. [via]

World's Oldest Blogger

At 107 she is probably the world's older blogger and cyber granny Olive Riley may also lay claim to being the oldest YouTube user.

The great-grandmother of seven, updates her blog (or blob as she calls it), The Life of Riley, from her home on the Central Coast, Australia and it has won her thousands of fans across the world.

"I've got no ideas about computers, no idea at all," she said.

"It's a bit of fun, although I do get a bit tired sometimes."

"I thought I might have a few (readers) but I didn't think I'd have so many - but they all seem to be so happy about it," she said.

Link

How Addicted To Blogging Are You?

71%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

I'm not sure if that's a good figure or not. If you run a blog, how addicted are you?

Blogging To Peak In 2007 Says Gartner

According to research by Gartner, blogging will peak at 100 million bloggers next year. Technorati has already seen a decrease in the rate of growth of people blogging.

Gartner says that the reason for the slowing in growth and the predicted leveling off is because most people who would ever use blogs already have, while others who may have been attracted to the growing trend initially have gotten bored and moved on.

That's probably true considering the research also revealed that there are 200 million ex-bloggers.

The World's Most Popular Blog

According to the Guardian a blog run by a Chinese woman may well be the world's most popular. Xu Jinglei began posting on sina.com.cn in October 2005 and by July 2007 has received over 100 million hits - that's the equivalent to 100 a second!

How Top Bloggers Earn Money

How top bloggers earn money and how much.

Blogging Celebrates 10th Birthday / 10 Favourite Blogs

According to the Wall Street Journal, blogging is 10 years old. This blog has been running for 4 of those 10 years (my 4th birthday was on the 10th July). To celebrate, Mashable is getting bloggers to list their 10 favourite blogs. I thought I would join in and list my current top 10 (in no particular order). It's hard to pick just 10.

1. Lifehacker

2. Nothing To Do With Arbroath

3. Spluch

4. Smashing Magazine

5. Scobleizer

6. English Russia

7. Attu Sees All

8. Darla Mack

9. Mashable

10. Thomas Hawk

UK Blogosphere: Top 10 British Blogs

Looks like I just missed out on Modern Life's top 10 British blogs. At least I got an honourable mention (or near-miss).

The Best of Brit Blog Awards 2007

I missed out being shortlisted for the 2007 Bloggies but the Metro newspaper, Ask.com and Six Apart have just launched the The Best of Brit Blog Awards 2007. There are 8 different categories but the Weird & Wonderful category is perfect for AWV.

If you think AWV is worthy of winning that award then head on over to the Metro to nominate me. You need to select the category, enter A Welsh View and http://xo.typepad.com and say why you are nominating the site. I'll leave the last part up to your imagination.

If you do decide to take the time to nominate AWV, thanks!

2007 Bloggies Winners

The 2007 Bloggies winners have been announced at SXSW but seeing as I wasn't nominated shortlisted I don't care who won. If you do, here are the winners.

Just kidding, congratulations to Lifehacker and A List Apart which are both great blogs and won best group blog and web development blog respectively. A Girl With A One Track Mind won best UK blog. That blog has been doing really well lately and currently sits just above me in the Technoranki top UK blogs chart. Not for long though. I've slowly been climbing back up and will reclaim the top spot soon.

The World's Oldest Blogger?

At 107, is Olive Riley the world's oldest blogger?

Egypt Blogger Jailed For Insulting Islam

I've probably upset a few people in the past with some of the things that I've posted on AWV but thankfully I won't get jailed for doing so unlike this poor Egyptian blogger who has been jailed for 4 years for insulting Islam and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

A Welsh View: Appealing To (Most) Recruitment Consultants

Stephen over at Recruitment Views says AWV "should appeal to most recruitment consultants". I wonder how many other professions I appeal to?

Me On The ScobleShow

Robert Scoble has posted a video interview with me on the ScobleShow that was recorded when he visited Newport back in November. Don't ask me what it's like because there's no way I'm watching it ;o) Go and tell me what it's like.

Whooozee Loves A Welsh View

I always get warm fuzzies when someone writes something special about AWV. This link-filled post was written back on December 10th but I only came across it today.

Whoozee does an excellent job of deconstructing my blog and accurately lists the things that interest me. It's always nice to know that what I am doing is being appreciated and makes it all worthwhile.

Whoozee does mention one thing about my blog that he wishes would change and that's how I handle links. He would like to see the links open in a new window but personally I like to have the choice of whether a link should open in the same or a new window. The vast majority of the time I will click on a link with the scroll wheel so that it opens in a new tab. However, I do appreciate that there are a lot of people who perhaps don't know how to open a link in a new window and simply click on a link and wonder where the original page went they close the window. What do you prefer to do?

