Matt Refghi

After my second consecutive visit to Atlanta’s Dragon*Con, I decided it was time to give my hometown a chance. In Montreal, the closest we have to Dragon*Con is Montreal Comiccon, which was first held in 2006. Dragon*Con is a much older convention – it dates back in 1987, and comprises of multiple large hotels (lobbies, conference rooms, ball rooms), whereas Montreal Comiccon’s primary space is one large convention hall. As a result, the scale of Dragon*Con is far from being matched by Montreal – which means the celebrity guest list is also a bit disappointing, in comparison.

Despite the differences, I attended Montreal Comiccon this year – and in my opinion, it’s worth doing so at least for the costumes. After all, it is still a young event, and it will undoubtedly continue to grow as the years pass. This year, they apparently had more than 20,000 visitors, leading them to book a larger venue for 2012. That’s an impressive visitor count, considering that Dragon*Con itself gets roughly 40,000 visitors – and to do so, they have a lot more rented space, celebrities, and events.

So anyway, given that I enjoyed the costumes, I thought I’d list my favorites from the event. Before I begin, here’s an explanation of what I consider when evaluating a costume:

First, the more realistic the costume looks, the more I like it. If I get a feeling the character being portrayed might actually exist, then that’s a success. To give you an example, I never really liked the Batman movies until I saw Batman Begins. To me, that’s when the character really became respectable and interesting to watch.

Second, the more specific the reference, the less people will recognize it – but the more value it has to those that do. Sure, people might appreciate how cool a costume looks, but will they understand very subtle references? In my mind, I see subtle references as a gamble – those that understand it will have a greater payoff.

And now, the list:

10 Kara Thrace from Battlestar Galactica

As a devout fan of the re-imagined series of Battlestar Galactica, I was pleased to encounter a rendition of Kara Thrace (“Starbuck”) at Montreal Comiccon. Don’t get me wrong – Battlestar Galactica costumes are quite common, and because of that, I’m rarely impressed with them. However, this girl just seemed to be particularly accurate in capturing the essence of Kara Thrace. To get an idea of what I mean, see these photos of Kara. I really like that she used the cards and cigar approach, as I always felt this was the best way to introduce the character. In fact, that’s exactly how they did it in the mini-series.

Also, I should probably acknowledge the guy standing behind her in the picture. He’s dressed in the same uniform as Kara, but I can’t tell if he’s trying to be a specific character, or just a generic male Colonial solider. In any case, it’s nice that these two were walking around together – it helps their costumes.

  9 Batman

While the dark knight is a common character at conventions, not all costumes are of the same quality. When I went to Dragon*Con 2011 this year, I found one particular Batman that really impressed me – to the point where he made it into my top 10 list. At Montreal Comiccon, I encountered another Batman that I felt ranked higher than most. In this case, however, the Batman had the advantage of having access to the old-style batmobile, which was present at the convention. I’m not certain if he was hired by those showing off the batmobile, but in any case, it made for some cool photos.

  8 Poison Ivy

Next we have Poison Ivy, who is one step ahead of Batman (in this case, anyway).

Poison Ivy is depicted as one of the world’s most prominent eco-terrorists. She is obsessed with plants, botany, and environmentalism. She uses toxins from plants and mind controlling pheromones for her criminal activities, which are usually aimed at protecting the natural environment.

This costume doesn’t seem to be based on any image of Poison Ivy, according to the searches I’ve been running. It seems to me that there’s a high level of creativity at work here, and that’s definitely appreciated. I’m also amazed by the fact that she’s wearing such a tight corset… surely that isn’t an easy feat.

  7 Lady Sif and Scarecrow

This duo is comprised of one character from the Marvel Comics universe, and another from DC Comics. Sif is from Marvel, and is described as a “warrior and lover of Thor, who spends much of her time worrying about and searching for him, and often accompanies [him] into battle.” Scarecrow, on the other hand, is DC Comics character who is “[a] psychologist [that] uses a variety of drugs and psychological tactics to exploit the fears and phobias of his adversaries.”

Though these two characters are seemingly unrelated to each other, I thought they were both nice costumes.

  6 Elektra

Next up is Elektra, a female ninja assassin from the Marvel universe. When I searched for images of Elektra, I found quite a few varieties – but never the exact costume that this girl was wearing. In any case, the costume is of a good quality, and the girl wearing it struck me as a natural fit for the character.

  5 E’lara from Hunted: The Demon’s Forge

This next costume is referencing a game called Hunted: The Demon’s Forge, specifically, a playable character named E’lara. Despite the fact that I never played the game myself, I couldn’t deny the quality of the costume. To compare the costume with the character, see the following Google search.

  4 Space Marine from Warhammer 40,000

Though I’ve never played the Warhammer 40k miniature wargame, I did play a PC game titled Dawn of War II. The costume appears to be that of a space marine, one of the featured races available in the Warhammer universe. Upon seeing it, I knew that it deserved a spot in my top costumes list, but at the same time, I felt it could have been better. I like when I can look at a costume, and feel that the depicted character might actually exist. In this case, the texture of the costume made it obvious that it was not a hard material like metal, and as such, I could not entertain the notion that the character might exist. However, even though it was clearly a costume, I had to recognize the effort that likely went into making it.

3 Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash from My Little Pony

These next costumes are the result of some creativity, as they are trying to represent characters that are part of a whole other species: ponies. For starters, I must mention that I don’t know very much about ponies. Shocking, I know. From that, you can probably derive that I don’t know much about a show titled My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:

The show follows a studious unicorn pony named Twilight Sparkle as she is tasked by her mentor Princess Celestia to learn about friendship in the town of Ponyville. Twilight becomes close friends with five other ponies: Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie. Each represents a different facet of friendship, and discovers themselves to be key parts in the “Elements of Harmony”. In the series, the ponies share adventures and help out other residents of Ponyville, while working out the troublesome moments in their own friendships.

The girls below decided to depict the ponies Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash, respectively. Even though I’m a guy, and I’ve never seen the show, I must admit that they did a great job.

