The Inner-workings of the Merc Mind » Public Service Announcement

Making your blog findable: Do as I say, not as I do

RickMacMerc — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 19:08:40 +0000

There is one big problem with this blog beside the fact that I seldom update it: it’s hidden away in a subsection of a subdirectory—it’s not RickYaeger.com the way it should be.¹

In the beginning, the blogs.macmerc.com subdomain was followed by /rick, /brian and /james …me and the other guys who regularly submitted stories to MacMerc.com. It was a subdomain for all our blogs. It made sense at the time.

As time went on the guys decided they wanted blogs under their own brand² and I should have gotten a clue at that point and registered my name and put my blog under its header, but I didn’t.

Since then I have posted stories that have been linked by high profile sites and continue to bring in eyes to this little, far-off corner of MacMerc.com, so now it becomes important to make sure any changes to the URL of the site don’t disrupt the incoming links.

What I’m trying to say, people, is this: don’t wait until you get some attention to start doing things the way you will do them when you’re successful—do it right and do it right now.

If you haven’t registered yourname.com, do it now. Domains are crazy-cheap at GoDaddy.com

If you don’t have a blog and are intimidated by even starting one, I wrote an article on how to set up a Tumblr blog at your own custom domain. It will get you set up with a blog with very little technical effort. As for the actual blogging, a follow-up video is on the way.

Stake your claim on your name—if you don’t someone else will.

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at least it hasn’t been for all these years it has been around
as well they should

Kevin Smith will not go gentle from that good flight. [NC-17]

RickMacMerc — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 05:34:51 +0000

The following is a series of tweets issued by writer/director Kevin Smith earlier today after being removed from a Southwest Airlines jet due to his weight shortly after having been seated. Keep in mind, these messages went out to Mr. Smith’s 1,637,505 Twitter followers as the events unfolded. Be warned, the language is strong¹ . Lesson to be learned: the age of treating customers (any customers) unfairly has come to an end—the injustices you have whispered to someone behind closed doors will be tweeted (and retweeted) from the rooftops—everybody has a platform.²

Dear @SouthwestAir – I know I’m fat, but was Captain Leysath really justified in throwing me off a flight for which I was already seated?

Dear @SouthwestAir, I flew out in one seat, but right after issuing me a standby ticket, Oakland Southwest attendant Suzanne (wouldn’t give

last name) told me Captain Leysath deemed me a “safety risk”. Again: I’m way fat… But I’m not THERE just yet. But if I am, why wait til my

bag is up, and I’m seated WITH ARM RESTS DOWN. In front of a packed plane with a bunch of folks who’d already I.d.ed me as “Silent Bob.”

So, @SouthwestAir, go fuck yourself. I broke no regulation, offered no “safety risk” (what, was I gonna roll on a fellow passenger?). I was

wrongly ejected from the flight (even Suzanne eventually agreed). And fuck your apologetic $100 voucher, @SouthwestAir. Thank God I don’t

embarrass easily (bless you, JERSEY GIRL training). But I don’t sulk off either: so everyday, some new fuck-you Tweets for @SouthwestAir.

Wanna tell me I’m too wide for the sky? Totally cool. But fair warning, folks: IF YOU LOOK LIKE ME, YOU MAY BE EJECTED FROM @SOUTHWESTAIR.

Via @byrneification “save the anger for SModcast” Believe it, Son. @SouthwestAir? You fucked with the wrong sedentary processed-foods eater!

(1/2) @pigz “I know several people bigger then u who have flown on other airlines” I saw someone bigger than me on THAT flight! But I wasn’t

(2/2) about to throw a fellow Fatty under the plane as I’m being profiled. But he & I made eye contact, & he was like “Please don’t tell…”

Dear @SouthwestAir, I’m on another one of your planes, safely seated & buckled-in again, waiting to be dragged off in front of the normies.

And, hey? @SouthwestAir? I didn’t even need a seat belt extender to buckle up. Somehow, that shit fit over my “safety concern”-creating gut.

Via @bogo_lode “Maybe you should organize a boycott” A boycott of one. This is my last Southwest flight. Hopefully by choice.

Hey @SouthwestAir! Look how fat I am on your plane! Quick! Throw me off! http://twitpic.com/1340gw

Hey @SouthwestAir! Sometimes, the arm rests are up because THE PEOPLE SITTING THERE ALREADY PUT THEM UP; NOT BECAUSE THEY “CAN’T GO DOWN.”

