From the Hostmatters forums, a bit of wisdom on circumventing nasty MT comment spammers:

The key is that spammers have automated scripts that look for Moveable Type blog sites and they then post to our comments using a direct call to the "mt-comments.cgi" script. If you installed Moveable Type into the default directory (/mt) then they know exactly where the script is and how to call it.

The solution is simple: rename the script to some odd name (ex. qwerty.cgi) and edit your mt.cfg to point to the renamed CGI script. Look for the line that is commented out and reads "# CommentScript mt-comments.cgi". Uncomment the line and change the name of the script to the new name. You need to rebuild the site before it takes effect. Users will not be able to post comments while you are doing this but the entire process only takes a few minutes.

I've been getting slammed with around 30 comment pr0n spams a day lately, trying this method in 3, 2, 1...

Launched the redesign of the INDC Journal.

To those who might be less than, er, gracious when speaking of the work we've done for some of our clients...the very bottom, snake-belly-esque line is this: we give our clients what THEY want. The key word there, being the dead giveaway all in caps, is THEY. You want two column vanilla? There you go. You want three column variable width? No problem. You want lush graphics and vivid colors. We got it covered.

And, lest we forget, we do so much more than just weblogs.

Launched an updated look for Instapundit today, featuring user switchable stylesheets so you can Have Your Punditry Your Way.

Launched the new MidEast Outpost weblog.

Launched the brand new home of Brown U's latest opinion-givers, The Brown Daily Squeal.

It is nice to see conservative opinion coming out of America's universities. For a change.

Oh...did I say that out loud?

In conjunction with Big Blog Company, launched SMLXL, a blog-site hybrid for the prominent U.K. agency.

The biggest challenge was working around their predilection for print-style layouts, but we translated their vision to the web and can add one more extremely pleased client to our list.

Completed a cosmetic (and content) update of Landlord Counsel and added a weblog, Commercial Leasing Lawblog.

Can I just say I am both pleased and proud at how often our old clients come back to us for updates, redesigns, etc. Thanks everyone!

Completed the redesign of weblog Late Final.

Pardon me while I indulge in a brief pat on the back for myself and Robyn... The proprietors of Woolwinders informed us this week that sales from their online store have doubled since the redesign.

Go. Us.

This is a logo and site design for a group of scientists who wanted something more than the run-of-the-mill homegrown site the university IT guys will deign to kludge together for them. Since it's password protected the thumbnails below will have to do...

...but you get the idea.

Play that funky music, white girl. She wanted Vegas, she wanted eye-catching. We gave her this logo.

Website in development.

Woolwinders: A Knitting Salon redesign launched Saturday, January 3rd.

The main page of the site is now a weblog powered by Movable Type (of course) where they will post product updates and general store news. This is a fast growing trend with businesses (*cough*Sekimori) and one that just makes good sense. The blog interface is simple to use, even for techno-nulls, and gives shoppers more of a sense of interactivity since your average blog post is less formal than website content. Also, the comments are enabled so instant feedback is possible, always a big plus with end-users.

The shopping cart is powered by osCommerce, an open-source application. My general problem with os software is the poor documentation, and this app is no exception. There are very active user forums though and the beginnings of a pretty good wiki, so it's not completely hopeless. I was able to adequately customize the site to the clients' need without sacrificing too many chickens.

This was a team effort this time, Robyn handled the weblog and very nifty overall site design and I took on the nitty gritty of the shopping cart. This was my first experience with osCommerce...powder-ground teeth and new land-speed record for foul language aside, it is a robust app and will serve them well.

Next year I'll talk them into upgrading to Squirrelcart. Muwahahaha...

Spammers, beware - organised criminals are positioning themselves to take a slice of your business.

Virus writing - once the sole province of hooligans - has edged itself into the arena of organised crime with viruses like Sobig-F that are capable of setting up a spam-sending proxy network.

For some reason I find the thought of Vinnie the Shark tap dancing on a recalcitrant spammer's knuckles endlessly amusing.

It's a fact, AOL Instant Messenger is about as good a product as AOL itself. Which is to say, not at all. DeadAIM is a nice little program that enhances AIM's *cough functionality and gives you more control over the little bugger.