I had a major complication that resulted from the upgrade of my blogs within the HART-Network.com domain (the root and 8 sub-folder blogs). I am using this domain strictly as an aggregation of all the feeds for each and every channel of the HART-Empire Network code that you see in all of the sidebars.

Basically, what I do .. is that all the contributing blogs’ RSS Feeds are syndicated within each channel blog, and entirely in the root blog, and the plugin posts the feed as content in my blog. I have set the posts to link directly to the source and originating blog’s URL. As a result, all the posts of one particular blog might represent only the “Small Business and Finance” channel network of blogs .. and one feed is burned at Feedburner. This is the RSS feed at the bottom of each section of code in the sidebar. Neat, eh?

Well .. in trying to determine if this plugin will work with the newer version of wordpress 2.1 .. decisions had to be made, because according to the WordPress Codex Compatibility Plugins with version 2.1 …

FeedWordPress (projects.radgeek.com/feedwordpress) 2.0 Will work with 2.1 if you apply this patch (wordpress.org/support/topic/54125?replies=8#post-499823)

The patch is quite simple, as posted by Trent Adams in the above link .. you are basically changing two file references in the plugin to make it to work.

Line 41 … change:

require_once (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/rss-functions.php');
to
require_once (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/rss.php');

and on Line 44 … change:

require_once (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/registration-functions.php');
to
require_once (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/registration.php');

It seems simple enough. But, somehow .. I must have “texturized” the code in my EditPad (instead of NotePad) or placed an extra space somewhere. Bottom line.. it wouldn’t work! All My blogs were crashed. As soon as the plugin was activated, nobody could get into my blog, and the screen would be riddled with error messages relating to stuff like this …

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at ....../feedwordpress.php:6107) .... or ..../wp-includes/pluggable.php on line 275

I tried to leave the author of the plugin a message around suppertime on Saturday evening .. but my post still remains in moderation. I never noticed any more questions about version 2.1 and can only assume that there might be more questions in moderation as well!

I left a comment at the WordPress Support but after 2 days .. (which is like a lifetime when you are hoping that your upgrade only takes between 15-30 minutes) .. I still have not received any reply.

So .. late Sunday after midnight .. I decided to email Trent Adams himself, and asked if he would be willing to just forward me HIS working copies of the plugin .. and by 6:45am Winnipeg Time .. I had received copies of the plugin files! By the way .. he’s out near Calgary Alberta, which is 1 hour behind me! I was sure grateful that he was up early!

So I put the plugin into my folders and blogs and activated them

It’s not a perfect working fix. Generally, with this plugin, once you have set your syndication to the feeds .. you still have to run the script that retrieves the feeds. This is a file called update-feeds.php in the /wp-content/ folder. Even now – if you run this file separately and myself .. I receive the following error message..

WordPress database error: [You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'ORDER BY link_name' at line 1]
SELECT * FROM (tablename_links WHERE link_visible = 'Y' AND link_category = ORDER BY link_name

The posts are still syndicated though. That message is annoying. I, myself .. do not retrieve the posts automatically so I don’t have to worry about error messages or warnings. Instead .. I use CRON JOBS setup directly in my cPanel that calls the script every 2 hours automatically.

It it all ran perfectly .. except on one blog. This is very strange, but for some reason the “Entertainment” blog HART-Network.com/entertainment/ would not work. I was getting error messages on both the plugin screen and on the Blogging/Syndication screen. It would not recognize any feeds!

After much more consideration and tinkering, I just decided that the whole purpose was to aggregate all future posts in this channel .. so I didn’t think much to delete it – and start fresh. Which, by the way – I don’t mean create a new directory .. I just changed the tables in my wp-config.php file and installed a new version in the same space. This way .. my changes and templates and scripts remain.

And, it works now .. although – the modifications under the Presentation Header Image and Widget settings did not stay and were wiped out. It only took me a few minutes to add though.

As a final note… a “Thank-You” to Lorelle VanFossen who gave me the idea in the comments that I might have messed up the text inside the plugin itself, that gave me the idea that I should just try to get a “untexturized” working copy ..which led me to email Trent Adams in the first place! And, as I’ve always maintained .. (1) it never hurts to ask .. and (2) you never know what you will get if you do ask for something. Generally .. people are nice and quite helpful!

