Domi-No-Yes-Maybe - Latest Comments

Re: DominoYesMaybe: Of Bruce Elgort , (very small) Alien Abduction, OpenNTF and changing times.

friv 5 — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 05:34:56 -0000

The requirements and objectives as well as to determine location.

Re: Reading a CSV attachment in a server agent on Domino running on an iSeries

Joe Brender — Fri, 13 Dec 2013 15:05:55 -0000

Thanks for the solution. I was doing a very annoying copy obj command previously, this shortened my code substantially.

Re: DominoYesMaybe: OK who turned out the lights and where is the tuna?

raybilyk — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 08:29:20 -0000

Very well said, dude!

Re: DominoYesMaybe: OK who turned out the lights and where is the tuna?

Mary Beth Raven — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 20:13:16 -0000

AS usual, a wonder post and just a fun read, Steve. I agree completely about the community and the friendship.
Mary Beth Raven

Re: DominoYesMaybe: Phil Collins retires - Let the world Rejoice!

Ivan — Wed, 15 May 2013 08:11:11 -0000

totally agree...what a sanctimonious prat that PC is....thank the lord he's given up

Re: DominoYesMaybe: Domino Dander for Dosh 2013

Sean Cull — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 13:28:36 -0000

is there a link to the event page ?

Re: DominoYesMaybe: Who can say where the road goes, where the day goes? Only time....

Timothy Briley — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 18:48:20 -0000

So that's what happened. A sad day indeed. Here is a link:

http://www.tampabay.com/new...

Re: DominoYesMaybe: Coping with Windows update 2661254 SSL FIx on a self certed domino server

Werner Goetz — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 06:01:59 -0000

see https://plus.google.com/u/0...

Re: DominoYesMaybe: Domino Dander for Dosh 2013

John Lindsay — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 03:05:55 -0000

If you end up in the "Granite City" you zigged when you shoulda zagged or you took the wrong turn at Albaquerque(sp?). The Granite City is Aberdeen (where you will be very welcome if you do come here). :-)

Re: DominoYesMaybe: Coping with Windows update 2661254 SSL FIx on a self certed domino server

Per Henrik Lausten — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 16:19:42 -0000

Welcome, Steve! Glad the tweet could help :-)

Re: DominoYesMaybe: Coping with Windows update 2661254 SSL FIx on a self certed domino server

Vitor Pereira — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 11:40:36 -0000

"IE started to work again" - is an overstatement :)

Re: DominoYesMaybe: IT Sales Cold Calls - The bane of my life :(

Handly Cameron — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 05:47:16 -0000

You left out: If you claim I currently work for a company that ceased to exist 5 years ago, your list is wrong and you clearly know nothing about me.

Re: DominoYesMaybe: Design Principals #4 - Use Emphasis to make your point

Steve McDonagh — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 03:25:36 -0000

Hmmmm ..<backpedal>"something of principal or chief importance." is that not Principal? ;-) I thought Principle was "a fundamental, primary, or general law or truth from " since design is usually subjective, emotive and and everything is not made using the same rules and structures that principal would be better</backpedal> ... OR ... it coould be Rule #2 - Don't trust spell checkers to correct your bollox-ups

Re: DominoYesMaybe: Design Principals #4 - Use Emphasis to make your point

Richard H. Schwartz — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 21:14:57 -0000

Blog principle #1: check the spelling of your post's title ;-)

Re: DominoYesMaybe: Principals of Design #2 - Proportion

Steve McDonagh — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 18:46:46 -0000

Thanks Folks .. I knew all that arty farty stuff would come in handy one day. I hope it is making sense :-)

Re: DominoYesMaybe: Principals of Design #2 - Proportion

francie tanner — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 12:09:19 -0000

Very interesting, thanks for sharing Steve!

Re: DominoYesMaybe: Today is a BOFH day .... :-)

David Buxton — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 17:41:49 -0000

I know just how you feel about having staff direct their stupid questions at you, especially when it isn't your responsibility to provide the answers.

