internet

7 Reasons Why Free Web Hosting has Hurt the Internet

Over the past decade, the internet has transitioned from being a place where only geeks hung out to a vast cloud full of information produce by anyone and everyone. We’ve gone from a select few making a website dedicated to their cat, to everyone and their cat having a website.

It started with Geocities, Tripod, and Homestead. These websites made it easy for amateurs to the internet to create a very basic website. In the light of modern times, these sites barely exist. But free web hosting continues in the form of free web hosting, free forums, etc. And it has hurt the internet.

1) Free web hosting caters to spam

Since most free web hosting providers are ad revenue based, they typically have very low standards for what types of websites are allowed to placed on their servers. And while some may have rules, they’re rarely monitored or enforced. This has opened the door spammers to create link farms in large numbers, sites that scrape copyrighted content, and just otherwise extremely low quality content.

2) Free web hosting is too easy to use

I’m all for websites providing increasingly easy ways of performing complex tasks — creating a forum on your website in 1999 wasn’t an easy task. But today, it’s a matter of simply signing up for a free forum service. And while I inherently have no issue with this, it allows users who have no clue what they’re doing to undertake very large tasks.

3) Free web hosting promotes technological ignorance

I’m a firm believer that everyone should have access to the internet. I’m a firm believer that everyone should be able to create their own content and place it on the internet. However, that being said, let’s face it: you have to be willing to learn how to do this properly. If you’re willing to pay for web hosting–which is an extremely small fee these days–you’re typically more willing to learn how to effectively manage, maintain, and promote your website. If you’re going to be running a forum, you’re more willing to customize it and encourage a thriving community. if you’re creating a blog, you’re interested in producing quality content. However, if the decision to make a website was made in the 30 seconds it took you to create that free website, chances are it’s not going to succeed.

4) Free web hosting limits the website owner

Okay, so let’s assume that you are a website owner who wishes to really learn about maintaining a website. There’s one problem, though: Free web hosts rarely provide the “customer” with the tools they need to learn. And when you try to ask the hosting provider to do something for you (which you otherwise could have done yourself), you’re met with horrible customer service and support.

5) Free web hosting discourages innovation

When signing up for a free website, blog, or forum, typically you’re presented with a small number of pre-fabricated templates that you can use–with no way to customize them. This, over time, produces a plethora of websites that look and function identically. The website owner is left with very little choice, and browsers of the internet are forced into seeing the same thing over and over again, with little way of distinguishing between content providers.

6) Free web hosting discourages quality content

Free website owners likely don’t truly care about the long-term destination of their website. If it fails, they really haven’t lost anything monetary, besides time. If it doesn’t get maintained, there’s no loss at all. There’s little incentive to produce quality content that people will want to subscribe to and read on a regular basis. You have nothing to lose, and nothing to gain. Unfortunately for the rest of the internet, they have to sift through loads of pointless content before finding what they were looking for or interested in.

7) Free web hosting is quite simply … cheap

And I mean that in more ways than simply monetary scale. If someone is going to become a website owner and maintainer; if they’re going to become a content producer; if they have something valuable to say and share with the rest of us, they should be willing to at least attempt to do a “good job” with it. If you’re not willing to give out something to secure your place on the internet, why would the rest of us want to hear what you have to say?

The free web hosting services cater to the “I want it now” ideology, with little regard for the planning and work required to produce quality content. The internet has been cut because of it. And unfortunately, I don’t think the blade is going away anytime soon.

Digital Blasphemy Membership

One of the best purchases I’ve ever made online is a membership to Digital Blasphemy, a high-quality 3D wallpaper site. The site’s owner, Ryan Bliss, truly has impressive talent in computer generated art. His wallpaper is regularly on all of my computers.

If you love wallpaper, I encourage you to purchase a membership. This month, I’m using Starbirth 2008.

It’s All About the Reader: Twitter It, YouTube It, Just Share It

One thing that I’ve learned very quickly when I dipped my feet into the world of blogging and online technology is the importance of the reader. Ultimately, you’re not writing for yourself but for your audience. When you write a review of a product, it’s about how that product would be a good buy for your reader. When you give advice or technical support, it’s about putting it in the reader’s terms and applying it to the reader’s situation.