  2 Fionna and Cake from Adventure Time

Adventure Time is an animated series that was produced for the Cartoon Network:

The series focuses on the adventures undertaken by two best friends, Finn the human boy and Jake the dog with magical powers, who dwell in the Land of Ooo.

While the regular protagonist is Finn, this costume references a special episode where the female version of Finn is introduced: Fionna. Similarly, a female cat named Cake is introduced as the opposite of Jake, a male dog. This costume is therefore a very specific reference, which I always appreciate. Beyond that, I have to say that this girl was exceptionally accurate in portraying the character, right down to the sword.

  1 AndrAIa from ReBoot

Okay, I’ll admit it… there’s a certain nostalgia behind this particular costume – consequently, I may be slightly biased. What we have here is a real-life representation of a computer-generated character: AndrAIa, from ReBoot. ReBoot was a Canadian CGI-animated tv-show, one which took place within the a mainframe computer. It was an action-adventure series, and back when it aired, I didn’t realize that it contained numerous Computer Science references, most of which were comical.

In addition to the unique world, I recall that the characters often would change age, depending on what was happening in the series. I’ve always been a fan of shows that have the guts to do that, rather than sticking to a certain formula. That said, if I’m not mistaken, AndraAIa was introduced as a child, and it was only later into the series that she was shown as an adult. The costume worn by the girl below is for the adult version of the character, and it is a very detailed one at that.

So in the end, what we have is a reference to an old TV show that originally aired from 1994 to 2001. Not just any reference, mind you, but a reference to a specific version of a particular character. I appreciated encountering this girl, as she really did a excellent job crafting her look to match the on-screen persona.

That concludes my Top 10 costumes for Montreal Comiccon 2011. If you’re mentioned in my post, and would like me to credit you by name, please feel free to e-mail me at mref…@gmail.com. You can also post a comment below, as I always enjoy hearing from attendees and cosplayers. If you’re interested in seeing my other top costume posts:

• Dragon*Con 2010: Top 5 Costumes
• Dragon*Con 2010: Costume Runner-ups
• Dragon*Con 2011: Top 10 Costumes

While I was in Atlanta earlier this year, I tried to convince my sister to buy herself an iPhone. Though I consider myself a PC enthusiast, I can’t deny Apple‘s prowess when it comes to delivering a superior user experience. So, with a firm belief in the iPhone, I proceeded to explain the many benefits of the device. When my sister started showing concern for the inconvenience of re-arranging her cellphone plans, and the associated cost, I suggested first trying an iPod Touch. After all, that’s how I came to own an iPhone – I had first tried the iPod, and was amazed by the experience. I then realized that carrying a regular cellphone plus an iPod would be a bit too much, especially since the iOS experience was clearly superior to my old device. So, given my thought process, and knowing that we had similar mindsets – I felt pretty confident she’d decide to buy an iPhone in the end.

Only, she didn’t. Instead, she took a completely different approach… she made her own. How? Well, she went ahead and taped her old phone to the iPod Touch. Yeah, that’s right, taped. When she first told me, I had quite a laugh; however, after some thought, I realized that it was pretty clever. Given this unusual proclamation, I figured I’d show you exactly how the beast was created to begin with, and then show you how it looks.

To create it, she needed the following items:

First, she unrolled some carpet tape onto a table.

She then put the iPod Touch in its case, and cut off a piece of the carpet tape – large enough that it would fit vertically down the back of the iPod. Using the iPod as a guide, she cut a piece of tape that was roughly 1.5 inches wide, and 2 inches tall.

Next, she removed the protective sheet from one side of the piece of tape. Then, she pressed the exposed portion of the tape to the back of the iPod case – while making sure that it wouldn’t obstruct the iPod’s camera.

Finally, she removed the remaining protective sheet, and attached the back of the regular cellphone to the now-adhesive iPod cover. While, again, ensuring that the camera remained visible.

And that’s all she did. Now, you have to admit – that’s a fairly clever way to combine two devices. The use of carpet tape ensures that they can be separated whenever desired, without any damage. My only concern is that this makeshift iPhone might not be completely appropriate from a social and professional standpoint. I couldn’t see myself using such a device when I’m in a meeting with a client, for example. As clever as it is, I’m concerned it will suggest that the person is having cash flow issues. After all, if you have the cash, why not buy one complete device, rather than slapping two together? In any case, her creation is still fairly unique – see the action shots below, I’m sure you’ll agree.

I was recently reminded of the existence of a particular Google service, one which I had completely forgotten. To my surprise, it turned out to be a significant discovery, as the product can be used to improve one’s privacy on the web, while reducing spam. The service, Google Alerts, allows users to choose specific search queries that they’d like to monitor. When new results appear in one of these queries, the user can be automatically notified by e-mail. Here are some suggested uses, according to Google:

• monitoring a developing news story
• keeping current on a competitor or industry
• getting the latest on a celebrity or event
• keeping tabs on your favorite sports teams

All very interesting, sure – but what does it have to do with privacy, or spam? Well, what if you were to put your e-mail address in there? If your e-mail address shows up on Google, or any other search engine, it’s vulnerable to spam bots. With Google Alerts, you can get notified when new search results appear for your e-mail, and that can give you a chance to do something about it. Whether the e-mail was added via a malicious act by another individual, or an honest personal mistake – you will be alerted. Such a notification can help reduce the amount of spam you receive, but also prevent your e-mail from being public knowledge.

As an example, here’s how I would add an alert using Bill Gates‘ address:

It’s really that simple – once created, Google will do all the work, and notify you when new results appear.

Keep in mind, however, that there are other uses beyond simply monitoring an e-mail address. It’s also possible to create alerts using other information, such as your name, or domain. These types of alerts can be useful in keeping tabs on your online reputation, which often spans multiple websites. If interested, watch below as Googler Matt Cutts explains how the product can be used to monitor a person’s name.

While I was in Atlanta for Dragon*Con 2011, I found myself using their metro system on a fairly regular basis. Over there, they call it the MARTA, which stands for “Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority” – it happens to be the 9th largest metro system in the United States. Unlike Montreal, their trains use a combination of underground and outdoor rails, the latter made possible by the subtropical climate.

