Following are instructions on how to download, install, and setup Live Writer for your blog.

Download Live Writer

Go to this website to download Live Writer.  Click on the Download button.  This will download a small installer program called “wlsetup-web.exe.”

Install Live Writer

Run the installer program you just downloaded.  A window will appear asking which Windows Live programs you want to install.  You are welcome to install any or all of the programs, but the one you need is Writer.  Uncheck the programs that you don’t want to install.  Then click the Install button.  (Note that the screens may not look exactly as shown here.)

Run Live Writer

After Live Writer has installed, click on the Windows Start button to show the Start Menu, find the Windows Live folder, and click on the Windows Live Writer menu item to run Live Writer:

Add Blog Account

Before you can use Live Writer, you need to configure it for your blog.  In Live Writer, click the Blogs menu, and then click the Add Blog Account menu item:

Select Blog Service

A window will appear asking which blog service you use.  If you use WordPress, select the final option.  Click the Next button to continue:

Enter Blog Information

Another window will appear asking for information about your blog.  Enter the Web address of the home page of your blog, your Username, Password, and for convenience, check the Remember my password box.  Click the Next button:

LiveWriter will inspect your blog and download necessary files.  When it’s done, click the Finish button, and now you are ready to start writing blog articles.

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Read more at Smart Blogger >>

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C# Compiler Team

• Matt Warren
  Matt Warren is a member of the Visual C# compiler team, recently acquired from the SQL Server team.  Matt’s blog entries are a journey into the twisted mind of a Microsoft developer.
• Eric Lippert
  Eric is a developer on the C# team.  He is both an excellent writer and the leading blogger on the C# team.
• Sam Ng
  Sam is an engineer on the C# team.
• Sreekar Choudhary
  Sree is an engineer on the C# team.
• Luca Bolognese
  Luca Bolognese is a program manager in the C# compiler team.

IDE Team

• DJ Park
  DJ is a Program Manager on the C# team.
• Kevin Pilch-Bisson
  Kevin is a developer working on the C# editor experience in Visual Studio.  Watch this blog for posts about development and features within the C# editor team.
• CSharpening
  The QA team blog.
• Kirill Osenkov
  Kirill is a prolific blogger with a passion for C# and the C# community.

Other

• Charlie Calvert
  Charlie is the C# Community PM.  He works with customers, MVP’s and various organizations inside and outside Microsoft to facilitate the communication of information about C# and the C# team.
• The C# FAQ
  The C# team posts answers to common questions.

Related posts:

1. Best C# Blogs
2. Microsoft Community Promise for C# and CLI
3. Splogs: Spam Blogs and Stolen Content

DotNetKicks (DNK) is a social news site focused on software development with Microsoft .NET.  It’s one of the best sites on the Web to stay current with .NET news, information and tips.  If you are a .NET developer, you should make a practice of visiting DNK every day.  But this valuable site apparently has a hidden loophole that unscrupulous visitors can use to delete their competition.

You’ve Been Kicked

My adventure started recently when I submitted an article to DNK.  This is known as “kicking,” and the owner of the site receives a message saying, “You’ve been kicked (and that’s a good thing).”  A few hours later I received what appeared to be an automated email from DNK:

Your post:
‘e lorem ipsum’
was deleted by a moderator.
Please let us know if you think this was in error.

Well, of course I think this was an error.  I’m not going to waste my time submitting an article that I expect to be rejected.  It would be nice if they’d actually tell me why the article was rejected.

What you see is what you get

Like most web businesses these days, DotNetKicks puts all its energy into the front end of its website.  Pretty much what you see is what you get. 

But what you get is tremendously valuable.  In the case of DNK, viewers receive — for free — a steady stream of the latest .NET news and tips, filtered by the world so that you only see the wheat and not the chaff. 

Or at least that’s how it’s supposed to be.  There’s some argument that social news groupthink results in a myopia that celebrates mediocrity at the expense of true genius.  Or that a few powerful users actually control the entire site. 

