Blog of the Month Award

La Gringa's Blogicito was selected as Expat Blog of the Month for April by Expat-Blog.com. This is the first time a Honduran blog was selected. Yay! I appreciate the honor. You can read my interview here if you are interested.

Welcome to the visitors from the Expat Blog website. I hope you'll be back to visit again.

Let's try this again

Procrastination

Hello. Here I am again. It's about time, huh?

I've been hibernating for several months, avoiding the news as much as possible, not even opening my blog email account, and rarely twittering. But now I feel the need to get back into blogging. It's been on my mind a lot lately and I really do miss blogging and I especially miss the interaction with readers. A lot of stuff has been going on in Honduras of which you may or may not be aware.

Promises

After a failed blog restart earlier this year, I'm back to try again. Blogging is a funny thing. It's the easiest thing in the world for anyone to start a blog and the easiest thing in the world to quit. And once you have a pause, it's the hardest thing to start up again. All you have to do is to look at the tens of millions of abandoned blogs cluttering up cyberspace to know that is true. About 80% of the Honduran blogs that I have accumulated on Google Reader over the years are now defunct and that's a sad statement.

Blog insecurities

Does anyone care? Do I have anything interesting to say? Can I get back on track or will I fail again? Will the readers come back or will I be talking to myself? What do they want to read about? Those are the kind of questions that go through my mind.

I can't catch you up-to-date (since I was a dropout from the news) but I'd like to write about some of the more recent news. I also have a lot of photos to share which I hope that you'll enjoy.

So what finally dragged me out of this blogging slump? Coup rumors! Deja vu all over again. December 2012 is the new June 2009. I'll be posting an article about that shortly. Stay tuned.

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Cartoon credit:
Cartoons by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Has it been two months?

The lemon trees have been good to us
(I don't know what happened to those freaky ones in the back)

Has it really been two months since I posted? Yikes, almost three months. Is anybody still out there?

Hello?
Hellooooo! Hellooooo! Hellooooo!
And La Gringa stands back to listen to the words echo in the empty room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I feel that I owe you an explanation but I'm not sure that I can explain my absence except that most bloggers get burned out after a time. It is really hard to get back into the habit of posting regularly once you stop; there are millions of defunct blogs cluttering up the blogosphere as proof of that statement. In my case, I think I depressed myself by trying to keep up with all the crime and criminal cops info. Things — and by that I mean crime and the system in general — are much worse than most people living in the first world can ever imagine.

Remember that I was keeping up with all the news articles about cops committing crimes? I should say trying to keep up. It was just beyond belief how many were reported, especially when you consider that most of them don't get caught and even fewer get convicted because everyone is afraid to testify, and rightly so. A couple of girls that El Jefe knew turned up in a clandestine grave in La Ceiba among the other bodies of people thought to have been murdered by police. They supposedly removed and replaced all of the police in La Ceiba, but that is usually a big fat lie. Then there are the congress, courts, and president talking the talk but not walking the walk — having meetings, setting up phony commissions, passing worthless laws that will never be enforced anyway, making false promises that they know they have no intention of keeping, etc., etc., etc. I figured that everyone was tired of hearing about that.

So I just shut down. I quit reading the online news completely, cancelled the newspaper, and stopped watching the news. I didn't have anything to tweet about. I went cold turkey from a complete news junkie to nada. I have over 600 unread emails in my main account and about 70 in my blog account. Most of those are news alerts from the various sources I subscribe to. I don't know why I saved them -- I guess thinking that I would get back into it and might need them for reference. But even still, I would catch tidbits, see a headline, or overhear the news when El Jefe was watching. Aaaack! Nothing changes; it only gets worse.

I decided that I would just blog about 'light' things but didn't get very far with that either. When it rains, it pours, you know? First there was a month long headache-inducing pounding and chiseling of concrete inside the house when another huge section of our tile floors exploded. Not much fun to write about that, and besides, I already did the last time. Then there were other disappointments and sad things that I can't really go into for security reasons or because they involve other people. I'll have to think on that to see if I can write about some of it in generalities in the future. Oh, and El Jefe is fine, in case you were wondering about him.

I'm sitting here typing this in my text program and I see at least 30 articles spread across the top of the screen that I started since the beginning of the year and never finished. I wish I could understand why I didn't finish them! What a waste of time! I must have hundreds of hours of work in those and now they aren't 'news' anymore anyway. I'm feeling like a failure. I'm also feeling hugely guilty about all the emails of concern that I received and didn't reply to. Even El Jefe has been saying, "You NEED to write SOMETHING!"

It has been so long that when I sat down determined to finally post something here, I first found that I had forgotten my password and then found that Blogger had completely changed the interface and I was totally lost. How long was I gone?! I feel like a new blogger all over again.

I'll try to do better. I have some photos that I'm sure I can write a few words about to try to get me back into the blogging groove again. (A few words? When have you ever known me to write a few words?)

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So, dear readers, I hope you've been well? What has been up with you these past couple of months? Tell me about it in the comments, please. Please make me laugh if you can. ;-) I need some of that. If you are reading this from the subscription email, let me hear from you, too. Click the blue article title in the email to be whisked away to the Blogicito! You could also give me a 'like' or a '+1' or a tweet to let me know you are still out there.

I've missed you all. I'm going to go read your emails now if I can find them among all the dreck.

Where has La Gringa been?

No hammock time for La Gringa!

Dear Blogicito readers,

I just realized it is December 18th and I haven't posted since November! Given the subject that I have been writing about, some friends and readers have been worried about me. I really have to apologize for that. And thank you to all of you who have written.

I've just been extremely busy helping El Jefe with a project that has taken almost every waking moment of our lives. ;-/ Along with being totally overwhelmed and depressed about the crime and corruption news in Honduras — yes, I do take things that affect Honduras personally! — this has resulted in blogger block.

As usual, I have a backlog of more than a dozen articles on the crime/corruption theme drafted but can't seem to find the time or the mental focus to edit and finish them. I hadn't even finished posting the original crime series when the 'stuff hit the fan' on the criminal cops scandal. The media is full of new stories every day, including the assassination of Alfredo Landaverde, a high-profile person who was previously involved with the Anti-Narcotrafficking Directorate (DLCN) and likely had much inside knowledge that isn't available to the general public.

