www.markpude.com Wasting your time since 2000.

New Site Layout and Features

Okay okay, to go with the yearly and obligatory 'fresh new start' post from earlier today, I also went through and gave 'er a facelift. New theme, new colors (long time markpude.com 'fans' will recognize the obnoxious orange), a few new widgets. One of the changes of noteworthy note is the addition of Facebook Connect functionality. In short, now you can leave comments on posts using your Facebook credentials instead of having to make a unique account on this website.

Longer Explanation:
In the good ol' days everyone had anonymous access to commenting on markpude.com. Abused by some and enjoyed by most, it was one of the things that made this website fun in the days before TwitBook and YouSpace. Most noticeably since switching to popular open source publishing software, WordPress, I started getting smacked in the face with spam comments. So I shut 'er down. I basically said you have to make an account, have that account approved by me, and get a signed letter of the President of the United States before you could post comments. Not surprisingly, in 2+ years of this setup not a single comment has been attempted let alone approved.

Since I'm dusting this thing off, I figured I'd give the newest spam filters another try as well as see if this 'Web 2.0' thing is going anywhere (does anyone even say that anymore? I don't think they do...). So instead of making an account on this site, you can log in with your Facebook credentials and leave a comment. One less password to remember in this world. It's all legitimate and open source software created by someone that knows more about what they're doing more than I do. The bottom line is, I don't keep your info, I don't check your info, but you still get to tell me how I'm being stupid/wrong. Check the plugin out, Simple Facebook Connect, if you're concerned for your privacy and general well-being. Otherwise, enjoy, and comment on my posts already, dammit...

P.S. - There is the obvious 'next step' desire to cross pollinate the Facebook comments with the markpude.com comments. The guys over at ottopress.com say they're working on it, so look for that sometime in the future. Until then, look at is a feature. With a minimal cut and paste operation, you get to have your clever/witty/pretentious comment seen in twice as many places while only having to think it up once!