Still, Microsoft made it pretty easy to send the console back:

1. Watch XBox 360 red-ring and despair.
2. Call XBox 360 people.
3. Get free shipping label.
4. Pay $13 for UPS to box it up nicely and send it to the repair centre.
5. Wait and rejoice at its speedy return.

Today the good people at Purolator brought me a new XBox 360 – I plugged it in, practically humming with excitement at getting to play The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion again. I followed every instruction to the letter about setting it up again and – more despair; no Oblivion for me.

I got an error message telling me the downloadable content (DLC) for the game was not available to me. I found this pretty puzzling since I used to have access to it with no issues at all.

I called XBox 360 Customer Service and set up a ticket to document the issue. I was told to wait three to five business days for the problem to corrected. Annoying, but OK.

I looked on the XBox LIVE site and discovered that my LIVE account still had the serial number for the previous XBox associated with my account. This got me worried – what if the repair centre hadn’t registered the XBox correctly at all?

I called again and was treated to a woman reading straight off cue cards who was unable to tell me if either mine or Joe’s account was associated with the new XBox’s serial number, but a second ticket was issued under his name and gamertag.

To make matters worse, during this second call the supervisor admitted that my issue is a frequent and ongoing issue with repaired XBox consoles and that they’ve received many complaints about it.

Anyway, Joe discovered a few hours later that the new XBox was listed under his gamertag and account, but not mine – so I called again to cancel his ticket and keep mine open with a note cross-referencing his now cancelled ticket.

This was apparently beyond the scope of the script; the third customer service person I talked to was not able to answer my questions with yes or no answers and interrupted me several times to repeat the same stock phrases over and over again from his script.

I understand that Microsoft wants to keep answers consistent – that makes sense. However, not everyone processes information in the same way and forcing your call centre staff to repeat the same things over and over again doesn’t make them more intelligible.

I admit that I was frustrated with the responses I got during my second and third calls – I spent nearly two hours in total on the phone with people who are not allowed to tell me things, don’t know the answers to things and either can’t or won’t rephrase anything from the script in a way that makes sense.

I also found it very annoying to have my name used repeatedly throughout the conversations; for instance: “Thank you for your patience today Renee. Now, Renee, we are going to escalate this matter to a higher department and we assure you, Renee, that everything is being done to correct the issue. Is there anything else you’d like to bring to my attention today Renee?”

I’m sure they think this will calm frustrated customers, but honestly, it’s sort of creepy. Even Joe rarely uses my name, so to hear someone reading off a script and putting my names in the blanks is just weird. Also, it’s very annoying – I had a moment where I just wanted to yell “I know my own fricken name!!”

If anyone in a position of being able to do and know things at the XBox 360 Customer Service centre reads this: please, please, give your staff a little leeway and let them think outside the box just a tiny bit. Let them answer questions in plain English. Tell them not to use my first name so much and NOT call me ma’am either – I hate being called ma’am.

And most of all – if customers are calling frequently about a specific problem, you need to find a better solution than scripted answers that your staff can’t really understand or explain.

Today, I noticed that my WordPress.com Stats plugin wasn’t working and my dashboard was sporting a shiny new warning about needing an API key to activate the plugin.

I immediately turned to WordPress.com – unfortunately, the information regarding API keys has not been updated to include where to find it using the new dashboard for WordPress Version 2.7.

So, to save other WordPress users the frustration, I wrote these instructions based on the new dashboard:

How to find your API key

1. Log in to your WordPress account.
2. Click Users > Your Profile.

Your API key is at the top of the screen:

You can copy the API key from there and paste it into any field where it is required.

In my case, the API key wasn’t there when I looked, and after frantically searching Google I discovered the issue: I migrated my free WordPress blog (http://myblog.wordpress.com) to a hosted account (www.myblog.ca) – so my API key was still associated with my free WordPress blog.

And here’s the really important part: the API key that was assigned to your free blog is the API key you will use for all of your WordPress blogs – hosted or not – if you want to activate plugins requiring an API key.

