Censorship and Respect

I'm the kind of person who has to understand how things work, especially if there is data. I can't help it. I've always taken things apart, changed conditions, watched for impacts, and tried to replicate. I didn't know this was "hacking" until fairly recently. It's just something I do.

As a Product Manager, I spent quite a bit of time studying SEO, mostly because the if we depended on the Marketing Director to do her job the product would've died. The more I fell into tuning the landing and product pages to maximize hits, the more fascinated I got in the data we were collecting about who visited. Admittedly I had the best-est of partners who shared my interest in feeding data back into our message. We were very successful. What the company viewed as a minor add-on product to get the Sales Rep's foot in the door accounted for over 85% of the web traffic.

I can't help but be equally interested in my Twitter account stats. It's not about monetizing. I actively review and Block ANY followers that are: selling more followers, T&A, or obnoxiously hawking their wares.

I just love seeing how well I can communicate and what people are interested in...

The first time I noticed an anomalous drop in Twitter impressions was last Fall. My husband commented, half joking, that it happened right after posting a less than favorable tweet about Twitter. It wasn't rude, but it was critical. In my world, criticism is how you make things better, and Twitter hasn't exactly been too well as a company.

After posting sunshine and rainbows for a couple of weeks, my stats went back to normal. Hmmm.....I kinda brushed it off, but have been frustrated but the glaring lack of information about how Twitter calculates the stats reported on the analytics dashboard.

Then I saw the very same inexplicable behavior after I posting my Ted Cruz-resembles-GrandPa-Munster tweet:

The number of impressions were up to 9,960 after 36 hours - and then stopped. Same number next morning. I thought that was weird. By that evening, the number of impressions for this tweet dropped 75%. So of course I took to Twitter.

I started gathering more data because now I had a pattern. In the course of researching the problem I bumped into a few articles about Twitter censoring authors via shadow bans. I was initially skeptical, so I decided to test. 

I typically see 30 - 40 impressions within the first hour, unless there are re-tweets, which was what happened with my Ted Cruz-as-Munster funny. Impressions are defined as simple how many unique timelines your tweet appears in. It doesn't mean anyone sees your tweet, they just have the opportunity. With 80+ followers and being on a few Lists, 30 - 40 impressions is a logical number.

But, after I posted the following tweet, impressions for that and any other post I made dropped to zero - regardless of the content:

Hmm. There may be merit to the shadow banning rumor. Next test. I decided to publish how I feel about Twitter censorship, if indeed that is what happened:

What's interesting is impressions remained zero, until the following tweet to .@Jack (Mr Twitter himself):

Within 4 hours, impressions on ALL my tweets started to increment, including the Ted Cruz-as-Munster offender. But still not exactly where I would expect the numbers to be.

I wanted to see if innocuous tweets would get me completely out of the dog house, so I over-participated in the 2BitTues game. Bingo. The oh-so-offending tweet is now over 15,000 impressions and here is my current 7-day stats:

CONCLUSIONS

I think shadow banning is very real, but maybe far more subtle than folks may realize. 

My guess is users report abuse to Twitter when they bump into content that they find offensive. Twitter probably has some kind of level of tolerance where if there are so many reports within a time period, they ban first and review later. Rather than something as insidious as Twitter employees shadow banning accounts, maybe it's just gangs that group report what they don't like - knowing whatever that golden threshold of silence is...

THE IRONY

While I am fairly well disgusted by the SJWs imposing their over-emotional expectations on other people, my reaction is to filter the bullshit rather than engage. Like, whatever.

The irony of all this is #TheTriggering would've never even entered my radar except for this experience.

Apparently, someone(s) can't take a joke - or criticism. 

So here's what I have to say: Fuck your labels. 

You are what you DO. You can't demand or expect respect. The very best you can do is give it. Respect is earned, and it will always elude you if that's what your goal is, instead of supporting a community, being dependable, helping folks out just because it really feels good to make a difference. You have to sincerely care about people to win their trust. 

Reasons to Compost

My beloved dual chamber compost tumbler rusted through on one side.



We've been composting for 18 years. The tumbler is an intrinsic part of our system. All the kitchen scraps and [suitable] yard waste go in the tumbler, which tremendously speeds decomposition. You can easily give it a turn, instead of spending hour long sessions with a shovel. The tumbler sits on a frame of spindly metal legs which keeps the rats (and other critters) out while the worms do their business. We switch between active and cooking chambers, and empty the goo into the black box to "finish".

I thought we could limp it along until next summer, but the metal literally caves in with slightest touch. Total garden crisis. I talked with my husband, who asked if we could buy replacement parts. No such luck. $499 to replace the entire unit, if you can find it in stock, and money we just don't have right now.