Landaverde had been bluntly outspoken in the media recently about corruption and incompetence in the justice system. His wife, Hilda Caldera Tosta, who is not a Honduran citizen and who was also shot in the drive-by attack on her husband, promises to carry out his work and in a public statement to the cowards who assassinated her husband, "If you want to kill me, come and kill me!".

Señora Caldera has joined forces with Julieta Castellanos, mother of one of the university students murdered by police in October, and Leslie Portillo, widow of Arístides González who was the head of the DLCN at the time he was assassinated in a drive by shooting while dropping his daughter off at school. Señora Portillo has publicly denounced that the authorities know that police murdered her husband and they have done absolutely nothing for two years. They are calling their coalition the Honduran Spring against Crime. These three brave women may be able to get enough international attention to force action.

In my opinion, no real effective action that I can see has been taken. I also have absolutely no faith that any plans to do so would actually be carried out. It's corrupt and incompetent business as usual in Honduras, even when its citizens are dying at an alarming rate. I hope that I'll be pleasantly surprised, but don't think I will be. President Pepe Lobo has even made the incredible statement several times that he "had no idea that crime and corruption in the police department was so bad". I can only ask what country he lives in and why doesn't he start by listening to his ministers and reading the newspapers.

On another topic, to update you on the Facebook situation, I believe that the petition to restore my account was sent to Mark Zuckerberg but did not even receive the courtesy of a canned response, so not too much more I can say about that. :-/ The petition and the heartfelt comments left by Facebook friends was amazingly gratifying to me personally. You'll never know how much I appreciate Ricardo for setting up the petition and all of you who signed it and took the time to leave a comment. I'm going to consider my options again in January, but in the meantime, I sure do miss all the feedback from FB friends!

I'm not sure when I'll get back to this. I don't want to spoil your holiday season with these depressing topics and it seems frivolous to chatter about non-important topics. In the meantime, if you don't hear from me before then, I wish all of you a wonderful Christmas and a safe, peaceful, and prosperous new year. Please pray for change in Honduras.

Love and abrazos to all,




PS: Rather than checking back to see if and when I've posted something, you might consider signing up for an email subscription. You won't get any email until I next post something new. Click on the yellow sticky note in the sidebar and follow the instructions to receive email updates.

Facebook and Google+ identities: online, real, common, fake

Cartoon by Dave Walker
Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

The 'nymwars'

After doing a lot of reading about the online identity issue, I wanted to share some of what I've found with you. I know that many might initially think that someone who uses a "fake" name does it for nefarious purposes. It is often true among cyberbullies and spammers. That can't be denied. But the 'nymwars' (name wars) is an important issue for many other people for many legitimate personal, professional, political, or safety reasons, especially those living in less democratic and violent societies.

The 'nymwars' is a hot topic and some of the articles I ran across point out the futility and ridiculousness of the "real name" policies. In some cases, the legal names of persons of foreign nationalities just haven't been real-sounding enough for Facebook and Google+ employees. In other cases, even real American ('center of the universe') names just don't sound real to the powers that be, as in the case of Violet Blue, a high-profile author whose account was terminated by Google+.

The "real name" policy is not something that can be realistically enforced unless these mega companies are going to ask all umpteen million users to submit government identification. Until then enforcement is most likely to come by two means: 1) Extremely unusual or obviously unreal names, or 2) complaints from other users. As in my Facebook case, a malicious user complaint could be merely because someone doesn't like your political opinions or doesn't want others to see the information that you are sharing. In some parts of the world, being able to so easily silence another user could severely limit freedom of expression.

After a lot of bad publicity and significant pressure from the nymwars, Google+ just announced that they have reconsidered their "real name" policy. But from what I've read, they may adopt Facebook's policy of requiring a government issued photo ID. I'm not willing to do that.

I imagine that most of you would also be offended or concerned about your own privacy if you were asked to submit a copy of your ID merely for a casual online account.

What's in a name?

I understand the reasons for these policies. The internet can sometimes be a very unpleasant place because of trolls, spammers, and cyber bullies. I commend Google+ and Facebook for trying to make the internet a more civil place. YouTube comments are a perfect example of "freedom of speech" gone totally wrong.

On the other hand, a real "sounding" name can be meaningless, and does nothing to protect other users. This article reported that a man created 130 Facebook pages just to harass his ex-girlfriend. Apparently his fake names sounded real while mine didn't. Facebook's real name police didn't protect the victim.

Currently, I am again being cyberstalked by someone who purports to be using his real name. He follows the typical pattern of cyberstalkers: Many cyberstalkers try to damage the reputation of their victim with false accusations intended to turn other people against them. They may set up their own websites, blogs or user pages for this purpose. More commonly they will repititiously post defamatory or derogatory statements about their stalking target on web pages, message boards, and in guest books. In some cases, they may pose as the identity of the victim and publish material in the victim's name that defames or ridicules others. Some cyber-bullies may also send threatening, harassing, and obscene emails and instant messages to the victims and their friends (sometimes using anonymizer email services), or post rumors, gossip, or false "quotes" attributed to the victim. Google's name polices have not protected me from cyberstalking, and in fact, Google's Blogger policy specifically does not protect against personal attacks or alleged defamation.

This points out the irony of the "real name" policies. I felt that using a false name would be dishonest. But as it turns out, if I had lied and said I was Maria Garcia or Jane Thompson, neither Facebook nor Google+ would have questioned my name and Facebook wouldn't have demanded an official government-issued photo identification. Most readers would have never questioned the lie either.

So what these "real name" policies actually do is to encourage dishonesty in people, who for valid reasons, don't feel they can or should use their legal name. After all, we aren't opening a bank account or applying for food stamps, we are just being "social", as they tell us we should be. Most importantly, what these policies do not do is to protect users against abusers or cyberstalkers.

What can be done to keep the internet "civil"?

