The Entrecard Virus Season has started again – Oh Wait, when did it end ?

Has This Happened To You, Browsing and BAM a Pop Up ?

Queen Katherine has written on her blog about the latest round of “Virus Baiting – Thanks Pranks” as we like to call them.

there are widgets displaying Thanks as though they’ve been dropped on, even when they haven’t.  it’s caused mass confusion and havoc with lots of Entrecarders computers. many of these Entrecarders got the same virus that appears to be again making it’s rounds on Entrecard – by way of some very unscrupilous characters.

my statement to them is the same as it was the first time I made it ” If You Hate Bloggers So Much – Stop Blogging and and Get Out of Entrecard“.

now undoubtably someone with really sore little balls will see this and think I am specifically targeting them.  well Lil Balls, to quote my mentor Bob ” Jah Rastafari” Marley – “If The Cap Fits, Let them Wear It“.  so to you today We dedicate this post.

This is the Doctors Prescription for Entrecard Virus Protection :

If You’re In the Drive Through Lane – Click Here Fast

Check out Our Podcast of This Post, complete with a Bangin Reggae and Ska Soundtrack – Entrepod Has the Prescription

First Get Your Copy of these three free pieces of software -

1. Malwarebytes  Anti Malware Software
2. Ad Aware Anti Adware Software
3. Spy Sweeper Spybot  Remover Software

Next Take a Day Off of Entrecard -

Clean Up Your Computer;  Clean and Detrash Each Hard drive Separately.  then run Defrag to get your space back.

This Video will tell you HOW To Fix This Mess

Next Take a Good Look at your drop pattern – Seriously Doh,

is it consistent ? do you visit the same blogs daily ? if you have more than 150 blogs in your friends blogs list on entrecard, maybe it’s time to really look at what’s on those blogs that make them Your Favorites.

Somewhere in this list of Friends who drop consistently is a blog that somehow you enjoy, but maybe they don’t think the same of your blog.  Yes I’m speaking of “ Blog Envy”. many folks don’t admit it, but there are many blogs that we visit and wish that we were that popular; or our template was tweeked just so. yeah, I said it.  Blog Envy.

take a few minutes and look at those blogs you envy – what is it about that blog that makes you like it ? is it the design, the layout, the amount of interaction and comments ?  You’re  looking at your growth plan when you examine these elements.

Next take a look at your inbox and see who from this list of Blogs You Envy drops on you consistently.  this is what you want to assess. why do the folks who drop on you comeback ?  if you don’t know, drop them a comment or even a note and ask them – what keeps them coming back.

next look at those blogs in your drop list who consistently visit, but don’t update or comment – These Are The Problem Blogs – or as I call them the  Coverts who are covering up why they are visiting you and others regularly, without interacting.

there is one thing Entrecard needs to do – create a way to Block Drops from those who may have possibly been in some way a bad blog experience for you.  if Entrecard allowed this – do you think it would stop this Blog Envy and present the ability to really enjoy Entrecard for you ? I’d say YES.

there are clickfarmers still raping our blogs and many of them are doing it with bad intention. Entrecard still has not owned up to their part in enabling this behaviour. until they look at it as an abuse issue, instead of ignoring it – the problem  will only intensify.

My final bit of advice is to avoid blogs that offer you NO Interaction – No Comments, and nothing but using Your Blog as a source of credits.

Entrecard needs to mature in the sense that bloggers should be Respected. Blogs should also be given a fairer assessment in terms of credit value.

how can a blog which updated 3 months ago still be valued at 512 credits per day – when they have nothing to offer different than the last 89 days you saw it ? STUPID and one of the causes of Extreme Blog Envy.

Instead of asking for more realestate on blogs – Entrecard needs to learn to manage what space they have already on your blog more effectively. Do Not Allow a Blog which is more than 25% Ads INTO Entrecard – Simple.

if you are not a Blogger – Become an Advertiser. Stop Ruining the Blogging experience for so many others who consistently find time to write, interact and comment. those who’ve found friendship and like mindedness in bloggers who they visit daily, because they Enjoy The Writing and Experience, Not because they want to raise your bouncerate and devalue your blog by infecting it with a virus, on your return visit to them.

Courtesy is important, but Safety is Much More Relevant in this case

If You’ve dropped on me and I haven’t returned the drop – stop dropping on me. it’s because you aren’t writing about anything I find interesting. probably I’ve read your blog the first time you milked me, and felt the drop fever, not the love.  that means I won’t be back.

why not take the hint and be a good egg and find somewhere else to deposit your clicktrash like on a fellow clickfarmer.

