User Error

At my company we have a tool that lets our users submit a request for a service.  This request is very specific, although we don’t match case.  There are two pieces of information that we need to handle the request: a username and a file name.

Our biggest problem with this service is that people don’t enter the right information.  About 30% of the time, the requests fail.  10% of the failures are people entering the wrong username.  40% of the failures are people entering the wrong file name.

Think about that for a second.  Ten percent of the time, a person is unable enter their own username correctly.  Now, extrapolate this to include all data entry, and consider data entry that is much more complex.  Of course, some people are better than others at this, and they probably do a significant amount of the world’s data entry for hire.  But a lot of the data that gets entered is entered by normal people – who, given the chance, apparently get it wrong around 10% of the time even on the most basic stuff.  Is it any wonder that databases all over the world have significant error rates in all kinds of critical information?

Clearly this can be done better.  Our failure was in not providing immediate feedback that the request was incorrect.  Clearly, you have to do any check like this right at the moment the user submits the request – otherwise, they have to wait to find out that their request failed due to incompetence at writing their own username or the file name.  We built the check into the script that does the actual retrieval, so the user has to wait to find out if their request succeeded or not.

The question is, even the strictest checks possible and the software being really annoying to enter data into, how much error still makes it in?  My bet is, quite a lot.

Birthday Rant

I don’t dislike birthdays.  They’re not a useless made-up holiday like Valentine’s Day, but they aren’t exactly noteworthy either.  I have to do math to figure out how old I am – I just don’t … care.  It’s not worth expending a byte of brain-memory on.

What I really dislike are the gifts.

You see, I’m an American.  Most modern Americans have stuff.  A lot of stuff.  And by stuff I mean material, luxury goods.  We have so much stuff that we use temporary climate-controlled  storage facilities to store the stuff we can’t fit into our massively over-sized houses, attics, two-car garages which aren’t used to hold cars, sheds, and basements.  We throw away more stuff than most people in the world ever own.  We have trouble finding places big enough to bury all the stuff we don’t want any more.  We are literally swimming in stuff.  The last thing in the world I need is more stuff.  The last thing any American needs is more stuff.

Which brings us to birthday gifts.  There is an expectation that people will receive gifts on their birthday.  An obligation, some might say.  To transfer more stuff to the person celebrating how old they are.  Small children are inundated with toys, games, video game consoles, whatever.  Older people get socks, books, DVDs, whatever.  Stuff.

Now fast foward a month.  How much of that stuff you got on your birthday is actually being used, besides the socks?  And how much of that stuff just joined the piles of other stuff sitting around in your house?  Did you really need what people bought you?  Did it make your life better?  Did it make you happy?  Did it help you make someone else’s life better?

Of course, the counter to this argument is that it’s the thought that counts.  The thing is, that’s precisely true.  You just gave me more stuff that I probably don’t need.  You took all the energy, time, and money that went into creating whatever it was you bought, and gave it to me, so it can sit in my house and collect dust, and eventually be thrown out.  You reinforced the idea that stuff is somehow connected to happiness and friendship and that more stuff will make me happier.

You are my friend.  That means far more to me than any piece of stuff could ever convey.  Don’t cheapen our friendship by buying me stuff.  While I may want it, I don’t need it.  None of us do.  When you buy stuff for me you are feeding the evil consumer side of my brain.  As my friend, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t do that – I have enough trouble suppressing that side of me as it is.

You don’t have to do anything for my birthday.  But, if you really feel compelled to observe the occasion, do something that matters.  Donate to the EFF, or the FSF, or whoever.  Give that money to someone who actually needs it, and will use it to make all of our lives better.  Or, we can do friend things, like go to dinner, or a movie, or something crazy like skydiving.  You could do something really awesome like help me paint my house, or build something cool together like a robot or a funny website.

Just no stuff. Please.

How To Attract Lawyers

Here’s a business plan that hit me this morning while I was half-asleep.  Guaranteed failure due to being sued into oblivion.

MyPVR.com – a website backed by a stack of PVR machines (Linux, running MythTV, natch).  For a low monthly fee, a user can request a certain number of shows to be recorded every week.  The service records the show and makes it available for viewing on the web via Flash and also for download in various formats for replay on mobile devices, home theater, etc.  Keep the Flash available for 2 months or something like that, and then remove it to keep storage from becoming a problem (or not, if you’re insane – but hey, you’re already insane for trying this!).

You would need to host your stuff outside the U.S., obviously.  You would have constant bandwidth issues.  You would also need a way to get the channels – probably satellite TV in one form or another, in multiple geographically-separated locations so that problems at one site don’t stop you from recording shows on time.  You’re violating copyright laws left and right, as well as the Terms of Service of whatever provider you hook into.  It would be a cool service though. :)

EDIT: Not surprisingly, the domain name is taken.