The @SouthwestAir Diet. How it works: you’re publicly shamed into a slimmer figure. Crying the weight right off has never been easier!

Via @mmm_cereal “my dad’s bigger than you & flies southwest all the time. some1 just wanted to say they were a dick to a celeb” Celeb? Me?!

Hey @SouthwestAir! I’ve landed in Burbank. Don’t worry: wall of the plane was opened & I was airlifted out while Richard Simmons supervised.

(1/2) Hey @SouthwestAir? Fuck making it right for me just ’cause I have a platform. I sat next to a big girl who was chastised for not buy-

(2/2) ing an extra ticket because “all passengers deserve their space.” Fucking flight wasn’t even full! Fuck your size-ist policy. Rude…

Southwest Airlines’ tweeter has kept up with Kevin, and here are a few of the posts found at @SouthwestAir:

@ThatKevinSmith hey Kevin! I’m so sorry for your experience tonight! Hopefully we can make things right, please follow so we may DM!

Hey folks – trust me, I saw the tweets from @ThatKevinSmith I’ll get all the details and handle accordingly! Thanks for your concerns!

@jdickey no, unfortunately…this is the real deal. Silent Bob is striking back.

I read every single tweet that comes into this account, and take every tweet seriously. We’ll handle @thatkevinsmith issue asap.

I’ve read the tweets all night from @thatkevinsmith – He’ll be getting a call at home from our Customer Relations VP tonight.

I have every confidence that this situation will work out amicably but it does go to show you how fast a bad customer service move can do serious damage with the connectivity of social networking…wildfire.

but tame by Kevin Smith standards
and if they don’t, they probably know somebody who does

Give your iPhone apps some love

RickMacMerc — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 06:20:48 +0000

This image was adjusted using Best Camera…an iPhone app I just gave a five star rating

I’ve said this many places before and I’m not the first to say this: the iPhone App Store rating system is deeply flawed.

The iPhone OS never asks you to review the apps you use. You can enjoy an app for months, using it many times a day and have it enrich your life but at no time will the iPhone OS pop up an alert asking you to review it. That’s good, actually; it would get annoying to have all those alerts reminding you how much you use applications. It might even deter you from using apps! The iPhone App Store has no way for developers to offer demo software, so it has all but eliminated “nagware” on the iPhone. Having the iPhone OS bother you for reviews for applications would make the whole operating system a nag. We don’t need that.

So the iPhone OS never asks you to review apps…well, there is one circumstance when it will ask you for a review—when you act to delete an application from your iPhone.

I hope it’s obvious why that’s a problem.

Imagine if the only people asked to review movies were the people who storm out before the car chase. These are people who have decided the film is not worth another minute of their time: how do you think they’re going to review it?

This doesn’t mean that everyone who deletes an app is going to give it a one star rating—some won’t give any rating at all—but it makes it very likely that those that do give ratings will give very low ratings. It means that the only people being polled for their opinion on any given app are the people who decided that app has no place on their iPhone¹. Free apps are especially ripe for this since they are often viewed as disposable and undervalued.

YOUR ASSIGNMENT

Here’s the mission with which I charge you: grab your iPhone (or iPod touch) and systematically go through each application you have purchased and kept on your device, search for it on iTunes in the iPhone App Store and give it a five star rating.

That’s right: five stars …like this… ★★★★★

Do all these apps deserve five stars just because you haven’t deleted them? Of course not. But they also don’t deserve every one star rating they got from the people who didn’t understand what they were downloading and got irate and vindictive when they deleted it either. This action may counteract those ratings. I can also understand if you don’t want to give the high five to apps you’ve only just recently purchased; you might not keep those…who knows.

Developers work really hard on these apps and they are at the mercy of the users to review them honestly and fairly. Once a negative review is posted, there’s not a lot a developer can do to defend his app. A user can say pretty much anything against an application and the developer has no way of rebutting it. Even after the application has been updated and has had bug fixes applied, the negative reviews remain on its record in iTunes—there’s no forgiveness!

So I think it’s fair for you to give all the apps you store on you iPhone a five star rating—all of them, across the board. The deck is stacked against the developers rating-wise so the only solution, aside from Apple fixing the way apps are reviewed, is to take matters into our own hands and almost “over revere” the apps we keep.

After reading the above, the second part of the mission should be a given if it’s not already a habit: vow to never casually give one star ratings to apps you delete. If they are detrimental to the human race, fraudulent or dangerous—fine, give them a one star rating and an honest review stating your case. If you just didn’t like the app but it worked as advertised, give it a fair review or no review at all. If you have a problem with the way an app is working (or not working) email the developer and ask for their help before posting a review.