Nevertheless I strongly recommend being as accommodating as possible - even if all you say is "sorry can't help, but speak to person x who will help".

It is partly about salvaging your own sanity - getting annoyed doesn't help them or you, and it really doesn't help (in the long run) to vent on the user. They don't understand why it isn't your job and why they are at fault. From their perspective you are one of the IT crew and "it's all computers, no?"

Either way, you will come out smelling of roses if you can stifle a scream and go at least half way to answering their stupid questions. Ultimately I reckon you will be happier giving up on fighting them, it takes too much energy.

(And quite often one discovers that the users only need a little more initial explanation and instruction to defuse many of these stupid questions.)

Thanks for the blog,

David B.

Re: DominoYesMaybe: Today is a BOFH day .... :-)

Steve McDonagh — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 16:56:05 -0000

David

To be fair that was what I was aiming for and yes I am jerk. 26 years of fielding questions like this has left me grumpy and with a nearly zero tolerance for lazy stupid questions and leads directly to sarcasm and splenic vitriol.

1. In the 10+ years with the company this user has changed his password on that server every 60 days so around 60 times and he apparently managed it all those times, unless he had someone to help him for 59 of those occasions in which case he has broken several security policies that might need closer investigation, but i was charitable and not mention that.

2. These warning messages have been sent out for the last 3 years and he has only just read and not understood them now. I tactfully did not point that out.

3, The messages are provided by the Help Desk to avoid questions like this, the HDOs sit at their desks with the fixed grins of those that have to deal with the dim,the perplexed and the confused. But NO the message arrived in my inbox, perhaps a REPLY to those paid to HELP is also too difficult a concept and needs a proper explanation? Again I did not even hint that may have been a mistake,

4. Every user has training where the security policies and procedures are explained this training is repeated every 24 months, perhaps he was sick those days? Did I comment on the waste of time that had been in his respect - no.

5. Each user is provided with a set of PDFs that explain in some detail exactly what do to. These PDFs are available on the intranet but given that replying to the help desk is beyond him the intranet miust be a minefield of complexity - not a peep from me about that .

I could go on but I can feel the spleen rise and my blood pressure start to peak.So I care not a jot about my jerk-ishness in this respect. I reserve the right to slam the "stupid door" when someone opens it.

Re: DominoYesMaybe: Today is a BOFH day .... :-)

David Buxton — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 05:26:10 -0000

I bet he felt insulted and now thinks you are a jerk.

It would have been more helpful to explain that "userprofile XXX" means the thing that he has to type in when prompted for a name and password. And infinitely more helpful to explain that there will be a window asking him to choose a new password, and that is how he can change his password.

These things really are not obvious for many people, and they get very defensive about admitting they don't understand. Please be patient with them.

Re: DominoYesMaybe: Principals of Design #2 - Proportion

brett hershberger — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 00:26:46 -0000

Me too Steve, great stuff. Looking forward to more of this.

Re: DominoYesMaybe: Principals of Design #2 - Proportion

Nathan Freeman — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 12:04:30 -0000

Really enjoying this series, Steve. Please keep up the good work.

I did some experimenting with Golden Ratio interfaces a few years ago. Very compelling stuff.

Re: DominoYesMaybe: Today is a BOFH day .... :-)

raybilyk — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 11:04:22 -0000

Simply brilliant! That's why you are Worshipful Grand Dragon's GONAD!

Re: DominoYesMaybe: Today is a BOFH day .... :-)

Roy Rumaner — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 10:42:28 -0000

Very nice.

Re: DominoYesMaybe: Quick Tip for IE Compatibility Modes

joelitton — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 10:30:45 -0000

BRILLIANT! Thank you, sir!

Re: DominoYesMaybe: Today is a BOFH day .... :-)

Norbert (BUFH) — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 10:12:32 -0000

So I'm supposed to change tomorrow? Into what, yesterday? I don't get it.