The best options I could come up with were:

a) Stop composting and buy the stuff in a plastic bag.

b) Use only the black box and get rid of the tumbler.

c) Compost only the paper towels, coffee grinds, and egg shells to avoid the rat problem.

I wasn't happy, but tried to look on the bright side. Composting takes a lot of time. You have to stay on top of the mix, or it will easily sour. I was so relieved when Doug said he can fix it, no problem. (That sheet metal shop class from high school keeps sure comes in handy!)

This is why. He took one look at the compost I laid down on Friday.




You can't buy this. It's black gold.



I harvested 4 gorilla carts full of compost this week - that's 5.5 cubic feet per load.

Reasons to Compost

• Plants love compost. It makes the soil friable, and rich with oxygen and nutrients.
• Using compost instead of chemical fertilizer enriches the soil instead of depleting it. Plus you save money by not buying something in a box.
• The birds and salamanders will thank you for providing food instead of poisoning them.
• Compost keeps weeds at bay and significantly reduces water usage.
• It improves drainage, which the plants like, and helps the soil absorb rain instead of creating run off (El Nino).
• Top dressing your plants with a 1 -2" layer protects roots from frost in winter and the heat in summer.
• If you make it, you don't have to buy it - and cart a bunch of dirt around in your car.
• There's no real knowing what's in a box or bag. What you make is a superior product, tuned to the chemistry of your garden.
• Ameliorates the guilt of throwing out fruits and vegetables that didn't get eaten.

Pruning Deadwood and The Right Time

Sometime around June or July, the Rose Lady across the street busted me pruning the ornamental cherry tree out front.

"Tsk, tsk", she murmured. "You shouldn't being doing that at this time of year. It will bleed out."

"But this branch is driving me nuts! It's not in the right place."

I knew she was right, but rationalized it would be okay - until a few days later when I found a pile of goo in the flower bed under the tree, and couldn't figure out what it was...then I looked up, and saw sap flowing from the fresh cut.

I made a silent pact to never again prune at the wrong time, and pondered how there really is a good time - and a bad time.

Like when I over-sowed the wildflower seeds because none sprouted the year before, and then spent countless hours thinning an overgrown mass of seedlings because what I didn't realize is: the seeds didn't thrive the first time because I sowed in late Spring. California wildflowers need to lay dormant throughout a cold winter. The low sprout rate had nothing to do with viability or water or sun - and everything to do with timing.

Everything Worth Knowing About Business I Learned In the Garden
It's not an accident that "pruning deadwood" is a euphemism for letting go of employees that drag a company down. Many companies strategically use periodic layoffs to purge new hires that don't fit in, get rid of long term employees that can't cut it, and dump managers that block change and growth. Just as most plants need regular pruning to stay healthy, companies need to cut the deadwood.

But in the garden, there's a lot more to pruning than just removing the deadwood. My first priority is reducing the risk of breakage when the winter storms come. I thin the crown and lace the branches so the wind and rain can pass freely - instead of getting caught like a sail.

I shape plants to be part of the overall landscape, to create a tapestry instead of a patchwork quilt, with a plant plunked here and another over there. I take my time, sometimes multiple passes with days in between, watching how the plant responds, lest the cuts go to deep.

I take labels with a grain of salt, and spend a lot of time researching, reading what others have to say, and taking pictures of gardens I like.

I know some plants are in the wrong spot, and need to get moved to flourish. Others will never perform and need to come out. Then there's the thugs that try to take over the world, stealing resources and crowding everyone else out - those I jump on swiftly before they spread.

The Right Time
Fall is the time to prune the trees and large shrubs, when the plants are sleepy and the sap runs slow. The branches are clean of leaves and spiders, and the birds are done nesting.

Fortunately, it was only one branch, and the tree survived.

Sometimes, the right thing to do is nothing at all.

Cons as a Place to Hire

Here are my thoughts about Career Tracks and job hunting. 

Summer Camp Experience

I was pretty dismayed by the BSidesLV Career Track. I came to the conference with a folder of resumes, and every intent of hitting those sessions until I looked at the agenda, and realized the bulk of the material was aimed at college students or recent grads. 

Trust me: There is nothing anyone can tell me about a Life at a Startup that I can't beat, like coming to work to find the doors chained and padlocked.

While there were a few talks that sounded interesting, the way the track was laid out, it felt like I needed to dedicate the entire day, and there were other talks I wanted to go to, in addition to volunteering as a red shirt.