If you are worried about the FeedWordpress .. there’s another one, that also may or may not work .. wp-autoblog plugin. Please do not abuse these plugin scripts and scrape other people’s contents and steal … but, if you are looking for a way to syndicate a bunch of your own network of blogs into one gigantic feed .. this is the way to go – in my humble opinion.

HART

* I have upgraded from wordpress version 2.0.4 to wordpress version 2.1

#06 – HART-Network.com/

* I have upgraded from wordpress version 2.0.5 to wordpress version 2.1

#07 – HART-Network.com/pet-related/
#08 – HART-Network.com/entertainment/
#09 – HART-Network.com/shopping/
#10 – HART-Network.com/opinionated/
#11 – HART-Network.com/sports-related/
#12 – HART-Network.com/personal-and-security/
#13 – HART-Network.com/health-and-fitness/
#14 – HART-Network.com/small-business/

I have upgraded all the blogs of the HART-Empire Network II series .. which aggregate and summarize the feeds of all individual channels into an individual feed. I started yesterday at 4:10 pm and finished at 11:10 am this morning .. although, not all the time was spent overnight in the actual conversion.

You see .. the whole point of these blogs were to aggregate the feeds of each individual blog – using the wordpress plugin “FeedWordPress” ..but unfortunately, this plugin does NOT work with wordpress 2.1.

I was planning to upgrade these sites .. last!

This feedwordpress plugin is one of those plugins that I can’t live without, and I planned to leave these 9 blogs and convert them last. However, there was supposed to be a “fix” over on the WordPress Support but I couldn’t get it to work after applying those changes.

FeedWordPress Error Messages

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/network/public_html/personal-and-security/wp-content/plugins/feedwordpress.php:6107) in /home/network/public_html/personal-and-security/wp-content/plugins/Bad-Behavior/bad-behavior/screener.inc.php on line 8

kicked out during plugins

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/network/public_html/personal-and-security/wp-content/plugins/feedwordpress.php:6107) in /home/network/public_html/personal-and-security/wp-includes/pluggable.php on line 275

at top of “syndication” screen in options

WordPress database error: [You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'ORDER BY cat_id' at line 1]
SELECT cat_id, cat_name, auto_toggle FROM ORDER BY cat_id

FEED ERRORS

Warning: main(/home/schizo/public_html/wp-includes/wp-db.php) [function.main]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/blog/public_html/wp-settings.php on line 69

Fatal error: main() [function.require]: Failed opening required '/home/blog/public_html/wp-includes/wp-db.php' (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/schizo/public_html/wp-settings.php on line 69

So .. I ended up disabling the FeedWordPress Plugin for now

That means – that no feeds will be coming to those subscribers of the feeds .. until I can fix this issue.

HART

* I have upgraded from wordpress version 2.0.0 to wordpress version 2.1

I have successfully updated Battling-Schizophrenia.com blog from wordpress version 2.0 to wordpress 2.1. The update took 1 hour and 13 minutes, including backups … which was longer than the #4th upgrade because this time i REMEMBERED to deactivate the plugins first! Also, there was a more considerable amount of plugins used in the Battling-Series.

Everything went according to plan .. and, as far as the versions of the remaining blogs in the HART-Empire Network .. I’ve have updated at least one blog from 5 out of the 6 different versions of wordpress that I am running “out there” .. being versions

* 1.5.2
* 2.0
* 2.0.2
* 2.0.3
* 2.0.4

I have a few blogs on 2.0.5 but, I figure it will go just like the other versions.

I should note that I now have a routine … for stuff that will affect every blog I will be upgrading.

* Step #1 – remove the WP-ADMIN-BAR-2 code from the header.php file first!
* If the old theme has links or blogroll on the frontpage sidebar – get rid of the code for now.
* After all the plugins are activated – go through each one and make sure settings are updated and correct.
* I seem to always have to be “migrating” previous posts with the EXEC-PHP plugin
* I’m just worrying about the front page and the permalink page, and not the PAGE pages and other issues. For instance, I have activated some extra plugins – and some new ones that I have not yet placed the code in the template. I’m leaving it activated for now.
* I have not deleted any plugins from my old plugin folder as I’m activating them from the printout list that I make before the upgrade .. and make sure I have the updated plugin in my 2.1 folder before transfer, otherwise I will place an “X” and not activate it.

