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Site news: front page
Yes, this site is accelerated by Varnish. Got a problem with that?
Apparently there are some Varnish dudes out there who do not approve?
Musings on Google PageRank calculations
Apparently, according to the Search engine journal, Google has recalculated its massive PageRank spreadsheet. This'd be business as usual, but a series of interesting statements in that blog post piqued my interest.
You see, I'm in the unique position of having thousands of links pointing to a specific page in my blog. A big part of the responsibility for that lies squarely on the fact that I have two WordPress themes available for download -- so each deployment means I get an extra inbound link. And, let me tell you, I see at least one (sometimes more) link pointing to me daily -- keeping in mind the fact that this count only tallies up Technorati-registered blogs!
So how do I fare? Rather doubleplus-ungood. First, I only have a PageRank of 5. To paraphrase a multiplatinum italo-house track, fuck that shit.
Second: In theory, my highest ranked page should be the page of the theme, right?
In practice, it isn't. The admin themer and the XHTML validator rank more highly (as a matter of fact, they rank 4). Not to complain, but the admin themer is a stupid one-off project and I wouldn't like to be remembered for that come the day I go away (but I really hold the XHTML validator close to my heart).
My first thought was: "well, it makes sense; Google is probably detecting which links are organic and which aren't based on an algorithm that compares anchor text and, if it detects too big a similarity in the inbound links, pop goes the weasel".
But then another observation came across my brain: Another page that should be ranked very highly is the HD-DVD number controversy one. I mean, it was linked organically by hundreds and hundreds of blogs, plus the highest-ranking sites around the world (for Chrissakes, man: Digg, Slashdot, del.icio.us, Wikipedia, Reddit, TechMeme, the frigging Pirate Bay!). Yet this page is not even ranked! Why isn't it even a blip on the radar? Let's paraphrase the house hit again: come on, man! Fuck that, fuck that shit!.
What's worse: Google Webmaster Central shows I only have 385 backlinks. What the hell? I have never ever engaged in link buyout. I have tens of thousands of links in Technorati alone. Yahoo! shouts over ten thousand links as well. Why is Google insistent on ignoring the facts?
Even more so: the page singularly most referred to by Google in my blog is my abortion instruction set using Cytotec. Why oh why does that have to top my list of popular pages? I mean, I don't mind, but I'm not a doctor -- I like to consider myself a free software evangelist and expert. And before those, there were two pages I had to take down because they were distinctly embarrassing: one with a picture of an extremely fat lady (I was just trying to make a point but apparently there is a great deal of fixation with fat bitch porn out there), and another with a picture of Keyra Augustina's (non-nude) buttocks.
Hundreds and hundreds of people looking, daily, for fat and a skinny ass. Another couple hundred looking for abortion instructions. Why can't I get a decent SERP position on the issues that really matter to me?
Dear Lazyweb: what am I doing wrong in my eternal Google courtship?
I've made it into the Technorati Top 5000
And the hits just keep coming. Just found out I'm at the Technorati Top 5000 (ranked 3.850 in 40 million blogs):
Combine that with the #3 spot in the local blogosphere (according to BloGalaxia) -- I did break #1 in all of BloGalaxia the day of the HD-DVD leak, but this has been a steady #3 for more than a week. I couldn't be happier.
Anyway, these things just come and go, so I guess I better keep working at it, lest a newcomer trashes me to the ground next week.
I've had it with the spam
Even with Akismet, I'm getting tons of spam. So, from now on, only registered comments may comment. Sorry for the change.
Dugg again!
My interview with Quinn Storm got Dugg! Keep on reading:
Since it got dugg (about two hours ago), Rudd-O.com has been kind of (okay, very, very) slow. I've enabled WP-Cache temporarily to alleviate the load issue, and incremented the amount of server processes (also as a temporary measure) to weather the storm.
For readers who are WordPress users as well: here's a guide that will help you weather traffic storms. In the guide you'll even find a set of scripts that will take care of enabling WP-Cache automatically on demand (based on response times).
Sorry about the slow load times, keep on coming and thanks for your patience! We love to have you here!
The story behind my current Web host
Originally, I was going to write a lengthy article describing how this site landed on this server. Not anymore.
I'm using GPLHost. Besides being one of the few quality Web hosting places that accept PayPal and have virtual private servers (I have a Xen VPS, to be accurate) (which I needed for my own host), it's got great, hands-on support through the mighty hand of Thomas and his helpful staff.
In return, I get:
- full access to my server (yes, administration-level access, or "root" access)
- more than enough bandwidth for this place and other sites I have here
Thanks, Thomas :-).
