Montreal City Weblog

Kate 18:35 on 2020-01-02 Permalink Reply  

• Chris 11:00 on 2020-01-03 Permalink

  Any chance we’ll see https?

• Kate 11:26 on 2020-01-03 Permalink

  It wasn’t on my shopping list. Should it be?

• MattS 12:02 on 2020-01-03 Permalink

  Absolutely! Your webhost should be able to provide this service for a nominal fee. Alternatively it’s relatively easy to install Let’s Encrypt on a web server.

• Mark Côté 14:01 on 2020-01-03 Permalink

  Indeed, it’s recommended to use HTTPS everywhere for a few different reasons. See for example https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/security/encrypt-in-transit/why-https.

• nau 17:31 on 2020-01-03 Permalink

  How thoughtful of Google to promote the privacy of web users…

• marco 14:47 on 2020-01-04 Permalink

  If you just have a blog and all you require from your users is to enter an email address to post a comment, you probably don’t need HTTPS for security reasons. Without all of the debate over what could happen, adding https in this context would be like locking the windows while leaving the doors open. There are bigger things to worry about.

• Kate 15:04 on 2020-01-04 Permalink

  marco, what would you suggest comes before https for a blog like this?

• marco 15:41 on 2020-01-04 Permalink

  Worry about form input and server access.
  Obviously, it would be bad if I can do this:

  alert(“Hi Kate”);

  or… “Hi Kate, there was a security breach on your server. Please log in to http://mysite.com with your credentials to confirm that you are you.”

  The stuff you link to could also be an issue but my point was really that https is always a good thing but you are a blog, not a bank. There is also no harm in researching https and why it is a good thing.

• ant6n 17:27 on 2020-01-04 Permalink

  Have the ads gone? Will you do a patreon or similar?

• Kate 19:50 on 2020-01-04 Permalink

  ant6n, the ads have not gone. They have paid for the server over the last year, and a little more, but they’re not really cooking since I don’t concentrate on turning the blog into an SEO powerhouse.

  I don’t like how they look, but I also looked at several sites with Patreon set up, and my problem with that idea is this:

  Most outfits that offer Patreon are free, but offer special additional extras to patrons. Canadaland, for example, does muckraking journalism of various kinds and a podcast, but patrons get access to additional podcasts every week, and they offer swag to people who sign on.

  I’m not currently in a position to generate an additional portion of content for patrons. It’s just me doing this blog, always has been, I work full time, can’t afford to pay someone else to help, have no interest in making a podcast and don’t have time to expand on quasi-journalistic endeavours.

  It wouldn’t be hard for me to design shirts and other junk but honestly, who really wants a shirt or a lapel pin, and I don’t have a lot of time to visit printers and haul things to the post office.

  So I don’t see where I could take the blog to make it fit for that format. Am I missing something?

• Ian 18:56 on 2020-01-05 Permalink

  If you wanted to go the swag route there are lots of print on demand places that take care of all the shipping and legwork for you. If you don’t think that’s a good fit for this project that’s another story.

  That said I am sure that several of your regulars might be willing to drop a few bucks on a patreon just for the hell of it, worth a try anyhow – not like it costs you anything to leave it up in the sidebar.

  Glad to her you are at least covering server costs with ads. Your work here is much appreciated.

• ant6n 21:05 on 2020-01-05 Permalink

  I don’t think extra swag is necessary, either. Trying to move content into the walled garden of these platforms is probably central to the business strategies of the likes of Patreon, but it can just be used as an ongoing micro-payment tool (some ppl offer ‘sponsorships’ i.e. ads on their website, e.g. this guy: https://www.patreon.com/andrewrk)