It’s still time consuming I think the rest of the Battling Series of blog will probably take about the same time .. 1.2 hours each, but it’s worth it (i.m.h.o.) to make sure that I have sound backups and files before and after.

5 down … 35 to go.

* I have upgraded from wordpress version 2.0.3 to wordpress version 2.1

I have successfully upgraded CatLvr.com .. in 41 minutes.

I was a little concerned, because of those 41 minutes .. 27 of those minutes was spent just downloading and uploading files! I was in the cPanel to make a clean and separate backup of MySQL database when .. after my FTP download was complete, copying all of the files from the server to my local hard drive .. I immediately deleted the /wp-admin/ and /wp-includes/ folders and all the root files. Nuked them! Badda Bing! Gone! Poof!

However – I forgot to DE-activate any of my plugins!

So .. I’ve decided to just let it go .. and go with the flow .. and besides .. my CatLvr blog is not riveting with traffic. So, this is what I did after I uploaded the 2.1 folder on my computer (with all the plugins in the right places) ..

* I Put back the wp-config.php from my backup into the root folder
* I ran the upgrade script .. /wp-admin/upgrade.php
* I went into my options and updated the permalinks
* I DEACTIVATED all of the plugins ..
* I activated the ones that work with 2.1 and the ones I have been activating that I’m not sure but think works fine with 2.1
* That’s it.

Oh – and those last 6 steps took me 13 minutes to do.

www.sunaryohadi.info/typoxp-theme.htm

Every once in a while I see a design that looks interesting, is unique, or unusual .. I look at the credit and follow the links. This template isn’t that hot .. but you know what? It sure has potential .. maybe for an affiliated product showcase or shopping blog .. with a little tweaking 🙂

* I have upgraded from wordpress version 2.0.4 to wordpress version 2.1

I have updated AndYouRetire.com blog.

The longest part of the conversion is backing up the web files first and uploading the new files.

This time, I “nuked” the /wp-admin and /wp-includes folders through my cPanel filing system itself, than my WS_FTP_LE program that I like to use. With my own FTP program, I have to delete all the files first before I can delete a folder and when doing it from the cPanel it’s all in one step (plus I can recover if I make a mistake). My open source FileZilla FTP program can also do it … but I don’t like that program because I don’t trust the destination of the drag and dropping ways.

Good News and Bad News …

First the good news: I am more confident with the upgrading now.

Now the bad news: Geesh – the Tropical Grunge Monster Template that I was using was bringing database errors in the sidebar for the blogroll / linking section. It took me forever to figure out a way to delete it (being a non-PHP person) because there was a complicated “IF” statement covering the pages and the linking section in one, and it took me awhile before I figured that out!

Ultimately – I still didn’t figure it out, because when I got it to finally work – the PAGES are not showing up now. But, I’ll be selecting another template soon .. so I don’t feel it’s important to reinvent the wheel at this stage. I’ll toss up a link to my about page which, was the one page removed and the contact form.

I was browsing my “REFER” stats this morning in the PetLvr blog .. and noticed a referral from Google Video. When I tried to click on it, for the life of me .. I didn’t see my site and I was up to page 10! But I did notice that there were sites listed in the search of Google Video that had YouTube links.

I remembered the entry on the SootleDir Blog a few days ago …

…Well, Google has integrated YouTube and now appears to be expanding the Adsense program into offering many more video units from major vendors. Also, YouTube will be much more prominently featured in organic SERPs.

Google search results already include links to content that’s hosted on YouTube. Starting today, YouTube video results will appear in the Google Video search index: when you click on YouTube thumbnails, you will be taken to YouTube.com to experience the videos …

So .. naturally I had to test it out …

Well, I haven’t been uploading many videos .. but if I were to do so – I’d probably be adding more tags to my video. Now .. I don’t know why people would be searching for a video of Maxxie at our Medieval Wedding .. but, *cough, cough* if you decide to click on this link and watch it anyway .. I’ve got a couple of other videos there under my 1800HART i.d.