I was working security during the chill-room table time, so had a great excuse for eavesdropping on two of the tables without looking like a creep. The conversations were 100% buzz-word compliant. I'm not certain any of the parties involved had any idea what the other people were saying...and all I could think of was the career fair booths that I'd (wo)manned in the past, collected literally a thousand resumes, and I swear not one of those resumes landed on a manager's desk. Not one of those people got hired! As a matter of fact: We would rent the booth for PR, to make it look like we were hiring and growing and competitive.

The clincher was when some guy wandered into the SOC room to "volunteer", and when Nous politely told him the schedule was set 2 months ago, he said, "But I'm here to jump start my career!" and stormed off.

DefCon mirrored the same focus and fervor for young people.

I didn't hand out a single resume, and came away feeling pretty much like an anomaly: ton of experience wearing many different hats in tech, newly interested in infosec, discovering the stuff I've always done to get the job done is called "hacking" - and that it's really cool being around other people who don't think like everyone else either i.e., college was a looonnnngggg time ago.

#DerbyCon Hiring List

I bumped into Rob's tweet and followed to his post:

http://www.room362.com/2015/09/2015-derbycon-hiring.html

It’s often tough from both hiring and job hunters to find one another at conferences. I think this is mostly because of a couple things.

1. No one wants to stand at a both on either side and talk job stuff in front of a bunch of people and people at booths rarely get the chance to get away.
2. It’s hard to know “who” to talk to.

So I created a very simple Google doc to help put twitter handles and links together for people who are job hunting and people who are hiring to kinda get to know who to talk to.

Yes! Such a relief to see someone else's analysis of my problem, and addresses my primary issue which is: If I can just talk with the hiring manager or the team, I can explain what I do to relieve pain - and at the same time assess whether they are a good fit for me, because I really don't want to be a sacrificial lamb (hired to fail), work for another asshole, or work for a company that can't make payroll.

Note: I think a key component of why the Hiring List is so appealing and successful is because it is constrained to the con - not after, and not inclusive of non-attendees.

There is an amazing amount of communication that happens face-to-face that you just can't get via any other form of communication, and that I think is key to getting hired and building the kind of trusting relationship that successful teams need to thrive. 

Ideas

I don't know if Rob's Hiring List can work at BSidesLV. I can imagine getting overwhelmed with contacts...

Here's a few ideas, just to kick-around other options that might help the not-right-out-of-college job hunter. Goal being to inspire better thoughts and conversation (the over-used word of 2015):

• Anonymized Hiring List? This is prolly a bad idea, but set-up a "drop-box" for hiring managers so their home feed doesn't get bombed, and so they don't continue to get bombed after the con, but they can still meet face-to-face.
• Flip-it-around: Instead of company booths that job-hunters approach, what about tables where we can advertise our skills - and what we're looking for. I almost came with a custom printed shirt "Looking for work!", but then decided that could be mis-interpreted ;-)
• Coffee social - or something like that: I would go to a gathering dubbed as a meet and greet opportunity. I don't like selling my shit at Happy Hour because it's Happy Hour! Or at a Party because it's a Party! Maybe I'm old school (okay I am), but there's a time and a place and aggressively hunting folks when they are hanging out is just rude.
• Resume board: Heavy sigh. 

Thoughts?

Sinners and Saints; Infosec and Hackers: Parallel Universes

​

I heard a fascinating interview on the radio ​yesterday; Terry Gross speaking with Nadia Bolz-Webber, a Lutheran pastor in Denver. ​

When asked why people are surprised she's a pastor, Bolz-Webber responded, "...I tend to swear like a truck driver...I'm very heavily tattooed, I have sleeve tattoos, basically, and very short hair, and I'm, like, 6-feet-1-inch [tall]. I don't actually act like a pastor either. I don't have that sweet, nurturing, "come to me; I'll co-sign on all of your BS problems," like, I just don't have that warm, cozy personality, and I'm kind of cranky and a little bit sarcastic, I guess."

Looks more hacker than pastor, huh?

Bolz-Webber was a stand-up comic in recovery when she got her calling. She was giving a eulogy at a friend's funeral, when she realized the crowd of academics, comics, and alcoholics were people like herself; not readily welcomed by mainstream churches.

So she went to seminary, and started ​her own church: ​The House for All Sinners and Saints​.

Everything was great, until The Denver Post ran a ​front-page ​feature ​​about Bolz-Webber, and the "normals" descended on the church​.

She struggled with "our weird" ​getting "diluted" - but eventually ​faced the basic tenant of her ministry: accepting ​strangers - including "bankers in dockers".

What struck ​me are the parallels with BSidesLV: 

• A church for sinners and saints and a conference for infosec and hackers.
• Vibrant communities built on shared interest, not necessarily shared belief. 
• Unexpected dramatic growth from people outside the archetype.
• Built on accepting strangers and Encouraging diverse voices.

