Q&A
Q&A with InetD: Answers to Computer, Internet, Networking and Telecom questions from our reader’s e-mails and comments.
I wrote a Perl CGI script that handles the hyperlinks to the previous and next pages in every tutorial page in each section of this website (for the Internet, Telecom, Computer tutorials etc.). I’ve been trying to fix the darn thing, and I keep getting closer to a solution, but other problems keep popping up. At first, the main page for each section kept linking back to itself. I fixed that, only to reveal that the pages didn’t link in the order I wanted. So, I created a file to tell the script what order the pages should be in. Then I remembered just how many sections there are in this site!! (Think: hundreds).
So, I modified the script to create the files with the pages in alphabetical order. Now I don’t have to create hundreds of pages, but I still have to go back and edit them into logical order.
Please bear with me while I work to untangle this twisted skein of Perl..
I added a new plugin to link my posts to my Tutorials automatically. For example, when I make reference to any of the tutorials in the site, such as computers, hardware, software, operating systems, Internet, routing, Internet Protocol, BGP, Telecommunications, web servers, websites, www etc. they get linked automatically without my lifting a finger. I’ve always wanted this functionality for my tutorials. But the linker plugin only works in the WordPress blog and nowhere else. <sigh> Just have to keep looking around for a solution or else port all the tutorials into WordPress as static pages. Last time I tried that, WordPress blew up. It doesn’t seem to be able to handle 700 static pages, yet.
At least you get to reap the benefit of being able to find my tutorials more easilly when I write about them.
My friends and family think I’m crazy. Someone once said to me:
You don’t get enough donations to pay to operate your site. You pay ten times what you receive in donations to your hosting provider. You spend hours working on this site for absolutely no monetary benefit. People flame you and call you an idiot when they find spelling errors, typos and broken links, yet you’re still working on this site after 12 years? WHY?!?
Because every once in a while, I help someone and that is worth it.
I have a full time job already. I enjoy it most days, but I’ve often wondered if there is another way to make a living. I’ve always dreamed of making a living with this site.
It’s very time consuming to support this site. I have a family and a job and very little time for maintaining this site, as much as I enjoy it. Millions of people have browsed to my site to learn from me, so at least someone finds some value in what I do.
Is there another way to pay for the site and for me to make a living?
Sometimes, I’m asked to quote references for my tutorials and posts. Here’s one example I received recently:
--- start ---
Hi! [..really enjoyed your site|liked your tutorial on..] would you please provide your reference for that? I really need the reference.
--- end---
When you write something from your own knowledge and expertise, you are not required to use references.
I have a college degree in Internetworking and multiple certifications from various vendors including Cisco, Sun and IBM. I am a certified instructor who is paid to teach others what he knows. I have worked hands-on with the technologies on a daily basis for over 20 years. That’s what’s known as an expert, and more generally speaking, an authority.
As an expert and an authority, I am qualified to write original articles on subjects within my area of expertise without requiring references, or at least, not too many of them.
Besides, quoting/referencing myself would be silly.
–InetDaemon