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# ---------------------------=*> THE BOT BLOG <*=-------------------------- #
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# =========================================================================== #
# #
# Waiting to Exhale #
# #
# by brett tabke #
# 9/1/2006 #
# #
# =========================================================================== #
#
# re: http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum10/9410.htm
#
# --------------------------------------------------
# Smart money said that Alan Meckler was going to
# do for Search, what Comdex did for the DotCom and
# what CES did for home electronics.
# --------------------------------------------------
#
#
# August 2nd, 2005. Was a watershed day in the history of SEO/SEM.
# That was the day Jupiter sold SearchEngineWatch and the SES
# conferences to Incisive Media. After the events of this week with
# Danny Sullivan announcing his resignation from SearchEngineWatch, I
# think it is worth rolling back the clock to that fateful day and
# looking at the sale of the site and conferences again.
#
# http://www.incisivemedia.com/
# http://www.daggle.com/
# http://www.SearcheEgineWatch.com
# http://weblogs.jupitermedia.com/meckler/
#
# Search was sky rocketing a year ago. Google and the search sectors
# growth was spectacular. Adsense and other forms of advertising were
# setting new records every month. From SEO/SEM firms to mom-n-pops,
# we not only had survived the dot com crash - we came out stronger
# and more profitable because of it. Everyone was making out like
# bandits. At the time of the sale, Jupiter was doing great. Sullivan had
# the conference side of the conferences running like a well oiled
# machine and the trade show side was also jamming. SES was growing
# by 20-50% per-conference. The site was also rocking and hitting every
# note a webmaster should be hitting today. There are/were 20+ ads on
# the home page alone going for a rumored $4-5k a month - talk about
# your million dollar homepage! Life was good at Jupiter and certainly
# in the search space.
#
# http://finance.google.com/finance?q=GOOG
#
# Jupiter didn't appear to be hurting. Sure the stock price was flat,
# but not crashing by any means. The outlook for Jupiter was fairly bright
# and positive. Alan Mecklers fixation with the images seemed to be
# mostly harmless. Who knows, he may have been on to - still might be -
# something really big with all that recurring billing. In a few old
# school circles, soft licensing and recurring billing are the holy grail,
# come-to-jesus, show-me-the-money of business models. Seriously, guys
# like Bill Gates did all right by soft licensing (grin).
#
# With Jupiter hitting on all cylinders, I just think that at the time
# of the SES sale, Meckler should have been standing back screaming at
# the troops to saddle up. It was a time to redouble their efforts. It
# was setup already. It was a time to hitch up the team and go to town
# on a rail.
#
# Business maven Tom Peters used to say that the time to sell like
# hell" is when "you are already selling like hell"! You have to
# strike the iron when the metal is hot. Nothing was hotter than
# "Search" was last year.
#
# http://www.tompeters.com/
#
# The selling of SES at that time, just did not make sense. Everyone
# I talked to about it was bewildered. Why sell SES? It was a
# stunning and shocking move to those of us in the industry. No one
# could wrap their brain around it. Daddy Warbucks - dude - buddy -
# what the? Go round the bend!? Was Meckler getting ready to retire?
# Has he ticked off the major sponsors? Has he been put on notice? Is
# there some balloon payment due in the backwaters of Jupiters books
# that no one knows about? Contracts due to expire and no renewals in
# site? Someone calling in a loan? Does he think there is another
# bubble crash imminent? Missed a margin call? A greedy ex wife? Like
# the ponies too much? Ha! you could go crazy spinning the scenarios.
#
# http://weblogs.jupitermedia.com/meckler/
#
# Alan Meckler is a seasoned business pro. There are few in the tech
# space that have his years of real world seat-of-the-pants first hand
# old fashioned education you can only get from decades of on-the-job
# training. Aside from that sentence turning a record number of
# cliches per column inch, it's true! Meckler is that old and
# experienced in this space. His name alone is almost a cliche!
# Alan built the awesome Internet World trade show and conference and
# he built SES. You don't fall off a turnip truck and wake up with
# domains like Internet.com, ClickZ, and SearchEngineWatch. With Alan
# at the helm of Jupiter, we were getting that old deja vu Internet
# World feeling all over again. It just stood to reason that Alan Meckler
# was going to do for Search, what Comdex did for the DotCom and what CES
# did for home electronics.
#
# For our part, we were just trying to stay out of the way - to keep
# from ending up road kill. Jupiter needed a wide berth. We mulled
# over thoughts of getting on the Jupiter wagon. We even met with the
# big guy himself (thanks for the lunch!). There was no kidding
# ourselves about our future direction. We were just caught in the
# draft of it all. We were along for the ride whether we wanted to or
# not - sucked in to the wake of the SES/SEW vortex. Fates and
# fortunes are intertwined. So goes Jupiter - so goes WebmasterWorld.
# It is the pure definition of that new catch word from competition
# and cooperation: co-opetition. There were days I could see my
# handwriting on SES/SEW, and I am sure there are days Danny saw his
# on PubCon/WebmasterWorld. And why not!? We are all doing well -
# making money - having fun - cranking out 7 figure daily traffic
# numbers - traveling the world - partying like rock stars - three
# finger snaps in a Z formation - cue the music - baby, we
# were Living La Vida Loca!
#
# So along comes the SES sale to a no name company that no one
# stateside had every heard of and who had no history in this space.
# Most analysts felt that the sale price of $43 million was pretty
# cheap at the time. The public explanations about it didn't match the
# reality of the sale. Alan Meckler is as wise an old owl as there is
# on the net today. This stuff doesn't happen in a vacuum. There was
# another shoe to drop. Befuddled and not a smoking gun in sight.
# That left the only plausible explanation to be the simple face value
# one: that $43 million in the hand is better than the vast unknown in
# the future bush.
#
# We had a sharp consultant working for us a year ago. She was helping
# with a long term business plan and strategy. She did a study of the
# seo/sem/conference sector. Her work, was all top notch. Stuff we
# read about in business books, but we never thought we could actually
# have completed. As she was presenting the competitive Intel on
# Jupiter/Incisive to us, she talked a bit about the sale of ClickZ/SES.
# She made a comment that now seems pretty insightful:
#
# "I would be curious to see Danny Sullivans contract. It is
# the only variable we don't know about."
