Sure, I could give the typical (and critical) advice that all bloggers need a top notch spam blogging plugin. But here is some equally important advice:

Don’t just delete spam. Be sure it is tagged as spam!

Akismet, the plugin I use (and recommend) finds 99.9+% of all spam on my blogs, but occasionally something slips through. And when it does, you should be sure that it’s identified as spam according to the procedures of your software. Doing so (at least with Akismet) added that commentor to the larger spammer list shared by everyone using that software. As part of the blogging community, you are doing your part to clean up the Internet graffiti (well, graffiti minus the artistic value).

UPDATE: Wow, there were 44 new spam comments since I wrote this post 10 hours ago!  Have you seen an increase in spam on your blog?

[PhotoCredit:BennyYap]

It seems that GoDaddy has stepped forward to play this very important role in my super hero identity. Yes, GoDaddy…the mega domain wholesaler and, uh um, web hosting provider. So, now it is time for me to put on the leotard suit and puff my chest out while I do battle with GoDaddy.com. Okay, here’s my story and a message. (Prepare yourself, even the abridged version of the story is long.)

My Story:

A little over a month ago I decided to move one of my blogs off of my GoDaddy shared hosting account due to problems with installing WordPress on GoDaddy servers (there are a multitude of websites that have the detailed instructions) and some data problems that I could not trace the cause of. I backed up my WordPress data and attempted to install with the new host.

Unfortunately, the data backup was incomplete for some reason. When I went back to my database on the GoDaddy server, the database had been renamed. GoDaddy tech support admitted to having problems with WordPress hosting during the past 48 hours, but claimed that the database name change was not possibly created by anyone but me. BTW, the name was changed to something like “AAsad4q24Asdf0-45″. Not a name I would have readily thought of. To read more about this adventure, visit “6 Unheralded Benefits of Blogging” at UTurnAhead.com.

Well, I finally settled in with my new hosting provider, BlueHost.com and even started a couple more blogs. I let my GoDaddy hosting account just sit until last week. Then I decided to give GoDaddy a second chance. I set up a WordPress website for our local disc golf club and for my employer. All was fine for a few days.

But today I was adding a post on the disc golf site and had a problem with uploading a photo. I figured it has to be a WordPress problem (although it worked yesterday), so I reinstalled WordPress. Still didn’t work. On a whim, I decided to see if I could upload photos in my other GoDaddy hosted site…still didn’t work. Finally, I tested the photo uploads on all my BlueHost sites and had no problem at all.

So, is it a GoDaddy problem or something else? To be fair, I really don’t know. The evidence is that the problem occurs on both GoDaddy sites but not on the three BlueHost sites. I began searching for a solution to my problem and started finding a plethora (you like that word?) of blog posts and articles of GoDaddy problems. Here is a sampling…

WordPress and GoDaddy:

• Trippin – “GoDaddy is Killing Me Here“
• DarcyNorman – “Thinking of Ditching GoDaddy“
• Ramblings of a Bored Geek – “GoDaddy 500 Internal Server Error“
• Venetsian – “GoDaddy Web Hosting Causes WordPress Search Engine Privacy Issues“
• Off Topic – “Hosting on GoDaddy“
• Charles Online Review Element – “Problem with Trailing Slash for WordPress in GoDaddy“
• Online Dating Guide & Blog – “Using WP-Cache on GoDaddy (500 Error)“
• Tim Sisk – “WordPress and GoDaddy.com“
• Late Night PC Service – “Mod_Rewrite on GoDaddy with WordPress“
• Romantica.name – “WP-Cache and GoDaddy Hosting“
• Uberdose 2.0 – “Some Thoughts on WordPress Hosting“
• Inside Google – “Great, Now GoDaddy is Screwing Me!“
• StyloMilo.com – “Dumped GoDaddy Host and Migrated to BlueHost“

General GoDaddy Concerns:

• ShoeMoney – “GoDaddy Frustrations Have Hit Me First Hand“
• Building My Empire – “Things About GoDaddy.com“
• The Consumerist – “GoDaddy’s Customer Service Suffers Wardrobe Malfunction“
• 8008135 – “Is GoDaddy Blackmailing Me?” (This is a must read.)
• ZDNet – “GoDaddy Hosting Customers Victim to Massive Hack“
• c|net News – “GoDaddy Pulls Security Site After MySpace Complaints“
• Bad Behavior / Bad Behaviour – “GoDaddy Sucks“
• Forever Geek – “GoDaddy Sucks” (Another original title)
• Miranda Writes (Blog) – “GoDaddy Sucks” (Hmm, same copywriter?)
• RabidGadfly - “GoDaddy Still Sucks” (Still? Really?)
• Blue Mushrooms – “GoDaddy Sucks More than I Thought” (The expanded version)
• Ken Hada – “Archive for the ‘GoDaddy VPS Problems’ Category“
• Ramblings of a Web Guy – “GoDaddy Support is Awful“
• Smaxor’s Musings – “Why GoDaddy Sucks Ballz?“
• Chrono Tron – “[More] GoDaddy Woes…“
• ThreadWatch.org – “Godaddy Grabs a Valuable Domain Name from Their Customer Because of Invalid Email and Profits From It” AND “GoDaddy Holding Customer Sites to Ransom?“
• Jim Boykin’s Blog – “GoDaddy Jobs Problem“
• Wired News – GoDaddy Defends SecLists Takedown
• San Francisco Bay Guardian – “The Self-Appointed Censors at GoDaddy“
• NoDaddy.com – “My Story“
• Geek Daily – “GoDaddy Surpressing Search Engine Indexing“
• Colin McNamara – “Why GoDaddy Linux Virtual Dedicated Hosting Sucks & How to Fix It“
• Johnon.com – “GoDaddy Has a Problem“
• Oregon Herald – “GoDaddy.com/TDNam.com: Are They Careless or Just Stupid?
• DNForum – “GoDaddy Charged Us $29 for Trademark Violation!“
• Geeks With Blogs – “The Woes of Plesk Control Panel for Shared Web Hosting“

And what’s with GoDaddy tech support always needing to put me on hold for another three or four minutes while the rep “Checks on something?” Does he have a burrito in the microwave or just wanting me to rack up more minutes on my phone bill. That’s right, there is no toll-free tech support at GoDaddy.

