Archive for January, 2008

PRWeek Makes Public Relations Disaster, Violates User Privacy

on January 30, 2008 in Reputation Management. 1 Comment

Over the course of the past two days, I have received over 200 emails from PRWeekJobs.com urging me to “Upload Your Resume at the New PRWeekjobs.com for a Chance to win an iPod.”

As if the email overload wasn’t enough of an annoyance, each email contained the actual email address and password for the PRWeek account of the intended recipient. These email addresses and passwords were sent to hundreds of other strangers with PRWeek.com accounts.

I personally did not receive an email containing my own email and password, but I have no way of knowing if my own personal information was sent to others.

That is an utter disaster and a colossal security risk, considering that many people use the same email address and password for dozens of internet accounts.

PRWeek’s response? A lame apology on the PRWeek website from Adicio, the company apparently responsible for the technical glitch, and a similarly lame email from the editor of PRWeek:

From the desk of Julia Hood, Editor-in-Chief of PRWeek

Date: January 30, 2008

I am writing to personally apologize for the error that caused your PRWeekjobs.com user name and password information to be distributed externally. I am also sorry if you received our job site email multiple times and that your email address was cc’d to other respondents.

I want to provide you with background on how this happened; what we have been doing to fix the situation; and what action you may be able to take to limit the extent of this inconvenience. The error originated with our vendor, Adicio, via a technical error, during their work on our behalf with an automated software migration package. When this problem was discovered, just minutes after the project began, Adicio immediately took mitigating action ceasing the transmission and disabling all user names and passwords. This problem impacted a limited portion of registrants to a PRWeek service. Adicio’s explanation and apology is currently on our website:
http://www.prweekus.com/Adicio-issues-formal-apology-regarding-PRWeek-e-mail-problem/article/104713/

Unfortunately, I know that some of you may still be receiving emails. If that is the case, it is likely that these emails are being bottlenecked at your ISP. Please refer to the list below for obtaining advice on how to stop this from happening in your individual system.

- Contact your ISP and request they remove the spam emails
awaiting delivery from you (the top ISP contact details
are included below). PRWeek is also alerting ISPs of this
problem
- If your company owns an email server, contact your Systems
Administrator and request that they block the specific
email address in its Spam filter
- Block the senders email address on your system
- For peace of mind, change the passwords for other online
services you use for which you have been using the same
password

I know you have been inconvenienced and, even more importantly, are concerned about the privacy of your information. This error may have also shaken your confidence in working and engaging with PRWeek. Again, I offer my sincere apology, as well as my promise to you that we will do everything possible to ensure that this never happens again. I realize it will take time for us to earn your trust again, but we value our dialogue with you and hope it will continue and that we can move past this very unfortunate occurrence.

Please feel free to contact me directly with further questions and concerns. My information is at the bottom of this email.

Best Regards,
Julia Hood
Editor-in-Chief, PRWeek
114 W. 26th Street
New York, NY 10001
P: 646-638-6031
mailto:Julia.hood@prweek.com

Well, gee. They feel really bad about this mix-up. They explained how to stop receiving the emails, but only 2 days after I began receiving them in the first place. Worse yet, PRWeek didn’t mention how they intend to make this right. To me, the most immediate and automatic response should have been a few years’ of free subscriptions and some sort of credit report monitoring (in case the email and passwords also granted access to bank or credit card accounts). Honestly, I don’t think monetary compensation is entirely unreasonable, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re faced with a lawsuit.

Luckily for me, the password associated with my PRWeek account was unique.

But what can you learn from this PRWeek privacy debacle?

  • Use a dedicated email when signing up for new accounts with various websites. The email address should be nonsensical and should not contain personally identifying information. I’d be in a lot of trouble if I had signed up for PRWeek with “firstname.lastname@mycompany.com.” Instead I used something along the lines of “random-words-and-numbers@gmail.com.”
  • Use a different password for each account. I know it’s a pain, but so is having your online accounts hacked.
  • Don’t give out personal information without a valid reason, even if the company seems reputable. However, keep in mind that even honest people make mistakes.
  • Don’t piss off people who blog ;)
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How to Open a Roth IRA in 15 Minutes or Less

on January 30, 2008 in Personal Finance. 4 Comments

By now, I hope all my guppie readers know the basic benefits of a Roth IRA and why you should have one. If not, go read this primer on the benefits of the Roth by my power-lesbian crush Suze Orman. (But note that the 2008 contribution limits for Roth IRAs have changed.)

