First, staying ahead of the abuse curve requires always installing the latest version of the WordPress software I am using for this blog.  This may not seem like a big deal, but because I have customized things a bit to my liking, updating to the latest version of things often requires me to enter again my customizations.  On more than one occasion I have broken things with the upgrade and had to take the time to research and fix the errors.

Second, though WordPress includes a rather effective plugin called Askimet that autodetects comment spam, the spam is placed in a queue that can be reviewed for false positives.  Though there are very few misses, I feel obligated to wade through this large queue regularly to make sure no valid comments are missed; another big waste of time due to some lazy spammers ‘bots keeping my in their attack list.

I recently tried to install a hidden programming trick that didn’t work, much to my chagrin.  I have been hesitant to use other methods because they require you as users to read a funny image and type in the text (CAPTCHA), but now that appears to be my best solution.  So, at this point I am testing out a CAPTCHA installation on the comments to see if that will cut down the hundreds of comment spam entries per day wasting the resources of my server and me personally.  I apologize for the extra step on your part, but hopefully you can bear with me.

You do have the option of skipping the CAPTCHA if you are a regular poster and would like to register as a user on this site.  Registered users are not required to do this step.

Spam is definitely something  that’s gotta go, but the reality is we can only hope to stay one step ahead.

Most adults I deal with on a day-to-day basis understand and even have a sense of humor.  I know this may not seem like a novel concept, but it is harder to come by than I would have thought.  Some people just take things too seriously, and jump at the chance to take offense at even the smallest thing they can find.

I see this a lot in online discussions.  Forums, comments on articles, and especially sites like Digg and Slashdot where commenting is a major portion of the community on which they are built tend to drive me crazy.  I used to read through comments purely for entertainment, but the common types that appear bug me too much that I have given up reading anything other than the source article unless I am really intrigued by what others might have to say on the subject.

I have discussed before how the anonymity the ‘net gives people tends to bring out the worst in so many.  So many people lose all practical inhibitions, meaning the good ones, when it comes to social grace or simple respect for fellow human beings.  They will jump on even the smallest error in a post as an opportunity to belittle the individual and invalidate any point that the individual might have been trying to make.

Here are a few of the common “types” I have observed when perusing such comment threads:

•  Those with a valid point to add to the discussion – a small minority
• The spell checkers – those that flame any user that happens to let a typo through before submitting their comment
• The grammer checkers – just like the spell checkers, but these believe they are the only ones with a mastery of the English language and consider it a shame that apparently no one else does.
• The oppositional ones – they will take the opposite point of view on every discussion
• The rule enforcers – those that report anyone they don’t like to the moderator for apparent rules violations.
• The butt kissers – those that will gush with appreciation and compliments for the site administrators and moderators whenever an official announcement is posted.
• The loyalists – the ones that want to be recognized for their long standing loyalty and obvious prowess because they “have been there since the beginning”
• The experts (aka know-it-alls) – whenever long debate ensues, these users jump in with the “official speak” and a list of references backing their position.  Sometimes these types are right, other times they are just annoying.
• The agree-ers – these just cannot see a thread and not participate.  They will post “me too” or “yes” on every thread.
• The I-can’t-search-for-myself types – will ask the same question that has been covered a hundred times before rather than search out the answer from the previous posts.
• The propagandist – No matter what the topic, George Bush is at fault (or other conservative/liberal depending on your preference).  Even if they think they are being funny, they will constantly throw in degrading comments showing their obvious slant.
• The spammer – the idiot that acts like they care with some half-baked post and a huge signature line with all their products/sites they are advertising.

There are oh so many more “types” out there, but that is a good start.  Any other types you would like to add to the list?

With that unnecessary background, on with my rant.

I hate computer stores.  Ok, maybe hate is a strong word, but I dislike dealing with the sales staff at most computer stores (or electronics stores with computer departments) such as CompUSA, Circuit City, Best Buy, etc.  The problem is I can never get a knowledgeable answer from the staff when I need it.  Fact is I know more than they do.

I know that may sound pompous and arrogant, but frankly your dog may know more about the products being sold there than the staff does.

