Canonical HTTP Headers for RSS Feeds
System - Link Canonical Version 5.3.0+ introduces support for adding canonical URLs to RSS feeds via HTTP Link headers, addressing Google Search Console's "Duplicate without user-selected canonical" errors for feed URLs (e.g., https://www.example.com/blog?format=feed&type=rss). Since RSS feeds lack an HTML <head> for traditional <link rel="canonical"> tags, the plugin now dynamically injects a Link header per RFC 5988 to specify the preferred canonical URL.
One Sh*tty Email That Made Me Finally Do Something About Spam
So, on May 25, 2025, I got this absolute gem of an email through my RicheyWeb contact form. Check this out: “From: RicheyWeb”, but the reply-to was “jdjiqk <kajakaka@se>”. Subject? “RICHEYWEB: askjdSjs”. Body? “This is an enquiry email via https://www.richeyweb.com/ from: jdjiqk kajakaka@se just test v”. I’ve dealt with spam before, but this one? This one pissed me off enough to actually do something about it.
Read more: One Sh*tty Email That Made Me Finally Do Something About Spam
Did I Just Solve Joomla Bot Spam With HashCash?
Eleven years ago, I stumbled across a technical paper from 2002 by Adam Back. It was about HashCash—a proof-of-work system designed to make spammers’ lives miserable by forcing their machines to grind through heavy calculations. I thought, “This could work for bot spam in Joomla forms,” and built my first Captcha - HashCash plugin. Little did I know, someone else had tried it before me—and their version vanished after landing on the CVE list in 2006. If I’d known, I might’ve picked a different name. But that’s ancient history, and my HashCash? It’s still kicking.
New for 2025
As I had mentioned recently, I am re-thinking my 2025 Joomla extension strategy. This begins with discontinuing extensions that don't make sense in Joomla 4 and 5. Many of my extensions are redundant (functionality has been included in the Joomla core), so I won't be updating them going forward. They will remain downloadable from my site, but won't receive any updates or support. Use at your own risk.
Page 5 of 9