Since i run several suceessfull anonymous imageboards, one of the ways to prevent spam is to have a sort of spam list (i would say blacklist) of all the domains url's that are not able to be posted on the board (since one of the main reasons to spam the boards is to post links to fishing or ilegal sites), this way this prevents them being posted by bots altogether, so its an essential tool to have a clean board and to keep things clean, even if later on more automated tools like akismet or defensio are included, this is still a nice clean and fast way to keep most spam or idiotic posts from the site, so the file is a simple spam.txt file on the root of the site, one domain/site per line, this of course is most usefull to other imageboard hosts that use the same system (wakaba or kusaba clone software), so here is our very own custom spam.txt list hehehe for free yayy 1131 domains (i'm actually thinking about making our own system, so anyone can add links and have the latest version for their board so their system is always protected heheheh)

The hosts file is a computer file used to store information on where to find a node on a computer network. This file maps hostnames to IP addresses (like 10.0.0.1 points to www.google.com). The hosts file is used as a supplement to (or a replacement of) the Domain Name System (DNS) on networks of varying sizes. Unlike DNS, the hosts file is under the control of the local computer's administrator (as in you). The hosts file has no extension and can be edited using most text editors.

The hosts file is loaded into memory (cache) at startup, then Windows checks the Hosts file before it queries any DNS servers, which enables it to override addresses in the DNS. This prevents access to the listed sites by redirecting any connection attempts back to the local (your) machine (ip address 127.0.0.1). Another feature of the HOSTS file is its ability to block other applications from connecting to the Internet, providing the entry exists.

So you can use a HOSTS file to block ads, banners, 3rd party Cookies, 3rd party page counters, web bugs, and even most hijackers, so here are some instructions to do so and some sites with already made hosts files (you just overite your own hosts file):

The host files location is:
Windows XP at c:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc
Windows Vista at c:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc
Windows 2000 at c:\Winnt\System32\Drivers\etc

There you will find a file named hosts (no extension), like we said above you can edit it with any text editor, and function is simple, you map ip addresses to hostnames, so the files will be mostly like this...

127.0.0.1    localhost
127.0.0.1    www.bad-spyware-site.com
127.0.0.1    www.site-with-virus.com
127.0.0.1    www.publicity-ads-site.com

if you want to add any domain, just add a new line right 127.0.0.1 for the localhost (this way when that domain comes up in the browser the browser will search for it on your computer and not online, because the hosts file told him that), so for example:

127.0.0.1    localhost
127.0.0.1    www.bad-spyware-site.com
127.0.0.1    www.site-with-virus.com
127.0.0.1    www.publicity-ads-site.com
127.0.0.1    google.com

so now if i put google.com on the address bar of the browser it will give me a blank page and google.com wont work anymore, if you want to delete a entry, just delete the line or put a # in front

127.0.0.1    localhost
127.0.0.1    www.bad-spyware-site.com
127.0.0.1    www.site-with-virus.com
127.0.0.1    www.publicity-ads-site.com
#127.0.0.1    google.com (google.com will work now)

so the idea is to use the hosts file to block unwanted or bad sites ^-^ clean and easy hehehe

Here are some sites that provide awesome host files ^_^ .oO (choose one of them)

Hostman : Its an automated hosts file updating software
Host File : Pretty cool and clean hosts file
Someone Who Cares : A compreensive hosts file
MVPS : A hosts towards blocking unwanted stuff

Yep, i've used Elgg social network software on 2 experiments, one live, another offline, both times, with versions 1.1, 1.2 and the new version 1.5, both times the software was lacking for my own needs as well as my users (i'll explain the good things and bad things bellow), most of all it seems to be a software directed to a specific view of what a social network software should be, more than being an all round software... more times than none, it mimics in some way the features found in facebook and/or myspace, instead of giving what i would think that small to midsize social networks need. Also i dont think most of the things Elgg lacks are core features, no but they are plugins that should have been developed by the creators and not users, since i totally agree with they'r notion of a plaform core + plugins for functions, one of the things i was most impressed with Elgg.

This is a combined List from 1.1 to 1.5 (i know some things were improved and are now much better on 1.5, but in my view are still not ideal):

Awesome Features

• True Plug and Play System (The core can always be updated, cause both themes and plugins are totaly unrelated with the core), similar to wordpress and in my view the only way to create software that is meant to be augmented.
• Basic Essential Social Network Features (User Profiles,Friends,Activity...).
  
• Security and Protection of users Privacy in mind.
• Even with more than 1000+ users, it seems to not be such a burden on the system and flows pretty well (i've seen SMF or Phpbb start crawling with the same load).
  

Not so Awesome Features

• Serious lack of communication from the developers (reason for me to not use the software anymore in any live site)
  
• No Central Forum System / Advanced Message Board.
• No Picture / Video Gallery System (the file system is just a very basic form of picture/video gallery).
• Authentication and OpenId still dont work perfectly, several users constantly reporting problems and logouts, on a system were you should login once and never again.
• Several features are a little barebone (like blogging, files, pages, messageboards)

The results of using Elgg even with 1.5 is very little user engagement, even with high traffic flowing to the site, most users would register and then leave and never come back, mostly cause they dont have a central place (forum, video or picture galeries....) to find friends on the site (unlike facebook where you bring friends from the outside), while the same site now with SMF with very little extra functions (embeding and picture posting enabled) has in a very short time become a very active main forum with 4 times more page views and several times more engagement and time on site.

Also their upcoming Elgg hosted solution doesnt give me much confidence, more on their communication with the community than on the platform, we will see, if they do improve, i'm sure i'll change my mind, still awesome platform, poor functions ^_^

Heheheh,wait? isnt hostcult a hosting company? ... humm it was ^_^ but since about a year ago, we refocused Send to Receive into a kind of web developing company and decided to just turn Hostcult into S2R solely hosting provider, so we pointed our customers to other cool hosting companies and some of them we still host (but this time for free >_< ), but since we have the domain (mostly used for dns and domain aliases), we migth as well use it hehehe, so what does this new hostcult bring?

Well mostly talk about hosting, news about the hosting industry, reviews about hosting (that we use), well stuff like that, also with hosting related subjects with s2r (so if any s2r site is down or there is any problem with our servers, we will post here updates, since this blog is hosted on google's blogger)...

Think thats about it for now (still fixing up the hostcult theme), more stuff soon enough hehehe