Being in a technical field, I try to keep myself fairly well read on current technology.  I dare say I read more about technology than I do about current events.  I actually consider that a fault when I write that, but facts are facts.  When I am considering purchasing something, I take researching to the extreme.  I read online, I ask around and I talk to people about my conclusions and ask them to weigh in.  I am fairly sure that I annoy the heck out of people in this process, but in the end I rarely end up with buyers remorse after my purchase after such long deliberations.

With that in mind, when I end up in a store I usually have a decent idea of what I want.  My time in the store often amounts in racing to the point where I know the product is, grabbing it and making my way through checkout.  Sure, I may check out what else is on an unadvertised special, but when that staff member comes wandering my way I usually quickly make my evasive moves and get out of there.

The staff does scare me, really; I just hate being engaged in idle chit chat by someone that is really just trying to talk you into a warranty upgrade on whatever you end up buying.

In the occasions I have had to drop in for a purchase where I am not prepared with details and a specific model in mind, I am typically disappointed with the results.  Recently we purchased a color laser printer for work at CompUSA.  I had done enough quick research to see their pricing was competitive enough compared to online options that we headed in to see what might fit our needs.  While browsing through the options with a business sales rep (supposedly more knowledgeable and specialized for businesses) in tow, we requested to see samples from the three printers we were considering.  For the one with the “demo” kit attached he had no problem.  The second printer he struggled with, and the third he just had no idea.  Not that I am a printer expert, but most have a menu system or key combination you can push to get your demo.  Relieving him of his dilemma, I figured out getting the samples with a few simple attempts.

This is but a small example of course for many situations where I have instructed the sales staff on the finer points of products vs them informing me of things I don’t know.  No don’t get this picture of me acting like a Cliff Claven and spouting off all my knowledge and generally making a fool of myself.  But, when a staff tries to read off the box on the sly the features and act like they already knew it, I just can’t help but know they really are not capable of helping me.  I can read the box on my own, thank you very much.

The other day, before purchasing my new Canon 40D upgrade to my 20D, I happened to be at Circuit City for a purchased and made my way through the camera department.  I was ogling the 5D they had on display when I managed to get accosted by the guy assigned to that department.  He had a 30D around his neck and a big goofy smile on his face.  After the pleasantries he dove right in trying to expound on his vast knowledge of photography and revel me with his enthusiasm.

Now I love talking to fellow photogs and learning from their experiences and skills, but this guy just didn’t have it.  What he lacked in actual knowledge he tried to cover with eagerness, and it only managed to come across at pushy and annoying.  Without trying to one up him with my experiences I simply let him know I was planning on purchasing a different camera, was simply browsing and moved on.

In the end, I typically purchase most of my gadgetry online both for the typical cost savings and to not deal with under trained, poorly paid sales staff.  At least online I can read specifications and reviews without interruption and without pressure to pick up that worthless three year warranty.

Of course, any time a new service is launched that offers a unique view of our world, the right to privacy concerns are raised. In this case I am not sure I agree with it though. The New York Times has an article highlighting a specific instance of a lady voicing her privacy concerns that is just one small point in the growing debate.
Google Earth was one of their first to bring up such concerns, providing a very public view of satellite imagery. Of course this is done in a resolution that is less than personally identifiable. Later lawsuits requiring search engines to reveal search habits and history of individuals were an even greater concern. What they know about us online is scary. Now, with street level photography if you happen to be doing something less than flattering at the moment such a camera equipped vehicle drives by, your actions might be immortalized for some time to come.

The concern here is your right to privacy vs the First Amendment right to document public spaces. I really am not all that torn on this issue as I feel public spaces are just that, public. Of course I live in a fairly rural area, so the likelihood of me being document is next to nothing. Still, I feel like if you are doing something in public view, you better be sure it is something you don’t mind the world seeing. What is the difference between what you are fairly consciously allowing your neighbors to see vs the whole world seeing that same thing? If you want something private, close the curtains or be sure you are doing that where noone can see.

This is not to say I am in favor of virtual peeping, but in our world of increasing digital exposure we need to face reality. If you are out in public, there is a good chance your presence can be documented in some fashion. How often have you noticed that as you are casually at the park or anywhere, you happen to get caught in the background of someone taking a photo. Have you ever taken time to look in the background of your own photos or video to see what you didn’t notice you were capturing? It happens innocently all the time.

I am increasingly intrigued by new technology that links together all the digital media being published out there. I am extremely confident that YouTube and Flickr are just the tip of the iceberg as to what the near future holds in social networking media. As more of this media is publicly available, more technology will be developed to create better access to it, stringing together the collective effort into a massive mindshare. I find it exciting rather than intimidating.

In the case of the “cat lady” mentioned in the NY Times article above, I think her complaint is petty but still representative of the concerning being voiced. Her blurry view of a cat in the window is the least of my concerns, but apparently high on hers. At least with Google they offer the ability to request the removal of a photo, though in her case I am not sure if they will honor it.
So, word to the wise, realize public these days really means wide open to the view of the entire world. Be aware and mindful of it, and you have nothing to fear!

This topic came back to mind when I read an interesting article discussing some high profile community troll problems and suggested solutions to those managing message boards and blogs in such situations.  The article is an interesting read if you are a manager of such a site or even just an active participant in one or multiple online communities.

Though I don’t think there is really a final solution to ever rid our world of trolls and troll-like behavior, there are things you can do to discourage or avoid some of it.  Whether it is a chat, forum, or blog, be wise and recognize that punk kid (or mentally young) troll who gets his/her kicks of of riling you up.  Don’t feed ‘em and they tend to move on.  Good luck to those dealing with such situations.

Through the course of this reading, most of the sites I frequent have user interaction in some form or another; mainly in the form of user comments or forums.  There are times when the user comments on an article can be as interesting and informative as the originating piece, which is particularly true when dealing with some of the photography sites I frequent.  Even in the least controversial of topics there can some that participate seemingly for the sole purpose of stirring up trouble.  Today I wax a bit analytical on these type of users.

I have written previously about Online Trolls and the admonition not to feed them.  Though similar, the angry user is a far more dangerous species.  Trolls typically try to get the confrontations going simply for their enjoyment and out of a complete abundance of time on their hands.  A troll has nothing better to do and their sad, pathetic lives revolve around deriving some childish pleasure from making some ridiculous comment that will obviously inflame the others on the site.  Usually these types just go elsewhere in search of their needed attention if you ignore them, hence the advice to not “feed the trolls.”

With the angry commenter, you are never quite sure of their motivation, but you are sure of their passion.  An angry user will never back down from their position in an argument, no matter how clearly the community has been rebutting them.  If logic fails, the user will resort to name calling, swearing and other childish behaviors in the continual need to somehow feel like they have come out ahead.  Truly this is like a child who lacks the mental maturity to have a rational debate and have the ability to concede when an opposing viewpoint is proven to be more true in the context of a specific discussion.

Of course not all and perhaps most online conversations are not based on topics that have a definitive right and wrong answer.  Most discussions revolve around matters of opinion, which of course are the flocking grounds of most visitors looking to express what they know is the way things are but is in the end simply their strongly voiced opinion.  Opinions are powerful things, and discounting someone’s heartfelt stance is typically all the spark needed to get a raging fire going.

Take a look at any site like Digg, Slashdot and any other active forum of public commenting and you will see that seemingly the majority of people posting are those looking for some head-to-head debate.  Some approach in intellectually, but many (I hesitate to write most, but many qualifies) simply like to throw out a quip and see where it goes.  The downside of this is that most comment threads veer quickly off topic, leading to worthless conversations that are unrelated to the reason I clicked through to the discussion, so I leave.

Comments are popular because they invite interaction that leads to site loyalty and users revisiting the site ““ but in some cases when commenting systems are frequented by these angry users, it drives away many of your more silent regular users.  Depending on the nature of the site, for every comment made, there can be tens if not hundreds or more of users that choose to read and not comment.  That is the case with this site.  Very few choose to comment, but there are many other visitors to the site according to the traffic logs.  That’s ok, commenting is not for everyone.  Most of the sites I visit I am not an active participant unless something really strikes me.