But with DNK at least, you can typically be sure that the front page of DNK represents the day’s best articles on .NET news.

And this is where it gets interesting

So I was sharing my story with a programmer friend who’s also an active blogger.  He listened carefully then said, “Oh, you probably got kicked out.”  I asked him to explain. 

“DotNetKicks, like most social news sites, has loopholes and vulnerabilities that allow you to game the system.  With DotNetKicks, you can easily kill an article just by marking it as spam.  Somebody — probably one of your competitors or haters — marked your article as spam, and so you got kicked out.”

“Here, let me show you how it’s done,” he continued.  So he logged into DNK and started browsing around.  “Oh, here’s one.  This guy is a real a**hole.  Let’s kick him out.”  He then clicked the “report as spam” link three times, and viola, the article disappeared from the list.  “You’ve been kicked out, mother*****!” my friend exclaimed with a malevolent glee that scared me a little.

Once I got over the initial shock of how easy that was, I asked my friend if he was worried his DNK account would be suspended for falsely kicking out other articles.  “No, I just use one of my dummy accounts.”  Huh?

“Dude, you need to get with the times!” he said.  “If you are serious about getting your blog on social news sites, you need a bunch of fake accounts to pump up your ratings and attack your enemies.  I have at least a dozen accounts on each of the major sites.”

Now I know why I enjoy talking to this guy… he’s always teaching me something, even if it’s something I need to avoid.

But don’t let this stop you

I share this cautionary tale simply to expose some of the seedy underbelly of social news sites.  And to explain why perhaps your DNK submission was rejected.

But in spite of this loophole, DotNetKicks is still one of the best .NET news and information sites around.  It’s a must-read for any serious .NET developer.  Just don’t kick this article.

(Update: Section on AdSense removed.  Your AdSense code is displayed when you are logged out.  Hopefully DNK will soon support AdSense channels so we can track this.  Thanks for the info, Gavin.  Keep up the good work!  We .NET developers appreciate it.)

Related posts:

1. Can you Digg it? 7 Tips for Bloggers Working with Social News Sites
2. .NET News
3. Is Google Making Us Stoopid?

Just a few years back, if you wanted to host a WordPress blog on your own website, you avoided GoDaddy at all costs.  WordPress and other mainstream Web applications simply didn’t work on GoDaddy shared hosting without a lot of extra work.  As a result, GoDaddy quickly gained a reputation as a cheap Web host that’s good only for regular HTML web sites.  Over time GoDaddy support for Web applications improved, but installing WordPress still required extra work.  GoDaddy also introduced automatic installers for WordPress, but the result was usually a non-standard installation and code that was a few versions too old.

Fast forward to today.  With GoDaddy’s new Hosting Connection, you can install the latest version of WordPress and many other Web applications such as Joomla with just a few mouse clicks.  It really couldn’t be much easier.  Following are step-by-step instructions to install WordPress on GoDaddy shared hosting:

1.  Get a Linux Web Hosting Account

GoDaddy only supports WordPress installations on Linux.  Therefore, you must ensure that you have a GoDaddy Linux web hosting account.  To sign up, go to the GoDaddy home page, click the “Hosting & Servers” link, then select “Web Site Hosting” from the drop-down menu.  Follow the steps to complete the purchase.

Note that GoDaddy offer three levels of service: Economy, Deluxe and Premium.  I recommend the Deluxe plan, which will support up to 25 WordPress blogs and costs $6.99/month or less.  Be sure to select “Linux” as your operating system:

2.  Login to Your GoDaddy Account

You selected a GoDaddy user name and password when you purchased a Web hosting account.  Use these to login to your GoDaddy account at the home page:

3.  Go to Your Hosting Account

Click the “Hosting & Servers” link, then select “My Hosting Account” from the drop-down menu:

A list of your Web hosting accounts appears.  If you have more than one account, be sure to select the Linux account.  Click on the corresponding “Manage Account” link:

4.  Go to the GoDaddy Hosting Connection

The GoDaddy Hosting Control Center appears.  Next you need to go to the GoDaddy Hosting Connection, which offers 30+ free and premium quick-install applications including WordPress.  Click the “Your Applications” button or any “Hosting Connection” link.

