web

My WordPress site was hacked yesterday – here’s how I fixed it

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I was off for Family Day yesterday and I had planned to spend Flora’s naptime getting some writing done for this site.

(Sean was trying to spend his time catching up on some work. Our priorities may be a little messed up here.)

It was bad enough that Flora wouldn’t nap, but then I discovered that my site was hacked. So that put a stop to any writing I planned to do.

Let’s say this again. My site – my tiny little site – was hacked. You’d think this meant that I have hit the big time and that my site was worth hacking, but my stats don’t reflect this. I think this jagoff decided to hack my site just because he could. (I assume said jagoff is male – the name on my hacked page read as male, but maybe I’m wrong. Either way, still a jagoff.)

So I spent Flora’s non-naptime trying to remedy the problem. Trying to fix a web problem I’ve never had before with a non-napping toddler hanging off my every move wasn’t very effective. I did what I could, then got back to it after she went to bed. I went to bed with the site up but unsure of how to keep this from happening again. I did lots of Googling but I was having trouble with the more complicated concepts. I’ve been blogging a long time, but I’m fairly new to WordPress, so fixing its issues takes more time for me.

These articles helped me, and I’m posting them here in case you need them for your own site. (I hope you don’t.)

I’ve done most of the things these articles mention and I hope they’ll help against future attacks.

This is a big reminder to keep regular backups. I was able to restore the site because I had been backing up my database. Had I not done that, I could have gotten the site back up, but with no content. What’s the point of that?

So back up your stuff and do whatever you can to protect yourself. Hackers even want the little personal sites, not just the big guys.

(Note that these tips apply to self-hosted WordPress sites, not WordPress.com sites.)

My final #reverb10 entry

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I’ve given up on #reverb10. It was bad enough that I was 12 entries behind when the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve, but staring at all the unread prompt emails in my inbox (most had been read at least once, but marked back to unread so I wouldn’t forget about them) was just too overwhelming.

I can give you a million excuses: we’ve all been sick, the prompts took more thought that I had time for, we were too busy, Christmas, traveling, but ultimately it adds up to “blah blah blah, I couldn’t hack it”.

Staring at all the unfinished prompts was making me not want to write at all. I know I feel better when I’m writing so something had to give. Archiving those undone prompts was a relief.

It was a good exercise and I’m glad I tried it. I’m not sure if I’ll take part in this sort of meme again though. Producing this much content is hard when it’s something I do in my limited spare time. Especially when it involves such heavy soul searching.

It did get me writing and thinking so I’m grateful for that.

Here’s to more thoughtful writing in 2011, even if it’s not prompted.

#reverb10 – Day 7: Community. Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010?

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December 7 Prompt

Author: Cali Harris
caligater.com
@caligater

Prompt: Community. Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011?

reverb10.com

This article, posted yesterday on parentcentral.ca sums up some of my feelings on community:

First-time moms more likely to tweet and text than others

I was tweeting for over a year before I became a parent, but I found my usage really took off once I became a mum and was at home with the baby. I posted in other places too: Facebook, my “baby board” – a message board geared to mums with babies born in the same month as mine, my website, Flickr and so many places.

Having a baby just gave me so much to say to the world. I think that was because when I was at home, I was talking to myself or the newborn, who didn’t talk back yet. I needed an outlet for all the little things I wanted to say, but would forget by the time my husband returned from work. (By then, those little things weren’t usually as important anyway.)

Once I got out of the newborn haze, it was easier to reach out to the world and talk about things other than parenting a baby. I struggled with talking and posting about her too much, and reminded myself to talk about the rest of my life. Like most new mums though, my world was small and didn’t stretch much beyond my daughter. As she got older, my world got bigger, and now I feel like I’m part of the world as a person again, and not just a parent.

Two years ago, I never could have participated in this type of writing project. It would have been boring, repetitive and I wouldn’t have had the time. It may still be occasionally boring and repetitive now, but at least I’m not saying “ZOMG BAYBEEZ!” in every sentence.

I have been so grateful to connect with so many people online, whether they are parents or not. Going to Blissdom Canada this year allowed me to take that sense of community into the real world, and I hope to repeat that in 2011.

I find it easier to reach out online. Now I need to do a little more reaching out in the real world. I hope to do both in 2011.

#reverb10 – Reflect and manifest

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I keep saying “I want to write more” so I decided to do something about it.

I signed up for #reverb10 which their website describes as

“an annual event and online initiative to reflect on your year and manifest what’s next. The end of the year is an opportunity to reflect on what’s happened, and to send out reverberations for the year ahead. With Reverb 10, we’ll do both.”

I’ve never done this sort of thing before. No NaNoWriMo. No NaBloPoMo. No 30 Days of Truth (I considered that one but didn’t like all the questions at first glance.) My posting frequency is spotty at best, so I don’t know how successful this will be. Especially in December which is a very busy month.

But small steps first.

First I signed up.

Then I put up this nifty graphic in my sidebar:

Then I tweeted my intent:

Then I got a really nice reply from the organizers:

Then I wrote this post.

I’ve said it out loud in several places. I really have to go for it now.

I’m still not sure if I can write one self-reflective post a day for a whole month, but like the mysterious “they” say, you’ll never know if you don’t try.

Wish me luck and let me know if you are participating as well. I’m enjoying the community-feel of this project and want to be sure I take part in that aspect of it as much as I do the writing aspect.

One word

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An off-the-cuff remark made during the closing session at Blissdom Canadagave many attendees their homework assignment from the session.

“What’s your one word?”

The one word in question is the word you’d use to describe your brand. Your online persona. Yourself.

Like a lot of people, I struggled with what I thought my one word was. I wanted one that represented who I am and who I want to be, both online and in the real world.

I also wanted a word that hadn’t been taken by anyone else. Why yes, I’ve got a touch of the special snowflake disease – doesn’t everyone?

The word I chose for myself is…

Perceptive

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, perceptive is defined as:

1: responsive to sensory stimuli : discerning

2a : capable of or exhibiting keen perception : observant

2b : characterized by sympathetic understanding or insight

I pride myself on paying attention to the little things, the details that make life great. I also do my best to think about those details so I can understand them and share my insights with others.

Seems to me that that is a lot of what personal blogging is about.

Now it’s time to up the perception and insight up in here. I gotta live up to this one word you know.

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada
This work by Melissa Price-Mitchell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada.