bookmark_borderFriends and Codes

Blimey, a fairly busy week or so of overly gluttonous introspection in blogland. No surprise I guess but this time round it has been fairly forthright and more vociferous than usual. I’ve linked to a few of the following before, but, pulled together they encapsulate most of what has been said. I think.

It all started with Kathy Sierra’s announcement of her withdrawal from a conference due to threats to her person. Obviously this was followed by shock and outrage and so on and on and then Tim O’Reilly drafted a Code of Conduct for bloggers (he has since posted a follow up with some more considered thoughts).

This was met with no small amount of derision but, as I said in comments in that post, I applaud him for doing it as I’m sure he was aware it was doomed to failure. But sometimes these things need done regardless. Admittedly I do agree that you’d be as well to post a “warning; may contain nuts” message on your blog. It is a nonsense of course, and the backlash was predictable (although very well designed).

Even Auntie Beeb weighed on the matter, a sure sign of the changing face of the blogosphere, although even then it should be noted that (and I wish I could find the quote from who said it first) there isn’t ONE blogosphere but many (you wouldn’t compare Beethoven’s 9th with the latest single from Girls Aloud, but they are both “music”… yikes, that was a bad example…).

The New York Times paid the issue some lip service, and it was from there that I found my way to the best round up of the Kathy Sierra saga so far.

Of course that is not to forget that recently, here in the UK, there has been a court case where some person has been found guilty of harassment (if you do go here, DO NOT google and visit the persons website, you are only then feeding her delusions).

What on earth is going on! I hear you say.

Well, every now and then, like a child growing up, the blogosphere (god, I’m actually getting used to typing that blasted word) needs to go through some pain to fully mature. Don’t you think? No I’m certainly not condoning the actions of the few that sparked a lot of this, but this is not the last time negative actions will bring focus on to blogging. With that in mind we are all responsible for how we conduct ourselves, so I guess I need to count my blessings that you lot are always civilised, and that I’ve never had to invoke my own commenting policy.

It’s a times like these that I wish I were more eloquent and could string the various threads that run through the current stream of “blog news”. Thankfully you don’t need to rely on me to do so, as mike returns to tug all those strands into a wonderfully lucid and thought provoking post. If you do nothing else after reading this, go read that.

bookmark_borderQuestions Answered #3

In a desperate effort to gain some weird form of validation, I stole an idea for a blog post and begged my readers to ask me a question. And they did. The buggers. Now I have to answer them.

Question 3: Lyle cheated and asked two questions (sort of). The second, “The Joy of Clients” I’ll ignore as I’m just too nice a guy to tell the truth about some of the fuckin’ idiots I’ve had to deal with in the past year or so. Ach, who am I kidding, there was only really one client who may have provided enough material for this post but the ‘relationship’ didn’t develop much further than me saying.. “WTF? Er.. no, too busy at the moment, sorry”. So I’ll tackle his other suggestion instead, “Redesigns I have hated, and why.”

Redesigns I have hated, and why
Those of you who have been visiting for a while will be used to me re-designing this site (also known as ‘de-branding’). In fact I think the current design (current pinkness aside) has been one of the most enduring, probably because, to my eye at least, it hits the mark between minimalism and functionality, without being overly fussy or particularly “in yer face”. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever re-designed this site and hated it… after all, I’m my own best client, right??

So, and I’m guessing this is what he was really asking, I got to thinking about other sites that have been badly re-designed (note: that’s not “badly NEED a re-design” an entirely different topic which would produce a very, VERY long list). There have been a few high profile website re-designs recently, the new look New York Times being one of the more major undertakings. Trouble is, to find a website re-design I hate, I’d have to spend some time browsing sites that I don’t like the look of and, well, what kind of masochist do you take me for?

Broadening the field to look at design in general, one candidate for “redesigns I have hated” leaps out and shakes it’s big ugly ass in my face. The Renault Megane.

Having owned the previous, sleeker, model which, whilst not exactly at the cutting edge of fashion at least retained a modicum of style, the re-designed Renault Megane was a bit of a shock to the system and, essentially, was the car that switched me away from Renault (we’ve had three previous Renaults all served us very well). I have no idea what they were thinking, and whilst the Clio hinted at what was to come, the new Megane’s “booty” and tiny rear windscreen just seemed wrong. It doesn’t matter what angle I look at it from, it is NOT sexy. I do not get images of J-Lo’s curves, nor do I want to ‘shake that ass’ when I see one, on the contrary, I want to take a sledgehammer and pound that big ugly bump into submission.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for unique design and I’m more than happy for car designers to take different approaches to make their car look unique but, and the question has to be asked, who the hell sold this design to the senior management at Renault? There is a hint of twisted evil genius at hand here, either that or s/he got them all completely blotto and managed to get them to sign off after only seeing the re-designed steering wheel or something. I mean come on, if you saw a car THAT ugly would YOU want your company to make it?

I just don’t understand it, most car designers (and, yes, I’m projecting here) must surely spend their day doodling sleek powerful beasts, with bonnet mounted missile launchers and custom painted flames ripping up the side. How do you get from THAT to the fat arsed lardy looking Megane? It beggars belief.

I wish I could give a better reason, but, basically, I hate the design because *I* think it looks ugly, and that’s all that matters to me.