I’m noticing more and more that there are systems on the web, and we’ve even built some of them, that are designed to save us from ourselves. The particular system I’m talking about is made to retain information that a user has technically deleted, on the off chance that they didn’t mean to actually delete the information.

This is bad training.

I understand that in some cases there is a need to hold on to this information because to recreate it would be much more difficult than just storing it for future reactivation, and in these cases, the user should be told that is the case. But the problem arises when enough of these types of systems are built for easily recreated information, without notification, that people begin to expect it everywhere. And expectation of use is an extremely frustrating thing for both us as developers, and for our clients who run the sites we develop.

We recently had this happen with a client of ours. They had user accounts on their site which allowed the user to delete their own account if they wanted to. Well, someone deleted their account, then called back some time later and asked to reinstate it. Apparently this user got fairly upset when they found out their account was actually gone.

I’m curious about what he thought “delete” meant.

There’s also the other side of this issue, in that if I delete sensitive information on a site, I want to be comfortable in the knowledge that the company behind that site isn’t actually keeping my information. I want to know that my actions have consequences.

I think people get trained in processes, and expectation plants itself, pretty quickly (consider this; how many people do you know who double click on web page links?). Because of this, we have to think about the more complex automatic processes we put in to place on our web sites, and when we do, be sure to inform the user about what is happening behind the scenes. Because as a user, that’s one thing that I think it’s OK to expect.

Star Wars? Yes. The movie I first saw as a 10 year old in a ratty Durango theater while on a mind-numbing family vacation has come full circle in my life. While never a full-on fanboy, I definitely enjoyed and supported the franchise. I subsequently saw The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi when they came out in the theaters… heck, as a grown man I even saw The Phantom Menace on opening morning in Denver (one of the greatest days of my life, incidentally, as I took the entire day off with my friend/co-worker and caught a Rockies game after the movie). The first time my wife and I ever got a babysitter for Devin, when he was 4 months old, was to see Revenge of the Sith.

What about Attack of the Clones, you ask? Like any good Star Wars fan, I did not pay money to see it.

But now I am rediscovering Star Wars through the eyes and ears of my 6 year old son. Like most young kids, he memorizes the characters and story lines at a dizzying pace. The questions are endless, and I don’t know the answers to many of them. But the most surprising aspect of his ravenous Star Wars appetite has to do with its soundtrack. He has been exposed to music in many forms, even once traveling to Pittsburgh for a Singularity concert. Nothing ever inspired him to follow in his old man’s footsteps and tickle the ivories, though. Until Star Wars, that is. First he wanted to learn the main theme. Then he wanted to learn Darth Vader’s theme. Then he wanted to learn Luke’s theme. Then the Cantina music. I showed him the melodies, all in the key of C, and he absorbed them like a sponge. He played them instead of watching the movies. He played them at 6 am. He played them at 9 pm. He played them upside down. And all the while, he talked about how they made him feel, how they represented what the characters were feeling, how they were similar to or different from each other. The leitmotif is strong with Devin, as it is with his father who was seduced by its dark side. Regardless of whether or not he becomes a musical Jedi, it sure is fun to hear Star Wars through the ears of a young boy.

Just a quick post, because today I’m getting married. Not sure I could have done it without the Internet, the planning of the actual wedding that it is. I talk on the phone for a living every day, and while I enjoy that very much it leaves me with little time or desire to make call after call in my free time. So I planned nearly the entire wedding electronically. It is a major advantage for me to be able to do so much over my computer. It started with research. There is a plethora of information provided on wedding sites, identifying vendors, traditions and more. I then moved into actually planning. I picked my location site and booked it in one day. I contacted and screened vendors. I found reviews on these venders in online communities that helped me make decisions. I picked my flowers, my songs and my dress. I ordered custom ties, in those colors, from an Etsy shop online. I tracked my guest list electronically. I provided information to my guests via a website. Almost every little detail was taken care of via email. If I could have done my menu tasting over skype, I probably would have.

We talk a lot about convenience, and what the Internet, and technology in general provide us. I sometimes give some push back on these subjects. Technology is fantastic and provides us with so much, but I have concerns about what interacting over the Internet and other media does to our personal interactions. Not in this case. The Internet was surely my life saver. I would not have planned this wedding without it, particularly not with my sanity intact. So, perhaps the only thank you note I can appropriately post on this blog: Thank you, Internet, for all your help. I couldn’t have done this with out you!