So in the end, I think the angry commenter can be both a good and bad thing to a site.  The angry tone can drive away some of your more silent regular visitors, yet in some discussion it can engage the more resilient ones and create an atmosphere of active discussion.  Angry users of like minds also tend to band together, and that band of not-so-merry users can be your biggest advocates one day, and another day move their growing power to work against you.  Walking that tightrope can be a difficult task.

On this site I hope most users find our topics enjoyable, often humorous and non-offensive.  If a particular post pricks your conscious to where you think we have “gone too far” then perhaps you can take a moment to look inward and see if there is more truth to the topic than you would like to admit.  I strongly believe that we all only have the right to laugh at others when we are willing to first laugh at ourselves.  If we can commit to this simple belief, we can find much more to laugh about and have more fun in each day.

Because I have been on the receiving end of many very public email addresses, I somehow end up on the mailing list of everyone that still believes these things and forwards them right on through to their entire address book.  Adding insult to injury, I get the same message more than once as everyone wants to be the first to let you know that [insert name here] virus is running rampant and you better protect yourself!  Thanks, twenty other people have already given me fair warning.
Some of my favorites?  Making money from Microsoft/Disney/Oracle if you simply forward this message on to 10 other people.  Why is it the email newbie’s believe there is some magic way of tracking the forwards first off, and that these big companies have the power much less the interest in following a chain letter to pay you for doing it?

How about the Nigerian offshore money scam?  That one still runs rampant because there are people that fall for it and really they have been selected for the chance of a lifetime to scam some government out of millions.  They never stop to ask themselves why would their email be found or if this sounds fishy?  No, it must be true, and I’m getting my piece of it, how about you?

One of the very earliest versions of the email forwarding spoof made popular in the media was a warning about gangs driving around with their headlights off waiting for someone to do the common courtesy of flashing their lights to let them know.  The email warned you not do this because if you did they would force you off the road and attack you.  I remember specifically receiving this email dozens of times from different sources within one week.  Unfortunately because of the media attention the “joke” received, some wannabe gangs started acting out on it.

Seen the tallest woman in the world?  Lead in your lipstick?  Shark jumping out of the water to attack a helicopter?  The list goes on, and on, and on and….on.  About.com lists the top 25 urban legends if you care to see how many you have received in the past.  I was actually surprised there were a number of them I haven’t seen.

I actually don’t mind receiving some of the better joke or feel good stories out there, but please, if you are going to forward on an email, follow a few basic rules of courtesy.  Basic net etiquette, or Netiquette as it has become know.  Summarizing a bit of what you can read over at Wikipedia from that link, and adding a few thoughts of my own:

