Blogging

Now this is a strange one: looks like someone has started up a blog pretending to be me! And sadly, it isn’t very flattering.

http://davebriggs.blogspot.com/

Now who would do such a thing? I guess the best thing I can do is ignore it – it is clearly someone with a lot of issues. They seem to think I am ‘John Self’ – who is a member of Palimpsest. Needless to say, that isn’t me at all! I could only wish to read as many books as John does!

Anyway, whoever you are, rather than continue to blunder around with your misunderstandings, why not get in touch with me here? My comments are always open and my email address is clearly published. I would like to think that if someone had an issue with me, they would come out and discuss it with me sensibly. It’s a shame.

Of course, it wouldn’t be such an issue if it was actually funny.

Reporters Without Borders have a handbook downloadable or viewable on their website on blogging aimed at political dissidents and the like, offering advice on staying anonymous along with the usual stuff:

Blogs get people excited. Or else they disturb and worry them. Some people distrust them. Others see them as the vanguard of a new information revolution. Because they allow and encourage ordinary people to speak up, they’re tremendous tools of freedom of expression.

Bloggers are often the only real journalists in countries where the mainstream media is censored or under pressure. Only they provide independent news, at the risk of displeasing the government and sometimes courting arrest.

Reporters Without Borders has produced this handbook to help them, with handy tips and technical advice on how to to remain anonymous and to get round censorship, by choosing the most suitable method for each situation. It also explains how to set up and make the most of a blog, to publicise it (getting it picked up efficiently by search-engines) and to establish its credibility through observing basic ethical and journalistic principles.

Apologies for the total lack of new updates over the last week – have been working on another project which has been taking up an awful lot of time. Once it is set up though, it will be all systems go again here!

The Blogger Buzz blog announces a new tool for Blogger – an extension for MS Word that allows you to write and post entries direct from the word processor. Cool. It’s been imaginatively called Blogger for Word.

Just as I upgrade WordPress, another new version comes along!