IntenseDebate Makes Love

I've just successfully reequipped origena with commentluv. It's really a piece of cake, and it works simple, unlike commentluv with js-kit which seemed complicated for almost everyone that don't have experience with it. The js-kit control panel or dashboard was also frustrating me in the beginning, cause the system seemed automatically show login tab, though I had not clicked log off. Don't know if I misunderstood it, but I had to claim my blog every time I wanted to delete comments or modify the js-kit on my blog.

Just when I wanted to give up, I went to commentluv site, to see if  I need to install a new version of commentluv js-kit to resuscitate commentluv in this blog. I found not even the old version for blogger there in the download plugin section, nothing at all, only download for wordpress and twitter.

Luckily I got the clue as I browsed its News section. I found out an article titled Intense Debate CommentLuv is Here! At first became a bit perplexed cause it says "is Here!" while part of the url, shows the word "coming soon". However I dug up the answer from the comments left by some bloggers, and  learned that comluv intensedebate is working in blogger. I directly searched info for removing js-kit from blogger. It's pretty easy too, just locate js-kit widget by clicking the layout tab and once found, delete it.

Glad that it didn't mess up my layout, cause I didn't make any backup. Once js-kit cleared out, I rushed to IntenseDebate and create an account there. The installation process also went swimmingly, the direction is short and clear. I went back to CommentLuv site for the how-to commentluv installation on IntenseDebate. It's even easier, just go to the Dashboard for my Origena blog in IntenseDebate, click on the plugin section and activate CommentLuv from there.
Easy peasy and neat! Now, care to shower me with some comments? ;-)

Securing Affiliate Links

Just when I was wondering how some bloggers can mask their referral links, MrJavo posts his blog entry about it. What he mentions in his post is really true, some people like to remove the referral code from the link that results no commission will ever arrive to the person who provides the link.

For instance when I'm putting my affiliate link here plainly as follows:
http://www.socialvibe.com/?r=30379, someone can easily erase the ?r=30379 part, and sign up to the site directly not under my ref.
It's unfair, but of course we can't force anyone to join by our reference.
Perhaps one good idea to prevent it is by masking or cloaking the affiliate link. Although this still does not guarantee that the person will do join through the provided link, at least the chance of losing the commission is minimised.

Unfortunately, I can't use the masking trick that MrJavo defines because I'm using this blogspot and all free blogspot users don't have access to root directory.
Still there are other tricks to use and so far from searching the blogsphere I found at least two ways.

First is by url redirection. There are a lot services but for this one I would suggest to use urlxl. Not only it functions as an url shrinker, but it also enables its users to share those already truncated urls by providing each of its users a page. This inventory page can be a good idea for sharing affiliate links, because users can give information about each links they put there. If this sounds confusing, just click "check our my urlxl" banner somewhere on this page, or just click
here.

Second is by masking the affiliate link. I'm not sure if the term is correct, but what I mean here is the process of which the affiliate link is redirected to a site that doesn't show the real url of that affiliate link. We need external service for this, and I always choose free service first if it's available :))
The site D95.com, URL Freeze and Viral Url are three alternative free services, each with its own vantage.
Use D95.com if you simply want to mask your link quickly and without thinking of making additional profit.
This is the implementation of how it works. Here is my plain Ask2Link affiliate link and here is my masked Ask2Link. Look upon the address bar, the later shows http://d95.com/ask2link instead of the actual address.

It works that simple. However if you want to get more benefit, then trying URL Freeze or Viral Url is a good idea. You have more control over the affiliate links you put and you can even track them. Basically you can redirect, mask, or cloak the links, and other than that you can advertise your link and banner ads through its viral toolbar. The following masked affiliate link of my Ask2link shows you how it works. Notice the viral bar on the bottom side of the page, there you could fill it with your own banner or banner of your choice. One thing you should know before you join ViralUrl, if you're just a free member, then be prepared to receive massive email offers from other members. Very annoying to me, feels like I'm getting lots of spam whenerver I open my inbox, even by deleting ViralUrl account will not guarantee stopping those emails.

Please read a clear explanation on MrJavo's post to learn about link masking with php.

Photo by .:elNico:.

About that picture

I did a mindless mistake when I posted one of Scragz's photos for my post “Ever Wonder about this Picture.”

Luckily Scragz sent a comment last night for that post, here it is:

Creative Commons is the best...but watch out! The link to my photostream is wrong and the Commons Cops will soon be at your door.

At that point, I was not sure what mistake that I've done, cause I followed Skelliewag's tips on using photos from flickr.
I then click his Blogger.com profile to contact him, but it's not publicly open. So I clicked the link that I used for that photo, of course I went to the wrong person and I was lucky too that I couldn't find how to contact the person otherwise I would confuse him cause it's not his photo at all. I browsed his photo collections a bit though in order to retrieve that photo, again of course it's never there.

Finally I noticed what's wrong, the person who contacted me is Scragz and the link that I used has different flickr id.
Felt a bit relieved that I could find how to leave message to Scragz, I explained the purely accidental mistake and apologised for that. Feel completely relieved that he actually never mind the use of that photo, with the correct link credit of course.

Here's his reply:

Use it, please! Just fix the link. It's really not a big deal; I thought
it was kind of funny in the context. ^^

Grazie Scragz :))

When you suck

This Photoshop tutorial is hilarious, and very good.
He mixes the explanation with his crazy story :))
....clean up some of the dirty shames and unfulfilled dreams.
......baby making man gravy :)))