The IT Skeptic - web

The design police at Google say they'll push this site down the search rankings

skeptic — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 03:52:37 +0000

This website has been told if I don't redesign it I will be punished by Google's search engine. #mobilegeddon

Welcome to the Web Wide World

skeptic — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 01:45:22 +0000

Welcome to the Web Wide World. Many readers of this blog are so immersed in the world that the Web has created that you take it for granted, but let's not. The flattened shrunken world of the Internet has this power to change lives. It strikes me every day, because I live it.

How embarrassing for CSC

skeptic — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 22:54:16 +0000

There is some appallingly bad information on the internet about ITSM. But you don't expect to see it in an article from a TechWeb magazine and you don't expect to see it from CSC. This is awful.

Five things to remember about social media titles

skeptic — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 23:06:01 +0000

When writing the title to a blog post or a tweet or other social media where you want to grab an audience, always remember:

The first word must be a number and the second a noun.
Odd numbers work better than even numbers.
Compose the rest of the title of buzzwords like "social media".
Any formula for content gets tired after a while.

Why ask the doctor when the other kids know the cure?

skeptic — Fri, 28 May 2010 22:44:53 +0000

Oft-times, Yahoo Groups and LinkedIn group discussions sound like a bunch of kids or peasants discussing medicine. Yes I know I have said ITSM isn't brain surgery, but nor is it trepanning. People who know little are far too willing to offer advice, which is sometimes so bad it gives the ITIL Wizard an unlimited supply of material.

Why forums are dangerous

skeptic — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:44:27 +0000

Forums are often full of total newbies trying to find out, and only slightly-less-newbies answering their questions. I know blogs like The IT SKeptic are nearly as dangerous for their self-appointed-expert status, but at least you have Google page-rank as some indicator of how others view the site. On a forum it is hard to evaluate what a poster knows unless you already know the answer to the question. Look at this example

The information barrage - blinded by the light

skeptic — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:11:25 +0000

There is a quite amazing new statistic: information increases by 66% per annum, faster than any other artifact of the human race. Here I was thinking I was just getting slower at coping with it all, but indeed I am drowning in an exponentially increasing flow. What about you? How do you deal with it? It is exponential: how much harder has it become in the last two years?

Stunning internet and website visualisaton

skeptic — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 22:14:31 +0000

Here is a superb website on data visualisation. I heard about this site from Riitta Raesmaa on Twitter. What really hit me were the images of the internet and the blogosphere. My favourite site is Aharef. The static graphs of websites are fascinating, but the real whammy comes when you watch it generate an image of a site, such as this one.

Bill the IT guy

skeptic — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 06:12:09 +0000

This is fun

I think they absolutely NAILED the boss. "I've been thinking a lot lately about what makes a successful company" LMFAO.

Google rots your brains

skeptic — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:07:12 +0000

I found a fascinating article from the ever-interesting Nicholas Carr (remember "IT Doesn't Matter"?) on how Google is making us stupid.