How to turn off donors

Let's see...you've decided for Earth Day you want to donate to a site that benefits the planet. There are plenty of choices, but how would you pick? Maybe you'd want to evaluate the mission of the organization. Maybe you would want to know what the organization does with the donations it receives? According to a study done by Jakob Nielsen, a usability expert, only 43% of non-profits put their mission statement on the home page. Follow the link for more information about how sites could do better:
- make the donation button easier to find!
- ensure that local chapter pages resemble the national site
- make your organization's values prominent on your page
Now, doesn't that seem obvious?

One more reason to treat others with respect

"When I was a receptionist, I routinely culled the obnoxious candidates (as well as the clearly unqualified). If someone was sweet and I could make a case for their qualifications, they would get special attention." - a comment by a reader in a blog post about treating receptionists well when you are seeking a job.

At the risk of sounding obvious, I mention this simple rule about job seeking (and life in general): treat others the way you would want to be treated. This blog post explains some reasons why treating the receptionist well might benefit you. Remember, for many firms, the receptionist is the gatekeeper, and if you want entry, you need to keep that in mind. Other than the rare hostile secretary, like Carol in the Dilbert comics, you will find that your respect and consideration are at the very least appreciated.

Indexes or indices?

I was reading an article on Friday about the volatility in the stock market, and it referred to "the major indexes" and I got to wondering whether that was grammatically correct. There are a handful of English words that have irregular plurals. For example, did you know the plural form of appendix is appendices when you are talking about the section in the back of the book, but it's appendixes when you are talking about multiple internal organs? Matrix takes the plural form matrices but I don't think you could properly use that form when referring to multiple copies of the Keanu Reeves movie. The Wall Street Journal apparently considers both forms acceptable. Wiktionary claims that indexes is more common in the US and indices is the British form. But does common usage make a word correct? Certainly that's not true initially, though it does tend to become a recognized correct usage if it persists. Irregardless is an example of a word that has come to be accepted, though Merriam Webster's online dictionary still claims it's not a word.

How to say goodbye

Maybe it's a sign of the times, but here's a great article on how to write a final farewell email to your co-workers. The author points out that there is no standard etiquette like you might find for general email. What are some of the author's suggestions?
- err on the side of less information rather than more
- limit the melodrama
- be gracious to your supporters
- use humor sparingly
Actually, those are pretty good rules for most email.