#
# As they say; that knowledge and $3.75 will still buy you a small
# coffee at Starbucks. The only thing we could do was go back to work
# and continue improving and producing our sites and conferences. We
# always knew there was going to come a day when "the rest of the
# story" would come out. We put our heads down and focused on our work
# - that is all we have ever tried to do. Competition will always be
# there. One of my all time heroes Jonny Carson told Dave Letterman
# when he was in 3rd place of 3 talk shows to: "forget about the other
# guys and what they are doing. Focus on your thing, your audience and
# what you do best". I had a full plate running my own business and
# didn't need to dedicate any more brain power to thinking about it. I
# knew it would work out. This too shall pass.
#
# So, Yesterday when I read the news that Danny was leaving Search
# Engine Watch, I honestly was not all that surprised. 13 months
# later, Alan Mecklers other shoe hits the floor. I finally exhaled.
#
# From there, you lead into all kinds of questions about the state of
# Danny's contract going back more than a year to the time of the sale.
# psst: Apparently, he did not have a noncompete. Hello!? I can only
# imagine he refused to renew at some point or the right phase of the
# moon... Ack, stop that. Here we go again with margin calls and ex
# wives... So lets get off that track and say we did but we didn't explore
# those possibilities. As much guilty pleasure fun as it would be to play
# "what if", I have some sanity to think about you know. We'll leave
# the rest of that as an excersize for the reader and ask good old
# Bones McCoy to bail us out: dam it Jim. I'm a conference
# producer - not a mind reader!
#
# Lets cut to the chase: $43 million for SEW/SES/ClickZ without Danny
# Sullivan locked into a long term contract and no non-compete? (belly
# laugh) Raise a virtual glass to Mr. Alan Meckler. You old dog you -
# nicely done sir! Daddy warbucks is back at the top of my list!
#
# http://weblogs.jupitermedia.com/meckler/archives/014664.html
# http://weblogs.jupitermedia.com/meckler/archives/009626.html
#
# I know for about six months I have been increasingly concerned about
# the industry. There was something soothing and calming about SES San
# Jose, but it seemed so status quo to borderline "been there - done
# that".
#
# I've been thinking the industry was going to see more rapid change
# again this year. Last year was about consolidation and acquisition.
# This year has been about, huh? Not much really. There has been a
# vacum. No defining moment until now. So far, that hole is being
# filled with the Web 2.0 talk. Hey, Web 2.0, is proof that people need to
# talk about something.
#
# Me and a good friend were chatting a few months ago that we knew we
# were probably going to see some shake up at SearchEngineWatch this
# year. You see, Danny Sullivan just turned 40 this year. I don't care
# who you are, the big four oh works on a man in weird ways. I know it
# does. I've been there recently. I have the new convertible sports
# car to prove it. We thought Danny would get a dog or something - not
# leave SEW!
#
# All the possibilities are swirling. It reminds me of something I
# have never talked about much. Six years ago I was faced with a
# difficult choice between the words: SearchEngine and the word
# Webmaster. Those two domains SearchEngineWorld and WebmasterWorld
# were both powerful in my mind and both were/are extremely brandable
# domains. I have been telling myself that I choose WebmasterWorld
# because I wanted to go horizontal and not vertical with the topics.
# I wanted to cover both search and webmaster related site operation
# and management. I still feel they are not divorceable from one another.
# You can't talk search, without immediatly getting to page and then
# server issues. That intention still covers the basics of my
# reasoning at the time and without that desire I never would have
# chosen WebmasterWorld over SearchEngineWorld. I knew that I was
# choosing the one that would ultimately be the horse we would ride. I
# realize that some of that decision process was the gnawing fact that
# I didn't want SearchEngineWorld to compete with SearchEngineWatch. I
# didn't want to muddle the waters of branding. I can distinctly
# remember trying to find another domain because I didn't want the
# branding confusion. When I first registered SeearchEngineWorld, I
# just thought it was a cool name. Even in 99, Danny had done a great
# job at positioning SearchEngineWatch as a good brand. I never
# intended to see SearchEngineWorld wither and get forgotten. That was
# more from the fact I could never find my Chris Sherman, than any
# other factor. Guys like Chris don't grow on trees.
#
# http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/archives/2006/08/31/dont_go_danny_we_love_you.html
#
# I think the change may do us all some good. Other than our reaction
# to it, we dont' have a big choice in the matter. We need a bit of a
# status quo shake up. The conferences and the sites are getting
# fairly mature. Change is ultimately good.
#
# I doubt Danny will have any problem finding work (grin). I can only imagine
# he has a tough task of deciding what he wants to do next. Think
# about it for a minute: Imagine you could do anything you want with
# almost anyone you wanted to in your industry? The world is your
# oyster. How would you decide? Ultimately, I think Danny will follow
# his passions and the things he finds most fulfilling in life.
#
# It is also interesting to to see that Susan Bratton is leaving as
# the Chair of Ad-Tech. I believe we will see Susan pop up somewhere
# very soon. When I first met Susan, it was a huried introduction at a
# conference. I recognized the look and the brusque stick-to-business
# style. That is the same look I see in clips of me from our
# conferences. At the time, I flat out - umm - didn't get her. Then
# Mike 'rock on' Grehan took us all out for dinner in London. We
# had a nice time and talk with Susan. Then I stumbled on to one of
# her shows on WebmasterRadio and she started to make perfect sense.
# Maybe she has found her forte in Radio instead of conferences?
# Either way, her rolodex is a whos-who of the entire marketing
# industry. I doubt she'll have trouble finding work. From the whispers
# of the rumor mill, Susan was never highly compensated at Fad Tech. I
# could see her doing other conferences soon. However, I wonder if her
# contract allows it?
#
# http://blog.dmnews.com/2006/07/24/drew-ianni-succeeds-susan-bratton-as-adtech-chair/
#
# As for Incisive, this looks like it was a simple 1 plus 1 must equal
# 2 business decision. It sounds like Danny was already making top
# dollar on the circut and Incisive thought any more would be
# financial suicide. Although we don't know alot about Incisive on
# this side of the pond, they do alot of conferences and small trade
# shows around the world. They are very well versed in the economics
# of conferences.
