So it turns out that the fix that I did where I stopped the ads from being displayed on my more dodgy posts was not enough. The code must not be visible in the HTML source either. My fault for not reading the relevant Google Adsense policy section carefully.

So the ads got stopped completely. I’ve now removed the code from my template and the ads will only be selectively added to my more popular posts. It’s too much effort to find out which posts to exclude; it’s much easier to add it on posts that I know do not violate the adult content rule. And I’m using a WordPress plugin called “Who Sees Ads” for that purpose and it’s great.

Anyways, I appealed the suspension of ad service and I prevailed.

Also, I’m trying hard to get inspired to blog more again. It’s not that I don’t have any stories to tell either. It’s just that they are either a bit too career-limiting or friendship-destroying. It’s hard to be discreet and non-descriptive when I have so many friends on Facebook. As if. Hahah!

Ok I guess what I am saying is that having one of the monetary incentives to keep blogging reinstated won’t hurt.

I got an email from Google Adsense today saying that I’m displaying ads against content that they frown upon. Their words:

AdSense publishers are not permitted to place Google ads on pages with adult or mature content. This includes any content that is sexual in intent or may not be considered family-safe, such as sexual aids, devices and fetishes.

And the single example that they listed (which they stressed is an example only and that the same violations may exist on other pages of this website) is this one:

Sex doll for your dog

Heheh I guess that one is pretty obvious. Then I panicked a little and thought of the times that I have talked about sex and porn on this blog. Oh fuck. And also the times that I’ve used the word “fuck”. Hahah!

Although Google Adsense earns me the least on this blog, it’s still $10-$15 per month which equates to 2 or 3 video games from eBay over a year. It’s good chump change. So I went through all those posts and manually added a flag that will disable the ads on a per-post basis using a tip that I found here. Thanks Internet friend!

Mind you I haven’t talked much about sex these days. Because why? You all know why. Tumbleweeds are tumbling through my groin. If it was an action movie, it’d be the shittiest action movie ever because there’s no action. If it was a porno, it’d consist only of scenes that you normally fast-forward through. Ok I think you get the picture.

Just a quick mention: I’ve installed an excellent WordPress plugin called WPtouch which optimises this blog for most mobile devices including iPhone, iPod touch, Android, Opera Mini, Palm Pre, Samsung touch and BlackBerry Storm/Torch mobile devices.

That means the blog and images now fit the smaller screens and you don’t have to zoom in and out, or scroll sideways and back to view. You just scroll one way: up and down. It’s brilliant. Ok that is all.

Update 14th May 2009: Yay! My cousin has come around to my point of view and is happy with the compromise. She also conceded that the day was a happy one, even if the eventuality wasn’t.

Tonight I got a message from a cousin, asking me to remove her wedding photos from my blog. As you might guess, the marriage had broken down and I assume that looking at the photos of happier days is difficult for her. At the same time, she probably also don’t want them available on the general Internet.

My first reaction was of annoyance. This is my blog, it is a record of my life and thoughts. I was there at the wedding and I had a blast with my family and relatives. She may not think of it positively now, but we were all truly happy for her. As such, asking me to remove the photos and the post was like asking me to forget that the day had existed. I’m not going to do that because I can’t.

The other thing that got me perplexed was that it’s not as if no one in our immediate family and social circles don’t know about her current situation, and about her having married once. Seeing her in a wedding dress in a photo from a few years back isn’t going to shock anyone. This is true even if she thinks that divorce is a bigger social stigma than it really is these days. No one is judging her and I don’t think anyone in our family is too. Disappointed and a little bit sad we maybe, but no one is judging because we haven’t walked in her shoes and not many of us know the full story.

Though in the end, after having a long thought about it I decided to compromise. I will still be seeing her and it’s best to keep things cordial and civil at least. I emailed her to let her know that I will remove any photos with her ex-husband in it but the ones with her and her family, and us the relatives I’m keeping up. And I’m not deleting the post because reading through what I wrote, I didn’t find anything that deserves to be deleted.

