lactose

Post from phone

So you just posted an ad on CL and you get like 5 emails 10min later asking if the item is still available....SCAMMER.

So after posting things on CL for sometime i have come to learn what separates the real interest from the bots and broken down the detection methods by sections of the email. I haven't listed the basic stuff that CL puts in every email about WesternUnion... but please don't ignore that:

Body
1. If the email says "is this item still available" it's a scam, why, well because, it doesn't mention the item, the cost, and it's the most common phrase in the scammer software out there.
2. If the body makes no indication as to what the item is...
3. If the body indicates an offer to pay more than the listed price, don't be greedy

Subject
1. If the email includes the exact copy of a detailed description, it was probably copied by a bot so a subject like "D80 10MP, 17-55mm f/2.8, 70-210mm f/4" is pretty much non human typed, You may think that people copy the item name and paste it into the subject, but they don't they copy the email address to paste into their email client and sadly we have only one clipboard.

Name
1. This is a more intuitive thing, but if the name looks too random, it probably is. Remember, parent pick out names, nobody names their kid "dickey frank", and most people don't enter their name into an email app in all lower case. If you are unsure then do a white pages search, easy as that, if the person doesn't exist in your city or state, then it's a scammer.

Timing
1. if it comes in the first 5 min of posting the ad...
2. If you have multiple listings and get an email for each of them at the same time, it' not an overeager customer, it's a spammer.

Most of this stuff is common sense an you would only get sucked into it if you were (a) Really busy and not paying attention. (b)So greedy that you think that you can take advantage of your customers. If you are that busy, hire someone to sell stuff for you, and iff you are greedy, well it's time to learn your lesson, simple supply(of scammers) and demand(greed).

-peace

ps: (i'm a bit greedy(i'ts human), but i've avoided the scammers so far)

I hate sign ups, especially just to try a new web 2.0 app, some of them even require getting on a invite list blech!

I do want web apps usage to take off MORE, like iPhone apps do but for browsers. I know everyone uses facebook and twitter, but only a fraction of that use edgier tools like google docs, gliffy, remember the milk, and so on... I see the barrier to entry with some of those apps so i want to help people start small by highlighting some of the "zero config" apps out there. By zero config i mean, no barrier to use, as in no interstitial sign up page or other prerequsites.

Ajaxload - Ajax loading gif generator
http://www.ajaxload.info/
Animated gifs are cool and all, but with youtube came the death of animated gifs, except for loading images. This site makes these images in your choice of colors all in one page.

Let me google that for you
http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/
If you read my blog you've seen my post on dealing with peoples computer questions. This site is a good choice for both comic relief and really helping the horse that you bring to water actually drink!

Colour Lovers
http://www.colourlovers.com/
I love Colour Lovers, not least of which because they spell color correctly. It's handy for getting color pallets, some of them are so well done that they casue viceral reactions. The coffee color makes me think that i smell a fresh brew. A vary theraputic site, as well as helpful.

Nizzote
http://nizzote.com
This is one of mine, it's like a super portable notepad, actually i think it loads faster than notepad.

NotifyURL
http://notifyURL.com
Also one of mine, it's basically the classic tinyurl.com but it sends you an email when the person you send the link to clicks on it.

Now Do This!
http://nowdothis.com/
At first this seemed too basic, it lacks portability... But i never use other to-do lists because they have too many features and i hate logging in, this one is awesome because it's so simple and the impact is huge.

Hmm... Thats all i can think of for now, and googleing "no sign up required", and the like, didn't turn up much. If you have some please add them in the comments

Being technically minded, people bring questions to me when they have a technical problem. This is great, it's my job and i usually have the answer; as it's my job to know. So why am i complaining?. Well the other day I get an IM from a client, the dreaded words: "does my new site support safari?" so i prepare to arm myself expecting that some huge functionality has proven to be incompatible with Safari and it's probably one of our biggest clients that needed the feature, "I don't really test much on safari, so some things may look different but it should work" as i write that IM i scramble to gather browser statistics and brainstorm on what elements are most likely to fail, i should have used jsLint.com more... no reply ... "why?" i finally ask. Reply: "oh, i got this message from someone: 'Safari can’t verify the identity of the website. The certificate for this website was signed by an unknown certifying authority. ..." . Ahh the actual error, an expired SSL, nothing to do with browsers, if only they said that in the first place.