LISNews

Possible LISNews Meetup In Orlando?

Blake — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 12:05:50 -0500

Any LISNewsterz in the Orlando area?

I'm going to be in town for a conference November 17th - 19th.

Maybe if there's any interest we could get together?

[Update 11-10-2008 1:1pm Eastern Time]

So a couple people said they will be in the neighborhood. It looks like I'm booked until 7 on Tuesday, and 6 Wed. and Thurs. I don't know the best place to meet, but I can only assume my hotel, the JW Marriott Orlando, Grande Lakes, is way too expensive to just have a few drinks. I will have a rental car and I don't mind driving, but I have no idea where would be a good place to meet.

Happy 9th Birthday LISNews!!

Blake — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 08:05:40 -0500

LISNews started on this day in 1999. LISNews has been through 4 web servers, and 4 different content management systems. LISNews remains an interesting place to read and discuss issues thanks to all the many people who work to keep the site going.

Every year I do my best to thank everyone who works hard to make LISNews. People Like Stephen Michael Kellat who does the podcast. Everyone who has submitted stories over the years, Lee Hadden, Bob Cox, Charles Davis, Gary Price, Steven Fessenamiar.

All the LISNews authors who've come and gone like Steven M. Cohen, Rochelle Hartman, Ieleene and many others. The current authors like Birdie, Bibliofuture, Great Western Dragon and everyone else who posts stories I'd never find. More authors make this site better. More collaboration, more cooperation, and more involvement from more people can only help make LISNews stronger. They bring diversity, breadth, and depth. There must be a nice slogan there somewhere.

There are three people who really made this all possible. Without their help, LISNews would not exist as it does today. Joe Frazee for his Linux skills, Nabeal Ahmed for teaching me how to program, and Steve Galbraith for posting stories with me in the early days.

There are far too many people involved with LISNews for me to be able to thank everyone, and that's the beauty of it all. I've always strived to make LISNews an open site that allows as many people to participate as possible. I think collaboration is the key to success in most ventures, and LISNews is no exception. I've never really thought of LISNews as "my site," because it's truly a group effort, I just keep the thing running. At this point I've either been proven right on that idea, or the site is empty. Everyone who has had special "author powers" deserves a big pat on the back for the time and effort they put in to post stories. The authors are really the most important part of the site, since they are the people who post the stories that keep us all coming back. Someday, I hope, I'll be able to pay them for their hard work.

LISNews started as a small, hand made, static HTML site with a few pages, and just a few stories. I simply wanted to see if I could make a web site, any web site. I eventually figured out how to get PHPSlash installed and running, and that code kept us going for a few years. Several years ago back I said farewell to that dear old friend, and untold hours of development, and moved to the "real" Slashcode. Slashcode allowed more interaction and participation. With journals, moderation, the zoo, and many other features. Slashcode was nice, but it was also a huge PITA, so a couples years back I moved to Drupal, and never regretted it for a second. LISNews now provides what seems like a never ending array of goodies to help kill some time at work, or home, or wherever you happen to be.

So that's where we've been, where we are now, what about where we're going?
Honestly, I don't know. The future of LISNews is still not clear to me at this point, and it's not from lack of ideas, but rather, too many ideas, and no time to move on them. That's not to say the long term future has ever been clear to me, but it may actually be less clear now than ever before. Lately I've had even more ideas, and even less time. I just don't know what direction to move in now. At this point I can't imagine life with out it, but I'm not entirely sure what to do with it, what to change, or what to leave unchanged.

I've really enjoyed watching the site grow over the years, watching the hits increase, and the comments and participation come alive has been wonderful. It's been fun watching the journals. The journals are being used much more than I had thought/hoped they would have been, and a few have actually generated some discussion, so I know they're being read. It's been even more fun watching the moderation

I just hope the site will remain interesting for people. I don't want LISNews to stagnate, but at the same time I don't want to move too quickly and try things that are not of any interest to people. The site continues to be interesting to me, and I hope we can continue to make it interesting to others as well. New features will, I hope, add to our usefulness.

With a growing family and LISHost I have less time to devote to LISNews, so many ideas, so little time, this is why I am always looking for more authors. Many days it's all me, and I don't like that. I don't think of this is my site, and you all shouldn't be stuck reading just what I post. The variety, depth and breadth of stories we get from having more people participate really makes things more interesting.

Please consider helping out if you have time. Share a story, write a story, volunteer as an author, moderate or simply leave a comment. Aloha, and always, I value your feedback.

LISNews Turns 9 Years Old Next Week

Blake — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:44:32 -0400

LISNews Turns 9 Years Old Next Week!
Anyone have any good ideas on how we can celebrate?

Tasty Tidbits from the New MaintainIT Cookbook: A Free Introductory Webinar

Anonymous Patron — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:29:06 -0400

MaintainIT Has Cooked Up Something Special for You!
We're so excited about the new MaintainIT Cookbook, "Planning for Success"! Full of no fuss recipes for technology success, quick, easy and tested by our librarian chefs around the country. And best of all, like all of the other MaintainIT materials, it is FREE. Join us for a 20-minute introduction (3 different time slots) to hear about the exciting new content! Brenda and Stephanie will share 20 Samples in 20 Minutes—it'll be like Iron Chef on fast forward.

