Author: Rahul Bansal

“Blogger Of The Month” for September 2009

Post author By Rahul Bansal
Post date October 15, 2009
13 Comments on “Blogger Of The Month” for September 2009

Important: This is our request to all guest bloggers to read this post carefully!

“Blogger Of The Month” for September 2009

This post is to announce “Blogger Of The Month” for September 2009.

In September 2009, 82 posts were published by guest authors. Out of 82, more than half, i.e. 48 posts were made by guest authors Sauravjit Singh and Gaganpreet Singh. Well this obviously mean one of these guys must be a winner!

Even though Ganganpreet scored more points per post i.e. 3.95 over Sauravjit’s 3.12, Sauravjit’s facebook addiction at facebooknol helped him win “Blogger of The Month” for September 2009.

This is second time, Sauravjit won in row. It seems from live scoreboard for Blogger of The Month, that Sauravjit would be going for hat-trick as he is leading October 2009 by major difference. But let me share an insider scoop with you! Sauravjit will be busy with exams for next few days so… 😉

Below is detailed scorecard for Blogger Of The Month – September 2009

Author	No. of Posts	Total points	Points per post
sauravjit	28	87.30	3.12
84productions	20	79.10	3.95
richiesajan	10	31.90	3.19
ripe	4	13.40	3.35
xphunt3r	4	12.10	3.02
bhavkam	3	9.10	3.03
gaurav	3	8.50	2.83
praveen	2	6.80	3.40
denharsh	1	4.70	4.70
worldofquest	1	3.80	3.80
akshayraje	1	3.80	3.80
vivekjain	1	3.70	3.70
srinivas	1	2.90	2.90
echoblogger	1	2.90	2.90
kushagra	1	2.60	2.60
devi	1	2.60	2.60

Very Important Reminder

We made it clear from time to time that “Blogger Of The Month” is award given across entire blog network. So don’t be surprised if someone wins without posting many articles on DW.

In fact, one doesn’t need to be techie at all to win “Blogger of The Month”. If you don’t know yet, we have a completely non-technical blog in network i.e. CricTalks dedicated for Cricket!

Expanding AdSense Sharing

There are 2 reasons most guest bloggers prefer to write for DW than other blogs in our network. DW gets decent traffic, around 7000 daily page views, and adsense revenue sharing in place.

Our relatively new blog like facebooknol didn’t have adsense sharing implemented till date. As part of our internal rules, we do not put ads on any site that gets less than 200 daily pageviews.

As of now our all sites, crossed this barrier so we are addressing this issue in coming 2-3 days.

Probable AdSense Sharing Downtime

Till date we were using patched up version of Harley’s author adsense plugin. This worked amazingly on wordpress non-mu version but we faced lots of problem on MU with it.

Yesterday only our senior developers Santa (aka Santosh Kamble) and Radhe (aka Radhakrishnan Mudliar) completed AdSense revenue sharing plugin for MU. As we will be migrating to this new plugin, it may happen all AdSense all from DW may disappear for few minutes. So do not panic if you don’t see your ads on your posts for few minutes!

Rest, if you have any other question, feel free to use our forum.

Tags Editorial

News

Google adds new options with Search.

Post author By Rahul Bansal
Post date October 3, 2009

Google has now added some new options to their search engine. Once you enter a search, there is a link right at the top of all the search results which is ‘Show options‘. Click on that link and the list of options emerge to the left as shown in image below.

Blogs and Reviews.

Once done with the list of search list there is an link to filter the search results with Blogs. That will show results which are related to blogs. Check the image below and see how on clicking blogs it shows all cricket related blogs.

Similarly if you click on Review it will bring up a list of reviews of cricket plans for mobile phones and also a few reviews of some cricket based video games.

Shopping: More and Less

Google is fantastic to look up details for something you want to buy online. But sometimes you want to look up sites which only has related information and not necessarily a site from where you can make a purchase.
Click on More Shopping Sites or Fewer Shopping Sites and toggle the results. As it shows in the image below the moment I clicked on More Shopping Sites it showed search results from where I can buy cricketing gear online. I have highlighted the result.