This post also serves as notice to everyone that I know. I blog. It’s what I do. It’s a big part of me. If you come into contact with me in any way, shape or form you might end up as words here.

I’ve already promise you that I won’t write or post anything compromising about you. In fact I believe I’ve toned down a lot – I’ve learnt my lesson. In my opinion, it’s made my blog a little less exciting and I have to think more about what people may think these days. It takes a lot of willpower to keep my fingers from the keyboard sometimes.

So in return, I hope you understand that it’s difficult and sometimes frustrating for me when you request that I remove something which I have already carefully thought out about. I will compromise a little, like I have done for my cousin but it doesn’t mean it’s something that I like to do.

I don’t expect you to have a thick skin like I do, but I hope that you respect me enough to understand my position.

p.s. to those of you who remain friends with me, knowing that I blog, I love youse all!

I’ve talked about self-censorship and keeping my mouth shut before. But it remains a tricky proposition. Some friends are ok with it, some friends are so-so about it, and some don’t even know this blog exists which is good and bad in itself.

I’ve written about a friend recently who got freaked out by seeing their name online in a public forum. They requested that I either delete the post, or take their name out of it. I chose the latter because hey, I like the stuff that I write. I’m kinda narcissistic that way.

But I do respect people’s request to not be mentioned on this blog, at least not directly anyway. You only have to tell me once and as far as this blog is concerned, you will not exist anymore. Or as Thama likes to do from time to time, he preempts juicy stories by saying “off the record”. Damn you Thama!

Though what’s really privacy anyway? The tax office knows how much we earn and where we live. The banks and credit card companies know how much money we have and, how and where we spend it. The medical insurance people know how healthy we are and what’s been ailing us.

That leaves us with sex, love, embarrassing things and other grey areas of our lives. In the spirit of showing you all that I should walk the walk if I talk the talk, I’ve already written about most of those things. But there’s one skeleton left in my closet: I loved bubble-gum pop in the 90s.

Because why?

Because of You. I Do, Cherish You. I Want You Back. Tearing Up My Heart And I Want It That Way! Bye Bye Bye!

I shall end this post by saying,

I really dig Britney’s new CD.

So remember that time I blogged about the Mother energy drink and received some goodies in the mail? To be exact: 9 cans of the stuff and a set of big plastic bull nuts.

Well, chocolatesuze did the same thing and not only did she get 6 cans of Mother at first, but then four days later she received a whole slab of 24 cans more!!! Argh. I think it’s because she’s prettier than me.

I am shaking my head at this seriously inept attempt to plagiarise my posts. The guy has linked me on his blogroll thus ensuring that I would know about his existence if I did a vanity check on my incoming links, and then he proceeds to copy and paste 4 of my posts in their entirety on his front page without acknowledging that I was the original writer.

The posts that were copied are the following:

• Men are dense
• Annoying girlfriend behaviour
• What’s wrong with being comfortable?
• Getting to work early: the secret

Copying posts in their entirety without adding a word of your own thoughts is bad enough; doing so without giving credit where credit is due is worse. Furthermore, in one of the posts I had use a photo on a Creative Commons license which I had credited the photo owner for, but this guy just copies it wholesale without doing the same.

I’m not gonna give him any link love but here is the address:
adneo.wordpress.com

I’ve already sent him a polite email and a comment trying to explain to him how it might feel if someone else had done the same to him. The posts are still up there. So I guess I’m going to have to say a bit more on the subject.

You don’t get ahead in blogging by plagiarising. You will not gain loyal readers because they will notice that the writing style is suddenly different. And you lose credibility the moment that you are caught. Even if you do become a good writer down the track, you’ve done irreparable damage and people will be less inclined to believe a word that you have to say.

So don’t be stupid like this guy. Practice your writing by writing your own words and you will get better. Plagiarise and you’d go nowhere.