The hotlinking saga: a thief responds
Hey hey hey! Remember when I started serving gaping asshole images to thieving hotlinkers? Well, the first hotlinker sent me an e-mail just now:
Here's what he had to say to me:
Thank you for supporting the internet. If you don't want people link to your site, then don't place those things on public pages. If it is on the internet in public view, I HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO LINK TO IT. It's not like I'm taking it as my own work, I have credited your site. However, When you do things like replace the photos with goat.se to deter linking, you poison the internet. I now will no longer use, nor will I refer any of my many connections to your site. Your childish ways cost you business. I bid thee adieu.
And, of course, my e-mailed answer
I appreciate your e-mail, but you forgot to send me a link to the page that contains the image in question, so I can assess whether I'll allow it or not.
Regrettably for you:
- I have full control of my servers, hence, I can serve you a gaping asshole and you can't do shit about it.
- Every ruling of every judge of every part of this planet sides with me, instead of siding with you.
I don't need business from thieves. Thank you very much.
I'm Goatse'ing MySpace
Find out how thousands of people are seeing the quintessential (and literal) gaping asshole on their Web pages, thanks to me.
Rudd-O.com.3.0 is now officially on the air
Notice any changes? I've been hard at work, redesigning the site.
Fruits of hard labor, long planning and reasoning have brought this change to you.
This site is now using a fully original WordPress theme I like to call Magazine. The name? Oh, yeah, the whole site revolves around sections, and you're encouraged to browse the site in that way. It's more a magazine than a blog.
Why the change?
The idea behind the monumental change is to encourage stickiness (people reading a large amount of articles). If you find an article on a topic you dig, chances are, you'll want to read more on that topic. The site is geared to enable that. You can also subscribe to feeds per-category, so you don't need to read junk you're not interested into.
Details, details, details... that's where the devil is
Quick lowdown on the changes (because I have to run):
- Obviously, the visual layout is completely different. It responds gracefully to the new concept (magazine-like layouts)
- Excerpts are everywhere on the archive pages. With a glance, you can identify what you want to read the most.
- Navigational aids are everywhere. Everything is much more heavily hyperlinked than before.
- The palette and the design! You no longer need to watch me while reading this site ;-).
- Everywhere is the concept of "popular articles", so you can get a quick look at what's hot on this site, and ask for more with a single click.
- Less clutter. Less popular elements were removed entirely from the design, and only the essentials are left.
- Sociability! All posts are social-bookmarking enabled, Digg-enabled. They're also e-mailable after a single click and a destination e-mail address.
- Readability: the typefaces are bigger, and more elegant (you may not enjoy it fully if you don't have the Gill Sans font installed). All fonts are scalable (except for header fonts).
IE6 is dead. Long live... uhh, Firefox?
This theme was designed entirely using Firefox, and screened for consistency on Konqueror.
Since it uses advanced layout techniques which work only on compliant browsers, some pages may not lay out correctly with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or older. You will be able to read them, but you won't appreciate the entire design.
If you're using IE6, switch to a standards-compliant browser. Because no features incompatible with IE7 were exercisedm hopefully IE7 will render this theme properly.
Final musings
It's a brand-new theme, built from the ground up, and designed to make you crave this site. Is it working already? I sincerely hope you like it.
Love is in the air... Love is in the-e air...
Rudd-O.com.3.0 is well underway
This weblog will be introducing a wholly, completely, from-the-ground-up brand new template, very soon.
Oh, yeah, by the way...
...a happy New Year to all of my readers. Those who aren't my readers can go shaft themselves up.
(Just kidding! Don't do anything that might harm your rectum.)
The check's in the mail. The AdSense check, I mean.
Ye of little faith, take a gander at this:
Cute, ain't it?
It's not much (around $250), but you have to remember that I'm making only about $5 a day, and that this blog didn't have ads for a long time. Let's see if I can boost that value.
Just changed Web hosts
I got myself a nice virtual private server at GPLHost. It runs nicely, although I'm certain it won't survive a slashdotting or being dugg. What I can guarantee: Rudd-O.com will be available much more steadily than before.
I've been Feedorama'ed
Thanks, pal! It's always an honor to help you in your cause, and of course, an honor to be featured in your newest creation. Keep up with the great ideas!
BTW, I think I should actually be featured on the front page :-)
I keep ruling
My blog is worth $143,393.16.
How much is your blog worth?
BTW, position 5 in BloGalaxia! Shove that up yours, Batiduende!
Technorati ranking 08-2006, and more
Straight from the horse's mouth... uh, from Technorati Search: rudd-o.com:
Beat that Technorati ranking, bitches!
- Total page loads so far: 722309, according to bsuite
I'm happy as a puppy!