#
# As for SES, it is an intersting pickle Incisive is in. The large
# sponsors are locked in contracts for another year. That's Mr.
# Meckler's handy work in action again. Before Alan brought that to Search
# conferences, there were only a few super large conferences that
# could get sponsors to lock in for a year at a time. That means that
# SES is directly funded through SES San Jose next year. Contracts
# are reserved on the conference space and other conference associated
# services. You can't just show up at a Hilton in New York or the San
# Jose convention center without a year+ advance reservation.
#
# Regardless of the over all appearance or make up of those
# conferences - those conferences are locked in for the most part. We
# have also heard (know) that many speakers also have had their
# expenses covered to these shows. A few of them go back many years on
# the circut. Some, simply wouldn't have a career, let alone a
# speaking slot if it weren't for Danny and SES. Many will continue
# to ride the SES horse for as long as it has legs. Then there are the
# attendees. Most of the NYC crowd is corporate Madison Avenue. Same
# goes for San Jose. What that means, is that many of those people
# already have it in next years budget to attend those conferences and
# whether DS's smiley face is up in front or not, there will be a
# sizeable set of attendees present.
#
# Then there is the real value of a company and conference - the
# people. The SES crew is strong. Karen and the gang have done an
# incredible job over the years. I know just how important and
# valuable those people are and I have the highest regard for them.
# Trust me - running, planning, and executing a conference the size
# of SES is no easy task and experienced people are very few and far
# between.
#
# I think Chris Sherman has been contributing a ton of stuff to SES
# over the last few years. He has organized many panels and session
# tracks - exclusively doing many of them.
#
# What I am getting to - tipping toeing around - is that for the short
# term over the next year, SES doesn't flounder too far. Sponsors,
# exhibitors, speakers, and attendees - it's a dead lock. Attendance
# may suffer, and the quality of the sessions may suffer - but the
# beat goes on. Incisive has six to nine months to figure it all
# out. That is if Danny doesn't throw a curve ball their way.
#
# Where Incisive is truely going to miss DS, is on the site.
# SearchEngineWatch *is* Danny Sullivan. And despite all the blog
# stuff, guest writers and moderators - whatever dude -
# searchenginewatch is Dannys off spring. Always has been - and always
# will be...
#
# For our part - fresh opportunies open up. The phone has been ringing
# alot this week. The popular question has been about speaking in
# Vegas and next years conferences. Yes, we still have few slots to
# fill for Vegas.
#
# http://www.pubcon.com/session_proposal.cgi
#
# All-in-all, things will work out ok I think.
#
# Brett
# =========================================================================== #
# #
# BestBBS 4.0 #
# #
# by brett tabke #
# 7/8/2006 #
# #
# =========================================================================== #
#
#
# We have just completed a significant update to the forum software
# (BestBBS) that we run on WebmasterWorld.
#
# The majority of this update was an internal database format
# conversion. It took well over 300 hours of labor to convert the
# system to the new formats. When completed, we have a faster, more
# secure system than we have ever had before.
#
# The change was necessary to fix a long standing database design
# issue. The problem was exposed as the shear scale of WebmasterWorld
# grew to what it is today. I first wrote the database routines for
# this software in 1998. I felt it would handle 10,000 messages. At
# the time, that was an enormous amount of messages for a web based
# bbs/forum system. The system now has over 2 million. The old system
# consisted of two files for every thread. We have converted that to
# one file per thread.
#
# I have often been asked why we did not switch to a true database
# system such as SQL. The issue has always been one of speed. The
# issue has been negated somewhat due to faster machines. However, the
# core of WebmasterWorld is still written in Perl - which is
# notoriously slow at database routines - when compared to languages
# with builtin C bases SQL routines such as PHP. That said, we have
# laid in provisions for major future changes (read: SQL) to all the
# database routines.
#
# Unfortunately in spite of all that effort, there is little to be
# seen new on the user side for the moment. The majority of these
# changes were under-the-hood.
#
# The most visible change noticed by members will be the new keyword
# URL system. We maintain the old files at their existing urls, while
# at the same time introducing new keyword based urls for the future.
# For example:
#
# Old url:
#
# http://www.WebmasterWorld.com/forum30/
#
# new URL:
#
# http://www.WebmasterWorld.com/google/
#
# It is significant to note, that your old bookmarks to specific
# discussions will continue to work. However, the index pages for each
# forum will slowly be changed over to the new keyword URL based
# system.
#
# Another thing you will notice, is the spartan look of pages when
# logged out. By not looking up member info on each message, we remove
# a massive chunk of overhead on the system.
#
# More here:
# http://www.webmasterworld.com/webmasterworld/3000001.htm
#
# -bt
# =========================================================================== #
# #
# The PayPal Wars #
# #
# by brett tabke #
# 6/27/2006 #
# #
# =========================================================================== #
#
# disclosure: I am on the PayPal developers advisory board.
#
# I was just studying the GBuy thread closer than I have looked
# and studied an issue in years. This could be the biggest
# competitive struggle we have seen since Microsoft vs Netscape.
# http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum86/4534.htm
#
# Google vs Microsoft/Yahoo/AskJeeves, is/was for the shear horse race
# and sportsmanship value. I feel like the community has a clear
# interest in the outcome, but as a whole - regardless of the battle -
# we will continue and our outcome/survival is assured.
#
# GBuy vs PayPal/Ebay though...this is a different kind of front here.
# Really for the first time, Google is poised to step into unknown
# water with ZERO experience at a real "all grown up" playing field.
#
# When we look at some of Googles bigger offerings, a trend towards
# geekdom comes out:
#
# Gmail - email systems are so 1996 with off-the-shelf programs
# available. They are 'techie' things.
# Maps - there we are with window dressing on a Microsoft (Terra
# server) product from 97.
# Online Advertising buying/selling are essentially off-the-shelf..oldschool.
#
# What else? When you look down the list of G offerings, there
# is little that Google has done up until now that is not purely
# "net related nerdvana stuff".
