theraputic day in gmail

today i organized my gmail contacts; and during this refreshing process, i also took away everyone's right to format their display name!

i'm aware this is a very rights-stripping, barack obamaesque approach to email. i'm aware that i will soon be criticized over my plans for universal virus protection, and my plans to scale back all the resources we currently have fighting spam oversees, by 2011. but the bottom line was, i got tired of my gchat list looking something like this:

Jake Fielder
marcus watson
rtmichaelson
T Johnson
your mom is stupid

left to their own devices, gmail users will format their display name ridiculously, in any way they like: first and last name, first name only, last name only, first initial only, first initial - last name, email address only - you name it. it was time to simplify. time to not always have to wonder who kathy234234 actually was.

in some ways it was sad to have to move this operation in-house. when outsourced to all my lovely friends, it certainly was an adventure. it was a gateway into everyone's mind, and a window, if you will, into the creativity of those in my contacts list. but, in the end, seeing your creativity was not worth visual stress caused by the formatting inconsistencies.

call it OCD. call it big government. call it crazy. but you're done, and i'm in charge now!