* I have upgraded from wordpress version 2.0.2 to wordpress version 2.1

I have upgraded 1800HART.com/picks/ last night. Surprisingly .. this upgrade did NOT go as smoothly as it did with my PapillonLvr.com/blog/ upgraded from version 1.5.2 direct to version 2.1.

So what happened? I do not know. But, I can tell you how I finally fixed it.

After a safe backup of both the files and the MySQL data .. I deactivate all of the plugins and then deleted my /wp-content/cache/ folder and /wp-content/backups/ folder as I did with PapillonLvr upgrade. I then FTP’ed all of the files of the new version 2.1 folder on my harddrive to the site. Since my upgrade of the first PapillonLvr site, I have been updating more plugins and placing them directly inside the folder … I went to my plugins site first and looked to obtained updates for everything that was activated originally.

PS: I’m quite disappointed that the plugin WP-AMAZON is broken with wordpress 2.1 .. but the author is aware and promises a new Ajax based version is coming out soon

Currently .. that plugin is the mostly used plugin I constantly use in HART’s Picks ..

But I was Getting The Death White Screen

I couldn’t even get a view of any page or run the …/wp-admin/upgrade.php script.

I thought it was first the code in my header from the WP-Admin-Bar-2 plugin .. so I removed it. >> that wasn’t it.

I thought it was my .htaccess file in my root folder, so I deleted it .. >> That was partly it. I was now able to hit the front page of the blog, but there were no posts .. just the sidebar and stuff. There was a message that said “content not found” ..or something like that.

So .. I went back into my FTP and started to delete everything bit by bit. I removed the wp-admin folder .. and I removed the wp-includes folder .. and I removed everything out of my root related to wordpress except my wp-config.php file .. and FTP’ed again the entire program over.

I did receive the front screen and some posts, but the permalinks gave me errors and nothing would work. But, when I accessed the login page and then went into my options/permalinks – that was fixed.

So – now I went and did the upgrade script .. and activated my plugins .. and *knock on wood* .. everything is as it should be. I even activated a few new plugins that work with version 2.1 – however, I think I need to add a few code in my template.

Back to my rant about hiring bloggers again

* Yes .. still thinking about it.

But I wanted to see how other people are actually doing it .. how other persons and businesses are writing their ad copy looking to hire a blogger .. and how other blog networks are trying to recruit writers. And .. you know what? Problogger Job Board was the best help for me. All the others were .. how can I say this .. Great! If you are looking to hire a Rocket Scientist!

It just seems that all the job boards out there are super high technical .. or web design .. or special programming. Even if there are jobs out there for bloggers … they really do seem quite vague, don’t you think?

And .. you know what I’ve learned the most throughout my trek in the Google Search for Blogging Jobs? ..That some boards are making money from it! Job boards are charging $300 per month down to $30 per month, or offering free listing. From what I’ve read .. it seems that it would only pay to have a Job Board on your site or part of your blog if you had more than 2,000 unique visitors per day ..but that’s too much for my blogs. In fact, my whole network doesn’t even do that (yet) per day.

Now that I think about it .. there aren’t too many Bookkeeping and Accounting Job Boards out there (I’ve got a short list of 5 worthwhile) .. maybe I should start the 1-800-HART Job Board?

As before, I’m just taking a break from a stressful last 10 days of January 2007 (offline business) and thinking outloud again. I suppose since I’ve got all these open tabs in my browser, I may as well copy/paste those URL’s below .. maybe it will help me later, or help others who wants to look for jobs out there.

I could have a Shared Revenue Basis Job Board on my site

Job Thread Publisher – They share 50/50 of revenues
JobCoin Job Board Software – They take 30% of posting fees

Found Doing a ‘Net Search for “Blogging Jobs”

37SignalsJobs
Authentic Jobs
BloggerJobs.biz
BloggerJobs.inc
Build V1 Jobs
CrunchBoard
GigaOM Jobs
Guy Kawasaki Jobs
Netscape Blogger Boards
ProBlogger Job Board
Tech Cocktail Specials
WordPress Blogging Jobs Tag

Input “Blogging” as the keyword search in Larger Job Boards

Blogging on Yahoo Jobs
Blogging Jobs at Monster
Blogging Jobs at Dice
Blogging Jobs at Indeed

Are you on MyBlogLog? As You may have noticed .. So am I !

