So, it wasn’t enough that multiple uploads of my profile pic (in each of the prescribed formats: .jpg, .gif, .png) from multiple browsers (IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera) and multiple platforms (Mac, PC, Linux) all FAILED with the bogus error that the images were the wrong format. No, that wasn’t enough. When I went to send friendly feedback, I was bitchslapped by some anonymous and clueless developer’s uniformed decision to incorrectly parse the email form data. Again.
This has begun happening more and more in recent years: ignorance of, or just ignoring the RFC’s that define how the internet is supposed to work for all of us. Oh, and by the way, this is even the same email that has been my official WSJ.com email for years.
It’s fairly easy to tell a seasoned software developer from an amateur tinkerer by their response to these situations. The lazy say, “well, you should use Gmail like everyone else.” Fine, I do have a Gmail account; but that’s not the point. The true engineer responds more along the lines of, “yikes, yeah, we need to fix that ASAP.” Engineers pay attention to the “boring details” like unified standards so that we are all able to come to the aid of our friends in situations like the #iranelection. You might think it’s a stupid, boring, geeky detail, until your stuff doesn’t work, right? So, let’s not get lazy, my much-envied emerging interwebz geniuses; they’re called the RFC’s. Let’s stick to ‘em, mkay? And as for nicks and dings to the WSJ brand, don’t even get me started. There is simply no excuse.
