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Ecommerce / Web Marketing Ezine
December 15 2001
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View the TTB Ezine Archive
Contents:
- A note from Michael and Kathy
- TTB Associate Spotlight
1. Free automatically updating content for your site!
2. Join our free anti-spam service
3. Article Summary - Guest Book and Public Forum abuse
4. Article Summary - Creating chromeless popup windows
5. New project launched - your feedback please
6. From the archives - Freedom of Speech and the 'net.
Closing Notes and contact details
Greetings All,
As 2001 draws to a close, we contemplate the years' events on Taming the Beast and we thank all of you for your support.
Unfortunately, the world is still not a safe place to live in, but we shouldn't give up hope that one day it will be. While none of us can change the entire world as individuals, we can positively influence the space we affect. If enough of us do this, global change will follow. Idealistic, perhaps even unrealistic? A fair comment, but.... have we ever really tried it?
Included in this issue is an article from our archives that deals with the concept of "freedom of speech" and it's practice on the Internet. We'll also preview two other new articles published by Michael and take a look at some of the new free services available to you from Taming the Beast.net.
THANKS YAN!!!
We'd also like to thank Yan R. from Quebec, who pointed out to us an issue with the article on creating custom error pages. In the article, I referred to a site with an excellent tutorial on configuring servers for custom error pages. Only problem was, when Yan clicked on the link it brought up a 404 - File not Found error!!! I've updated the article and instead of relying on links to external tutorials, I've included the lines of code for server configuration. You can view the revised article here:
http://www.tamingthebeast.net
/articles/customerrorpages.htm
Many articles are available from our site, free for reproduction on your web site or ezine. Subjects covered include Web Design, Internet Promotion and Marketing, Security and of a general cyberspace related theme. The article index can be viewed at:
http://www.tamingthebeast.net
/articles/articlemain.htm
Don't forget to check out the other great resources on Taming the Beast.net! You can find ecommerce solutions, web development tools, hosting options and our very popular free cellular ring tones and tunes for Nokia and Ericsson mobile phones! New releases were posted up yesterday.
Please forward this newsletter on to those who you feel may be interested in the subjects discussed. If you have received this in error, we apologise, and by replying to this email with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line, we'll remove you from our list promptly. To those of you who have subscribed, we assure you that your email address will not be distributed to any other party for any reason, in accordance with our privacy policy.
Michael and Kathy
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TTB Associate Spotlight
Did you know?...
Your web site is currently being covered with unwanted yellow or blue competitor links which are misdirecting your visitors, stealing your potential clients, and siphoning off your web traffic thereby decreasing your sales ......
Learn more here:
http://www.unwantedlinks.com
/intro.htm
(If you would like your site to be mentioned in the TTB Associate Spotlight, drop us a line - it's free!)
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1. Free automatically updating content for your site!
If you run a web design/development or ecommerce resources site; you may already be using the articles freely available for reproduction from Taming the Beast.net. In an effort to make your life easier and with the assistance of Michael's elves (plus a couple of lines of javascript), you can now have articles automatically updating on your site - It's the new free "BEASTFEED" service!
For details:
http://www.tamingthebeast.net
/misc/contentfeed.htm
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2. Beat Guestbook and Public Forum Spam!
Sick of clearing out inappropriate links from your Guest book and forums? Send a message loud and clear to spammers by joining our free anti-spam service! We've already succeeded in shutting down a child pornography related site and look forward to getting rid of many more!
For details:
http://www.tamingthebeast.net
/antispam/antispam.htm
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3. Article summary - Guest Book and Public Forum Abuse
"Guest Books and online discussion boards are great methods of obtaining feedback from web site visitors. Unfortunately, a number of idiots use these public feedback mechanisms for more devious means. We had the web site of one of these idiots shut down a couple of days ago. More on that a little later in this article...."
View the full article:
http://www.tamingthebeast.net
/articles/guestbookforumspam.htm
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4. Tutorial summary - Creating chromeless popup windows
(Thanks to Mann M. for requesting this tutorial - if you would like to see a certain aspect covered in our articles, let us know - it saves us having to come up with ideas!)
"Hate 'em or love 'em; popup windows are a constant companion during our Internet surfing. But they can be quite useful, especially the chromeless variety.
A chromeless popup window is one that doesn't show the browsers menu or tool bar, but does retain the title bar (for easy closing). Some visitors have so many options on their tool bars that they take up over a quarter of the screen height!...."
