fuzzyraygun

• There are a lot of strip clubs
• Lots of places don’t take credit cards. You can fill your parking meter with a credit card but they don’t take credit cards at the DMV
• The ratio of people to garden centers is much higher than normal
• There is lots of recycling and people care how it gets done. Don’t mix your recycling up. You will get scolded by the nice garbage man who waves when he sees you.
• People generally seem to be in a good mood
• People read. Books, papers, magazines.
• The amount of taco trucks and lunch carts in this city is amazing
• For the amount of mexican food places, it seems strange that people think that the mexican food is not that good.
• Goodwill shops are big here and there are lots of them. They are the size of regular department stores.
• Cars will wait for pedestrians to cross the street.
• The buses are nice and there are poetry snippets on the wall. Surprisingly there are not that many people on them.
• People say “Thank you” when they get off the bus. This happens more often than you would think.
• Cars drive slower
• The driving test is hard. Well hard for me, not for “Mrs. 100% correct A.C. Risse”
• In mid march people still have their snow tires on. This makes me nervous.
• When you order a coffee they will ask “You gonna stick around?” instead of saying “Is that for here or to go?”

Netiquette for people who don’t know, is basic “Internet Etiquette”. It has been around since the beginning of internet and usenet communities on the web. Sometimes I think it should be taught in school along with typing as required courses in the internet age. A lot of people know the basics of “Netiquette”. Things like don’t use all capital letters because people think your shouting or use BCC when emailing a lot of people who don’t really know each other.

People and companies break a lot of basic rules of internet etiquette all the time. Sometimes they are trying to grab your attention, sometimes they are trying to be cute and most of the time they just don’t know what they are doing. Here are some website etiquette things that I think companies and individuals should pay a little more attention to.

It’s my browser and I’ll do what I want
Sites that immediately re-size your web browser to take advantage of all of your screen resolution are rude. If your site does not work inside of the normal web screen size (800×600 or 1024×768) your site is the thing that needs adjusting not my browser. Do not re-size my browser window without asking me. I’ll decide how I want to see you site or app. If your site is worth it, I will change my browser to fit.

Ads ads everywhere
Pop-up ads and pop-behind ads are annoying to users and they make your site look cheap. Little scrolling ads that follow your mouse around, just make me want to leave your site immediately, they tell me you don’t care about the people on your page at all. Google displays ads in a very nice way and that is why users like them. There is a better way. Find it.

Take me where I want to go.
If I click on a specific link, take me to that page. Redirecting me to some other content or making me hunt for the content I was looking for inside of a page that has to much stuff will only make me leave and think that you don’t have the content. If people click on your link in Google and then quickly leave your site back to Google, Google will punish your search ranking accordingly.

Your technology is not that important to me
Sites that put key parts of their site into technologies or plugins that require me to download and install something are already at a disadvantage. If I need to install a Java APP to contact your business, you will probable never get an email from me. People who still answer the phone are dying breed in business today. People still appreciate it and will adjust their choices accordingly. Having a good receptionist or support line is more important than the 4 part Ajax enabled sales form on your website.

I could add to this list all day.

Here are some good references for Netiquette:
Netiquette Site
http://www.dtcc.edu/cs/rfc1855.html

I have been without internet connection for my computer at home since we got to Portland a little over a week ago. Since my computer is in the basement and our router is on the first floor we haven’t figured a way to get ethernet into the basement without drilling holes in the wall or floor so I will just have to wait for my D-Link wirless PCIe card to get here so I can get the internets on my giant MAC in basement.

It will probable be a little lonely at first being in the basement all by myself. My studio was previously setup in the living room so I always had a feeling of where alanna was in the house or if she was there. Now I will be in the basement “man cave”. We are talking about getting some wakie Talkies or baby monitors to keep in touch over our giant house.

I came upon an application recently that asked for a very specific password style and type when creating a user that I had to think: Is this password going to help or hinder me from accessing the program?

People get used to certain passwords and styles of passwords that they use and password styles that are outside of this are often the ones that you forget and have to do password retrieval. Security people at companies often wonder why people write down their passwords and put them on post-it notes or on scraps of paper on their desk. Its because they were not allowed to use a password that they can easily remember. Or maybe they just have so many different passwords to remember that they need a little reminder.

Passwords are all about balancing security with the ability of the person to remember their password.

Update: 07/13/09 – Nice post by Bruce Schneier on strong passwords. He quotes a HotSec paper questioning whether strong passwords really help or if they are just a hindrance to everyday users.

We got up kinda early, or what we thought was early since we forgot to set the clocks forward, went to breakfast and did some shopping at the hardware store And supermarket.

After some errands to the apple store and storage as well as a stock up trip to costco, we are back at the house in the calm before the storm. At 9am tomorrow the movers come with all our stuff and the cable guy comes to give us some internets.

It alternates between sunshine, rain and snow. It’s gonna get worse before it gets better.

We are almost completely done with our SF place. Everything is just about gone, now we just need to pack the car and head out of town.

Our day started pretty harsh. No Internet (user error) Alanna’s iPhone died so we almost missed the movers. The movers had the wrong address, and we grossly under estimated how much space and packing we would need for our possesions. That said though, it did actually go pretty well. Even our building manager said the movers were good. And I guess she has seen a lot of movers.

Now we clean a little bit and get cleaned up to meet some friends before we scoot outta town tomorrow.