It’s been a little bit quiet on the public facing side of ComLuv this month. That’s because it’s the Christmas period and one of the busiest months for me and my takeaway business and combined with so much going on with the backend code for the affiliate tracking and new upgrades package which integrates fully with the affiliate system, I’ve been getting a fair bit stressed out!
I started to become a bit ‘scratchy’, then a bit ‘snappy’ and before it turned into a bit ‘stabby’ I decided I needed to lighten the load. And you know what? I decided not to worry about the PC for a while. Besides, it’s damn cold in the computer room and it was the single most productive source of arrgh and eurrgh for me.
Me and the pc have a trial separation
After not looking the pc in the face for a day, I started to feel much better. Me and the missus have had some good ‘snuggle in front of the tv while we watch crap dramas’ time and I started to enjoy everything again.
Fast forward to now and I’ve had a decent break from the worries of trying to run a busy site in the few hours I get between serving at the takeaway and driving to fetch vegetables from Preston and I’m even on speaking terms with the pc long enough to check emails and support tickets now and again. It’s still hasn’t been long enough, I haven’t fully forgiven it for pissing me about for 6 months with it’s memory settings.
Tv is good!
Oh I have a TV!
After spending almost 6 months watching little or no TV, I have achieved an awful lot with this site on my own but now, for a month, I’m going to enjoy my awesome tv and my recently rediscovered Xbox360 which plays awfully nice with my Windows7 pc. I’ve got 6 months worth of downloads to go through so if you’ll forgive me, I’m going to be doing my impression of an easily amused potato for a few weeks.
Magic code gremlins visit
It feels like I’ve been ignoring the PC completely but somehow, some way, I’ve been answering support tickets (probably in my sleep) and another page has appeared on the site for additional urls to be added to a members account.
I am trying out a new premium feature with this, I’ll be charging 3 credits per url to be added to your account. Credits can be purchased in the dashboard under ‘add ons’ and cost 1USD each.
I’ve had to implement a charge for additional urls because the costs of running this server are just about at the limit of my perception of what an absorbing hobby should cost and each additional url will increase the bandwidth and storage usage. I hope 3 credits isn’t too much to ask.
Support and what it costs (me)
Another thing that uses an awful lot of time is answering support tickets, the majority of which are related to users themes or faulty feeds. In most cases I can provide a solution but with literally hundreds of thousands of blogs and users using the plugin, I’ve ran out of time to deal with them all. I am at critical mass!
Support is going to be light this month and next and I’ll be putting in some premium support features so if you really need help and you don’t want to wait, you can pay a small fee and I’ll be there to edit your comments.php files or do a deep investigation into why your feed is showing as invalid or just hold your hand through an upgrade or template edit.
Money!
I’ve put a 15$ deposit in someones affiliate account for referring the most members in November.
As the months go, I’ll be adding more things that can be ‘purchased’ with credits like premium themes and additional features for what gets passed back with your 10 last posts when you comment.
Because the whole system uses credits and the credits are purchased through the add ons system and the add on system is fully integrated with the affiliate system and the affiliate system rewards you for the life of your referred member – there’s going to be real chances for regular commentluv users to earn real money when the site does.
Nows the time to put up tutorials and informative posts about the commentluv plugin and comluv network. Put your affiliate urls in your post and your click throughs could end up being a regular commission earner for you.
Signing off (and on again) for now
I’ve had the time to write this in warm glow of a couple of episodes of Futurama on my big tv, on my 3rd charger this year laptop and I’m looking forward to being Christmassy (read that as lazy). Have a wonderful holiday season and a skippy happy new year! I am here now and then but probably away from my pc so please leave a comment on this post if you have any feedback on the features I’m introducing…
Twitter: FamousBloggers
18. Dec, 2009 at 10:26 pm #
Nice roundup Andy, I wish you a great Christmas and happy moments with your family!
Oh! congratulations for your new TV, I brought one last month and man it’s really awesome and you can connect it to anything you imagine through the USP connection, and watch Youtube videos directly by connecting it to the internet, you can even connect it to the washer machine, nnaahh! just kidding, but they will do it one day
Just want to tell you about LinkWorth if you are interested .. they have a plugin for WordPress MU that you may want to look at it, in case it you didn’t yet!
Have a great day!
Hesham @ FamousBloggers´s last blog ..How to Make Money from ComLuv Social Network – MMO from here and there #2
Twitter: gupshupblog
22. Dec, 2009 at 2:26 pm #
I had read you interview at blogrpro.com , it was totally amazing
May this Christmas bring full of happiness to you and your family
Sunil Jain´s last blog ..5 Things to know before creating a blog
Twitter: commentluv
23. Dec, 2009 at 10:56 am #
thanks! and to you too
Twitter: SoftwareCritics
22. Dec, 2009 at 3:54 pm #
Good job on the additional URLs option! That’s exactly what I’ve been waiting for. Thank you, Andy!
Mathdelane´s last blog ..Join Software Critics’ $1,500US New Year Giveaway
Twitter: commentluv
23. Dec, 2009 at 11:04 am #
great! let me know if you experience any issues
Twitter: animhut
22. Dec, 2009 at 6:17 pm #
very nice roundup and i too have an idea to buy the Xbox this newyear or before for me and my sis
… enjoy the holidays 
sriganesh´s last blog ..AnimHuT with a Fresh Look | Updates
Twitter: commentluv
23. Dec, 2009 at 11:05 am #
thanks sriganesh, have a great game playing holiday yourself (and your sis!)
Twitter: commentluv
23. Dec, 2009 at 11:11 am #
testing update 2.764 of commentluv
Andy Bailey´s last blog ..CommentLuv for WordPress 2.9
Twitter: bethrncnor
22. Dec, 2009 at 9:30 pm #
Good for you, Andy. Everybody needs time away from the computer. Unfortunately, I get that break everytime I go to my full-time job. LOL. Thanks for all you do. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to you and your family.
Beth´s last blog ..Christmas Card Ornaments
Twitter: commentluv
23. Dec, 2009 at 11:07 am #
thanks Beth! since I declared I’m away from the pc, I’m actually spending more time on the laptop. lol, i do all my comments and browsing through it now. coding is a bit more difficult though without a second monitor. Hope you and yours have a great Christmas!
Twitter: ccol4him
06. Jan, 2010 at 9:16 pm #
Great roundup! How did you get that picture of the tv? I can only get mine on camera if I slant the camera . The screen is too bright if Ia take a direct picture.
ccol4him´s last blog ..Links for 2009-12-30 [Digg]
Twitter: commentluv
07. Jan, 2010 at 2:34 pm #
Hi Andy
Just installed CommentLuv on my site and signed up.
It’s strange how you spot something for the first time and then see it everywhere!
CommentLuv was a bit like that. I saw it on a site and asked what it was, from then on, every site I visit seems to have CL.
Great idea, great name and great little icon.
Thanks for providing.
Keith Davis´s last blog ..Practice, practice, practice…
Twitter: commentluv
20. Feb, 2010 at 11:49 am #
welcome to the club !!
you’ll start to think blogs without commentluv have something missing soon