This circular linking on WebWord is screwing with my mind.

As for John's revolution, I suggest a silent revolt. No links to Jakob. No links to articles citing Jakob. No discussing Jakob. Anytime someone posts a comment on WebWord mentioning Jakob we shun that person, never responding to his comments. We shut off all worldly communication with that individual until he's driven mad and quits his job and becomes a chef.

Oh, ok. Alternatively, we all respond to the person who mentioned Jakob, but we call that person by the name of "Filbert." If that person is already named Filbert, then we call him "Mary Ann." We deploy a broad scheme of confusion to make this person so cross and befuddled that he detaches himself from the Internet and becomes a house painter.

One by one we rid the world of Jakob's followers. It could work.

Posted by: Jack on August 13, 2002 09:49 PM

 

Unfortunately, Filbert decided to post a comment about He Who Will Not Be Named. That's right folks, Jack is our first Filbert. Need some paint and a paintbrush, Jack, er, I mean Filbert?

Posted by: John S. Rhodes on August 13, 2002 09:55 PM

 

Aha! My true name is Filbert. You must call me Mary Ann.

A dream realized. And I didn't even have to take a vacation to France. Woo hoo!

Posted by: Jack on August 13, 2002 09:57 PM

 

By the way, for the low low price of $4.95 per month you too can receive a daily e-mail explaining the obscure references and inside jokes made in WebWord postings. Isn't it worth it?

Posted by: Jack on August 13, 2002 10:00 PM

 

The usability of postings for folks new to WebWord is really quite terrible. However, for WebWord Posting Gurus™, the usability is extremely high. So, is the usability poor or is it great? You are not allowed to say It Depends!, unless you want us to call you Gertrude. We will also fill your shoes with jelly and your shorts with American cheese.

Aside: Yes, I know that American cheese is not actually cheese. It is...something else. That is precisely why we would fill your shorts with it. Enjoy the American cheese rash, if you utter the wrong words!

Posted by: John S. Rhodes on August 13, 2002 10:14 PM

 

The problem is that if you don't read all of the comments attached to all of the links, you miss out.

Posted by: Jack on August 13, 2002 11:51 PM

 

On a more positive note, I'm happy to see that usage of Uncle Jakob™ is increasing. May the rest of the world follow the convention.

Now I'm convinced that Jack is trying to increase his comments score through devious, but obvious means.

Posted by: MadMan on August 14, 2002 02:00 AM

 

I suggest we adopt Uncle Filbert, thereby tying Uncle Jakob™ and Filbert together without having to pay royalties to MadMan or Jumpin Jack.

If I could get this damned polling software working we could vote on it!

Posted by: Mac on August 14, 2002 03:45 AM

 

Four words: Jakob collects Flash applications.

I guess that was why Jack wanted someone to tell Uncle Jakob(tm)...

Posted by: Peter Boersma on August 14, 2002 04:24 AM

 

There is definitely a Usability Barrier To Entry to WebWord. But is this a bad thing?

In order to contribute to a community like WebWord you have to put some effort into your postings, so a few hurdles could ensure that you *really* want to join in the discussion.

I have been pleasantly surprised at the high quality of relevant postings to WebWord despite the lack of a registration process. I think this is mainly due to John's unstinting efforts in keeping it human.

So my verdict would be :
Usability of WebWord Poor
Usability of John Very Good

Posted by: Mac on August 14, 2002 04:45 AM

 

Maybe we're too bloody boring a bunch to be worth a troll's time. ;)

I'd rather have a few enlightened posts than a restriced community spewing mostly crap *cough* MeFi *cough or a bunch of Microsoft haters *cough* SlashCrap *cough*.

Posted by: Kung Pao on August 14, 2002 06:22 AM

 

Actually, one other interesting thing is that I totally allow people to post what they want to post. I don't blather on and on about how I own your post or you own your post or anything else like that. Just post and get over it. Also, and perhaps more importantly, this is not a friendly place to post if you can't handle some abuse. Most people that post crap can't handle the logic and intelligence of the folks here. Oh, and they don't come back because we taunt them and call them names like Gertrude, Mary Ann, and Filbert. That is very painful.

Posted by: John S. Rhodes on August 14, 2002 07:26 AM

 

Hey Peter, it was JB who wanted to tell Filbert about the Flash, not Mary Ann.

Posted by: Gertrude on August 14, 2002 08:52 AM

 

Ummm....hello....like ouch.

