Site FAQ

First things first… If this site were a movie, on a good day it’d be rated PG-13. I don’t go off the deep end very often, but every now and then something strikes a chord and I’ll get a bit charged up about it. I usually target my rants at something political or the general stupidity of mankind (and yes, before you ask, I am very adept at lumping myself in with the target of my ire).

Secondly, this is my little corner of the internets, and I can be a benevolent dictator, or I can be a despicable despot. I make no excuses and will rule over the public areas with an iron fist. Right now, all who wish to comment must register and have their first comment approved. After that, while I still reserve the right to moderate as I see fit (including deleting comments with nary an explanation), you are pretty much on your own. I’ve never had to delete a comment on any of my sites, but I don’t have a problem with it. This is, after all, my sandbox, and I make the rules.

Lastly, this specific site has been around in one form or another for over a decade now. It migrated to this particular address in 2003 and, barring some unforeseen event, will not be changing addresses ever again (unlike it’s owner, to be sure). It’s original purpose was to keep in touch with family and friends while I lived on the opposite coast. It’s gone through several incarnations, and this latest is one I am still actually pleased with a year after finishing the latest re-design. I’m no designer, so I use the Thesis Theme as it lets me experiment and play without having to worry about accidentally nuking everything. Eventually I’d love to have time to make something specifically to what I want, but for now this is perfect for what I need.

And what do I need, you ask? What is the point of rfdc?

Primarily, it’s a distraction. My focus on the content here wavers these days, but I hope that one day it becomes more than just a place where I wax rhapsodic from time to time for anyone who stumbles across it. What you’ll find here most often are the following:

1. Book Reviews
2. Computer Game Reviews
3. Television Reviews
4. Movie Reviews
5. Excerpts from my own writings

When I write a review, I don’t pretend to be offering an expert opinion on it. I simply tell you what the experience of the book/game/show was for me, and why. I’ll never discuss plot specifics, and never intentionally offer up spoilers in a review. Occasionally I may post an excerpt from something more critical in nature that may go into theory and story detail/analysis, but I’ll never post those as reviews.

There are, I hope, lots more things coming down the pike for this site. The following items fall under the “Eventually” category, which can be loosely translated as “When I finish my Thesis and my head stops spinning.”

1. Re-implement a photo gallery (likely utilizing Coppermine unless something else catches my attention before I get to it – DONE! Now to upload more pictures…
2. Re-implement message boards
3. Re-implement the info pages I built then lost for my HS Class Reunion (GO VIKINGS!)

So there’s still plenty to do. The site for me is fun. At some point I hope it moves beyond that and begins to generate a bit of a community behind it, but without me actively promoting it that is likely not going to happen. And that’s ok, too. For now.

Plugins Used
There are 13 plugins used: 12 active plugins and 1 inactive plugin.

Active Plugins

  Akismet 2.2.7
» Matt Mullenweg (url)
Akismet checks your comments against the Akismet web service to see if they look like spam or not. You need a WordPress.com API key to use it. You can review the spam it catches under “Comments.” To show off your Akismet stats just put <?php akismet_counter(); ?> in your template. See also: WP Stats plugin.

  Blog Stats 1.0
» Improving The Web (url)
Adds shortcodes for important blog stats, updates daily automatically.

  Contact Form 7 2.1.2
» Takayuki Miyoshi (url)
Just another contact form plugin. Simple but flexible.

  Google XML Sitemaps 3.2.2
» Arne Brachhold (url)
This plugin will generate a special XML sitemap which will help search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing and Ask.com to better index your blog.

  ShareThis 3.2
» ShareThis (url)
Let your visitors share a post/page with others. Supports e-mail and posting to social bookmarking sites. Configuration options are here. Questions on configuration, etc.? Make sure to read the README.

  Subscribe To Comments 2.1.2
» Mark Jaquith (url)
Allows readers to receive notifications of new comments that are posted to an entry. Based on version 1 from Scriptygoddess

  Theme Test Drive 2.7.4
» Vladimir Prelovac (url)
Safely test drive any theme while visitors are using the default one. Includes instant theme preview via thumbnail.

  Thesis OpenHook 2.2.5
» Rick Beckman (url)
This plugin allows you to insert arbitrary content into the many hooks that the Thesis Theme Framework provides. Never again edit a file! Based on K2 Hook Up and GPLed.

  WordPress.com Popular Posts 2.4.2
» Frasten (url)
Shows the most popular posts, using data collected by WordPress.com stats plugin.

  WordPress.com Stats 1.6.2
» Andy Skelton (url)
Tracks views, post/page views, referrers, and clicks. Requires a WordPress.com API key.

  WP-DBManager 2.50
» Lester 'GaMerZ' Chan (url)
Manages your Wordpress database. Allows you to optimize database, repair database, backup database, restore database, delete backup database , drop/empty tables and run selected queries. Supports automatic scheduling of backing up and optimizing of database.

  WP-PluginsUsed 1.50
» Lester 'GaMerZ' Chan (url)
Display WordPress plugins that you currently have (both active and inactive) onto a post/page.

Inactive Plugins

  Hello Dolly 1.5.1
» Matt Mullenweg (url)
This is not just a plugin, it symbolizes the hope and enthusiasm of an entire generation summed up in two words sung most famously by Louis Armstrong: Hello, Dolly. When activated you will randomly see a lyric from Hello, Dolly in the upper right of your admin screen on every page.