• Think before passing something along.  Is it old news that has been forwarded to death?  Ask yourself if it sounds plausible.  If something sounds too incredible to be true, there is a good chance it might be.
• Do a little research.  If you are going to take to time to fill up your email recipients on that email, take a few extra moments to check out the credibility of the story.  There are many sites providing a great service of pointing out hoaxes, but two of my favorites are
  About.com – urbanlegends.about.com
  Snopes – snopes.com
• Trim the fat.  Nothing is more annoying that receiving a forwarded email that has the words “FWD” in the subject a dozen times, all the email addresses and headers of previous forwarding along with forward angle brackets (>) galore.  If I see a message with all this detritus, honestly I just delete it.  It isn’t worth my time to search through the message to find the meat of it all.  Along with my laziness, I figure I’ll get it again sometime soon from someone else.
• Don’t make my email public.  Worse than actually receiving the message is seeing my email publicized in all its glory along with a hundred others for the world (and viruses riddden computers) to see.  I have actually seen some emails of some pretty prominent people this way.  Learn the power of the blind carbon copy (Bcc) function.  You have to enable this field on some email programs, but please do.  By entering emails there you don’t show everyone else who you have emailed to.  Simple common courtesy.
• Turn off your footer.  Along with cleaning out the automatic footers and salutations of previous posters, turn yours off.  Nothing is more of a turn off to reading a good story or joke than seeing your company advertisement at the end of it.  Is that why you sent it to me, to get me in your downline of whatever you are a part of?
• Actually include a message from you.  Yes, I may know you well or perhaps not-so-well, but please write even a short note about why you are forwarding this on.  If I just receive the message along with the rest of your oh so lucky recipients with no note from you, I am likely going to figure it is spam and toss it.  If you tell me why you sent it along, I may actually give it a read.
• Only the good stuff.  This is completely subjective of course, but use a little discretion and be selective on what you forward on.  Don’t forward on everything that you happen to get.  Yes, I realize you may be excited to receive email at all (“They like me, they really do”), I am not that way. I happen to receive hundreds of emails a day, so I prefer not to wade through too many extras.  I love a good joke or feel good story, as long as it is really good.  I hope that my friends and family value the fact that if a story is sent to them by me, it really must be worth reading because I very selective on what makes it pass my filtering.  Only the good stuff.
• Never use the reply to all button.  Just like forwarding on, you may feel inclined to write back on a good email to say thanks for sending it and throw in a ROFL or LOL.  Good for you, but please, please only reply to the person that sent it to you.  It kills me to not only receive the original email, but also a half dozen replies from recipients that feel the need to tell the entire group how hilarious they found the joke.  Of course, if they original sender had used the Bcc, this would never happen.

For several years now whenever I get an email that is badly formed or has a hoax that has tricked the sender into forwarding it on, I take a moment to politely teach them these principles.  For hoaxes I include a link to the relevant entry at About.com and ask that they check this site in the future before forwarding things to me in the future.  Usually people are not offending and actually grateful to have been educated.  Repeat offenders get a reminder with a little less subtlety :) and continued abuse makes gets them elected to my spam blocking list.  These days I actually get very little forwarded on, and I enjoy the times I get something good sent my way.

I’ll stop there.  I could of course think of many more bits of advice to give, but I figure you get the point.  Sadly I expect that most of the people receiving this don’t need the advice.  You’ve likely learned your lesson in the past.  I don’t fault anyone for having gone through a stage of bad habits if you have nicked them and participate like a good netizen these days.  We all have to learn someday.  Now you have a job, teach the newbies.

That is likely where I found my interest in computers as a child that has continued through today.  I haven’t done any big training, definitely not certified in any program, but generally speaking I know my way around a computer pretty well.  What I rant about today is computer repair, as in the hardware.  My “main” computer fried over the weekend.  This is a big reason as why I haven’t posted in a bit.  When I say fried, I mean the mainboard was no longer powering up, so essentially it is gone.  Not happy about it, but out of options, I headed out to a local computer store to buy the necessary replacement part.

What do I find, but my not-that-old machine is now antiquated, so not only do I have to replace the board, but also the processor, memory and video card.  “Ouch” says my wallet.  After much deliberation I take the opportunity to upgrade a bit to a pretty decent replacement set and head home.

I strip down the innards of the machine, put in all the new hardware with great care and fire it up…only to have absolutely nothing happen.  Crud.  After much testing (and calling my brother who is even geekier than me), etc I find that I also need a new power supply to go with this new setup.  But, of course, it is now too late Saturday night and all stores are closed, so I get to fester on the situation all weekend.

I have the new power supply and hope to install it tonight to better results.  If you hear a long seeming rumble of thunder over the horizon, don’t fear, it isn’t the weather but me if this doesn’t solve it.  I hate throwing money at hardware that doesn’t fix the situation – and if this doesn’t do it I will have done quite a bit of that.

So all you in WGG reader land that are perhaps a little less computer savvy, you may want to count yourself luck today.  Sometimes you are better off taking it in to let the “professionals” do it, or just trashing the old heap and starting with a new one.

Fast forward to post college years.  Now computers are a huge part of my life.  It is my work as well as part of most of my hobbies.  Photography – digital of course.  Now blogging.  I rarely find any reason or opportunity to write anything down.  In fact if I take notes, it is often on a laptop or even my Treo for a quick reminder.  So as a result, my handwriting is getting worse and worse.

