I would call this one beta: if you spend hours crafting a contribution, please keep your own copy. Many thanks to Chris Bayley for already volunteering content. Please feel free to contribute content onany aspect of bagpipedom you see fit, from essays on the GHB competition system to playing techniques in Outer Mongolia.
You’ll see references to the domain everythingbagpipe scattered around; for the moment, ignore them; the above URL is the correct way in - although you can get to the wiki through that domain, it’ll just take longer. It’ll be set up properly, erm, later.
Lastly, copyrights and licensing - everything submitted to the wiki is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike licence - meaning other people can edit and copy your work, and they don’t have to pay you for it. They do however have to (a)attribute you and the other contributors and (b) they have to release it under the same licence - so any improvements they make, you can take back. This is a Good Thing, it’s right up there with Lara Croft and live music.
Really lastly, this isn’t a discussion site we’re talking about. It’s an information resource, edited by it’s users. So don’t post a page saying “my reed’s got a sinking back D, can anyone help”, make a page with a troubleshooting chart and leave anything you don’t know blank for others to fill in.
Um … sorry, but … this damned ADD syndrome … what was the purpose of the page supposed to be? Just UPs, or is it really to be all types of bagpipes? That might have an effect on what would be suitable for a logo. Is the 100 x 150 logo to be oriented portrait or landscape?
Yes, all kinds of bagpipes. Of course, actual contributions will always be weighted towards popularity; I’ve also posted a note to Bob Dunsire’s site, and I dare say that a lot of contributions will end up coming from GHB people.
Logo - I meant between 100100 - 150150 - do you see there’s two links at the top left saying Main Page? The top one will be replaced by the logo; the space will obviously expand to fit. Something approximately square or portrait would probably be best, but if it works, it works.
Yes, a logo representing all bagpipedom would be ideal; perhaps something like a really simple pipe with just a blowpipe, bag and chanter. I’m as artistic as an unartistic thing, hence my plea.
A few folks have contacted me now, expressing concern that the software that runs the site stores and displays your IP address whenever you make a contribution. I’m not sure why it’s caused so much worry, unless y’all believe those adverts that tell you letting your IP be known is a Bad Thing.
Hackers aren’t interested, I assure you. They find their targets by portscanning thousands of IPs for a specific vulnerability, like a particular version of a mail transport program or something. They don’t go surfing obscure piping websites to find victims. You shouldn’t be surprised that your IP address is easily available - how do you think a web server knows where to send that page you want?
Your boss is not going to crawl around the internet, checking up on IPs to make sure you haven’t been leaving it all over the place (besides, there are better ways of doing this).
If anyone else has any concerns I haven’t addressed, please do let me know.
People would probably be concerned if they were attached on a 24/7 high speed line and mentioned it in their message. A fixed-ip, especially running win-doze is particularly vulnerable.
As for hackers not being interested, I’d put that in the “well, maybe” file. Having been one in the distant past, I can assuredly say that there are a variety of hackers at a variety of levels interested in a variety of things from the banal to the exotic.
Some people just don’t enjoy being tracked, for whatever reason. Instead of dismissing their concerns, it might be good to address them.
Just one thing.
Having your ip known by a site that keeps track of them is one thing, advertising them is another.
And for the rest.., what dionys said..
If you don’t enjoy being tracked, well, unplug your computer right the hell now. Every website on this planet logs every single page fetch and every single IP asssociated with it. Google knows every single thing you’ve ever searched for. You might like to find out the expiry date of it’s cookie, if you already don’t know.
If you’re on a fixed IP with always-on access, you’re either secure (so far) or you’ve already been cracked. How long does it take a fresh Windows install to get hit by Blaster? (BTW, a lot of always-on products are nothing of the sort; they just connect transparently whenever a request is made).
I’m not dismissing people’s concerns: I’m trying to address them and correct misunderstandings.
Anyway, there’s an easy solution in this case. Just type in a username and a password, click the register button and no-one will see your IP address again. It also gives you a bunch of handy features, too.
If you do not have it already and are worried about what people know about your surfing habits download “spybot 1.2”. This will check your machine for adware, highjackers, trojans, diallers that may have downloaded themselves without your knowledge. Just having a virus scanner, and firewall is not enough to completely protect yourself and deleting cookies and history will not remove the more tenacious ones.