I am so grateful for the BSidesLV community. Being one of those people with a foot in each door, I'm interested in the intersection, the exchange of ideas. Being able to hear other perspectives is invaluable - even [especially!] when I don't agree. 

Sometimes I change my mind ;-)

Bright creative people aren't easy. We're not easy to live with, and we're not easy to work with. 

So please: bring your toys back to the sandbox. We need each other. 

Def Con - A Beyond Noob Perspective

Having read a number of posts recently that poignantly express disappointment / frustration in how much Def Con has grown and changed, I want to share my beyond noob experience.

We went to our first DefCon last year.

I was on a short term contract at a local PD, filling in until the new IT Director started. After the first few weeks, I came to realize many of the problem reports boiled down to malware and squirrely network issues. I traced a few nasty trojans to a couple of roaming Windows accounts that belonged to personnel who had not worked at the agency in years. I regularly worked on computers that had not been updated in over 5 years old...I was shocked.

Every night I came home, shared the latest story with my husband - and started studying. I was totally out my depth; Infosec is his thing. After a couple of months, he asked if I had any interest in going Def Con. I'm like, what's that? and then Yes!

It was a totally impulsive decision. We booked late, and stayed in the "wrong" hotel. Didn't read the FAQ, and wore Firefly brown. Brought the kid, didn't party, don't gamble, don't really like Vegas...and had SO MUCH FUN!  It was like becoming a room without a roof.

We met the most amazing people! Totally got into the badge, even though no hope of "winning". Went to some really good presentations.

Watching videos is not the same. There is a vibe, an under-current, that you get standing in those dreadful lines, walking down the hallway, listening to the buzz, hanging out in the chill room. It changed how we interact, what we're interested in, what we make.

I know the conference has changed. 23 years is along time. But what you may not see, is: Def Con is what you make it. It is the essence of the badge, a multi-layered interconnected puzzle.

If part of what you value is reaching out to the disenfranchised bright creatives, expanding a community of non-conformists, those who question authority - and best practices! People who make impulsive decisions, stay up too late, and (oh god!) take things apart, this beyond noob found a path at Def Con - and is looking forward to BSidesLV and 23!

The Value of a Squeaky Wheel and High Client Satisfaction

I recently requested a refund for a productivity app after realizing I was back to my old ways: post-it notes, pads of paper, documents and spreadsheets.

I had high hopes this one would be different - great reviews! Progressive visual paradigm based on research! Access and sync data from multiple devices: iPhone, Windows 8 laptop, and Windows 7 desktop.

I signed up for a free 30-day eval, and purchased a one year subscription after 2 weeks - regardless of all the red flags:

• Rocky Install - The documentation was incorrect. The only reason I was successful was due to educated guesses based on a lot of experience installing software and managing product evals. My feedback to support was brushed off .
• Poorly Accessible Documentation - Local documentation required a separate download, and was formatted as a project. Cute, but time-consuming when trouble-shooting a problem. Other resources available online were equally difficult to wade through: FAQ, blog, and [gag] training videos. 
• Annoying Buzzwords - Instead of a "New To ..." or "First Steps ...", the primary starting point is "Brand X 101 - Onboarding and User Documentation".  Because I was skimming, my first read was "waterboarding". Why would they want to torture me? more so than being subjected to training videos? I had to look up the term because I'd never heard of "onboarding". 
• Quirky [Unintuitive] Interface - Even though there's a nice picture of the Steve Ballmer visiting the office on the About page, with a note that he's the CEO of MicroSoft in case you didn't know, or at least he was...the application is not standard Windows. Among other issues, I got tired of trying to figure out how to change the font size. Not a killer in and of itself, as I've tolerated iTunes for years, but...
• Functionality - This is the clincher. I pictured sharing projects with my husband, but he gave the app a thumbs-down for not supporting drill-down projects. At the time, I thought he was being persnickety. Upon reflection, it is exactly this lack of functionality that led to why I stopped using the system. I was spending more time moving tasks around from project to project, fiddling with "notes", and trying to make logical categories than I was getting shit done.

Because of those "high hopes", it took 4 weeks for me to accept reality and request a refund.

The Product Manager/Co-founder refused to process the refund because the request was made after the 30-day period expired. Instead, he wanted to train me, "to help [me] overcome...and solve the challenges [I] faced".

Support and Client Satisfaction
I know it is hard to make - and keep - happy customers. I've spent many hours discussing the magic of "good" customer support with my husband. We've worked together building products for public safety agencies for over 20 years with four different companies. Public safety is a tough market: budgets are tight, cycles long, and the clients are innately suspicious of bad intentions.

