Virus alert- this is an e-mail that looks like someone trying to help you-
from someone you don’t know.
Never- open an attachment from someone you don’t know- and didn’t ask for- while this seems legit- it’s actually a virus- not a screen shot.
They are hoping you, as the intelligent blogger- might want to know something about your site- instead it installs a virus on PC’s- the “so.scr” virus-

This is one more reason RSS rules!

Hello,

I noticed whilst browsing your site that there were problems with some of your links, when I tried again with Internet Explorer the problems were not there so I assume that they were caused by me using the Mozilla browser.

As more people are turning to alternative browsers now it may be of help for you to know this. I have enclosed a screen capture of the problem so your team can get it fixed if you deem it an issue.

Kind regards,

James Andrews
Dept. Publishing

The above is an e-mail virus message.

Above- image of quicktags menu (click to enlarge)

WordPress includes many tools to format your content. Quicktags are the ones you’ll use the most. One note- some browsers don’t display the quicktags – so we recommend Firefox
The word “Firefox” that’s highlighted was an example of the “link” tag. When you are in write post mode, you can select a word or sentance (highlight) and then click the “link” box- you will get a dialog pop-up that looks like this:

Enter the url (the location of the site you want to link to) usually: http://www.thenextwave.biz for example- and you’ve created a link. If you want to make it a link to send an e-mail to someone, change http:// to mailto:[email protected] and you will create an e-mail link.
Here is a site with full description of all the buttons on the quicktags list.

I just saw the movie “Good Night, and Good Luck” about Edward Murrow and CBS challenging Senator McCarthy in the fifties. Great movie, highly recommended. But here is the part that relates to using a blog and the Internet: what used to take a crew of 30 to 50 people- and huge amounts of money to produce- a 30 minute national, live, news broadcast- can now be done for next to nothing, go global, allow interaction globally, and by one person- on a blog.
The balance of power is shifting quickly from the few to the many- so the question becomes who will be the most powerful providers? Answer: Those with the best content.
As you watch the movie- you become aware of another issue- fact checking and bias. Since the fifties, journalism has changed dramatically- with the worries of being unbiased being pushed aside in the pursuit for the most eyeballs. Even the separation between the business and the editorial sides of the business has been breached- with newspapers now willing to pander for ad space and advertisers boycotts actually making papers change direction. Blogs can and will change the way we access information- the question will be, once the big institutions falter, how will we be able to check fact from fiction? We’ve already seen how Internet chain mail can go on for years – even if it is far from factual (see snopes.com for the best in fact checking).
If there is one thing a blogosopher can do to raise their contribution to the community to whom they serve- it’s stay on the topic you know and check your facts.
In the meantime- go see “Good Night, and Good Luck.”