As If It Matters

About two months ago I noticed that Google was marking my website, nicco.org, with a notice that said “This site may harm your computer” as part of natural search results. If you click through to my website, Google puts a screen between the search results screen and my blog that says “Warning - visiting this web site may harm your computer!“. This is the order of things right now - you can go see this process. I’ve also taken screenshots and put them on my flickr feed. Among other things, they have terrified my mother, which is not a good thing. Talk about making me angry.

I immediately contacted Google and was directed to StopBadware.org. I filled out a form to appeal their decision to classify my personal blog as “badware”. A couple weeks later, on Feb. 15th, I received this reply:

We have received and processed your request for review of your website, nicco.org/. Google’s most recent test of your website found no badware behaviors on the site. As such, the Google warning page for your site has either already been removed or should be removed shortly. In addition, if your site has been listed in our Badware Website Clearinghouse, we will remove your site from the Clearinghouse list.

Sometimes website owners are confused about why Google placed a warning in the search results for their site. In many cases, a website run by an innocent site owner has been hacked by a malicious third party, causing the site to distribute badware without the site owner’s knowledge. If your site was distributing badware because it has been hacked, then simply removing the bad code from your site is not enough to keep your site clean in the future. You will also need to work with your hosting provider to fix all security vulnerabilities associated with your site.

Please note that we will be retesting your website at periodic intervals in order to monitor that it remains free from badware. If we find that you are hosting or distributing badware in the future, the reviews process may take considerably longer than the original review.

Answers to commonly asked questions from site owners who are the subject of Google warnings can be found at: http://stopbadware.org/home/faq#partnerwarnings
For tips on keeping your website clean and secure, please visit: http://stopbadware.org/home/security

The StopBadware Team

“Should be removed shortly” my ass.

It’s almost a month later - March 10 - and my site is still marked as badware.

So let me get this straight:

1. Google marks my site as badware, setting up a big scary screen to anyone who tries to enter my site warning them of my badware-ness.
2. At no point does Google notify me directly or explain why my blog was classified as badware.
3. There are no published criteria as to what constitutes badware. As near as I can tell, they just decided I’m badware because they don’t like me.
4. I changed nothing about the server setup and appealed to StopBadWare.org.
5. After a few weeks they decide that I am in fact clean.
6. Google does nothing about it.

My server is a small shared setup with BlueHost running nothing but a dozen or so Wordpress installations. No malware, no recent installations, nothing malicious. If there is something wrong with my setup, Google had given me zero information to help track down the problem.

What is going on? I am really, really angry. Google thinks they can simply decide I am evil, and no one should visit my site, without any justification and with no recourse?

I am going to go nuts.

The last seven days have seen a lot of podcast activity from 12 Douglas Rd in Medford, Mass. Last Sunday my wife and I did a podcast on politics at the invitation of Dave Winer. This Sunday, Dave and I did another podcast about politics, this time with Joe Trippi. And to celebrate the big Tuesday primaries in Texas and Ohio, I called up Bernard Rapoport, a legend in Democrat politics, especially in Texas Democratic politics, and interviewed him. My own podcasts are done using the Hipcast dial-in service, which means they are not all that RSS friendly, and soon I’ll get around to fixing the way they publish to the RSS feed.

Bernard Rapoport, now in his 90s, is a hero and inspiration to me. On the day of the Texas Primary, I called him for a brief interview about politics.

Although we eloped on Oct. 30, 2006, we had a big wedding on May 12, 2007. And what a fine wedding it was. Although there was much deliberation and gnashing of teeth over every decision and its moral ramifications, in the end it was a fine wedding and we loved every minute of it. I remember friends who for months after their weddings would recount it again and again in copious detail, dwelling over the photos in the most pathetic way possible. I found it absolutely tiresome. Well, I have now become that person. I love looking at my wedding photos. It’s guaranteed to take me out of a bad mood. For that reason alone, I recommend marriage.

We had many friends take great photos of our wedding, but we hired an exceptional wedding photographer, the esteemed Megan Greenlee. She took in the neighborhood 3,000 photos, an overwhelming feat in and of itself. After eight months of sorting through photos, we’ve tried to upload the best photos of the wedding to the internet. Enjoy: Morra & Nicco’s Wedding.

It’s dark, overcast day. And my dog is acting very strange. He’s looking around a lot like he’s uncomfortable with someone in the room. And he is uncharacteristically mellow and low-energy, sleeping a lot, getting up and nervously poking around the room and then going back to sleep. It makes me think of a nature film I saw as a child that talked about how animals know right before an earthquake or volcano eruption. It makes me think that at any time hot molten lava could come flowing down the streets of Medford. Unlikely but not impossible. Against whatever it is that’s encroaching.