View article and coding snippets:
http://www.tamingthebeast.net
/articles/chromeless-popup.htm
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5. New Project Launched - your feedback please..
Last week saw the launch of our new project: http://www.workskil.com.au . Workskil Inc, one of South Australia's leading employment services providers, contracted us to produce a web site showcasing their services.
We'd love to get some feedback on what you think of the site. There are still a few minor edits to be published up next week, but please take a look and if you have the time, send us a critique.
The site was created to be updated using in-house resources only and needed to be FrontPage 2000 friendly. No Perl, PHP, ASP or databases were permitted in the construction. Javascript was to be kept to a minimum. Black and Blue was utilised to keep in harmony with the company branding.
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6. From the archives (May 2001)
Freiheit der Rede!
My apologies to any of our German readers if I have used an incorrect tranlsation of this articles title - "Freedom of Speech"
Freedom is an interesting word. It conjures up images of a life without labour or worries. Years ago, one of my lecturers stated: "There are two types of freedom, one without responsibility and one with - most of us want the first". And he was quite right. How many times in our lives have we said to another person "I always speak my mind".
But how many of us take responsibility for what we say?
The reason that issue has been brought to the forefront of my mind again is after hearing some news (from a good source) of an online service being subpoenaed to provide the name of a user who was possibly divulging trade secrets on a discussion board. No names will be mentioned in this article, but it serves as good warning to all of us who like to "speak our mind".
The story, briefly, is this - A user was posting comments about his employer's progress in a particular project. The user did not specify any details of how the product was being developed, but on the general state of it's progress. His employer caught wind of the messages (I don't know how) and then called in the lawyers. The online service (a major player) was then subpoenaed to provide the users name. The OLS is giving the user 15 days to address the issue, or it will provide the information to the courts. This is not the first time the OLS has been under pressure to do so.
Is this "Big Brother" or merely someone being made responsible for his comments? I won't comment on that, but I can envision a point in the not too distant future where legal firms will employ people purely to cruise the net's discussion forums to capture threads where employees are slamming their employers. They would also be targetting employees who divulge what could be classified as "commercial in confidence" information - your first amendment rights, freedom of speech rights, or whatever you call them in your country will not protect you. The law firms would then send the thread to the company in question, and offer their services in tracking the
"culprit" down.
You heard it first on www.tamingthebeast.net............
If this all sounds a bit fanciful and paranoid, consider this.....
A couple of years ago, I was working as a manager in an international restaurant chain. I recieved a fax marked "confidential" and something along the lines of "to be read by managers only". The fax contained a warning about a rumour circulating the Internet regarding the company methods of obtaining ingredients. A copy of the posting accompanied the fax. It was the most ridiculous and funny rumour I had ever heard; no one could possibly have taken it seriously.......but the company did. They hired an investigative team to track down the source and were more than ready to prosecute to the full extent of the law. The fax also contained strict instructions on how to deal
with people who had heard the rumour and questioned it.
Are you running discussion boards on your Web Site? If so, without having to become too much a censor, it may be wise in your welcome and board rules messages to warn users that if push comes to shove, you may have to divulge their details in accordance with the laws of your country.
So while the internet and our web sites are an excellent way to communicate our thoughts and feelings to the world, remember....
Freedom has it's price...........
Michael Bloch
michael@tamingthebeast.net
http://www.tamingthebeast.net
Tutorials, web content and tools, software and community.
Web Marketing, eCommerce & Development solutions.
____________________________________
Copyright information....If you wish to reproduce this article, please acknowledge "Taming the Beast" by including a hyperlink or reference to the website (www.tamingthebeast.net) & send me an email letting me know. The article must be reproduced in it's entirety & this copyright statement must be included. Thanks. Visit www.tamingthebeast.net to view other great articles FREE for reproduction!
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Well, that's all for this Taming the Beast update. We appreciate your support and the next time you visit, take the time to fully explore the site as it is expanding rapidly. We are very open to feedback, so please don't hesitate in contacting us.
We hope that life is treating you kindly. We hope for a better world.
Regards from Australia
Michael Bloch & Katherine Tyndale
Taming the Beast - Established 1995
michael@tamingthebeast.net
kathy@tamingthebeast.net
www.tamingthebeast.net
Tutorials, web content and tools, software and community
Marketing, eCommerce and Web Development Services
To subscribe to this newsletter, simply send a blank email to:
mailto:subscribe@tamingthebeast.net
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