Retreiving an API key from a free WordPress blog

1. Login to your free WordPress account.
2. Click Users > Your Profile.

Your API key is at the top of the screen.

3. Copy the API key.
4. Paste the API key into the field where it is required on your hosted WordPress blog.
5. Follow any remaining instructions laid out by the plugin or enhancement.

I found two great blog posts over at WordPress Max that go into even more detail than this post:

• WordPress API Key Global Dashboard Confusion
• How to Get a WordPress API Key

An API key is a useful thing to have to take full advantage of all the plugins and enhancements that WordPress offers – and there is a lot of great stuff!

Special thanks to WordPress Max for making API keys clearer!

Game reviews are not my normal venue, but what the heck; I like gaming, I like writing and it seemed like a fun way to make some extra cash occasionally (plus, a cool addition to my portfolio).

So I sent an email in with my details and some questions and received the standard response asking for a sample review. It was this part of the response that concerned me:

“Submitted articles become the property of Company X.com, Inc. and may at some time be published in its submitted form or altered by Company X.com, Inc and subsequently published at some later date.”

The “submitted articles” are actually the writing samples they require to make a hiring decision. In other words, you send them a sample review written to specification based on an actual game and they get to keep it, alter it, and use it whether they hire you or not. Bonus for them, they don’t have to give the writer credit or pay them.

I emailed to confirm this interpretation and got the following reply:

“That is correct”

That was the entire reply – no lead-in or sign-off.

I replied that most places requiring samples asked for mock-samples but in the cases where proper samples were required that there was usually something in place to ensure the sample would never be used without full permission of and recognition to the author.

This was the reply I received:

“Thanks for your comments, however, that is our policy. The choice is in the hands of potential freelance candidates whether to submit their sample or not.”

Admittedly, he’s got a point. Anyone reading that ‘policy’ can always make the choice to not work for free. They can choose to write for a company that does not use ill-gotten content.

I was still a little appalled at how much they devalue writers – as though writing isn’t an actual occupation or, for some of us, the only thing we want to do for a living. If you write for a company, you should get paid a fair and decent wage for it – not find it published in an altered form where you get no credit.

Writing for free doesn’t pay the bills – so always read the fine print and ask questions!

]]> http://www.reneemctavish.ca/2009/02/would-you-work-for-free/feed/ 0 http://www.reneemctavish.ca/2009/02/me-too-blogging/ http://www.reneemctavish.ca/2009/02/me-too-blogging/#comments Wed, 11 Feb 2009 17:42:00 +0000 Renee http://www.reneemctavish.ca/?p=183 I checked in with Twitter this morning to see what was new and noticed Justin Whitaker’s Tweet saying that he’d received his first nasty comment on his blog.

That made me curious so I went to his blog and found a post about “me too” blogging.

Justin is of the opinion that blogging is “incestuous” and that most bloggers “treat other blogs [as] grist for their own mill, as mere sounding boards for their own work”.

I agree that much of the content on blogs seems repetitive – and often these repetitive posts offer no new insights or information whatsoever.  I’m not sure anyone could argue that all blog content is fresh and original.

However, I agree with Michael Durwin’s comment on Justin’s post that “me too” blogging does serve a purpose. “Me Too” blogging provides more access to content that is useful and relevant to people who might not see it otherwise:

I too often forget that most people in the world aren’t as tech savvy as those I talk to everyday. I talked to a recruiter the other day who wasn’t on Facebook because: “isn’t that site just for college kids?”. So before you accuse bloggers of writing “me too” posts to drive traffic, or to just regurgitate what other have already said, consider that not everyone has read all of those other blogs that you have. I live in Boston, arguably one of the most high tech cities in the US, home to countless colleges. I have 3 family members in college. I regularly speak at my alma mater. You’d be SHOCKED to know how few use Flickr, Facebook, or even know how to use Google.

