Long-time friend and fellow Xaraya founder, Carl “Rabbitt” Corliss finally got over his man-crush on me ;^D and popped the question to Madeleine “Maddie” Craw while she was on-stage performing in New York. Kelly and I were happy to host Carl and Maddie for a few days last spring. Back then, I could tell this day would come and I resigned myself to the fact that the little bunny would be leaving the nest. Good on ya Carl!
20-40 people are killed annually from box jellyfish stings in the Philippines alone. - NSF Reports on Jellyfish Gone Wild :: Treehugger.com
Wow. That makes my very close encounter with a box jellyfish during Pelagic Magic all the more special and harrowing. For more on the jellyfish explosion, check out the NSF special report. And, here is a taste of what you might see if you make a black water dive.
.
OK. It has been far to long that this site has been offline. I really have no excuse. Having said that, the new servers are now in the data center. Thanks Aakin! And, they are pretty smoking fast. I should have a photo of the setup shortly.
Once I finish bringing the remaining dead sites back to life, I’ll spend some time re-skinning this one. Then, I will make a big push for regular, meaningful updates in 2009.
Peace,
DD
PS: I did take the time to upgrade to the super-sexy Wordpress 2.7 “Coltrane”. Me likey!
Last week, something hinky jacked up my Revolution theme. I’ve had my head down on deadline, so I took it the broken theme offline and replaced with *gasp* the default theme. While my head is still down, I could not just leave it be. So, I did some quick upgrades and dropped in the very sleek Dodo theme from Rajveer Singh Rathore for the moment.
The header photo is one of my favorites from the Underwater Photography certifications my wife and I did in Kona, Hawaii back in July. We were very fortunate to have Doug Farr, of Jack’s Diving Locker as our instructor. Thanks Doug!
When deadlines have passed, I’ll get things sorted out here once and for all.
Peace,
Doug
So, I pop in to write the Vegas Gamers post and discover that the site theme has suddenly gone haywire. I am too sleep-deprived from the Neoncon launch to investigate at the moment. So, I am going to a Vanilla theme for the moment. Beautiful goodness shall return later in the week! 
Peace,
Doug
VegasGamers.org, a social network that we designed, built and maintain, was recently featured on Ning.com. I am pretty excited about the project because it has grown pretty quickly, considering its local focus an niche content. As you may recall, Ning got on my bad side last week and I was not alone. However, Gina and Team Ning moved quickly and decisely to make things right.
In any case, I am pretty stoked about this little feature on VegasGamers.org. It is a great example of the power of the Ning platform and a source of great fun and joy for the local gaming scene! Game on!
Peace,
Doug
So, I had some pointed criticism for Ning on the Network Creator boards yesterday. Then, I wake up to discover my comments moderated out. After a round of email with Gina Bianchini, one of Ning’s co-founders, this is how it all worked out.
As posted on the Network Creator’s forums, Saturday Update thread.
To the contrary, I’d like to give Gina and Ning a pat on the back. So, here we go …
First, in a private email, Gina acknowledged that my post should not have been deleted. While offering pointed criticism, my post was constructive in nature and did not violate the Ning’s forum policies. Gina assured me the post would not be deleted again if it were reposted. Regrettably, I maintained no offline copy because I did not think I would need one. As a sidebar, Ning may want to hold deleted forum posts for 24 hours before actually clearing the database. As a Network Creator, I know I would love that feature myself. Everyone makes mistakes, having a way to correct them would be ideal.
To recap my post, the gist was as follows. While Ning certainly had the right to boot Widget Laboratory, the execution of that decision lacked foresight and was not handled well. First, I doubt that WL’s scripts were going to cause an imminent system-wide crash. Even so, if Ning thought there were problems, they should have taken the time to plan for, if not build, test and implement, widgets that would create a seamless transition for WL users. This is the course Ning has taken after the fact, and it is the right course.
If it only takes a couple of weeks to replace WL with native Ning features, those should have been put into place before they effectively blew up hundreds, if not thousands, of networks without notice. At the very least, the transition plan should have been part of the announcement of the WL decision/action. A little more foresight and a little less reaction would have made things smoother for everyone involved, including Ning.
Finally, I mentioned how surprised I was that so many of my fellow Network Creators were just taking the mass disruption in stride. In fact, many were trumpeting Ning’s decision without really understanding potential impact on Ning’s long-term health and reputation and, by extension, their very own networks. It struck me, and still does, as the worst kind of groupthink. We need all need Ning to be a strong, viable platform. Giving them a free pass when they misstep is not the way to help them grow.
