TinyPic Is Down Forever - Code 010394

*UPDATE: The problem has been solved. See the bottom of this post for Tinypic's explanation on the issue. Now the image links have started working again and you may upload new images too.

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Tinypic Image Unavailable CODE 010394: Without a warning, on September 23, 2010 Tinypic has completely stopped its services for all International users (non-US). This not only restrict the users to upload new images to Tinypic, but also to link/use the images that are already uploaded by them.
A few months back, Tinypic stopped new-user sign-ups, but something like this was completely unexpected.
But don't worry, as we do have a temporary & a permanent fix to this problem, keep reading...

7 Ways to Reduce Blog Spam

A guest post by James Adams, editor and contributor to the CreativeCloud blog.

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Bloggers know that dealing with spam cannot be avoided. Every day spammers find new ways to automatically post comments to blogs, and some can even create blog posts. The technology in use by blog spammers slows your blog to a crawl, as links for all sorts of crazy things are plastered into comments all over your blog. Here are 7 ways to reduce blog spam that can help you reclaim your time and your blog’s performance.

NOTE: Most of the methods discussed here will work only on WordPress based blogs. Albeit Blogger too has recently introduced its own SPAM fighting tool, but it is still in its infancy and so I have mentioned some of the alternative tools/strategies along with the points discussed below.