Link: Google Blog

Tags Blogging, Google, Google Search, google search engine

Editorial

Facebooknol – New Blog in Our Network

Post author By Rahul Bansal
Post date September 25, 2009
11 Comments on Facebooknol – New Blog in Our Network

We are glad to introduce a new blog in our network, Facebooknol, dedicated for facebook fans.

Facebooknol is combo of words – facebook + knol. While we all know facebook, knol comes from Google knol – a project that aims to include user-written articles on a range of topics, as explained by Wikipedia.

Why a new blog on Facebook?

Well, obvious reason is Facebook’s popularity. More and more of our guest bloggers wanted to write about facebook but since Devils Workshop is generic blog on Internet & technology, posts that are too specific to Facebook was harder to approve.

Now, as we have a new blog on Facebook, we can publish every small details related to facebook. We have more plans in line to further help new users move to facebook. One excuse, I always encounter when I ask my friends to connect me on facebook is that they find facebook more complicated than Orkut! Now, with facebooknol, I hope to find them on facebook soon.

Man of the moment…

Original idea of Facebooknol including name was of Sauravjit Singh, who coincidentally happened to be first guest blogger on Devils Workshop. He contacted me last month with idea of facebook blog. As I was too busy with rtCamp, I asked him to take initiative. And he did!

So if you like idea of Facebooknol (and happen to make decent revenue with it in future) you should be grateful to Sauravjit. 🙂

What does this mean for guest blogger?

You have now one more blog, where you can write and earn. As this is a new blog, we will add advertising code after one week.

Since blog is dedicated to facebook, anything and everything related to facebook is fine. This also means, no facebook post should be ever published on Devils Workshop. 😉

Thanks to…

Our new designer Saorabh Kumar, who worked hard on Facebooknol theme.

Also thanks to Vivek Jain who glued everyone involved in launching Facebooknol.

Links: Facebooknol | Revenue Sharing Program

Tags Editorial, Facebooknol, rtBlogs

Editorial

Welcome To Facebooknol!

We welcome you to new blog in our rtBlogs network – Facebooknol.

Facebooknol is our attempt to help existing facebook users get maximum out of this most popular social network in this world. Many users find facebook complicated as compared to social networks like Orkut. We will put our best efforts to help you smoothly adapt to facebook!

Actually, we think facebook is simplest and most secure social network out there. Its just we are so used to our yesterday’s social network that we find its hard to migrate to new social network.

At Facebooknol you will find….

Latest and most updated information about facebook
Insight into its somewhat overly complicated features like privacy settings
Undocumented things you can do with facebook using small tricks
Best and coolest facebook apps
Helps from fellow bloggers on your facebook related queries
and more….

If you really think we can make a difference to your facebook life you can…

Revenue sharing program…

Like other blogs in our network this one is also open for revenue sharing. If you were previously blogging on Devils Workshop or any other blog in our network, you no need to signup for a different account. Your same old username & password will work on login page.

Tags Editorial, Facebook, Facebooknol, Welcome

Contest

[Result] Blogger of The Month – August 2009

Post author By Rahul Bansal
Post date September 25, 2009
7 Comments on [Result] Blogger of The Month – August 2009

This is last week of September and we are late like never before to announce “Blogger of The Month” for last month i.e. August 2008.

Below is table representing breakdown of 41 posts published in August 2009.

Sauravjit emerges as clear winner for “Blogger of The Month” – August 2009.

Tags Blogger of The Month, Blogging, Editorial, Results, Winner

Contest

[Result] Blogger of The Month – July 2009

Post author By Rahul Bansal
Post date August 16, 2009
10 Comments on [Result] Blogger of The Month – July 2009

This is quick post to announce winner of Blogger of The Month contest for July 2009 and few more announcement related to network.

Blogger of The July 2009

July 2009, had very close competition between Richi and Prateek. As you can see from results table Richie won the race despite publishing 1 less post than Prateek.

Both Richie and Prateek published together 17 awesome posts which helped many users in our community. Overall, 40 posts were published in July by 17 guest blogger. Complete details are here.

We congratulate Richie and wish all bloggers good luck!

Major Changes…

Swati is no longer editor at rtBlogs. We already finalized new editor who will take charge in last week of August. We are also screening few more candidates as having multiple editors across entire rtBlogs network will be good idea.

If you are from Pune, or know someone who is interested in full-time blogging career, please check this bloggin-job opening.