5.  Select the WordPress Application

The GoDaddy Hosting Connection appears.  On the left is a list of available applications.  Click the “Blogs” header, then click the “WordPress” link:

6.  Install WordPress

Information about the WordPress application appears.  Click the “Install Now!” button:

7.  Select Domain

Select the domain where you want to host your blog.  All domains you have purchased through GoDaddy will appear in the list.  If you want to host your blog on a domain that you purchased from another registrar, click the “Can’t find the domain you’re looking for” link.

Once you have selected your domain, click the “Continue” button in the lower right.

8.  Setup Database

Next you need to setup the MySQL database that will hold your WordPress blog.  For the “Database description”, I recommend that you use your blog name followed by WordPress, for example, “MyBlog-WordPress”.  This makes it easy to distinguish databases if you host multiple blogs.  Choose a database password and be sure to save it somewhere.  Note that you will not need this password unless you want to access your database manually, which is rare.  Still, it’s important that you do not lose this password.  Click the “Next” button in the lower right to continue.

9.  Choose Installation Directory

Specify the sub-directory in your domain where WordPress will be installed.  If you want to install your blog in the root directory, clear the field.  Click the “Next” button to continue.

10.  Setup User Name and Password

For the last step, specify the WordPress user information.  This is the user name and password that you use every time you access your blog.  You cannot modify the user name (though you can add and delete users) so choose wisely.  The email address is where WordPress will send you notifications such as when someone leaves a comment on your blog.  And of course, “Blog Title” is the title of your blog.  Click the “Next” button to finish.

11.  Wait a Few Minutes

In just a few minutes, GoDaddy will send you an email indicating that your WordPress installation is complete.

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As described by TechCrunch, the theory behind social news sites is that the world can do a better job than a handful of editors to determine which news stories people want to read. The problem is that voting by mass consensus often results in the lowest common denominator. Also, many of these sites use super-moderators, which like super-delegates in the Democratic primary, can result in a few key votes overwhelming the will of the majority. On Digg, this means that the most popular stories are usually about Apple, Linux, and Ron Paul.

But social news sites are becoming an increasingly important marketing and public relations tool for companies and especially bloggers. Even a mild Digg can send ten thousand or more fresh viewers per day to your blog and significantly increase your ad revenue. Though these traffic spikes tend to be short-lived, there is often a residual effect of viewers that enjoy your site and return for future visits. Most bloggers will see a persistent traffic increase with each Digg surge. Hence, it’s important to understand how to use social news sites to your blog’s advantage.

Following are 7 tips for bloggers on how to work with social news sites like Digg, Reddit and StumbleUpon:

1. Pick topics that will interest the masses

Of course it’s important to select topics that interest you, are appropriate for your blog, and for which you have some expertise. But you have to remember that Digg is essentially a popularity contest for digital content, so you need to pick topics that are broadly appealing. This may mean that you won’t necessarily be popular on Digg itself, but there are many other sites, and some might be more amenable to your topic.

It’s like the Hollywood movies, “The Pianist” and “Armageddon.” One was art and one was popular. There’s a place in this world for both, but if you really want to be Digged, you have to blow up an asteroid occasionally (or the equivalent in your blog’s genre).

2. Write in a way that will appeal to the masses

Most Web surfers have short attention spans, given how easy it is to “change the channel” on the Web. So keep your articles short and direct. People will not Digg a muddled mess of an article, unless they are poking fun at your muddled mess.

The masses also love lists and twists and judicious use of headings so we can find things quickly. Bite size portions, less is more: this is the recipe for our increasingly ADD-addled brains.