I realize that it is extremely difficult for large companies to control abusers, but I think that they should at least make a cursory review for actual abuse before terminating someone's account. For some online services, one way that I've had to verify that I am who I say I am, the author of La Gringa's Blogicito, was to put a code provided by the company in the HTML section of my website, very simple to do and virtually impossible for anyone else to fake.

Robert Scoble, celebrity geek blogger, gave a long list of suggestions to Google+ about this issue, including the one I mentioned above. He also suggests implementing features similar to the Disqus commenting system (which I use here on the Blogicito). Disqus makes it very easy to almost completely eliminate spam and abuse. Google+ could make it easier to allow users to decide to block "fake posters" if they don't want to see them, but still allow others to see them if they want to. Scoble also recommends adapting an internet "clout" system. That might not be so different from what Google now uses to determine which search results go on top.

Update on my Facebook Status

The online petition to reinstate my Facebook account has received over 500 signatures. Thank you all so much. The petition will be closed and sent to Mark Zuckerberg soon. If you haven't signed yet, please hurry.

Dr. Ulf Erlingsson set up a page Reinstate La Gringa's Facebook Account. If you are on Facebook, I hope that you will join it.

Maybe nothing will be resolved in my case but I have a bit of hope if this article is true. It says that in this case, someone was able to have their FB account restored with an apology from FB.

Correction: Petition Link

Huge fail! My last post, La Gringa needs your help now! had incorrect links to the petition.

If you couldn't find the Change.org petition, please click below to sign it.

Change.org|Start an Online Petition »

PS: If you are reading this by email,
you may not see the widget. Please click
the link in the second paragraph instead.



I am so sorry for any inconvenience!

La Gringa needs your help now!

I want to give a big thank you to all of you who have signed the petition (over 400) and helped to spread the word about my Facebook pseudonym name issue, and especially to those of you who have written such wonderful comments on the petition. I have literally been overwhelmed reading those comments. I wish I could thank everyone personally, but I don't have email addresses for the majority of my Facebook friends.

I could still use your help. If you can sign or help to spread the word on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, your blog, or elsewhere, I would be very grateful.

Please sign the online petition here. Your name can be hidden from public view if you desire that.

Banning backfires

Like a banned book, trying to silence ideas often backfires. The Blogicito has reached readership levels not attained since the 2009 political crisis from those curious to see what the fuss is all about. Welcome to my new subscribers during the past week, too.

Even though I can't post links to my articles on Facebook, you can. Just click the Facebook "Like" button at the end of this or any article to share it on your FB page. You can also click the Twitter button to tweet an article or the "mail" button to email it to a friend. If you are reading this article from the daily email, click the title of the article to go to the blog.

What did I do?

Here is my confession: I signed up for Facebook in July 2007, only on a whim to see what it was all about (I blogged about it). I DID NOT read Facebook's guidelines (which may or may not have changed since then) — just like 95% of the people who sign up for our Honduras discussion group do not read the guidelines and just like most people do not when they sign up for any website to make a comment or read a forum. Guilty as charged!

But that didn't get me kicked off Facebook during more than four years of active use. What else did I do? I wrote about crime and corruption in Honduras, which many people for various reasons don't want you to know about.

Who is La Gringa?

I am the same 'La Gringa' here on the Blogicito, in online discussion groups, in emails, in comments on news and blogs, and Twitter — as well as formerly on Facebook and Google+. Websites like Honduras Weekly and PJ Media have pubished my articles using my pen name.

'La Gringa' is the name that everyone knows me by and the proof of that is that the vast majority of my 1,200 Facebook friends found me through that name. 'La Gringa' (me!) has a wide internet presence and doesn't use a pseudonym to deceive, troll, abuse, start flamewars, spam, or any other nefarious purpose — that is easily proven. Long time readers may not know my name but they probably know more about me and my life than they do some of their real life neighbors.

During September, 49% of readers came to my blog through searches, and by far the most common search terms were "La Gringa", "La Gringa blog", or some variation of those terms. It's my name, it's my pseudonym, it's my nickname, it's me!

Certainly Google, above all, has a long history of my web activity since they have been hosting my Blogicito and email for more than five years. I'm inextricably tied to Google through those services, Google Reader, Picasa, Feedburner, and a myriad of other Google products, all under the same ID.

I was successfully able to "authenticate" my Google+ ID, which instructions say must be the "common name" that your friends and family know you by. By going through the several complicated steps to tie it to my online presence I was able to prove that I was truly that 'La Gringa'. But a month or so later Google+ also unceremoniously dumped 'La Gringa' without a question or a warning. Yet Google Search continues to list my Blogicito at or among the top websites for Honduran-related searches.

How to get credibility?

One friend insists that I would have more credibility if I used a name, even if it was a false one. The concept that lying could give me more credibility is astounding to me. I don't think credibility depends upon a name. Who of us knows with certainty whether our online acquaintances or favorite bloggers are using their real names? Does it matter? I think credibility has to be earned over time. But even if it would benefit me or the Blogicito, I would feel like I was deceiving people, many of whom I consider friends. I think that I've earned my 1,460 readers' trust over the years. If I haven't, I doubt that a name would have changed anyone's opinion.

One credible writer using his own name, Federico Álvarez, a naturalized Honduran citizen, was successfully silenced by Honduran government action. His citizenship was revoked with the threat that if he continued writing opinion pieces for La Tribuna [in Spanish] as a legal resident, it could result in him being expelled from the country in which he has lived for almost 35 years!

Zelaya supporters who opposed Álvarez's opinions very vocally cheered this government action, while still hypocritically crying to the world about the repression of their own free speech. Through a lengthy court battle which has gone to the Supreme Court, Álvarez may get his citizenship back, but whether or not he will ever resume published writing, I don't know.

When a former Ambassador from Costa Rica who has received prestigious awards from two Honduran presidents and is a well-known businessman with 3 1/2 decades of powerful business and political ties can be silenced, I have no delusions that I couldn't be as well.

