Time to thank the people; that make this Blog what it is.

I was looking at the backend of my blog, (The backend, is the place that the admins check in to do Admin stuff…) and I saw the posting below…..:

Over the past few weeks, I’ve noticed a disturbing trend. Many of the plugin authors I have spoken with throughout the community tell me that very rarely do they ever get a donation let alone a Thank You for releasing their work to the public. Based on the plugin authors feedback, end users demand more features, demand better support, and in the end, have this feeling of entitlement even if the plugin is available without a price tag. The reality is, that for a freely available plugin, you’re not entitled to anything. I don’t know about you, but I certainly would not like to be part of a community that is known as thankless.

Before I list a few ways of curbing this attitude, I must say that not EVERYONE in the community acts in the ways I described above. I know many of us have donated to plugin authors, have written reviews of plugins to give them exposure, have said thank you, etc. This post is not geared towards you but towards those who seemingly want to have their cake and eat it too.

Saying Thanks – I believe saying thank you is underrated these days. Saying thanks can go a long way in making a plugin author feel good about themselves for their contribution to the community.

via Is WordPress A Thankless Community? | Weblog Tools Collection.

So, seeing today is a bit a slow news day and because I’m really not much in the mood to write about silly political stories. I thought, instead of sitting and e-mailing all these people, I will write about it and then e-mail them, if I can, a link to the blog entry.

There is a great number of people to acknowledge for making this blog great.

1. First off is the team at WordPress. WordPress is the best Blogging platform around. Matt and the team have advanced in great strides in the last few years in advancing the software. I give them top billing.
2. Second off is my buddy Ryan Yaple, Ryan is a saint of a young man; who stepped into a rather bad situation a few years back, and basically gave me hosting for free. I am getting a check from Adsense soon here and I plan on giving him some of it. Thanks Ryan, you’re a saint man! 🙂
3. Thirdly, Site5 hosting; The service can be described in one word — Amazing. They’ve went well and above what most hosts would even do for their customers.  Even when I have contacted them having a bitching screaming fit when my blog was down. You guys are the best, and I mean that.

Before I get into the Plug in’s. Let me tell you about the template that I use,  that makes this Blog look so good. I’ve done little modification to it. One minor one, and I changed the header photos, and do I plan to add more as I go along —- The Theme name is called Atahualpa and it is written by a man named Flynn, who lives over in Germany. Here’s the site for it — Drop over and tell Flynn how much you like his theme. You’re the best, Flynn! 🙂

While WordPress is awesome, and the hosting is no slouch either; WordPress would be nothing with the Plugin Authors. Here are  the one’s that I use and recommend highly to any Blog that wants to do this for a living — and actually make money doing it. They are:

1. Akismet – Akismet is a Plug-in that checks my Blog comments and makes sure that they’re not spam, if they are; it tosses ’em into the spam folder. — Matt Mullenweg wrote it originally, but now, there’s a team handling it. Here’s the Company’s website.  Without this Plugin, life would not be happy for WordPress users.
2. All in One SEO Pack –There is one word to describe this plug in; and that’s awesome. You want to be seen and read in the Blogsphere and want the google juice? Get this Plug in. If you came in via Google search; it was most likely because of this Plug in.
3. Apture – Apture is the plug in that creates that neat little symbol next to links that I post to Wikipedia Entries and/or Youtube or google videos. There’s much more to that plug-in, half of which I do not even use. It’s quite the awesome plug in and I like it quite a bit. Check out their site!
4. Contact Form 7 – A very simple, but very nice form to mail plug in. If you have ever contacted me via the Blog. You have used this Plug in. Check out the author’s Site.
5. Drafts Dropdown – This is a new plug in that I just installed, but it was written by one of the WordPress team members. Check out Crowd Favorite‘s Website! – This plug allows me to access any draft posting for the blog, that I may have created, easier. I highly recommend it for all wordpress users.
6. FeedBurner FeedSmith – A Great plug-in that basically makes it much easier for you people to get my Blog via RSS. Feedburner’s Site is here.
7. Google XML Sitemaps – Another great plug in, that basically helps with the google juice. – Plugin’s Home page and the Author’s Homepage
8. Podcasting – Podcasting is just that, a simple WordPress plug-in to allow people to set up a simple podcast from their Blog.  It is written and supported by Spiral Web Consulting. Visit the Plugin’s page here. — Whenever I link to any offsite audio or video, I am using this Plugin to do so. It is quite the awesome plug in, I highly recommend it.
9. ShareThis – ShareThis is a neat little plug in, that allows me, or you, the reader to share blog postings with all of the nifty social networks out there. I highly recommend it. – Plugin Website.
10. StatPress Reloaded – If there is one thing that we Bloggers are most anal retentive about, it is stats. (well, at least, I AM anyhow… :D) We Bloggers like to know, where, how, and how many. This Plugin Delivers that and much more. – Visit the Plug-in’s website and the Author’s website.
11. Subscribe To Comments – This nifty little plug-in does what the title says, allows you to get an e-mail, if someone replies to your comment or if a new comment is posted. You will see a box asking you if you want to subscribe to comments. If you have checked it, this plug in handles your request.  A handsome young man, by the name of Mark Jaquith writes this Plug in.
12. WordPress.com Stats – As I said before, we blogging types like our stats. Some of us really like our Stats. This is another one of them kinda Plug-Ins. This one was written by the fellers at WordPress. It was written by some dude named Andy Skelton. (I wonder if he’s related to Red Skelton?) Here’s the Plug in’s webpage.
13. WordPress Beta Tester – There are actually some weirdos who actually like to Alpha and Beta test software on live Blogs. I’m one of them, this is a nice little plug in, that helps that process along. By the way, I am Alpha testing WordPress Version 2.9. Strange folk aren’t I? 😀 – Plugin’s Website.  Plug-in Author Peter Westwood‘s Site. Update: I removed this Plug in, as I stopped Beta testing. But it was a great plug in.
14. WordPress Mobile Edition – This Plug-in allows you to view my Blog on your cellphone. So, whether you are on a BlackBarry or one of them snobby elitist iPhones —- that I cannot afford, this Plug-in is helping that along. Plug-in HomePage — Author’s Homepage
15. WP-Ban – This is one plug-in that I did not want to install, but there are those idiots that just cannot be told, “You cannot do that!”, so, I had to install a plug-in to keep the idiots out. Here’s the Plug-in’s Website and the Author’s Site. Update #2: I removed this Plug in, was causing some issues with people being able to view the Blog. I do not think that it is 100% compatible with Wordpess 2.8.x
16. WP-SpamFree – This plug-in here is another line of defense against spammers, Plain and simple; the plug in works damn good. In fact, there was one instance were it worked too good, and kept a legit comment from getting though. I fixed that, I tweaked the setup just a bit, and that should not happen again. (I Hope!) – The plug in is written by a fine young man named Scott Allen; of whom I have yelled at a few times, when he was first getting started, because his plug-in did not sit straight and fly right. Instead getting angry and folding his arms, he worked harder and now that plug-in almost looks professional. 😉 Seriously, if you want cut down on the spam, get the plug in, you won’t regret it. Update #3: I had to remove this one as well, as it was preventing people from being able to comment. Although, it did work well, perhaps a bit too well!
17. WP Super Cache – This awesome Plug-in right here saves my behind every month. It keeps me from burning through bandwidth and causing my server to meltdown. It is written by Donncha O Caoimh who lives somewhere across the big pond in Ireland. Donncha is a good sport, I’ve hollered at him, when his Plug-in decided that it wanted to do things it’s way, instead of mine. He’s a good sport, he hollers back! 😀 Anyhow, If you are one of them professional blogger types, this; and all of the others I have listed are the one’s to get. It will keep you up and running during traffic spikes. — Plug-in’s Homepage

I guess the only thing left is, well, You. You guys are the one’s that have really made this blog what it is. That’s right, you; the reader. Many of you are silent, some have braved my comment rules and have stepped in and have told me that you agree, or that I was a damned idiot and didn’t know what heck I was talking about. You have also took blog postings and have left them in forums, sent them in e-mails to your friends and family, and sent me tons of traffic;  you did that. Heck, I’m just the store keeper and I just have the know-how of how to keep the store running. You people are what makes this Blog really work.

This blog, never was, nor will it ever be; about me. If it ever becomes that, I will close this blog down, sell the domain and go back to just being another unemployed truck driver.  It is about you. The American people, those of you, who are not willing to accept the lies and the deception of the Liberal Main Stream Media; but want to hear the truth or at least my take on it. Those of you who know and realize that the Democrats and yes, some Republicans; are not for the American people, but have their own self interests in mind. That is what this blog was founded for, and is what it is about today. It is about getting the truth to the people; even if it tends to hurt myself or the group of people that I align myself with.

Again, I am eternally grateful to all of you who take the time to stop in and read; even if you do not comment. You should know, that I know that you are here. I read the stats, I see who comes and goes. Thank you for your Faithfulness, Even if you do not agree; I at least know that you care.

Eternally grateful for each one of you,

-Pat