The autoblog project
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FAQ

Will the replication of my blog lower my PageRank in Google ?

It may. But VroumVroumBlog uses the link rel="canonical" (as recommended by Google) to prevent the page to be flagged as "duplicate content", so this should not be a concern.

Nevertheless, it boils down to what is more important to you: The freedom of speech, or a good mark attributed by a firm ?

Should I use VroumVroumBlog version 0.1.x or 0.2.x ?

It depends. Version 0.2.x is faster and has a few more features, but requires SQLite3 and PHP 5.3, which may not be available everywhere.

The version 0.1.x should work even on crappy hosts.

Version 0.1.x can be downloaded in this page.
Version 0.2.x can be downloaded in this page.

VroumVroumBlog does not work !

Sorry, but I offer no support for the program. You will need php knowledge to investigate what's going on.
To debug the script, change error_reporting(0); to error_reporting(-1); to see error messages.

Here is a list of common culprits:

• You may be in php4. The program requires php5.
• Some hosts require the script to end with the .php5 extension. Try that if .php extension does not work.
• The program makes external HTTP requests. Some hosts disable URL file access. You make get an error like [function.simplexml-load-file]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found.... Ask your hosting provider to enable this feature in php.
• Rights on the file and directories: Do a chmod 705 (or 777) on the directories so that the program can write in the directory.
• In the directory where you have placed index.php make sure you don't have a directory named 'store' or a file named 'media'. Delete those if they exist.
• The source feed may be invalid (non RSS 2.0/RSS 1.0/ATOM compliant), or empty, or in another format, or some tags (like content:encoded) may be empty.

How does the autoblog performs its updates ?

VroumVroumBlog will automatically read the source feed if someone reads the autoblog, and only if feed was read more than 60 minutes ago.
If nobody reads the autoblog, it will not replicate the articles.

What happens if an article disappears from the source feed ? Will it diseappear from the autoblog ?

No. VroumVroumBlog will retain articles even if they are removed from the feed.

Is the "autoblog project" endorsed by Telecomix/streisand.me ?

Not at all.
Telecomix only helped by mirroring my censored article on http://streisand.me, but the "autoblog project" is a complete different thing (altough motivated by the censorship of my article).

Who is Telecomix ?

Telecomix is an international, informal group of hacktivists (activist hackers), some anonymous, some not, from all countries, who work for freedom by helping people all over the world. Some of their actions are public, others are secret.

What is streisand.me ?

streisand.me is a website operated by Telecomix which promotes the Streisand effet to help free speech.

Altough the URL of the "autoblog project" bears "streisand.me" in the URL, it has no relationship with the streisand.me website.