Simple but not always great

The easiest tack to take is to just create an email link. But that can open the door to an awful lot of unwanted spammy attention. If you’re going to use a simple mailto link on your site, at least consider mangling it a bit so it’s not so easily spotted.

Contact forms can carry extra weight

A secure form (be sure your web developer creates one that can’t be easily hijacked) has two key benefits:

• It keeps your email address securely hidden from the casual (and possibly nefarious) browser
• It can be configured to ask an array of targeted questions that can give you a jump-start in communicating with your prospective clients

What’s a poor form to do?

The down side of forms is that the same autobots that haunt blog comments will inevitably find their way to your contact form. Forget that fact that one person in a thousand will ever click on their nonsensical emanations; those odds sound good to them. So there’s a few options.

• You can have your form programmed to discard any posts with links. Of course, if your target audience might need to communicate this it’s not so helpful.
• You can employ some variety of CAPTCHA wherein someone wanting to communicate with you must type in a word or two before the form can be submitted. Not so onerous, but consider your demographic and if their sophistication/online-experience level might be atypically low (or their impatience level might be especially high).

Back to basics

Discarding forms altogether, you can write out your email address like “john at company dot com”. Again, you need to weigh the sophistication of your audience (will they understand?) as well as the potential annoyance (will they bother to type out the email themselves)?

Full circle

There’s no purely “right answer” here and the sand (and trends) are always shifting. Take a moment to re-read my article on how to reduce spam to see if it gives you any ideas. Some good spam filter software (or a catch-all Google Mail address) might solve some issues.

In the end you’ll need to consider your needs and your audience’s needs and reach an accommodation that strikes a happy balance.

Three times someone wrote to me — people that I know in two cases, the 3rd was a local small business I patronize — and they addressed the email to or cc to from 13 to about 88 people.

I have my own friends, plus I tweet

That email was important. And you were so thoughtful so as to include me — albeit so very visibly — in your group of people you really care about. But I don’t know them. And now they can see my own email address, out there all naked and unhidden. I know that since I like you I’d probably like your friends — but maybe not.

And I do have plenty of friends. And I use Twitter and other social media all the time. I know how to socialize. So even though I’m sure they’re all great, don’t give my email address away like that. Please?

Maybe you’ve heard of these malware and spybot computer things?

I know that you keep your computer up to date with patches and anti-virals and all the other de-germing stuff you have to do with PCs. Damn hackers and script kiddies. But maybe some of your friends are not so careful? And maybe you just slapped my email address right into the middle of your cousin Andy’s machine (he’s the one who has to call you about how to print out screenshots, remember?) and I just know he’s probably got a zillion keytrackers and address-book harvesters running rampant. So, let’s just not do that again, okay?

You’ve got to protect your own reputation, too

I mean, web servers start seeing you sending out those mass emails, gives them pause, right? They know that that’s what the bad folks do, sending out emails to 20 or 50 or 100 people. So maybe they look a little harder at what you’re up to. And maybe they put you on a list of people that could be a little “iffy”. You don’t want to even go there.

Next time: stop, check, think before you press “send”

This is what I’d love you to do. It’s not a big hassle, really. And it would make it even more obvious what a smart person you are. And you are, of course, since you’re my friend.

• If you’re sending out notices regularly, and you’re a business, check into a service that will make sure you do it right, and professionally. I love MailChimp. They have great online tools, helps, and tracking for feedback. (You don’t want to guess about these things.) Other options are Emma and ConstantContact.
• Kind of chatty? Think about a blog. That way I can subscribe to you and you don’t even have to worry about telling me when you have your next great idea or need to pass along that newsflash.

Otherwise, this is it:

• Become friends with the BCC field in your email program. Put me and all your other BFFs in the BCC field. (Stands for “blind carbon copy” — crazy antiquated term, but it works.) And in the TO field, put your own email address.

Now you’re emailing everyone the right way. And because you’re my friend, I want the best for you.

But if your install isn’t up to date — if you’re running an older version — you might want to read this post from HQ that makes an interesting point about car thefts, The Club, and lojack methods.

Afterwards, come back and mull over this quote:

A stitch in time saves nine. Upgrading is a known quantity of work, and one that the WordPress community has tried its darndest to make as easy as possible with one-click upgrades. Fixing a hacked blog, on the other hand, is quite hard. Upgrading is taking your vitamins; fixing a hack is open heart surgery. (This is true of cost, as well.)

Updated!
Someone chats with the 17 year old hacker who hacked his blog and asks why.

When contacted by Valley County resident, Richard Holm, to help make his book on Payette National Forest fire lookouts a reality, it sounded like an interesting job, and it was. (That’s one thing about my business: you are always learning all these obscure bits of specialized information on a wide range of industries and disciplines.)

His book is now going to press, complete with over 200 contemporary and historic images and looks to be the conclusive guide and history on topic. He’s a meticulous and careful researcher and reviewer and pleasure to work with. And I guess it’s mutual, as his last note to me reads, “Thank you again for all of your help. It has been great.”

I’ll link to the book from this page as soon as it’s available. And though I’m sure he needs a breather after the several years he spend researching, compiling, writing, etc., I hope this is the first of several by Mr. Holm.