# http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/
#
# But payments? This is an odd-man-out - a sunflower in the
# daisy patch. I can't help but remember back to when Red Had IPO'd
# and all the *nix geeks freaked out and wet themselves trying to
# get in on the action or even understand it. Many of those same
# geeks now work for Google. Have they learned anything?
#
#
# Apparently - Googles main competitor for GBuy/GPayments will be
# Ebay/PayPal. How ironic that the last month, I have been using spare
# time to read, "The PayPal Wars" by Eric Jackson.
#
# The most striking thing about the PayPal story is just how deep into the
# financial wars PayPal got. Their attempt at international monetary
# domination was meet with a full frontal assault by everyone from the
# powerful financial communities to the Russian Mafia.
#
# ------------------------------------------------------------ quote:
# PayPal looked like a gold mine for crime rings as well as
# sophisticated independent crooks trafficking in stolen credit cards.
# ...With a CD-Rom full of stolen numbers and a robotic script designed
# to open PayPal accounts, Internet-savvy criminals could easily
# automate the creation of hundreds of thousands of dummy users. Those
# feeder accounts could then use the stolen credit cards to send
# payments through a layer or two of additional fraudulent accounts
# before the criminal initiated an ACH to transfer the balance out of
# the system.
# ----------------------------------------------------------- /quote
#
# To say that PayPal is the most battle hardened dot com on the
# web today is an understatement:
#
# ------------------------------------------------------------ quote:
# When the Russian and Nigerian mafias rung up online charges,
# they ultimately plundered PayPal, not the cardholder. While our
# customer base continued its explosive growth, these brazen criminals
# walked in through our front door and carried on their activities
# largely unmolested. In what we would later refer to as "a
# significant fraud episode," one such fraud ring cost the company
# $5.7 million over a four month period in mid-2000.
# ----------------------------------------------------------- /quote
#
# From there we finally get some long over due answers from the PayPal
# side of things. One doesn't need to dig too deep on the net to find
# some very PO'd people teeing off on PayPal. There were a few, but
# vocal group of people that had their PayPal accounts frozen in the
# midst of the all out fraud assault on PayPal. It was always assumed
# that those accounts were some how caught up in the fraud schemes
# PayPal was fighting. For the first time, we have a few comments from
# PayPal on the story:
#
# ------------------------------------------------------------ quote:
# PayPals success in fighting back fraud also produced false
# positives that inconvenienced honest users.... But as bad as the
# false positives experience for innocent users and resulting negative
# publicity for the company might have been, it was an acceptable
# cost. The fact that spiraling fraud losses contributed to many of
# our competitors, like eMoneyMail, PayMe, and PayPlace ceasing
# operation made this an easy choice. Had PayPal not found a way to
# get fraud under control, it would have destroyed the company.
# ----------------------------------------------------------- /quote
#
# Whatever the outcome - this is going to get interesting. PayPal/Ebay
# are clearly not a bunch of sheep.
#
# If you are looking for some insight into GBuy vs Ebay, I would read
# the PayPal Wars.
#
# Questions still remaining:
# - Has PayPal still got fight in them?
# - Has Ebay Neutered PayPal?
# - What could Ebays possible response be?
#
#
# bt
#
#...The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
#
# =========================================================================== #
# #
# Wavers - Webmasters That Rode The Google Links Wave #
# #
# by brett tabke #
# 5/18/2006 #
# #
# =========================================================================== #
# A few moderators were asking if there was an over-abundance of dissatisfied
# Google users these days?
#
# Riding the Google wave for a whole host of newbies was easy. They cracked
# the Google algo :-) For the first five years of Google, you could
# effectively sum up 80% of the Google algo this way:
#
# =======================================
# Google Algo = Get Links = Good Rankings
# =======================================
#
# That was the SEO expertise of an entire generation of Google Wave Webmasters
# (I call them "Google Wavers" or just "Wavers").
#
# I talked with the LEAD senior optimizer for a top 5 seo firm last summer at
# a conference. We were talking about my Keyword Density Analyzer utility that
# is available here for subscribers. I raised an eyebrow as he did not
# understand concept of keyword density. He simply didn't know what it was and
# instead wanted to talk about links. That is not the exception - that sort of
# ignorance is rampant out there. There are guys and gals reading this right
# now, that are top 50 seo's. There are also people you read every day as
# "experts" who couldn't pass an SEO101 class. I know one seo who has written
# a successful book about SEO, who I am almost positive has never done any SEO
# but her/his blog.
#
# The majority of the SEO knowledge out there today is about links. From
# services that provide linking, to sites that sell links, we have a huge
# investment in "links=seo". So huge, that even long after linkage as SEO is
# dead an buried, there will still be those trumpeting it as the
# end-all-be-all of SEO to make coin off it.
#
# What happens to all those Wavers that think [i]Getting Links = SEO[/i] when
# that majority of the Google algo is devalued in various ways? Wavers built
# their fortunes on "links=seo". When that goes away, the Wavers have zero to
# hold on to.
#
# All they can do - is complain. An entire generation of webmasters are forced
# to go back to SEO101 and learn what they ignored or never had the fortitude
# and passion to learn.
#
# -bt
#
# ...I have a friend who's a billionaire. He invented Cliff notes.
# When I asked him how he got such a great idea, he said,
# "Well first I.....I just....to make a long story short..." - Stephen Wright
#
# =========================================================================== #
# #
# Password Hell! #
# #
# by brett tabke #
# 5/15/2006 #
# #
# =========================================================================== #
# In one of the more amusing articles, I have seen in awhile,
# silicon.com proposes a set of password guidelines.
# While some are very useful - other are dubious - and still others humorus.
#
# http://www.silicon.com/research/specialreports/idmanagement/0,380001
# 1361,39158933,00.htm
# My take:
#
# 1- Passwords must not be written down
#
# Yes, you must remember that autogenerated forced password like:
# "71JU28kIjjL7126" by pure memory power alone. LOL!
#
# Fact: There is little chance of your remembering all the passwords
# you are forced to use.