It’s about giving back to the community which supports you by reading your content. It all boils down to one singular idea: the community. Without the community, you have nothing. Sure, you can be producing content, but if you don’t have the backing of the community, your community, you won’t get very far.

The main importance of the community, however, is how the community can help you. A lot of times they will offer suggestions to help improve you. Collectively, this vast amount of knowledge and critique of the work you do becomes critically important to your success. If you don’t embrace the community, you lose everything, including your respect. Not only does this apply to the online blogging world, but also to products and services. I’ve covered this idea more than once (see the two blog entries previous) so I won’t repeat myself.

There aren’t too many ways to involve the community–the more the better. Get yourself on YouTube, or even Twitter. Twitter is one of those things that is ridiculously simple but can have such a profound effect on your community (speaking of which, here is my Twitter). The community subscribing to simple blurbs or mini-posts gets them surprisingly involved. It lets them tune into who you are as a content producer and get into your mind a little bit more on a casual level. Share interesting links or quick thoughts on emerging news. Let them get involved in your thought processes and they’ll only turn around a help you back by offering suggestions.

In summary: everything from products to services to blogging to online content should be first and foremost about the community. Otherwise, you end up with garbage.

phpBB Makes Its Way to Computerworld

I am currently a team member, support team member to be exact, for the open-source phpBB project. Last week, Computerworld Australia asked us several questions about version 3.0 that we released 2 months ago. I was glad to be a part of answering some of these questions.

You can check out the article, entitled phpBB3 takes giant strides from predecessor from Computerworld’s Australia site, located here.

The Power of Blogging in 2008

Ten years ago if you would have told someone you had a blog, they would have been confused. While the term itself has existed for around 9 years now, its current meaning wasn’t realized until around 2003 or 2004. Originally, it simply meant “weblog” or a journal of your life online. You described events that happened to you just like you would in a handwritten personal journal.

These days, a blog is much more than a journal. While many people operate “web journals,” a much smaller portion operates what I would consider to be a true “blog” in its current meaning. Blogs have become a place for not only journalism by the public (which has seriously impacted the area of politics), but also a way to provide and spread information. Some of the most popular blogs on the internet take current events, provide their own opinions concerning those events, and make any recommendations or suggestions as a result.

Blogs have become what I believe the single most powerful and influential medium of the spread of information, whatever it may be, across the internet. Ranging from “how to” articles, to in-depth critiques of politics, to why you liked the movie you saw last night or why you chose to purchase a specific product, it not only covers a wide range of topics, but also carries a lot of power. Blogs get information out there.

I personally saw this power firsthand, albeit not as major as some people have. When I wrote about the trouble I had with Kensington’s website and trouble with Kensington’s customer support line, four days later I received a comment on that post from Kensington’s product manager about the issue. How he found the blog entry, I’ll never know. At no point did I give out my website or email address which could have led him there. Chances are he was doing a PR search concerning Kensington and found my blog entry. One week later, I not only got the product I was looking for, but got it for free and only after he had gone through a bit of trouble to find a discontinued item for me.

While that item was only a mousepad, it even more shows the true power of blogging in 2008. If someone such as that product manager is so concerned about every bit of PR out there about his company, even about a mousepad, how much more concerned should politicians be concerning world matters and the voices of the public?

This is demonstrated by people around the world being executed and imprisoned for giving their opinion online concerning their local politics.

What do you think? How powerful is blogging really, and how will it change things in 2008 and beyond?

I Love Networks

It’s no secret. I’m a geek.

I’m also a networking geek. Basically, that means I get all warm and fuzzy inside when I work with computer networking. I love it. It’s should be no surprise that I’ve chosen Network Administration as the field and career that I am currently pursuing.

Whether it’s TCP/IP, LDAP, DNS, HTTP, packet sharing, ports, firewalls, security, Linux, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, routers, switches, hubs, CAT5e, or anything else network related, I devour it. I love it.

The reason I love networking so much is because, well, it’s just so cool. I mean, come on. Even though it’s old technology, I just got a color LaserJet printer capable of connecting directly to a router. How cool is it that I can’t print to this router … by an IP address? How cool is it that I can do some port forwards on my router and actually print to my printer when I’m in another city and state?