Ever Think Maybe.  Entrecard needs to invent a category just for Clickfarmers

We think if they did, no one would willingly join it – but maybe if you were caught clickfarming or virusbaiting – you could be put there by fellow entrecarders; who would then know Who You Are and What You’ve Done.

Check out Our Podcast of This Post, complete with a Bangin Reggae and Ska Soundtrack – Entrepod  Has the Prescription

As SmartCarders, Isn’t it time We Started Dropping Smarter instead of  being Baited Harder ?

Today is Monday and we love to bring news – even on a holiday

Early in August Wordpress put out back-to-back updates; strange. we read that it had to do with a security vunerability, and decided to comply. we upgraded within hours of the availability; using the on-blog tools.

it was fast, clean and easy. we suggest that if you are reading this and you host your own wordpress blog on your own domain; you should make sure you are running wp 2.8.4. you can verify by looking in the lower right hand corner of your dashboard and the version is clearly shown.

this is our Music Monday Submission – The Ohio Players Funky Worm. Funky Worm Get It ? yeah right…

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. One simple rule, leave ONLY the actual post link here. You can grab this code at LJL Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.

Powered by MckLinky

Click here to enter your link and view the entire list of entered links…

PS: Because of spamming purposes, the linky will be closed on Thursday of each week at midnight, Malaysian Time. Thank you!

It’s Labor Day and we’re going to do a little labor around the house. we’re wishing all our friends in North America on either side of the border a “Happy Labor Day / Happy Labour Day”.

Do NOT EAT The Worm in the Tequila; and Buckle UP Please.

See You Tomorrow – Cheers,

Justafyi – incase you missed this very important bit of news :

Word Press Blogs Falling Prey to Worm

A worm is circulating that can post malware and spam to some WordPress blogs using outdated versions of the blogging software, according to a post by Matt Mullenweg, founding developer of WordPress.

The worm can be tough to catch, as Mullenweg explains: “it registers a user, uses a security bug (fixed earlier in the year) to allow evaluated code to be executed through the permalink structure, makes itself an admin, then uses JavaScript to hide itself when you look at users page, attempts to clean up after itself, then goes quiet so you never notice while it inserts hidden spam and malware into your old posts.”

The vulnerability allowing the attack was discovered August 11, at which point WordPress encouraged users to upgrade to version 2.8.4. However, many people have yet to upgrade, and reports online indicate the worm is making dubious progress by the hour.

The worm does not affect the current version 2.8.4 and the one prior to it. And it only affects people who host their own WordPress blog. Blogs hosted on wordPress.com are unaffected.

Users can find upgrade links and instructions here. WordPress has also posted an FAQ for people who think their blog has been hacked.

FAQ My site was hacked

Help I think I’ve been hacked

So you’ve carefully installed WordPress, you’ve made it look exactly how you like with a decent theme, you’ve maybe installed some fancy plugins and you’ve crafted some fine posts and Pages. In short, you’ve put a lot of time and effort into your site.

Then, one day, you load up your site in your browser, and find that it’s not there, or it redirects to a porn site, or your site is full of adverts for performance-enhancing drugs. What do you do?

Some steps to take

• Scan your local machine.
  • Sometimes the hacks have been introduced because a hacker has compromised a program on the computers being used to upload files. Give your local machine a full scan.

• Check with your hosting provider.
  • The hack may have affected more than just your site, especially if you are using shared hosting. It is worth checking with your hosting provider in case they are taking steps or need to. Your hosting provider might also be able to confirm if a hack is an actual hack or a loss of service, for example.

• Change your passwords.
  • Change passwords for the blog users, your FTP and MySQL users.

• Take a backup of what you have left.
  • If your files and database are still there, consider backing them up so that you can investigate them later at leisure, or restore to them if your cleaning attempt fails. Be sure to label them as the hacked site backup, though…

• Read Donncha O Caoimh’s guide on what to do.
  • Donncha wrote a good article on what to do if you suspect a hack, it is well worth reading through and acting on, as it goes into more depth than this page.

• Read How to clean your hacked install on Smackdown!
  • Again, this goes into detail on the steps you might need to take.

• Check your .htaccess file for hacks.
  • Hackers can use your .htaccess to redirect to malicious sites from your URL.

