rands tumbles

I’ve been trying on URL shortening services for the past year. The usual story has been:...

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 21:14:00 -0400

I’ve been trying on URL shortening services for the past year. The usual story has been: looks good, tell a friend, gets popular, and doesn’t scale. The end.

Bit.ly has just been getting better.

There’s an obfuscation argument to be made about URL shorteners. Yes, they’re hiding information behind their tiny URLs. Yes, meaning is lost, but there’s also fascinating data to be grabbed.

What you’re looking at URLs I shortened and published via Twitter for a two and a half week period in May/June. The yellow line represents the number of followers I have, the blue line represents how many folks clicked on my specific shortened link, and the green bar is total clicks on that link regardless of who shortened it.

While 2.5 weeks of data is statistically miniscule, what you’re seeing is roughly a 14% click-thru rate for the URLs that I shortened. You can argue that is artificially high because the shortened URL is obfuscated — you don’t actually know what content is behind the URL is until you’ve clicked on it — but in a world where 2% click-thru rates are pretty sweet, this is intriguing number.

I’m wondering what other folks are seeing…

Being Geek

Sat, 09 May 2009 18:52:00 -0400

The title of the next book is “Being Geek”. This title provides a continuity problem with other Rands writings. Many years ago I wrote an article called Nerd Attention Deficiency Disorder. I went back and forth on the title: nerd or geek? It came down to the inevitable acronym: N.A.D.D. or G.A.D.D? Neither are great, but N.A.D.D. wasn’t horrific, so I picked nerd as my term to describe my species and stuck with it.

As titles were debated for the new book, “Being Geek” showed up out of no where and I loved it. Again, the problem is, I kind’a picked nerd as the term, but “Being Nerd” just… doesn’t work.

This topic needs to be addressed early in the book. Am I going to stick with one label or jump back and forth? As research, I asked Twitter which was more derogatory: nerd or geek? And why?

The response was fascinating. A collection is listed below along with some of my thoughts. Statistically, almost 50% said nerd was more derogatory. 15% nominated geek. 33% picked neither or abstained. 5% nominated dork.

This is good news for the title, but does little to settle issue regarding picking a name and sticking with it. You be the judge:

