Friday, May 9, 2008

Blogging Ethics

Recently, it was brought to my attention that one of my articles titled How to remove Imgkulot and How to Avoid infecting your Harddrive and Other Storage Devices (my second article actually), was plagiarized. Not by just one another blogger but TWO!

I reported to i.ph, the host of the mirror of this blog (http://tekbytes.i.ph), they promptly notified the author(s) of those blogs. One of them promptly deleted the article from his blog. But the other one, which I think plagiarized the plagiarized the article (i mean he copied the copied article into his blog), did not do a thing. So I notified the server admin/moderators again they said they will look into it again.

I checked several articles in guys blog and crossed searched the net. Just as I thought, most if not all of his entries are plagiarized! (I'll post an article about plagiarism soon to discuss this further)

So I thought, probably these guys no nothing about blogging ethics at all!!! So I thought, I'd looking into the net if I could find a good list of blogging ethics. Sure enough I found one from cyberjournalist.net and here's the list, titled "A Blogger's Code of Ethics"


A BLOGGERS' CODE OF ETHICS

Be Honest and Fair
Bloggers should be honest and fair in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.
Bloggers should:
• Never plagiarize.
• Identify and link to sources whenever feasible. The public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources' reliability.
• Make certain that Weblog entries, quotations, headlines, photos and all other content do not misrepresent. They should not oversimplify or highlight incidents out of context.
• Never distort the content of photos without disclosing what has been changed. Image enhancement is only acceptable for for technical clarity. Label montages and photo illustrations.
• Never publish information they know is inaccurate -- and if publishing questionable information, make it clear it's in doubt.
• Distinguish between advocacy, commentary and factual information. Even advocacy writing and commentary should not misrepresent fact or context.
• Distinguish factual information and commentary from advertising and shun hybrids that blur the lines between the two.

Minimize Harm
Ethical bloggers treat sources and subjects as human beings deserving of respect.
Bloggers should:
• Show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by Weblog content. Use special sensitivity when dealing with children and inexperienced sources or subjects.
• Be sensitive when seeking or using interviews or photographs of those affected by tragedy or grief.
• Recognize that gathering and reporting information may cause harm or discomfort. Pursuit of information is not a license for arrogance.
• Recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves than do public officials and others who seek power, influence or attention. Only an overriding public need can justify intrusion into anyone's privacy.
• Show good taste. Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity.
Be cautious about identifying juvenile suspects, victims of sex crimes and criminal suspects before the formal filing of charges.

Be Accountable
Bloggers should:
• Admit mistakes and correct them promptly.
• Explain each Weblog's mission and invite dialogue with the public over its content and the bloggers' conduct.
• Disclose conflicts of interest, affiliations, activities and personal agendas.
• Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence content. When exceptions are made, disclose them fully to readers.
• Be wary of sources offering information for favors. When accepting such information, disclose the favors.
• Expose unethical practices of other bloggers.
• Abide by the same high standards to which they hold others.





Monday, April 14, 2008

My SEO Experiment

Search Engine Optimization or commonly known as SEO has been quite a fuzz for sometime now. Since there are now virtually countless of websites all over the world, getting your website on the top results of a search engine such as Google and Yahoo has become a very tight competition these days. Webmasters and content providers then began optimizing their web sites of search engines- thus the term Search Engine Optimization or SEO was born.

Personally, I have made some websites and several blogs my self (including this blog of course) , however, I haven't really thought of explicitly applying any SEO techniques, nor have I created my sites for SEO.

However, I was intrigued, to say the least, when I realized when this blog has been appearing to the top ten or top twenty and , well I checked, on the top thirty of Google and Yahoo! search engines on several keywords.

Since this blog contains, for now mostly tips and information about virus and worms specially vbs worms, I searched several keywords that are contained in this blog and in my mirror blog tekbytes.i.ph

Searching for VBS worm remover, Google places this site on the No. 2 Spot! and the mirror site on the No. 6 spot.
However, since in this blog (up to this time of writing) the term is written as vbsworm remover, not vbs worm, Yahoo! will only place my site on the No. 3. spot if searched for vbsworm remover and not vbs worm remover. (Google will place this blog on the top if vbsworm remover is searched)

Other results:
Keyword(s): bunguton virus
Results:
Google: No. 2: Techbytes5800.blogspot.com (this site)
No.6: tekbytes.i.ph (mirror site)
Yahoo: No. 1 &4: tekbytes.i.ph
No .6 & 6:techbytes5800.blogspot.com (not much competitor though)

Keyword(s): imgkulot remover
Results:
Google: No. 4: tekbytes.i.ph

Yahoo: No. 4: tekbytes.i.ph
No.14: Techbytes5800.blogspot.com

Of course I tried other variations and got different results.

There are other keywords that I have tried though that did not place this blog nor the mirror site, in the top twenty like Repetitive Strain Injury.

I have also created a site which once yielded the No.1 spot in Google, even though the content was just placed temporarily, until we could finalized all that data that we need to place on that site.

Hence, I thought I would make my own SEO experiment, and find out what did I do right that I got those results from the top two search engines.

More SEO experiments and perhaps argue with some of those who claims to be the top SEO in our area. Although I have a humble friend that doesn't claim anything but did something amazing that proves that he's way better than those who claim to be the top SEO.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Can't Find Gzmrotate.dll

Posted in response to avasts problem (posted in http://tekbytes.i.ph):

Disclaimer: Since I haven't personally encountered this problem myself. I cannot guarantee if the solution below will work. Sources of the following information are duly named.

Description of Gzmrotate.dll

From: File.net

Gzmrotate.dll is located in the folder C:\Windows\System32. The file size on Windows XP is 61440 bytes.
This .dll file is a Browser Helper Object (BHO) that runs automatically every time you start your Internet browser. BHOs are not stopped by personal firewalls, because they are identified by the firewall as your browser itself. BHOs are often used by adware and spyware. The unique ID of this BHO is 6FA3DF44-D34D-4538-9B82-136D43126F30. There is no description of the program. The program has no visible window. The file is an unknown file in the Windows folder. It is able to monitor Internet browser. The service has no detailed description. Program starts when Windows starts (see Registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run). It is not a Windows core file. gzmrotate.dll seems to be a compressed file. Therefore the technical security rating is 99% dangerous.

Important: Some malware camouflage themselves as gzmrotate.dll, particularly if they are located in c:\windows or c:\windows\system32 folder. Thus check the gzmrotate.dll process on your pc whether it is pest. We recommend Security Task Manager for verifying your computer's security. It is one of the Top Download Picks of 2005 of The Washington Post and PC World.


From Tech Support Forum

This is a BHO that probably has been deleted by anti-spyware. I'd like you to go to majorgeeks.com (exact link in a moment), download BHO-demon 2.x from there, install and run it; and disable the BHO from there.

The link I promised: BHODemon 2.0.0.23

Then reboot!

=End=

I hope this helps

About TekBytes

1st of All I'm not a Computer /IT guru. I just wanted to share the little things I know about the current technologies and to bridge the gap between the real techies and the non-techies. This blog is mainly for those who wants to make the best use of the hi-tech gadgets in their hands but are not technically inclined. You may send questions about IT too, and I'll try to answer them the best as I could and if I can't and if it's worth it, I'll post your queries here in hoping we could find someone who can answer. No spamming pls.