Tag Archive for: Rants

Why I Will Not Use Bing

With Bing gaining a percentage point in search market share I would like to point out there are very good reasons on why I will not use the Microsoft search engine.

First off, the msnbot practices in referral spam. If you look at your stats and see random one word searches coming from Bing, you’ll know what I’m talking about. This isn’t anything new, it has been happening for a while. If you are a company that uses search terms to help determine your ad campaigns, this could really pollute your field, making it harder to determine the best keywords. Website owners see a lot of false visitor data, thinking they rank for generic keywords when they don’t.

Another reason you shouldn’t use Bing is because of the fact that Microsoft changed (or tried to change) a user’s default search engines to Bing in order to help them gain more market share.Cnet’s Dennis O’Reilly caught ‘Windows Search Helper’ trying to change his default Firefox search from Google to Bing. Not cool Microsoft. You should never change a user’s settings without approval from the user. What you’re doing is essentially what malware does.

Lastly, yet probably most importantly, is that they game their search results. How do you know you are finding the best information if Microsoft chooses what should be shown first according to their own interests? You can’t, and you can see a very real example of Microsoft gaming the results right now. Go to Bing and search Why is Windows so expensive? When you search that phrase the top results are all Why are Macs so Expesnive. Who knows what other results they are gaming to benefit themselves. This is just one example, there could be many more. There have also been other reports of Microsoft censoring Bing results. I do not trust Microsoft and I do not trust Bing search results.

,

The Teacher Meeting Paradox

If there’s one thing that teachers hate it’s meetings. I don’t think I’ve ever met a teacher that is excited to go to a meeting where the higher ups tell them how to do their jobs. Here’s the thing though, get a bunch of teachers together (especially the female teachers) and you will see that while they may hate the meetings they do nothing to help the cause and get through the meeting quicker. Teachers have to make comments and tell stories about their students.

Tonight I had a meeting at Sylvan. The agenda was 26 points long. If I was running the meeting we would have been out of there in 30 minutes tops. I don’t need to expound on every single point. I don’t need to hear stories from every teacher about an experience with that point they’ve had. It is not necessary. At all. Especially when the meeting is all just a review of your job description and how you should be teaching. How long did this meeting last? 3 hours. Yes, 3. And we weren’t even covering new material, it was all on how everyone should have been teaching to begin with. I know I’m not perfect and I have probably made some of the mistakes covered in the meeting, but we really didn’t need to sit there for 3 hours and go on and on and on these topics. Talk about beating a dead horse. So yes, teachers hate meetings, but more times than not they are willing to extend everyone’s pain and misery just so they can tell stories. Give us a break and be quiet so everyone can get out of the meeting after a reasonable amount of time. Remember that feeling you had before the meeting started. We all feel that way. We all want to get out of there as soon as possible and you aren’t helping.

Dog People

I had a dog growing up but I was a kid.  I wasn’t part of the dog owner culture that I have now come to know.  Like all dog people I love my dog.  I love playing with her and buying her toys and treats.  I love sitting with her in my lap while I watch TV.  That is where my commonalities with dog people end.  I do not throw parties for my dog nor do I dress her up.  The biggest difference between these people and me is that she is not my kid.

Yes, believe it or not, my dog is my dog.  She is not my kid.  Yes, I talk to her because I know that dogs recognize the tone in your voice and know when to be happy, sad, and sorry for what they’ve done.  Since I’ve gotten her though, other people have treated her like she’s my kid.  There is a neighbor in my complex comes over and bugs the crap out of me and makes Penny hyper.  She thinks because I have a dog and I’m outside that she can just come over and play with her.  She talks to her nonstop and tries to get her as excited as possible.  Normally I wouldn’t mind, but this woman is annoying and refers to me as Penny’s daddy. She’s not the only one though.  Several people seem to think it’s ok to come over and play with my dog.  If I’m taking the dog for a walk, that’s fine, but when I’m standing outside in the dark at 10:00 at night, I’m not walking the dog.  I’m waiting for the dog to do her business.  I don’t need you to distract her so that she doesn’t want to go.  Have some respect and back off.