For my fellow homo-gay-sexuals, the gist of the Roth is this:

  1. You put after-tax money in the Roth. (You can contribute up to $4,000 by April 15 for fiscal year 2007, and up to $5,000 in 2008.)
  2. Wait until you get old and wrinkly (59.5 years old), or maybe just old if you’ve had some work done
  3. Withdraw bunches of money tax-free, then move to Florida to live in a McMansion with your much younger lover

I opened my own Roth IRA only last week. Admittedly, the markets are pretty crazy right now, but I’m investing for the long haul, so I needn’t worry about a possible recession in 2008.

The entire process of opening the Roth was easier than those two weeks in college I spent folding clothes at Abercrombie & Fitch, which is to say, pretty damn easy.

In fact, from start to finish I only needed 15 minutes, and I’m sure it could be done even faster.

Here’s how you can start your own Roth with a minimum commitment of time and energy:

(Please note that I’m in no way, shape, or form a qualified financial advisor, so please don’t get snippy with me in the unlikely event that you lose all your money. Investing involves risk.)

  1. Choose a home for your Roth

    I chose Vanguard, because they don’t charge sales commission and offer a wide variety of low-cost mutual funds. Fidelity is another good choice. Honestly, there’s not a whole lot of difference between the two for an average investor.

  2. Open an account

    First you enter some basic personal information, including Social Security number. You’ll also need bank account information to fund your first transaction.

  3. Decide how to invest

    The easiest, most brainless, hands-free method is to pick a target-date retirement fund. You just pick the fund with a target close to your expected retirement date, but not too early, because you can’t withdraw earnings until the year you turn 59.5 years old. As you approach retirement, the fund automatically shifts its allocation away from risk (i.e. stocks) towards safer investments (i.e. bonds).

    I chose the Vanguard Target Retirement 2045 fund. It requires a $3,000 minimum investment, but if you don’t have that you could start out with the Vanguard STAR fund, which is basically a mutual fund made up of other mutual funds. It has a $1,000 minimum.

    The STAR fund isn’t as good of a choice for young investors as the target retirement funds, because it’s less aggressive, but it’s a hell of a lot better to invest in the STAR fund than nothing at all.

    Fidelity has a system similar to Vanguard, but in many cases Fidelity will demand a lower initial investment if you sign up for automatic recurring contributions.

  4. Sit back and relax!

    You’re all done. Just check your account in a few days to make sure everything was set up correctly.

    And keep pouring money into that Roth! Your future self will thank you.

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On Outlet Shopping and Finding True Love

on January 28, 2008 in Stream of Consciousness. 0 Comments

I think it might be easier to get hit on at either the Calvin Klein or Kenneth Cole outlets than in a gay bar.

Maybe I need to rethink my game plan.

They don’t work on commission, do they?

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Career Insights and the Myers-Briggs Personality Test

on January 25, 2008 in Career Planning. 6 Comments

Earlier this month, career-advice blogger Penelope Trunk discussed the “cliché that everyone thinks they’re a strategist.” Her main point is that although many people think of themselves as strategists, only a few people can truthfully make this claim.

Penelope then mentions the Myers-Briggs personality type as an important tool for understanding your personal strengths and weaknesses. There are several online versions of the assessment, but my favorite is a simple yes/no 72 point questionnaire at humanmetrics.com. Altogether, there are sixteen different combinations within the Myers-Briggs framework, and every person can be categorized as either extroverted/introverted, intuitive/sensing, feeling/thinking, judging/perceiving.

I have taken many different versions of the Myers-Briggs tests over the years, and I think all but one peg me as an INTJ, or “introverted-intuitive-thinking-judging.” The polar opposite of INTJ is ESFP (”extroverted-sensing-feeling-perceiving“), which is described on Wikipedia as “warm, sympathetic, and tactful.” (My motto: “Tact is just not saying true stuff. I’ll pass.” Name the source without resorting to Google and you get 10 cool points.)

Having known my Myers-Briggs status for at least a few years, I was at least familiar with the basic traits of an INTJ. However, I was surprised when Penelope suggested that only INTJs are true strategists.

“Penelope, clearly you do not know me,” I thought. I’m a certified INTJ, and I hate strategy games like chess, Risk, and Monopoly.

And in my real life, I’m leaving my first post-college job after only six months. Obviously not the life-plan of a strategic mastermind.

But slowly it dawned on me: I might be the most planning-obsessed person I know this side of OCD. Maybe I am more strategic than I think.

Before making the decision to leave my current job, I agonized over the details for months. I created a spreadsheet with my weekly expenses to determine how long I could last if I somehow lost the job before finding a new one, although I had no reason to believe I would be forced out.

