Sorry for my absence in the past few months, but besides my health problems, I rant into a few other issues as well.

I write a couple of other blog as well, one being My Merchant Account Blog.  I have always tried to maintain an unbiased opinion on this of course and I interviewed Chris West from CDGCommerce on a few things regarding recurring billing and his electronic payment gateway, Quantum.  Unfortunately, Russ from LoudCommerce / FDISLoud apparently saw this as a trust issue and decided he could no longer trust me, so he terminated our relationship. I have always insisted that My Merchant Account Blog remain unbiased and he even sent me a link regarding microsites and how they should be unbiased.

I had mentioned to him a few weeks prior that he did not seem to be sending my 10% of the residuals either, so I think that offended him.  I am actually glad that he terminated the relationship - I found out later that First Data was charging merchants more than what was listed on the website.  Personally, I think that is wrong and that is why a lot of merchant account providers have such a bad rap.

One thing that really stood out was the transaction fee.  On the website, and even on the contracts - the fee is listed as 25¢.  However, First Data was charging one merchant 25.99¢.  The Address Verification Service (AVS) was on the website and the contracts as 5¢, while on the merchant account statement, they are being charged 5.99¢.

While you might think this is not that much, it builds up.  For example, if you had 1,000 that month, you should be charged $250.00, but you are probably being charged $259.90.  That is almost $10.00 extra that you are being overcharged.  Then of course, with First Data having thousands of merchants, that are really bringing in some extra money.  For example, let's say that have 10,000 merchants with 1,000 transactions that month.  That is $99,000.00 they are overbilling.  I smell another class action lawsuit against First Data.

Of course, he did not warn me so I unfortunately lost my personal blog (which I am trying to get back) and the database that contained my thousands of photos.  Luckily I had backed up the data on My Merchant Account Blog and Loud Expressions.

Looking back over the years, I tend to always take a look at the domain names that I registered.  I have one domain that was registered on 28 Dec 99 (shows what I tend to do during the holidays).  I have a few domain names that I thought were interesting but I have not done anything with them.  I bought a few others, and they have some type of niche.

Of course when I get a domain name, it wants to know some personal information.  And this information is viewed on the Internet very easily.  Quite scary if you think about it.  But a few domain services offer a private registration service for those who might be paranoid or just might not want their address listed on an Internet page.

And then came message boards / forums.  When you sign up for them, it wants a username, password, and an e-mail address.  This username needs to be unique to that forum.  Of course, I could not think of too much (my nicknames from high school (HLB) and the Air Force (coremeister)), but these did not seem to fit.  So I chose my name.  I remember I would get a few privates on using my name on the Internet.  I figured though that I did not have that much to hide.

Need a Little Privacy

But then again, we all need some privacy now and then, right?  I have a couple of different blogs - this personal one, one for Expression Web, one for merchant accounts, and then another personal one.  The other personal one has a lot of duplicate content in it, but it does have a few other posts as well.  And it is not really advertised.  Why a need for a blog that does not make any money?  Well, it does help.  Maybe I would like to complain about someone and need to vent.  (Yeah, most of the time, you will see them here.)  Or maybe I liked the domain name.  There are a number of reasons. 

I also figured that one thing I would always have is my name.  I figured that doing business on the Internet would be big and why would someone want to do business with a nickname?  (Yes, I do business with nicknames.)  But I figured that instead of trying to grab a nickname / handle that might be on other forums, grab my name and hope there are not a lot of Corey Bryants out there.  And then maybe, just maybe, people would say, take a look at what Corey said here about Merchant Account Reviews (great link drop).  And that would hopefully prevent others from signing up on other message boards with the same handle.  So far, it has worked and I think I have the Internet market on my name.

Doing somewhat a quarterly report now on myself and the time spent on some of the forums, here are a few numbers:

• International Web Developers Network: I am an admin on this board (username Corey Bryant when you join) 2,011 posts.
• Expression and FrontPage Forums and Portals: I am also an admin on this board with 4,004 posts (I think I lost a few posts on this one).
  • Expression Web and Frontpage: Actually was the above, but a new product and a new forum
• Experts Exchange: I am a Zone editor and a Clean-Up Volunteer with 6,645 comments posted; 1,386 questions answered; and 1,689 questions participated in.
• HTML Code Tutorial Help:  I am a moderator on this board with 7,271 posts.
• Small Business Forums: I am a "Super Moderator" on this board with 6,067 posts.
• *Web Hosting Chat: I am a moderator on this board with 231 posts (yeah I know not that many).
• *Web Hosting Talk: I am a member of this board with 6,832 posts.  Most of the members are usually looking for the cheapest deal (which I know cannot be bad) but you will see their youth being shown in a lot of the posts.
• SitePoint Forums: I am a member with 2,344 posts.  I have not visited this one is awhile and this number comes from my previous post.  Too many clients had some problems with other members so I only go maybe once every few months.  Maybe I can get to this one by next quarter
• *Digital Point Forums:  I am a member here with 955 posts.  Another board that is not that great.  A lot of kids and people who are not based in the United States complaining how companies have regulations that prohibit them from doing business.
• WebmasterWorld: I am a supporting member here with 1,632 posts. 
• OutFront Webmaster Forum: I am a member here with 2,272 posts.
• Tek-Tips: I am a member here with 579 posts.  (This forum does not seem as busy as it used to but I have been a member there since about 4 Sep 2001.)
• The Webmasters Forums: 40 posts.
• Total Web Talk: 127 posts.
• Frontpage Talk: 1,510 posts (I think I must have entered a wrong number before).
• *Host HideOut: 164 posts.
• *Programming, Webmaster, and Web Design Forums: 191 posts.
• Young Entrepreneur Forums: 165 posts.
• Small Business Ideas Forum: 271 posts.
• Small Business Computing Forum: 351 posts.
• Webforumz: 163 posts.
• GID Forums: 206 posts.

This carries over from the last post More Message Boards.   The ones marked with an asterisk are the ones I did not have time to visit and I just used the same numbers from the previous post.  I think I have a lot of private messages in a few and for whatever reason, that is something that I hate.  I don't mind e-mails but the private messages unfortunately just irritate me.

During a forum posting the other day, it was suggested that I use another blog program hosted on another server.  That went against most of what I have always said - keep your data on your own server.  I have heard too many horror stories about users losing blog postings because the company thought they were spamming or link dropping.

While most of my posts do not have many off-site links, I thought about habits.  I do things a certain way and it is hard to change.  After all, it works for me and why bother?  But that got me to thinking of updating / changing links.  Sure there is the 301 / permanent re-directs that one could do, but sometimes that can be problematic or time consuming, depending on the system / access that you have. 

Maybe some type of XML can be created to let the search engines know about moved pages?  There is the XML sitemaps that was created.  Now if someone could come up with a spec for moved pages and get the search engines to follow...

I was sent a private message the other day telling me about this thread: Longest Active Member - Corey Bryant.  I think it was more interesting seeing my name in a subject.  I know, my name is everywhere on the Internet.  If you have ever looked at some message boards, you probably have seen my name.  I use my name as my handle - a lot easier to remember.  Plus I still have difficult meeting people and referring to them with their name.  For example, Jamie made it pretty easy when I met him at HostingCon 2007.  However, Paul was still the_pm, and Steve was still Odd Fact (I always caught myself before calling them their username (I think)).

When I started out, a lot of people thought I was crazy to put my name on the Internet.  But I thought that they would find it sooner or later.  I never did really have a nickname (that could be shared).  My handle on the CB was Little Blue.  And that did not seem to fit with the message boards for some reason.  So my imagination got the best of me and I chose the username Corey Bryant.

Blogs Taking Over Forums

I think that blogs are somewhat taking over the forums.  I mean, it is a lot easier to spam on your own blog, right?  There is no one there telling you that you can't post that link or that your article contains no real value.  True, some message boards might have some members that are "allowed" to send you a private message or to tell you to check out their website for more information.  We even discussed this the other day internally on the Small Business Forums (what posts / links should be allowed).

To one extent, I felt bad about not being able to keep up with that forum.  There are just so many today and people are even wanting to start up more.  Start a blog though if you ask me.  It will be a lot easier for you to make a few posts.  A forum takes a lot of work and there have been a lot of them that have gone through merges with other boards even.  Or join a few other message boards.  Post quality messages (not quantity) and you will get yourself known for the better.

So what else is new, eh?  This user actually sent me a private because I guess I did not reply to his post regarding Cardservice: Cardservice Internatinal (sic) Risk Department.  He is complaining that Cardservice is vetting too many of his transactions.  Hm, you would think that is a good thing usually.  ISOs take on so much risk which is one of the larger reasons I have no desire to get involved in.  They allow merchants to accept money via credit cards and hope that merchant is honest.