Networking is what powers the internet. It’s what allows us to connect to any device I want and communicate with it. And its full potential has only begun to be realized. The future of networking is in the small things: like our MP3 players connecting wirelessly to our computers to sync music. Or perhaps, our MP3 players listening to music that isn’t even stored on the device but rather on a file server at your home hundreds of miles away. It’s what will allow us to watch TV from anywhere at anytime on any device we want. (Slingbox Pro anyone?).

I’m sorry, but networks are cool. Networks are one of the best examples, as well, for how following standards in the computing industry has gotten us places. Where would we be if TCP/IP wasn’t made a standard communication platform decades ago? The internet wouldn’t exist the way we know it today, that’s for sure.

What do you think of networks? Are they cool or do they scare the heck out of you because they seem so complex? Let me know. Leave a comment or Ask Me.

All I Wanted was a Mouse Pad

I have the best mouse pad in the world. I swear by it. I’ve used this mouse pad for close to 4 years and I’m not giving it up. The fabric has become discolored and the rubber grip on the bottom is starting to rot. I then decided it was time to purchase a new one.

I launched Kensington’s website and to my surprise (considering the mouse pad’s age), the same mouse pad I have was still listed though it wasn’t available for sale. I nabbed the model number (or so I thought) and did searched specifically for it. Once again, I found it for sale. So I ordered it.

But once I got the mouse pad … it wasn’t the right one. Well, actually, wait. It was. But it wasn’t!

The model number was correct on the invoice slip. The model number was right on the box. The model number was right on even the mouse pad’s packaging. Yet it wasn’t the same mouse pad that was pictured on this website, let alone Kensington’s website.

At the end of several phone calls, I’ll be shipping the mouse pads back and I’m waiting on a phone call from Kensington’s Product Manager to see if we can’t get the right one ordered or find out what local retailers are selling the mouse pad.

I mean, seriously … all I wanted was a mouse pad the same as what I had. Is that too much to ask?

Microsoft, Windows Media Player, URGE, and Live Services

Earlier in August, MTV announced they would be merging with RealNetworks to form Rhapsody America, thus ditching URGE and Microsoft. For those of you who aren’t aware, URGE is essentially a competitor to iTunes but also allows you to have a music subscription where you can download and listen to any songs you want provided you keep paying the monthly fee.

URGE hasn’t been extremely popular, though the users who use it have reported that it is overall a very good experience and excellent service to have. MTV ditching URGE for Rhapsody is a huge blow to Microsoft. It was also a stupid move on the part of MTV, in my opinion. For the last 10 years, Real Network’s desktop software has been, to be blunt, crap. It’s been bulky, slow, unstable, and one of the worst UI experiences I’ve ever seen in Windows software. Whether MTV and Rhapsody will succeed in this is anyone’s guess.

However, I see this as a massive opportunity for Microsoft to gain some ground in in online music store and subscription industry. Microsoft has already invented PlayForSure which was one of the most ingenious ideas in the history of MP3 players. If only Apple would accept that standard, we could all be happy. However, Microsoft’s biggest mistake in all of this was their refusal to add PlayForSure support into the Zune. To be honest, I think this is one of the main reasons MTV left Microsoft. URGE has long supported PlayForSure, but when Microsoft has said URGE can’t connect with the Zune (which were announced hand-in-hand), it just screws up everything.

Live services by Microsoft is also another example of joining everything together into one standard platform. If Microsoft wants to take advantage of this situation, they need to firstly, ditch the Zune software. It’s a horrible piece of software as it is. They need to just stick to Windows Media Player. Secondly, they need to add PlayForSure support into the Zune. Why in the world they ever decided to not add a Microsoft technology to a Microsfot MP3 player is beyond me. Thirdly, they need to create their own version of URGE entirely from scratch and integrate it into the Live services so you can manage your account from anywhere using the Live account you already have.

I don’t like Microsoft for a lot of things they do, namely screwing up Vista’s release. However, Microsoft has a ton of incredibly awesome ideas rattling around up in their heads. They know how to create a good product and what users are asking for. They know how to wow people. They just need to successfully do it. Microsoft Research is a prime example of this. Why exactly Microsoft Research isn’t at the forefront of everything that comes out of Microsoft I’ll never know…

Microsoft … if you’re reading this, don’t screw this opportunity up. You had a good thing going with URGE. You screwed it up. Learn from this experience, take the bull by the horns, and create something much better and something which the end user will want to experience on a regular basis. I beg you … don’t screw this up.