#
# Tip: Always record your passwords somewhere in some form. We'd
# recommend one of the many password keeper programs that can be
# locked. Or, write them down and put them in a company safe. We'd
# suggest a simple encryption system such as exchanging the first or
# last two characters of every password.
#
#
# 2: Passwords must be set
#
# TIP: If a required secure system allows you to leave a password as a
# default (such as password or admin) - then get a new system because
# the current one is not secure and there is little doubt that
# fundamental security flaws will be found under the skin.
#
# 3: Require as few passwords as possible
#
# FACT: You have no choices in this matter. You gotta use - what you
# gotta use.
#
# 4: Staff must change their passwords regularly
#
# That is a good tip, but fred2006 will change his password to
# fred2005 and flip back and forth. Most studies on this one have
# shown that people simply cycle between a few default flavors.
#
# 5: Make new passwords new
#
# The only way to do that is to use a randomization routine. Which
# brings us full circle back to #1.
#
# 6: Avoid obvious words
#
# Good tip. Dictionary attacks still happen. Which means most systems
# should use a 3strikes and you are out for 15mins programming rule.
#
# 7: Think long - but not too long
#
# Password problems are directly proportional to the length of
# passwords. As password length increases - so do support and system
# help calls.
#
# 8: Automate password changes
#
# Good tip, but be sure to lay in more customer support personnel on
# the days you force password changes. Sally in accounting is sure to
# call with password problems. Be sure to lay in more training for
# your support personnel, because as calls increase, so do social
# engineering related hacker calls.
#
# 9: Educate staff
#
# Deja vu.
#
# 10: Look to the future such as biometrics and two-factor
# authentication
#
# That's great - beam me up Mr. Scott.
#
# Fact: real world biometrics are 5-10 years away. Todays finger print
# scanners have a high failure rate and are not workable in the real
# world.
#
# The closest we have are the retinal eye scanners. They have quite a
# r&d cycle to go before ready. They run as high as a 25% failure
# rates right now, but the future looks very bright for them. They
# might also be combine with health scanners to spot the early onset
# of eye diseases.
#
# Warning - software plug:
# I use SplashID for desktop and for my phone. Works great...
#
# -bt
#
# ... For my birthday I got a humidifier and a dehumidifier. I put
# them in the same room and let them fight it out.
# =========================================================================== #
# #
# Digging Out from Boston #
# #
# by brett tabke #
# 5/4/2006 #
# #
# =========================================================================== #
# Whew, finally have dug out from the onslaught of work that was Pubcon Boston.
#
# What a great conference it was. The blogging session was my favorite I think.
# Setting in with Matt and Robert, and Jeremy was like being allowed to listen
# in on a private conversation between the three of them. Funny thing was that
# Robert barely made it to the conference. The cab driver took him to the wrong
# convention center.
#
# Attendee numbers were on par with last years New Orleans conference. We really
# had to fight for it thought with the proximity to Easter and the other big
# conferences going on at the same time.
#
# Special thanks to Malcolm Gladwell for helping with charity book signing.
# Together we raised nearly $3000 for charity.
#
#
#
# Brett
#
# ... It doesn't matter what temperature a room is, it's always room temperature.
# =========================================================================== #
# #
# Follow The Money #
# #
# by brett tabke #
# 3/28/2006 #
# #
# =========================================================================== #
# <advert>
# ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
#
# WebmasterWorlds PUBCON BOSTON
#
# Keynote by Malcolm (Tipping Point) Gladwell
#
# Get the PubCon Edge!
#
# http://www.PubCon.com
#
# ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
# </advert>
#
# When not conferencing or tweaking servers, the great state of
# "newbieness" is my top "blue sky" topics to contemplate.
#
# I can not count the times that people have come up to me at the
# conferences and said something to the effect:
#
# "3 months ago I was working in a factory....now I am making more
# money and working much less thanks to WebmasterWorld." There are
# plenty of newbie stories out there just like that.
#
# Remember in the 80's when everyone was waxing on about "the life
# cycle" of the human? If you understood the life cycle of humans you
# could make a fortune (eg: knowing to invest in fitness equipment
# when the baby boomers hit 30, or in luxury cars when they hit 40, or
# investment schemes when they hit 50, or retirement stuff when they
# hit 60).
#
# I think to really understand the current state of newbieness, you
# have to understand the life cycle of the web user:
#
# The CIA says something to the effect, "that 88% of all humans will
# live 99% of their lives within 25miles of the spot they were born".
# Most of us were born on Yahoo and we have not strayed to far from
# the nest. Most of what we do on the web today is still filtered
# through those early Yahoo colored glasses. Even Google took it's
# starting low impact page que from Yahoo.
#
# Today, many new web users and new webmasters are being "born on
# Google.com" and continue to ride the Google wave into webmastering.
# Understanding the new newbie webmaster phenom is to understand the
# Google wave is to understand the Newbie wave. Circular? Yes it is.
# The bottom line is that it is Adsense - it is the heart and soul of
# the newbie wave. I don't think we have seen anything yet. There is
# an explosion of newbieness going on out there and we are just
# scratching the surface here.
#
# -bt
#
# ...You want to know what is going on? Then follow the money - (Deepthroat 1973).
#
# =========================================================================== #
# #
# What is Your EQ? #
# #
# by brett tabke #
# 3/14/2006 #
# #
# =========================================================================== #
#
#
# Sorry for the delay in updating - I got tied up in this tornado of
# exuberance called PubCon prep work.
#
# Good friend digitalghost tipped me off to a fresh business quiz.
# http://www.webmasterworld.com/profile.cgi?action=view&member=digitalghost
#
# This one is by noted marketing guru Guy Kawasaki:
# http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/03/whats_your_eq_e.html
#
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
# Here's a quiz to determine your "entrepreneurial quotient". My
# intent is to test a person's knowledge of entrepreneurship. However,
# scoring high doesn't mean you're the next Steve Jobs, and scoring
# low doesn't mean you're not. Some answers are debatable, so there
# will be many comments.
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# ok - haven't taken the test just yet. I got to reading that page