The basic motivation for making happy customers is kind of selfish: happy customers don't need as much support. The time saved can be used developing new functionality and products. Happy customers make referrals to peers and provide good references. Life is good!

But, how do you know whether or not users are "happy"?

Most organizations measure client satisfaction based on "ticket" volume, the total number of calls opened and closed over a period of time. The assumption is low volume and high close rates equates to high client satisfaction - regardless of whether problems are correctly identified or resolved.

Evidence of client satisfaction may be established via survey - which typically results in "proving" what "everyone" knows via poorly framed, biased questions.

Users stop reporting problems and do not respond honestly to surveys when there are:

• Barriers: Forms/paperwork, required authorization, etc.
• Lack of response or long delays between reporting and interaction
• History of problems that don't get fixed
• Fear of being a Squeaky Wheel: that onerous label applied to "complainers" that results in anything said being dismissed with thinly veiled, behind-the-back eye-rolling and social stigmatization. 

The perception is "they" (technical support, management, etc.) don't care, so why bother?

Complaints are Valuable
Even though it can be hard to listen to, the criticism and complaints from unhappy customers are some of the most valuable information available to building great products and solutions.

The squeaky wheel is not your worst enemy. That customer is still vested and giving information that can identify the top priorities: that areas where applying limited resources will produce the biggest bang for the greatest number of users.

But, you probably already know what's wrong...which is why hearing about it can be so irritating. The problem may be impossibly expensive to fix, not very fun to work on, or politically delicate.

On the rare occasion someone reports a problem you don't know about, kiss their feet and do everything you can to encourage this behavior! These folks are your golden canaries in the coal mine.

So who is the enemy? Users who don't talk. "Lieutenant, your men (products, relationships, etc.) are already dead." It's just a matter of time. They don't need what you got...

Good clients talk. What they have to say may be hard to hear or deal with, but each contact is an opportunity to show you care for that person, that you value their experience - especially when it differs from your own - and appreciate their time. You many not be able to fix every problem, but most users when approached with timely response, sincere respect, and honesty become enthusiastic supporters and partners, helping to trouble-shoot and resolve problems, buying time when you need it most.

Training is Not the Issue
One of the few things that makes me more nuts than hearing someone whine about "needing training", is being told that I need it. Training is a lame excuse. It's a defensive maneuver that demonstrates lack of commitment and  motivation.

I'm perfectly capable of identifying the information I need, and taking whatever I'm working on to the next level. I learn most effectively by organically gathering information and testing. I have a hard time sitting still in classrooms and meetings.

Although I've produced training videos to make users happy, I hate sitting through them. What I want, is well-written searchable text that I can hit from either inside a help system or a search engine, and an intuitive user interface that adheres to basic application standards for that operating system.

Admittedly, I'm not most users. Nor am I like most trainers. I started tutoring one-on-one when I was 8 years (teachers in the US deal with bored gifted kids by making them tutor their classmates), and have been teaching ever since.

Based on my experience working with adults and children, both as unwitting volunteer and tech professional, if we are ever to nurture the innate talents of individuals, we need to stop training people. 

Instead of assuming the problem is the user, open your mind and listen.

The Screen Door
20 years ago, we replaced the screen door with a screen curtain. Our dog, Katana, invented this solution. She was a wonderful dog, and but unfortunately, the proverbial bull in the china shop at 78 pounds of pure exuberant muscle.

After replacing the screen door for the third time, we started to realize...there is no "training" this dog. She doesn't mean to run through the door; it just happens.

On one charge through the closed door, Katana did not bend the frame, but instead tore the screen along the edges. Ah hah! We cut the fabric a little higher side and bottom and voila! A real solution.

Watch and Listen
Even when support comes from the right place, when users are regarded with compassion and respect, it's a constant battle to crawl out of your own personal shit and listen instead of blaming the user.

The other day, my mom mentioned the house was cold. She was having problems using the new thermostat to turn on the heat. I went over to her house the next day, and patiently demonstrated again how to use the system.

Then I asked Mom to show me how to make the heater turn on. She stared at the panel for awhile, and asked "what does override mean?". Having been down that question-and-answer before, I realized: Mom doesn't need more "training"; she needs an on/off button.

There are few things more gratifying than building tools and deploying systems that users love. The only way to get there is to create a partnership based on trust, where users spend time explaining what they need. Often, the conversation starts with a problem or complaint. Don't shut down the information you need with ticket systems, surveys, and assumptions.

"Them that know, know what they know, and them that don't know, don't know they don't know" - Maria Muldaur