Zamzar.com - Free file conversion

I’ve known about Zamzar.com for a few months at this point, but it has taken awhile for me to really see the true convenience of it.

Zamzar.com, for those of you who don’t know, is a 100% free online file converter. Seriously, you can convert files, virtually any type of media or document up to 100MB, on the fly. All you need to do is simply upload the file and provide an email address where the link for the converted file can be sent. No emails addresses are harvested, you’re not put on any spam lists, and no software is required to be downloaded to use the service.

I find myself using Zamzar.com every day for something or another. All I’m hoping for is a bit more file support for other things besides media or documents, such as address book archives (vCard, LDIV to CSV, etc). Developer and producers file conversion would also be useful, such as DSLR Camera RAW or even things like PSD (Photoshop) conversion.

If you need any type of media file or document conversion, you owe it to yourself to check out Zamzar.com

What do you think? Do you have any suggestions for online file format converters? Leave a comment.

What is Web 2.0?

If you’re at all a common browser on the internet, you probably have come across a website mentioning this thing called “Web 2.0.” What is this exactly, and how does it work? There has been much confusion going on surrounding Web 2.0, a lot of fallacies, and a lot of debate among website designers as to its true definition. Hopefully I’ll clear some of these up.

Firstly, let me tell you what Web 2.0 certainly is not. As the name would imply, Web 2.0 is supposedly the successor of Web 1.0. In some ways this is true. However, it definitely does not mean there is some brand new version of the “internet” coming out or that you’ll need to “download” a Web 2.0 browser or anything. We’re still dealing with the same exact internet. Don’t let the so-called version number fool you.

Web 2.0, as I personally as a web designer and technology advocate would define it, is redefining how we look at the way websites work. For example, for the past 15 or so years, the World Wide Web has been nothing but static pages with text, maybe a few pictures, and within the last few years, possibly some Adobe Flash animations or interactive navigations. Still though, for the most part, every website you browse is simply for the display of information, page by page, site by site, everything works by itself and for itself.

Web 2.0, on the other hand, is redefining static web design concept. For example, instead of coding a website to simply display information, how about updating this information in real-time without requiring any Flash, Java, or the user manually refreshing the page? Even moreso, how about allowing users to instantly add information or make changes? Ultimately, Web 2.0 is defining the convergence of internet technology and websites on a global, standard, and non-proprietary level. Everything just works together. Every website isn’t just its own anymore, it’s able to interact with others as well.

I found it very interesting that Steve Jobs recently announced at an Apple conference when presenting iLife ‘08 that iPhoto was “officially Web 2.0 compatible.” I seriously had to laugh at this. Not only did he miss the mark completely, he has a completely warped idea of what Web 2.0 is really trying to accomplish. What Jobs supposedly meant by saying this was that you are now able to upload your photos directly to your .Mac account. Keyword, there. .Mac. Nothing else. You have to use Apple’s services. For iPhoto to truely be able to take advantage of Web 2.0 technologies, it would have to be able to work with (or work with after installing a simple addon or putting in an API key) other online photos services such as Flickr, or Sony’s PhotoStation, and many others at the mercy of the API’s developers.

The whole point of Web 2.0 is making every website work together and connect with each other seamlessly. It’s not just flashy AJAX programming, live updating, or cool rounded edges. It’s about the convergence of all internet technology into one collective memory. Microsoft gets it (with things such as Microsoft Windows Surface and Microsoft Research’s Photosynth), the open-source community gets it. The mainstream and “talented” web designers get it, but apparently Apple doesn’t. Going off in a slight tangent, Apple will seriously be hurting in the next 5-10 years if they don’t back off of their proprietary mindset and realize everything is going online to the collective memory.

What’s even funnier is people are starting to talk about Web 3.0 when 90% of people don’t even know or give a wooden nickle about what truely is Web 2.0.

Windows Live Mail - The Exclusive Trial

For the past few years, mid 2003 or so, I have used Mozilla Thunderbird for my desktop email needs. At the time I had various @hotmail.com and @msn.com email addresses, so I used the webbased client for these. So you could say I used Thunderbird almost exclusively for my email ever since version 0.1. Previously, the only viable basic desktop email option previous to Thunderbird was Microsoft’s Outlook Express, or the full Outlook if you had Microsoft Office. However, I didn’t need the address books. I didn’t need the calendar. All I needed was a desktop application to control my mail. So ever since I Windows 98, I ran Outlook Express.

