Network Maintenance: July 1, 2010

UPDATE: Downtime has been moved from 8pm to 11pm. Please expect around 30 minutes of downtime.

i.PH blogs will conduct a network maintenance today, July 1, 2010 from 6 :00pm until 8:00pm (GMT +0800).

During the maintenance, the system may encounter 2 hours temporary downtime.

Please be guided accordingly. 

Network Maintenance: June 9, 2010

i.PH blogs will conduct a network maintenance on Wednesday, June 9, 2010 from 11:00pm until 2:00am of June 10, 2010 (GMT +0800)

During the maintenance, the system may encounter 1 hour temporary downtime.

Please be guided accordingly. 

What do you love about i.PH blogs?

Hello there you loyal i.PH-ers!

You know for a fact that we’ve been working on i.PH blogs for a good number of years now. A lot of sweat, blood and tears have been shed to make sure that i.PH blogs runs smoothly and that you get the free best blogging service that lets you blog easily.

Now we’re wondering what it is with i.PH that keeps you blogging with us after all this time. Just leave a comment telling us what it is do you love about i.PH blogs, and why you keep on blogging with us! If you have things you don’t like with i.PH blogs, don’t hesitate to tell us about it as well, it’s cool! Come on, don’t be shy.

Make sure you also tell us how long have you been blogging with i.PH! Don’t forget to leave a link to your blog!

Announcement: Ads on i.PH blogs

Starting next week, we are going to test a new ad system. i.PH users and their visitors will see ads on their blogs for a small fraction of the time they visit an i.PH blog.

This will ensure that we keep running costs to a minimum. This will help keep your i.PH blog free of charge.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us here, on our Twitter account, or via the Helpdesk if you have any feedback. Thank you.

dotPH vs Versomina: Where We Stand

Everyone is a champion of the sacred right to free speech - but how many of these well-meaning souls will still do it when faced with a harrowing, expensive lawsuit? Not to mention the fact that they will get a grand total of nothing for the effort?

Very few, I imagine. dotPH is currently currently fighting for the right to free speech - it is still fighting for somebody else’s right to free speech against a company that will sue a pair of shoes if it knew that it could get something out of the case.

Forgot it? Let me jog your memory. An anonymous person set up a blog called Alimuom using dotPH’s blogging platform, i.PH blogs. The blogger aired his grievances against a company, Versomina, claiming that it abused its employees and sued them if they tried to leave. Joel Aquino (lawsuit-happy owner of Versomina, also charged with a criminal case by the NBI) got wind of this and asked dotPH to take down the blog. Valuing the inherent right to free speech, Joel Disini (dotPH CEO) refused.
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Emergency Server Maintenance, September 25, 2009

i.PH will conduct an emergency server maintenance tonight, Sept 25, 2009 from 10:00pm until 4:00am of Sept 26, 2009 (GMT +0800).

During the maintenance, the system will encounter 30 minutes to 1 hour temporary downtime.

Please be guided accordingly.

2009 Philippine Blog Awards Finalists: Congratulations to Comicology.i.ph and Ukayukayescapades.i.ph!

Hey guys! We at i.PH are highfiving each other right now because we just checked the list of finalists for the 2009 Philippine Blog Awards, and we saw that two i.PH bloggers made it!

Bim of Comicology and Madz of Ukay-Ukay Escapades are just two of the great bloggers using i.PH.

Bim, if you can remember, is last year’s winner for the same category: Best Hobby and Recreation Blog. Bim aims to “bring you our unwanted and totally unnecessary opinions about all things comic-related around the Philippines and other places not as crowded, polluted or fun.”

We won’t be surprised if he wins again this year.

Madz, on the other hand, has been nominated for Best Fashion Blog. She says that Ukay-ukay Escapades is about finding great clothes without putting a hole in your wallet. Scouring through random ukay shops around the Metro, Madz shares her ukay finds that are fashionable yet cheap. Her style ranges from street to semi-formal to cosplay. She also shares her tips and tricks on ukay shopping, locations of ukay shops, and her thoughts on clothes and fashion.

So we at i.PH are really happy to see some of our bloggers getting in the Philippine Blog Awards finals. We wish them luck! If you want to show your support, just visit their blogs and leave a message for them!