On one particular day, I found myself waiting for a lift at a MARTA station. Since I had nothing else to do, I began reading a sign that described some of the rules and regulations behind the MARTA. I was particularly curious about whether they allowed eating or drinking on the trains – it clarified this, by saying it was “against the law” to do so. It also went on to list additional items that were against the law, and in general, they were informative.

But… wait a second, what’s that in the bottom right corner?

Upon reading that, I realized my plan to punch a MARTA employee could never be brought to fruition. Way to ruin my plans, MARTA.

In all seriousness, though, I always enjoy seeing unnecessary warnings in the United States – they just seem so silly to me. Don’t get me wrong – I’m a fan of the States, but here in Canada, law suits are fairly rare. As a result, warnings are usually present when they are not immediately obvious. In the States, this is usually not the case – it’s like they want to cover all their bases, regardless of how self-evident the warnings may be. For the sake of humanity, I would hope that they didn’t have to add that particular entry after someone assaulted a MARTA employee, and tried to argue that it was a legal to do so.

Over the past month, I’ve been working with Joseph Pereira to create a web-based review show. Primarily intended for YouTube, the show is titled “All Too Convenient”, and will start with us reviewing the first season of a particular TV series. At this moment, we have one episode completed; however, due to the comments we have received, we decided to return to the drawing board, and start anew. It was a tough decision to make, mainly because it took us a month to get one episode fully edited and ready to go. This delay was largely due to Joseph’s hectic schedule, as it interfered with his ability to edit the video. His job was further complicated by the fact that the episode was scripted, and thus, had multiple scenes, and multiple takes. The camera also caused problems, but I won’t get into those details here.<?p>

Despite the fact that we decided to scrap the episode, and start over – we felt that our experiences could be valuable for others. With that idea in mind, we created a YouTube channel called “Learn All The Things” (a Hyperbole and Half reference), and proceeded to film ourselves talking about what we learned from our failed attempts at creating a web series. We also went on to discuss what we’re going to do next, which mainly involves successfully producing the first episode of All Too Convenient. The video is roughly 30 minutes long, and covers a large variety of topics: writing, filming, editing (video and audio), and some acting as well. Although certain topics we covered were somewhat technical, we’re still confident at least some people might find our experiences useful. Regardless, we had fun making it, and it only further prepared us for the work ahead.

If you think such a video would interest you, feel free to play it below.

In the future, we plan to use the channel for more content of this nature, without it necessarily having to be related to creating a web series. The “Learn All The Things” name was chosen partly for that reason – it is generic enough that we can post anything we want, provided it is somewhat informative.<?p>

As a sidenote, I’m happy to announce that this is my 100th blog post (excluding the 16 solution posts I currently have). I started this blog in January of 2009, all with the intention of sharing my knowledge of Windows, the web, and Computer Science in general. It has served that purpose, and yet has grown to cover other topics as well. It’s been a pleasure writing for this blog, and I intend to continue doing so for a long time. It also feels appropriate that post 100 just-so-happens to be about sharing knowledge.

Thanks to Joseph Pereira.

Photo credit

Photo by Kate Sumbler.

Earlier this month, I attended Dragon*Con 2011 – in full compliance with a personal ritual of mine. It was my sister who initially suggested we attend Dragon*Con for the first time, and that was last year. I knew after attending that I wanted it to be repeated on a yearly basis. It was a great excuse to spend time with my sister, and at the same time, it was a lot of fun. It also resulted in three blog posts, and that means the experience was significant enough that I felt it was worth sharing. That is a powerful statement, given my own obsession with posting only the non-mundane. One of those blog posts listed my Top 5 favorite costumes, and I really enjoyed sharing my selection. It became clear to me that I would easily be able to produce at least that one type of post, with every year I attended. That said, this blog post contains my Top 10 favorite costumes for Dragon*Con 2011. Before you start with the list, here’s an explanation of what I consider when evaluating a costume:

First, the more realistic the costume looks, the more I like it. If I get a feeling the character being portrayed might actually exist, then that’s a success. To give you an example, I never really liked the Batman movies until I saw Batman Begins. To me, that’s when the character really became respectable and interesting to watch.

Second, the more specific the reference, the less people will recognize it – but the more value it has to those that do. Sure, people might appreciate how cool a costume looks, but will they understand very subtle references? In my mind, I see subtle references as a gamble – those that understand it will have a greater payoff.

And now, the list:

10 Horseman

To start us off, I have a costume that is completely original – I asked the guy to be sure. I’m not certain what compelled him to dress up like a horse, but I can nonetheless appreciate the creativity that went into the costume. Not to mention, the effort it likely took to make it look that good.

9 Darth Rooster

Most people can identify a Darth Vader costume with ease, even if they haven’t seen the Star Wars saga. I, for example, have only recently gotten around to watching the first Star Wars movie, A New Hope. Shocking? Yes, people tend to react like that. Yet, I have known about Vader for a very, very long time. Despite my current appreciation for the Star Wars universe, I can’t help but be slightly disappointed by seeing exactly how common the related costumes are.

Considering the above, I was pleasantly surprised when I spotted a unique variation of a Vader costume. For some reason, this guy decided to modify a Darth Vader suit, and made him look like a dark, evil rooster. I really found that funny, and knew he would be in my Top 10 for putting a lot of work into that comedic twist.

8 Fawkes the Phoenix

Though I don’t know much about the Harry Potter universe, I had to include this costume in my list. According to the google searches I ran, it seems she’s portraying a character known as Fawkes the Phoenix. Despite my lack of knowledge, I found that the costume had a great combination of vibrant colors, and a clever design.

7 Batman

Some costumes are so common at conventions that you can grow tired of seeing them. Batman seems to be a popular choice, so I have a tendency to only take pictures of the best ones I encounter. One particular Batman costume really stood out, and was so high in quality that I felt he could potentially be real. The design reminds me of Batman Begins – granted, it’s more cloth-based than the one in the movies, but still struck me as being particularly realistic.

