Now that wasn’t too difficult
I'm surprised... literally I am
Remember how I said in my last post that if you read my next entry, it would probably mean that I had succeeded in upgrading to WordPress 2.7? Well that entry was published a litte less than 90 mins ago!
Yes, I'm already using version 2.7 now!
I can't believe it took me quite fast to get the whole upgrade process done? As I mentioned earlier, I have never done any upgrades prior to this. Previously, what I would USUALLY do is just set up a new wordpress blog and just import my comments and entries. Yes very primitive (and not to mention ridicilously stupid!) But anyway I'm glad it's done, and I am even more glad that there was no major screw ups.
For those of you who are using WordPress and are planning to upgrade it, just remember these rules
1. Backup your SQL database and disable all your plugins
2. Download the latest WP version ( duH!)
3. Make sure you've copied your wp-config details into the new wp-config details in WP version 2.7 one
4. Delete your existing wp-admin and wp-include directory
4. Upload the new wp-admin and wp-include directory (from the new WP you just downloaded!) and a couple of other files
5. Once all those files are in, go to yourhomepage.com/wp-admin.
6. If all went well, you should be naturally prompted for an upgrade
That's it 
Here's the guide which guided me during this whole upgrade process:
when you don’t use protection!
Ahem!
Now before you go on thinking whether I've lost my virginity, just for the record, I'm not talking about THAT sort of protection. (I'm against contraceptives anyway).
The way I have set up my comments management system to work is that if somone drops me a comment on my blog, an email will be sent to notify me and I would need to approve the comment. I'm sure millions of people are doing this anyway. But last month and just until a couple of days ago, I started recieving lots of spam comments which required my moderation. Intially I thought it was just 'one of those days' where my anti-spam filter was just acting up and so I need not worry to much. But the spam comments became worse and worse, till I was getting about 30-40 a day. I knew then something was wrong, but thanks to my stupid internet connection, opening my own blog's main page was a challenge, let alone enter my dashboard and moderate the comments!
Finally, while at work today, I decided to access my blog and lo and behold, there were 255+ comments waiting for my approval. Yes all 100% were spam and so I had the arduous task of cleaning up my comment box. And I found out the culprit behind this shenanigan - It was my akismet! It wasn't activated at all! I found this to be quite applaing and shocked, because...since when did I even diactivate akismet?
Hmm, they ought to open an x file for blogs too 
So what happens when you don't use blog protection? - you have crap to deal with later!
HA HA HA
WordPress Driven Churches
It's really amazing to see how far WordPress has gone in terms of its usability and outreach. A couple of years back, it was only meant for the "selected few"... those were more technically inclined and it's popularity was "not there yet" as compared to it's more prominent rivals, namely Movable Typepad and Blogger.com
I don't think I have much to say about it's popularity today. The number of people switching over to wordpress is mind-numbing! In June alone, close to 125,000 users started a new blog at WP.com and the total number of folks using the self-hosted version of wordpress totals up to about 2 million!
And now guess who is using WordPress as a platform for their main website? A midsize catholic church in Ashland, Kentucky! The Holy Family Catholic Church is one of the many many churches now that are using WordPress to establish their online presence. Take a look at the exhaustive list of churches that are WordPress-ed powered here.
In fact, what is really encouraging here is that we have people like LivingOS who are helping churches build-wordpress-powered-websites and the guidance and help Living OS provides for these churches are quite thorough and practical. They vary from managing posts to creating calender events to even digitizing sermons into podcasts!! How cool can it get?!
I guess for me I'm just excited whenever I come across these things. I mean to see technology being used for worthy causes like this, and the fact it's being used for His purpose is something that really puts an affectionate smile on my face!
I guess it's also because I know how confusing and FRUSTRATING it can be just setting up a website, and lets be honest here, the web is indeed becoming a key defacto component in our lives in today's era, and having a virtual presence these days is similar to having an email address 9-10 years ago. It's becoming a common trend, and rightly so, when you consider that our dependence on the web has increased tremendously.
But having web applications like wordpress make it so much more easier for just about anyone to start and maintain a website. It simplifies things... which in turn allows the simple laity to maintain the website, and concurrently establish an online presence.
Who says wordpress was just meant for avid bloggers? It's driving churches too! Lovely, absolutely lovely!
P/s - In case you're wondering, no, I was NOT PAID to write this piece of work!
