BlogDrive Disaster

It appears some members have been experiencing trouble viewing blogs on BlogDrive for the past few days. Somehow the problem has gone from bad to worst today as most blogs can't be accessed at all, not even after refreshing the page.

According to most members, this affects only blogs and not the administration section. This is a relief as we can still create an entry without much trouble.

There has been no responce from BD regarding the issue, the person in charge could be working hard fixing the problem as of this moment or he is asleep and will get to it soon. (It just means human needs sleep)

Since there's not been an explanation, we can only make assumptions of what might be causing this uneasiness:

Server overloaded would be the most likely explanation. It's could be fixed pretty soon.

BlogDrive could be upgrading server, hence we get a temporary outage. In the past, there has always been a notice about server upgrade but currently we get nothing after . There was even a homepoll surveying what members message members prefers but the BD admin must have decided to obmit it. To be honest, I would rather have the server upgrade message than nothing.

Exceeded monthly bandwidth. Sounds stupid but it is one of the possibilities.

Could be a DoS attack. DoS attack is an attack on a computer system or network that causes a loss of service to users, typically the loss of network connectivity and services by consuming the bandwidth of the victim network or overloading the computational resources of the victim system. Let's all hope this is not the case.

It could be something else, if you have any suggestion you can post a comment. Let's hope it's just temporary.

Reference: DoS attack, BlogDrive forum, BlogDrive User's Review,
Technorati Tags: BlogDrive, bandwidth, denial of service, Internet,

*Update: there's word on the main tagboard from the admin, about some new software updation. Let's keep our finger's crossed as this disaster comes to past.
Helpee » I'm going out to the data center again. Things will be bichen soon. Been updating some new software. - There you have it.

iWebTunes/iWebMusic Forced Shut

As we've long been aware of the kind of dodgy service that iwebtunes or iwebmusic offers, it's just about time they are taken out of business.

Here's the news:
The US Federal Trade Commission reported yesterday that a court had shut down three Internet companies on charges of distributing spyware without users' consent. Enternet Media, Inc. and Conspy & Co. Inc, based in California, and Iwebtunes, based in Ohio, had their assets frozen.

As InternetNews would say:
"These guys are dirty," said James Manning, spyware research director for Aluria Software. He said iWebTunes sends users a snippet of JavaScript code to add to their own sites' code. But it includes not only links for SearchMiracle, purveyor of the Elite Toolbar and Crazywinnings, but also update links. Every time someone hits a site containing iWebTunes JavaScript, he's hit with more stealthy installs.

Rejoice, everyone! We've won one battle against spyware. Sadly, there are still more to fight on.

Reference: iWebTunes/iWebMusic - Music on your blog, Three companies shut down on spyware charges, A Higher Google Standard?,
Technorati Tags: iwebmusic, iwebtunes, spyware, adware, javascript,

BlogDrive User's Review

Another BlogDrive user's complaint, Allison writes for wabimysabi and has been featured on the main BlogDrive page as a featured subscribers before. Read it here.

She talks about her overall opinion with BlogDrive which both involves good and bad points, stressing on the "Page cannot be displayed" error issue which has been annoying me and (I'm pretty sure) many others as well. However, I think it can't be entirely blamed on BD because it may just be the connection problem on individuals, or the host server that BD is using. Nevertheless, it's really annoying.

Here are some interesting stuff she touch on:

I'm not sure what's going on behind the scenes of BlogDrive at the moment. If they were upgrading servers, or tweaking the features... surely it would be in their best interest to post a notice to that effect on the main page.

The Forum. What to say about the forum, except that one has to have an enormous set of balls and a bag of bravado to go and ask for assistance or feedback there. It scares me.

HAHA, ain't that true? But now since Christine and Andy is gone, everything is calm and peace. I assure you that you do not have to be afraid to post in the forum.

BlogDrive has better features than Blogger or LiveJournal, but frankly, if they had a tagboard on the main page, I wouldn't have signed up for their services back in the day, particularly if it were the apparent focal point of the page. In short, I think BD needs a bit of slick, detached professionalism to kick up it's image a notch or two. Am I nervous? A little bit. I want BlogDrive to succeed. I want BlogDrive to eventually kick Blogger's dauber into the dirt. I also don't want to lose all this pointless garbage I've written and become so attached to.

For the record, I am willing to help out BlogDrive in any way possible, and that includes not only renewing my account, but upgrading it as well. It still beats anybody else's blogging service hands down.

I feel you, I'm sure most people do but this is up to the Administrator of BlogDrive to make it happen.

References: BlogDrive... My .02, Unresolved / Unanswered Trouble Tickets,
Technorati Tags: BlogDrive, Customer Services, Blogger, LiveJournal, Xanga,

Plain Text Editor (PTE) bugs and issues

The plain text editor (PTE) on BlogDrive serves as an alternative for those who can't or just refuses to use WYSIWYG Editor, mainly due to browser issues, technicality or just plain stubbornness. It's useful as a backup tool in case there's a problem with the WYSIWYG.


Posting Date Issue

However, in the last couple of months there's been an increasing amount of complaint regarding the PTE post date problem. It appears that the post date automatically changes to the current date when a user edits a submitted entry. This only affects a small number of users but evidently the frustration of these people are heard.

"The Blogdrive teams regard this as a known issue and are currently working hard to fix it.

In the BlogDrive forum:
Dates of Edited Posts
Can't Change My 'Publish Date'

One of the user pointed out the "bug" for this problem, and it appears to have a very simple solution. If it's correct, I can write up the fix for this very quickly and problem solved. I think I should do just that.

Also, a tip from some unknown sources says this bug is there for a purpose: to help fight spam. It doesn't make much sense.


Other problems

Currently the PTE doesn't support a number of new features that came along with the new WYSIWYG editor. This includes the "Amazon Current things", "Smilies", and some upgraded account features such as "Extra Entry" and "Keywords".


Not Acceptable

The PTE is supposed to be an alternative for using the WYSIWYG editor, a backup. It should be much more reliable because it doesn't include fancy features that usually cauces bugs. Being less competent than the WYSIWYG editor is not an option really.


Conclusion

Overall, the PTE needs a major make over. I hope this is the only reason that's keeping the working PTE without a postdate issue from releasing. As this is the most frustrating of all.

On another note, "Du bist Deustchland" is still the highest search on Technorati for several days now. The Germans sure are excited about the World Cup, and me too.


Tags: WYSIWYG, Editor, du bist deutschland, Amazon, Smilies, BlogDrive