6 Alan from The Hangover

That’s right, folks – a Zach Galifianakis look-a-like. Galifianakis gained a huge amount of popularity from playing Alan in the films The Hangover, and The Hangover Part II. At Dragon*Con 2010, I saw an imitation of him, and listed him as a runner-up for my Top 5 Costumes list. It wasn’t just about his costume, I also enjoyed a comment he made after I took a picture of him.

Remember, tigers like pepper.

This year’s Alan didn’t make a comment, but seemed a better fit for the character. As I’m saying it, I realize that might not be a compliment, given as the character being portrayed looks like a fat, possibly homeless man. The humour behind his character also lies in the fact that he has a very strange behaviour, so that’s not very positive either. In any case, this year’s Alan seemed to be the best natural fit for the character, and jokes aside, I think he did a good job with his behaviour and costume as well.

5 Hancock

I’ve been to Dragon*Con for two years in a row now, and there were only two moments where I had to question whether I was actually looking at a celebrity, rather than a person in a costume. Last year, it was a Zach Galifianakis look-a-like. This year, I thought I saw Will Smith… as John Hancock, from the movie Hancock. While I never actually saw the movie, I remembered seeing plenty of pictures of Will Smith’s character – so when I saw this guy in his costume, I was really impressed.

4 Solomon Grundy

When I originally spotted this guy, I didn’t know what character he was dressed up as. He looked like a white version of Hulk, though less muscular, and quite tall. So tall, in fact, that it gave him a towering presence – it lead me to question whether it was natural, or he was wearing platform shoes. Either way, it certainly made the character feel realistic, and possibly a threat.

I stayed a few minutes, observed his behaviour, and realized that he had a tendency to attack men, and yet, was extremely friendly towards women. I’m not sure if he kept that up all the time, it could have been just a coincidence – but I really enjoyed seeing this unique behaviour.

As it turns out, the character being portrayed is known as Solomon Grundy, a villain from the DC Comics universe. According to Wikipedia:

Named after the 19th century children’s nursery rhyme, Grundy was introduced as an enemy of the Golden Age Green Lantern (Alan Scott), but has since become a prominent enemy for a number of superheroes, such as Batman and Superman

Upon reading this, I also realized that I even had a picture of him fighting with Superman. It was probably a coincidence, mind you, but a great one at that.

Credit: Ruby Rinekso as Solomon Grundy.
3 Squirrel Girl vs. Doctor Doom

As I was taking a break from taking pictures, a girl dressed as a squirrel wandered into my general vicinity. I was particularly amused when I noticed that there were also plush squirrels attached to her belt. She was accompanied by what appeared to be a guy in a regular Doctor Doom costume. When I approached, I realized that this particular Doctor Doom was actually covered in squirrels, as if they had been attacking him. I enjoyed the humor behind the costumes, but wondered whether it was an original idea, or a reference to something.

Surprisingly, when I asked, they mentioned that Squirrel Girl was an existing super hero in the Marvel universe. Not only that, they were depicting a very specific scene from her comic books, one where she manages to defeat Doctor Doom with the help of her squirrel minions. They even pointed out that there was a picture of the scene on Squirrel Girl’s Wikipedia page. I always appreciate specific references, and this was a great example of one. Not only that, but even if you didn’t know who Squirrel Girl was, the combination of costumes was excellent – both very well made, and amusing.

Credit: Andy Floyd as Doctor Doom, and Becky Montgomery as Squirrel Girl.

The only downside, of course, is that I must now live in fear of squirrels – I never realized they had such destructive potential.

2 Women of Mass Effect 2

I am a huge fan of the Mass Effect series, and was thrilled to see a group of women dressed up as characters from the game. Specifically, the characters portrayed were Jack, Samara, Miranda Lawson, and Tali’Zorah nar Rayya. The costumes themselves were very impressive when it came to quality, and accuracy. I can only imagine the work that went into creating some of those costumes – particularly for Samara and Tali. While the Jack and Miranda costumes may seem like they might have been easier to make, I must mention that the women were doing a great job at reflecting the character’s personalities. Together, they made for one amazing photo opportunity – I really appreciated that.

1 Maurice Moss from The IT Crowd

Many years ago, I discovered a British show named The IT Crowd, and I found it an excellent comedy that also was related to my line of work. Here’s a quick description from Wikipedia:

Set in the London offices of the fictional corporation Reynholm Industries, the show revolves around the three staff members of its IT department, comprising two geeky technicians, a genius named Maurice Moss and the workshy Roy Trenneman, headed by Jen Barber, the department’s ‘Relationship Manager’ who knows nothing about IT. The show also focuses on the bosses of Reynholm Industries: Denholm Reynholm and his son Douglas.

Given that it is a British show, and that few people I now have seen it, I never thought I’d see a reference to it at Dragon*Con. Yet, there I was sitting outside one of the hotels with my sister, when Maurice Moss walked by. Not the real Moss, of course, but he was an extremely good imitation, on multiple fronts. Before I dive into the details, I suggest checking Google Images to see what the character normally looks like.

Credit: Lucien Freeman as Maurice Moss.

The fake Moss was a success due to a few factors:

1. He was dressed pretty much exactly like the character.
2. His hair was parted just like the real character, though it may have been on the wrong side of his head.
3. He spoke just like character, and though I believe it was a fake accent, I couldn’t figure out for sure – and that’s great.
4. He was holding a cup that had a picture of the actual Moss character pasted underneath it.

Points 1 to 3 were all contributing factors towards my choosing him as the best costume. However, it was really #4 that sealed the deal – it is a very specific reference to a particular episode in the series. In the episode, Moss claims to have acquired a cup that features his face underneath it, all to ensure he can tell it apart from the others. To better showcase the humor behind the cup, I’ve found a YouTube clip where Moss first introduces it. It appears at the 45 second mark, and while it does get some attention in the clip, there are numerous other references in the episode that make for quite a funny episode.