A Welsh View - "Proudly Lowbrow"

According to William T. Foxtrot, AWV is "proudly lowbrow". I guess he's right. He made the comment whilst discussing the recently announced winners of the 2006 Weblog Awards.

The Best Blog award went to The Daily Kos with Little Green Footballs in a close second. I was quite surprised by the results. Actually I wasn't. It just goes to prove that the Weblog Awards seem to favour political blogs. For example, Boing Boing is a very popular blog yet got just 4½% of the votes whereas The Daily Kos and Little Green Footballs - both political blogs - both got approx. 35%. Blogs in 3rd, 4th and 5th positions are also political blogs.

The Weblog Awards are supposedly based on nominations from the public so maybe it's only political blogs and their readers who are interested in the awards. Also, on the Weblog Awards' forum there are a lot of discussions about possible cheating.

A Welsh View - "Boing Boing but better"

Mike from Twenty Steps wonders why the 2006 Weblog Awards Best Blog category is full of American blogs and asks where AWV is. I didn't make the UK category either. He does pay me a big compliment though by calling AWV - "Boing Boing but better". I'm not sure everyone would agree with that.

Signs it Might Be Time to Take a Break from Blogging

Darren Rowse at Problogger list "8 signs that it might be time to take a break from blogging". I can relate to some of them. It seems every time I do something I wonder if I could be blogging it. Even my friends ask, "are you gonna blog that?"

Robert Scoble adds another 8 to the list. #15 makes me laugh. Robert was trying to calculate my blog's CPM when I met him a couple of weeks back.

Best Blogs of 2006 that You (Maybe) Aren't Reading

Fimoculous' guide to 30 blogs that you may or not know about. I have heard of only a few of the on the list so will have to check them out. Being a big fan of unique t-shirts I will add tcritic to my list of sites to visit. [via]

Apparently AWV Earns More Than A Cosmonaut

Robert Scoble has pointed out that AWV earns more per month than a Russian Cosmonaut. It's true, at least this month, but I'd much rather be here blogging than orbiting the Earth ;o)

Update: Unfortunately, I don't earn enough to get one of these. [via]

Christmas Blogmeet

Britblog.com, the directory of British blogs, is organising a Christmas blogmeet on December 9th in London. I've decided that it will be a great opportunity to meet other British bloggers so will be attending. I only know one of the bloggers who will be attending so there will be plenty of people to meet. If anyone fancies meeting up, there is more information here.

84 Alternatives To Google AdSense

...or 84 ways to make more money from your blog. [via]

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - Iranian President, Blogger

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has joined the techincal age by releasing his own blog complete with RSS feed. The site was down earlier on today after it succumbed to the deluge of hits from Digg.

According to Boing Boing , in his first entry he "reminisces about his childhood in poverty, and asks readers if they think the US and Israel want to start World War Three".

I wonder if the Iranian authorities will be monitoring Ahmadinejad's blog like they are everyone else's.

Related: According to this site, if you visit the Iranian president's blog from an Israeli IP address, the site will try and infect you with a virus.

State Of The Blogosphere

Technorati has released a much more detailed 'State of the Blogsphere'. Key stats include:

# Over 50 milliuon blogs being tracked
# The Blogosphere is 100 times bigger than it was 3 years ago
# There are 2 blogs created each second of each day.
# There are about 1.6 Million postings per day, or about 18.6 posts per second.
# Technorati are doing a much better job of not indexing 'splogs'.
# English is the most common language for blogs, but Japanese is a close second.

[via]

How To Get Traffic For Your Blog

Seth Godin's 56 tips on getting more traffic to your blog. Some useful tips although some are contradictory such as...

33. Have relevant ads that are even better than your content.
36. Run no ads.

State of the Blogosphere

Some facts from the latest 'State of the Blogosphere' from David Sifry at Technorati.

* Technorati now tracks over 35.3 Million blogs
* The blogosphere is doubling in size every 6 months
* It is now over 60 times bigger than it was 3 years ago
* On average, a new weblog is created every second of every day
* 19.4 million bloggers (55%) are still posting 3 months after their blogs are created
* Technorati tracks about 1.2 Million new blog posts each day, about 50,000 per hour

[via]

What I Killed Today

A vet blogs the animals he's euthanised.

Best UK Weblog

It looks like I've won the Best UK Weblog category for the 2nd European Weblog Awards. Thank you for voting for me. Judging by the numbers of votes that I've received it looks like a lot of you helped me out. Whilst I don't actually win anything, this is the first award that AWV has ever won so I'm ecstatic!

The 2nd European Weblog Awards

I have been nominated for Best UK Weblog in the 2nd European Weblog Awards. Currently I'm joint bottom so feel free to boost my ranking by going here and voting.