“Neither they are different things. geek think fandom. nerd think science.” (sceptre1067)
“Gerd, because non-musical mashups are always in poor taste.” (Elebertus)
“nerd because they have no style or social skills.” (rdubulous)
“Nerd is more derogatory to me. I definitely use “geeky” as a compliment and point of connection when I describe people to each other.” (lrprice)
“Geek was more often used derogatively towards theatre types in high school. Though that doesn’t stop me from identifying as one.” (rosko)
“Nerd is more derogatory because it is more broad. Geek refers to someone technical in some way.” (billread)
“I find “nerd” and “geek” acceptable. “Dork,” however, I feel is the insulting term.” (kiyoshimartinez)
“my think is thus. Nerds = intelligent. Geeks = antisocial.” (stupidbob307)
“nerd: seems to connotate a lack of self and other-awareness. Geeks are smart, but temper intellectualism when society requires it, IMHO” (jlongtine)
“nerds don’t bite the heads off live chickens … but that doesn’t answer the question” (fortawesomer)
“nerd is way worse than geek. Geeks are useful, and occasionally cute.” (alice_at_night)
“geek sheik. nerd terd. Id prefer to be called a geek.” (PlutoniumX)
“Nerd. Nobody has ever called me a geek while punching me.” (thunderpete)
“I’ve always thought that Nerd is about passion while Geek is about skill. But then, as a Tri-Lamb, I would think that, wouldn’t I?” (lonelysandwich)
“nerd, definitely, to me a nerd is more trainspottery than a geek, geeks can be anoraks, but nerds are always anoraks (it is a UKism)” (jamesk) (ed: wtf?)
“I had a friend that always said that a nerd was a geek with good grades” (gooddoug)
“neither. im a proud geek/nerd” (adambronte)
““Geek” always seemed to me somewhat cooler. And not necessarily connected with computers.” (riddle)
“Over here, both are pretty bad. Nerd probably a little more so. “Boffin” is still considered kinder. Slightly.” (muirium) (ed: boffin?)
“nerd is def more derogatory. To me It has a more socially inept connotation.” (hacintosh)
“You praise the geek who built your website and laugh at the nerd waiting in line for Star Trek.” (PatrickTulskie) (ed: this is spot on)
“Who says they’re derogatory? Nerd is more specific to science fiction/gaming fans and geek is tech related. They overlap though.” (zRows)
“Geek is more derogatory because being a nerd is about lifelong learning; a geek obsesses about minutiae.” (jbwebb)
“In modern use, nerds are smart, and geeks are passionate-or at least well-read. Neither is derogatory. Nerd is the bigger compliment.” (bmf)
“whatever. nerd/geek differences seem regional/sub-cultural. like pop vs soda or trekkie vs trekker” (freiheit)
“Nerd is academic interests > geek is hobby interests > dork is socially stunted.” (SelfishIdol)
“Geek. Nerd implies more academic or intellectual hobbies, geeks are into “odd” or unpopular things.” (jmlane)
“Nerd does not relate to a skill. Geek adds value.” (papagarzio) (ed: interesting)
“I think Nerd, it seems to imply a certain social awkwardness, Geek is more like ‘overabundance of knowledge in an esoteric topic’ - For instance, being a “Food Geek” would not necessarily make you “Nerdy”” (ZacHarmany)
“Both aren’t derogatory for me. Geek - other cool stuff = Nerd. A geek knows his stuff, a nerd knows only that.” (amaragrawal)
“Neither, but “geek” implies more social skills” (thisisroot)
“Nerd… I consider myself a geek and have no problems with that moniker.” (maniacnl)
“Some actually don’t mind receiving either title, but to me Geeks are usually thought of as socially inept, while Nerds are not.” (waakeupcall)
“Calling someone a dork seems more playful and flirty. You’re right….geeks are great at something and nerds love something, LOL!” (Handy_Randy)
“I’ve always thought that geeks were nerds who also had some sort of social life, so I’d say “nerd” is more derogatory.” (cassarani)
“neither? I typically identify myself as a nerd who tends to geek out over certain topics. nerd is constant with periodic geekery?” (bryanjswift)
“I don’t take either to be particularly derogatory unless specific tones are in play.” (zacharydanger)
“Nerd and geek have both lost their edge. Dork is the insult of choice.” (sheepeeh) (ed: I agree)
“a geek is a nerd w/ some degree of social skills. a nerd is just a nerd.” (wobbet)
“Both can be equally derogatory. It just depends on how they are said.” (lazataz)
“Nerd. “Geek” implies skills. “Nerd” implies lack of skills.” (mischakrilov)
“Nerd, because it also implies a lack of social skills and such” (danellis)
“Nerd is far more derogatory because IMO it’s farther down the rabbit hole. Geeks are obsessive but not cripplingly so.” (theghostofzandr)
“Geeks bite heads off of chickens in circus sideshows. Nerds are interested in topics despite risks of being socially ostracized.” (hellbox)
“Depends entirely on the context. I would rather call myself a nerd (surprise…)- the wikipedia entry definitely sounds better…” (somerandomnerd)
“both are anything but negative in my book, almost Awesome. Today I use Dweeb and Schmo the way we used Nerd and Geek ten years ago.” (randalltodd)
“”Geek” is worse than “nerd”: I don’t bite heads off chickens (cf circus geek).” (catenate)
“I always thought geek was nicer than nerd. Geek implies employability and intellectual curiosity. Nerd implies playing WOW all day.” (robertpalmer)
“neither are derogatory. Both are merely silly.” (robertbrook)
“My feeling is that people self-identify as “geek” and get *called* nerd, but that is in no way empirical.” (clockworksimon) (ed: you, sir, are a geek)
“It’s highly regional, from my informal research. Therefore I have chosen to take both as equal compliments :)” (nevyn)
“def nerd; prob because of Revenge of the Nerds, etc. geek seems to have been owned more by our people. personally, I embrace both…” (joshuajabbour)
“People seem to willingly call themselves both, but Geek, as a sound, is less attractive.” (robertjosiah)
“I don’t find either to be derogatory and might introduce myself as either one.” (rhacer)
“”Geek” is more synonymous with hacker while “nerds” get beat up and do homework for jocks. At least that’s what I tell myself.” (Timchi)
“Geek. It has implications of being unusual and strange in a negative way.” (mzarra)
“Nerd. Tainted by the movies documenting their revenge.” (longbored)
“A geek watches Star Trek. A nerd owns a Star Trek uniform. I class myself as Geek for this reason.” (Kosh42EFG) (ed: timely and relevant)
“neither (or both, depending on who’s saying it). Call myself both at various times, more likely to self-identify as nerd.” (darkuncle)
“Geek just implies an interest in Technology. Nerd implies an unhealthy obsession with anything. Also Geek is now Chic.” (sh1mmer)
“Neither are. I pride myself in being an all out Geek. ; )” (MikeGrace)
“nerd is more derogatory. geek is a badge of honour!” (sirvivian)
“Definitely geek. Geeks are socially awkward, and not necessarily smart - nerds are smart and just WAY too psyched by arcane topics.” (ljharb)