Not going to do it

But the main point for me is that I have been seriously threatened and relentlessly harassed over the years by those who don't like some of the topics that I write about or my strong opinions. Some of those people sounded rabidly psycopathic to me. I live in a country where the police can't protect even the lives of its people or its journalists, where people are afraid to say too much about corruption or crime because often the police are involved, and where the murder rate is the highest in the world. The police don't have the resources or technology to investigate murders much less online crime, and I sincerely doubt that they have the interest.

Honduran friends warn me all the time to "be careful" and many say that they pray for me. I made the decision for myself to continue writing and suffer the unpleasantries, but I won't make that decision for my family members in Honduras, who could also be similarly threatened, harassed, or worse.

Bit by bit, I've given more and more personal information to these mega giants. First it was a birthday, then a location, then answers to secret questions. Then they wanted an additional email address — in case of problems. Then it was a phone number — in case of problems! No mas!

I will draw the line at providing a copy of my ID to any online service. There is no guaranty that it will be safe or private, especially with Facebook, which has a long history of changing security and 'visibility' settings without prior notification to its users. So if that is going to remain their policy, I will respect their decision but I won't be using their services.

I will keep blogging because I love Honduras. But I despise the crime and corruption and the poverty and ignorance in which the politicians have been able to keep the majority of its people. The first step to solving a problem is recognizing that you have one, something that seems hard for some people to accept.

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Because of my personal situation, I've learned a lot about the "nymwars" (name wars) controversy going on all over the internet right now and I'll share some of that with you in the next article.

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Please sign the online petition here. Your name can be hidden from pubic view if you desire that.

Change.org|Start an Online Petition »

My ripples will continue

How does an 'activist' blogger know when she's doing a good job? When people try to stop her or intimidate her.

Reporters without Borders (RWOB) ranks Honduras as 143rd of 178 countries in their 2010 Press Freedom Ranking. While RWOB often sites government intimidation, many journalists and bloggers freely admit to self-censorship for various reasons, including personal safety, job security, business or organizational interests, and others.

I use the pseudonym 'La Gringa' for obvious reasons — and note that this is very different from an anonymous poster who could be one of millions of anonymous posters. 'La Gringa' is my internet persona and wherever you find me on the internet, you find the same person, with the same thoughts and beliefs. There is no intent to deceive, to abuse, or to pretend to be someone else.

I may only be one grain of sand in the ocean but using a pseudonym allows me the freedom to speak more openly than I would otherwise. I won't bore you with stories of the attempts to intimidate or threaten me over the years. Suffice it say that those who don't agree with me but are intellectually unable to argue their own position often resort to vulgar language, name calling, intimidation, threats, and even impersonation in an effort to silence my voice.

I have had an account on Facebook for three more than four years, with almost 1,200 friends. After posting the first three articles of my Honduras crime series, someone filed a complaint about my user name which resulted in Facebook disabling my account. Although I don't have much hope that Facebook will reverse their decision, I have appealed with the message reprinted below.

Additionally, an online petition was started on my behalf to request that Facebook restore my account. I would appreciate it if you take the time to sign it. We can disagree with one another's opinions, but when we start interfering with other's right to speak their opinions, we are on a slippery slope.

I have several more articles in the crime series to post and I will post them. I hope that readers will share them on the various social services so that they get the widest possible audience.

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To Facebook:

I would like to ask that a human being review this appeal of the unjust disablement of my Facebook account.

I am a serious, long-time blogger (since 2006) who lives in the most dangerous city in the most dangerous country in the world according to the United Nations - Honduras, where 17 journalists have been murdered in the past 2 years, and where many reporters are afraid to write about organized crime or political matters.

I use a pseudonym, as many authors do, not to deceive, but because it is the only way that I can exercise my freedom of speech without fear of serious reprisals. My articles have been published all over the internet under that pseudonym.

This week I started writing a series of blog articles about crime and narcotrafficking in Honduras — and that is likely what prompted the complaint about my account, just as postings of my political articles were blocked by Facebook for a time last year and the year before because of false complaints.

http://lagringasblogicito.blogspot.com/2011/10/crime-is-out-of-control-in-honduras.html

My history on Facebook should show that I am not a "fake" or a spammer. I have almost 1,200 Facebook friends (most of them for 2 years or more) under the only name by which I am known in Honduras, the US, Canada and Central America. My FB friends and 1,400 blog followers understand the reasons why I must use a pseudonym.

By asking for a copy of my ID, Facebook is asking me to put my life in danger. By disabling my account, Facebook is silencing one of the few internet voices in English in Honduras.

I hope that you will take a serious look at my account and consider reinstating it.

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Please sign the online petition here. Your name can be hidden from pubic view if you desire that.

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Related articles:

World Focus: Blog censorship silences free speech around the world

Blogicito: Shut up or else! (my March 2009 thoughts on threats and intimidation)

Blogicito Rewind: Stuff you may have missed in September

Say what? What did I miss?

If you are like me, you don't always have time to read what comes to your inbox when it arrives and sometimes it goes by the wayside. The following are some of the more interesting articles (in my humble opinion) that you may have missed in the Blogicito in September:

A step back in time with Wikileaks 2002-2004

Congress revised the security tax law

Corruption but no corruptos in Honduras

FNRP leader Emo assaulted by Zelaya bodyguards

Guess what this is? (contest)

Paid parking in La Ceiba and update

Protect the Río Plátano Biosphere

Rambután (fruit)

Roatán's McNab-Anderson-Moore case

Sauted lobster with mushoom risotto (recipe)

Why I've been a lousy blogger lately

Lemons from our tree

I'll admit it. I've been a lousy blogger. Not to give excuses, but just to blog about what has been going on, I offer the following.

What has been keeping me busy?

In no particular order:

Wondering how many times our car(s) can be hit by others before we ever get one dime of restitution (apparently it is more than eight).

Semi-supervising a big garden clean up.

Worrying about Arexy and what's going to happen to her children because she's pregnant again.

Wondering when the water will come back, wondering why rich Hondurans think that it is okay for their neighbors to pay for their water usage, and wondering why our patronato lets them.

Avoiding all news as much as possible and then worrying about what I'm missing.