What I find really sad is that I have no handwriting endurance.  Kind of sounds funny, but you know what I am talking about.  I used to be able to take notes through several classes a day without difficulty.  Now if I write more than a few paragraphs my hand aches like a bad bought of arthritis.  That’s pretty pitiful.
I think this I am really taking note of it these days because my son is in second grade, and though he is a brilliant kid, his handwriting is terrible.  He started with a bad hand position habit that we are still trying to break, and he writes just plain horrible.  I did a little research before writing this post, and I was comforted to find the first Google search result for “bad handwriting” was an article attributing bad handwriting as a common problem in gifted young boys.   Whether that is his situation or not, I’d like to think so.  But as I encourage him to get better, I feel the need to get mine back in shape.

On an incidental note, 90% of the rest of the search results (for numerous pages of results) were articles about bad doctor’s handwriting leading to incorrect prescriptions and even avoidable deaths.  At least my handwriting is just something for my to complain about and not alter or ending someone’s life!
I am not quite sure how I am going to do it, but I think I will try to do some writing exercises of some kind.  I would like to find something useful to write though and not just write for the sake of writing.  Have you experienced the same phenomenon?  Any ideas?

The little habit that annoys me is people that have had their ability to communicate in full sentences, much less entire paragraphs torn from their brains (if it was there to begin with) by the IM effect.  I blame AOL most, mainly because they are an easy target and most web geeks have more than enough reason to hate AOL anyway.

AOL pioneered (I think) the single line entry box format with the conversation appearing just above where you are entering your text.  Previously ICQ by default had the format of a box appearing with content, then you replied with an entire message window that disappeared when you sent it.  I was very used to that format, though I have to admit eventually I came to like the dialog history staying on the screen so I could leave and come back to a conversation, catching up to anything missed.  Since I tend to have 3-5 conversation windows open at a time with varying degrees of active dialog, it helps to keep the history up.

What AOL did, though, was created a whole generation of people that would work at keeping your attention by entering only part of their conversation before hitting enter/return and then continuing their thought.  What happens is a long list of short lines to make up a complete thought and disjointed sentence.  Something like this:

hey

you there?

got a question

what is

the answer to

blah blah

You get the idea.  This bugs me because it is either one of two things.  First, they person doesn’t believe I am going to stay on the line long enough to pay attention to their question.  In actuality, because of their typing format this is a self-fulfilling situation because I now will leave and come back to read the completed thought rather than waste my time waiting for the entire verbiage to make it to the screen.  Second, and I hope this isn’t true, there may be a tendency for people to treat the IM window like a typewriter, hitting the return key at the end of the line because they have filled the little box for their text.  Please, please tell me this isn’t true.
I do think there is a little of this born out of the fact that a lot of people don’t type that fast, so they figure they better get some of the thought there so you don’t give up on them.  This is likely why the different IM programs instituted the “typing” icon or message so you know that a response is still being formed.

I actually get a bit of enjoyment trying to predict what is happening on the other end of the conversation.  Typical situation:  I send question, pause happens then “typing” message appears shortly followed by response.  The ones that are fun is when you ask a question that perhaps requires a bit more thought or catches them off  guard, you see something like:  I send question, pause happens then “typing” message appears, then follows “so and so has entered text”, meaning they have stopped typing; then message goes away completely (meaning they have deleted their previous text), later to finally follow with the message and response.  What just happened there?  Did they write me back some snide response then thought better of it?  Did they write me something that was supposed to go to someone else, luckily realizing before it was sent that they had the wrong window?  Did they sit on their keyboard only to get back up and realize they almost sent “asd;flkjasdl;fkjasdf;lkj” to me?   So many fun possibilities!

So much analysis could be made into the IM psychology, but in short, I just want to say I wish more people would compose their entire thought and then send it my way.  I have the patience and I can then send you a worthwhile response.  Of course I don’t mean to say that everything communication must be a novel; I am a fan of the short question with the short answer.  Just get it done, and don’t try to hold me on the line.