Very recently, along with the release of Windows Vista, Microsoft announced that Hotmail and MSN email would be incorporated with their Windows Live services. In May of 2007, Windows Live Hotmail went live, sporting a brand new AJAX interface and new options.

Now, Microsoft in currently in development for the replacement for Outlook Express (for XP) and Windows Mail (for Vista), which is simply called Windows Live Mail. I was introduced to it a few weeks ago and thought I’d download and try it out. So far, I’m impressed with it’s performance and simplicity, and also the UI is massively improved from either Windows Mail or Outlook Express.

I have decided to give Windows Live Mail a two week exclusive trial. I wanted something that’s simple and effective, but that had a nice UI. Unfortunately, Thunderbird covered the simple and effective part, but the UI is in desperate need of improvement. I won’t even open Thunderbird once to check my email during this period. No matter what frustrations I encounter, I’ll only use Windows Live Mail.

What do you think? Do you have any suggestions for email clients for Windows?

As always, if you have a question, be sure to Ask Me.

The New Wireless - The Year 2009

While this news story is a few weeks old, it’s just about the greatest one of the year for the internet (at least in the US): New rules could rock wireless world.

For those of you who may not know, as of February 2009, all over-the-air broadcast NTSC TV will be gone. Basically this means everything will have either shifted to HDTV, or all over-the-air broadcasts will be digital television from cable companies. In technical terms, this opens up the 700Mhz frequency range which is currently reserved for these broadcasts.

So the question is … what do we do with it? Well, the FCC has just decided that some type of information will be broadcast over those frequencies, and as of now, this most likely will be internet access and services. The question then becomes, who controls it?

Many large corporations are fighting for the rights to it including AT&T and others. But if Google has their way, it’ll be an entirely open system which anyone can use. The good news is what while the FCC hasn’t given it to Google, they’ve decided that it will for sure be an open system.

Just think of it this way: by late 2009, you could, in theory, have free wireless internet access from anywhere broadcast TV previously reached, at full broadband speeds upwards of 2Mbps.

This could possibly become the best announcement ever.

RegisterFly.com and their legacy

Let’s start back in 2003. I decide that I’m going to begin a small hosting business. I do so and http://www.pylonhosting.com is born. I had registered the domain name through RegisterFly for the simple reason that they were recommended to me by a friend who was also in the hosting business For a while I have a lot of clients, I’m making a fair bit of money, and all is good in the world. But after I got neck deep in college work and an real job, I slowly began to let customers go and at this point I’m only hosting friends and my own sites.

Even though Pylon Hosting really isn’t a business anymore and for the sake of reason has ceased to exist, I still keep the domain name active and the account serves its purpose as file storage and my main bandwidth eater. I kept renewing the domain name with RegisterFly.com and couldn’t have been happier with their service. They were awesome, mainly because they were an eNom reseller at the time.

Fast forward to 2006. In February of that year, RegisterFly became their own ICANN accredited registrar. This is when things really started to slip. Their website began to have extreme problems, support literally dropped off the map, and the complaints started to go flying in. I heard about this and, due to my past experiences with RegisterFly, determined that it was just a bump in the road and they would rectify the situations immediately. Little did I know I wouldn’t feel the repercussions of that decision until now.

On March 17th of 2007, ICANN terminated RegisterFly.com’s accreditation thus forcing a plethora of problems on them. eNom severed all previous ties they had with RegisterFly and forcefully stripped back the domain names that had originally been registered while they were still an eNom reseller as they still had the rights to them.

On March 23rd, PylonHosting.com expired. This shouldn’t have been the case as I had auto-renew on. However, due to RegisterFly’s problems, this never went through, though RegisterFly’s site claimed it had gone through. My account was charged $12.99 to renew through PayPal, but I never got the domain name back. I then went ahead and registered an account on Godaddy.com and began the process of transferring over all of my domains, PylonHosting.com included. It was successful, however, I still needed the authorization code from RegisterFly’s site on that domain. So I log in and to my surprise, there is no such code. In fact, according to the site, no such transfer was initiated.

