Apparently, one of the plugins I was running had (unknowingly to me) been written by the infamous crew over at WPMU-DEV.  If you haven’t been paying attention they’re the ones who have been going back and forth with pro developer Joost De Valk over an SEO plugin (and whether they stole it or not – you can read the whole story here).  Don’t take any opinions from me; I’m just the passer of information.

At any rate, I logged in to update my plugins and (after doing so) noticed a nice big error message waiting for me.

“Please install the latest version of our free Update Notifications plugin which helps you stay up-to-date with the most stable, secure versions of WPMU DEV themes and plugins”

Now, that begs the question: why would I need this plugin when the WordPress database alerts me automatically?  What could that plugin do for me that WordPress couldn’t do automatically?

The problem is, there’s no way to get rid of the stinking alert. There’s no dismiss button, no [X], no dismissal option in the options menu of the plugin.

In short, this message will stare at you unless you get rid of it.

Granted, I’m not going to tell you not to use their plugins… if you’re getting use out of them, that’s fine; I’m a firm believer in using plugins you love.  However, I don’t think it’s right that you should have spam shoved down your throat if you don’t want it.

That said, I propose a compromise.  I’ve written a plugin called “WPMU-DEV Error Message Removal” (I’m a practician when it comes to names).  This plugin will simply remove the error message and let you go about your business.  That’s it.

Download “WPMU-DEV Error Message Removal” Here

I’ll let you guys know when they’ve accepted it into the database

Enjoy!

So, I was looking through a design gallery when I came across “Magpie” – which claims to be able to make you so much money by overtaking your twitter account at random intervals and posting an advertising tweet.  I signed up, but quickly quit after seeing some of the tweets coming out of it:

Hm… three tags right after each other with the same web advertising on it, with seemingly no contextual significance linking the account holders.  Is that a fluke?

Hm again – two magpie sites in the same order one right after another.  This is seeming less and less contextual/random and more and more just random tweeting.

OK, now that’s just getting annoying and frustrating (especially because those people have the option to post that link manually) – but they also can let Magpie do it for them.  Did they? or did they not? I’m not sure.

It’s just so random.  Maybe that’s because there’s only so much contextual advertising they’ve gotten (not sure how new this site is) but until they can better attempt to randomize (or at least fake randomize) their tweets, then I’ve gotta veto it.  And, if anyone starts Magpie tweeting me, I won’t immediately unfollow them – just point them in the right direction.

Your thoughts?

EDIT: GeekMommy is having this same debate as we speak.