The Scrub List

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:53:18 -0400

While I valiantly attempt to regularly use RSS readers, my standard means of mass information consumption remains the bookmark group. I have three: News, Mac, and Scrub.

Scrub is an ever evolving set of news aggregators that hit three to five times a day. They are:

Reddit. Good news — more content. Bad news — turning into Digg.
YNews. Nerd news without the lame. So far.
Digg. Sigh.

Delicious Popular. Yeah, I still use Delicious.
Metafilter. King of the random information nugget discovery.
Tweetmeme. On probation. Low yield.
PicoCool. Random design finds.
FFFFound! Recent addition. Looks promising.

The Rules of Men When They Are Angry (Incomplete)

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:07:00 -0400

(Contradictions forthcoming)

1. We believe we have it all figured out and when data arrives that reminds us that we do not, we get angry.

2. During this angry period, we are jerks.

3. We are never wrong.

4. Don’t get in the way. We’ll take it out on you. Doesn’t matter who you are.

5. There is likely no conversation you can have with us which is going to make us feel better. We need to move from boiling over to simmer to gone.

6. Gone will show up when you’re not looking.

7. You need to understand the basic reason we’re pissed, but even if you get us to talk, we’re not telling you the basic reason.

In a comfort food battle between mashed potatoes and mac’n’cheese, I’m not sure...

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:12:18 -0400

In a comfort food battle between mashed potatoes and mac’n’cheese, I’m not sure who would win.

Plan for today, design for tomorrow.

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 01:11:17 -0400

Plan for today, design for tomorrow.

Contentment escapes faster the longer you stare at it.

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 20:11:09 -0400

Contentment escapes faster the longer you stare at it.

I would pay $4 just to watch the Birdhouse movie. Perspective, people.

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:11:09 -0400

I would pay $4 just to watch the Birdhouse movie. Perspective, people.

All writing starts in Georgia 14 otherwise it’s not writing.

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:11:09 -0400

All writing starts in Georgia 14 otherwise it’s not writing.

Management is the art of giving them what the need before they need it.

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:10:52 -0400

Management is the art of giving them what the need before they need it.

Text-only movie posters: http://bit.ly/17zU1Ps

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:10:50 -0400

Text-only movie posters: http://bit.ly/17zU1Ps

(correct URL) Text-only movie posters: http://bit.ly/17zU1P

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:10:50 -0400

(correct URL) Text-only movie posters: http://bit.ly/17zU1P

When I say thrice, I feel English, nay snooty.

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:10:45 -0400

When I say thrice, I feel English, nay snooty.

Because you should think before you speak: http://bit.ly/DwwGn

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:06:49 -0400

Because you should think before you speak: http://bit.ly/DwwGn

Getting tired of life reduced to talking points. #irony

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:55:48 -0400

Getting tired of life reduced to talking points. #irony

Highly recommend Important Things w/ Demetri Martin — half Wes Anderson, half Stephen Wright:...

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:54:51 -0400

Highly recommend Important Things w/ Demetri Martin — half Wes Anderson, half Stephen Wright: http://bit.ly/1D6hI

In the job interview, what I try to understand is, “Are you aware of your surroundings?”

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:54:51 -0400

In the job interview, what I try to understand is, “Are you aware of your surroundings?”

“The deal was —- we’ve give ‘em Obama, they don’t hate us...

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:54:34 -0400

“The deal was —- we’ve give ‘em Obama, they don’t hate us anymore”: http://bit.ly/41sMhx

It’s like the coffee knows I’m wearing a white shirt.

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 11:53:47 -0400

It’s like the coffee knows I’m wearing a white shirt.

The only key you need: http://bit.ly/39Tzt (@eris)

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:46:20 -0400

The only key you need: http://bit.ly/39Tzt (@eris)