I interrogated friends who had temped to see if it might be a good fit. The concept of ‘trying-on’ jobs before committing to one intrigued me, but ultimately I decided that I’d prefer a permanent position.

I also went on a slew of interviews. For each I had pre-written questions for my interviewers, and I also had notes commenting on the companies’ business models. Then after the interviews, I made a pro/con list for each position, such as benefits, commuting time, friendliness, and potential career growth. I discussed this list with my friends and family, but in true INTJ fashion I came to a decision largely on my own.

In fact it was about two months before I accepted my new position. I kept thinking of new important questions to ask my prospective employer, and naturally I weighed the offer against my current position, other offers, and other potential offers in the near future.

To boot, my new job involves big-picture internet project planning, whereas my current position is largely concerned with the minutiae of day-to-day operations. I now believe I was subconsciously seeking a more strategic, ’systems-building’ role.

After all this self-reflection, it seems Penelope is right: I am a strategist, even if I don’t always see myself as one (and even though I suck at chess). If I knew this about myself sooner, I might have initially found a job that was a better fit for my personality.

How can Myers-Briggs help you from making the same mistake I made?

  • Take the test to discover your type. It’s even better to take multiple versions of the test as you’ll be more confident in the results.
  • Read the various Myers-Briggs type descriptions on the internet, especially the career sections, but take them with a grain of salt. These web sites are meant to offer suggestions and insight, but they’re written for a lowest-common-denominator audience so don’t take them too seriously.
  • Analyze your current situation and future plans. Ask yourself:
    What are some of the strengths required by my current job?
    Do I possess these strengths?
    How can I minimize situations that expose my weaknesses?
    Are these strengths I wish to develop further? (If so, USE THEM!)
    Is there a career path I hadn’t considered that might be a better fit for my particular set of strengths and weaknesses?

What are you waiting for? Go take the test, and then hurry back and let me know how you scored!

[Aside: I'm particularly interested to learn if the Myers-Briggs typology distribution differs for straights and the homogaysexuals. Does anybody have any idea?]

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Gays Twitter Better

on January 25, 2008 in Networking. 0 Comments

Mostly out of curiosity, I just signed up for Twitter, one of those crazy social networks that’s sweeping the nation.

If you happen to be a Twitter-er yourself, please say hi and feel free to follow me.

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Deep Thoughts with Gay Blogger Toughstuff

on January 16, 2008 in Interviews. 1 Comment

Below the Belt’s Toughstuff“Toughstuff” (or T.S. for short) is the internet nom de plum of a happenin’ 20-something gay young urban professional living in NYC. Between working full time and taking graduate classes in the city that never sleeps, Toughstuff is also the editor-in-chief at Below the Belt, a blog he founded “to create a dialogue about gender, sex, [and] sexuality.”

Since the forum was founded in March 2007, the BTB team has traversed the blogosphere, and now they draw thousands of unique readers per month. Below the Belt’s individual writers also reap their share of fame — Fannie Fierce, the blog’s fabulous advice columnist, is syndicated on The Bilerico Project, a major internet portal for LGBT news, politics and opinions.

At BTB, Toughstuff manages a slew of regular and guest writers, and also handles the blog’s marketing and development. I managed to catch up with him to talk about the blog, his life, and his take on being an ambitious, goal-oriented homo.

AJ: Tell us a little bit about what you’re up to these days. How did you manage to afford moving to one of the most expensive cities in the world straight out of college?
TS: I’m not going to lie, my folks generously fronted the funds for the move-in; I was naive to think you could move into New York City without several grand at your disposal just to secure an apartment alone. But I also had a job before I moved in, and I was able to pay my parents back fairly quickly. I really don’t know how anyone without the privilege of outside support can make it here. You really gotta be driven.

How has post-college life differed from your expectations?
After I graduated and started working a 9-5 (well…8-6), I went through a nearly 3 month depression. I hated my job, I hated the city, I was exhausted all the time…there were no longer big gaps of time after my committments where I felt like I could do anything I wanted. “Is this life?” I’d obnoxiously ask myself. The truth is, adjustment to the real world can be really quite hard, but it gets better with time. I did end up using my first job to find a new job (the job I really wanted) four months later, but many recent grads I have met go through similar post-college anxiety.