The Message:

So, is GoDaddy really an evil hosting and domain provider? Nah, probably not on the level of Jerry Springer and Dr. Phil. But I’m writing this post for a different reason. As an advisor to new bloggers, I owe it to you to share this information. The fact is, when you are choosing a host for your blog you need to ask: Do I want to risk the problems that are broadly reported at GoDaddy? Or will I simply take the low cost deal and hope I’m one of the thousands of satisfied GoDaddy customers? (Oh yeah, some of my best friends are GoDaddy fans.)

The bottom line is, shop around and know the potential problems. A great place to start is the BlogFlux Hosting Directory. They have customer reviews and comparisons for a multitude of hosting providers.

[PhotoCredit:FuzzCat]

What topic will you be blogging about? The general consensus is that niche blogging has a better chance of long term success then just random posts about unconnected topics. Read “An Introduction to Niche Blogging” at DoshDosh.com.

Why are you blogging? Knowing the reason(s) you are blogging puts everything else in perspective. Probably the most important question, “For love or money?” Read “14 Awesome Reasons to Start Blogging Today” here at Blogging Startup.

How will you measure success? Once you know why you are blogging, you can set a standard for success. Having a goal will keep you focused and on track. Read “How Do You Measure Blogging Success?” here at Blogging Startup.

What blogging platform will you use? Will you be using an online blogging host or your own domain? You can start a free blog quickly with Blogger, WordPress.com, or LiveJournal, or you can purchase your own domain and hosting to have a truly independent blog. Read “Choosing a Blog Platform” at Problogger.net.

What will you call the blog? Every blog (like every child) needs a name. (Hey, we can’t have nameless children running around!) Choose a name that describes your blog (like BloggingStartup) and, if possible, matches your domain name. Read “Choosing the Domain Name for Your Blog” at Problogger.net.

How will you promote your blog? You might ask, “Do I need to promote my blog?” And I might answer, “No.” But if you want visitors, readers, traffic, guests, friends, money, fame, wealth, and a reason to live…you will promote your blog. Read “10 Surefire Ways to Promote Your Blog for Free” at OneMansGoal.com.

That’s it. Answer those six questions and you are ready to start your blog.

• WordPress has an entire section for creating a blogroll.
• Shoemoney has a blogroll.
• Blogroll is listed in the blogging dictionary (well, this version)
• Blogging Startup has a blogroll.

So, all real bloggers have a blogroll, right?  Wrong.  There is no requirement that a blog have a blogroll.  In fact, many of the top blogs had dumped the concept of a blogroll.

Here are some reasons to include a blogroll:

1. You have a great list of blogs that you want to share with your readers.
2. You want to provide your readers with other resources on the topic of your blog.
3. You want to use your blogroll as a tool for promoting your blog (watch for a future post on this topic).

Here are some reasons to not include a blogroll:

1. You don’t want to offend anyone by excluding their blog.
2. You don’t have a great list of other blogs.
3. You do not have space on your blog.
4. You just don’t feel like having one.

The bottom line is, having a blogroll is a matter of personal preference.  But if you are going to have a blogroll, you want to do it right.  This is the first in a series of short posts on blogrolls.  Be sure to return and read the next post, regarding the “unwritten blogroll rule”.

[PhotoCredit:MissKaren]

Oh well, that’s where our spam filters come in. So the question today is, just how good is your spam filter? When I started this blog, I decided to do a little recordkeeping to see just how good my spam filter is. I have always used the Akismet spam filter that comes with my WordPress installation. Of course, I keep it up to date with each new update.

So, here’s the comment stats since my blog started in mid-January 2008.

Total Comments: 598
Total Spam Comments: 410
Percent of Comments that are Spam: 68.6%

Spam Comments Missed by Akismet: 1
Comments Incorrectly Filtered as Spam: 4
Percent of Spam Filtering Errors: <1.0%

Percent of Spam Peddling Porn or Viagra: 78.9%
Percent of My Budget for Buying Porn or Viagra: 0.0%
Percent of My Day Spent on Spam Problems: 0.0%

Now if only the Sacramento Kings stats looked as good. Quite honestly, I can’t imagine how the Akismet filter could do any better. Actually, I can’t imagine how it does even that well. The Akismet filter is absolutely amazing. By the way, the above photo reveals the secret behind the Akismet spam filter.

So, what spam filter do you use on your blog? Do you feel the performance is on par with the Askimet filter?

[PhotoCredit:Lloydyidau]

To try out the redesigned administration panel, go to the test site login and enter the following: user name (admin) and password (demo). Try out things and see how you like it. The site is returned to the default settings each hour. Have fun and let me know what you think.

[Editor's Note: If you are interested in a detailed list of changes, visit Westi on WordPress. Each week he as been posting an update on the new changes for version 2.5.]