Jason Kottke applies the broken windows theory of social behaviour to online environments. Does the design, or appearance, of a blog or discussion forum adversely influence the conduct of commenters or forum members? Does the aesthetic appearance of a blog affect what's written by the site's commenters? My sense is that the establishment of social norms through moderation, both by site owners and by the community itself, has ... Read full entry

Ten ways to go about encouraging more meaningful comments left in response to newspaper articles online. Derek Powazek has given the matter quite some thought. If you think bad comments bug you, they bug the good commenters twice as much. Yes, you should be paying someone on staff to be the Community Manager. In addition, you can also enable the community to help. Give every post a "This is ... Read full entry

How to successfully spam blogs (and how to fight back) Now I know why Superman has comments disabled on his blog (... with apologies to Batman)... You may have noticed legitimate looking comments on your blog from people with suspect names. Usually the name will be a brand name, service or literally anything that sells. The commenter's website is obviously related to that business. Why do they bother using special keywords ... Read full entry

STUPID KRAP: "Based in Sydney, Australia, STUPIDKRAP.COM is an artist-run portal and on-line store, featuring EXCLUSIVE limited-edition high-quality art prints and collectables, by your favorite underground artists." I also hear an official launch party is on the way in December... + Marketing Books Online: a few words in favour of print and ... Read full entry

The Great Specificity Swindle!: great article by Andrew Tetlaw at the Sitepoint blogs which clarifies the cascade in Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Myth: Embedded styles take priority over external styles and inline styles take priority over embedded styles. Sometimes I forget these things... + webfruits: is a Flickr collection of, if ... Read full entry

From the Akismet homepage: 92% of all comments are spam 92 per cent?! That's amazing... I've seen one or two bloggers mention heightened problems with comment spam in recent days, and it looks like the tidal wave has reached disassociated. There's always been rubbish to remove but it has quadrupled in the last couple of days. Anyone else likewise noticing an upward trend in comment spam?

When leaving comments on someone's blog, how do you usually identify yourself? By your first name, a variation thereof, full name, a nickname, your blog or website name, or your company name? Do you think the latter, that is a website or company name, may be a little too impersonal, even aloof though? If I left a comment on your blog referring to myself as say "Internet Services" or even "City Web Hosts", ... Read full entry

I don't know if I like to whinge, or just like to whinge about whingers, but here I go anyway. Most Wordpress bloggers will be familiar with Akismet, a plugin that helps control comment spam. Like anything it is not 100 per cent fool proof, but overall I think it does a pretty good job of quarantining comment spam. For those unfamiliar with the process, Akismet will "sideline" suspect comments ... Read full entry

Do you ever, you know, fake it sometimes? Like say something that is an outright lie, or exaggerate, just to, you know, please someone else? Or, just maybe, make someone believe they have pleased you? No sniggering now, this is a serious question by the way, and I expect an honest answer. Or will hell freeze over first?! Aye, it's a jungle out there... But no, I'm not talking about sweet nothings, or the ... Read full entry

This I have not seen this since I visited Steve Pavlina's blog way back in the day. A blog with comments disabled. Steve, with possibly one of the most read blogs ever, decided post comments weren't for him. Well below 1% of visitors ever post a comment, yet this is the voice that seems the loudest, even though it may be unrepresentative of the whole. Each to their own of course. Comments ... Read full entry