Tech

Tech-focused ramblings. Computers, blogs, and whatever else fits.

Untrusted content, nofollow, etc.

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Phil Ringnalda pointed to an idea that Ian Hickson just tossed out while brainstorming ways to battle the ever-increasing issue of comment spam.

I’m thinking that HTML should have an element that basically says “content within this section may contain links from external sources; just because they are here does not mean we are endorsing them” which Google could then use to block Google rank whoring. I know a bunch of people being affected by Web log spam would jump at that chance to use this element if it was put into a spec.

Personally, I’d love to be able to wrap the comments section of my individual entry pages in something like this — and actually, it reminds me a lot of a technique I used to use when I had my website running on my own webserver. At the time, I had a good number of pages that weren’t part of the weblog, so rather than using MovableType‘s built-in search engine, I used the Fluid Dynamics Search Engine (May 9 2019 update: This link is now dead and has been removed).

FDSE is a very solid system, and one of the things I liked was an extra FDSE-specific tag that allowed an author to designate sections of a page that the search engine would ignore when performing its page scan. In addition to respecting the standard meta tags of index, noindex, follow and nofollow for a full page, FDSE also allows you to use those tags within HTML comments to section off areas of a page that should be treated differently from the page as a whole.

For instance, on my individual entry archive pages, the only real important content as far as a search engine is concerned is the entry itself. As the sidebar in my design is repeated on every page on the site, there’s really no great reason for a search engine to include that text in the database for every page, so I would wrap the entire sidebar inside a noindex, nofollow declaration.

I’d also do the same for things like the TrackBack section headers that appear on every page. As they are repeated on every single archive page, trying to search for an actual discussion on TrackBack is nearly impossible — but when I was using the FDSE and hid that section header from the search engine, it was very easy for me find discussions about TrackBack, as FDSE was only indexing the actual content of each page, rather than every little bit of text that the page contained.

I’ve wished for a long time that Google either supported a way to do the same thing, or just adopted FDSE’s method. According to FDSE’s author, he submitted his technique to Google as a suggestion quite a few years ago, but nothing more was ever heard about that.

Maybe Ian’s suggestion will get something moving in this direction again. Here’s hoping, at least.

iTunes: “Never Say Never (Hot Tracks)” by Romeo Void from the album Edge, The Level 1 (1995, 5:47).

A good UI is a good thing

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Terrence has a review of his Nomad Zen Xtra mp3 player posted, and while it’s essentially a positive review, one line stood out to me. After having had the unit for six months and using it on what sounds like a near-daily basis, he mentions that he has “basically mastered the controls.”

Yowza.

I pulled my iPod out of the box, and had the controls mastered in about six seconds.

This isn’t at all to disparage his purchase — as I said, he seems to be quite happy with it — but it really stood out to me as one major reason why the iPod is such a success.

iTunes: “Sacred City” by YelworC from the album German Mystic Sound Sampler Vol. IV (1992, 4:51).

But what about ‘janitor’?

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…due to what is described as an “unfortunate error in translation,” the Spanish version of Windows XP “gave users an option to select their gender from not specified, male, or ‘bitch.'” Uh, whoops.

— As the Apple Turns, while pointing out various Microsoft geographical and linguistic gaffes.

Incidentally, the title of this post involves an old bit of wisdom passed down from my father to me, in which it was imparted that there are actually three sexes in the human race. This little-known fact can be verified in nearly any large public building simply by strolling past the public restrooms, where you are likely to see three doors: male, female, and janitor.

iTunes: “Edie (Ciao Baby)” by Cult, The from the album Sonic Temple (1989, 4:46).

Saft: Everything Safari should have, but doesn’t yet

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Thanks to a mention by Dori, I’ve just discovered Saft, a wonderful little add-on for Safari. While the headline on Saft’s site promotes full-screen browsing as its main feature — something that really doesn’t concern me all that much — there’s so much more packed into this little piece of software.

Head on over to Saft’s Usage page and check out everything it can do. If you spend any appreciable amount of time in Safari on a day-to-day basis, it’s well worth the download.

iTunes: “Strangers (Live)” by Portishead from the album Roseland NYC (2000, 5:20).

Comments from the Peanut Gallery

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I spent a little time last night reorganizing the blogroll on the site. Actually, I split it into two, and added a bunch of links.

Since I had the phrase “comments from the peanut gallery” running through my head for no discernible reason whatsoever, I went into the e-mail folder where I dump all the comments that I receive on the site, sorted them all by sender, and started scrolling through. Anytime I saw an address with a good number of comments, I snagged any URL that was left with the comments, and added them to the new ‘Peanut Gallery’ blogroll in the sidebar.

So, in theory, I should have caught most, if not all, of the most frequent visitors that leave comments, as long as they have a site to link to. If I’ve missed anyone, or if for some reason I’ve linked to you and you’d rather I didn’t, please let me know!

The next step is making sure that all of those sites are tossed into NetNewsWire…

iTunes: “Gumbo” by Phish from the album A Live One (1995, 5:14).

Analogy

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Microsoft Windows : computer security :: George Bush : national security

(Yes, it’s probably extremely flawed. At quarter to two in the morning, it made me laugh when it popped into my head.)

iTunes: “Nocturnal Transmission” by BT from the album Ima (1996, 8:36).

It’s not all bad, really!

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Last month, I mentioned that I’d been in contact with a magazine reporter who was working on a story about weblogs and some of the potential pitfalls that can come about when recording your life online for the world to see. As I mentioned at the time, while I at first wasn’t terribly concerned about the tone of the article, as our conversation progressed, I started to worry that it was going to end up all gloom-and-doom.