,

Goodbye XM

SiriusXM is doing everything they can to raise money and alienate customers. Since the merger there are several things I’ve noticed about their service, none of them good.

When the merger took place I noticed a reduction in quality of their online streams. We later find out that’s because they were going to start charging for internet streams. Charging more money on top of the ~$12.95 a month customers pay to listen to the service in their car. It’s always nice when companies take away an included service and tell you that you can have it back for an additional fee. Of course, through the length of your contract (I signed up for a year) you can listen to the lower quality stream for free. It doesn’t stop there though. I also noticed, and I have no way of confirming this, that the quality of the broadcasts in my car have gone downhill and I think it’s due to them cutting back the number of terrestrial towers broadcasting the satellite signal. I used to get a strong signal everywhere I went, and if the satellite signal was not strong it was backed up by towers bouncing the signal around. Now if I get near a building (like a drive-through for example) I lose signal. I even lose signal under the thin roofing of the covered parking in my apartment. Before the merger I never experienced a loss of signal unless I was in a parking garage (which most of the time I still got the signal) or a long tunnel. They must have cut back on the number of towers in service to save more money and deliver inferior service.

Now, after much delay, they have released an iPhone/iPod Touch app that can stream their service. But guess what, they want to charge you a monthly fee to use it. You must pay an additional $2.99 a month for the premium stream to listen using the app. I think I’ve had it with them. They keep pushing for more money and continuously deliver degrading service. If the quality stayed the same throughout the year and a half I’ve had them, I might not have a problem with this. But the fact is, they have degraded their signal, on both satellite and the internet, a noticeable amount, enough for me to think the money I pay for their service isn’t worth it. Even though I love the stations on XM, when my year is up I will not renew.

On Experts

Browsing the web I’ve come to the conclusion that everyone is an expert these days. It used to be you went to school for years and years, read everything on your topic, and published articles and books in your field and then, and only then, you were considered an expert in your field. It doesn’t seem that is the case anymore, especially with emerging technologies and trends. I’m looking at you Search Engine Optimization and Social Media Experts.

SEO Experts are charlatans trying to sell you snake oils. Many of them are extremely shady, using shady processes to get the “guaranteed” results. You’re not an expert because you’re able to get your website higher in the rankings on Google, especially since it is a field that Google can switch up at the drop of a hat and especially since their complete algorithm is still secret. I concede that there are things you can do to get your rankings higher, but because you know those things that will get you closer to the top does not make you an expert. Anyone with a few minutes of time and an internet connection can find your entire wealth of knowledge on the subject. In fact, any web developer should do those things as standard practice. I could go on and on about the shady practices of many of these so-called experts (I’m sure as soon as I publish this post I’ll get a ton of spam because I said SEO) but let me tell you about the other group of experts I really can’t stand: Social Media Experts.

Social Media Experts have to be the most arrogant, full of hot air, BS spewing people in the world. Just because you have MySpace, Facebook and Twitter doesn’t mean you’re an expert. Yes, your degree might be in marketing or advertising, so you may know how to reach an audience, but because you also know how to get on the internet doesn’t mean you are a Social Media Expert. Wow, so you signed up your company on Facebook, Youtube, Digg, and Twitter. Big deal. You are a user. You want to know who the real social media experts are? People who came up with the software you’re using to promote your crappy products and services. MySpace was a great idea. They found their niche in artists and hit it early on (anyone remember Soundclick? They failed.). Facebook did the same thing (Oh, how I long for the days when it was just the people you went to college with on FB). Twitter took a simple idea and let it explode. These companies are the real experts in social media (even if Twitter has still yet to make a dime). Because you use it for your company, makes you a user, not an expert. Come up with something original for your company and make it truly social, then we’ll talk (and no, your Ning site doesn’t count). Until then, please stop promoting your BS and remove the title from your resume. It might as well read that you are the leader of the Republic of Elbonia. Means just as much to me.

(Edit: I know I’ve ranted about some of this before but something set me off at work and I felt I needed to rant more).