It would be great if everyone could write new and fascinating content, but can’t blogging  be a sort of conversation? You write something and I say, “I agree with that (me too!) and here’s my version and why I agree.” Does it matter that I’m “playing the blogging game” without bringing an  “original voice to advance the discussion”?

I don’t think so.

If I were talking to someone in real life over coffee and I agreed with something they said and wanted to pass it along, would it be OK for them to say: “You’re not adding value to this discussion – you should stop talking.”

Again, I don’t think so.

A blog post has value if someone reads it and gets something out of it – who cares if 400 other people wrote about the same thing and hold the same opinion. The point is that the reader saw it and it was useful. It doesn’t matter if the other 399 blogs have the same information because the reader didn’t go there (and now doesn’t need to).

Justin suggests making a “concerted effort to kill “Me Too” blogging” in 2009 – I think our efforts would be better spent on making those “Me Too” posts well-written so that wherever a reader’s travels through the blogosphere lead – they lead to intelligent writing.

As a point of interest, Google “me too blogging” – there are lots of posts about this (including Justin’s), but since Justin’s post was the first one I came across, I stopped there.

I did a little live blogging, but most of the time I felt that I ought to be paying attention to the speakers (after all, that’s why I went!).

I thoroughly enjoyed Lorelle van Fossen’s keynote address in which I learned the following cool things:

• Firefox has some really great additions that will save you time when you’re trying to blog at the speed of light (and Lorelle actually does blog at the speed of light – it’s quite impressive). I am now using the CoLT and AutoCopy extensions and they really do make things easier and faster.
• WordPress has an annoying catch to their WYSIWYG editor – if you write up a post in the HTML view (complete with HTML tagging) and then switch to the Visual tab, WordPress ever so helpfully “cleans” your HTML code which then puts you back at square one. Disabling the visual editor will fix this problem.
• Images posted on your WordPress site do not come with an ‘alt’ attribute – these must be put in by hand. What is an alt attribute? The alt attribute provides information to the user about your image and this is especially helpful for those with text-only browsers or if your image doesn’t load.

These were probably my favourite tips.

The other speaker I particularly enjoyed listening to and learning from was Morten Rand-Hendriksen.

Morten gave an excellent and entertaining overview of how to use WordPress in alternate configurations and instructed us all to “throw off the shackles of the blog” and do something new – like use WordPress as a website and not just a blog. He showed us some very simple manipulations of the template and CSS that can turn WordPress into a website and not “just another WordPress blog”.

Also, Morten put his creativity to good use during the Most Interesting Place for a WP Tattoo contest and put his on the bottom of his foot. You should have taken the prize for that!

I also have to applaud the Fairmont Chateau Whistler for an excellent lunch and providing such a large and lovely room for us to use (complete with power bars for laptops and other gadgetry). The lemon in the water pitchers was a nice touch and the staff handling the conference were great as they always are at any Fairmont I’ve ever been in.

Aside from learning these things – I was mostly treated to “WordPress has super-cool plugins and here are their names.” presentations.

I was especially disappointed that the lecture for using WordPress as a content management system (CMS) didn’t actually cover using WordPress as a CMS. I had been hoping to learn how a system like WordPress could be used as say a help system that might otherwise require a CMS like Flare or RoboHelp.

It’s possible that my understanding of what a CMS is and does is not the usual associations with that term, but I think that possiblity is slim.

One of the things that I felt was a bit shady was being charged a “late fee” to attend the conference. I signed up Thursday evening for the Saturday conference and was charged $30 more than those who signed up earlier. I could certainly understand paying full-price when I sign up at the last moment, but being charged more than full price seems wrong.

I laughed a little when one of the speakers mentioned keeping the cost of attending the conference down. They wanted everyone to feel they could come to the conference for a reasonable cost and take away something useful as that was “in keeping with the spirit of WordPress.” I don’t think late fees are in keeping with that spirit.

I also got the feeling that this particular WordCamp was a bit last minute given the number of speakers who admitted to putting together their presentations the night before and one the speakers admitted they had to come in pretty last minute to attend at all.