As the original poster, it is nice to get my own thread, but I guess I need to qualify my statement.

My reverence to Jakob was in regard to him searching the world for good uses of flash (see his site and you will know what I mean). I meant nothing else.

I was not asking for his blessing (i don't nee it - nor does this flash presentation) I guess I was trying to help Jakob in his cause of finding good sues of flash and thus reduce 99% to 98.9%.

And I wasn't joking...someone should tell him. Big fat flash files can be really good when users expectations are managed appropriately up front and the content is top notch.

Comments/rants?

Ps... does this mean I am now famous?

Posted by: JB on August 14, 2002 12:24 PM

 

reverence should be reference, a small, yet significant pargh!

Posted by: JB on August 14, 2002 01:44 PM

 

JB:

(1) You are definitely famous now. To start with, you are one of top posters on WebWord. You are valuable because of that alone!

(2) Regarding the "ouch" comment you made. I really do not mean offense to you in any way. What you said just touched off a nerve and gave me a good example to talk about.

(3) Excellent pargh! I was totally confused. ;-)

(4) Big Flash files can indeed be useful, interesting, and fun. As you say, managing user expectations is the key. Speaking of that idea, what has been written on that topic? How much can we learn from the marketing folks on this? How does managing user expectations differ in terms of usability versus marketing?

Posted by: John S. Rhodes on August 14, 2002 02:55 PM

 

At a minimum, we need to start pointing to other Usability Folk Heroes

No. We need to encourage people to produce and share quality information, encourage people to think critically about what they see and hear, and discourage people from contributing useless noise just to be heard.

Fewer heroes, more critical thinking. Fewer sheep, a stronger community.

The soapbox is now open...

Posted by: Ron Zeno on August 14, 2002 04:01 PM

 

Ron, there will always be leaders.

Posted by: John S. Rhodes on August 14, 2002 04:09 PM

 

No offence taken...it is just strange to come to the site expecting a normal day and my post in lights. Just threw my whole daily routine out.

Posted by: JB on August 14, 2002 04:16 PM

 

Usability is a key component of the user experience. To me managing user expectations is all about communication. Within that, usability ensures that things work the way they should. Together they are they make up managing the users experience – I know this way oversimplifies the subject, but I think captures it in a nutshell.

The one person that I thought who used to make this distinction was Mark Hurst... the one of the "How to manage your email inbox" fame..... he got a lot of coverage about this when it was posted here.

Unfortunately he seemed to get side tracked onto something else, or his business went bust (I don't know which) and he stopped talking about it.

Posted by: JB on August 14, 2002 04:24 PM

 

there will always be leaders.

And there will always be people ready to take advantage of the poorly educated and the credulous. The trick is knowing the difference between them and true leaders.

Posted by: Ron Zeno on August 14, 2002 09:12 PM

 

Everybody shun Jack...he mentioned "He Who Shall Not Be Mentioned!!!"

Posted by: Lyle Kantrovich on August 14, 2002 11:07 PM

 

I think all you need to do to be a "guru" is to claim the title. Reminds me of a Frank Zappa Song called Cosmik Debris:

The mystery man came over
And he said "I'm outta sight!"
He said for a nominal service charge
I could reach nirvana tonight
If I was ready, willing and able
To pay him his regular fee
He would drop all the rest of
His pressing affairs and devote
His attention to me

The mystery man got nervous
And he fidget around a bit
He reached in the pocket of his mystery robe
And he whipped out a shaving kit
Now I thought it was a razor
And a can of foaming goo
But he told me right then when the top popped open
There was nothin' his box won't do
With the oil of Aphrodite, and the dust of the Grand Wazoo
He said "You might not believe this, little fella
But it'll cure your asthma too"

And I said "Look here brother
Who you jiving with that cosmik debris?
Now what kind of a guru are you, anyway?
Look here brother, don't waste your time on me"

Folk Hero??? Sounds like you're long dead -- although some usability folks I've run into are good at telling some pretty tall tales... :)

Posted by: Lyle - Usability Guru on August 14, 2002 11:17 PM

 

We haven't heard much from Mark Hurst since he laid off most of his company. No press coverage, no participation in Internet fora, not even good experience updates. A birdie said he was planning to write a book on "bit literacy" (yeah, I'm puzzled too), but that's all I know.

Mark, are you there? Give us a shout, my man. I didn't mean to rip apart your last report on email. Really! Please don't sulk because of that.

Posted by: MadMan on August 14, 2002 11:24 PM