Problems in » probl

Collecting delivery charges

probl — Sun, 06 May 2012 07:09:06 +0000

Today, most newspapers in metro cities like Times of India, DNA, Hindustan Times have schemes whereby a reader can subscribe to a newspaper by paying the annual or six monthly charges in advance. The subscription price is sometimes significantly lower than the newstand price of the newspaper. After making the payment, the subscriber gets monthly coupons which are to be given to the newspaper delivery person. The newspaper benefits as they get paid in advance and there is less wastage due to unsold copies. The disadvantage of this option is that, at times, the delivery person may not deliver the newspaper or deliver a different newspaper.

In smaller cities too, regional / local newspapers have started offering these prepaid subscription schemes. For example in Goa , the newstand price of Herald Newspaper is Rs 3, but with the annual subscription option, where the reader prepays for a year, the charges are Rs 500. However, in Panaji, the delivery charges of Rs 30 have to be paid separately by the subscriber as the newspapers do not pay the delivery person anything extra for delivering the newspaper.

Unfortunately, collecting even this small amount can be a problem for the newspaper delivery person . Today the newspaper delivery person (a migrant from Orissa, holding another full time job) asked me, “there are at least 30 households here who have not paid me the due amount, what do I do? In at least 6-7 houses, they are asking for a discount on the Rs 30 due. We start delivering the newspapers at 4.30 – 5 am, how do you make them pay, the only thing we can do is stop the newspaper delivery.”

For most people, Rs 30 a month is a very small amount, yet why do they find it difficult to give credit and pay where it is due?

patio umbrella

probl — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 08:50:06 +0000

patio umbrella

Link removal requests

probl — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 09:20:27 +0000

If you have some blogs you probably receive link removal requests which are as follows:

“We need the following link(s) to be removed from your website: On the following URL(s): ***** that links to: ***** with the anchor text of: *** This link needs to be removed with immediate effect. If you are unable to remove the link completely for whatever reason, you could make the link ‘nofollow’ by including the rel=”nofollow” code within the link. We would also request that you remove any further links on this site (that we may have missed), or indeed any links to **** that are on. any other sites you control (especially those on the same IP address of: ***). Google has been in contact with us and asked us to remove this unnatural link as it will penalise both the *** website as well as the *** website. Google have also asked us to inform them of any websites that are not cooperative in this request, and to provide them with the domains and ip addresses of sites that do not comply with the request. Please can you remove the link(s) from your website, and reply to this email to confirm when that has been done? Don’t hesitate to email or call me via the details below if you have any questions.”

The webmaster of the website which is being linked to will followup to remove the link, but removing links takes a lot of time , especially if you have a number of blogs. Time is money, but neither the webmaster nor Google are willing to acknowledge this. For a few blogs, the posts and links were free, but the people sending the requests do not seem to realise this.

When the webmaster does not comply with the request at least one large web hosting company has suspended a webhosting account for “phishing”, they later apologized. After a few days, a fairly senior person in the same company again indicated that the account would suspended if the link was not removed (a DDOS or similar attack threat seemed to have been the problem). The person who had complained had purchased text link advertising on the website, and had now received repeated warnings from the ** team.

Viewing email messages

probl — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 11:35:03 +0000

Even if you choose to view the message in the original HTML code, it can look very different depending on the email client / web browser used
Webmail Message in Internet Explorer

Email Message in Thunderbird – font is uniform

Email - Thunderbird

This can be a problem if the sender wants to use a particular font.
If all your internet activities are being monitored closely, then you are at a disadvantage. The people monitoring your activities can easily intercept your passwords and emails, modify and delete emails, accounts .

Data entry work

probl — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 06:13:19 +0000

Though computerisation and internet usage has increased significantly in the last few years, forms are still widely used for applications and there are some major data entry errors. Some of the common mistakes are:
1. Partial updation of bank records i.e only one out of two or more record changes is updated
2. Locality is entered as city and city as locality in the Demat records.
3. Excess debit charges in an inoperative bank account, even though minimum quarterly balance has been maintained.
4. PAN number incorrect / not updated

This problem seems to be widespread,(there are other bank accounts where excess debit charges have been used to make the bank balance negative) and though the concerned organization / individual usually correct the entries after submitting a complaint for the same, the procedure is very time consuming and most people do not bother to follow up. Many of these data entry errors are in important documents, so there is reason to believe that the quality control / checking system for data entry work should be improved. Senior citizens are worst affected by these data entry errors, as they often do not have the energy to get the error rectified.

Free websites

probl — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:31:24 +0000

There are many companies offering free websites, including a domain name and web hosting, but these free offers often have some loopholes which are not very obvious to a company /organization availing of the offer.
Some of these are:
1. Some documentation is required to get the free website.
2. All design inputs are required at the initial stage
3. User interface for inputting designs is not very user friendly
4. The company does not get Control Panel / FTP access
5. There is usually no provision for making changes to the website at a later date.
6. Many free websites do not allow access to webstats
7. There is little clarity on the ownership of the domain name, making it difficult to transfer it.
8. The company may not be able to change name servers for web hosting easily.

Making false allegations

probl — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:05:23 +0000

While working with some people, it is noticed that they are very quick to make allegations of non payment without checking with their bank. Then, after a few hours they apologetically confirm receipt of payment. While their employer may use their services for some time, they do not realise that it affects the long term relationship and that the employer is unlikely to assign any important work to them in future.

Lack of privacy

probl — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 16:55:36 +0000

The right to privacy is a fundamental right of every individual, guaranteed by the constitution
If you are a person who values his or her privacy, you will do everything you can to ensure that it is not violated.
When you surf the internet , details of every website you visit may be broadcast to hackers anywhere in the world.
On the other hand, when you read a book or magazine, you can escape the ads stalking you online.

Recognizing talent

probl — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 01:10:10 +0000

No two people are alike, and some individuals are extraordinarily gifted in particular way. In sports, a brilliant sportsperson, who breaks records earns far more than most individuals. Similarly in the legal arena, a top lawyer commands a premium. In engineering, peers and seniors will recognize a brilliant engineer who can come up with optimum solutions.

However, in some industries, people fail to overcome their prejudices and recognize talent openly, as a result of which the industry suffers.

Online business in India

probl — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 15:55:07 +0000

Starting an online business in India seems to be an attractive proposition superficially but there are several hazards which are never documented anywhere
1. Your emails will be delayed , blocked or disappear without any reason ( mails from useful.in often never reach their destination and incoming mails are intercepted and delayed)
2. If you start a forum, forum posts by other members will be deleted by hacking or using other illegal means to show that you cannot run or start a forum.
3. If you order things online, many of the items will be rigged to cause you an accident or damage working equipment at home.
4. The text in your outgoing emails will be garbled / modified so that the recipient thinks you cannot write in proper English ( also receive emails from others where the text has been obviously altered). Most people do not realised that an email is a packet of data , which can be altered at any stage as it is transmitted over the internet.
5. False rumours are spread about you and your business, by people who specialize in character assasination.