These things aside, I would consider attending another WordCamp in the future if I could be reasonably assured that it would be better organized and that the whole “late fee” concept was thrown out in favour of the “pay full price” concept which I think is much more fair.

Lorelle Van Fossen, the keynote speaker, just finished a great and information packed session. Here are a a few of the tips I’ve picked up:

• Images do not come with ‘alt’ tagging in the code in WP – add them in and complain loudly to the Powers That Be at WP to have this added as an automatic feature!
• NoteTab Pro – get it, use it, love it.
• Firefox extensions for copying links and text makes blogging faster – try some out!
• Use block quotes in your blog posts when quoting text that isn’t yours.

Also, hearing WP described as “brain dead easy” gave me the giggles.

Not only is this going to be good, geeky fun where I intend to learn A LOT – it’s being held at the gorgeous Fairmont Chateau Whistler Resort!

While all the speakers have something interesting to talk about, I’m particularly looking forward to Tris Hussey’s talk Using WordPress as a Generic Content Management System (CMS).

I’ll write up a full report when I get back Saturday evening loaded up with cool WP swag and knowledge that I actually know what to do with!

To me this is possibly the worst thing a manager can do – make employees feel guilty and suggest that they are personally responsible for pulling everyone else down because they aren’t a “team player”.

Here are some personal examples of emotional blackmail I’ve been on the other end of:

• The manager who cried when I asked why she revoked my permission to work 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.  She claimed that in order for her to be successful, I needed to be there 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• The manager who once stood at my desk for twenty minutes while I was on an overseas call to a client so that I could three-hole punch a paper for her. She told me I should have dropped everything to help her because she’s “very busy and important and I need team players on my side.” (I wish I were kidding).
• Another manager who put me on a six month probationary period for having a two percent error rate (even though the average error rate was between 7 and 10 percent). I was written up as “not fully committed to producing quality work.”
• A manager who once threw something at me for forgetting to mail something and then told me: “I’m sorry, but you made me angry – you need to try harder to be more organized.”

There are others, all variations on the “you’re not playing nicely with the team” and “we have to do what’s right for the company” themes. Usually followed by the “we are the Masters of the Universe – get out there and DO YOUR BEST!” There have been times where I wanted to stand up during one of these “motivational” speeches or meetings and yell “For the Horde!”

Unsurprisingly, these guilt tactics don’t make employees feel more loyal or make them work harder or engender any love towards the company – these tactics lose good employees with their good ideas and work ethics to other companies.

I tried getting some people to band together and make our case as a group at one company – but everyone backed out at the last minute. I was disappointed of course and going in alone made me look like I wanted special treatment, but I understand why they bailed.

Guilt tactics engender fear – if you’re not a “team player” you’re going to be first up for a pink slip. If you don’t snap to attention when told to do things like help out in the file room or work unpaid overtime, you’re not really committed to doing what needs to be done for the company.

No one with bills to pay and a desire to eat really wants to risk getting fired. A company where you’d need to band together to argue against a manager is a company that is likely to say “If you’re that unhappy with the reasonable expectation of working to make the company more profitable and better for everyone, there’s the door.”

The sad part about being too afraid to confront a bad manager, is that once the good employees flee to greener pastures, management stays the same. There is no learning process involved. Despite exit interviews and one-on-one time with the managers that cause the turnover in the first place, they don’t really listen. They simply replace the old employees with new ones.

The exit interview becomes little more than a legal formality. Your words will be filed away to present to an auditor as evidence of doing things right and playing by the rules.

There will probably always be managers like this out there – so long as the results their bosses want to see keep rolling in no one will look too deeply at how it got done. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it – right?

Good employees don’t grow on trees – but they sure as heck get picked up by employers who will treat them with respect!

So, I went out to various shoe stores and found that they come in two distinct varieties: great and terrible.

Scene:

I walk in and am immediately crowded by aisles so narrow they only allow for one person to be in the aisle at any given time. There is a mish-mash of shoes directly inside the door to my right, both men’s and women’s and I have no idea where to begin looking for rain boots.