3. Add buttons so readers can easily Digg your articles

Of course you want to make it easy for people to Digg your articles, so include buttons at the end of each article for the social news sites you target. ShareThis is a good service to cover all the major sites.

4. Ensure your web host can handle the traffic surge

Recognize this?

Error establishing a database connection

The Web throws you a party, and you don’t even show up. This is what happens when a surge of Digg traffic swamps your blog. If you’re not paying attention and restore your blog quickly, you could miss the Digg wave completely.

Be sure your Web hosting package has enough bandwidth to handle a Digg surge. Some hosts now offer “traffic surge protection” that will automatically upgrade your plan in the event of a traffic spike.

5. Don’t Digg yourself

Admit it, we’ve all done it, me too. We think that Digging ourselves will “grease the pump” and get things going. But one vote, even the first one, really doesn’t matter. If people love an article, they will Digg it, hopefully en masse.

Contrary to the urban myth, you will not go blind if you Digg yourself. But self-promotion looks desperate, Diggers hate a marketing pitch, and the experience of self-Digging and then waiting to be Digged can be discouraging. A much better use of time is to generate terrific content. And it really helps to develop a network of friends and fans who will Digg your stuff often.

6. Grow a thick skin

The “h8ers” thrive on the Web, protected by the cloak of cyber-anonymity (cybernymity?). With the exception of the occasional human interest story that warms even the coldest heart, most blog articles need to be at least somewhat controversial to be interesting and attract Digg attention. Basically, you’re not doing your job as a blogger if you’re not pissing someone off.

The comments on social news sites are much more brutal than any comment you’ll find on your blog (and not delete). Precisely because you cannot delete the comments on social news sites, that’s where the h8ers will tear you down. So you have to accept or ignore the negative and destructive feedback, learn from the good feedback, try not to take it personally or get personal, and always take the high road.

7. Watch but don’t worry

It’s important to pay attention to what happens to your articles and submissions on Digg, and to monitor feedback so you can improve your writing and marketing. But a large part of the Digg experience is beyond our control. The mob will do what the mob wants, and that’s what’s both scary and exciting about Digg and other social news sites.

More to Digg

• 10 Secrets to Marketing with Social News Sites
• TechCrunch: Toward a Better Digg
• Social News Sites: Digg, Diggers, and Dugg

Related posts:

1. Is Google Making Us Stoopid?
2. How to Use DotNetKicks to Delete Your Competition
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After a year of blogging, it’s easy for me to forget what an awesome privilege it is to have an international platform for my thoughts and ideas.  As an American, I take for granted that I can say just about anything–as long as it’s true–and not fear for my life.  Given that you are reading this article, you likely live in a country with similar freedoms of thought and expression, so you also have reason to be thankful. 

Of course there are times to speak, and times to shut up.  My mother always said if you don’t have anything good to say, better to talk about the weather.  It’s common courtesy to avoid discussing money, politics or religion at a fun party.  And no, honey, that dress does not make you look fat.

But freedom of expression does allow me to say:

• Our president is a doofus who launched an unnecessary and costly war in Iraq.
• Our congress is an ineffectual group driven by lobbies and self-interest.

Sadly, in many countries, public criticisms like those could bring me serious trouble.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK! 

“Oh ****, who’s that?  Back in a moment…”

…

“Phew!  It wasn’t the Thought Police.  It was just FedEx delivering my latest electronic gadget.  Gotta love America!”

In all seriousness, over 3 billion people on this planet would never think about criticizing their government or leaders.  Sadly, that number seems to be increasing lately and now includes former (if temporarily) democratic Russia and Venezuela. 

Most often thought control is about money and power.  As The Oracle said in The Matrix-Reloaded, “What do men with power want?  More power!”  And so when otherwise good leaders like Putin or Chavez gain power, they become drunk with desire to keep that power forever, so they close the society, suppress free discussion, and intimidate opponents with force.  Whereas truly great leaders would recognize that the Republic is greater than themselves.  It seems quite unfair that millions of citizens must sacrifice freedom and opportunity for success so that a few rulers and their cronies can sustain a life of power and luxury.  But sadly that is the way in many parts of the world today.

