What cheek - using my blog for free advertising

I have been mulling over what to do about some comments that were made on a blog post of mine in which a company posted a comment that was a blatant advertisement for their genealogy product.

What annoys me is that I have purchased this product and find it inferior to other similar products; I do not want to promote it. The company in question does not have a social media presence and their website is quite tragic. I find it annoying that they don't have a company commitment to social media yet they use my little blog to promote themselves.

Would I be mean-spirited if I deleted their comment from my  post?

Q&A - A thorny question

Well I asked for it!

I invited those attending my Social Media Q&A session next week to email me any specific questions they would like me to address. One gentleman has taken up my offer by writing "I have booked in for your Social Media presentation and hope you will have time to discuss the 'Privacy Issue' of Facebook."

GRRR! One of the reasons I dislike Facebook is that they are constantly changing their rules and the way one goes about ensuring one's privacy. I'll try to give some specific guidance apart from the general guidelines I share for all social media sites.

As I was working on my presentation when the email came through I went over to my Facebook account and had a look around. I was satisfied with most of my settings but was surprised at how much was available on my Timeline. On investigation I found that all my recent posts were going out as public, I must remember to ensure that they are only targetted to my Friends before I post.

Anyway I was casting around for a Facebook privacy guide to give the people in my group next Thursday and found this useful one from the Wall Street Journal.  You may find it useful too.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324880504578300312528424302.html#project%3DFBPRIVACY0308%26articleTabs%3Dinteractive

I suppose that now I've shared this resource Facebook will change their rules again.

Time for a mini makeover

While collecting new screenshots for a weekend presentation I am giving about Geneablogging I realised that the Geniaus blog was looking a bit tired and that it was time for a cleanup.

Firstly I tidied up the sidebar elements by moving a few badges down towards the bottom and moving more important elements such as Search, About Me and Topics towards the top. I also deleted the list of links that was taking up space. I finally changed the copyright message that appears at the end of each post from 2012 to 2013.

I didn't fiddle too much with font colours except for the header which I changed from blue to white. I replaced my blue waves background border with plain white. Maybe this is a bit ordinary but I like it for the moment. In keeping with the family trees/leaves theme I changed the header picture I had that was an image of trees on my property and replaced it with a picture of leaves that I took on my recent holiday. I need to make this a fraction wider and then I'll be satisfied.

I'll probably tire of my new clean appearance after a while but, for the moment I'm pleased with my mini makeover.

How long is it since your blog got a tidyup?

Trove Tuesday - Russell Drysdale Street

This is my first Trove Tuesday post after an absence of two months.

I am setting off to the Central Coast on Saturday to address the local Central Coast Family History Society so I thought I'd take myself over to Trove to see what I could find out about Russell Drysdale Street in East Gosford where I will be heading.

A search on Trove brought back one interesting result, an image, Friendship Path Russell Drysdale Street, with a link to a larger copy of the image on Flickr. It appears that the photographer, Spike Anderson, is a Central Coast resident who enjoys photographing local scenes.

If I have time after the meeting and it is not too cold and damp I might might take a stroll down the path.