WordPress – Page 4 – Jean's Writing

Do you ever think about hackers?

Published on October 12, 2016October 11, 2016 by Jean M. Cogdell4 Comments

Well, I hadn’t not often anyway, until now.

I’d changed my passwords to passphrases and thought I was safe. And then I read a recent post by Sheila Good over at Cow Pasture Chronicles which made me furious.

Not at Sheila, although as my little sister we’ve had our share of spats. But, this is not one of those times. LOL

So what made me mad? Hackers!

It seems nothing is safe from them and someone somewhere needs to find a way to stop these damn idiots. It’s becoming a game of whack-a-mole, and I for one am tired of the blasted devils invading our lives.

Sheila had a terrible, aggravating experience but we can all benefit from it. She shared below what happened to her Twitter account and how we can hopefully prevent it from happening to us. But, if God forbid, it does what we should do.

My Twitter Account Was Hacked, Now What? by SHEILA M. GOOD, AUTHOR

Well, aren’t we special?! It seems there’s an epidemic of Hackers running around wrecking havoc on all of us. Or, is it clowns? Guess it’s hard to tell the difference these days.…

Hop over her fence, click the image and keep reading.

Has this ever happened to you?

Have you ever been hacked?

Any tips on how to deal with securing your blogs, or other social media accounts?

I’d love to hear from you! Click the “write me” tab or contact me on Twitter @jeancogdell,Facebook at jean.cogdell and Amazon.com, stop by and say hey! The lights are on, and I’m waiting.

Please remember to share this post with your Twitter peeps and Facebook fans.

Don’t let this suck the life from your story

Published on October 10, 2016October 10, 2016 by Jean M. Cogdell9 Comments

Blogging that is!

You may notice that today’s blog is a bit late this morning. I’ve been busy. Writing, working or putting together my new picture book and playing. In other words living to become inspired.

It was after reading The Pitfalls of Blogging – What You Need To Know About Being a Better Blogger BY JANICE WALD, that I decided to relax for a few days.

I’ve discovered, when I allow myself to do this, I enjoy blogging more and hopefully am less apt to bore all of my readers.

Let’s face it; no one wants to read a million blogs on outlines. I mean, outlines by themselves are boring. And Lord knows the internet has enough hyperbole about politics no one needs another blog post on that subject. Oops, off topic. Sorry.

Now where was I? Oh yeah.

Blogging pitfalls.

Janice lists eight things we need to know to become better bloggers. I added two more to her list. Here is my take on the article.

Don’t let your blogging interfere with your creative process. Give yourself permission to recharge and listen to your muse.
Don’t get too personal, share too much, or go on like your Aunt Matilda about her gallbladder surgery. Remember once write a post; it is in cyberspace forever.
Avoid other people’s drama. Do you want to be right or read? See #2.
Don’t bore people to death. Try to make even outlining interesting, I know that’s a bit of a challenge but do try. Also, refer to #2.
Go easy with the ads. Don’t know about you but I hate commercials. Love my DVR because I can fast forward through those little devils.
Avoid a cluttered blog, if possible.
Don’t use your blog to vent, even if you don’t name names someone will figure out who is who. Nothing is ever private on the web. See #2.
Fresh content? Nothing is new under the sun, however, the way you present it can be unique. So try.
Everybody, well almost everybody loves pictures and videos. Remember to give credit where credit is due. And of course, make sure it’s okay to use the image.
Last but not least, don’t let blogging suck the joy out of writing. Have fun with your blog and with your readers.

Click on the above link to read the entire article and let me know what you think.

Do you have any tips to help me be a better blogger?

How to do you keep your blog fresh?

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Do you need to un-spam some of your friends?

Published on September 28, 2016September 26, 2016 by Jean M. Cogdell7 Comments

Holy moly! I had no idea this could even happen! Did you?

But after reading a post on HUGH’S VIEWS AND NEWS, I opened my comments section and lo and behold there were 18 in the spam section. And guess what? Some were not spam! Some were comments from legit followers yet they were being dumped into my spam folder.

Y’all, I’m sorry! But this will now be part of my blog housekeeping.

Hugh explains in detail how to fix your comments if you are the victim of the filter gods at WordPress. But I think it’s also important that bloggers check spam folders for our legit readers.

Here is my little video for your viewing pleasure. But you must click on Hugh’s link below and read more in-depth about this problem.

What To Do If All Your Comments Are Ending Up In The WordPress Spam Folder Source: HUGH’S VIEWS AND NEWS

So what do y’all think? Have you checked the spam comments lately?

Have you found this to be a problem?

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Have some of your favorites disappeared?

Published on August 1, 2016July 31, 2016 by Jean M. Cogdell10 Comments

Those blogs you looked forward to reading?

Mine had!

Time for a little blog management.

So, thanks to Sue Vincent, that’s how I’m starting my week. With a fresh slate. Can’t wait to read what I’ve missed all these weeks.

Sue explains that for some mysterious reason, WordPress apparently on occasion turns off the email notifications. frog-wow

I must admit to feeling a little relieved. At least this means I’m not completely crazy and that the gremlin inside my computer hasn’t totally taken control. Whew!

Below you’ll find a little self-help video I made that shows how easy it is to check and see if some of your favorite blogs have been turned off.

Now hop over to Sue’s blog post and read her post.

Here we go again… the wonderful Happiness Engineers have been playing. I thought it had gone very quiet… and while I realise that it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere and the great o… Source: The empty inbox… by Sue Vincent

Okay, clear as mud right?

Did you find any of your favorites turned off?

Do you check this feature regularly?

I’d love to hear from you! Click the “write me” tab or contact me on Twitter @jeancogdell, Facebook at jean.cogdell and Amazon.com, stop by and say hey! The lights are on and I’m waiting.

Please remember to share this post with your Twitter peeps and Facebook fans.