# and several things besides the test freaking leaped off the page and
# need major comment.
#
# a) guy is pretty cool. We thought about him for a keynote at PubCon
# and may have him in the future. I saw him speak a couple years ago
# in Chicago and he is a very righteous speaker.
#
# <satire>
# b) What is that over on the right where the traditional trashcan
# blog roll should be? What is a Tag Zoom cloud? That looks brilliant!
# Where have I been on that one...wow. Take your tags and dump keywords
# on to the page and don't call is page spamming - call it a
# Cloud! (grin)and people wonder why tagging teams are going at it?
# </satire>
#
# c) Another Text-Link-Ads ad on that page. Patrick Gavin of TLA is
# without-a-doubt this last years genius advertiser in the SEO space -
# he is EVERYWHERE with his product. What and excellent job of
# brand building with a sometimes controversial product. Nice Work!
#
# ok - back to the test...
#
# I missed 7.
#
# #4: The foundation of a successful brand is:
#
# I still think should be A (Effective marketing). It was a trick
# question because a great product does NOT equal a great brand. But,
# a bad product can equal a great brand (eg: Ipod was 2 years late to
# the market, major under powered, 50% higher than competitors, and
# broke alot in the early days...)
#
# #5: Ultimately, who positions a product or service establishing how
# customers will come to view it?
#
# The company positions a product from start to finish. What happens
# in the market place by the consumers - is not positioning. Any
# company that believes the product, the message, and the positioning
# is out of their control - is doomed - go home people - it's over.
# You control EVERYTHING. Yes, there comes a point when every child
# leaves the nest, but even then, they can phone home to get money
# wired after that weekend bender at college. The point being, that
# a culture of accountability, resposibilty and total empowerment
# must live in the product from birth until death pulls if off the
# shelf. Nothing less than a employeement force that takes total
# ownership for a products life cycle is acceptable.
#
# #6: If you want your company to be successful, it's most important
# to strive for which objective?
#
# Ok fine, life, liberty and the pursuit of a monopoly.
# Tastes like chicken.
#
# ....meanwhile, back in the real world.
#
# Ya, i will cut Guy some slack on this one. I know where he is coming
# from, however I do not believe that you HAVE to be the sole
# provider of something people really want to be profitable, successful,
# or even retire early. All of that can be accomplished in
# a highly competitive market.
#
# #10: Which part of a business plan is the most important?
#
# Well, he warned us that it was trick question in his intro. lol.
# executive summary. Have you ever seen a business plan that had an
# "executive summary"? (shrug - yes I have) In lieu of that - the
# competitive analysis is most important.
#
# #13: A company that is bootstrapping should avoid which management
# practice?
#
# I suppose this is a little too close to home for me to see the
# answer clearly. I said C (Positioning against the industry leader),
# but b (Trying to recruit a "dream" management team of proven
# executives) makes very good sense. Chimps can manage in the early
# days and you need committed, passionate heavy lifters to lay down
# the schema and carry out the existing plan as growth overwhelms you
# in the early days.
#
# #15: You've just met with a key potential account. It could be a
# large sale and also bolster your company's credibility in the
# industry. However, the account is afraid to do business with a
# "startup." The best way to win them over is to:
#
#
# 15: I totally knew his answer was going to be C: Offer to do a
# pilot implementation at a deep discount.
#
# Unfortunately, I know alot of companies that have held going out of
# business sales because they said C too. Just talk to companies like
# Novell, Stacker, Word Perfect, Lotus, Apple, or Geocities about
# showing people a "demo" at a deep discount. Never heard of some of
# those companies? Ya, they all are about dead or suffered extreme harm
# at some point, because they happened to give people deeply discounted
# demos. There is no better way in todays world to get your product
# ripped off than to give discounted demo. Where would Apple be today
# if Steve Jobs hadn't given a mac demo to Microsoft and went with
# some other software house?
#
#
# - BT
# =========================================================================== #
# #
# The Left and the Right Wing Assault Four Big Horses #
# #
# by brett tabke #
# 2/15/2006 #
# #
# =========================================================================== #
# <advert>
# ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
#
# WebmasterWorlds PUBCON BOSTON
#
# Keynote by Malcolm (Tipping Point) Gladwell
#
# Get the PubCon Edge!
#
# http://www.PubCon.com
#
# ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
# </advert>
# If you happened to watch todays hearings that featured Google, Yahoo,
# Cisco, and Microsoft you saw a double sided ambush. These are some folks
# worried about their congressional seat in an election year. These
# are same lot who voted for open and free trade with China. Yes, this is
# the same lot that is now waxing poetic and pointed accusatory fingers at
# the big four for doing what we do - making money in the market place
# that our government and lawmakers created by granting China, most favored
# trade status.
#
# The message underneath is pretty clear : "as long as it political
# prisoners working for 50cents a day to build designer tennis shoes
# for Walmart in Shanghai - it is ok. But once it is "in your face" with
# flat out censorship - it is not ok! There is zero difference between
# that guy building Nikes for Walmart and Google selling the keyword
# "great wall".