How (if at all) has coming from a much smaller town in college and then moving to NYC changed your big gay outlook?
Well, I studied abroad for a year in London, England, and I definitely think that helped with both learning to be more independent and being able to adjust to a big (gay) city. Every city is different though, and the kind of people that are there and the ways in which they behave seem to differ from area to area. In New York, the average gay guy is uber-fashionable, into theater (namely, acting in it), and dance-club oriented. Not really my style, but luckily this city is also known for having a place for everyone. I guess I’ve learned to try to look past certain gay stereotypes to find parts of people that I can really connect with. Back in the smaller college town, I would just write people off as a defense mechanism.

How did your interest in blogging come about? Why do you do it?
As I was coming out in college, gay blogs were a source for me of “what it was like to be gay.” I’ve always kept a journal, but I never thought I could start a blog just about my own life (boring!). But after I graduated, I no longer had the time or ability to be as involved in gender and sexuality studies and relevant activism… or even have the luxury of conversations with interested people about such topics. I talked through some ideas with my good friend, Fannie, and we gave it a go.

How did you get the ball rolling with your blog?
In terms of web stuff, thankfully I’ve always been kind of geeky and I know the basics of html and java and all that hooey, so web stuff wasn’t too big of a problem. Fannie’s also a fabulous graphics designer, so it’s definitely great to have her on board. As for the writing, I luckily knew a number of terrific, amazing thinkers and writers (some of the same people I missed having gendery conversations with), and I was able to persuade them to contribute. They’re the core of the blog!

How do you find the time to blog, work, and go to school?
I love coffee. I get up a little early every day and spend time doing housekeeping for the blog, and some days I’ll work in it during lunch or after work and classes. Setting up the blog was also the most work; now that we have a solid system, it’s not so time consuming. If you like doing something, it’s not really an inconvenience.

What are your career/life plans for the next few years?
I’d like to finish my master’s degree, keep the blog rolling, and… find a boyfriend! See? I have simple needs!

Any advice for other career-focused gay young professionals?
I think all recent grads get a reality check when they start working in the real world. So be ready for some tough transitions, but stick it through and things work out.

For the homos? Hmm. I did a lot of gay activism and gay-related stuff in college that I sometimes excluded from my resume for fear of rejection. But I’ve learned that making your resume completely void of gayness actually works to your severe disadvantage. If being out is important to you, putting “Volunteer for the Human Rights Campaign” or whatever at the end of your resume weeds through the homophobic shitheads and can make finding that supportive job more possible. It’s hard to be real when you’re desperate for a job, but in the end I like to think the authentic folks end up being real winners — professionally and socially.

Thanks, Toughstuff, for taking the time to chat!

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New Roth IRA Contribution Limits in 2008

on January 14, 2008 in Personal Finance. 1 Comment

As my mother was so kind to remind me (via a text message to my cell phone at 5:30am Sunday morning), the contribution limits for Roth IRAs increased in 2008.

This is very good news for us guppies who hope to one day roll in piles of money sipping fruity drinks on the beach. (If you’re not sure about this Roth business, J.D. at Get Rich Slowly has a great article about how to set up a Roth IRA.)

In 2006-2007, a person below age 50 was allowed to contribute a maximum of $4,000 per year. That works out to $334 per month, or about $10.95 per day. However, in 2008 the limit became $5,000 for that same group. That’s $417 per month, or about $13.70 per day.

If you haven’t maxed out your 2007 Roth yet, don’t worry! You’ve got until tax day (April 17, 2008) to fully fund your 2007 Roth, and you can start funding your 2008 Roth any time now, so get cracking!

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New Year’s Revolutions

on January 8, 2008 in Guppie Guide. 0 Comments

I’m not a fan of New Year’s resolutions. A new calendar year seems like a pretty arbitrary reason to set goals, but I understand the appeal of starting over with a metaphorical blank slate.

Usually I don’t make New Year’s resolutions at all, but this year I was inspired by a guest post on Zen Habits called “The Amazing Power of One.” The blog post suggests ranking all of your goals in order of importance. Then, you focus on these in order, one at a time, until each goal is fulfilled or becomes routine. (I especially like that the author suggests you reward yourself at the completion of each goal!)

I used to pride myself on being an excellent multi-tasker, but since entering the yuppie ranks I have discovered that my To-Do list has mutated. These days it’s no longer an opportunity to feel accomplished and smugly productive. (I used to cross off items I had already completed in order to feel better about my time-management skills.) Instead, my To-Do list has evolved into a source of unending anxiety and dread.

Therefore, the concept of one-goal-at-a-time is very attractive to me. I’m just worried that it might be a challenge to keep myself from getting back in the habit of maintaining an unrealistic, dread-inducing list of Things Responsible Boys Do.

For now at least, only one goal at a time.

First up in 2008: Opening a ROTH IRA! Who’s with me?

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