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Mac OS X Hints

A workaround for an iPhoto/set desktop picture bug

On both my Mac Pro and my iMac, I've run into a problem where the iPhoto library simply doesn't show up in the Desktop & Screen Saver System Preferences panel (in Mac OS X 10.6.x). Well, sometimes it shows up, but simply as a line reading iPhoto, but without any actual content.

When this happened the first time, I looked in Console and found the following entry for each time I'd tried to load the Desktop tab of the Desktop & Screen Saver panel (reformatted for easier reading):

1/12/12 9:09:36 AM      System Preferences[4134]
**** DesktopPref error: DSKiPhotoRootSource -loadData TIME OUT!!! There something wrong with iLife Media Browser

Googling on that error led to a number of pages, including iLife: Cannot See iPhoto Files in Other iLife Applications on Apple's support site. But after trying everything in that article, I still couldn't see my iPhoto images when trying to set the Desktop picture.
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Feedback from readers

Macworld logoAs you might guess, I get a lot of email from readers of Macworld and macosxhints.com. For the most part, I love hearing from readers -- even if it's negative feedback, believe it or not. In the case of negative feedback, however, it's nice if the writer provides enough detail so I know (a) what they're upset about, and (b) what I might be able to do about it. I've actually had many useful and productive exchanges with folks who wrote to flame me for one reason or another.

However, on the opposite side of the fence, as an example of the kind of useless feedback I hate receiving, I offer up this email that arrived this morning:

Do you proof read these articles before you publish them?

That was the entire email. I have no idea which typos the author may be referring to, nor for that matter, which one of the 20 to 30 things I wrote last week that those typos may be in. It's also somewhat ironic to note that proofread is one word, not two -- if you're going to chastise me for typos, it's best not to make any of your own!

I really do enjoy hearing from and corresponding with readers. But if you're going to take the time and effort to write to me, at least include enough information for me to understand what it is that's gotten your attention, so that I have some context for your comments and can respond in a meaningful manner.



The downside of public hint submissions

In general, I wouldn't change a thing about the way OS X Hints has worked out over the years -- I've learned a ton, had a ton of fun, and even managed to completely change my career. One of the first things I did right (through sheer luck, more than anything else) was to choose a content management system (Geeklog) that allowed for public story submissions. With the whole community participating, the hints collection has grown at a tremendous rate.

Lately, though, the downside of public submission queue has become apparent: spam submissions. As an example, here's a bit of what I saw in the queue this morning:

spam

There were well over 100 such entries, all of which were added between Friday morning and early Monday morning. Ugh. (Geeklog presently lacks any sort of captcha on story submissions, though I think there's one in the works for the next minor update.)

So instead of spending time reviewing, editing, and posting hints, I spent the first 10 or so minutes of the morning identifying all the spam entries and deleting them from the system. Clearly these are automated scripts at work, hoping to hit sites that use unmoderated submissions. They care not if a site is moderated, obviously, though it certainly puts me in a foul mood as I clean up their detritus. Sigh.