Useless Conversation

[Johny Cee]

Also, more Simpsons references:

[Bunk]

Orthodontics worked for me, I admit it. Took me from buck teeth so bad as a kid the gap was the width of my thumb, to about an 8th inch overbight now. Still have the bottom retainer attached, 25+ years later. However...

My head, like most, is longer front to back than it is wide. It is not designed to remain facing straight up when I sleep. How the hell was I supposed to sleep with head gear that stuck a big wire around either side of my face, that would put all the pressure on my jaw if God forbid my head turned sideways at night? WTF?

I managed maybe 2 weeks of the prescribed 6 months of headgear wearing.

[HaemishM]

I'm lucky in that I never had to wear the headgear. I think I'd have shot myself.

[ghost]

Headgear sucks to wear.  I know from experience.  The best thing about it is that it really doesn't work.  The best effect you can expect from it is about 3mm of difference.   

[Yegolev]

About sleeping, this actually works for me:
http://michellesmiracle.com/store/tart-cherry-supplement.html

[MuffinMan]

Why not just eat cherries?

[Xanthippe]

Headgear sucks to wear.  I know from experience.  The best thing about it is that it really doesn't work.  The best effect you can expect from it is about 3mm of difference.   

My lifetime of guilt over not wearing my headgear is gone. Thank you.

My ortho got pissed off at me (I had dark ages braces, bands with brackets, not those glued on pussy braces kids get today) because I told him I couldn't sleep with the headgear or the rubber bands that went crossways top to bottom, and that if the choice was between sleeping and having a crooked line between top and bottom teeth, I would pick sleep. He was one mean guy though. Hate him to this day.

My kids' ortho is super nice and does a great job. I guess that's why he's so expensive?

[Xanthippe]

About sleeping, this actually works for me:
http://michellesmiracle.com/store/tart-cherry-supplement.html

Warm milk works for me. That and watching Ken Burns documentaries.

[ghost]

Headgear sucks to wear.  I know from experience.  The best thing about it is that it really doesn't work.  The best effect you can expect from it is about 3mm of difference.   

My lifetime of guilt over not wearing my headgear is gone. Thank you.

My ortho got pissed off at me (I had dark ages braces, bands with brackets, not those glued on pussy braces kids get today) because I told him I couldn't sleep with the headgear or the rubber bands that went crossways top to bottom, and that if the choice was between sleeping and having a crooked line between top and bottom teeth, I would pick sleep. He was one mean guy though. Hate him to this day.

My kids' ortho is super nice and does a great job. I guess that's why he's so expensive?

Very well respected specialists in certain areas will charge that much.  If you're happy, it's worth the extra money.  There are some "budget" orthodontists around that basically run mills, sometimes seeing 100-150 patients a day.  The better orthodontists will see around 50-75.  More time with the patient = better treatment in most instances. 

[Ironwood]

Ok, yeah, the big bowie knife bit at the end is just all kinds of silly.

[Tale]

I had braces from age 39-41 (I'm 42 now). I work in TV and occasionally end up on-air. Despite having no on-camera ambitions, I was uncomfortable seeing my crowded, crooked smile broadcast to the nation. My dentist said it was only going to get worse as I aged, so I did something about it.

Full train-track braces from a proper orthodontist, with clear plastic brackets on the top so they were less visible. That was the fastest way to get it done. It was stupidly expensive for what seemed like 10 minutes of adjustments every six weeks, but it worked. The most impressive thing they did was gradually "reverse park" a tooth over the first six months. It had been sitting diagonally due to lack of space and they put a tiny spring in that gradually increased the space, then pulled the tooth forward into it, while straightening it up. All the other changes were slow, over two years.

I'm left with top and bottom fixed retainers on the inside, with a plastic one to wear at night. I was a bit shocked by the extent of that ongoing maintenance. The worst thing was the brutal polishing they did to remove the glue when they took the braces off - my mouth felt beaten up for about a week. The funniest part was watching the teenagers' faces in the waiting room each time I was called in for treatment. But now my mouth feels comfortable and I have a natural looking smile, so the general reaction is that it was worth it.

[ghost]

I'm no Arthur Parker, but it appears to me that Google is turning more and more into a complete cesspit of useless shit.  It's almost impossible to find information anymore unless you search for just the right thing.   