Because of this fundamental difference in beliefs, Iraq, Iran and North Korea and their closed societies are branded the “Axis of Evil.”  But I have nothing against the people in Iran and North Korea.  I don’t even know any of them, so how could I hate them?  But I sure hate some of the things their governments do.  Though that seems only fair, given that most of the world hates what my government does, especially but certainly not limited to the past 8 years.

So that’s something most humans have in common worldwide: our governments stink and fail to adequately represent us.  The difference is that our government was openly and freely elected by its citizens, allowing us to complain loudly when it fails to do its job.  What a precious gift this is, something we all must appreciate, celebrate and fight to sustain.

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A splog or “spam blog” is a blog that steals content from other web sites, then aggregates and republishes the content on its own blog.  Splogs are created primarily to make money from ads shown on the splog and/or promote affiliated web sites.  Splog owners are too dishonest, lazy or stupid to create their own original content and instead thieve yours.

Splogs are harmful because they effectively steal a portion of your blog’s search engine ranking, traffic and ad revenue.

Fight the Good Fight

Recently a popular article on DevTopics was stolen and republished by at least three splogs.  By following the steps below, fortunately I was able to convince all three splogs to remove my copyrighted article, and one site has since gone offline.  If you are interested to see what a splog looks like, the two remaining splogs are: googit.blogspot.com -and- 2daytrends.blogspot.com.  At least Googit includes a link back to the original article, whereas 2DayTrends typically removes all author and source information.  Lame!

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a United States copyright law that heightens the penalties for copyright infringement on the Internet.  When someone steals your original content, the best recourse is to file a DMCA complaint.

Cease & Desist Message

If you discover a website has republished your original content without permission, the first step is to ask the splog to remove your content from its site.  The best way to do this is to post a comment under your article on the splog for all its readers to see.  You can use the following text as a guide:

This is a Notice of Infringement as authorized in § 512(c) of the U.S. Copyright Law under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). 

This article is an unauthorized reproduction of copyrighted material originally found at:
[http://www.devtopics.com/...]

Please remove this article immediately or we will file an official complaint with the U.S. Copyright Office, FeedBurner and Google, Inc.  Google’s response may include removing or disabling access to material claimed to be the subject of infringing activity and/or terminating subscribers.

Thank you,
[My Name]

DMCA Complaint

If a splogger refuses to remove your copyrighted content, the next step is to file official DMCA complaints.  The most effective attack is to hit the splog where it hurts: in the pocketbook.  If you can alert the splog’s advertisers, typically they will suspend the splog’s account and cut off its revenue stream.

Ideally you should file a DMCA complaint with each of the splog’s advertisers, its web host, feed service, the U.S. Copyright office, and of course the splog itself, if you are lucky enough to find contact information.  Lorelle has an excellent article that describes this process in detail.

The letter below serves as a template for your DMCA complaint.  Note that you must include at least the information listed below, with numbered paragraphs, and items #4 and 5 MUST be included exactly as written.  Usually you have to send these complaints via regular mail or fax, not by email.

Date: [January 28, 2008]

[Google, Inc.
Attn: AdSense Support, DMCA complaints
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View CA 94043]

To Whom It May Concern,

This letter is a Notice of Infringement as authorized in § 512(c) of the U.S. Copyright Law under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).  I wish to report an instance of Copyright Infringement.  The infringing material appears on the Service for which you are the designated agent.

1.  The copyrighted material, which I contend belongs to me and appears illegally on the Service, is the following:
Blog article titled “[My Original Article]” written by [My Name], posted on [January 11, 2008] at [http://www.devtopics.com/...]

2.  The unauthorized material appears at the website address:
[http://www.splog.com/...]

This site appears in Google search results for “[Search Terms]” as well as other search terms.