The episode actually ends with a frustrated Moss attempting to locate his cup among multiple seemingly identical cups. The flawed strategy of putting his face on the bottom is what lead to all this, as the cups all look like duplicates of each other until they are flipped. Naturally, when I saw the cup he was holding at Dragon*Con, I had to say “Hey, you finally found it!”

That concludes my Top 10 costumes for Dragon*Con 2011. If you’re mentioned in my post, and would like me to credit you by name, please feel free to e-mail me at mref…@gmail.com. You can also post a comment below, I always enjoy hearing from Dragon*Con attendees and cosplayers.

If you’re interested in seeing my previous Dragon*Con related posts:

• Dragon*Con 2010: Costumes and Celebrities
• Dragon*Con 2010: Top 5 Costumes
• Dragon*Con 2010: Costume Runner-ups

A little over three weeks ago, I discovered a user on Reddit who was giving away invites to a site called SteamGifts. I had never heard of it, but the idea of a site that focused on giving away games appealed to me. I remembered that I had a few extra game copies on my Steam account, and figured it’d be a good way to make sure they were put to use. After all, sending a gift using Steam is quite simple, since it exists purely as a digital credit of sorts – no files have to be sent around. With a use for the site, I requested an invitation code on Reddit, and received it shortly thereafter.

Once logged in, I began to poke around in an attempt to figure out exactly how the service worked. Creating a giveaway was pretty straight-forward – I simply had to choose the game, select the number of copies, and define how long it would be open. When a giveaway closes, one winner is selected from all the people that entered, and it’s up to the person who created the giveaway to send the game manually through Steam. As for entering giveaways, there’s a little extra mechanism that needs to be understood: in an effort to prevent people from entering every single giveaway, the site grants points over time. Reaching a maximum of 300, these points can be used towards entering giveaways – the more expensive the game, the more points needed to enter. Inviting friends to the site also uses a chunk of points, so it helps control how quickly the site will become populated.

Overall, I’d say the service is decently made, but currently suffers from some flaws – which I assume will get resolved in the long term:

1. There is no search feature – so if you’re looking for a particular game, good luck. I simply found myself paging through the public giveaways, hoping to find any game that was interesting to me, rather than the game I was looking for.
2. The site is often slow to respond to requests – extending the time it takes to find what you want.
3. No e-mails notifications are sent out when your giveaway is complete. In my case, I one day realized that one of my giveaways was likely complete – but had forgotten about it. When I logged in, I saw that it had, in fact, been closed 1 day ago. Not a big deal, but the winner had not received anything yet, and I didn’t want him to worry, and others to question the legitimacy of my offer.

Now, the flaws I mentioned are all in the functionality, or lack thereof – but they’re forgiveable given that the site is a free service, especially one which currently does not yet feature numerous advertisements. I expect these things to be resolved as time progresses; however, I am concerned about how this site approaches giveaways. To better illustrate my concerns, I’d like to start by examining the experience for users that enter existing giveaways. As an example, here’s one of the posts I created:

It was configured to end in 5 days, and during that time, it managed to receive 55 comments, and 492 entries. Let me just clarify that last part – 492 people entered the contest, and one person won.

Is it just me, or is that a lot of disappointed people? Sure, they knew what they were getting into, but I can’t help but think that maybe there is a better way. Out of curiosity, I glanced at the winner’s profile – and here’s what I saw:

A total of 3 gifts won, despite having 340 entries. That’s roughly 113 entries per game. Considering the flaws I mentioned earlier, entering all of those contests could have been a rough experience for the user. Is the time investment worth it, considering the low chance of winning, and the flaws in the website? Keep in mind, also, that the chance of winning will decrease as the site gets more popular – as there will be more users, and thus, more competition. To help offset the low chances of winning, users seem to be encouraged to enter multiple contests, just in the hope that they will receive something free. I originally found myself doing this, as it simply felt logical – my time is valuable, so why would I spend it struggling to find only the games that I really wanted? It was simpler to enter any contests that were the slightest bit interesting, rather than making calculated decisions. Of course, I quickly realized that this wasn’t the most ethical approach, so it lead to some self-reflection.

First of all, I wondered: was it even necessary to have more than one entry per giveaway? What if you could create a giveaway that closes immediately after one person enters it? If that could happen, only two people would be involved: the person giving the game away, and the recipient of that game. The giveaway wouldn’t gather much attention from the public, but it will have served its purpose – giving away a game to a person that wanted it. As a bonus, there is a low probability of people being disappointed. Interestingly, SteamGifts isn’t too far off from offering this functionality. It is currently possible to configure a giveaway so it closes in one hour, but no less than that.

While the above would help reduce the number of disappointed users, another key factor must be considered – exposure. I originally didn’t feel like I needed recognition for giving the games away – I honestly did it because I realized they were gathering e-dust. Yet, I received 55 comments for giving away just one of game. After the contest had ended, I realized that it may have been beneficial to leave my post up for multiple days – for one primary reason: my Steam profile contained a link back to my blog. Now, as true as this was, I didn’t feel like adding to the number of disappointed users, solely for a chance at additional traffic.

Ultimately, I decided it would be best for giveaways to strike a balance between getting exposure, and preventing entries from reaching extremes. I felt that one day was probably a good maximum time-frame, but of course, that maximum was closely bound to the popularity of the site. Early on, one day might bring in hundreds of entries – but in the future, maybe thousands. The more entries, the less chance of winning – which encourages people to enter any and all contests. What if you could have those statistics handy when creating a giveaway? By knowing how many entries are projected, would the decision be easier to make? I think so, but still feel like there’s something missing to make the service work properly. As it is stands, I feel that users are too likely to entry-spam – all to improve the chances of them winning something. It’s a pretty unique challenge, and I hope they manage to find a solution. In the meantime, I find myself less inclined to use the service as a means of receiving gifts – sending gifts, on the other hand, can work well, especially with the above ideas considered.

If you’d like to try out SteamGifts, I’d be happy to provide invitations – simply contact me at mref…@gmail.com. Even though I had some issues with the site, it’s still worth checking out. My interactions within the community have mostly all been positive – users are quick to thank the guys creating the giveaways, and are also instrumental in warning their peers about fake posts.

