Technically Speaking

Words, words, words.

Polonius: … What do you read my lord?
Hamlet: Words, words, words.
Polonius: What is the matter, my lord?
Hamlet: Between who?
Polonius: I mean, the matter that you read, my lord.

- Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Prince of Denmark : 2.2 : 191-196

Part of my daily activity on our website is to browse around reading comments left by readers. While I am the primary moderator of reported comments, it’s not mandatory that I review what’s been said each day. I just find the posts intriguing.

Sometimes, a comment submitted to an article is simply an online representation of a tip of the cap for the subject of the story, a photograph contained within, or the author.  Some are corrective, others nostalgic. And occasionally for features which I personally find interesting, no comments are left at all.

There are times when, as far as comments go, you can almost hear the virtual crickets chirping through the speakers. Then there are the stories that strike a nerve in the community and the comments stir up a cacophonous roar. These exchanges are the most interesting in my opinion.

If you follow the posts in these more heated conversations from the start, you can almost see the developing walls of opinion rising higher and higher on each side until the middle ground completely disappears below. The infinite force versus the immovable object. I’m right, you’re wrong. Nuh-uh, ya-huh. Even those who protest the continuance of these arguments are, at times, sullied by their own volleys.

And the shroud of anonymity seems to be the anabolic steroid of internet banter. People will say things online that they would never utter face to face, or in a public arena like the floor of a town meeting. But hidden behind a moniker that has no meaning in the real world, venom is spewed, mud is slung, gauntlets are thrown down and complaints are lodged, all by the proverbial man behind the curtain.

It isn’t the arguing that I necessarily find interesting about the online comments. It’s the fact that whether or not you agree with certain ones, they reflect the Island community. The comments left today could have been posted by your neighbor or the person you chatted about the Sox game with while buying your coffee this morning. Even if they are uttered namelessly, they show that people on Martha’s Vineyard have things to say and wish to be heard.

Words, indeed.

Posted in Martha's Vineyard Times Website | 2 Comments »

Meet Steve Ballmer

Today, on abcnews.com, I saw a video of Steve Ballmer getting egged during a talk at Corvinus University in Budapest. For those that don’t know, Steve Ballmer is the CEO for Microsoft. Call it jealousy or a bout of plain ole’ immaturity, but seeing eggs, almost casually, tossed at #43 on Forbes billionaire list made me grin. It also reminded me of a couple of other Steve Ballmer videos that I saw a few years ago.

Being the CEO of Microsoft has definitely made him a wealthy man but it also seems to have kept him pretty happy. Here is a clip of him being introduced at some sort of function or party for Microsoft’s 25th anniversary. Yes, he does say “Give it up for me” somewhere in there.

For more proof that he is a very enthusiastic employee, here’s another video. Gotta love the fist pumping. I’m not exactly sure where or when this one took place, but I think it was a little on the warm side. Just a guess.

The guy is definitely a character and there are more clips out there. Just do a search on YouTube.

While usually pricey and sometimes buggy, I must admit that, for the most part, I like Microsoft’s stuff. But the jury’s still out on their personnel.

Posted in Left Field | No Comments »

Skeletons in the search results

Every so often I receive an email or phone call from someone asking if I could prevent Google, or some other search engine, from showing a previously published District Court Report in which their name appears.

They have discovered that when searching for their name on the internet, a page containing questionable activity and criminal charges appears from our website. This revelation often comes about while they are looking for a job. They are concerned that a potential employer will see that their name appeared in our court pages, and the offense(s) that got it there.

From the initial tone set in these emails or phone conversations, I can tell that they already know the answer I am about to give. They have usually preceded their request with something like, “I know it probably can’t be done, but maybe just this once”, “I just thought I’d give this a shot,” or that they would “really, really, appreciate it if….” The answer, and not the one they want to hear, is that we will not remove their name or the page it appears on from our website, and I have little to no control over how Google, or any other search engine, indexes and uses the content from our web pages.

The Internet is a very public place with mind boggling amounts of information available to you in fractions of a second. Whether it’s your name in a court document, photos appearing on your My Space page or something else related to you posted in some other arena, you should always be aware of your personal web presence and how it may reflect upon you. Knowing ahead of time what information someone can find about you online may help one avoid an embarrassing situation in the future.

It may not be possible to erase your past transgressions from the public record, but there are a few things you can do to be aware of your online self and give your good side a boost:

Help! If employers Google me, they’ll find a racy site

Five Ways to Defend Your Online Reputation

Posted in Martha's Vineyard Times Website, The Internet | 4 Comments »

Beach Road / Five Corners Webcam is Back!

This week marks the return of our Beach Road, Vineyard Haven webcam aimed toward Five Corners from the top of our office building. Be sure to take a look.

Posted in Martha's Vineyard Times Website | 1 Comment »

A new look for mvtimes.com

If you visit mvtimes.com regularly, you will have noticed that the general design changed last Thursday.

In addition to giving the site a cleaner, more spacious look, the redesign is intended to help create some room and pave the way for new features, like this blog.

Changing a website’s design can be a trying experience, though. We, as web users, tend to attain a certain comfort level with our favorite sites. Knowing exactly where to look for this and where to click on that is convenient. Understanding this, my goal was to make the necessary changes while balancing the inherent compromises that came with them.

While there is still some work to do, and more new features in the wings, I am pleased with how things have turned out so far.

Feel free to let me know what you think.

Rick Mello

Posted in Martha's Vineyard Times Website | 6 Comments »