Many thanks to my host, ASmallOrange for helping me out!

UPDATE:

It appears that it may actually have been a problem with a plugin, rather than the .htaccess file. At this time, all plugins are deactivated, so you may see some errors. I’ll keep an eye on it for a couple days before turning plugins back on to make sure that is, in fact, the case.

It’s not a bad starting point, but moving beyond that with a newer site can be difficult. I am now interested in obtaining more quality backlinks, so if you have a similar page rank and would like to exchange blogroll links, please let me know.

Here’s a great graphic from Smashing Magazine to explain Page Rank:

While I commented about it here, I thought that enough people use this plugin that I should highlight this problem in case people are using that version.

Instead of using that plugin, try this one, found at StuffBySarah.net. Unfortunately it’s not as plug-and-play as the original, but it only took a matter of minutes to get it set up.

In order to use it as a widget, you will need the ExecPHP plugin found here. Once you install and activate that plugin, you can go to your Widgets and drag over “PHP Code” – edit that widget and paste in the following code:

<?php if(function_exists('ns_show_top_commentators')) { ?>
<li>
<ul><?php ns_show_top_commentators(); ?></ul>
</li>
<?php } ?>

If you don’t use widgets, you can add this code to your sidebar php file:

<?php if(function_exists('ns_show_top_commentators')) { ?>
<li>
<h2>Top Commentators</h2>
<ul><?php ns_show_top_commentators(); ?></ul>
</li>
<?php } ?>

I should point out that the code above is not what I found to work best due to the unordered lists… Here is the exact code I have in the widget:

Want to be listed here? Leave some comments!
<br/><br/>
<?php if(function_exists('ns_show_top_commentators')) { ?>
<ul><?php ns_show_top_commentators(); ?></ul>
<?php } ?>

Now, I don’t know if everyone using the original Top Commentators plugin was experiencing this problem, but I was able to replicate it on two different blogs and have since tested the new plugin on both blogs with no hijacking. I hope this helps some of you…

Before I go on, I should mention that the plugin site states that it’s only compatible up to WordPress 2.3.1; however, I’m using it just fine on two blogs running 2.7. I also believe that there’s going to be a newer version coming out soon…

I installed it on drivelocity first and ran into a problem with it displaying correctly. I installed it on another blog and it worked like a charm right out of the box. So, obviously, there’s an issue with the theme on this site. It took me quite some time to get it to look right due to the CSS around the form labels.

What finally got it looking right was editing subscribe-to-comments.php and replacing the php call for the label with the text, “Notify me of followup comments via e-mail,” which you should see below, unless you’re subscribed. In which case, you will see a different message with a link to the Subscription Manager.

So, now it’s working and is where I want it in the comment form. I look forward to your comments and hope you use the plugin to continue the conversations!

This is going to take some getting used to… the Admin dashboard is completely different, as is the Admin navigation. Visitors shouldn’t notice anything different until, maybe, I get the nested comments working, if it’s not already. The navigation, which used to be entirely on the top, is not mostly on the left sidebar…

Again, please let me know if you come across any issues. Thanks!

So, here is the list, in no particular order, though I did place the newer ones at the top.

1. Akismet – This comment spam prevention plugin, as you probably know, comes pre-installed with WordPress. The hangup for me in activating it is that you need a WordPress API key to use it. To get that, all you need to do is create an account on WordPress.com. If you have an account, you can find it in your Profile. I activated it yesterday and it’s already started blocking spam comments
2. Top Commentators Widget – This is becoming one of my favorite plugins. Top Commentators adds a widget to your sidebar that lists the visitors who have commented the most in whatever duration you select. You can also check here for a list of sites, sorted by PR, who use this plugin. By commenting on these sites, you can wind up on their front page with a link back to your site.
3. CommentLuv – This plugin is showing up more frequently as it’s a good way to provide value to people commenting on your blog. When a visitor comments, CommentLuv can pick up the last post(s) on their blog and provide a secondary link directly to that post. I am grateful for visitors who take the time to comment and this is a way to show my appreciation.
4. DoFollow – Wordpress has NoFollow set by default and this plugin remedies that by removing it and allowing search engines to follow links in comments left by visitors. You’ll also notice that I’ve added a “U Comment I Follow” image to the left sidebar to show visitors that there is added benefit to posting comments on drivelocity.
5. Google XML Sitemaps – This plugin creates that sitemap and will help the top search engines index your blog better. While it is called Google XML Sitemaps, the XML-sitemap format was adopted by Yahoo, MSN and Ask.com.
6. Slashdigglicious – See the cute little icons below each blog entry? Those, if you’re not aware, are social bookmarking links to help promote the site. If you find something interesting, please click the icons and vote/add for that entry.
7. Viper’s Video Quicktags – This plugin easily lets me embed videos from YouTube, Google, etc. into my blog posts. Without this, I could only post links and that’s just not very fancy… To use it, you just click a button in the WYSIWYG editor and paste in the URL.
8. WP-ContactForm – I don’t like putting my email address out there for all the email address harvesting bots to come by and pick up, and it has built in security. Plus a contact form built into the site makes it easier for people to email you.
9. Yet Another Related Posts Plugin – This is a pretty impressive plugin that can crawl your post titles, content and tags and provide a list of related topics (if any) below each post. It can help people find other posts that are not otherwise easily found.
10. wp-cache – I’ve just installed this plugin, but I don’t need it just yet. If a post ever ends up on slashdot or digg, it will help to keep the site up. I hope. If you’re using shared hosting, there may be issues with symbolic links.

So, if you’d like to be listed and linked to in the right sidebar, start posting some comments! Keep in mind that comments are moderated and blatant spam will not make it through this human filter.

What is CommentLuv?

CommentLuv is a WordPress plugin that helps give incentive to visitors to post comments on your blog. Rather than simply giving them only one URL to their site, CommentLuv adds another option when someone posts a comment. You will now see that below the comment form a new checkbox that is pre-checked. Once you fill out the form, it will give you the option of selecting a post from your blog to display with that post’s title. It’s a way to give something back to the people who visit and comment on your blog, especially since NOFOLLOW is turned off.

Why register on CommentLuv.com?

Once you register yourself and verify that you are the owner of your blog on CommentLuv.com, you will have some added benefits. Specifically, you will have a wider selection of your blog posts to link to from a blog using the CommentLuv plugin.