My wife Morra was credentialed for tonight’s ABC/Facebook presidential primary debates in New Hampshire (she’s blogging for BlogHer.com, HuffingtonPost.com, and TechPresident.com). I was on a work trip for the last three days and so in an effort to get some quality time with my wife, I tagged along. Given the importance of both debates, credentials were hard to come by, but our friend Adam at Facebook saw fit to let me have one and I was able to accompany my wife as her photographer and tech support. We had a blast, but it’s late and I’m fighting a cold (making me very cranky), so here are some photos from the New Hampshire ABC/Facebook primary debates.

This morning I discovered an email in my spam filter inviting me to participate in a research panel as an AT&T Wireless customer. I rubbed my hands together in glee. I’ve been waiting for this opportunity. At the end of the survey (which appeared to be primarily about overage charges), they asked if I had “any other comments”. Why yes, yes I do have some other comments! So here is what I wrote:

Network coverage is a serious issue. I live in a major metropolitan area - Boston - and every day I have dropped calls, even if I’m just sitting at my desk at my home office without moving. Frequently the connection is so bad - with noise and static - that I have to call several times to get a clear connection. And in major areas of the city and the region there appears to be no service coverage whatsoever. It is a constant and daily problem and leads me to despise AT&T. If it wasn’t for the iPhone, I would never come near your products and service. I believe it is borderline criminal to charge the same rates as your competitors whose network is an order of magnitude better. My dissatisfaction with your coverage knows no bounds and the second the iPhone is carried by a superior network, I will leave AT&T behind in the dust.

Kathy Lash just sent me this - and given that my own Westie is a rescue - please help Scout find a new home - photos here:

Meet Scout, a beautiful, sweet, 5 year-old female Westie! Her devoted family has unfortunately found themselves in the situation that they must put her up for adoption. This is an extremely hard decision on their part, as they have loved and cared for Scout since she came from the breeder as a baby. Scout now has 3 year-old twins with whom she shares a home. Her parents have recently come to a point where they cannot appropriately care for the twins and Scout. You see, Scout has an injury and requires special care. Last year, Scout’s tail was accidentally run over by a car. The nerve damage injury was so severe that she ended up losing her tail, has had to learn to walk again and is now incontinent. Scout can walk; she actually can run. She uses both of her back legs as one leg when she runs. She loves to play fetch and go for short walks. She is a very healthy, well-cared for Westie who is spunky and full of life. She is completely up-to-date on her vaccinations and has been spayed. A small cuddle-bug Westie, Scout weighs 13 lbs. As with a typical Westie, she loves anyone and everyone. She simply needs someone willing and able to take care of her incontinent issues, which could probably be controlled by doggie diapers or a female dog panty with pads. Specialists have been consulted, and the nerve damage is permanent. Even so, Scout stands to live a healthy, long life in the right situation. Might you be that special person who would care for and love her? If so, please contact Carol Gore with Westie Rescue of Tennessee at 615.838.4221 or cgore13 [at] yahoo.com, and we will be happy to forward an adoption application to you and/or answer any questions you might have.

(photos of Henry are here…)

Dear Lord, fire-eating custodian of my soul,
author of hermaphrodites, radishes,
and Arizona’s rosy sandstone,
please protect this wet-cheeked baby
from disabling griefs. Help him sense when
to rise to his feet and make his desires known,
and when to hit the proverbial dirt. On nights
it pleases thee to keep him sleepless, summon
crickets, frogs and your chorus of nocturnal
birds so he won’t conclude the earth’s gone mute.
Make him astute as Egyptian labyrinths that keep
the deads’ privacy inviolate. Give him his mother’s
swimming ability. Make him so charismatic
that even pigeons flirt with him, in their nervous,
avian way. Grant him the clearmindedness
of a midwife who never winces when tickled.
Let him be adventurous as a menu of ox tongue hash,
lemon rind wine and pinecone Jell-O. Fill him with awe:
for the seasons, minarets’ sawtoothed peaks,
the breathing of cathedrals, and all that lives –
for one radiant day or sixty pitiful years.
Bravely, he has ventured among us, disguised
as a new comer, shedding remarkably few tears.

(by Amy Gerstler. Originally titled “Prayer for Jackson”)

Another Sunday with Jonas! This time we discuss: his childhood growing up on the Lower East Side when it was slum tenements, the Brooklyn Dodgers, and (of course) Norman Mailer. Enjoy the Show!