Update: Thanks to all those who have voted. I've now been bumped up to 1st place. Remember, you only have to vote if you think AWV is worthy of it.

Hall Of Fame 2006

Amit Agarwal has placed me in the Hall of Fame 2006 with other blogging luminaries such as Robert Scoble, Chris Pirillo and Philipp Lenssen. I'm not sure why. I don't know how my mishmash of weird postings can compare to some of the work that the people on the list are doing.

How Much Of A Blog Expert Are You?

How much of a blog expert are you? - "Connect 10 blogs to their tagline to find out"

I got 8 out of 10. [via]

10,000 Posts

I've just realised that I've crossed the 10,000 posts barrier (this is post 10,017) since starting AWV back on July 10th, 2003. Who would have thought that I would have been able to post so much crap!

2006 Bloggies

Nominations are open for the 2006 Bloggies. Feel free to go over and nominate me (only if you think my blog is worthy of course). You have until January 10th to nomiate your favourite blogs.

Teen Gets Caught After Confessing On Blog

Yahoo! Teen Pleads Guilty After Blog Confession

An 18-year-old passenger who caused a fatal crash by pulling on the steering wheel pleaded guilty to DUI manslaughter after prosecutors discovered a confession on his online blog.

Blake Ranking wrote "I did it" on his blurty.com journal three days after the October 2004 crash that caused a friend's death and left another seriously injured. He had previously told investigators he remembered nothing of the crash and little of its aftermath.

I'd better be careful what I say from now on. Not that I've got anythign to hide ;o)

Lack Of Blogging

Apologies for the lack of blogging yesterday but Typepad threw a wobbly (again) and was down for most of the day. As it happens, it couldn't have occured at a better time. As soon as I finished work I headed down to Cardiff to watch Little Britain Live so there wasn't going to be any blogging yesterday. The show was really good but unfortunately we were sat in the far corner so it was a little hard to see what was going on. Thankfully I could hear what was going on.

When the tour was first announced there were only limited dates in Cardiff so we were happy to get any seats that we could but within a day or two, due to the popularity of the tour more dates were announced so we missed out on more choice.

Update: Incidentally, yesterday was the first day in 890 days that I hadn't posted something on AWV. Up until yesterday I had managed to post something everyday since starting AWV back in July 2003. Now that I've missed a day I won't mind so much if I have to miss a day in the future.

Al Jazeera Has Started Blogging

The staff of Al Jazeera have started their own blog. It looks like it was started after it emerged that George W Bush had wanted to bomb the station. [via]

Blog Of Teen Accused Of Murdering GF's Parents

The blog of an 18-year-old who is accused of murdering his girlfriend's parents and possibly abducting a 14-year-old girl. Nothing much to read apart from pages and pages of people comenting as if he is going to read them. [via]

Boost Traffic To Your Blog

Useful information on how to boost traffic to your blog. [via]

Catholic School Bans Blogging

The Inquirer: Catholic school bans blogging

Students at Pope John XIII Regional High School in Sparta which is in New Jersey state, America, have been told that they are not allowed to blog.

Head teacher Rev Kieran McHugh said that any student who ran a blog on the internet will be suspended.

McHugh said that what he was doing was not censorship it was common civility, courtesy and respect. McHugh said he was protecting children from sexual predators, cyber-bullying and harassment.

Candy Blog

Candy Addict - a blog dedicated to nothing but candy (or sweets). [via]

State Of The Blogosphere

Part one of David Sifry's State of the Blogsphere (October edition) is up. and includes information on spam blogs.

* As of October 2005, Technorati is now tracking 19.6 Million weblogs
* The total number of weblogs tracked continues to double about every 5 months
* The blogosphere is now over 30 times as big as it was 3 years ago, with no signs of letup in growth
* About 70,000 new weblogs are created every day
* About a new weblog is created each second
* 2% - 8% of new weblogs per day are fake or spam weblogs
* Between 700,000 and 1.3 Million posts are made each day
* About 33,000 posts are created per hour, or 9.2 posts per second
* An additional 5.8% of posts (or about 50,000 posts/day) seen each day are from spam or fake blogs, on average

[via]

Short Break

Apologies but I'm not going to be able to blog today. I was given an influenza and a pneumonia jab yesterday and ever since I've been feeling awful. I'm convinced that I've been given a live dosage. Either that or the immuno-suppressive drugs that I am taking (that's the reason why I have been given the jabs) have meant that I have reacted badly to the vaccinations.

Hopefully I should be able to blog something tomorrow but if not then you know why I'm taking a break.

Blog 100

C|Net's top 100 blogs. Contains all the usual suspects including some that I would class as blogs. [via]