I somewhat remember a certain someone designing me a logo as thanks for all the support I’ve given to the OpenKore project. Being the modest person I am (no matter how egotistical I sound when lambasting n00bs) I just said “no-thanks.” I do remember he made it anyway, and since I was thinking of using that logo for my blog, I searched for it through google (since search in the archived openkore forums is dysfunctional).

Though I didn’t find what I was looking for, I did find a blog about Ragnarok bots. At first I thought to myself, is Ragnarok Online still that popular enough that someone blogs about it? I remember that in its heydays, Ragnarok sites kept popping up like mushrooms after a heavy rain (and similarly die off soon after). Once I got a rough read-through though, I saw that the posts were designed to increase the blog’s rank in search engines. He doesn’t make his intentions secret either.

While I do applaud his interest in Ragnarok Online, I am quite wary if he would be able to sustain his blogging and would the site really be of use to botters, since his primary purpose is to increase search rankings, and to inform readers is secondary (at least for that particular section of his site). I’m already seeing n00bs that frequent the openkore forums posting comments in his site asking for help on various topics (like how can my bot use pots?) without any replies (of his anyway) to be seen. On the other hand, his purpose seems to have been accomplished, as those people most probably stumbled upon his site through a search engine.

Will readers wishing to get botting help actually find the site useful? Of course, the debate on the ethics of blogging “just for” increasing traffic is another question of itself, but it still remains to be seen if the blog will contribute something sustainably useful. On the other hand, his site did give me quite a number of ideas for further content on my own blog. After all, I *am* one of the core developers of the most popular Ragnarok Online bot out there (well, currently inactive, but still updated). I’m guessing if I put my back into it, I can get more traffic to my blog (with all of its pros and cons).

Just for kicks, I googled for “kaliwanagan” and was inspired to see that the first hit is my blog (yay!) and 7 out of the 10 hits were about me. I didn’t even try :)

So now we have a new section: Ragnarok Online. Not just about bots too (although since that is my area of expertise I’d probably talk about that more often). It *might* contain some programming stuff as well, though I’m not so sure I can handle corresponding with readers through comments (workload problems). Watch out for further developments!

I do have a list of topics I’d like to write about, but I’d like to get opinions from readers. What would you want me to write about? Just remember, I have very strict moderating filters on this blog, and I don’t usually approve comments that aren’t useful, don’t contribute to the discussion, or posted purely for link building (I guess that explains the lack of comments in these pages …) So if you don’t immediately see your comment, it’s under moderation. To give your comments better chances to get posted, I’d suggest forming your posts concretely, concisely, and to the point.