Recently I was registering on a lot of social bookmarking web sites. Yes, it has something to do with me working on web site promotion and SEO/SEM. No, I am not disclosing any secrets here - yet.

What struck me as I was filling out form by form is how all those social web sites treat your information. Some of them post in large print that your information will NOT be shared. Another one (namely Blinklist) pushed some ads, some “Get Free Something” bait and switch offers and after declining - some more in-between advertising pages. Another one (Simpy) sent me three confirmation e-mails. The whole point of all three was: 1) to promote Simpy Firefox Add-on (first e-mail), 2) to welcome new user (that’s the one I expected) and 3) to promote Simpy blog widget. Why would I have to get all this junk in my mail box - beats me.

If anyone from those web sites can hear me, here’s my statement: if you want me back on those sites - get rid of these techniques. Now.

Popularity: 78%

With all the crap that’s been going on around lately I didn’t really have time to take care of this blog. However, the time has come - this one has been upgraded and updated.

While I was installing the new Travelogue theme, ran into Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in …[cut]…/wp-admin/upgrade-functions.php on line 623 error. While fixing the issue - killed the blog, killed the database, everything was pretty much in ruins. Thanks to smart ass I am - I got a back up on Amazon S3. So the database is restored, updated version of WordPress and new template are running, all is set.

BTW, the solution to this error is not on Wordpress web site. It’s posted here and for sake of keeping up the good theme (hey, one of my favorite porn sites use it) I’m copying the solution here.

The solution is easy:

1. Open functions.php in travelogue2 theme folder

2. Edit line 102 from: $table_name = $table_prefix . “travelogue2″; to $table_name = $table_prefix . “t2″; (you have to change travelogue2 with t2)

2. Save, that’s all.

Thanks, Google

Popularity: 40%

Okay, I’m bored with job-searching. The headhunter spam (headspamming) is starting to get on my nerves. Do you think this is unique and attracting e-mail? Think again…

My name is XXXX XXXX. I am a technical recruiter with XXX. I was hoping to speak with you about some of the exciting opportunities that my firm is currently working on.
If you are searching for a new career opportunity please forward over an MS Word copy of your most up to date resume and email me back when it would be best for us to speak.If at this time you are not on the market but know someone who may be in need of my services. Please feel free to forward my information as I would be happy to speak with them.

Thanks and I hope to hear from you soon.

When asked - what specific position do you have in mind - the reply is almost always the same:

This position is fulltime in NYC with a financial firm

I can almost swear - I always hear this same response. Are there any other firms, hiring people in NYC? Any other place, but midtown? Oh, wait, just found another one - “reputable financial firm in NYC”.

Some headspammers even include the job description, but when you reply - guess what? - it’s already gone, but they just might have something similar, so they’ll let you know.

Some don’t even bother to come up with their own subjects and just forward the requirement to all people on their e-mail list with subjects like “FWG:FULL TIME WEB DEVELOPER OPENING…”. Others begin their message with “Hi Applicant”. Figure out how to use Outlook macros, you dumb ass! You’re hiring IT people, not robots.

However, there are couple of companies that truly driving me nuts. It’s Algomod and Berman, Larson and Kane. These two are the best. They send e-mails for positions with skills you never knew existed. They send you invitations to their seminars. But they quite rarely reply to your job applications. Why bother? I don’t know.

One more headspamming trick - using a lookslikelegitwhileitsnot.com domain. Like technologyindustrywebhosting123.com - insert any number instead of 123. These guys don’t even bother with user e-mails, they just carpet-spam everyone they can get their dirty hands on.

Gee, all I wanted was a good full-time job. Now I feel like I’m in the middle of a war.

Popularity: 28%