Chuck Knutson accidentally put out the welcome mat for sploggers and got a lot of unwelcome visitors.

The first big problem was that we had installed the multi-user version of WordPress. Why did we do that? I teach a class called Computers and Society, and I have students deliver their thoughts and reactions as short posts on actual blogs in the actual blogosphere. It's an interesting experience for students to submit their homework to the world where the instructor and TA are two of a potentially larger number of random readers (including the entire class). Strangely it tends to generate higher quality work.

We've tried different approaches in the past, but this Fall I was determined that we should host blogs on our server for any students that didn't already have one, and that we would make the process for them to set up a blog very easy (courtesy of multi-user WordPress). What we failed to grasp was that this was very much like going into a really bad neighborhood, leaving your front door wide open, the keys in the ignition of your car, and a sign on the front lawn reading, "FOOD IN THE FRIDGE!"

From Dr. K's Software Ruminations - The blogging nightmare of the apocalypse
Referenced Tue Apr 24 2007 10:55:56 GMT-0600 (MDT)

Ouch!