Now, why go to the trouble of re-posting this?
First, I hold no illusions that my point-of-view is more important than that of any other Network Creator. To the contrary, there are many folks here that have far more experience and time with Ning than I. However, the act of deliberately shutting down constructive criticism would be, in many ways, a major nail in Ning’s coffin, were that what happened. Rather, someone on the Ning team simply overstepped in an overzealous attempt to maintain focus on positive, forward motion. Gina and Laura have both apologized for the mistake and that is important to me. More pointedly, it should be important to each of you. It means that Team Ning has moved beyond damage control and is now listening and learning. In the long run, that should mean good things for all of us.
In fact, Gina and I have been corresponding most of the morning via email. While we’ve had a couple of misunderstandings along the way, the dialogue has remained open and I’ve come away impressed with Gina and with Ning’s commitment to customer service. Moreover, it leads me to believe that the WL issues, while probably not intentionally malicious, may have been more of a threat to the platform than I originally thought.
To be clear, Gina shared no new information about the reasons WL was kicked. Rather, I get the sense that this was something that genuinely needed to be done. While the questions of timing and communication remain, the question of motivation (necessity/stability/security not greed) has been settled for me.
So, kudos to Gina and Team Ning. Take the many lessons from this event and make Ning stronger. Then, go home and get some much deserved sleep.
Peace,
Doug
While I remain decidedly ticked off over Ning.com’s decision to boot Widget Laboratory, (WL) I thought it might be more productive to actually list some of the things I think Ning needs to do to resolve the problems and move forward. So, here are my top ten Ning fixes, in no particular order of priority.
01. Let me delete/merge users - On more than one network, I have duplicate users. To obtain accurate numbers for advertisers, I need to keep my user list clean. Sure, I could pad my numbers with duplicate and abandoned accounts, but I’d rather just merge dupes or simply remove inactive users altogether.
The current “Ban User” option has a harsh connotation and the consequences for both my network and the “banned” person seem … ominous. And besides, user management is web app 101. I know I cannot delete them from Ning, but let me “delete” them from my network(s).
02. Simple Page/Tab Creation - Why require that this be done procedurally (ie. via Javascript)? I understand if it is simplest to do this for the majority of non-technical Ning users, but there should be a simple override in the source code that allows static HTML pages to be loaded using a Controller. The same applies to tabs.
03. Simple to Find/Edit HTML & CSS Overrides - For that matter, xn_resources should have a folder called “overrides” where one can drop files which then get pulled in to the HTML doc as its formed. For example …
tabs.php, header.php, footer.php, custom.css …
Perhaps that is not possible in the Ning MVC schema, but at least drop in a README with clear paths to all of the files that actually form the wrapper. It would make customization SO much easier. Don’t force me to hunt through the Ning documentation for simple fixes.
Please, no RTFM comments … please. This is a design issue, not a documentation issue.
04. Allow direct edit of customXYZ.css from an IDE - It is sort of crazy that editing customXYZ.css in the source code doesn’t actually do anything. What is the point of code access if you cannot make live changes? If the issue is the Akamai cache, give me a simple command (from the shell or in the Admin UI) that I tap to refresh the cache. In any case, don’t make me cut-n-paste stuff into the “Advanced Customization” pane if I have source code access.
05. File Manager & Library - It would be cool to see a file library that lists all of the files uploaded to my network so I can cull the list as needed and perhaps (on static or simple PHP pages) invoke lists of photos, PDFs, etc. based on tags/keywords.
06. Let me change my network name - C’mon. Is this so hard? If I want to change the name, let me. If the desired name is taken, prompt me to choose another. Think of Gmail’s “Name Available?” feature. It won’t happen often, but when needed, it is important. And, because it is infrequent, the system overhead required to update internal references is not so dramatic. If overhead is significant, just tell me it will take 24 hours to do and schedule it during non-peak hours. I promise I’ll wait.
07. Provide a Sample Application - Download and install Wordpress. Every install comes with hello.php which illustrates the basic structure of a plug-in/module/app. Provide this and update it with a tested/vetted replacement for each new release and issues like those with WL are far less likely to happen.
