The Flickr block was very very odd - in that it was so easy to get around both by the webmaster and by the user for websites where the webmaster was too damn lazy to adjust.

Basically, the 'Flickr Block' was a block against the servers (farm1.static.flickr.com and farm2.static.flickr.com) Flickr photos were stored on (with URLs as subdomains of Flickr) rather than the root, flickr.com.

Late last week reports that the Access Flickr plugin was starting not to work began to circulate. At the beginning of October Flickr introduced the farm3.static.flickr.com server - essentially a new server farm. The Access Flickr plugin was updated to re-write the URL of a Flickr request. Then the plugin designed to allow one to freely view a site stopped working again. Checking out the problem made it obvious... Flickr have started blocking access to photos via IP address, but at the same time the GFW dropped it's objection to Flickr. Nice co-incidence.

So, to allow visitors to view Flickr photos, drop those Flickr server re-writes and the Access Flickr plugin, at least that's what it seems like this evening.

Perry Wu, just wrote a story complaining about bloggers in China: “Bloggers in China complaining recently about their inability to access weblog tools and websites like BlogSpot, Blogger, Wordpress, and FeedBurner should shut up or put up.” Harsh words indeed, but his tone cools further into the article and I actually agree with him on a pragmatic level, it is often quicker to solve the problem than complain about it.

Below is how to stop Net Nanny being a headache (I have written about all these things before, but here they are in a simple package):

Your website has been blocked. It needs unblocking, first you need to ask ‘why has my website been blocked’ then you need to work out ‘how to make it viewable’.

Ever see this? Nightmare!

The Oiwan Lam case has been all over the Internet, or at least some of the Internet. This case is important if you've got a site hosted in Hong Kong. A good summary of the case is here and there's an MP3 recording with Oiwan Lam being interviewed by the BBC

Facebook is a tool with a lot of potential for making content 'go viral'. I think it's an immature tool that will come under competition and it, or one of it's competitors, will eventually open (just as AOL did in the 90s) but in the mean time if you have a website, it's important to use and use soon. That's my opinion.

CBA Logo: China Blog Awards Logo.The idea of a China Blog Awards has arisen and I'm pleased. I have no chance of winning, but that's cool because even in IT I'm focussed only on a small niche - running China-related websites (and apologies, my business with actually doing so has resulted in the neglection of this site).

What is a Blog?

I have discussed this question with Chris and Rick recently: what is a blog? And how do blogs impact those in/interested in China?

Ryan, inspired by Kim had the idea of a group writing project: If I Knew Then What I Know Now. Nice idea, should help a few others out; here is my spin, Internet related:

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Cheers,

Alex