Edublogs and Content Links - What's Up?

I also am finding this happening to my sites. (see copy of the post below) I noticed that recently someone name "James" logged into my site as an administrator and seemed to be changing the comment settings. Could this be a cleverly named spam bot or is this a result of the upgrade? I posted the issue to the incorporated subversion edublogs link that was set up during the recent upgrade, but I've had no response. Anyone else finding this happening?

I am referencing this post, found on Classroom 2.0 (google crawls it, but original post is gone)

Spitting Mad at Edublogs - Classroom 2.0 Nov 9, 2008 ... Tonight I noticed these Content Link ads all over the blog. ... If users are logged in, or visit the site more than once they won't appear.

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Permalink Reply by Steve O'Connor on November 11, 2008 at 11:51am

There is another post about this in the blogs section here. Is this the phenomenon that you are referring to?

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Permalink Reply by Michelle on November 11, 2008 at 12:08pm

Yes. I wish there had been more transparency about this as well. Many good comments on the link you provided. It also brings up issues about promoting commerce on a school site. I feel now that I have an added burden of explaining this to both the students and administration. Also am curious about the link monitoring. What if the links are school inappropriate, such as linking to an "adult" product. Who will answer to that? Frankly I feel bamboozled!

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Permalink Reply by Steve O'Connor on November 11, 2008 at 12:28pm

This is exactly why I have always been a fan of free and open source software. Hosting can be done inexpensively or on a school webserver if there is one.

Edublogs is NOT a school site. You have no control over what they choose to do, and worse yet no control over what they choose to advertise. I would say that with the advertising, it is not acceptable, unless you put up the cash to subscribe.

Watch for more of this in the near future!

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on November 11, 2008 at 6:06pm

Here's my response to the post Steve referenced:

All I have to say is "duh". Did anybody really think all these tools would continue to be viable and free? I've noticed several already gone and many more going to subscription. Do we really need eight Web 2.0 Timeline generators, for example?