Annoyances

[same_sky]

You know what really bugs me? When a website assumes that you know exactly what they're about before you even open the page. They even go to the bother of creating an About page, and FAQ, and all other sorts of things, and nowhere do you find a single sentence that says "Hi, we're a XXX that does XXX." Not even on the About page! Who are these people and why don't they live in the real world? Sometimes it's obvious, but even then, do you really want to assume that your users are capable of putting two and two together and arriving at the answer you expect them to get at? (In some cases, this answer seems to be not at all four, but nine or purple.) I just don't understand it. I like to think of myself as an intelligent person, and I have a strong internet background and excellent interface/navigational skills--I've even read Jakob Nielson's book, dammit--but I clicked around on a site yesterday and never did figure out the exact purpose. I want a justification for existence! Is that so much to ask? It was clearly a search mechanism of some sort, but for what, I don't know. And velveeta.com has no description of what velveeta is! It's that kind of thing that keeps me up late at night.

Regular readers will roll their eyes at this statement, for it has been often mentioned that I can fall asleep within ten minutes at the most and sleep through a natural disaster. Really, that just makes using that phrase even better for me.

I'm having some journal anxiety lately. I've been thinking about doing the real domain name of my own MT/cross-posting thing because I do so love domain names, and I'd like to have a place to write occasional things that don't really seem to fit well at LJ. Anyway, someone pointed out a dull blog to me, and I read it, thinking, "oh, this is indeed dull." That dullness seems to have seeped into my head, for now I weigh every little thought that comes into my head against the Dullness Meter, and it occurs to me that half of the thoughts that enter my mind are also very dull. Case in point. I had half a fake journal entry today worked out in my head around a bowl of margarine and its peculiarities and my mood as it relates to this bowl. Now, mind you, I would never have written or posted this journal entry but the mere fact that I thought of it really seems to strike me as odd and quite dull. Actually, I came up with a sentence that I'm going to try to work into a book or something sometime, so it's not as absurd as I just made it sound, but it was still pretty silly. But now I'm basically saying that I find myself dull, so maybe I should just stop writing altogether. That's likely.

Anyway, I have some stuff to get done this afternoon, and I need to start writing my first article. I'm writing a technology type of column. It needs to not be very timely, because it's coming out in mid-January. I'm considering spam-related issues, but I wanted to write something a little more sparkly for the first issue. I welcome suggestions.

Comments

[lizardek.livejournal.com]

1) No one KNOWS what Velveeta is, not even the manufacturer!
2) Dull? You? HA!
3) Spam is as sparkly as one could wish for. But...how about Bluetooth? :)

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

1) Maybe that's why there's no info about it, then..
2) Aww, that's so sweet. :)
3) After I posted this, I actually came up with a fun topic. Now.. isn't the suspense killing you? :)

[pastaqueen.livejournal.com]

I know exactly what you mean about websites that don't say what they do. I hate it when I come across a site like that!

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

It really annoys the crap out of me. Wouldn't you think that would be a pretty basic question to answer? Ugh. ;)

[carrieb.livejournal.com]

You are anything but dull, woman!

And now the suspense is killing me.

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'm glad to hear that I'm not on the dull-o-meter. ;)

[courtesy.livejournal.com]

Dull, never. Indeed your posts about things such as margarine are really your best ones. That's a compliment, not a criticism, you cynical girl ;)

Suggestions:
- what to do when you pour wine in your laptop keyboard :)
- something about that inner debate you've had recently about keeping blogs open or private or anonymity in personal websites
- meeting the love of your life online :)

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

Aha! Proof that you're on the same wavelength as me--you nailed it. :) (I don't know if you saw the above reply where I said I had come up with something or not.) I'm going to write about blogs/internet and privacy, especially with regard to work. You know, people getting fired for their blogs, employers being aware of activity, etc. Funny that you came up with that, too!

Thank you. :) I hadn't thought about taking it as anything but a compliment until you pointed it out, so maybe that was just a slip there on your part and you're really thinking just the reverse after all. Sneaky!

[courtesy.livejournal.com]

No, I hadn't seen the other post - cool!! :)

No, no freudian slips here, just blocking any avenue for someone to turn my words on their head :)

I still have to find my topic - how many words should it be??

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

Somewhere around 500-600 words, I think. What kind of thing do you want to write about? I'm beginning to really look forward to reading this thing.

[courtesy.livejournal.com]

Me too. Okay 500 it is :) I'm not sure what I want to write about - I think I'll start with something a tad unusual :) Maybe even risque? No :) I'll come up with a few things and might run then by you to pick one :)

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

Ooh, fun. :) Unusually risque, perhaps? *laugh*

[courtesy.livejournal.com]

Potentially :)

Maybe I'll do a review of the vibrator market now that I'm single :)

[courtesy.livejournal.com]

Dull, never. Indeed your posts about things such as margarine are really your best ones. That's a compliment, not a criticism, you cynical girl ;)

Suggestions:
- what to do when you pour wine in your laptop keyboard :)
- something about that inner debate you've had recently about keeping blogs open or private or anonymity in personal websites
- meeting the love of your life online :)