Category: Links

Some referrer hits are more interesting than others, for example:

Let’s face it, there is a great cloud of witlessness when it comes to the Church online. In fact, there is quite a bit of ‘kitsch‘ out there that distracts, annoys and otherwise drives-away people seeking and/or serving the Lord. Like HYCW, Church Marketing Sucks (CMS) is a website dedicated to dealing with this potentially fatal affliction. This sentiment is reflected in CMS’ catchy (and effective) tag line and explained on their about page:

For example, at here at Heal Your Church Website, we’re often dealing with church websites who simply miss the point. It’s not an art project, it is about getting seekers in the door without the use of firearms and empowering members so they stay inside the door without ropes and chains.

Add to this spinning animated .GIFs of crosses, scrolling marquees and other indulgences. Also add to this a certain demographic within Body who likes this sort of stuff to the point of emailing me a ‘love note.’ Usually such notes inform me that I’m “against God” or “tearing down the Body.” In reality, the church website reviews here, along with many of your comments, are instead fulfilling His goal to ‘Teach, rebuke, correct & train the Body in righteous web design.’ I’m just there is now another entity out there taking on the ‘TBN school of style’ on a broader scale.

Amen. I know my reviews and theologies sometimes get people fired-up, but I’ve also seen several webservants move their church websites from sucky to seriously effective. I guess I should compile a list as yet a further encouragement to those who don’t take such constructive criticism personally. Such a list might also encourage others to reconsider what it is they’re doing when they design, develop and manage their Church’s communications.

Got a related comment? Let’r rip! Meanwhile I’m adding CMS’ RSS file to my aggregator.

We’ve discussed linkrot way back in July of 2002 in context of never, ever, EVER deleting a well-indexed link on your own site. But what about links to other sites?

Let’s face it, the one thing we know for sure about the Internet is the uncertainty of hyperlinks. Servers go down. People change careers. Hackers destroy things.

One nice and free tool to check the links on your site is w3C’s Link Checker. You merely enter the URL and presto, it offers you a variety of ways you can view the status of your links.

I personally found it very sturdy … slammed it with this site about a day or two before I left for Jordan.

It’s not often geeks like me think about things legal until we’re hip deep in a bowl of flaming orange habanero kimchee. But it is a reality we have to deal with.

That said, I was half joking when I e-mailed Ernest ‘Ernie the Attorney’ Svenson when I suggested there should be a law about hackers hijacking the WayBackMachine. Email being what it is, he responded as I often do when someone pin-pricks one of my passion spots – and goes deep!

It was more than I could have ever hoped for in a response – it was GOOD reading and is a GOOD point. So much so that I insisted he blog it on his site. We have so many laws, yet criminals still manage abound … abundantly … about the only thing I might add is a link to the Flummery Digest.

But I digress – first, the link to Ernies excellent article entitled: Toward a Theory of Justice.. But don’t stop there! I have found myself visiting Ernie’s site on a daily basis as he banters about issues legal – many of which are internet related – with the same ease I discuss sed and xarg.

Once I get my permalinks thing added, I’m adding this one.