I’m taking on this mission myself…it’s going to take me a lot of time, but I think it has to be done.

Thank you for reading.

To be absolutely fair, I did give a five star rating to one app I deleted…because it was so good it was distracting me from things I needed to do and making me wear down my battery by playing it

Look! What happened to MacMerc.com?

RickMacMerc — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 22:16:50 +0000

It’s been a while, but I thought I should talk a bit about what has happened to MacMerc.com.

Shortly after the before the last edition of MacMerc.TV got uploaded, my work with Greg Grunberg and August Trometer on Yowza!! Mobile Coupons really started to ramp up. Things have been going absolutely crazy since then.

My plans for MacMerc.com and MacMerc.TV remain uncertain as time goes on. I’m hoping that with the success of Yowza!! will eventually bring some “me” time and maybe even some “me” money and I’ll be able to do both the site and the show full time.

That’s the hope. That’s the plan.

Look who’s heard about MacMerc.TV

RickMacMerc — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 02:40:46 +0000

I could certainly take more than 14 five-year-olds in a fight

RickMacMerc — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 03:51:34 +0000

Created by OnePlusYou

The survey doesn’t take into account my ability to put a boogy man style scare into a swarm of five-year-olds. Most of them would run off crying.

Meanwhile, in a secret underground lair…

RickMacMerc — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:50:49 +0000

…preparations are afoot for a new video podcast.

What is in a Twoosh?

RickMacMerc — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 02:13:05 +0000

Tonight I’m getting the gears for using too many ellipses on Twitter. Some claim I do so to obtain a “Twoosh.” (i.e. use all 140 characters)

Ellipses, in case you don’t know, are the dot dot dots between thoughts in a written stream of consciousness. I use them everywhere. Always.

Okay I don’t use ellipses on MacMerc (RSS issues), but anyone who has chatted with me on iChat in the last few years knows I use them a lot.

It is alleged that I use them to pad my tweets. It is assumed that I’m typing 3 periods when I am actually hitting Option-Colon. Try it now.

Still, people accuse me of wrong doing—for striving for the Twoosh. Actually all I’m striving for is to get out my whole thought. I’m wordy.

Using ellipses actually saves me characters by allowing me to separate my thoughts with less characters than a space and a period would use.

The use of ellipses allows me to get more into one tweet and keeps me from being a serial tweeter that posts many small tweets all in a row.

“But Twooshes are meant to be serendipitous!” they say. Maybe. Who is to say? And, more importantly, who cares? It’s such a trivial concern.

Serendipious or not, Twooshes are not hard to reach. Each line of this post is, in fact, a Twoosh—and no ellipses were harmed in its making.

Douthett’s Dilemma

RickMacMerc — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 02:10:17 +0000

This is the situation where, as a voice online, you feel it is fruitless to try to express yourself because it seems that when you do, no one really hears you or seems to care. Yet, if you were to throw in the towel and stop trying to get your message out, you truly would go unheard and no one would have any chance to hear you.

Do you keep plugging away in spite of the lack of encouraging feedback? Or do you you pack it in and fail to deliver the message you we called to broadcast?

That is Douthett’s Dilemma.

Why didn’t you come to the GeekBriefTV Geoff Smith Christmas Party?

RickMacMerc — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 07:22:46 +0000

I am conflicted tonight as I write this; part of me is so jazzed at having been part of the online UStream.tv event that was the GeekBriefTV Geoff Smith Christmas Party but the other side is disappointed that more people didn’t show up. There were over 300 people watching with a large percentage of those people in the chat room interacting and making comments and requests for Geoff, but there should have been way more. It was just too much fun to keep to just 300 people.

My disappointment is not directed towards Geoff, Neal or Cali who put on the event—they rock (and sorry Neal for spelling your name wrong in the “thank you” email I sent after the event). My disappointment is actually more directed at you—where the heck were you?

Posted an announcement on MacMerc.com. I posted numerous tweets about it on Twitter. But only a couple of people responded to those invitations (and those people had a great time and thanked me for the tip—!!!).

I don’t really care that people don’t hang on every word I post, but this time you missed out on a really cool time. And, I hope, it’s just the second of many such events that Geoff and the folks at GeekBriefTV put on (Yes, you missed the first one too. What? Were you sleeping?).

So I think it is in your best interest to follow me on Twitter and keep a look out for times when I’m telling you to get in on cool events like this. Trust me—you’ll have fun.