October 2004 News
News From Ogden Point
Ron McLean
October 15 2004
Hello
If you have found that my various web sites were unavailable recently please accept my apologies.
My greatest frustration in putting together a Web Site has been my vulnerability to influence from systems beyond my control. I have found my site inaccessible several times in the last month due to the external links I have on the pages. I removed one counter system entirely after their "third strike" Their system's problems kept my pages from loading for two days. The Government of Canada Weather service had www.ronmclean.bc.ca "off the air' for several hours one day.
The AFS counters I use have been undergoing changes that made my pages refuse to load at their normal speed, and the HTML Gear service I use for links and the "My Favorite Quotes" applets shut me down on still another day. I have removed a number of things that I thought added some individuality to my pages to reduce my vulnerability. I have also reorganized pages to put "external" services below anything that is essential on the pages so that the upper sections of the pages will load and function in the event of an external service crash.
That did bring me back to my days as a technician at the Power Utility where system redundancy and backups were a way of life. You will find that Cards From Ogden Point has a backup/failsafe system which can be accessed from the boxes that tell you to "Click Here" in the event the pages are not loading. I in fact incorporated the backup system with the less graphically intense pages I created for people using Dial Up internet connections.
There is a similar dial up and back up system on www.ogdenpoint.ca that is available by clicking here.
While I was experimenting with the backup system I created what I feel is my most interesting POSTY page. I was testing the "Tell A Friend About Ogden Point" page and kept adding pictures and commentary to it until it became a good documentary page about Ogden Point. I liked it so much that besides posting it as the "Pass It On" page there, I redid it and added it to Cards From Ogden Point as the Ogden Point Page.
I listed Cards From Ogden Point officially as a new site on the MyPostcards Network on October First. That has brought a large number of counts on the page counters and it has brought some really good commentary that you can read in the Guest Books for my sites.
It has also resulted in hits from Google and other search engines.
I had decided in mid September to pay for the monthly service to the "Pro" version of the POSTY network so that the pages would have no advertising, pop ups, or spyware. From that point I took it as a personal challenge to find other alternatives to any function that would subject the site user to any form of banner advertising. That led to the removal of the commercial Guest Book, Feedback, and "Tell A Friend About this Site" services I had originally installed. The final outcome is in fact something that is purely "home grown" and it works at least as well if not better than the service I was using.
I continued using counters link generators and a rotating favorite quotes line from commercial services. They display no advertising banners as such although they do put templates on the pages. If you do click them you do get ads and in some cases lots of them. Clicking a counter is not anything that would be considered a necessary part of making a POSTY so as long as the user sticks to the task at hand, they get no advertising.
The counters I use set "session" cookies that let me know which pages have been viewed. They are not spyware cookies and the system will work just fine if you block all cookies. The counting of which pages are used does help me decide what types of cards to add to future pages and which pages and cards may be removed or changed to make way for more. you can actually see the information they provide if you click them and follow the links they provide to the statistics. -- Remember if you do click them that I did warn you about the ads and pop ups.
The "platinum" version of the "mypostcards network" includes the option of uploading your own pictures as part of the "package". Cards From Ogden Point is a free service to the user. I pay a small monthly service fee to keep it free of advertising. It has no way of generating revenue to keep it going. I'm not prepared to subscribe to the platinum version of the service.
The other part of the premium service that I can't provide is the safe storage of pictures in a secure virus immune server. I considered enabling an FTP service on my PhotoServer for temporary storage of uploaded pictures and rejected that idea because it is too risky. My computer is a normal computer running a normal operating system and I have no way of providing the level of security the platinum service does. They use a mainframe system running special server software. I decided to experiment with various "on line" photo storage services. Using an on line service had the advantage of using their security against viruses and hackers. It also had the necessary uploading and display processes established with no special software or equipment needed at my end. To be of interest to me, it also had to be inexpensive (or free) and easy to use.
I ended up using Photobucket to accomplish the upload and display process for the cards. It works very well. You just log in , browse for your picture, upload it, and copy the required URL address in an easy coherent series of steps. The free version of their system is "advertising supported" which meant that each time it was used, the user was subjected to various forms of advertising banners and popups. I agonized for some time as to whether to include it as part of my service. In the end I decided to subscribe to their paid service so that neither the card sender nor recipient sees any advertising other than Photobucket's name plates.. Once you get your linking URL from the Photobucket page, you are back into Cards From Ogden Point and the pages are the same as any other card page.
A service called Flickr! also does the uploading, storage viewing and linking very well and it does it without any advertising. It is actually where the pictures I'm using on several pages are stored. It wasn't useful for the card site because it took too many steps from the point at which you decided what picture you wanted to use until you could upload it and get the link information you need to enter in the Posty composition line. If you plan on setting up an on line photo gallery - to share pictures with your family and friends and/or to use with my card site - I would suggest that you check both Flickr! and Photobucket out. If you want specifics on how to use it with my card site, send me a feedback message and I'll email you a step by step guide Another option I considered was providing links to other card sites that provided the upload service. That meant sending you into the advertising on those sites and having both you and the recipient of your card subjected to that site's advertising. There is a link on my links page to a site with less (note I said less) advertising than some others if you want to check out that option.
I am in no way connected to MyPostCards.com, Photobucket, nor Flickr!. I am a customer of their services because they do the jobs I want done.
Click the logos for more information.
This site is a member of MyPostCards.com Network.
There is a good description of what a POSTY is and the advantages of using them on "The Original Posty Page" which you can read by clicking the link.