• Consider deleting everything.
  • A sure way to remove hacks that currently exist, is to delete all the files from your web space, and clear out your WordPress database. Of course, if you do this, you would need backups to restore to, so …

• Consider restoring a backup
  • If you restore known, clean, backup of your WordPress Database, and refresh your WordPress, plugin and theme fils through FTP, that will ensure all those bits are clean of malicious code. At the very least …

• Replace the core WordPress files with ones from a freshly downloaded zip.
  • Replacing all your core files will ensure nothing is left behind in them in a hacked state. Remember to replace plugins and theme files, too.

• Upgrade!
  • Once you are clean, you should upgrade your WordPress installation to the latest software. Older versions are more prone to hacks than newer versions.

• Change the passwords again!
  • Remember, you need to change the passwords for your site after making sure your site is clean. So if you only changed them when you discovered the hack, change them again now.

• Do a post-mortem.
  • Once your site is recovered, check your site logs to see if you can discover how the hack took place. Donncha’s article goes into detail on this.

moar funny pictures

Blogging is a two way experience, and sometimes when a blog gets little to no comments on hot topics you want to know why ?

on a blog that we visit often and usually comment on at least weekly; we saw a comment that Entrecarders only spend .10 secs on your page; like an oldman on viagra – hopping all over the place for no ones enjoyment but their own. sad..

very sad characterization indeed. we look at the entrecard top bloggers and lots of them are paid posters, who drop 300 cards a day religiously; but post rarely – what does that mean ?

it’s really confusing to try as a Blogger who Writes for the Readers not the Dollar; to understand why people bother to even drop cards if they last updated their blogs in July or even April. Whats’ the real reason that these entrecarders are still dropping on you, but not blogging or commenting ?

hmmmmmmmm,,,,,

so why don’t you tell us, why you visit daily – but feel no need to comment on the stories ? is it a waiting game ?

we’re really curious, so we are letting our lil kitteh ask you today,

Lets Finally Get Over the Temptation.. and Become SmartCarders

Some favorites of the author

today we offer our weekly PSA in a post to help you get more use out of your Entrecard and increase your PR.

This is Our PSA On Being a SmartCarder

Lets Learn How To Use Entrecard Like SmartCarders.

First off the reason you want to consider this approach is that
Entrecard is supposed to be a Bloggers Social Network – Not A Job.

There should be a link that connects when a blog appears in front of you – if you see politics, or adult subject matter, that’s not your thing -  why not move on ?

We Are Here for The Reality of Politics and Entertainment.

Ahhhhh That Dirty Inbox and Temptress Toolbar..

yeah. those are the two real culprits. If you want to have a better focus on
who you really visit on Entrecard, take a trip to your own profile.
we went to the Entrecard book last nite to see if there was a page on it
- Only to be shown NO Entrebook ANYLONGER. uhhhh yeah..

So we decided that the easiest route is to go to your blogs profile page. Just click on the Entrecard E on your widget on your page. It will Instantly Transport You to Your Profile page.

on that page is the most important tool you have access to – Your Favorites.

Your Favorites are hand selected by you; as you are dropping.
First thing you should do is to take a look at how many Favorites
you have saved over your months on Entrecard. count them.

how many of those blogs have a matching PR to Yours ? how many have a higher PR ?  that’s important if you want to increase your PR. Check it out.

Early this morning I went through mine and was totally amazed at the blogs
that I like and favorited. some of them, I’ve visited once or twice – and I’ve
never seen them again. could there be some housekeeping needed ? oh yes indeed.

First I clicked the link at the end of my favorites column

I was magically transported to the page which shows my Favorite Carders.
a huge list of approximately 400 cards opened. yes 400 – far too many to viist regularly.

upon closer inspection, I found that many of them were removed from entrecard or even dead. I also noticed many marked clearly no widget; or ads disabled.
Our sister blog Recycled Frockery disabled ads for a few months during our redesign deliberations; only to finally return and take ads again a few weeks ago.

the blogs which I wanted to take a peek at that – were mostly blogs that
I hadn’t seen in a long time.  I clicked on the cards and loaded them in multiple tabs; exactly as the tool bar would. - This is done by using the control key while I clicked the card.

As they loaded I got to see their profiles and to see our relationship played out..

many had no feed – so hence no blog.

If i liked it, I clicked the url to visit to verify if the blog was a keeper or a tosser. when the blog loaded I could almost make an immediate decision. many were dead, moved or just so old that there was no point in keeping them on my favs any longer. I clicked that remove from favs link on their profile page, instantly removing the card and the feed from my friends list – poof. easy instant housekeeping.