Wondering if a teacher can really throw a 4th grader out of school for the rest of the year and fail him because he is misbehaving. And wondering why the mother doesn't worry.

Worrying about someone's residency status because she is in a big mess, precisely because she didn't listen to my advice and listened to a lying, thieving attorney instead.

Feeling guilty about all the blog articles I've started and not finished.

Worrying that my car which was wrecked in 2009 is still on the Honduran tax rolls and we can't get it off, even with an attorney and thousands spent on the task.

Trying to maintain my integrity, to be an honest and responsible citizen, when it would be so much easier and more beneficial not to.

Worrying about currency devaluation, the US financial mess, and future security.

Deconstructing my carefully crafted new blog bit by bit until there was almost nothing left and then reconstructing it.

Tearing my hair out over blog issues that are way beyond my level of competence. Inspecting every single line of my template for errors over and over again for two weeks, only to find out that it was a GOOGLE error in a standard gadget that was causing the problem! How's a blogger stand a chance between Google and MS Internet Explorer?

We've had a few successes:

Fighting with city hall. (We won, but discovered some scary things in the process.)

Redesigning someone else's sidewalk without being asked. (They loved it.)

Learning a ton about HTML and CSS coding. (Which I will promptly forget before the next time I need to use it again.)

Getting the Blogicito to work properly with MS Internet Explorer. (This one is major!)

Things that I've been grateful for recently:

A Honduran web designer who out of the blue offered to help me do something that Disqus told me couldn't be done! And it was done! So there, Disqus. Thanks, Rafael. You are an angel and a genius! God bless you for your kindness.

Sheep manure.

Being able to flush the toilet.

Lemons from our tree.

Being able to finish a load of laundry without having to clean out all the faucets in the house and run the washer empty first.

People who miss me when I'm not online for days at a time.

El Jefe, who shows amazing patience with my single-minded stubbornness.

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Anything in particular that strikes your fancy that you would like to hear more about?

Happy 5th Blogicito Blogiversary!

Since the Blogicito couldn't take the author out to dinner to celebrate, La Gringa's Blogicito is celebrating the five year mark with a much-needed facelift. I hope you like it, because I've been working long and very hard on it.

If you are reading this article from a RSS feed or email, please, please, please come and take a look at the new look! I'm not a techie so everything was done through trial and error on a test blog first ... much trial and much, much error.

I still can't believe that I've been blogging for 5 years! With about 1,400 articles, 14,000+ comments, and almost 1,400 readers, technically the 'Blogicito' (little blog) should now be called the 'Blogisote' (big blog). Hahaha. Finding something in the blog has become more and more difficult owing to the sheer volume of articles. My next blog project will be to investigate and figure out a way to make that process more manageable for new readers who want to explore to be able to focus on the best articles.

Special thanks to Readers

A blog is nothing much without readers. Mil gracias (a thousand thanks) go to all you loyal readers who have made the journey with me, to all the new readers who have joined along the way, and especially to those of you who participate with me in the blog by commenting, sending tips, or suggesting topics. No blogger would have made it this long without readers who encourage and inspire. The only reason to blog is so that someone will read it — otherwise it would be called a diary, right?

A million thanks go to my #1 reader, El Jefe, for his patience and understanding, and most of all for helping me to understand "the Honduran way".

I had to close the Blogicito to the public during the transition and debugging process which, thanks to my lack of technical abilities, ended up taking three days instead of one night like I planned. To all those who wrote to me thinking they had been kicked out of the blog, my deepest apologies! I don't know why I didn't think to warn in advance, but I just wanted it to be a surprise.

The future

Now that the time-consuming face-lift is done — assuming you all don't tell me about a million errors — I am making a commitment to you to recommence blogging more regularly with more "everyday living in Honduras" topics. In the many months after June 28, 2009, I really burned myself out and for one reason or another, it has been very hard to get back into the groove. Regular, consistant blogging, like any other good habit, is hard to get back into when you've "fallen off the wagon." :-)

Navigation

I hope that you noticed the fancy new bamboo menu at the top. Man, what a coding and artwork project that was! Even if you are a long-time reader, please explore the new pages in the menu, in particular the new Immigrating and FAQs sections. At the bottom of the page is an automated list of the all-time most popular articles (according to Blogger.com). It is an electic list!

As soon as I get my draft back from the attorneys and revised, I will be posting a very complete Residency page which will give reliable answers to all of your Honduras residency questions.

Probably of less interest is that I've also added Disclosure, Privacy, and Comment policies which you can reach from the small menu at the bottom of the page, but the policies are there for anyone who wants to read them.

Feedback

Please let me know how you like the new look, but it is one of those trick questions like, "Does this dress make me look fat?" The blog style is based on my personal preferences. I like color and the green leaves! The leaves are the Blogicito's trademark so they won't be going anywhere.

I have researched and made some changes to try to make the Blogicito load faster but unfortunately some of those recommendations are beyond my control because they are hard-coded into Google's blogger system. Google seems to have a "do as I say, not as I do" policy — some of their 'no-no's' for website owners that cause slowness are the very things that Blogger.com (owned by Google) does.

I still have a few items on my to-do list that may help the load speed a little and a few little errors to fix. Also, keep in mind that the first time you visit, a new website will always take longer to load on your computer. Once your browser has it in the cache, it should load faster — at least that is how most browsers work.

If you notice something amiss, a widget or link not working, or get an error message on your browser, please send me an email and I'll look into it. I've tested the Blogicito on the most current versions of Firefox, Chrome, and the dreaded, unpredictable Internet Explorer. Google has put some automated mobile user codes in my template, but I have no idea how well that is working for readers. If you use a mobile device to read the Blogicito, please comment.

Don't get me started on that. Internet Explorer drives me absolutely nuts! If you use IE and are getting error messages, you might try putting my specific blog address as a "trusted site" in your privacy and security advanced settings. To do that you may have to change the setting to allow 'http' addresses as well as 'https'. Don't change your settings globally as that isn't a good idea. Also, I was able to view the site without using IE's "broken page" button, which actually messed up some things when used. If you know more about IE and have any tips for other readers, please leave a comment.