Scheduled Server Maintenance - 8 July 2009

Scheduled Server Maintenance - 8 July 2009

i.PH will conduct a scheduled server maintenance that starts 10 pm July 8, 2009, and runs up to 6 am July 9, 2009  (GMT+0800). During the maintenance, please be informed that your blog site will be inaccessible and you will be unable to manage your blog account during the downtime. Normal operations will resume upon completion of the maintenance.
 
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us at support@i.ph.
 
Thank you for your continued support of i.PH.

How about a contest? Sound good to you?

Well hello there i.PH-ers!

 The i.PH (and dotPH) team is planning something big. Really big. And you see, we’re letting you i.PH users know about it first.

I can’t give away too much right now, but I can tell you that it will involve an epic battle of creativity. But if you keep your eyes on the prize, it will be worth it.

Are you guys going to sit this one out and just watch from the sidelines, or are you going to join in, creativity guns a-blazin’ ?

Also, have I mentioned that you can win gadgets if you join?

What do you guys think? Are you joining?

The 2009 i.PH Template Reboot

The hard-working i.ph team is working overtime to give you the best i.ph possible. And of course, we need your help. So the i.ph creative team is asking for your input so that they’d be able to go on the The 2009 i.PH Template Reboot!

You can enter your feedback here

Have you checked the i.PH Forum yet?

Hi there i.PHers!

I’m pretty sure you’re enjoying posting your thoughts online on your free i.ph blog, but you don’t know how to get people to read your posts. Of course, you’ve got these blog posts and to have nobody read them would be a waste. Now if you don’t know where to start making online friends, may I point your way to the i.PH Forum?

Now the i.PH Forum is a great place to start if you want to meet your fellow i.PH bloggers, and I assure you, they’re a very friendly bunch!

And the i.PH people are there as well, so if you have questions about your blog, we’re there to help you out!

So, what are you waiting for? Join the i.PH Forum and meet your fellow i.ph bloggers fast!

How do you like the new topbar?

If you’ve logged on to your i.ph blog today, you’d see the new topbar:

Also, here are the other features that we recently implemented in i.ph:

• Insert Photo has been reorganized in the blog editor! Check it out, it’s now easier to add photos.
• Simplified notify page
• When you update a blog post, the blog editor no longer goes out as a pop-out.
• Updated Blogroll system so you can add your friends’ links easier!
• Improved favicon.

How do you guys like the new topbar and all the other features? Give us your thoughts, we’d love to hear them!

You can join the i.ph forum or you can follow @iphblogs on Twitter for more updates!

iPH downtime update

To our dear i.ph users,

We had a hardware problem with one of our servers at the evening of February 17, 2009. The hardware problem can be repaired asap, but we are worried about the integrity of the server data because of the downtime. This sort of thing does not happen too often, and we don’t want any of your data to be corrupted by doing a haphazard fix.

We are currently doing system diagnostics and back-ups of your data (that means all your blog posts, pictures, and audio) to make sure that you don’t lose a single thing. This means going through hundreds of gigabytes of data, and it will take some time.

We apologize for this, and rest assured that we are working hard to bring back your blogs as fast as we can.

If you want to reach us and give us feedback, please go to the i.ph forums.

Thank you for bearing with us,

i.PH Team

An Appeal to Versomina/Netpros Ex-Employees

We’ve had an overwhelming response to the last post that we made. We appreciate you coming forward and sharing information.  Everyone has urged us to keep the blog alimuom.i.ph up.

But that may be something beyond our control. There is a very real chance that the judge issues a TRO that will force us to take alimuom.i.ph down until the case has been resolved.  If that happens, the fight is pretty much over. The blog gets taken down, while the case can drag on for years and bleed us dry with legal expenses.

Perhaps the only thing that can help is if the claims that have been made could be substantiated, so we can make the case that the blog is a valid form of expression and not just a vehicle for personal attacks.

So we need more than accusations. We need information we can verify. Otherwise, the judge can dismiss everything as hearsay. We need to show something that can stand up to scrutiny and shows that your accusations are true.