It appears that Anil has also been contacted by a reporter working on a similar story (possibly the same reporter, or another reporter also working on the story for the same publication, though I can’t be absolutely sure about that), and he ended up having some of the same reservations that I did. In his response to the reporter who contacted him, he expressed a desire shared by myself and, I’m sure, many others in the weblogging world: rather than focusing solely on the things that go wrong, that the media also look at the things that go right, and just why we all keep our weblogs going even in the face of the potential downsides.

One thing I would suggest is considering a, well, more uplifting angle. There have been an awful lot of “blogs can cost you your job!” or “make money fast with blogs!” stories, and very few that cover the positive reasons people have weblogs.

For a lot of your audience, this is their first impression of what weblogs can be, and frankly, if they were all about dire consequences, there wouldn’t be millions of people publishing weblogs every day.

Most of the people in my social circle have met their spouses/significant others, gotten apartments, gotten jobs, made friends, or (in my case) all of the above because of their weblogs. All that plus they get to participate in a new medium instead of just passively consuming media.

From what I know of [name of publication], the audience is one that appreciates a good positive human story, and it’s also much more likely that you’ll get some good cooperation or participation from people in the weblog realm who can help strengthen your story.

I’ve just sent a link to Anil’s post to the reporter I’ve been talking with, in case we are dealing with separate people. With any luck, should this article eventually appear, there will be a bit more to it than mere horror stories.

Meme Propagation Test

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This posting is a community experiment started by Minding the Planet to see how a meme represented by a blog posting spreads across blogspace, physical space and time. It will help to show how ideas travel across blogs in space and time and how blogs are connected. It may also help to show which blogs are most influential in the propagation of memes. The original posting for this experiment is located at: Minding the Planet; results and commentary will appear there in the future.

Please join the test by adding your blog (see instructions, below) and inviting your friends to participate — the more the better. The data from this test will be public and open; others may use it to visualize and study the connectedness of blogspace and the propagation of memes across blogs.

The GUID for this experiment is: as098398298250swg9e98929872525389t9987898tq98wteqtgaq62010920352598gawstw98qwrt189849813907azq4

(this GUID enables anyone to easily search Google for all results of this experiment). Anyone is free to analyze the data of this experiment. Please publicize your analysis of the data, and/or any comments by adding comments onto the original post at Minding the Planet; Note: it would be interesting to see a geographic map or a temporal animation, as well as a social network map of the propagation of this meme.

INSTRUCTIONS

To add your blog to this experiment, copy this entire posting to your blog, and fill out the info below, substituting your own information in your posting, where appropriate.

(Note: Replace the answers below with your own answers):

  1. I found this experiment at URL: http://www.jluster.org/node/249
  2. I found it via “Newsreader Software” or “Browsing or Searching the Web” or “An E-Mail Message”: Newsreader Software – NetNewsWire
  3. I posted this experiment at URL: http://www.michaelhanscom.com/
  4. I posted this on date (day, month, year): 03 August 2004
  5. I posted this at time (24 hour time): 00:30:57
  6. My posting location is (city, state, country): Seattle, WA, USA

OPTIONAL SURVEY FIELDS (Replace the answers below with your own answers):

  1. My blog is hosted by: TypePad
  2. My age is: 31
  3. My gender is: Dangly Bits
  4. My occupation is: Copy geek
  5. I use the following RSS/Atom reader software: NetNewsWire
  6. I use the following software to post to my blog: ecto
  7. I have been blogging since (day, month, year): Verifiable: Nov. 25, 2000. Unverifiable: Sometime in ’98 or ’99.
  8. My web browser is: Safari

iTunes: “Lovesong (Extended)” by Cure, The from the album Mixed Up (1990, 6:20).

iTunes and Jazz: More about Metadata

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Regular readers of this mess I call a website will occasionally have seen me rant about metadata, especially where the iTunes Music Store is concerned. In short, it’s woefully incomplete, and at times, flat-out inaccurate. It was quite heartening for me to run across Jazz in 2500?, a jazz-lovers look at the disservice done to music when only the least possible information is preserved when purchasing music online.

The consumer that buys an album on ITMS should have access to the same liner notes, session information and songwriting credits that are sold with the CD version. Online music stores should facilitate rather than hinder access to this information before, during and after a song or album is purchased.

[…]

Removing the identity of artists is one of digital music’s largest threats to jazz preservation. A full understanding of jazz goes beyond the “Great Man” theory and recognizes the influence of side players – the wide network of people that developed this musical language together. Selling songs and albums separated from names disrespects the artists and hinders the education of new listeners.

ITMS often does not list the names of the musicians who play on jazz albums. When they do list the names, it is never on a song-by-song basis, making the information confusing and useless on compilations and box sets.

[…]

Box sets and CD reissues often feature meticulously researched session information, as well as essays from experts. Having this information sold with the music enables jazz fans to educate themselves and others. Most jazz albums for sale in the ITMS have none of the original album’s liner notes or session information.

Maybe it’s true that most people aren’t bugged by this stuff, or the lack thereof. However, those of us who do care, care a lot.

Besides — why in the world should we accept marketing to the lowest common denominator? There’s enough business out there that do that already. Apple and the iTunes Music Store should be at the forefront of showing how things should be done, and that they’re also music lovers, not just music retailers.

iTunes: “That’s It! (Dub)” by Hyperdrive from the album Club Cuts EP Vol. 1 (1998, 8:19).

iTunes cover art in iChat user icon?

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I want an iChat/iTunes plugin that would set my iChat icon to the cover art of the currently playing track in iTunes.

Does this exist?

If not, could someone write it?

That’d be really nifty.

Update: I really should Google before I post: Mac OS X Hints: Set iChat status message and icon to iTunes song.

iTunes: “Dreams” by Land of Dreams from the album Essential Chillout (2000, 5:57).