UPDATE: I announced this blog post on the SteamGifts forum, and interesting comments were posted. One particular commenter was an administrator of SteamGifts, and he pointed out that they were working on improvements, some of which were particularly tricky. The administrator (named “cg”) also called me out on a logical error that was present in my post. He made a reference to particular part of my post: 

“Keep in mind, also, that the chance of winning will decrease as the site gets more popular – as there will be more users, and thus, more competition.”

And replied with the following:

“Not true. Entries will increase, but you’re missing the fact that the number of giveaways will also increase. If new users are as generous as the last, odds of winning stay equal. Right now we have 25k members and 8k gifts. We’ve been floating around that 3:1 ratio for a long period of time. Those are the numbers you should be keeping an eye on, not the total number of entries.”

He was, of course, entirely correct. 

Back when I was a 19 year-old college student and still living with my parents, I was really enthusiastic about video games. So much, in fact, that I felt the need to create a clan, website and all. At the time, we went by the name “Infamous Butchers”, also known as Team IB. Yeah, I was pretty serious about it… it all seems somewhat silly today.

After a while, I decided I would put advertisements on the website, in an effort to support the team. Naturally, I looked to the most recommended service, AdSense, as offered by Google. I signed up, and despite how small the site was, I received a confirmation e-mail a couple days later. Shortly thereafter, I had the advertisements working as expected, and for a while, all was well.

At a certain point, a teammate decided to start paying for a game server that the team could use to practice regularly, and was doing so out of his own pocket. In an effort to support him, I told my fellow teammates to click on the ads, as this would help generate revenue. Now, in case you’re not aware, this is known as click fraud, and is a very serious breach of the AdSense Terms and Conditions. When instructing my teammates to do this, I never really stopped to think about the legality or ethics of my request. My friends just went along and said they’d click every now and then, and none of them questioned my approach.

In addition to telling friends to click, I also violated another core AdSense rule – never click on your own ads. While I originally was in compliance of this rule, I did find myself in one specific situation where I reasoned that yes, the content being displayed in the ad was indeed relevant to me. I was looking for an alternate company to host our game server, and sure enough, the ad was talking about just that. I only did this once, as far as I can remember.

Approximately two weeks later, my earnings had reached a ludicrous sum of 100$, but still I failed to grasp that I was doing something very, very wrong. I remember at least two distinct moments where my friends told me they had been clicking, but I do not recall when, or how many times they clicked. It wasn’t long until I received an e-mail from Google, letting me know that I had been banned from AdSense. My initial feeling was that I let my team down, to a significant degree. As an extension of the shame I felt, I tried to reply to Google in an effort to salvage the account, and in turn, retain the possibility of earning legitimate clicks. I obviously wasn’t thinking clearly, because what I had done was a very serious offense… I was just blind to it at that moment, obsessed with my team, and how I failed to support them.

Despite my replies, the Google AdSense team informed that they were sure of their decision, eventually leading me to accept the truth. Their words had shaken some sense into me, and I began to feel greater shame towards what I had done with my AdSense account. Not only was I extremely wrong in doing what I did, I also managed to destroy a potential business relationship with Google, very early on, and on my primary Google account no-less. As a long time fan and supporter of Google, I was left with a shame so poignant that it stuck with me through the years – a dark cloud, always reminding me of that time where I really screwed up.

Years later, after having worked as a software developer for three years, I tried signing up to Google AdSense using another one of my Google accounts. To my surprise, they accepted my application, regardless of the fact that I had the same name as before. I was able to successfully place Google AdSense ads on my page, but then started to doubt whether this was in respect of Google’s rules. Sure enough, after reading their documentation – it became clear that if I was banned before, I should never try to apply again. It wasn’t just my account that was banned, it was me – and anything associated to me – as brutal as that sounds. Creating another account might work – but as long as I’m the same publisher as before, they could ban the account if they figured that out. To respect their rules, I quickly removed all ads from my site, and decided it might be time to contact Google. After all, I made the mistakes in my youth, and hoped this would factor into my appeal. I explained the tale to the best of my recollection; however, I still could not bring myself to admit that I had, in fact, been the root cause of the whole disaster. It was my words that lead at least two of my friends to click on my ads, and though I regretted my part deeply, I felt too embarrassed to admit it. Despite my appeal, Google still stuck to their response that they needed to protect their advertisers, and I would be a threat.

Though disappointed, I agreed with the reasoning behind their refusal. Why would they take the risk of allowing a banned user when the potential for income is probably far less than the monitoring fees? I could relate to them, and despite all my self-directed anger, I was once more convinced that I would need to live without Google AdSense, as much as that bothered me. That was roughly two years ago, and today, with more than five years of software development experience, I still feel like I shot myself in the foot very early on. Google AdSense seems to be the best pay-per-click advertising solution, one which allows even the smallest independent publisher to earn some profit back from their content. While I managed to find decent alternatives for websites, I still have difficulty digesting that I can never work with Google.

The whole experience has left me paranoid about pay-per-click advertising. For example, with one provider, I once accidentally clicked an ad on my blog, while I was browsing on my phone. I immediately figured out what my IP was, sent it to their the support team, explaining that I accidentally clicked, and they should not include the click towards my profit. They thanked me for being proactive, but warned that if it happened too many times, they would not be able to serve ads on my site. It’s unfortunate that I had to get banned by Google to understand the severity of click fraud, which, it turns out, is quite clearly explained in Google’s documentation:

Invalid Clicks and Impressions

Publishers may not click their own ads or use any means to inflate impressions and/or clicks artificially, including manual methods.

Encouraging Clicks

Publishers may not ask others to click their ads or use deceptive implementation methods to obtain clicks. This includes, but is not limited to, offering compensation to users for viewing ads or performing searches, promising to raise money for third parties for such behaviour or placing images next to individual ads.