There are four employees; a surly looking woman behind the cash register ringing up a purchase and three young ladies standing at the end of the counter talking. When I finally get to that area I hear them discussing plans for New Year’s Eve and the various states of inebriation they were in a few days ago at some house party.

Fascinating and work appropriate.

I turn back towards the left hand wall and wonder if I passed the rain boots altogether. Perhaps the only pair they have are the ones in the window? I pass three people, two men and one woman, each holding a single shoe or boot looking frustrated and lost.

I see a lone rain boot on the shelf – too bad it’s covered in the words “Juicy Couture”. I put it back on the shelf.

On my way out, I nearly topple a display of stacked shoe and boot boxes. The display is covered with various bits of footwear that probably belong on the display wall, but were dumped on the boxes by other people who left the store.

I look back as I leave and one of the young ladies at the front makes eye contact, shrugs and turns back to her conversation.

Pretty terrible, but not unusual.

Another store, another scene:

I walk into the store see a cheerful sign that tells me all the boots in the store are on sale. If I buy a pair, I get a second pair half off. To my right are leather wingtip shoes and on the left are some very nice looking high heels. I turn to the left side of the store. Clearly the women’s footwear section is here.

I walk in a few steps, when I’m approached by a friendly looking young woman. “Hi!” she says. “Just to let you know, we’re having a buy one, get one half off sale on all boots in the store. My name is Sarah and if you’d like to try anything or have questions, let me know.” I thank her, she smiles and goes off to help someone else.

There is a woman behind the cash register patiently explaining the store’s exchange and return policy to a rather harried looking man. The man’s young son is driving a small car across the front of the counter while making traffic noises.

I pick up a black rain boot and notice another sign that says “Our boot sale includes rain boots too!” Sweet.

After considering the boot for a few minutes – simple, black and decent price – Sarah approaches. “Would you like to try that one on?” I give her my shoe size and she brings back not only the size I think I need, but a half size above and below that just in case.

The half size smaller fits perfectly. She tidies away the other two boxes of boots and says “If you take those, you’ll want to store them on a tray in the open after wearing them. If you put them in a closed closet right after wearing them, they get a little smelly. Rainboots don’t breathe very well, and your closet will smell like feet.”

I laugh and thank her for the tip and then go to the front and pay for my new boots.

I think you can guess where I’m going with this.

How your site looks and the content it houses matters a great deal. It’s not enough to say “I have a web presence now and my site has the top Google ranking.” If your site is the equivalent of a pile of shoes in a closet labelled “shoe store” – it won’t matter how well ranked you are – no one will go to your site more than once.

Simple and clean design with a well organized layout and content that makes sense is the best way to keep people coming back.

Also, waiting around for inattentive store staff gives me far too much time to think about shoe store/writing analogies.

Now if you’ll excuse me – I’m taking my new boots out to jump in a few puddles!

I packed as though I were going on a six-month sea voyage rather than a ten day visit with access to washing machines and my sister’s wardrobe.

The worst of it wasn’t the clothes though – it was the gadgets. I needed my i-pod, my noise-cancelling headphones, my Nintendo DS, games for said DS, my camera, my laptop and all the power cords, battery packs and carrying cases that those gadgets come with.

Granted, I was thoroughly prepared to entertain myself for both flights and all the endless waiting, but the sheer weight of all these gadgets (even with the cords and battery packs stowed in my checked luggage) was ridiculous.

Did I really need to risk pulling a muscle just to be entertained – especially as I spent most of the flight there and back watching satellite TV?

I remember when travelling meant a Walkman and a good book – and the book was a second hand paperback so I could rip out the pages I’d read and recycle them rather than carrying them around.

When and how did it become so much more difficult to occupy my mind that I now feel justified in carrying 20 pounds of electronic amusements?

I’m a bona-fide geek-girl and I love my various gadgets, but I am determined that my next trip will be less likely to ruin my spine or put my luggage in the overweight category.