3.  My contact information is as follows:

[My Name]
[My Address]
[My Phone]
[My Email]

4.  I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials as described above is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.

5.  I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

[Your Signature]

[Your Name Printed]

Prevention

There are a few things you can do to help protect your blog from content theft:

• Post copyright notices prominently on your Web site.  Consider adding a copyright notice to each blog post and RSS feed as well.
• In your blog posts, include plenty of links to related articles elsewhere in your blog.  However, some new splog software will automatically strip links.
• Do not include entire articles in RSS feeds.  Instead, use the “More” tag.
• Use an automated tool such as Copyscape to search for sites stealing your content.
• Insert a “watermark” code or series of keywords into your blog posts, then use a service like Google Alerts to notify you when those keywords appear elsewhere on the Web.

Links

• Splogs: Spam Blogs and Stolen Content
• Splog Spot: Submit a Splog
• What to Do When Someone Steals Your Content
• How to Send DMCA Complaints to Search Engines
• Google DMCA Page
• Yahoo Copyright Page
• Microsoft Copyright Page
• U.S. Copyright Office

Related posts:

1. Splogs: Spam Blogs and Stolen Content
2. Protect Your Software with Patents, Copyrights and Trademarks
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• Useful news, information, tips and code samples
• Regular updates
• Original content, not a splog or news feed
• Good organization, including categories and tags
• Healthy discussion and user comments
• Personal insight and humor, but not too much personal drivel

Following are the some of best C# blogs active on the Web today.  Also included is the "About" section of the blog (edited for space and clarity) and a link to a recent interesting post.  Please comment if you can recommend other excellent C# blogs that didn’t make my list.

The best C# blogs today are (in alphabetical order):
 

B# .NET Blog

Bart De Smet’s blog about Microsoft .NET technologies, including Microsoft in general, CLR and MSIL internals, C# and the future of the language, .NET Framework tips and tricks, SQL Server, and Microsoft events such as TechEd and IT Forum.  (Recent Post: C# 3.0 Object Initializers Revisited)
 

Bill Blogs in C#

Bill Wagner discusses C#, LINQ, and other items of interest.  (Recent Post: Creating Dynamic Queries in LINQ)
 

Brad Abrams

Design Guidelines, Managed code and the .NET Framework.  (Recent Post: What is new in the ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions Preview)
 

Charlie Calvert’s Community Blog

There is no job in the computer industry Charlie would rather have than that of Community Program Manager for the C# group.  (Recent Post: LINQ and Deferred Execution)
 

David Hayden

David is an ASP.NET, C#, SQL Server Developer and Microsoft MVP with over 10 years experience.  [Disclosure: I worked with Dave a decade ago at Procter & Gamble.  He's a sharp guy.]  (Recent Post: Check All CheckBoxes in a GridView Using Client Side Javascript)
 

Developing for .NET

Home of Joel Cochran and Jim Burnett.  The reality of .NET is that with the thousands of classes available, there is simply too much to know.  No one can be an expert in everything, so we frequently hit the Search Engines looking for help and solutions to our problems.  Hopefully, this blog can help with that.  Topics will be simple solutions to common problems, some of them will be cries for help themselves.  In either case, everything posted here will be from Joel and Jim’s real world experiences.  (Recent Post: Upgrade your C# Skills part 3 – Lambda Expressions)
 

DevTopics

Blog by Timm Martin about software development topics, with a focus on C# and the Microsoft .NET framework. DevTopics also discusses the creation and management of software companies, the software development process, and improving the computer experience for the average user and people with disabilities. And you should also find a healthy dose of programming tips, techniques and code.  [Disclosure: This is my blog, of course!]  (Recent Post: C# Object Initialization)
 

DotNetGuts

Discussion topics for ASP.net, C#, VB.net, .Net Framework, OOPs Concepts, and Programming.  (Recent Post: Design Patterns in ASP.NET 2.0)
 

