2.0 toolbox

Hey folks,

We’re running a slightly older version of wpmu than we’re really comfortable with, so we’re going to try to do an upgrade this evening at around 10pm.  You shouldn’t see any service interruption, but if you do, we probably know about it.  When the upgrade’s done, we’ll let you know!

We should be up and running on the new version of the blog server software!  If you have any problems or if something is broken, please let us know.

We’re planning on upgrading the 2.0 Toolbox to the latest version of WordPress MU on Thursday, August 13 at 20:00. This means that all 2.0 Toolbox blogs will be inaccessible for about 2 hours starting at 20:00 on Thursday. This upgrade fixes some minor back-end issues so you shouldn’t notice any visible changes to the admin or public interfaces for your blog after the upgrade.

We’ll post again once the upgrade has been successfully completed. Thanks for your patience!

I’ve just installed reCAPTCHA on the 2.0 Toolbox blogs in an attempt to curb comment spam. I’ve noticed that some blogs are getting hit harder than others, but I’ve activated the plugin on all blogs just in case. If a blog reader is not logged into the 2.0 Toolbox and would like to leave a comment on any post, he/she will have to type in 2 words presented in an image to submit the comment. Here’s an example:

Captcha programs have their drawbacks (some word images are just impossible to read!), but by and large, the benefits outweigh the negatives. Also, reCAPTCHA is a worthy cause that uses captcha input to digitize books from the Internet Archive! Read more about the project here.

If you’re having any trouble with the reCAPTCHA on your blog, let me know.

Here’s one of the best things about open source software: you can make it do what you want it to do. This is a big part of why we chose the software we did for the 2.0 Toolbox — both WordPress and PmWiki are open source, which means we can actually get into the guts of both pieces of software and make changes to suit your needs. And when we can’t figure out how to do it ourselves, chances are the development communities around these projects have already come up with something we can use in the form of plugins or add-ons.

Which is to say that if your blog or wiki does not have a feature you hoped it would have, or is not behaving in a way that works for you, tell us about it! We are happy to work with our 2.0 Toolbox users to get the software to work the way you want it to work (rather than forcing you to work the way the software does!), so if there’s something you’d like your blog or wiki to do that it isn’t currently doing, drop me a line with the details.

It really is all about you!

…we’ve got answers! Check out the new 2.0 Toolbox FAQ for answers to those frequently asked questions. The FAQ is also linked from the header at the top of this page.

Remember how we said we were working on installing a wiki option here at the 2.0 Toolbox? Well, it’s here! We’ve installed PmWiki locally in “farm” mode, which means we can set up wikis really easily for any faculty member who wants one. If you’d like to request a wiki to support your teaching and/or research, click here for more info.

I’ve also added some PmWiki links to the Help Resources page.

Questions, Comments? Let us know!

This is just an FYI for all our beta testers who have started a blog on the 2.0 Toolbox. We just upgraded the WordPress installation on this server (to version 2.3.3), so if you notice odd behaviour on your blog, send me a message with the details.

We’re hoping this upgrade will help solve a couple of problems we’ve been having with managing plugins and the security certificate on the site.