Skribd,theFollowup Ivelearnedafewthingsinthelastfewdays. 1)IfyousubmitaCPANmodulewithunitteststhatrequireamodule notinthestandardcore,youwillgetoveralotautomatedemails tellingyouthetestsfailonvariousplatforms.(Fortherecord,thisis extremelyuseful.Seriously,CPANTSrocks.) 2)AmirSadollahistherealdeal,winningthisseasonsUltimate Fighter. 3)Thewpcacheplugindoesagreatjobofreducingserverload. 4)Whenyoutaunttheirbelovedskribd,theInternettrollswillcome outoftheirmyspacescavesandfillyourblogwithvariousformsof droll. Thefeedbackonskribdwasprettyinteresting.Thereweretoomany commentstorespondtoindividually,soIthoughtIdrecapafew thingsinaseparatepost.

First,abouthalfthecommentsorsowereabletoseethebigpicture andagreedthatskribdwasabadidea.DRMcontrolledtextfilesis notsomethingthewebwantsnorneeds. Theotherhalfseemedtoeitherfullyorpartiallydisagree. Thosewhopartiallydisagreedeitheracknowledgebutyeah,itstill

sucksorseemedtothinkonedetailwontheargument. Ifyouvedealtwithgeeks,youveprobablyhadargumentsbeforewere theforestislostforthetrees.E.g.,ParisHiltonisavapidwasteof space,andwithherMTVrealityshow,constantmediacoverageby outletsthatattempttopassdrivelfornews,horriblesongsandthe rest,itwouldreallywouldbeforthebestofsocietyifwefeedherinto awoodchipper.TheresponsebytheseidiotswouldbePARIS HILTONSREALITYSHOWWUZONFOX,NOTMTV!!!EPCIFAIL!!!!!!!! 1!!!!PARISRULES!!!!!!!!!! Whichwasthespirtofawholeseriesofcomments. YOUIDOIT!!!YOUCLICKTHATBOXBETWEENTHEOTHERBOXES TOCOPYANDPAST!!!!YOUAREFAIL!!! UUSEDTHEWRONGLINK!!!UDONTDUETHATINFULL SCREENZMODE!!!!!!!EPICFAILZ!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously,itsliketheresawholenewgenerationofbiffbabiesrun around. IneveryappIusethereisasetparadigmonhowtocopy&paste.I selecttext,CmdC,anditscopied.Itworkslikethiswithtextfiles, withFirefox&IEforHTML,PreviewforPDFsevenGoogle Spreadsheets,awebapp,doesanamazingjobfollowingthis paradigm. skribddoesnot.

Instead,youapparentlyeitherneedtobetoldorfisharoundintheir appforawhileandbecomeapowerusertofigureitout?Youhaveto clickanicon,thenyoucanselecttexttocopy? TheresoneappthatIknowofthatworkslikethat:theMicrosoft commandprompt. TheymimictheUIofMicrosoftscommandprompt(circa1990?) Ihardlycallthatprogress. IfthatsnotWeb0.5,Idontwhatis. Whichleadsintoanotherbatchofcommentsthatsomehowitsmy faultforskribdhavingabadUI.ThatIshouldhaveknowntheURL providedtomerestrictedfunctionality&insteadshouldhavevisited anotherURL.Thatitsmyfaulttheycutofffunctionalityinonemode butnotanother. (AndsomuchfortheireverdochavingauniqueURLslogan,eh?) Listen,kiddies,itsnottheresponsibilitiesofyouruserstobecome powerusers.Itsyourjob,asappdevelopers,tomakethedamnthing usable.Stopblamingothersforyourfaults. Theotherbatchthatbaffledmymindwherepeoplewhoadvocated skribdwherethatitdidntrequireanonstandardPDFplugin.Hows thatagain?skribdisbetterbecauseinsteaditrequiresanon

standardflashplugin?Listenanonstandardpluginisanon standardplugin.ItslikesayingPDFssuckbecauseitkicksyouin theleftnut,skribdrulesbecauseitkicksyouintherightnut! Nobodycasesiftheygetkickedintheleftortherightnut.Akickin thenutsisakickinthenuts. AddtothefactyoucanviewPDFsontherapidlygrowingiPhone,but notFlash,meansthatallofthedocumentspostedonskribdisnow blockedofffromoneofthefastestgrowingdrives. Whichisalwaysgoingtobecasewithproprietaryformats. Whichiswhytheyreabadidea. Whichiswhyskribdisabadidea. Inaway,IhavetoadmitImsomewhatsurprisedbyskribds popularity.Butthenagain,ImsurprisedbyParisHiltonpopularity. Whichperhapsisfitting,astheybothhaveanotherthingincommon: theyrebothawasteofspace.