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Cheers! And here is to five more!





P.S. Click on the number below to see the comments or leave one. I'm working on trying to get that comment image to link. Sorry about that.

Down for maintenance

The blogicito, that is, not me. ;-) I hope to have it back tomorrow or Saturday.

Oh, Happy Day!

I was working on my blog template and even though I wasn't doing anything with the reader comments section, all my Disqus comments flew away into the clouds to join my 13,000 lost Blogger comments! Oh, boohoo!

So, not knowing anything else to do, I went to the Disqus site to try to figure out what the problem was. In looking at my settings, I noticed the "Import Blogger Comments" link and thought, "Oh, what the heck? Why not try it again for the 67th time?"

Woohoo! It not only put my Disqus comments back on the Blogicito, it magically found all my old Blogger comments and posted them, too! I don't know if this is because Blogger changed its commenting system or Disqus changed something, but I'm so glad.

I was really missing those old comments, especially when people ask the same things that were asked and answered before. There is nothing sadder than a lonely blog article with no reader comments.

I love your comments, readers!

Trying to love the Disqus commenting system

The Blogicito is trying out a new commenting system. The built-in Blogger commenting system just has no flexibility and it is annoying and very inefficient for blog owners. Worst of all for me, while Google does an outstanding job of filtering spam in Gmail, they put absolutely no effort into filtering spam comments in Blogger. None. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

Unless a blog has comment moderation turned on, a comment with 15 links to spam or p()rn sites will be posted by Blogger.com. (I can't even type the P or V words because it would attract more spammers to my site!) Turning on captchas slows down the rate of spam somewhat, but also slows down legitimate commenters and sometimes malfunctions preventing them from commenting at all. Moderating all comments is annoying for users and blog administrators alike.

Disqus (pronounced 'dis-cuss') has a built in spam system (Akismet) and gives moderators the ability to whitelist or blacklist commenters once and for all. That is a huge bonus for me, the Russian spam magnet! It also gives blog administrators tools to manage comments more effectively. I've already noticed that it makes it much easier for me to interact with commenters.

But enough about me,
what will Disqus do for you?

With Disqus, readers don't have to sign in every time to leave a comment and there are no annoying captchas to slow you down.

If you are signed in to your social media service or to Disqus, Disqus will recognize you and you are all set to leave a comment. If you are not signed in anywhere, you'll only need two clicks to do so. If you have more than one online presence (for example business and personal), you won't have to worry about which one you are signed into as your screen name and avatar will already be showing above the comment box. 'Guest' comments will also be allowed, for now anyway.

Disqus gives readers the ability to later edit and manage their own comments as well as to subscribe to comment replies. If you decide that 'Pete' is an absolute genius, you can subscribe to all of his comments (if he has a profile). If you later add or change your avatar, it will be changed on every comment you have made. You can even elect to automatically post your comment to Twitter or your Facebook page if you think it is particularly brilliant!

Readers, whether you comment or not, have the ability to 'like' a comment as well as to 'flag' an inappropriate comment for review, giving all readers a general idea of reader sentiment. Your preferred view of all comments can be arranged by oldest, newest, or best rated. Arranging comments by newest first will definitely be a time-saver when you just want to check back to see what's new.

Replies made to the comments of other readers are threaded to make discussions much easier to follow, especially when there are numerous anonymous commenters. (There is nothing like an 'anon' commenting on an argument between 'anon' and 'anon' to get the rest of us totally confused!) Comments are updated real-time, no need to refresh the page, so you don't have to worry about confusing cross-postings. Commenters also have an option to sign up to receive by email replies to their specific comment or all comments received on that article made after theirs and can post a reply by email.

You can connect your Disqus profile with your own blog (on any platform), website, Twitter, Facebook, or other social media accounts and display your own screen name and avatar, making commenting a much better social experience. If you don't have and don't want any of that, you can set up your profile to just display your screen name with no links. You set that up once, and you are done, but you have the ability to change your settings at any time.

There are so many options for 'connecting', including Open ID, that I'd rather let you review them and decide what is best for you. I will explain more about that in the next article. But if you have any specific questions, please leave a comment and I'll try to find an answer.

Tip: if you already have a Google, Blogger, Yahoo, Wordpress, Flickr, or one of several other accounts, that is your Open ID. You won't have to set up a new one.

All of these options sounded fantabulous to me! What do you think?

Note to bloggers:

Despite all of the above and my strong desire to love this system, I cannot recommend Disqus to bloggers yet. I'll give you a review of the Disqus system after I've tested it for awhile. Installing it was easy enough, but it did not install properly on my custom template. After two weeks, I have not been able to import all of my thousands of old comments into the Disqus system — something I'm not happy about at all! I'm trying to be patient, as Disqus has assured me that they are working on a fix right now, but I was disappointed in the customer support suggestion to "play around" with my coding.

To make matters worse, I discovered that Internet Explorer 8 could not display some of my blog pages at all. And then, for the cherry on top of this high tech nightmare sundae, my laptop is broken and I'm limited as to my online time, all my files, programs, and prior templates are inaccessible on my computer, and I'm totally discombobulated using J's computer when I can.

Feedback

I'd love to hear your feedback on this new system. I invite you to try it out on this post, even if you only want to say "testing!" You won't bother me at all and it will help me to test the system. If you have problems of any kind, please try to be as specific as possible so I can try to troubleshoot. If you are unsure about or have problems signing in, please first read the next article, Connecting to and using Disqus.

Connecting to and using Disqus

In the last article, I described some of the features of the Disqus commenting system. In order to benefit from those features, you'll need to set up a Disqus account if you don't already have one. About 500,000 sites use Disqus, including Mashable, UK's Telegraph, The Atlantic, La Prensa, and El Heraldo as well as some of the 'big' blog sites. You may find that you already have a Disqus account.

