It feels like a badge of honour. Years ago I was fired from ITV\u2019s Crossroads, today I\u2019ve been banned by TikTok. I\u2019m a rebel. I\u2019m dangerous. I\u2019m bad. You thought you knew me, but this is a whole other side I\u2019ve kept hidden. I know how to battle social media, and I\u2019m just crazy enough to do it.<\/p>\n
Okay, it\u2019s more likely a server error, but still, I\u2019m having to appeal the decision and everything.<\/p>\n
All I do on TikTok, by the way, is post a version of the short tip videos I make for my 58keys YouTube channel, 10- and 20-second pieces on how to do this or that, or fix Word —<\/p>\n
Oh.<\/p>\n
Hang on.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve done such a short video tip every weekday this year but the other day I was so very fed up with the insanity of Microsoft Word that I posted a video demonstrating how to fix every one of its problems. Doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s that when you type a single apostrophe, it enters a comma instead. Doesn\u2019t matter if you italicise a word and instead Word reformats the paragraph so that it\u2019s justified right, ragged left.<\/p>\n
No, whatever your Microsoft Word problem is, that video of mine showed the solution. It\u2019s a video of clicking on the File menu, then choosing Quit.<\/p>\n
I do that, then I\u2019m banned. Coincidence? I think so, yes.<\/p>\n
It\u2019d be good to have that kind of impact, to know that the searing strength of my tiny gag upset the apple cart, or the Windows cart, and that I had to be silenced with an unsanctioned hit against my TikTok account.<\/p>\n
Actually, I do remember a Microsoft PR person once saying I\u2019d made them cry. Don\u2019t imagine I\u2019m proud of this, but they\u2019d sent me a review copy of some version of Word and I sent them back a couple of pages reporting on what wasn\u2019t working. It was shocking. This app was about to ship and key features that Microsoft was promoting simply did not work. I\u2019m sorry I ruined the PR person\u2019s day, but I suspect the tears were frustration that they knew Microsoft wouldn\u2019t do anything.<\/p>\n
As they would have well known, Microsoft logic is this: is there a feature called X? Yes. Does it work? Who cares?<\/p>\n
You think I\u2019m exaggerating but I can give you specific examples where Microsoft pretended to add a feature to Word solely so that corporate buyers would see it on the checklist and buy the app. Anyway, that version of Word shipped as planned, and it was roundly panned.<\/p>\n
But maybe it was what set me down this road to becoming the exciting, unpredictable menace that I\u2019ve become. Maybe it was this that means TikTok is scared of me.<\/p>\n
Or it\u2019s another bug and anyway, it feels so long ago now that social media was actually interesting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It feels like a badge of honour. Years ago I was fired from ITV\u2019s Crossroads, today I\u2019ve been banned by … Continue reading