So, was I blind? Was my young mind so obsessed with games that it even failed to understand the importance of the legal agreement that had taken place? Yes, I believe so. Today, I still agree completely with the reasoning behind why Google banned me – I just have one question that I’d like to ask in the open, right here. How long must I pay for a mistake that I made in my youth? Youth, mind you, is not always as simple as above or below 18. When I was banned, I was 19, and though I was mature in many ways, my behavior towards AdSense was quite the opposite. Am I really so evil that I must never be allowed anywhere near Google AdSense, even when I’m 30, 40, or 50? Does additional life experience mean nothing once you’ve made such mistakes? It’s not like I shot a man and tried to get away with it – how could this ban truly be for life, when even a murderer might get to walk after enough years of jail time?

The way Google crafted their agreement, it is entirely possible that I will never be forgiven – they have reserved that possibility. I’ve come to a certain peace about this – I’ve had ads from another company for over a year, and I remain in good standing with them. Still, I can’t help but think back to how great Google AdSense was… and, at this point, all I want is to be put out of my misery. If I’m banned until the day of my death, with absolutely zero chance of getting my account back, fine. I’ll learn to live with that, I just really need it confirmed so I can move on. Otherwise, what can I do? Would Google be willing to grant me a probationary period, during which I could prove myself worthy of reinstatement? I would gladly cover any administrative fees related to monitoring my account, if that is a concern. In any case, with this last appeal, I hope to arrive at a conclusion: either the dark cloud is here to stay, or it will eventually give way to sunlight.

Thanks to: Elisa and Joe.

Photo credit

First photo by Pål Berge.

Second photo by Jason Cheung.

Third photo by Dan DeLuca.

Fourth photo by Luigi Caterino.

UPDATE 06/25/2012: Reading this today, I find myself tempted to make a few edits. I sound as though I’m apologizing for something much worse than clicking on ads, and I feel it could be toned down. Though my fraud was born out of youth, and associated stupidity, it was fraud nonetheless – and that is unacceptable according my own moral code – let alone Google’s terms. So to preserve the genuine guilt and frustration that went into writing the post, I’ve decided to leave it unaltered.

Back in mid 2009, I discovered an unexpected shipping confirmation in my e-mail inbox. It was sent from my cellphone service provider, and was letting me know that the iPhone I ordered had been sent out to me. Thing is, I never ordered an iPhone, and though the confirmation showed my name, it was being shipped to another address, and was associated with another phone number. It didn’t take long for me to realize that this was identity theft.

I immediately called my provider, and realized that I would likely have problems authenticating with them. You see, the provider usually asked for two key items whenever I called: birth date, and postal code. Anticipating this, I first told the agent the situation, and he confirmed that the address and contact information on my account had been changed. Since I had the thief’s information as well, I was able to prove that I was legitimate, and the agent told me I’d have to call the fraud department, which was currently closed.

As a next step, I returned to the confirmation e-mail, and took note of the shipping information in there. It was being shipped by one specific package delivery company, and I had a tracking number. Seeing as it was late, I couldn’t call their hotline for help. Instead, I went ahead and sent an e-mail to their support, warning them that the package should not be delivered, as it was fraudulent. I realized that I would likely not hear back from them that night, but at least I knew I did something while waiting for the hotline to open the next morning.

The next day, I called my cell phone provider first, and spoke with their fraud department. From what they could tell, the thief simply managed to authenticate as me, providing my birth date and postal code. He then had them change the address and phone number on my account, likely after telling them he had moved. As a means of protecting my account from further break-ins, the provider offered to set up a password. I naturally agreed to this, but wondered why it wasn’t active by default.

Next in line was the delivery company, which I managed to reach by phone. The agent mentioned that the package was already in transit, and that she would notify the driver to abort the delivery. She seemed fairly confident that this would occur, so I was in a good position by the end of the call. Keep in mind, though, that I probably didn’t need to worry about the delivery, as the provider likely had insurance for such situations. My pursuit, at that point, was mainly for personal reasons – if I could stop the thief from succeeding, I would be much more satisfied.

Soon after completing the calls, I arrived at work, and told my boss the story. He naturally allowed me to deal with it from the office, rather than work. Since I had spoken to the delivery company and my cell phone provider, the next step was to call the police. I explained my story, and the officer told me someone would call me back to discuss it further. In the meantime, her advice was that I should activate a fraud alert on my credit line, which I went ahead and did immediately after the call. The alert would prevent anything from being charged to my name, effectively making a social security number a requirement in all large credit purchases. After activating the alerts, I went back to my desk, and tried to piece together how exactly I had been compromised. Within a few minutes, I had my answer.

To find my postal code, the thief probably just ran a WHOIS against my domain. At the time, I had multiple domains, and each one had been registered using my full name, address, and phone number. Domain registrations are public records, and though it’s a security concern, the contact information is needed to prove ownership. While this isn’t immediately visible to everyone, with the right tools, one can access that information. As an example, visit this website, and enter “microsoft.com” in the WHOIS box. Press “WHOIS >>” when ready, and then scroll down to see the registration information. There are hosts that offer private registration, usually for an additional fee, but at the time, my host didn’t have the option.

Now, on the other hand, my birth date was a little less straight-forward. It was a coworker who initially found that my Amazon wishlist was available to the public, and it revealed my birth day and month. While the year wasn’t actually revealed, there are many sites where my current age is displayed. With that, the year can be deduced, and there you have it – the date of my birth, cracked.

With the security holes revealed, I decided to correct the easiest one – I disabled my Amazon wishlist. The domain problem would have to be addressed later, as it would likely require changing hosts, which was not a quick task. My next goal was to find out as much as I could about the thief, as I had his address and phone number. After some googling, I located the Facebook profile of the supposed culprit, which of course included his name. Unfortunately, I couldn’t determine if he was the actual thief, or a scapegoat, so I couldn’t act on this knowledge. The actual thief could simply have given that address with the intention of being there just in time to grab the delivery. So, instead of acting on it, I took notes, and awaited the police phone call.