This is where the problems really start to begin. I immediately try to get on the phone with them. I was sorely unsuccessful in doing so. Practically every number I called (including Google Address look ups and WHOIS lookups) had either been disconnected, was busy, or the automated message would just go in an infinite loop. I never did actually get through to someone. Good job, RegisterFly. All totaled, I was on hold for 7 hours, my domains hadn’t been fixed, and I was out of $12.99 for which I never received a service in return.

I then decided to call eNom as I had registered most of my domains while RegisterFly was still a reseller. I explained my situation to them and they definitely knew about what was going on To my luck, after sending them a copy of my photo ID, I was able to get these domain names pushed to an eNom account and those that needed to be re-registered.

I’ve given up completely on calling RegisterFly to get my money back. At this point, I’ve filed a complaint with PayPal. If it cannot be taken care of through that medium, I will definitely be on the phone with the Police Department in West Orange, NJ (where they are headquarted). I know, it’s only $13, but it’s the principal of the matter. Don’t mess with me. I’ll win.

All in all, my time with RegisterFly was extremely satisfactory up until this whole thing. I do indeed feel sorry for the company and that it had to come to this and that they let it come to this. They were one of the best, now they’ll go down in history as an example of what not to do as a registrar.

UPDATE: It seems PayPal has taken the initiative and gone ahead and refunded my account without question. I’m sure I’m not the first and that they’ve had thousands of these already. Kudos to PayPal.

Static IP Address - How-to

In a previous entry, I invited my readers or any visitor to ask me a question via the Ask Me section above. I’ve gotten a few good questions. Most of them are about phpBB which I specifically asked not to be submitted. Some were about how to solve simple physics problems? Huh? What, do I look like a calculator? But regardless, I got a few that I think I’ll turn into an entry.

The first question is about static IP addresses from an ISP that only provides you with a dynamic IP address. If I’m gathering the question correctly, I’m assuming this person wants to setup a web server on their computer, but has no way to access it for any length of time due to their computer’s IP address changing every hour, or day, or week, depending on the ISP.

First, I should warn you that running a web server on your computer opens it up to potential security hazards unless you know what you’re doing or have some kind of firewall setup either on your router, or firewall software. And that said firewall software is properly configured, not just “I installed the disc, so it must be okay.” I won’t get into the specifics of that in this post, because it’s way too involved and there’s no one “correct” way to do it.

Sticking with the topic at hand, in order to get someone access to files on your computer via a web browser, you’ll need to have some static address in place. Most often, this won’t be in the form of an IP address, but an actual domain.

There are a few services out there that offer DNS redirecting services for free. My personal favorite, and the most popular, is No-IP. Basically, you sign up for a free account, choose the domain name you would like to use (or sub-domain rather), and then install a small program on to your computer. What this program does is (every 10 minutes or so), get the IP address for your computer and send that address to No-IP’s servers. So when anyone accesses the No-IP web address, it’ll be forwarded (and masked) to your current IP address, whatever it is at the time.

One other thing to consider as well is the port you’ll be using. No-IP is able to forward any port you wish to your computer (for example, I go to my-no-ip-domain.com:5900 to access the VNC server on port 5900 on my desktop at home). Most often, if your ISP doesn’t allow a static IP address, they’ll also block incoming traffic from ports 80 and 21 (HTTP and FTP respectively). In this case, you’d need to configure your web server software (Apache, IIS) to use a different port. I use 8090. And then you’ll need to access it from my-no-ip-domain.com:8090.

Simple? It really isn’t that hard to set up.

Good luck! Email me back if you need any more details! And keep the questions coming!

What about royalty-free music?

I am a hobbiest photographer and videographer. And I enjoy putting any vacation trips that I’ve taken into one “be all” video which sums everything up. Video editing, basically. (Adobe Premiere FTW).

Needless to say, I add music to the background. For my own personal use videos, ie, only ones I myself keep hold of, I have always used regular old music out there. Anything I could find that I had in my CD library. But that practice got kind of sketchy when I wanted to give copies to some friends since, they too, were on said trip. So I got stuck with royalty fees.

Now, the royalty fees really aren’t that bad. But I sitll don’t want to have to pay them.

So this begs the question of you readers. Do you know of any free (as in beer) royalty-free music out there that I could download, preferably instrumental stuff? Anything under the Creative Commons licenses? I’ve found resources in the past, but I couldn’t find any really “good” stuff, if you know what I mean.