HART aka PetLvr
aka HART (1-800-HART)
on MyBlogLog!

This is not a tutorial for MyBlogLog or how to use MyBlogLog or the social benefits of using MyBlogLog .. it is just a detailed summary of how I personally use the service. Feel free to click the above link below my caricature and be transported to my profile in MyBlogLog.

MyBlogLog – My Profile

When you first see my profile, it says that I’ve been a member since November 10, 2006 .. but that’s not true. I’ve been a member since July 28, 2005 .. when I first heard about it on the Problogger site. On July 31, 2005 my “pro” trial was downgraded to the “basic” version .. and although I still maintained all of the required code in my headers of my main two blogs, PetLvr and 1800HART .. I pretty much forgot all about it. It was on November 10, 2006 that I received an email from “Eric Marcoullier, one of MyBlogLog’s founders” to personally thank me for joining the site. I blogged about it in this blog, as the November 11, 2006 Quickie and even noticed I already had 22 communities!

But .. now what?

So – what I have been doing is adding sites that I own and author, but excluding the “shopping type” of sites of mine .. like HART’s Picks, the Medieval Site .. etc etc. because at that time .. I didn’t really know if that was ‘socially acceptable’. At this very moment, I have 16 sites listed out of the 42 blogs/32 domains in my sidebar .. including 1-800-HART on MySpace!

MyBlogLog – My Sidebar

For authors of MyBlogLog .. you can edit your site and put up a picture. Most of the times .. it recognizes your site and pulls in a screenshot – but, I’ve had to upload screenshots on 6 of the blogs for some reason – all of them from the Battling Series. There must be something wrong with the template. When I create or rather .. ADD my site to my author profile, I am required to place code in my template .. just after the BODY tag, often in the header.php file. What this is for – is when someone actually is in MyBlogLog profile and clicks on any of the 16 sites .. at the bottom right side are the top 5 links that people click on .. in my blog). Also to the right side in my profile for each blog .. is the Widget of the top 5 recent readers that have actually visited my blog – in person (not via RSS). I modified it to have 10 people included, and some silly heading usually .. and placed the code in my sidebars.

So .. on my sites .. I can see you – if you have your own MyBlogLog profile – which, by the way – you don’t need to have a website you know .. you can create yourself and upload your image and also enjoy the MyBlogLog experience.

What I do everytime I view my own sites .. are to right click on the names of every viewer and open it into a new window. I do this, and afterwards press refresh to see if there are any new faces .. Unfortunately, I’m not that popular 🙁 and sometimes I see the same faces for a few days at a time. But that’s okay!

What I do with Every Reader That I see On My Blogs

Now .. don’t get creeped out by this – but, what I do after I right click and open your “face” into another tabbed window .. is to look at all of your sites and join each community setup for each of your blogs. While I am doing this, I will click on your link and visit your blog .. for two reasons. Firstly, to get my face in your sidebar and hopefully bring new traffic to my own profile and blogs .. and secondly to look around .. see what your blog is about .. and see if I should be adding it to my BlogLines .. and you know what? I hardly ever remove feeds from my Bloglines!

Why am I doing this? Here’s my reason: To see if you are a new reader or not. I can look at all the stats and all the refers scripts that I have .. but when I right click your face into a new window and see your own MyBlogLog profile .. it will either say “Join Community” or “Leave Community”. It is this way that I know if you’ve been to my site before.

By the way .. the above thing, with the right clickie thing from my own blogs .. is usually when I’m out blogging and in the sites for a reason. Most of the time I first check out the new readers directly from my profile, by clicking on each authored blog and see if there are any new faces. If there are, I might go to the actual website itself to see the full 10 people instead of the last 5. It’s much faster to click and go back etc.

What I do when I go to my own MyBlogLog profile?

As I mentioned earlier .. I join communities. But some other people add contacts instead. I don’t really do that .. but, I will accept any request to be a contact and add that person back. When someone does this – I get a notice via email .. so it’s easy. From now on, I should say that I will also join your communities and check over your site.

