The IT Department's Universal Refrain: "It's the User's Fault!"
May 4, 2012
Recently, I informed a Christian missionary organization of a dead link on its site. I sent the link. I got this reply:
Dear Gary,I am sorry to hear that you have had difficulty accessing the [site acronym]!
Unfortunately, I think that this may be due to a problem with your browser, as the full issue is up and accessible from our computers. Our IT person suggests that if you update your browser, or try with a different one, you may be able to access the full issue.
If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me again! Thank you,
In short, "Stuff it, bozo. You don't know what's up. Feel free to contact us at any time."
At lease he/she (a foreign name) didn't add "in Jesus' name." (I assume feminine. The person used my first name, and added an exclamation mark. Men don't do this 3ith strangers -- too familiar.)
I tried Firefox 11. Nothing. I tried it with IE9. Nothing. If Firefox 11 and IE9 don't access it, it cannot be accessed.
But, to make sure, I went to Firefox's site. What do you know? There was version 12. I downloaded it. I went back to the dead link. It is still dead.
I checked the site's Alexa ranking. It is 6,624,604. That is to say, it's invisible.
The organization is invisible.
It's influence is invisible.
But someone is donating money to it to employ a guy in the IT department whose utter incompetence in Web SEO (search engine optimization) placement has led to the site's invisibility.
He wants to run his invisible site in peace. He does not want to find out what is wrong it it. He prefers to invent stories -- my ancient browser -- rather than conduct an investigation. It's the IT mantra: "It's all your fault!" For an IT guy, he is Oliver Hardy, and users are Stan Laurel.
I have run my site since 1996. I know how to run a site. When someone sends me a "dead link" warning, I fix the link. Simple.
There is a reason why Christians have so little influence. They have so little competence.
Yes, yes, I know. "Dr. North, you're so mean!"
I hate lousy work in Jesus' name. My contempt shows.