Normally I wait for sometime before upgrading WordPress installations. But this time I jumped to WordPress 2.5 when I came across serious security issues in 2.2.x series. Some of my blogs which ran under 2.2.x versions were badly hacked and I had to spend a lot of time recovering them! The hacker modified most of my posts and cleverly inserted hidden links. Also he installed a backdoor php file in the current template folder! This ensured that even after upgrade he can control my WordPress blog.

I detected the problem only when I realized that my blog is no longer in the Google search index!

The WordPress hacking became so widespread that Technorati has special process in place to quarantine infected/hacked WordPress blogs! There are reports of WordPress 2.5 vulnerability, but it is better to upgrade to 2.5 than stick with 2.3.3. The important thing is to upgrade as soon as a release is out rather than cling to a version for which hacking scripts may be sold in warez forums! So I am keeping my thumb on the WordPress upgrade button waiting for 2.5.1 

After the upgrade I came across an interesting  issue when I tried to post through Windows Live Writer. It responded with an error message - Invalid response document returned from XmlRpc server. I initially thought that it is a bug with Windows Live writer and compatibility issue with WordPress 2.5. Then I tried posting the same from the WordPress admin. When I tried to upload an image I got the following error,

- Fatal error: Call to undefined function wp_constrain_dimensions.

Then I realized there is some problem with the WordPress 2.5 upgrade. Here is how I resolved the problem. First I deleted all the php files in the WordPress root folder (except wp-config.php) and then deleted wp-admin and wp-includes folder. After ensuring that all old files are deleted, I uploaded WordPress 2.5 files again. That resolved the issue with Windows Live Writer!

Many free blogging service providers and Web hosting companies will take down your blog if you link to copyrighted material. Some of these services will close your account even for posting something controversial!

Now Pirate Bay has started a new blogging service named Baywords which won’t take your site down for linking to copyrighted material or for writing on controversial subject.  So what is the catch?

First of all you cannot post anything you wish! You can only post stuff which are legal under Swedish law. I think services such as these may force Sweden to change the laws sooner than we expect! Secondly Baywords will push advertisement onto your blog. Not a pretty thing for many!

There is another problem. Baywords may see an influx of blogs which are illegal in US or other countries. This may cause the entire domain to be banned in those countries. Hence hosting your personal blog on Baywords may not be a good idea if you are looking for traffic. The only people who will find this useful are those who are publishing daily links to warez or ebooks (copyrighted material).

Baywards is running on a multi user version of WordPress software.