· Tasty Tidbits from the New MaintainIT Cookbook: A Free Introductory Webinar
When: 10/29/2008 9:00am - 9:20am Pacific
Duration: 20-minutes
Where: Register here: https://cc.readytalk.com/registration/10ac1yulr6aq5/sh7hbisvja7n
· Tasty Tidbits from the New MaintainIT Cookbook: A Free Introductory Webinar
When: 10/29/2008 9:30am - 9:50am Pacific
Duration: 20-minutes
Where: Register here: https://cc.readytalk.com/registration/14k03hc1ass64/yd6hfxma5fag
· Tasty Tidbits from the New MaintainIT Cookbook: A Free Introductory Webinar
When: 10/29/2008 10:00am - 10:20am Pacific
Duration: 20-minutes
Where: Register here: https://cc.readytalk.com/registration/1jfi0he5ig1wq/us1jlj26nl6l

--Stephanie Gerding, MaintainIT Contributor
http://stephaniegerding.com

LISNews And Libraries Discussed on TWiS Radio Show

Blake — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 08:44:18 -0400

LISNews got mentioned on a radio show! You can find their online edition Right Here. LISNews, Fang-face, Stephen Michael Kellat, Sarah Palin, libraries, and book banning came up on TWIS last week. It's the first story they discuss so you don't need to sit through the entire thing if science ain't quite your thing.

Three Fee-Free Library Webinars from MaintainIT: Laptops, Training, and Gaming

Anonymous Patron — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:05:21 -0400

Join us for these free webinars. Attend this session from your library, no travel needed!

At the MaintainIT Project (www.maintainitproject.org), we interview hundreds of librarians about how they maintain, support, and sustain their public computers. We then publish all of their experiences, successes, and challenges in FREE guides called Cookbooks, so librarians can learn from the experiences of others who’ve done it before them. The best part? Everything the MaintainIT Project does is FREE (thanks to a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant), and everything is on www.maintainitproject.org . We also produce free webinars every month!

Sept. 30th Cookbook Book Club: How Much Help Should You Provide Patrons With Laptops?
When: 09/30/2008 9:00am - 10:00am Pacific
Where: Register on MaintainIT's webinar space. https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/schedule/display.do?rfe=1aboa5dakke0&udc=1sjlixarncf42 Download and read the Cookbook chapter (pdf) here: http://www.maintainitproject.org/files/CB2_Meal%20Plan%20Three.pdf
This month Brenda Hough will lead a lively discussion where you can share ideas, feedback, and ask questions about providing help and support to patrons using laptops. Find out how other libraries have handled troubleshooting, security, parking lot surfers, space issues and more!

Oct. 8th Train-the-Trainer: The Power of Stories in Technology Training
When: 10/08/2008 11:00am - 12:00pm Pacific
Where: Register on MaintainIT's webinar space, (https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/schedule/display.do?rfe=7sdkia97utgq&udc=8yml38uymdo1) and come prepared to share your training tips, too.
Library trainers from around the country are finding this popular webinar series a great opportunity to discuss training tips, techniques and resources. This month we will focus on how storytelling can enhance your participants’ learning and retention.

Oct. 16th 30 Minute Webinar: Get Your Game On: Quick tips to start a gaming program
When: 10/16/08, 11:00am – 11:30am Pacific
Where: WebJunction's webinar space (Please register on WebJunction: http://www.webjunction.org/maintainit-webinars/resources/overview)
Join Lori Reed, Employee Learning Coordinator at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg, as she interviews Beth Gallaway, a library trainer/consultant specializing in gaming, technology, and youth services. This will be a fast-paced and interactive session introducing the idea of gaming programs in libraries.

Thanks!
Stephanie Gerding, MaintainIT Contributor
http://stephaniegerding.com

Handbasket

mdoneil — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 21:31:20 -0400

Wow, go away for a few days and return to more of the same nonsense. Palin is the Devil? Typical? Pimps?

I didn't see any librarians when I was out west (everything is west of Florida). Nobody seemed to miss them.

I did talk to a few people, mostly phyisicans and nurses who think the whole Gov. Palin book banning thing is a tempest in a teapot. Some even though removing some of the 'crap' from libraries would be a good idea. Christians, Jews, a Moslem - 8 of 8 said they could care less if Palin asked to have a book removed. While not all were certain for whom they were going to vote, all of those that were certain were not going to vote for Obama/Biden.

As physicians, nurses, radiographers, and other medical professionals they all noted we would be no better off, and probably worse off if a socialized medicine program were instituted. One even remarked that the food stamp people have all day to sit around government offices waiting for clerks to shuffle their papers, but I have work to do and I don't want a doctor visit to turn into a day long affair. While I may not have put it exactly that way, I share the sentiment.