For example, “Netpros / Versomina ex-Employee” said that Joel Aquino has several cases filed against him in the Department of Labor and Employment. And he has mentioned that Joel Aquino has “has more than 50 cases (and still counting) … opened in Pasig RTC against ex-employees.” It would help if he provided the case names and which RTC salas they are in so we could check them out (there are over 30 RTC salas in Pasig and no consolidated database).

For those who’ve related accounts of ex-employees’ tax, SSS, Pag-Ibig and salaries not being paid — dates, amounts, names and  similar info is what we need. Same with accusations that Versomina sends out spies to check in on ex-employees, invading their privacy and personal lives.

Time is running out. The TRO could be issued at any time and the blog could go down.

One person has already come forward and shared vital information. If you’d like to do your part, just leave a comment here indicating your willingness to do so. You don’t need to put in your contact details in the comment, just leave your real email address in the email field and we will contact you immediately. It’s all confidential unless you choose otherwise.

We hope to hear from you soon. 

Joel Disini, DotPH CEO, speaks about the Versomina libel case

UPDATE: Please check this post out as well.

Things are heating up with the libel case.  dotPH continues its fight for free speech as the court date steadily approaches. We at dotPH believe blogging provides a valuable and valid means of expression for those who have no other way of manifesting grievances.

We asked for your take on the issue. For those who came forward and gave their opinions, thank you. Now, Joel Disini, the guy behind i.ph, explains the company’s side, and what we can do to prevent an environment where expressing an opinion or dissent can be suppressed by means of threats, legal or not.

Here is what Mr. Disini has to say:

As some of you may know, a lawsuit has been filed by Versomina and Mr. Joel Aquino against dotPH due to posts made by a blogger - alimuom.i.ph on the i.ph Wordpress-powered blogging platform.  dotPH only hosts and provides the blogging software, yet somehow, Mr. Aquino prefers to sue us rather than sue the blogger.  This action has cost us a lot of time and money, and we’ve agonized over several weeks whether to do, as Mr Aquino wants - to shut down the blog - or to carry this fight all the way.
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Protecting Blogger’s Rights - At What Cost?

We at dotPH believe in the principle of free speech. We want to give people an open forum to voice out their concerns without fear of harrassment or reprisal. This is why i.PH is the first and only anonymous domain in the world.

Now, dotPH is caught in the middle of a lawsuit with a web design company about an i.ph blog. It seems that the company, Versomina Inc., feels that the blog is libelous.The lawsuit has consumed a lot of our time and money so far.  But despite our willingness to fight for free speech, we’re constrained by the fact that the blogger has failed to come forward despite repeated appeals on our part.

So this leaves us in a bit of a quandary here. i.PH is committed to upholding free speech. At the same time, as a responsible service provider, do we defend this person who is seemingly unwilling to show that he even exists? We’re not even sure if he or his grievances are real.

So, we need your input.

What should i.PH do? Do we press on? Or do you think there has to be a corrresponding committment, a responsibility if you will, on the part of the blogger to show the views are legitimate and not just a smear campaign?  Should we set limitations on the freedom that i.PH provides on your blogs? Do we set parameters on what people can say on their blogs, and what should the parameters be? Should i.ph blogs remain anonymous or should we just give up on our grand experiment on free speech? How do we tread the thin line between libel and mere airing of grievances?

As bloggers and responsible netizens, what do you think?

Standing up for Free Speech

Last week i.PH received two demand letters asking us to take down one of our blogs because it allegedly had libelous content.  The companies claiming libel, Stratvisions Inc. and Versomina Inc., threatened legal action against us if we failed to take the site down.

The two demand letters can be seen here:

  
Click on thumbnails to enlarge

Whether they tried to contact the blogger directly to request that the posts be deleted is unclear. But we refuse to take down the blog for a very simple reason — we respect the principle of free speech.

We believe that blogs serve an important purpose in allowing people a venue for expressing their thoughts, ideas and opinions. In the past you had to own a newspaper, radio or TV station to get yourself heard.  This has changed with the advent of the free marketplace of ideas that we know as the Internet We find the threat of legal action against us (and it’s accompanying legal costs) disturbing, to say the least.  But whether or not we agree with what our bloggers have to say, one thing is clear — we respect their right to say it.In fact, i.ph domains are anonymous precisely to promote free speech and encourage people to speak out.  Got a beef against your local politician?  Blog about it.  Know where all the MMDA speed traps are along EDSA? Warn other motorists by posting their locations.  A restaurant served up a cockroach along with your fries?  Upload a photo on to your blog.

