It’s summer here in the true sense of the word, so I haven’t been around the computer much. I was surprised to see that Google got hit with a varient of the MyDoom virus today.
Service was disrupted in the US, other countries such as Canada got an error message.
This happened as Google set out to offer 26.4 million shares in it’s first public offering.
Other companies were also hit.

More MT bloggers
I figured I’m not the only blogger using MT that was or would be getting whalloped with pr0n spam. David Janes of Ranting and Roaring, who has top notch technical skills he shares freely with the blogging community, has been hit too.
I found out yesterday that the Movable Type blog platform was never designed to have comment sections. I don’t feel quite so stupid because David is having difficulty tracking down whoever is hitting blogs. I was also told spammers hit comments sections to get Google juice. But hitting active blogs doesn’t make much sense, they get to use someone’s bandwidth for a few hours, but I don’t understand what the benefits to a spammer are.
Andrew Coyne and Daimnation have pop ups, probably because of some software they use.

I’ve been using Mozilla Firefox as my main browser for awhile now, which gets rid of the pop ups.
I don’t blame bloggers for being targets of this garbage, it’s the down side of the free market. Canada is going to have to continue to work with other countries, find the political will and get a bit more interested in helping the consumer.

Churches as Sanctuary
Immigration Minister Judy Sgro said Saturday that Canadian churches should not be the ‘back door’ to people facing deportation by providing sanctuary to refugees and immigrant claimants. Former NDP leader Ed Broadbent succiently summed up what I think many Canadians think about a federal minister with their foot in their mouth.

In an interview on Monday, Broadbent, who is the former head of the International Centre for Human Rights, said Sgro must address problems within the system first.

“I think she’s got it a bit backwards,” Broadbent said. “Frankly, I think she should reform the process before she starts talking about taking tough action against churches that are doing what they feel is a profound moral obligation on their part.”

There are currently about six people being sheltered in churches across Canada.

“Nuff said. Not a great way to step out publically in a fairly new portfolio, Madame minister. Sgro was appointed in December.

Homosexuality and the church
Many of us don’t bother posting on our blogs, especially in the god-blog subdivision. It’s not worth it. It’s not unlike saying something untoward about the US Republican Party. You are asking for grief, like wading into an out of control group of drunks. Jordon Cooper posted a small clip from the TV show West Wing and got hammered in the comments with rage and legalism. He was addressing legalism through the fictional characters dialogue was interesting, but that appeared to be lost on several commenters.
I could understand why a new reader might not understand that many blogs post diverse views. It’s Jordon’s response that bears looking at.

I haven’t posted anything about homosexuality in a long time before last night. I have posted about the poor, the oppressed, the degradation of children in Iraq, genocide and the west’s refusal to do more than talk, and all sorts of things and almost no comments. I post what a fictional television character says about homosexuality and I get comments (some had to be deleted) and a lot of e-mail.

Many of us learn quickly that many bloggers aren’t able to dialogue. More so than readers actually. They yell, they rage, and seem to think their primary purpose in life is to convince others how right they are.
When you step back and look at many comments, (hard when they are being made!) you are left looking not at just the words, but how and why they are said. And more often than not the comments are made at other’s who believe the similar things. It’s a mentality and attitude that goes beyond reaction, goes beyond the herd mentality. It can take time to learn to just back off, because listening and civility isn’t part of the contribution.

If the debate about homosexuality is important as people who are against gay marriage, gay hockey teams, and gays in general say it is, then maybe learning to dialogue with people who disagree with you may be a skill that some may want to learn. I can’t see labelling anyone as a liberal will change anyone’s mind.

Sorry for rattling some of your cages. I just wanted to see what the response to it would be. I found the quote by accident after trying out a new piece of technology that I was evaluating for a friend. I’ll start posting about things no one cares about shortly.

Many of us have spoken up about the power of words. Many bloggers have been genuinely hurt. Is this type of comment prevalent because many church goers believe they are in a ‘culture’ war? Is it an overgrown sense of entitlement? Lust for power? Self-righteousness? Fear? Insecurity? A need for attention? Loneliness?

Jordon is correct. I know when I post about is going on in the rest of the world, the silence is loud. But I also know it is skimmed if not actually read. I know some people care, and if I can contribute to helping others learn and learn how they care, it’s worth it.

What keeps you returning to a blog?
Rachel at Cre8d is asking that question. I think it’s a very good one, so why not head over and put your 4 cents in (inflation and exchange rates:^).

Is it based on your friendship with the person? The frequency with which they post at? New, interesting ideas? Ideas that make you think? Ideas that resonate with you? Book reviews? Film reviews? Diary entries?

Think about the blogs you’re hooked on. What makes you get so attached to them so that they’re part of your daily routine?

Rachel is a web-designer and technican in what spare time she has. And when we talk about pioneers, “A” listers, or people that contribute to the blogging community, we all have a favorite Rachel story. She is a true expert. A great many bloggers owe her a debt of gratitude. She tends to pitch in without complaint and get a job done.
That’s why when I see her mention she has ideas to broaden the blogging community I take notice.

I have a lot of ideas up my sleeve… it’s how to make ideas actually profitable which is the hard step. We found it incredibly hard to get advertisers for our site, even with the huge publicity and traffic. It seems that companies in New Zealand are slow off the mark to get into online advertising and go through so many middle men to put an ad online it’s not funny.

People want all the benefits from a great site without paying a cent for it. Hence the need for some sort of advertising.

So I’ve got all these ideas.. just need to figure out whether I should run with my ideas or just focus and plan on the ones that will make me the most amount of money?

Updated
e-vangelism, Andrew Careaga’s contribution to educating churches and ministries that use the internet has a spiffy clean look and new content. It’s now in a blog format.