The start of a new month seems like an appropriate time to address a few issues that have been bubbling away under the surface for a little while. As anyone who works for themselves will already know, it’s all too easy for deadlines to slip, for email to become unmanageable and, inevitably, for mistakes to be made.

Whilst this post is genuinely intended to clear some decks and set some records straight I hope that it also serves as a reminder to all bloggers that it is a good idea to take time as and when necessary to address any ongoing issues in a candid and direct manner. Think of it as a time specific FAQ.

And, with that in mind, here come the questions that I currently need to answer.

When are you rolling out the new design that you promised?

This is as much of an annoyance to me as it is to you. I’d love to blame Internet Explorer and it’s absolute refusal to behave like a proper browser for the delay but, although that piece of junk is causing some compatibility problems, it’s more complicated than that. The new design uses elements of the current design that are not functioning correctly. I want to get everything sorted out so that when the new design finally launches I can happily submit it to various design showcases without fear of being told to go away and fix things.

A handful of very talented people are helping me squash some code bugs write now so, hopefully, the new design won’t stay waiting in the wings much longer.

Why haven’t you replied to my email?

My email system is simple but ineffective. I use Gmail as a spam filter and then use Apple’s Mail application to handle everything else. Everything comes to one address and I use a simple POP3 connection to grab email from Gmail to my iMac. Trouble is, I also use a Powerbook to access the same email, again via POP3, downloading a duplicate copy of all incoming email. Another duplicate goes to a Linux latop. And once I get a new email enabled phone, something I hope to have sorted out by tomorrow afternoon, a hypothetical fourth copy will be taking up my time and my hard drive space.

Keeping track of everything is virtually impossible.

Yes, I know, I should use IMAP, but let’s be honest, Apple mail plus Gmail plus IMAP equals frustration because of Google’s ridiculous insistence on forcing the All Mail folder to appear, with a second copy of everything, at every opportunity. I’ve read numerous guides online, all claiming to have the solution to the Gmail IMAP All Mail folder problem, but none work the way I would like them to. Furthermore, getting the Sent, Trash and Drafts folders to map correctly is harder than it seems. Many solutions exist but none that Google seem to be happy to endorse. Following a course of action that Google advises against is not a very solid foundation from which to manage a Gmail account.

I’m also trying to implement some form of Inbox Zero whilst maintaining a copy of everything in a secure and encrypted archive. This would allow me to manage my email effectively, deleting anything that was getting in the way, without worrying about things falling through the cracks.

If I haven’t replied to an email you sent them please, by all means, send it again. I’m working on a custom, and hopefully Google friendly, implementation of Gmail IMAP across four devices which will allow me to work towards my own Zero-esque email system.

Why are you promoting RSS2Blog?

RSS2Blog is a tool that automates blogging. It is a blog spammers dream come true. Recently some of my content was scraped, without my permission and without my knowledge, by an RSS2Blog automated blog. A large amount of traffic was driven back to me and I profited from it. In writing about this situation I included some affiliate links back to RSS2Blog. I didn’t write a post specifically to promote it, I simply linked to it in a relevant post.

This upset quite a few people who felt that it was wrong of me to condemn a piece of software whilst at the same time attempting to profit from it’s sale.

A few things need to be made clear. I did not ask for the blog spammers to scrape my content and had no idea it was happening until I saw the spam blog show up in my referral stats. I chose to insert affiliate links back to RSS2Blog since I didn’t, and still don’t, feel it was wrong to get a referral fee as a result of bringing a product to a prospective buyers attention. It is also worth noting that I could have hidden those affilliate links as many bloggers choose to.

The blog post wasn’t written as a thinly veiled promotion for RSS2Blog as some vitriolic emails suggested. It was simply an accurate account of what had happened when my content was copied and reposted on a spam blog. Much as I, and everyone else, hates spam, there is nothing I can do about the facts and the resulting bottom line that someone scraped my content with RSS2Blog and I benefitted from it.

Since many feathers were ruffled I have decided to donate any and all revenue generated by those links to charity. However, at the time of writing the total income from those affiliate links back to RSS2Blog is a big fat zero.

What happened to the Underscore wordpress theme?

Underscore, the design that I inherited back in December 2007, was released a few months ago as a free WordPress theme. And then, a little while later, I removed the zip file without any explanation. Underscore doesn’t currently work with WordPress 2.5 and above. This meant that a lot of people were downloading it and trying to use it without success. The email complaints flooded in. The same bugs that are holding up the new design are to blame. Once they are fixed a stable version of Underscore will be released.

When are the interviews with other bloggers going to start?

The response to the call for for potential interviewees was larger than I had expected and I am still sorting through the applications. The interviews themselves will commence this week. After that it is just a case of collating them, sorting out an interview posting schedule and sticking to it. Look for them to start appearing towards the second half of this month.

Any other questions? Leave a comment below and I’ll do my best to offer an answer.