#
# Dear Washington;
#
# Get over it, or change your damnable trade laws THAT YOU MADE.
# Leave the internet alone. It is too big and complex for you to
# understand. Let the boys in California do business and quit trying
# to make political capital out of a less than ideal situation. It is
# not up to the Four Horsemen to fight our national battles or more
# precisely - the battles you don't have the nads to fight where you
# should be fighting. If you have a problem with the way China is
# doing business, then take it up in Beijing.
#
# Brett Tabke
##
# =========================================================================== #
# #
# Head Down and Spending Time With The Cube #
# #
# by brett tabke #
# 2/14/2006 #
# #
# =========================================================================== #
# First, happy Valentines day in the US. I have spent the better
# part of the last few weeks - locked in combat with "the cube". Yes,
# it is coming up on conference time (www.pubcon.com) and I am busy
# finishing the session grid. I have always likened it to solving a a
# rubics cube. XX number of Sessions with XX number of speakers with
# XX number of egos ;-) makes for a fun challenge. The good news is -
# the grid is almost done! Best conference ever.
#
# -bt
# =========================================================================== #
# #
# The Richter Scale of Conferencing #
# #
# by brett tabke #
# 2/1/2006 #
# #
# =========================================================================== #
# <advert>
# ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
#
# WebmasterWorlds PUBCON BOSTON
#
# Keynote by Malcolm (Tipping Point) Gladwell
#
# Get the PubCon Edge!
#
# http://www.PubCon.com
#
# ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
# </advert>
# post note: Did I just become the first one to ever put a banner ad in a robots.txt?
#
# re:http://www.buzzmachine.com/index.php/2006/01/29/exploding-the-conference-business/
#
# Last week Jeff Jarvis (buzzmachine - one of my 'gotta reads') talked
# about conferences in a blog post. His sentiments have echoed many I
# have heard. Scoble addressed many of Jeffs comments, but even Robert
# was a bit conservative in his estimates of what a conference
# costs these days.
#
# http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/2006/01/29/conferences-vcing-hot-topics-this-morning/
#
# 2000 of My Closest Friends for 3 Days:
#
# Lets say you are going to plan a conference for 2000 people for 3
# days. To hold a conference that size, you are going to be pretty
# limited in what venues you can use. Those that will work - will cost
# you. If you are in a hotel, your rates will go down, but in a
# convention center they can increase significantly. At a minimum, you
# will pay about $1 a square foot. Or, a conference of 2k for 3 days,
# will run $50,000 to $80,000 for the space.
#
# Next, a you will need a contractor to handle the conference setup,
# and to work with the venue. Most cities and convention centers
# require union labor to handle things like booths. That will run you
# another $20k-$50k.
#
# You will need some AV. You can do it for about $10k on the cheap, or
# $20-$30k if you wanna be real.
#
# Then you'll need security as mandated by the venue. About $5-7k.
#
# Then some labor to operate the thing. Another $10-15k.
#
# Conference books. About $10-15 per attendee ($20-$25k).
#
# Shipping all this stuff - another $5-20k (it gets out of control in
# a hurry).
#
# Figuring out how to get all this to sync - atleast $10k in
# consultants (very conservative).
#
# Computers to manage your registration on site and for presentations
# $5k.
#
# On venue site misc expenses (trust me) $10-20k.
#
# Hey, you want internet at your conference? That will run $500 to
# $1000 PER connection! (or $8k easy)
#
# You want a big shot keynote speaker? Figure $40-$150k speaking fees
# (plus expenses).
#
# Showing your panel speakers some love : $2k - xx,000
#
# Then your online site $7-10k a year.
#
# You gotta have some of them there perty signs to tell everyone
# what's where when - $2k on the cheap - $5k to get real.
#
# Then your guys to build and run the conference (1 person per 500
# attendees min) at probably 70k-90k a year.
#
# You need to get your people there right? Lets say $20k in planes,
# trains, taxis, and hotels.
#
# Who is that over there? Billy Joe Jim Bob Name tags: $3 each. ($5k)
#
# Taxes, insurance, offices, phones, internet - oh no!. $xx,xxx -
# $xxx,xxx per year.
#
# Decorators? Don't even go there! $20k just for designs.
#
# Meeting planners? $10k just for the coffe talk. --$50k for them to
# actually do some work.
#
# Still with us? Ok, here is where we shake out the men from the boys:
#
# Getting a hotel for the conference? Lets say you reserve a room
# block of 750 rooms for 3 nights : 2250 times at say $159 a night.
# That's a cool $380,000 you just guaranteed bucko. You still have the
# stomach for this? What's more? you are probably going to have to
# make that commitment 1 full year out before the conference! Hello!?
#
# Oh wait - we were doing for 2k people right? And they will be there for
# the 3 nights of the conference plus the travel day. So that is 8000
# room nights and you will probably spend $180-$225 for rooms. So a
# real figure closeer to $1.25- to $1.8 million. Yes, that is MILLION!
#
# Next you'll need to feed some people. Most conference centers will
# run about $50 per person per day for a continental breakfast and box
# lunch package. Or for a three day conference, $150 per attendee. Any
# where from $300k to $500k for food total. If you get shmancy fancy,
# you could easily top $150 per person per day.
#
# Hey, so you are out of pocket for half a million to one million on this
# "little conference" and committed to several hundred more - you
# best be doing some marketing. add $50-$150k.
