Published August 31, 2007
in AdSense.
I logged into my AdSense account a few days ago and was surprised to see a “red warning” message. The message read, “Your payments are currently on hold. Action is required to release payment.”
I wondered what I did wrong this time. The last time when I Accidentally Clicked On My Own Google AdSense, I reported it and Google support replied to me saying not to worry. They do understand that sometimes accidental clicks like that do happen. The system will not register such accidental clicks as valid clicks.
My AdSense payment is put on hold for safety reasons. I believe when our AdSense balance has reached a certain point (mine has just surpassed the $50 mark), Google will send us a PIN number on a postcard to our mailing address. This is to verify that we are indeed the owner of the account thus limiting the possibility of fraud.
The PIN will be printed on a white 4.5 X 6 inch postcard. It will take between 3 to 6 weeks to arrive. Once we have the PIN in hand, we can insert it into the system and our AdSense account should be back to normal again. Publishers may request to resent the PIN if it does not arrive within the first 3 weeks.
The WordPress team has just released the first beta of WordPress 2.3 for testing. New and updated features of the version 2.3 consists of plugin and core update notification, built-in tags support, faster javascript, and SEO-friendly URL redirection.
You are reminded that version 2.3 is currently still in beta. That means that this version is not stable yet. Bugs and problems are expected to crop up. If you so wished to upgrade and try out the new features, remember to:
- backup your data nightly
- check for latest updates and/or bug reports on the wp-testers mailing list
- report any bugs or problems found while using
Finally, you can download WordPress 2.3 Beta 1 here.
Have you seen how some websites or blogs use badges to link to a page? These badges are usually an icon the size of 80X15 pixels. They are also known as antipixel buttons. They are compact and can be very attractive if you design them properly.
These are some of the badges that I did for my blogs using the 80X15 Brilliant Button Maker by LucaZappa.com.
The advantage of this free button generator compared to some others is that it allows you to include an image on each sides of the badge. However, the disadvantage is that they allow only 80X15 pixel badges. If you want larger badges, the Button Maker by Blog Flux allows badges the size of 88X31 pixels.
Nuffnang started serving CPC ads for over two months now. There are mixed reactions over this move. Some complaint that it caused their earnings to drop significantly, while a small percentage approved the move. I was one of those who thought it worked quite well for bloggers with lower daily visitors.
Previously, bloggers are required to have at least 20 unique visitors a day to qualify for their ad programs. After gathering their publisher’s feedback, Nuffnang has decided to abolish their minimum traffic requirement. They conducted a study on the feedback and noticed that bloggers with very little visitors a day benefited more from the CPC ads while those with more suffered.
Based on the study, they tweaked the system to only display CPC network-wide campaigns to publishers who has less than 20 visitors a day. Meanwhile, the Cost Per Unique Visitors campaign will be served to publishers with more than 20 visitors a day.
I was just checking out YouTube and noticed a strange difference, yet familiarity in their comment section. YouTube has just added a digg-like comment system where its users get to vote up or down a comment.
How does it work?
Each user gets to vote up or down a comment by clicking on the thumbs up or thumbs down icon. In the end, all positive and negative votes are calculated and a point score is given to the comment. For example, 10 positive votes and 3 negative votes will give a score of 7 to that comment.
Users get to set the “quality” of comments that they want to see. The quality range from great (+10 points or more) to very poor (-10 points or more). They can also choose to view all comments. The comments that are below the points set will be hidden. However, they can click on the “Show” link to view comments that have been hidden.
Benefits of this new feature
Occasionally, discussions in the comment section can get heated up and some people end up calling names and stuff. With this new feature in place, those comments can be voted down. Apart from that, users can also vote down comments that are inappropriate, spam, advertisements or offensive.
There are also videos that generate heavy discussion thus leading to thousands of comments. With this feature, a user can identify comments that are “worth reading” easier than previously.
My experience
This new feature is definitely a plus for YouTube. I tried voting up and down a few comments. The comment that was below viewing point was hidden immediately after being voted down. However, I experienced a “strange behavior” with the comments after refreshing the page. There was once where all the comments were hidden because they were marked as spam. I am not sure if this is a bug though.
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