[Ed: updated 29 Aug. 2009 with link to book]

I am concerned with the security of your information — the really touchy stuff, like login information and passwords and credit card data.

So please do not send that to me in an email. Emails are not considered secure. All sorts of nefarious folks can scan them (if they wish) while they’re en route from your email program to mine.

Instead, do one of these three easy, much safer things

• Send me a letter by post. If time is not an issue, or if you’re returning your hosting sign-up form, this works fine.
• Write the information in a Word or TextEdit or Notepad document (in a nice big font size). Use some easy screenshot software to take a picture of the information and save it as a JPG or GIF or PNG and email me the graphic.
• If we’ve set up a shared DropBox folder, tuck it in there.

Besides looking dated, the functionality was just not there for the group members. Similar content spread over separate pages, lot of static information just sitting there doing nothing.

So the BoiseMacs site got a full redesign and complete integration with the latest and greatest WordPress release. It’s due. Now we can stand with the best of the MUG websites knowing we’re serving our membership and interested parties.

How about your group or nonprofit’s site? Is it in need of some work? You don’t have to break the bank. Ask what CFDS can do for your website, while fitting within your budget.

I enjoyed getting to know her as we worked through just what she wanted her site to present. She wanted simplicity and a certain palette. Her web site meets all her requirements. And I knew just what I wanted to capture when I took the product photos for her site (visible in the slideshow on her home page). She was knocked out by them; called them “beautiful and compelling”; made my day.

But other times some more in-depth information on how your browser is displaying your site might be needed. If that’s the case, just come to this page. Copy anything (or everything) and email it to me.

And one thing I adore about Twitter is its simplicity and flexibility.

But now that Twitter’s become a known entity to most people — gaining visibility during the US 2008 election process, through several catastrophes and tweeted-about gaffes, and most notably during the #iranelection news — it seems people with outdated sales-push mentalities are multiplying on Twitter, their accounts propagating like mushrooms during a wet spring.

Take the tweet in the graphic, above. Zoonini (gifted Montreal web designer, Kathryn Presner) mentioned skydiving in a tweet and immediately an “adventure expert” followed her. Last night I tweeted about a CMS (content management system) I’d purchased and I wake to two follows by other CMS developers. (At least these follows are more plausible.)

push is so past

But these all these actions operate on the premise that one can push, shove, foist oneself upon another Twitterer. They’ll search in Twitter for (their) industry-related keywords and follow anyone they find. Or, on the bottom rung, there’s the “make easy money” dreck who will follow anyone with a pulse. And I expect they anticipate a reflexive follow-back. But why would I do that? Why would I endure their “noise”?

voluntarily vexed?

Picture the most annoying, loud-mouthed, self-obsessed salesperson you’ve ever had to suffer. Okay. Clear your head. Now picture yourself at a distance from that person, and imagine yourself walking closer and closer to them. They’re getting louder. Their words are grating. A headache is ensuing. You’re asking “why? why am I doing this to myself?”

This is why I don’t follow salespeople on Twitter, or anyone else who has nothing to offer but their self-concerned, “let me get you to do this” blather. Just like I ignore TV commercials, billboards, bus stop advertising (etc.).

it’s about giving

Twitter at its best is giving. It’s human. It’s people that want to share their passion in an honest way. And themselves. Their frustrations and triumphs. It’s Chris Brogan and Havi Brooks dozens of others who don’t try to spin it. Kinda like love: let me see what you’re like (don’t stalk me) and maybe a deeper relationship (or a business contact) will evolve.

Skitch (Mac only)

Skitch is my favorite screenshot software. I use it to show draft sketches and designs to clients. It’s easy to upload to their server (or put in an email or IM or blog, should I want to) and I can either point to the item directly or I can choose to allow comments.

There are several easy-to-do, intuitive editing features built in like resizing and annotating.

Jing (Windows or Mac)

Jing comes from the people who make Camtasia and SnagIt, two well-known commercial softwares for Windows PCs. But Jing is free and allows for both screenshots and screen video capture. You can upload your screenshots easily to their server and (with the paid version) your videos can be sent to Vimeo, Facebook, or YouTube.

Watch the movies

Both are downloaded softwares that you install on your machine. As with all software, be sure to follow good practices when trying something out; just because it works well for us (and lots of others) doesn’t mean it’s a good choice for you.

But take a moment and watch the movies on both sites. It might be just the productivity kick (and frustration reducer) you’ve been looking for.

These are some things that are really bad ideas:

• Use your pet’s or family members’ names or nicknames.
• Use a word in the dictionary.
• Use less than 8 characters.
• Use anything that makes sense as you look at it.
• Use only one or two passwords for everything.

These are much better ideas:

• Use a combination of upper and lower case letters and numbers and even some other characters.
• Use more than 8 characters.
• Change your passwords regularly.
• Hide any reminders in a safe, secure place and share critical information with your executor.

How are you handling your passwords now? Think of all the decisions that could be made by others should access fall into the wrong hands. Never be too friendly when your safety and identity and security are at risk.

Password generator