#
# Happy Fun Thoughts:
#
# As scary as that may be - lets think some happy thoughts and talk
# revenue baby:
#
# In order to build a conference of 2k, you will end up comp'ing about
# 25%. Those will include staff, speakers, friends, friends of
# speakers, and VIP's. Every conference I have been around has a comp
# rate of 25% or higher.
#
# Then you will have deeply discounted rates for exhibitors and
# sponsors. If you have 50 exhibitors, you can figure on giving each
# 4-6 passes to go along with their package.
#
# Next, you will more-than-likely have a discount rate for exhibit
# hall only attendees. That will run another 10-20% depending on your
# conference style and attraction. Of that, you will probably have a
# discounted coupon rate for your exhibitors. I know of one large
# conference that regularly gives exhibitors a 50% discount rate that
# they can pass on to their clients.
#
# Then you will probably have a deeply discounted early sign up rate.
#
# Lastly, many conferences will have single "day rates" that cut
# prices in half for each day.
#
# So here is the big secret in conferences today - at a minimum, a
# modern conference of 2k will have less than 50% that actually pay to
# get in the door, and of those - only 30-35% will pay full price. For
# example, I know of one big new york conference that had 8k people
# attend last year. Of those, only 555 were paid in full, 1500 were
# single day passes and the rest were exhibit hall only and comps.
#
# Exhibits? Ya, those will require special handling. Rarely do
# conferences sell packages at full price. Even the largest
# conferences out there today often discount their sponsorships 50%
# for multi conference signups.
#
# So, as Scoble hints, it is exponentially harder to do a conference
# of 2k than it is to do a conference of 4-5 hundred. It is like that
# Richter scale thing where things start multiplying out of control.
#
# Our Orlando conference of 500 in Feb of 2004 was 7000% more
# profitable than our Las Vegas conference of 1500 last fall.
#
# I think 2006 will be a big year of shake out in the conference
# business. We will see many smaller conferences fade and the bigger
# ones solidify their standing. The Fad-Techs and the CES's will grow
# in dominance. What will separate the big from the small will be
# marketing.
#
# Does Alan Meckler selling Ses makes a whole lot more sense now?
# Alan will not be missed (atleast by those of us that run
# conferences...lol)
#
# Jeff did have some very interesting comments about a conference being
# a conversation, we will tackle those another day.
#
# BT
#
# =========================================================================== #
# #
# Cache This - Or, Setting Up Your Own Vertical Search Engine #
# #
# by brett tabke #
# 1/27/2006 #
# #
# =========================================================================== #
#
# http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum30/32936.htm
#
# http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2006_01.php#004345
#
# I've said for years that in any court case, "the one with the most
# money will 99% of the time win. Yesterdays ruling that Googles
# republished copy of pages (they call it a "cache") proves that
# point.
#
# What Does It Mean:
#
# It means we can now all start "caching" search engines and
# republishing works. Simply download and install a search engine
# just as ASPSeek and fed it some URLs. And as added bonus points
# The search engines will glady cache your cached pages.
#
# http://www.aspseek.org
#
# - bt
#
# =========================================================================== #
# #
# Another Search Magazine #
# #
# by brett tabke #
# 1/26/2006 #
# #
# =========================================================================== #
#
# The third attempt at a search marketing magazine:
#
# http://www.searchmarketingstandard.com/
#
# Many will probably remember the first big magazine BallyHoo by Troy
# Perkins.
#
# -bt
# =========================================================================== #
# #
# Yahoo, Oh Sorry - She Said it, but We Didn't Mean It! #
# #
# by brett tabke #
# 1/25/2006 #
# #
# =========================================================================== #
#
# http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum35/3819.htm#
#
# Yahoo CFO Susan Dreker said earlier this week:
#
# http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/256748_yahoo24.html
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# "We don't think it's reasonable to assume we're going to gain a lot
# of share from Google," Chief Financial Officer Susan Decker said in
# an interview. "It's not our goal to be No. 1 in Internet search. We
# would be very happy to maintain our market share."
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# So when my email and stickymail started going off that Yahoo had
# responded, I was excited. At least until I found out they had
# responded on their blog.
#
# They have the phone number of every major tech reporter in the
# country in their Rolodex. So why not call up Bloomberg for a second
# interview and respond - or how about the AP - or the New York Times,
# - one of a dozen other top news outlets in the country? To publish
# a "nondenial denial" on the corporate blog is to be dismissed from
# top to bottom. It pollutes everything they have to say via that
# avenue from now until eternity
#
# This is a perfect example of why the corporate search blogs
# should be ignored. It is why companies should not act this way.
# It is also why we do not link to corporate search blogs.
#
# If they have something to say - then issue a press release, or
# grab the nearest real reporter on any street corner and talk.
#
# - bt
#
# =========================================================================== #
#
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