08. Create a standard themes package - Again, reference Wordpress. Why are Ning themes so fragmented? Collect all of the components in one place. This will greatly increase customization and reskinning, particularly if you pair this common theme framework with an HTML wireframe that captures all of the common page types and the corresponding CSS.
Need an SAS example? Check out the way Shopify.com handles theme development with Vision. Ning may not be a Rails app, but Shopify.com is on to something and there must be a PHP analog.
09. Network Creator Email/SMS Notification - Tonight’s SFTP outage is a perfect example. That sort of thing merits an immediate notification of network owners. While some Network Creators will not care, many/most will. At the very least, give us this as an option to check in our profile.
10. Lose the long URLS used to activate “advanced” features - Really?!? In 2008, should I need to cut-n-paste an obfuscated URL and then append my network name at the end to activate “Add Pages”, “URL Mapping” and such? Is it so difficult to create an “Advanced” pane in the Admin UI for this stuff?
Show me a confirmation pop-up if you are worried I’ll break my site. Put a scary skull-n-crossbones on it if you must. But whatever you do, do not add unneccesary steps to the process with web dev techniques from 1996.
The list could go on, but these are the low-hanging fruit. To be clear, I love the idea of Ning and, up until last Thursday, I loved the application of Ning. Why, just last Saturday I was singing the praises of Ning to anyone who would listen at the New Media Expo. Those folks now have my heartfelt apologies.
To Widget Laboratory, I say “good on ya” for your plan to open source all of your apps under the Creative Commons License. It was a smart move for everyone involved even, in the long run, Ning.
To Ning, I say make this right and do it fast. I want to go back to building my business, not searching for alternatives. And, I want to go back to singing your praises. At the end of the day, I am all about the love. Truly, I am.
Peace,
Doug
PS: This post was inspired, in part, by Lisa Bettany’s Twitter, What Are You Doing?” commentary. 
To close the New Media Expo, I had the opportunity to run Flip for Lisa Bettany. We had a lot of fun shooting this segment. I hope you enjoy it as well!
I have a thing for apocalyptic themes in fiction and film. Yes Virginia; I have a dark side and the midi-chlorians are not to blame. In most cases, I find these stories to be mindless fun. For example, Mad Max does not really provoke much critical thought, and that is OK. It is what it is. However, through luck or providence, I have stumbled across some real mind-benders of late.
The first of these is Plague Year by Jeff Carlson. If you’ve read Prey by Michael Crichton, Plague Year is it’s natural follow-up, yet darker and smarter. A relatively short, dense read; Plague Year picks up a few years after the accidental release of the “machine plague”, a manufactured nano-virus that disassembles the human body and uses it’s components to replicate itself. Smart and engaging, it will make you think twice about mixing biology and nanotechnology.
Next on the list is Germ by Robert Liparulo. While the author’s voice leans towards the formulaic, the story is anything but. The BBEG has manufactured Ebola that targets an individual’s DNA. The virus piggybacks on the common cold as it’s distribution mechanism.
The primary characters are well-conceived and well-executed. Our heroes are hunted by a very unique agent of the BBEG, which makes the chase interesting and intriguing to follow. Aside from the formulaic structure, the major drawback with the story is an unnecessary dip into a bit of trite conspiracy theory. Still, the core premise makes it worth the read.
Last, and anything but least, is The Swarm by Frank Schatzing. I haven’t finished reading it yet but, barring an implosion in the last 300 pages, I am fairly certain this is the best novel I’ve read in five years. Here is the setup:
Whales begin sinking ships. Toxic, eyeless crabs poison Long Island’s water supply. The North Sea shelf collapses, killing thousands in Europe. Around the world, countries are beginning to feel the effects of the ocean’s revenge as the seas and their inhabitants begin a violent revolution against mankind. At stake is the survival of the Earth’s fragile ecology — and ultimately, the survival of the human race itself.
I won’t say any more about the plot because I don’t want to ruin it for anyone. Instead, I’ll tell you that The Swarm is to our oceans what Snow Crash (Neal Stephenson) was to cyberspace. Yes. I just said that. Let it soak in.
The Swarm is a treatise on ocean ecology disguised as a thriller novel. Schatzing includes a three-page forward which cites all of the scientists who educated him and helped create the scientific firmament on which this outstanding novel is built. After reading this book, you will come away with a much better understanding of how dependent humanity is on our oceans. And, along the way you will be greatly entertained by an intense, well-crafted and well-paced story.
Peace,
Doug
