almostwitty

After carefully examining what I could of the HTML code in my Wordpress installation, I concluded that the best way to get rid of the reported injected spam links was to “nuke the entire site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.” - in other words, back up the blog database, delete all Wordpress files, re-install Wordpress and then import the backed-up database. I had contemplated moving my blog over to somewhere else, like LiveJournal or wordpress.com but I thought I’d give Dreamhost one more chance.

Of course, I’m going to take some better precautions, as recommended by some friends. These include:

Not installing random themes and plug-ins for the sheer hell of it. If I don’t like it, delete it.
There are some handy plug-ins that claim to provide better security, to whit:

Originally published at almost witty. You can comment here or there.

I host my main blog on Dreamhost, using Wordpress. This may have been a fatal mistake.

A while ago, someone emailed me to kindly point out that my site had somehow been hacked, and spam links injected into my HTML code. It wouldn’t appear on the site to human eyes, but it’s all there in the HTML code and picked up by Google et. al.

I changed all my passwords (Dreamhost, Wordpress, FTP), removed the hacked code and thought the problem was over.

Oh no. It’s just come back. Only this time, I can’t figure out where the code is. And since I changed all the passwords to begin with, it means that either Dreamhost or Wordpress has become seriously compromised. Although naturally my Google-fu is failing me and I can’t figure out where the problem’s come from. Although this post gives one indication.

Now I’m debating whether to carry on with this blog or move to yet another blogging platform like LiveJournal or something… bah… Or I could give up. It’s been six years, after all…

Originally published at almost witty. You can comment here or there.

Evidenced by two recent random happenings where two very distinct areas of my personal Internet merge in bizarre ways:

When news of the new Pet Shop Boys single came out, I naturally emailed it to all my Pet Shop Boys-loving friends (all seven of us. We could have a convention in a very large telephone kiosk). One of them excitedly emailed me to ask how on earth I knew someone else on that list - I replied that I used to live with him back in the halcyon summer days of 1998. It then turns out that Geoff and Iain also lived together in the early 1990s, before I met him.
Through mutual friends, I ended up following Star’s blog, which was full of random pop culture links and funny words. She was a good blogger, but alas her life was very suddenly and rudely cut short. Today, I found that a professional blog colleague of mine used one of her pics in his latest blog post - something which may well have gladdened her. Or maybe not.

Maybe it’s time to find a new Internet or something.

Originally published at almost witty. You can comment here or there.

Over the last few days, I've had a lot of comments on my main blog at almostwitty.com. Which is all well and good - and there’s even genuine-looking content on said comments, implying they’ve at least looked at the blogpost in question.

However, each comment leaves a link to a website of their choice, which turns out to be a purely commercial enterprise, whether it’s a weight-loss programme, a Chicago lawyer or a Southampton business directory.

Which leaves me wondering why people would take the painstaking time and effort to come to my blog, read an entry, make some comment related to the blogpost in question - all for a link from my blog. The last time I checked, my Google pagerank was 4, which isn’t exactly huge in the grand scheme of things. Besides which, Wordpress automatically adds a nofollow tag to each outgoing user-submitted link, so adding links to my blog is a somewhat pointless exercise anyway.

So, faux-real spam commentators, what on earth *are* you doing here?

It's another reason why I like LiveJournal. At least the comments are actually interesting and useful!

Originally published at almost witty. You can comment here or there.

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Entries tagged with blogging

Blog fixed… I think…

Wordpress plus Dreamhost = hacked Wordpress blog

The Internet is getting smaller and smaller

Why are faux spam commentators surging to my blog?

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December 2025

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