Oh, I know, I know! We'd all love to be able to participate in forums, leave comments, access services, or whatever without having to sign in. But this is the internet and a few (or many) bad apples have spoiled it for everyone. The truth is that the internet would sink to its lowest common denominator (social misfits) and most websites would be overrun with spam and inappropriate comments if they didn't have some sort of control over who and what can be posted to their website. Garbage posted on websites reflects badly on the website administrator. Readers don't come to the Blogicito to find p()rn sites, buy the v-drug, or find a Russian girlfriend and I'd like to keep it that way.

Long time readers will remember that the Blogicito didn't even use captchas, much less moderation, for many years. Writing the Blogicito is a joy for me and getting feedback from readers is, too, even when readers don't agree with me. But as the Blogicito has grown, it has now gotten to be a job to manage spam comments every single day — and an unpaid one at that — so I hope that you will give Disqus a try.

Getting set up

Keep in mind that the initial set up could be a bit confusing, so please have patience. I think it will be worth it in the long run, especially if you choose an OpenID since it can be used at millions of sites. I'll also answer questions and give a few tips about 'connecting' in the comments, so check those out, too.

Maybe the easiest way to start would be to look at my Disqus profile:

Click image to enlarge

My sign in name is 'lagringalaceiba' because 'lagringa' was not available, however, I changed my 'display name' to 'La Gringa' which you can see in the upper left next to my hammock avatar. I encourage everyone to make sure that your screen (or display) name is the one that you want use and that whatever profile you decide to use shows only what you want to be public.

Note that your email address will not display on the public profile.

Click image to enlarge

This is the page where you make those "public info" selections. Only the "Display name" is required. I have included my location since it is already well known, but there is no need to fill out the location, website, or short bio if you don't want to. The Disqus settings are very simple and easy to understand so just explore the pages of your profile to make sure it is the way you want it to be.


Connections

You can connect your Disqus profile with your own blog (on any platform), website, Twitter, Facebook, or other social media accounts and display your own screen name and avatar, making commenting a much better social experience, and eliminating the need to type in your email and website each time. If you have any specific questions, please leave a comment and I'll try to find an answer.

Tip: if you already have a Google, Blogger, Yahoo, Wordpress, Flickr, or one of several other accounts, that is your Open ID. Check out that link and many of you won't have to set up a new account.

I've chosen to connect with Twitter, Facebook, OpenID, and my blog. You can choose to connect with any or all of these or nothing at all.

If you don't have and don't want any of that, you can set up your profile to just display your screen name with no links, just as before with Blogger's system, with the advantage that you don't have to sign in each time you want to comment. You set that up once, and you are done, but you have the ability to change your settings at any time.

If you don't want to connect to any social media sites, skip down to "Too complicated?" below.

Click image to enlarge

When connecting, each individual site (Twitter, FaceBook, OpenID, WordPress, etc.) will ask you in a pop-up window to verify that you are the owner by requesting your log in information — that is to protect you from someone who could impersonate you by, for example, listing your Twitter page as their own. That information (password, etc.) is not going to Disqus. You'll only have to do this once.

Twitter

Twitter seemed the easiest to connect to. Sign in to your Twitter account before you try to connect to your Twitter page. If it doesn't work the first time, or if you connect to the wrong account, just unconnect by clicking the box and try again.

Facebook

Before trying to connect your account to Facebook, make sure that your Facebook settings allow it. Choose Your Privacy Settings > Basic Directory Information > Search for me on Facebook > set to "everyone". This setting only means that your Facebook name is available to anyone in a search of the Facebook directory, not that all of your information is available. Note that you can (and should) manage the Facebook security settings to control information that is shown in searches. In most cases, your settings will already make your Facebook name available to everyone in a search.

OpenID

I also connected my Disqus account with my OpenID and listed a link to my blog. OpenID was the most complicated for me, but I've since found a site called OpenID Explained which does just that — explain it. That site also rates the various ID providers on security, ease of use, and services. And, of course, the biggest benefit is that OpenID can be used at millions of sites.

As mentioned above, you may already have an OpenID that you can log in with. If not, you can set one up at many sites. The site that I found easiest to understand and most customizable was MyOpenID.com, which was also one of the highest rated providers. If you want to connect your comments directly with a Blogspot blog, you'll need to use OpenID.

Another benefit to MyOpenID.com is that you can set up "personas" which means that you can choose to use a full profile or a more limited one, depending upon where you are logging in. The first time you log into a site, you'll be asked which profile you want to use. I'm skimming over a lot of OpenID details, so please feel free to ask in the comments section if you need more help.

Too complicated?

I'm sure that all that sounds complicated to many of you who don't have such an extended internet presence. Not to worry! If you only want to comment and be able to use Disqus features, it is much simpler. In order to be able to explain it, I decided to set up a Disqus profile using my "throwaway email" address that I use for signing in to websites that I may not visit frequently or those that might send unwanted email. Surprise, surprise! When I tried to set up the profile, I found that I already had a Disqus profile using that email address:

Click image to enlarge

At the top there is a message that says "Profile found!" You can see that this one is bare-bones and that there are no links (connections). I did not upload an avatar because I was in a hurry that day but I hope that you will if you are a frequent commenter at the Blogicito.


Avatars

Avatars help readers and me to remember previous commenters. Don't let the word 'avatar' confuse you. The avatar doesn't have to be your face. It can be any image from your computer, a pet, a flower, an icon, a cartoon, anything, including a drawing that you make yourself, like the one I did for the guest commenters. (Funny picture, huh?) ;-D

Almost done!

Whichever method you choose, when you have completed it, take a moment to look at your public profile page to see that it displays only what you want it to display. If you have connections, click the links to make sure that they go to the the correct websites. With the exception of OpenID, it took me much longer to write this than it did to do all of it!

If you have already commented as a 'guest', you can easily "claim" those comments and set up your profile the way you want it. Just click on the guest avatar and click the link in "If this is you, claim it now to manage your comments".

Commenting

Click image to enlarge

I'm going to run through the comment area. Don't worry, you won't be given a test. Heheheh. ;-) It looks awful, but chances are that you will only care about a few of these features. Just click! Nothing is going to bite you and nothing can't be undone.

If your display name and avatar (1) are not showing, you can log in before or after you comment (use the Disqus link (2) ). I like to log in first. My data is always already there so all I have to do is click 'login'; no typing is required.

