The Creative Commons has extended the deadline for their NonCommercial study questionnaire to December 14th. I filled it out last week, and while it was a little time consuming (about 30 minutes?), I thought it was well worth the effort. Some of the questions are thought-provoking, and I found myself re-examining my concept of what constitutes commercial vs. non-commercial use. I think this is something that might be interesting, whether you’re a content creator or just a content user/re-user.
Category: Meta
WordPress Exploit Scanner
As promised, the link to the WordPress Exploit Scanner I mentioned in comments. I wouldn’t expect it to be foolproof, but it helped me find a few lingering files that had been tampered with.
Aaack!
I’ve been having intermittent trouble getting to my WordPress dashboard, but I think I’ve figured out the source of that problem (accessing the admin panel via two different machines, then forgetting to log out before trying to log in on the second machine–duh).
Today, I had no trouble getting to the dashboard, but my blog was gone. Bupkis. I tried an alternate browser. I tried looking at my error log. Hmmm. Lots of activity there, and of the variety that makes me think someone hacked my blog. Again. Basically, they were trying to access scripts and files I don’t use, but then they hit pay dirt. My wp-blog-header.php file was full of wacky code. So, I managed to track down the problem (go me!), but then couldn’t delete the header file via FTP, because the fucknecks had changed the file permissions. Grrr. My webhost provides a web-based way to update files, though, so I was able to fix it that way.
And now, things seem to be back to normal. I’m going to have to hunt around to see if anyone else has had the same problem, and if so, what they did to fix it in a more permanent fashion than just deleting the evil code. Of course, I could upgrade to the next version of WordPress, but I still haven’t mentally recovered from the last upgrade.
Comments
Andy emailed me to tell me that my blog was requiring folks to register and log on, in order to leave comments. WTF?! I haven’t changed any settings, nor would I try to make people register just to comment. In fact, I’ve completely turned off registration, as that’s how the asswagon hacker got into my blog a few months ago.
Hrmf!
Anyway, I’ve located that particular problem and fixed it. Sort of. It seems that when WordPress suddenly took it upon itself to require registration, it also closed comments on all old posts. I don’t see a fix for that, other than going back and manually editing posts, and that ain’t gonna happen. If there’s an old post you want to comment on, just leave a comment here, and I’ll unlock it. From here on out, though, everything should be back to normal.
It Figures
No sooner do I (finally) get version 2.5 installed, than WordPress releases version 2.6. I’m listening to (but not so much watching) the little video of the changes, and it sounds like they’re mostly of the bells-and-whistles variety (as opposed to security updates). I think I’ll just wait a bit.
We’re BaaaaAAACK
I went ahead and upgraded to WordPress 2.5.1 yesterday afternoon. And promptly broke everything. A huge thank you to Vennon in tech support for sorting it out for me! There are a few minor weirdnesses (something is wrong with the character set, though everything is set to UFT8, so there shouldn’t be problems), but I think it’s all working. Whew!
A Tiny Glimmer
After nearly three weeks, the test blog is installed (just version 2.3.3, but that’s a start), and it looks like it’s more or less functioning. Of course, in the process of sorting everything out, someone in tech support helpfully changed all the links to images in my Coppermine gallery, so that they are pointing to a non-existent gallery within the test subdomain. Not helpful. I assume that’s something they can unbreak fairly easily on their end.
If I have the mental energy, I may try to upgrade the main blog this weekend. First, I’m going to need to find out if someone on their end can import my database in a timely fashion. I would rather not have everything dead in the water for another three weeks. That might make the baby Shelly cry.
This Is a Test
This is only a test. If this had been an actual post, there’d be some attempt at providing content or, at the very least, eye candy.
Still No Progress
I finally got a response from my web hosts, after more than 48 hours. They gave me yet another set of instructions for backing up my database and uninstalling and reinstalling WordPress. This is, as you might have guessed, not helpful. I already tried that, guys.
The heart of the problem is that my database is too large to import via phpMyAdmin. It chokes whenever I try. If I could successfully import my database, I think I could solve everything else myself. At the very least, I know that I can get version 2.3.3 up and running. I’ve asked if they can increase the file size capability in phpMyAdmin. Any bets on how long it’ll take them to respond? Or if they’ll respond?
I’m not feeling at all confident in the person who’s dealing with my current help ticket. First, the instructions she gave me were not explicit. The paths were not quite correct (I get the impression that they were written for a similar, but not identical, system–maybe she works for another branch of the same company?), but I’ve been screwing around with this long enough that I was able to figure out what she meant.
She also gave me a list of instructions for FTPing that included the address of an FTP host that I’ve never even heard of (bizland.com). Weird! I’m guessing they must be the affiliated with the company that bought my web hosts a couple of years ago.
And then, under the instructions for exporting my database, she repeatedly used the word “Import.” I’d rather not find out what would happen if I’d imported another database into the one I was supposed to be exporting. Perhaps nothing, if the imported database didn’t overwrite the existing one. But gee, I’d rather not find out!
Addendum: Now my most recent help ticket is marked “Resolved.” I don’t think so!
When it Rains…
Just when I was wondering what else could go wrong,
1. Mr. Upstairs came back to move more crap out of his apartment, which apparently requires him pounding something heavy against the floor. Repeatedly. I think my last nerve might have just given out.
2. I put a piece of lettuce down the disposal, turned it on, and was rewarded with a deluge of water from the lower cupboard. My disposal literally detached from the sink. So I guess I’ll be calling the maintenance guys in the morning. Any bets on how many days I’ll be without the use of my kitchen sink?
3. Gun fire at 5:30 this morning. Nice! And a parking lot crawling with cops when I left for work, which I guess is a good thing. At least I know that they will show up, and quickly, when they’re called.
4. My web host, bless their useless little hearts, have apparently decided to give me the silent treatment. They marked my last help ticket as “Resolved.” I updated it on the 28th, saying that it was not resolved. No response. So yesterday, I closed that ticked and opened a new one. It’s been over 24 hours, and again, no response.
Needless to say, I’m looking at other hosting options.
5. And last, but not least, it’s supposed to start raining on Thursday. For an entire week.
red paper boat 