Anonymity, and the opportunity to reach a wide audience, gives people a chance to air their truths without fear of harassment and let the public decide. Of course, we are well aware that we have certain responsibilities as a service provider. In this case, if the blog entries are proven to be libelous and there is a court ruling to that effect, we’ll take them down immediately.But until that happens, probably the best thing for all parties involved to do is to air their sides and let their ideas speak for themselves.  Because when all is said and done, the truth shall set you free.

Congratulations to Comicology!

Guys! Let’s give a big round of applause to Bim of Comicology for winning in the best Hobby/Recreation category of the Philippine Blog Awards!

Here are some pics of him accepting the award last night:

So guys, congratulate Bim!

Also, Noelle of Trippin’ was nominated for Best Travel Blog, but she lost to Ironwulf. But the fact that she got into the finals when there area LOT of good travel blogs vying for the award means something.

Good job i.PH people, keep it up!

WordCamp Philippines 2008: Awesome!

The first-ever WordCamp in Southeast Asia was held last September 6, 2008 in the College of St. Benilde, and it was a success! Since i.PH runs on WordPress, the i.PH team was there and we were able to talk to some bloggers who were absolutely passionate about WordPress.

Gracing the event was our CEO, Joel Disini, who gave a talk about the future of i.PH and even gave us a sneak peak at some of the new features being developed by the i.PH team, namely Google Gears integration:Imagine being stuck in traffic and inspiration strikes. You don’t have an internet connection with you, but you just have to write about it soon or else you’ll lose the chance. Well, with i.PH and Google Gears, you can take blogging offline. Just enable offline mode in i.PH, and you can write about anything, anytime, anywhere and upload it whenever you can! With i.PH, you can take blogging offline! How’s that for awesomeness?

Remember, everything that you love about i.PH, the easy customizible layouts, the drag-and-drop interface, the advanced privacy features, have all been built on the powerful WordPress platform! Imagine what more we can do with WordPress in the future!

Finally, i.PH would like to congratulate the Mindano Bloggers for organizing the successful WordCamp!

Get More Traffic to your Site!

Hi there!

I’m sure that by now, you’ve noticed a few small changes to the i.ph homepage.

To showcase just how easy it is to create your own personalized blog on i.ph, we’ve made a video which I think is quite awesome!

We also moved the recent entries and recent albums list higher up the page so that it’s more visible, making it easier for people to find new updates on i.ph and sending more traffic to your blogs! Yay! Traffic! We then placed the tag clouds at the bottom and made it a little cleaner too. Precise tagging also increases your blog’s findability and leads even more readers to your sites.

We also added a featured blog section which we will rotate every two weeks. Our current featured blog is http://comicology.i.ph who writes about anything and everything related to comicbooks. That blog is also in the running to be one of The Top Ten Emerging Influential Blogs! Pretty cool eh? What’s even cooler is that you’ll be helping us decide which blogs get to be featured! You can send in your nominations to peterjuan@i.ph and yes, of course you can nominate yourself!

Some of you may have also noticed that a full page ad appears occasionally when you or other people visit your blog. The ad stars Ade Magnaye, one of the country’s more famous (or is that infamous?) bloggers who we are happy to announce is now part of the i.ph team. Quick! Go make him uncomfortable by teasing him about it on his i.ph blog! We’re doing a dry run to see if this form of advertising is acceptable to you folks. We feel that a full page ad works better to preserve the design of your blogs because there won’t have to be any permanent ads on your sidebar or blog posts. What do you guys think? You can let us know by discussing it in the forum or by sending us an email . We hope to hear from you soon!

That’s all for know folks! Before we wrap things up I’d like to leave you with another i.ph tip. Did you know that you can add photos to your articles by simply dragging it from any publicly available website and then dropping it in your post editor? Check out how easy it is by watching our short video tutorial.

How to Drag and Drop Photos Directly To Your Post Editor

Now you gotta admit, that’s pretty neat! That’s all for now folks! Until next time, good day and blog on!