How Did It Feel – Ooooohhhhhh let me tell you..

many of the blogs I visited this morning actually were just no widget, but still great blogs. some of them like Junk Drawer were still listed – even without a widget. I let them stay because they are locked into that feed; and I can still read them, regardless of if they are Active in Entrecard or Have A Widget – get it now ?

the blogs who have no widget, may have left entrecard, but their feeds are still available to me on my friends feed. that makes it oh so great.

so I did the housekeeping judiciously – removing dead blogs, and others that I know I have no real interest in. somehow I felt bad removing some which still drop on me; even though I rarely drop back.

that’s the beauty of this housekeeping. you make the choices based on what you want; and need as a blogger. it’s all about YOU.

Keep that friends feed clean. use it to drop from, instead of that volatile clickfarm called the Inbox.

we’re stepping back into our respectable position of avoiding the Inbox Totally. we’re going to keep our friends feed as our primary point of drop origin; knowing that we’re keeping it clean and useful. that’s what we need entrecard to do for us. keep it clean and useful.

this is our PSA for the Week of August 5-12th, 2009.

Please feel free to post comments, and to discuss the methods I’ve outlined to help keep dropping interesting; and be a smart carder.
this post was inspired by a question asked by My Friend Cher on AskCherlock.

Hope You All Put This To Good Use and Start Enjoying Being a Smart(entre)Carder Again,

Oh Wait, Oh Hellll-ooo She Didn’t. My head is spinnin around backward and my ears are spewing smoke.

this is what we get after waiting to see what their plan is ?

they want More Pimpage From US ?

10000 Entrecard Credits – USD$56.00 (get another 5,000 credits bonus!)

25000 Entrecard Credits – USD$125.00 (get another 12,000 credits bonus!)

This offer is only valid until August 1st at midnight, CST. Order at  buy_credits

OHHHHH HELLLLLL NAWMs.  Cindy – You Ain’t My Friend; and I doubt after an announcement like this you are gonna be anybody’s friend. you come in all nice and take the pulse of the community. then you return bearing fish thinking the masses are starving. Now You Wrong – Straight Wrong.

Okay so let me get this right – Andy tells her, no salary if there are no sales; so she creates her own new inter entrecard economy and starts selling credits on a short sale – two days.  if that ain’t looking more and more shady all day then somebody tell ms scarlet to put them curtains back up on the windows of this dilapidated old mansion.

everybody in Entrecard has credits banked; and if we were to all use em at once they would fold like the dashboard. shmd

somebody go get ms kizzy cause it’s obvious ms cindy don’t know nothin bout birthin no babies.. Lawd Have Mercy Sweet Minty Jesus.

Cindy Girllll, you betta be talking bout fixin that busted ass  server you trying to pimp out. Well Now We Know What we were waiting on – Nothin New. Just More Pimpage With Maximum “Grethoric”.

Thanks Mistress Cindy, we can all resume life as we know it -

*—– the latest blog received from entrecard 07/30/09 —-*

New ways to earn and spend Entrecard credits!

Hi Entrecard Members!

We are excited to announce several new updates to Entrecard! Many of you have been looking for ways to spend your credits and to network with your fellow Entrecard bloggers. Search no more! We would like to introduce our new “Marketplace” in the community forum. Here you can earn and spend credits by posting contests or promotions and selling banner or text ads on your blog to other EC members. To allow you to exchange more credits to other members, we have increased the amount of credits you can transfer between users from 1,000 credits to 25,000 credits! This is our first step in facilitating a more open marketplace. Visit the Marketplace at forums.entrecard.com and make a posting today!

Short on EC credits?

We are currently running a special deal on Entrecard credits if you would like more credits to advertise on blogs and to participate in the Marketplace. If you spend $56.00 on EC credits, we’ll throw in another 5,000 credits. And if you spend $125.00 on EC credits, we’ll give you another 12,000 credits completely free! This offer is only valid until August 1st at midnight, CST. Order at  buy_credits

So to recap:

10000 Entrecard Credits – USD$56.00 (get another 5,000 credits bonus!)

25000 Entrecard Credits – USD$125.00 (get another 12,000 credits bonus!)

Available now only until August 1st! Get your Entrecard credits today!
ORDER HERE: buy_credits

Cindy Ung
Director of Business Development