A few minutes later, I got word from the delivery company – they had successfully blocked the package, and it was being returned to the sender. With this news, I knew that I had blocked the thief – it was now simply a matter of bringing down the hammer of justice. Soon after, the police called back, and I explained my story once more. To my surprise, I was told that there was nothing they could do to locate the individual, despite the information I had collected. Apparently, the scam was fairly common, and the person doing it was most likely not the one at the address. The officer then explained that it would have been a different story if I hadn’t successfully blocked the delivery. Even then, I was told it would have taken the police department ONE YEAR to investigate such a theft. I left the call feeling less respect for the police, and seriously considered taking a vigilante approach.

Despite my disappointment in the police, the problem had been mostly resolved. I successfully prevented the thief from getting anything, and my accounts were now all protected. I had called all companies I did business with, and had them activate all optional security measures.

Two weeks after the incident, I received yet another e-mail, notifying me that my password had been reset on my account. I once again called my cellphone provider’s fraud department, and they helped me piece together what happened. The thief probably noticed he hadn’t received the iPhone, and tried to get that corrected by going to a store in person. When he couldn’t figure out the password that was being asked of him, he likely claimed he had forgotten it, and had the agent reset it. Since my account had the correct contact information, the new password was sent to my e-mail address. Since he couldn’t get into the account, and couldn’t check my e-mail, he was officially stuck, and the conflict finally came to an end…. I had won.

However stressful, the whole experience proved instrumental in improving my security on the web. No longer could I just casually open accounts everywhere, worry-free. I now had to be very conscious of how websites intended to use my data, otherwise, I could be leaving bits of information for thieves to exploit. I once wrote an article that explains how I would google my own e-mail address to see if it was visible to spammers. Well, the same approach can be used for other things – you can google your name, address, phone number, and see if it is exposed anywhere. Keeping in mind, of course, that after searching for anything sensitive, you should probably wipe your browser history, as well as your Google Web History, if you have that activated.

Beyond making sure that websites don’t expose too much information about me, I also try to avoid being specific in my posts. You likely noticed that I never mentioned who my cellphone provider was, and who the package delivery company was. I do this to make sure I’m not giving away details that can be used against me. I also exclude certain facts from my posts so that if my identity is ever in question, I have unique information that can set me apart from the thief. I do something similar with the images that I upload to this blog – if I spot anything even remotely sensitive, I’ll cover it up.

So, that’s my story, folks – hopefully my experience will prove useful in preventing similar attempts on others.

Photo credit

First photo by Ken Banks, kiwanja.net.

Second photo by KDavidClark.

Third photo by Tim Pierce.

Ah, yes, Livemocha. If you haven’t heard, Livemocha is a site that allows you to learn languages with the help of a community. While it does offer exercises and quizzes that are similar to Rosetta Stone, the most powerful feature is the fact that other users review your submissions. That alone is worthy of a recommendation, so check it out if you haven’t already. The community support goes a long way towards motivating a person, and also ensures only native speakers of a language are the ones reviewing. This idea is a very powerful one, but unfortunately, the interface that they offer – the website – is flawed in many ways. Today, I’d like to share my experiences with one of these flaws, which, in my opinion, is a major usability issue.

Consider this Livemocha e-mail notification:

Alright, so “maxwevictor96” sent me a message. The name is a bit weird, so I’m pretty sure it is spam – but there’s no way for me to read the message content from the inbox. If I click on the link, I’m forced to log into Livemocha before I’m allowed to see the content. Seeing as Livemocha also offers paid learning services, I can see why they might want us to log in as often as possible. After all, the more time we spend on the site, the more time we have to consider paying for advanced services. Of course, I’m just speculating – it’s possible they didn’t intentionally design it with that in mind.

Anyway, provided I do log in, I’m brought to the message:

So, yeah, definitely spam, and it’s up to me to either flag it, or ignore it completely. In an effort to improve the services that I use, I usually go out of my way to flag spam. Notice the Report abuse button on the left? Seems clear enough, so let’s click that.

A gray overlay appears over the site, and after about 2 seconds of loading, the above dialog appears. So far, I can’t really complain – apart from the long load time. The form seems pretty standard, so I select Spam from the Category dropdown, and click Submit.

Instead of the dialog disappearing, an error message appears, telling me that the “Message cannot be blank“. Apparently, saying the e-mail is spam is not enough. I actually have to type something in the comments box… but what do they want me to enter at this point? The first few times, I wrote “This is spam”, what else do they expect? Seems to me that the form should not require comments if you’re simply flagging spam. After doing this on many separate occasions, and cursing at the unknown designer that came up with this process, I actually caught myself adding random characters to the Comments textbox, just so I could submit quickly. In other words, I spammed the report spam feature, to save time – all because of this bizarre design choice. It reminds me of the Windows Server 2003 dialog that appears whenever you boot, where you have to explain why the machine was taken offline. Sure, it can be useful in specific environments, but for a simple test machine – I really don’t care when it goes offline, so I learned to enter random garbage into that textbox just to get past it. Funny how design choices can turn well-intentioned users into annoyed pseudo-spammers.

Anyway, provided you spend time entering something in the comments box, you can successfully click Submit. Then, this message appears:

I get thanked for keeping Livemocha clean, and it tells me my report has been submitted successfully. Okay, fine – then I’m told the dialog will disappear in 5 seconds, so I don’t need to do anything. They offer a small close button, but it’s far enough away from where my mouse cursor is (after clicking Submit) that I never actually felt like it was worth it to try and close the window early. If at least they would count clicks outside the dialog, I could hide it immediately by clicking the gray zone. But no, instead, I’m subject to time-limited target practice – if I can click the little Close button quick enough, I can save maybe 2-3 seconds. That, or sit idly and let the 5 seconds elapse – after all, once you’ve read the message one time, there’s really no value in re-reading it.

So why do you feel the need to waste my time, Livemocha? I lose 2 seconds waiting for the dialog to appear, then I have to select Spam, enter redundant information in the comments box, click Submit, and then wait 5 more seconds. I have a suggestion, guys – how about a Report Spam button with no questions asked?

Update: I posted a feature request on LiveMocha’s feedback site.