But what I’ve been noticing is that .. for some of the people who’s communities that I’ve joined .. they have come back and added me as a contact as well, or instead of joinin my communities or both. When this happens, I do NOT get an email. Instead, I see this in MyBlogLog profile .. in between the Family, Friends and Contacts section and My Profile section. I don’t have any at the moment of writing, but it says something like “admirers” or something. These people have added me as a contact and I feel it’s perfectly okay to add them back as a contact and join their communities – if I haven’t done so already.

MyBlogLog – Other People

This is one of the features that I like best, when I’ve got a little time and surf. Sometimes it is sidebars of people, and other times its in these sections of MyBlogLog profile … and these 3 sections are invaluable for me. The first section, shows me people who have viewed my profile. I’m not sure if they actually have been to any of my sites .. but these people are the ones that must have seen that I do have a bunch of sites, and potential readers. So I join their communities 🙂

The second section has two great links .. one to View All Of My Communities (at time of writing, I’ve joined 190 communities) .. and New Neighbors from My Communities. The new neighbors are people who may or may not know of me, but have joined a community that I have joined. If they looked .. they might have seen my caricature in that other community. I’ve only begun to start surfing the “View All Neighbors” link just recently, in the last 2 weeks. Out of curiousity, I seem to be glued to unusual faces .. like beautiful women with nicknames like Mark, Alvin, Alex etc .. (obviously they are just trying to promote their blog and get people to look at them) .. or of faces that I normally see practically in the sidebars of regulars that I myself go to as a reader. Sometimes I might just work in an “x” across the page, or ones with non-faces. The key goal is that I will visit their website or blog as well – and hope that they too have a widget in their sidebar, see my face .. and come see my sites as well. As well as I am hoping to find new and interesting sites for my bloglines.

On the weekends, I have been going back to the communities that I have joined and just looking around at the faces and reading comments. If I was on the ball and had more time, I would be surfing every face in the same communities that I have.

MyBlogLog – Comments

Uugggh .. can you say .. awkward? If people come to my profile And leave me a message, it stays on my profile page. If I reply to the poster .. my comment goes to their profile. If I was an unrelated reader .. some of these comments and conversations seems senseless, because they are. One side of the conversation is on my blog, and the other half is on the other person’s blog. If someone leaves me a message on my profile, and instead of replying back to the reader .. I could just leave myself a comment and the conversation would “look” better. But, the original commentor will not get a notice that I responded and I’m more afraid how that would look.

So .. as a general guide .. that I myself am following (and hope others catch on too) .. let’s keep the conversations off the profile, and into the communities!

Finally, we get to the third section .. for Family, Friends, and Contacts. These are not just the random readers (which could be search engine related) .. these are people that I know and know me .. that have actually asked me to be their contact in MyBlogLog. I try to make it a point to not just browse their blogs or communities .. but really take a closer look at some of the posts and perhaps even join in the conversation.

MyBlogLog – A Few Things You Might Not Have known

In MyBlogLog profile, beneath my caricature face, you can click links to see view PICS. Here, I can manually upload pictures that I want people to see and is public viewing. I’ve added 2 pictures .. one of all my pets in one pictures on the bed .. it’s like they all have radioactive eyes .. and another is the caricature I used to create medieval flags as a giveaway at our Medieval Wedding on August 31, 2002

I never really uploaded a lot of Flickr pics myself, as I mostly upload them on my blogs themselves. However, I enabled MyBlogLog to access my Flickr account and show everybody any recent pictures that I might have taken. Feel free to “blog this” (if you do that sort of thing). There’s not many anyways. Some people who don’t have blogs might appreciate this more!

In the same section that MyBlogLog users can upload pictures, people can edit their profile. At the bottom, there is an “Automatic Joining” of communities after so-many visits. For myself, I left the default at 10 visits (the shortest) .. but this can be up to 100 visits I believe. I suppose that’s how I got the 22 communities first mentioned back on November 10, 2006 from my “Contact” Eric.

MyBlogLog – Closing Thoughts

I hope – that when people see my caricature .. or the word PetLvr .. or my name as HART (1-800-HART) .. they think of me, and all have the same opinion. I am who I am .. I hope it’s in a favorable light.