Type your comment in the box (3). Click 'Post as yourname' (5) to post it. If you are not logged in, you will see 'Post as ...' (5). Click your choice of profiles (Disqus, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to log in and post the comment.

To share your own comment on your Twitter and/or Facebook page, click the appropriate icon(s) (4) before you post.

Click 'Subscribe by email' (6) or 'Subscribe by RSS' (7) if you are interested in being informed of future comments on that article. The Subscribe button will change to an 'unsubscribe' button.

To later edit or remove your comment, click the 'edit' link (14) beneath your posted comment. This will be a 'like' button on other people's comments.


When viewing the other comments:

Click the 'Sort by' box (8) to arrange your view of the comments by newest, oldest, or best rated.

Click on a commenter's avatar (9) to view his/her public profile

Click on a commenter's name (10) to go to the website he or she has connected with.

Click on the date/time (11) to obtain a URL for the comment.

Collapse a comment thread from your view by clicking the minimize button [—] (12) which will appear at the right of the commenter's name.

To 'flag' (13) an inappropriate comment or to 'like' (14) a comment, just click. No sign in is required. The 'flag' button will appear when you run your mouse over the comment.

To post a response to a specific comment, click "Reply" (15) at the lower right of the comment to which you want to reply.

When viewing the Recent Comments widget in the sidebar:

Click the avatar (A) to view the commenter's public profile.
Click the commenter's name (B) (if it is a link) to go to their connection page (Twitter, blog, etc.)
Click the article title (C) to go to the beginning of the article.
Click the time (D) of the comment to go directly to the complete comment.

Feedback

The reason for this hideously long article is that I want readers to have a good experience with this. A few readers commented negatively about Disqus when I first installed it, partly because there were some malfunctions in the beginning, partly because of not understanding how it worked, and I guess partly because no one likes change. I thought that it needed some further explanation so that commenters can use whatever features they are interested in to their fullest.

I'd love to hear your feedback on this new system, but to give it a fair shot, you'll need to make two comments — the first where you set up your account — which might be a pain in the neck — and a second one where you will see that you don't have to type in anything, just click the Discus (or other link) to be recognized.

If you have problems of any kind, please try to be as specific as possible so I can try to troubleshoot. Try out the features mentioned here and in the other article, Trying to love the Disqus commenting system. I invite you to try it out on this post, even if you only want to say "testing!" You won't bother me at all and it will help me to test the system and figure out where readers are having problems.

Honduras Blogs

Have you visited Honduras-Blogs yet?

We have a new blog network site that you are going to love if you are interested in Honduras and what Catrachos and expatriates in Honduras are blogging about.

We are in the process of contacting all of the Honduras bloggers that we can find so that we can introduce their blogs to you. So far we've found about 150 blogs, but haven't been able to find email addresses for many of them yet and we are waiting patiently for the other bloggers to respond.

It's amazing but it is like pulling teeth to get bloggers to write about their own blogs! I haven't even written the Blogicito introduction yet because I've been so busy contacting bloggers and translating the Spanish introductions to English.

If you are one of those bloggers who has been holding back, please check out what we need from you:

Add your blog

Añadir su blog [Esp.]

Honduras-Blogs can only be successful if we all work together to make it so. So don't be shy, send in your introduction now!

One of the greatest things about Honduras Blogs is that it is bilingual. Almost everything is presented in both Spanish and English.

Latest articles

The lower part of the front page (click the large down button near the top) has an automated feed which includes a snippet of the latest article from each of the Honduras bloggers (about 90 so far). It is updated almost instantly as new posts occur throughout Honduras. This is a terrific place to scan through the recent articles and click over to the blogs you want to read more from.

Since these feeds come in their original language, we provide in our sidebar two translators so that you can translate the snippets to Spanish or to English with one click. I hope that those of you who aren't bilingual will try that. I think you will be amazed at what you find. It may widen your view about Honduras and the people in it!

Searching for blogs

Additionally, the category lists provide a way to search for blogs by your areas of interest (topics, location, language, nationality of blogger). There is an incredible variety of Honduras Blogs, focusing on everything from everyday life to science to religion to high-tech to poetry to politics to sports.

This site is going to be your one stop shopping site for Honduras blogs. Please visit Honduras-Blogs and check back often to see what Honduras bloggers are writing about!

Follow Honduras Blogs

Please also follow Honduras-Blogs on Twitter, Facebook, and/or Networked Blogs on Facebook. Add it to your feed reader if you use one, bookmark it, or sign up for daily email updates. And please don't forget to leave a comment for the bloggers. Nothing encourages bloggers like reader comments.

I hope that you enjoy Honduras Blogs and find it useful. Please let us know what you think or any suggestions you might have, either here or over there.

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Bloggers and Blogueros: Please send your introductions to Honduras Blogs! Please also feel free to use any part of the above article if you would like to write your own blog article about Honduras-Blogs.

Goooooooooogle

Here is something ironic: Google is going to start penalizing "slow" websites in search results (count the Blogicito in!) when it is all the Google crap (Google search, analytics, adsense, gadgets, translator, etc.) that causes the sites to slow down!

Thankfully, they said it would only affect about 1% of the websites. What's that? Only about 10 million sites or so?

Google, I love you but that's not fair!

Not only that, but I tested the Blogicito, and guess where most of my errors and little HTML "illegalities" come from? You guessed it! From Google and (Google's) Blogger stuff that they put in my template that I have no control over.

Even so, no matter how Google abuses me, I can't live without Google. I am a Google everything addict. I saw the title of an article "How to get Google out of your life" and it made my heart pound. I can't. I won't.

Google Search, Blogger, Feedburner, Google Reader, Google Docs, Google Images, Gmail, Google Translate, Picasa, Google Earth, Google Alerts, Google Books, Google Calendar, Google Toolbar, Google Page Rank, Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools, ......OMG! If Google goes down, so do I!


P.S. No, I'll admit that it's not really all Google's fault. I do like my junk on the Blogicito. I figure it is all useful to someone.