The one post I did notice in the thread above though was how the poster said no cardservice agents responded.  Well one - there are hardly any agents on the forums.  The forums are not that great of a business tool.  You can't live by forums alone.  Most of the posters are looking for the cheapest provider.  Open almost any page, especially on the WebHosting Talk forum and you will see a few threads where people are wanting something for free.  Another reason is that it is not my job and / or problem.  The poster should be communicating with his / her agent.  And anything they would tell their agent should only be shared with individuals that needed to know.  That agent would not post any information on the forum, that would be a breach.

Sure, it has been difficult this week.  But I have been thinking more about the posters.  They all want something - which is not bad, not bad at all.  But they don't expect anything and expect to be given something. 

The funniest part is once again, it comes down to how many transactions and merchants.  There is a large number there and you can expect there will be problems.  That is just common sense.  Maybe a little pessimism as well.

I figure I would take a little time and complain about the people who are complaining.  Most go right to the forums without any thought.  Heck, this is one of the larger reason why I don't like doing business on the forums.  Instead, you should try to fix the problems internally - like me.  I e-mailed the CTO when I was getting nowhere.  And that fixed the issue.  Complaining about it on the forums will only get you sympathy.

Well a few hours ago, I reported that the Internet was down.  When I went upstairs, I noticed that the television up there worked.  This was odd since the television in the family room was not working.  (I called Comcast back to report this.)  They tried to ping the cable box downstairs (which he technician was surprised that I had labeled the two boxes - I told him this made it much easier than me trying to read the serial numbers when I had a problem).  He said he did not receive a response.

So I started to think what was the difference.  I knew the television in the family room was just re-done with the OpenHouse system.  Now knowing this information, I decided to take a look outside.  And at the splitter, I see one of the cable wires chewed through.  The others had not been touched.  Now, why would this 60 lb, 7 month old Akita choose the main wire?  I decided to keep the appointment with Comcast and let them re-wire that one.  I also put the remote Invisible Fence down there so if she does go to that area again, she will get shocked.

Some of you might have noticed I have not been online for awhile.  Well actually about 48 hours.  When I woke up on Monday, I had to cut up the ingredients for some chili.  Since it was going to be cooking all day, I needed to get that going.

Once that was done, I tried to check my e-mail, but there were problems.  I attributed it to be early morning and thought I would take a shower.  As soon as I was done there, the doctor was calling, telling me that I was also Vitamin D deficient and my cholesterol was too high.  Since I do not know much about my medical history - well the only one I do know is my mother and she had heart disease, cirrhosis of the liver, strokes, seizures, back problems, etc. 

My good cholesterol was about 25, and he said it should be twice that.  My total cholesterol was 208. 

The Comcast Modem

Once I returned from the doctor's office, I decided to call Comcast.  It was determined that the modem had died.  I asked them when I could get someone out and they said Tuesday (tomorrow).  Since that was unacceptable, I asked if I could take the modem in and get a new one.  The representative said yes and gave me the address and even the hours (9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.). 

I thanked them and hung up.  I decided to call back though to verify the hours and that was when the representative told me they were at lunch from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.  So then I had to wait since it was 12:45 p.m. 

At the office, I had no problems returning the modem.  I got back home, hooked everything up but still nothing.  I worked on it for about an hour and decided to wait until my roommate got home. 

Once he was at home, he worked on it for about an hour, resetting the router, etc.  I decided to call Comcast back to schedule an appointment.  However, the representative told me that the modem was not registered and that was why I could not get the Internet.

I did become somewhat upset but at least I did not call him a moronic corporate imbecile.  Fortunately, there is a server downstairs so that we could test the modem.  We always have to make sure it is not the router of course.

The modem was just not responding at all and we were not getting an IP address.  So I scheduled them to come out today (Tuesday) between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.  Once it is determined they gave me a wrong modem, they said they will give me credit for the Internet. 

Dial-Up

I tried to go online with dial-up, but that was just too slow and it seems that I am very inpatient when it comes to the Internet and slow loading pages. 

So I have pretended to be on vacation, to hopefully maintain some sanity.  I cleaned the house from top to bottom and actually kept my Twitter account updated somewhat.