Ron McLean
October 15 2004
Hello
If you have found that my various web sites were unavailable recently please accept my apologies.
My greatest frustration in putting together a Web Site has been my vulnerability to influence from systems beyond my control. I have found my site inaccessible several times in the last month due to the external links I have on the pages. I removed one counter system entirely after their "third strike" Their system's problems kept my pages from loading for two days. The Government of Canada Weather service had www.ronmclean.bc.ca "off the air' for several hours one day.
The AFS counters I use have been undergoing changes that made my pages refuse to load at their normal speed, and the HTML Gear service I use for links and the "My Favorite Quotes" applets shut me down on still another day. I have removed a number of things that I thought added some individuality to my pages to reduce my vulnerability. I have also reorganized pages to put "external" services below anything that is essential on the pages so that the upper sections of the pages will load and function in the event of an external service crash.
That did bring me back to my days as a technician at the Power Utility where system redundancy and backups were a way of life. You will find that Cards From Ogden Point has a backup/failsafe system which can be accessed from the boxes that tell you to "Click Here" in the event the pages are not loading. I in fact incorporated the backup system with the less graphically intense pages I created for people using Dial Up internet connections.
There is a similar dial up and back up system on www.ogdenpoint.ca that is available by clicking here.
While I was experimenting with the backup system I created what I feel is my most interesting POSTY page. I was testing the "Tell A Friend About Ogden Point" page and kept adding pictures and commentary to it until it became a good documentary page about Ogden Point. I liked it so much that besides posting it as the "Pass It On" page there, I redid it and added it to Cards From Ogden Point as the Ogden Point Page.
I listed Cards From Ogden Point officially as a new site on the MyPostcards Network on October First. That has brought a large number of counts on the page counters and it has brought some really good commentary that you can read in the Guest Books for my sites.
It has also resulted in hits from Google and other search engines.
I had decided in mid September to pay for the monthly service to the "Pro" version of the POSTY network so that the pages would have no advertising, pop ups, or spyware. From that point I took it as a personal challenge to find other alternatives to any function that would subject the site user to any form of banner advertising. That led to the removal of the commercial Guest Book, Feedback, and "Tell A Friend About this Site" services I had originally installed. The final outcome is in fact something that is purely "home grown" and it works at least as well if not better than the service I was using.
I continued using counters link generators and a rotating favorite quotes line from commercial services. They display no advertising banners as such although they do put templates on the pages. If you do click them you do get ads and in some cases lots of them. Clicking a counter is not anything that would be considered a necessary part of making a POSTY so as long as the user sticks to the task at hand, they get no advertising.
The counters I use set "session" cookies that let me know which pages have been viewed. They are not spyware cookies and the system will work just fine if you block all cookies. The counting of which pages are used does help me decide what types of cards to add to future pages and which pages and cards may be removed or changed to make way for more. you can actually see the information they provide if you click them and follow the links they provide to the statistics. -- Remember if you do click them that I did warn you about the ads and pop ups.
The "platinum" version of the "mypostcards network" includes the option of uploading your own pictures as part of the "package". Cards From Ogden Point is a free service to the user. I pay a small monthly service fee to keep it free of advertising. It has no way of generating revenue to keep it going. I'm not prepared to subscribe to the platinum version of the service.
The other part of the premium service that I can't provide is the safe storage of pictures in a secure virus immune server. I considered enabling an FTP service on my PhotoServer for temporary storage of uploaded pictures and rejected that idea because it is too risky. My computer is a normal computer running a normal operating system and I have no way of providing the level of security the platinum service does. They use a mainframe system running special server software. I decided to experiment with various "on line" photo storage services. Using an on line service had the advantage of using their security against viruses and hackers. It also had the necessary uploading and display processes established with no special software or equipment needed at my end. To be of interest to me, it also had to be inexpensive (or free) and easy to use.
I ended up using Photobucket to accomplish the upload and display process for the cards. It works very well. You just log in , browse for your picture, upload it, and copy the required URL address in an easy coherent series of steps. The free version of their system is "advertising supported" which meant that each time it was used, the user was subjected to various forms of advertising banners and popups. I agonized for some time as to whether to include it as part of my service. In the end I decided to subscribe to their paid service so that neither the card sender nor recipient sees any advertising other than Photobucket's name plates.. Once you get your linking URL from the Photobucket page, you are back into Cards From Ogden Point and the pages are the same as any other card page.
A service called Flickr! also does the uploading, storage viewing and linking very well and it does it without any advertising. It is actually where the pictures I'm using on several pages are stored. It wasn't useful for the card site because it took too many steps from the point at which you decided what picture you wanted to use until you could upload it and get the link information you need to enter in the Posty composition line. If you plan on setting up an on line photo gallery - to share pictures with your family and friends and/or to use with my card site - I would suggest that you check both Flickr! and Photobucket out. If you want specifics on how to use it with my card site, send me a feedback message and I'll email you a step by step guide Another option I considered was providing links to other card sites that provided the upload service. That meant sending you into the advertising on those sites and having both you and the recipient of your card subjected to that site's advertising. There is a link on my links page to a site with less (note I said less) advertising than some others if you want to check out that option.
I am in no way connected to MyPostCards.com, Photobucket, nor Flickr!. I am a customer of their services because they do the jobs I want done.
Click the logos for more information.
This site is a member of MyPostCards.com Network.
There is a good description of what a POSTY is and the advantages of using them on "The Original Posty Page" which you can read by clicking the link.
posted by ...ron... | 3:41 PM
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