We also regret for inconvenience some of our guest bloggers are going through.

Me and other team in Pune busy in shifting to new office, Deepak is busy with his CA exam preparation, Swati is gone, New editor will join after 2 weeks! You see, its all messed up for next few days. But we are damn sure that you guys will stay with us and keep us motivated for next-few-tough days! Thanks for that in advance! 😉

Recognizing Good Blogging…

We silently increased privilege level of few guest bloggers from contributor to author. This means there posts will be published without any review from editor!

Here is the list of bloggers who are privileged author now. The list will expand soon! 🙂

A note to privileged authors…

Triple-check your posts before you hit publish button. With power comes responsibility!

Editors will continue to rank your posts so that you get fair chance to win Blogger of The Month award.

To all guest bloggers about pending posts…

There are more than 50 posts in draft which we regard as incomplete. You have to log into DW Dashboard and submit your posts for review if you think they are complete.

Many authors use Draft feature to develop long articles and tutorials over the time so we editors never touch that area.

If you are waiting for your post to be published, you have to submit it for review. As long as it stays in draft, it will be ignored!

If you have any other question, feel free to use comments or use forum!

Some Links: Blogger of The Month Contest – July 2009 Result | Full-time Blogging Job | New Office – Latest Pics

Tags Blogger of The Month, Blogging, contest, Editorial, Winner

Reviews

Plugin To Protect WordPress Against Password Reset Vulnerability

Post author By Rahul Bansal
Post date August 12, 2009
3 Comments on Plugin To Protect WordPress Against Password Reset Vulnerability

Since morning I have been reading about latest password reset vulnerability found in wordpress version <= 2.8.3. (Details)

Those who can upgrade their wordpress installation, should upgrade to version 2.8.4 which fixes this vulnerability.

But there are people like us who are running highly customized wordpress setups which cannot be simply upgraded by single-click!

Although I personally do not find this recent vulnerability is anything serious, people who trying to hack into Devils Workshop flooded my inbox with Password Reset emails. So to save myself form annoyance, here is code I put into our WPMU’s mu-plugins directory.
<?php /* Plugin Name: Password Lock Version: 0.1 Plugin URI: http://rtcamp.com Description: Lock Password for specific users Author: Rahul Bansal Author URI: http://rtcamp.com */

add_action('password_reset', 'rt_pass_reset_disallow',1);

function rt_pass_reset_disallow($user){
if(in_array($user->user_login, array('admin'))){
wp_redirect('wp-login.php?action=lostpassword&error=invalidkey');
exit;
}
}
?>

For Standard WordPress

Copy-paste above code in a text file and name it “password-lock.php” (you can name it anything)
Upload to “wp-content/plugins” folder.
Log into WordPress Dashboard, Go to Plugins menu and activate plugin with name – “Password Lock”

For WordPress MU users

Copy-paste above code in a text file and name it “password-lock.php” (you can name it anything)
Upload to “wp-content/mu-plugins” folder.
It will get activated automatically.

For more than one admin account…

In case you want to block password reset for more than one admin account, you can add all other admin-level usernames on line

if(in_array($user->user_login, array('admin'))){

next to ‘admin’, separated by comma.

Check example… I added ‘rahul’ and ‘deepak’ below…

if(in_array($user->user_login, array('admin','rahul','deepak'))){

Nothing to worry…

Actually, this bug only affects first user in wordpress database i.e. default user with username ‘admin’. Also wordpress reset password function generate strong password which are hard to guess.

Tags Developers, plugin, Tips & Hacks, Wordpress

Contest

[Results] Winners of DW’s 3rd Anniversary Contest!

Post author By Rahul Bansal
Post date July 21, 2009
17 Comments on [Results] Winners of DW’s 3rd Anniversary Contest!

Hey guys, sorry for delay. This post is to announce winners of DW’s 3rd anniversary contest – free giveaway of $1000 professional services and $100 logos design contest.

List of Winners!

Free Blogger To WordPress Migration Service

Search Engine and Other Optimizations for WordPress Blogs

$100 Logos Design Contest ($50 for each logo)

Debajyoti Das (for BlogVeda)
Dnyanesh Mankar (for WpVeda)

To All Winners!