[Engels]

The problem with search engines is that they are in the end dumb 'key word' lookup machines. It's no substitution for well organised data within a particular website, but unfortunately, people are getting very lazy about how they build their website. Pages filled with poorly organized information are accepted with the shrug of 'we have an internal, google-powered search engine'. When you actually try to hunt something down, even if you use the correct key words for, say, a page header, you still get inundated with irrelevant results that happen to have the same key words.

[ghost]

I was under the assumption that a large part of it was the crazy stuff that people do to make sure they get "on the first page" of the search.  My website has more inane bullshit on it that was put there simply for the search engine.  I don't think that's laziness.  That's thoroughness on the part of the website designer.

[MuffinMan]

My understanding of Google's algorithms is elementary at best but they rely more on recursive linking from different sites than they do from straight keyword or page header info. That's not to say you can't game or optimize the system in your favor but it's much more difficult.

[ghost]

I pay a company to do that, so it must be possible. 

[Ingmar]

I pay a company to do that, so it must be possible. 

Chances that you're not getting your money's worth are not insignificant here.

[MuffinMan]

Do they wwebsite as on the internet?

[ghost]

I figured that, but I don't really have the time to micromanage and deal with it, so as long as I'm seeing results (which I am) I'm pleased.

[HaemishM]

Paying someone to do search-engine optimization is a good idea. Skimping on SEO is not. Google is not just a huge bucket of keywords, there are all sorts of algorithms that affect ranking. Keyword density is only part of it (and repetition of the same keywords can actually hurt your ranking, as can duplication of content). The use of header tags as opposed to just bigger type for headlines, the location on the page of your navigation, whether you have easily viewable contact information on the top of the page (they really like you to have a phone number near the top of the page) can all help. Having links from other sites to your site is also very helpful.

[Ironwood]

Don't be that guy.

[HaemishM]

I do have some experience with the question. 

[Ironwood]

Me too.  I used to love conning people out of money.

 

[naum]

Paying someone to do search-engine optimization is a good idea. Skimping on SEO is not. Google is not just a huge bucket of keywords, there are all sorts of algorithms that affect ranking. Keyword density is only part of it (and repetition of the same keywords can actually hurt your ranking, as can duplication of content). The use of header tags as opposed to just bigger type for headlines, the location on the page of your navigation, whether you have easily viewable contact information on the top of the page (they really like you to have a phone number near the top of the page) can all help. Having links from other sites to your site is also very helpful.

Eh, most SEO (and those hocking their expertise) is horse hockey. It is the equivalent of no-money-down real estate and "get rich quick" schemes of the 21st century.

At best, it is an attempt to fit to a moving target that is eclipsed quickly (at least more rapidly than people refresh their websites).

But there are good practices checklist(s) that should be adhered to -- things like generating site maps, ensuring that all your content is accessible within 3 clicks of the home page, generating (or writing/creating) good markup with proper tag usage especially header tags, "pretty urls", etc.…

To make my point, I will just trot out Wikipedia -- their pages go to the top of just about any Google search, and there is no SEO magic whatsoever other than the aformentioned points -- readable URLs, lots of links to other pages, solid semantical markup, etc.…

[Yegolev]

Why not just eat cherries?

Let me know how it works out.

[HaemishM]

At best, it is an attempt to fit to a moving target that is eclipsed quickly (at least more rapidly than people refresh their websites).

That's why you pay someone a monthly to monitor and massage your rankings instead of thinking a one-time fee will do it.

[Paelos]

Why not just eat cherries?

Let me know how it works out.

Eating a lot of them will make you poopy.

[Salamok]

best rule of thumb is to have quality content.  our asstastic site has thousands of pages all with identical titles and metadata on top of some seriously shitty nav and yet google still gives us much love.

[ghost]

I'm currently redesigning my website too look something like this.  Website design is tough.  My current one looks like ass, and I'm looking for an eye catching design.  Anyone got any good ideas?

[Lantyssa]

Anyone got any good ideas?

Don't use Flash or Java, and minimal Javascript.

[ghost]

I don't plan on having much to do with that part of it.  I do get a mobile website with the deal though, so maybe the Flash thing won't be too big of a deal.

[Sky]

Also be aware that noscript blocks pretty much everything on that site.

[ghost]

Okay.  So how would I get around that.  Also, most folks just use browsers as-is, so would it matter much? 

[Salamok]

That site doesn't look very good on a widescreen (or any screen for that matter).  The markup is also total crap, looks like it was built by sharepoint so that figures.  I also don't see anything there that couldn't be done w/o the javascript.

[bhodi]

Amusing for a number of obvious reasons, but you might want to look at SFD for web design ideas. It's actually a good site!