ISerializable – Roy Osherove’s Blog

Unit Testing, Agile Development, Architecture, Team System & .NET.  (Recent Post: IL Debug Visualizer for Compiled Lambda Expressions, MethodBase and DynamicMethod)
 

The Moth

By Daniel Moth, software developer, former MVP, and now a Microsoft employee.  (Recent Post: ThreadPool in .NET Framework v2.0 Service Pack 1)
 

OmegaMan’s Musings

As a contract Architect/Developer/Programmer in the software industry, OmegaMan creates tools and architects code that never sees the light of day. This blog is a way to transfer some information to the community as a whole.  OmegaMan is a moderator on Microsoft’s MSDN forums with over 2000 posts.  (Recent Post: Smart Resource Locking in C# .Net for Thread Safe Code)
 

Omer van Kloeten’s .NET Zen

Programming is life, the rest is mere details.  (Recent Post: WPF’s Use of Partial Classes’ Access Modifiers)
 

ScottGu’s Blog

By Scott Guthrie, General Manager within the Microsoft Developer Division.  Scott runs the development teams that build the following products/technologies: CLR and the core .NET Base Class Libraries, ASP.NET, Silverlight, WPF, IIS 7.0, and Visual Studio Tools for ASP.NET, WPF and Silverlight.  (Recent Post: .NET Web Product Roadmap)
 

Switch on the Code

By Brandon Cannaday, Charlie Key, and Michael Kuehl, software engineers who graduated from the fabulous Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.  These are three guys who work full time but in their spare time run their fledgling company.  (Recent Post: C# Snippet Tutorial – Performance Timers)
 

Non-C# Blogs

The following blogs are not C#-specific but nonetheless can be quite useful for C# developers:
 

10X Software Development

By Steve McConnell.  Numerous studies have found 10:1 differences in productivity and quality among individuals and even among teams. This blog contains Steve’s thoughts about what is needed to be on the "10" side of that 10:1 ratio, i.e., what it takes to be a 10x developer or a 10x team. Naturally, this blog focuses on Steve’s specific interests: executive management, project management, high performance teams, estimation, reducing time to market, software development methods, construction practices, and related topics.  (Recent Post: Classic Mistakes Updated)
 

Coding Horror

By Jeff Atwood.  Why does Jeff blog?  Mostly for selfish reasons, he says. "I needed a way to keep track of software development over time–whatever I am thinking about or working on. I can research things I find interesting, document my research in public with a blog post, then easily find and refer to these blog posts later." (Recent Post: Hashtables, Pigeonholes, and Birthdays)
 

Joel on Software

By Joel Spolsky, a software developer in New York City. Since 2000, Joel has been writing about software development, management, business, and the Internet on this site.  (Recent Post: How to Demo Software)
 

Pawel Brodzinski on Software Project Management

Blog about the software development lifecycle. You can find here a range of topics from software design, to project management, to team-building, to management of a software development company.  (Recent Post: Usability is Made of Small Things)

Related posts:

1. Blogs from Microsoft C# Development Team
2. Splogs: Spam Blogs and Stolen Content
3. FAT .NET

To place an ad after the first post in your WordPress blog main page:

1. Open the WordPress admin control panel and navigate to:
   Presentation > Theme Editor
    
2. Select the Main Index Template from the list of templates on the right.
    
3. In the Main Index Template, find the line that starts with:
   <?php if (have_posts())
    
4. Add the following line above it:
   <?php $count = 1; ?>
    
5. Next, find the line that starts with:
   <?php the_content
    
6. After the closing tag ?> for that section (it may wrap to multiple lines), add the following code:

   <?php if ($count == 1) : ?>
   – Insert your Google AdSense code here –
   <?php endif; $count++; ?>
   

7. Click Update File.

This places the ad within the first post.  If instead you want the ad to appear between the first and second post, add the code from step 6 after the closing </div> tag for the “entry” div that contains the line <?php the_content.

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