As time goes on I care less about libraries and librarians. Librarians play Chicken Little - think of the post about Vice President Palin cutting up books in the LOC. Every time someone wants a book removed we hear cries from librarians as if they were having an eye plucked out. Nobody but librarians cares, about these things, the world will not end it Daddy's Roommate is not on the library shelf.

Pretending they are doing a public service when delaying police investigations, or refusing to let the cops look at public computers - things of which there may indeed be nuances, but which librarians have no response other than NO PATRON PRIVACY IS SACROSANCT even if they are murders just makes them look stupid. Sure plenty of people write about it on the librarian blogs, but most people just read the newspaper article and think what clowns.

Librarians should not be allowed to the make public statements they often say the wrong things. If they would demonstrate they are working with the police or the person who wants a book re-evaluated rather than screaming about rights they would be not viewed as overzealous clerks by the taxpayers.

If they explained that library records are treated by librarians the same way that your NCIC profile, or drivers license records are treated by the police - they are limited access records and frequently require authorization, or Court action to share them, then the public - and the police- would understand better.

I really have enjoyed the last few days, helping some people, giving some local nurses much needed time off and working in their hospital and setting up a free standing minor medical facility. I like it more than being a librarian. I like my day job too, more than being a librarian although it is tangentially related - very tangentially.

However the whackyness here is just not worth it. I remember some of the good discussions, Slashgirl and GregS, Daniel, Rochelle, Crumudgeony, tangonat - some of these people agreed with me, lots didn't. However the discussions seemed to have more substance a while ago. The grass was greener, the summers were longer, and I had all my hair back then too.

LISNews has become somewhat of an asylum of late, and I don't think I want to be an inpatient. I'm sure I'll stop by as an outpatient from time to time.

Take your meds!

Not worth it

mdoneil — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 23:38:02 -0400

This place is getting stranger and stranger. The sex offenders, the people posting on old discussions, the hit and run posts. I am going out Mexico way... well Texas way as part of a DMAT team tomorrow afternoon.

I was going to bring my laptop along, but I don't think it is worth it. I think it will be nice to be away from the computer for a while. The Palin non-story is really beginning to tire me from typing the same thing, and then someone else comes along to try to make a scandal out of it, now that is fine, but it is obvious that nobody is reading the other posts on this site as all of the points and counter points have been made already James and Shana.

I prefer LISNews as a whole rather than just the comments I've been reading lately. It seems my style of reading LISNews has shifted from the center - where the real...well LIS News is, to the comments on the side. I think will change back and a little break may just help that. I am glad to hear Sanford Berman is getting well, and I think I may read Charlie again after reading the Roald Dahl story, and September 13 is Roald Dahl day!

So not reading LISNews for a few days will be a good thing. Perhaps some of the whackyness will go away when I stop reading and posting. Hey, quit thinking that! Correlation does not equal causation.

Stay safe my hurricane facing friends. I'll be in your town over the weekend so if you need a nurse or a librarian just yell.

Comments, Commentors, Spammers and Mollom

Blake — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:30:13 -0400

LISNews has been running on Drupal for about a year now. Before that we ran on Slashcode for a few years, before that it was PHPSlash for a couple years, and even before that I did it all by hand. If you run (or read) blogs you know comment spam is a big problem. If all you do is run or read a blog you actually have NO idea just how bad it really is. I'd estimate about 80% of all POST requests to all the LISHosted sites are spammers. When I have LISNews on the LISHost servers I worked hard at fine tuning the mod_security rules to combat spam.

Within hours of moving to Ibiblio I could see they have very different rules, and I'd need to do something else. I'm actually surprised just how good my rules were working. So I turned on CAPTCHAs. I tried some images, reCAPTCHA, Math, and finally the basic text CAPTCHAs to fight spam. They also worked. A few weeks ago I got a complaint that the CAPTCHAs were getting in the way. This wasn't the first time, so I thought I'd try something new, I turned to Mollom.

I was shocked that within a day the number of comments went up. It's been a few weeks now, and I continue to be shocked at the number of comments we're seeing. Mollom is doing a decent job blocking spam, but more importantly it's letting more people comment. The bad guys are kept out (for the most part) and the good guys have a very low hurtle to get over. (Or at least I think so. If the current trend holds, then I'll be convinced that it is indeed Mollom and not just a coincidence). Two charts that illustrate what I'm seeing on this end

1. The number of comments per day over the past 90 days. You can see the big upward trend cutting right through the middle.

2. Mollom generates these nice little graphs to show you how much it's blocking and allowing. The big orange area is spam, the small green area is real. The numbers here surprised me right away, Mollom catches just about everything that mod_security now misses.

So to summarize, this is exactly what I've been looking for, I love Mollom. It does a really good job (not perfect) of blocking garbage spam comments, and apparently does a really good job (better than standard Drupal CAPTCHAs) of letting real people leave real comments. I guess we can debate how much of that is garbage :-)