Please contact us on services@rtcamp.com to claim your prize. Our representative will assist you further depending on the type of the contest you have won.

Those who couldn’t win it…

Those who couldn’t be lucky enough to win Free Blogger To WordPress Migration can avail this service for $99 only. I repeat, this discounted price is for bloggers those who previously participated in the contest. This is non-transferable and will be provided for the domain name you have mentioned on earlier contest-submission form. There is 60 days validity to avail this service at discounted price.

Rest, all guest bloggers can always participate in Blogger of The Month contest where you can win $100 in cash prize among other things.

Plans for year ahead…

We are waiting eagerly to shift to our new office. Form there we will start few more blogs and will continue to rtBlogs network.

If you are interested in India’s first (citation needed :P) full-time blogging jobs, you can apply here! Rest, all designers and coder-geeks are invited for career opportunity at rtCamp!

Thanks a ton to all those who joined us in celebration. Keep reading! Keep blogging!! 🙂

Tags Anniversary, contest, Devils Workshop, DW, Editorial

Contest

[Results] Blogger of The Month – June 2009

Post author By Rahul Bansal
Post date July 13, 2009
12 Comments on [Results] Blogger of The Month – June 2009

If you missed it, from last month we started a contest – Blogger of The Month, on rtBlogs Network named.

We are glad to see response you guys gave for this initiative. 26 authors published 49 posts on 3 blogs in our network in June 2009.

But as per rules of the contest, only one person could win the $100 cash prize. We are glad to announce that the winner is Himanshu Kalra who published 11 posts under the name TooYoungGeek. He is just 14 years old and that makes him youngest blogger in our network (correct me if I am wrong!).

You can check entire results and stats here.

The Clarification…

So whats now! We received some questions from fellow blogger during the contest and I like to re-answer one of them publicly. Some bloggers thought this $100 reward initiative is replacement for our earlier revenue sharing program. Here is the clarification…

The $100 prize is to encourage new bloggers to take blogging seriously. A fellow blogger asked if we are trying to buy posts. The answer is NO. All posts published by guest bloggers anytime in our network will carry their AdSense ads and links forever.

So in the end, Himanshu will receive $100 reward form our network and will continue to get ad receive generated from his posts directly. All other participants who missed bonus prize will still make some bucks from ad on their posts!

Cheat Codes…

We have changed our algorithm slightly this month. Let me tell you insider secrets! Post like “Top 10 Tools” or “Top 5 Sites” i.e. listing will carry more points. Of course original tutorial like this one published by Arjun last month will carry highest points. We also decided to reduce points given to news posts, as we have noticed no one is interested in news kinda stuff!

We will be also giving points to number of comments your posts attract so be responsive when someone submit a comment on your post. Earlier you answer to a use comment, more comments you often get.

One more thing we observed that neither quality nor quantity alone can help you win the contest!So bets of luck for July 2009 contest! 🙂

Link: Complete Results for June 2009 Blogger of The Month Contest

Tags Blogger of The Month, Blogging, Editorial

Editorial

BlogCamp Pune 2 – Overview

Post author By Rahul Bansal
Post date June 28, 2009
6 Comments on BlogCamp Pune 2 – Overview

Yesterday, we {Me, Deepak, Deepesh, Radhe, Shyam & Anil} were at BlogCamp Pune 2 as we posted about it earlier.

The event was better than expected and around 100 bloggers were gathered despite NO free T-shirt or lunch this time. Glad to see people are seriously camping for the sake of discussion only! 😉

We could not attend entire event but for the first time I presented a talk at any *camp event (expect rtCamp event). 😀

The talk was about one of the hottest post on Devils Workshop – “Migrating from Blogger to WordPress without loosing permalinks, traffic & SEO“. As topic was a bit techie, less number of people turned up for this but we had quality and lengthy discussion at the end.

Those who missed it, can find that presentation on slideshare.

I was also glad to see Prateek Dixit (DW Profile), one of DW’s guest blogger there. Unfortunately, I could not catch up with him. Sorry Prateek. It would have been great experience interacting with you.

It was great meeting new bloggers {Krishnan, Nikhil, Anant and few more} out out there.

Useful Link: Moving from Blogger to WordPress – Presentation

Tags Blogging, contest, Editorial, Events, Polls