ALinks NOT a memory Hog- usually!

ALinks has been cleared! Sort of. (And, at least I think it’s cleared!)

The difficulty was mostly due to a bug in PHP 5.2.2. The bug causes Wordpress’s xmlrpc.php file to break down. For some reason I don’t quite understand, aLinks uses the xmlrpc.php. (Why aLinks uses this is a mystery. )

The fix was easy. I added this line to the top of xmlrpc.php in my blog directory.

$HTTP_RAW_POST_DATA = file_get_contents("php://input");

By “top”, I mean I placed it immediately after the <?php. ( If you cut and paste from a blog, retype the double quotes. These are sometimes replaced with slightly different quotes which will not work. Just retype.)

I found both the solution and a description of the problem at hughesfamily.net.au and red-sweater.com.

Does this problem affect more than aLinks?

Yes. The ‘xmlrpc.php’ file contains some functions associated with pinging. So, if you are noticing difficulties receiving pings (which I was) you may be having problems with this file. (Presumably, my problems will be cured now.)

Do I have to fiddle with my xmlrpc.php file to fix the bug?

No. WP 2.2.2 includes the work around for the PHP 5.2.2 bug. When you upgrade, things will be fixed.

Thanks Lord Matt for noticing that aLinks was getting all bogged up trying to ping and ping and ping and…. Now I think I have the problem licked.

Tags:aLinks Blog Hacks monetize plugins

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aLinks Plugin: memory hog!

Drat! I love the functionality of aLinks. But today, the admin panel of my blog was running so slowly, I had to break down and communicate with Dreamhost about the slowness. After some discussion with them and some fiddling at my blogs, I concluded that aLinks plugin is a hog. (Needless to say, I breathed a sigh of relief to learn the problem was not one of my plugins!)

Evidently, aLinks not a cpu hog (that’s processing) it’s a memory hog. Or at least Dreamhost tells me my problem is memory.

The memory use issue is quite bizarre because the piggish behavior only happens when you are in the admin panel- that is when you write posts, publish, turn plugins on and off etc. It does not happen when the blog loads. (This means my visitors probably noticed nothing.)

When I finally turned off the plugin, my admin panel loaded quickly. The blog always loaded quickly.

I love the functionality of the aLinks. I looked at the calls, and I suspect the program can be salvaged fairly easily by making it do what it does much less frequently. (As in: do whatever it’s doing when the blogger makes changes at aLinks itself or possibly when the blogger publishes a post rather than every time we turn on any random plugin, edit our themes etc. There is no reason aLinks needs to do anything when I make a change to my style sheet! )

Because I love the functionality of the plugin, I’ll be communicating with the plugin developer. Meanwhile, if you are using ALinks, I advise you turn aLinks off. (Sigh. . . I make good money from Amazon using the auto-linking feature of that plugin. )

Tags:aLinks WordPress

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A Links Plugin

Do you like to link some people constantly? I’ve only blogged a few times, but I’ve linked Tricia and PayPerPost several times. And guess what? I want linking them to be easy and convenient. I don’t want to look up the url to their sites every time I write an article.

So, you know what I did? I added both Tricia and PayPerPost my keywords in the “aLinks” Wordpress plugin which is available at Headzoo. I also added appropriate links. Now, the first time I write “Tricia” or “PayPerPost” in an article, it’s automatically linked. Now, I don’t have to write the html!

Handy, huh?

Plus, if Tricia or PPP ever change their domain names, I can just edit the aLinks keywords and automatically fix every dead link in every article I ever wrote. Even handier!

Guess what else? I have an Amazon account, and aLinks has a module that lets me enter my Amazon affiliate code. Then, later, I easily create automatic links to Amazon. (I use this at my knitting blog to link my favorite knitting books to Amazon, and I actually do make money when people buy stuff at Amazon.)

It’s a great plugin. If you use Wordpress, you should get it. Then, code Big Bucks Blogger or Lucia in, talk about me and send me traffic! (Heck, you never know, if I learn to love your blog, I’ll add you too. )

Update:
Two people asked me for tips on using this plug in. It has a zillion features and I use two only.

To create Keyphrases, go to your WP dashboard. Click “aLinks”.

Find Keyphases and click. (Just skip General Settings for now!)

Key phrases lets you do four things. But, the first one you want to learn is “General Keyphrases”. Scroll w_a_y down.

Now under “General Keyphrases”,

1. Enter the phrase you want to link. Say you want to link ‘The Best Knitting Blog in the World‘. Enter that in the box.
2. Now, enter a description. You can enter- this will hover. I’ll put “Lucia’s awesome knitting blog”.
3. Now enter the URL using the http:// Like this: http://www.thedietdiary.com/blog
4. Click Update

Tags:aLinks plugins WordPress

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