Warmest Greetings,

SEMPO Meeting Reaction  

:: Tuesday, August 03, 2004 ::

     "First, they checked everyone who walked in to make sure they are a SEMPO member - this was not done at the Chicago meeting. They locked and closed the doors right when they started. The room is packed, a lot more members since the last meeting I attended in Chicago in December 2003," writes Barry Schwartz (aka RustyBrick) in San Jose SES SEMPO Meeting

Q: What are members getting in return from the membership fees?

A: Noel responded saying that if your asking what is in it for me, then your missing the point of SEMPO. What you put into SEMPO is what you get. Dana Todd said that you are posting in forums but tell us what you want. (Barbara) Coll asked how many of you feel we did something, she asked for applause and she got them."

This didn't sit too well with some people. Some reaction to the SEMPO meeting from those unable to attend the meeting:

     "On reading rustybrick's report on the meeting, I'm even more convinced that these SEMPO folks don't get it. Frankly I don't think they want to get it."

     "My hindsight is usually pretty accurate, but in this case, I had a nagging feeling that this was going to be one of those we-will-save-the-questions-until-the-end-of-the-meeting meetings..."

     "Anyone else get the feeling they just blew the biggest opportunity they've had yet to get everyone on side?"

     "Maybe the minutes (if they are ever go public) and the subsequent expansion of their goals, a better website and a few other things will suddenly come into being helping us to make better decisions....Am I being a tad bit hopeful??"

     "How do you sit on $270,000 and claim that there's no money to write by-laws? Lawyers really don't charge that much. They couldn't afford an attorney to write by-laws? They wrote their own by-laws, and didn't sign them until this last March, nine or so months after they started acting on behalf of the organization?"


In Other News

John Rhodes, of WebWord fame, has launched a new web site called Oristus.com which focuses on the usability services provided by his usability team.

Porn Blogs Manipulate Google

     "Porn site operators are finally getting savvy to the power of weblogs," d'Addario said. "Blogspot (blogs) are the easiest to set up. You can set one up in a couple of minutes. You can just make all these (blogs) and make them all cross-link to each other. It all comes into trying to finesse the Google rankings."

UXnet User Experience Network has been launched.

Usability Tip

Courtesy of John Rhodes:

How to Properly Format Dates

     "The most common date is no date at all. Don't laugh. Most web pages, including most news pages and current event pages, don't have any dates. Verdict: This is insane."

GREETINGS TO ALL MY FRIENDS AT THE San Jose Seach Engine Strategies Conference!

:: posted by Kim Krause Berg on 8/03/2004 11:22:41 AM

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