UPDATE: MyDogSpace

During my adventure in signing up for MyDogSpace, the new MySpace for dogs, I had identified three functional problems. Being a practical human being, I had sent three separate e-mail messages to alert them of these bugs.

The problems were:

1. The Terms of Use indicated that "You must be fourteen or over to register as a member of MyDogSpace.com or use the Website", whereas a warning on the sign-up page mentionned "By joining MyDogSpace.com, I confirm that I am over 13 years of age."
I received a response, less than 12 hours after I had sent the email. The email came from support@mydogspace.com, but it was signed "Rob". (I wonder if it is the same "Robert" that is shown prominently on the start page ?).

Rob carefully explained to me that the two sentences pretty much mean the same thing. Although I would normally agree, it is important that Rob understand the repurcussions of being ambigious in the terms of use. You can find my response below:

Hi, Rob,

Thanks for the quick response...

Ok, I see your point, but try to understand the way I (and dozens of other people) read it.

By saying "over 13", it could mean that if I am 13 years old + 1 day, then I am eligible to sign up. Where as "14 or older" means that I have to wait until I turn 14 before I can sign up.

Just a minor detail at this point, until you get sued by the first 13-year old's parents who claims you corrupted their son. (Don't mind me - I'm a cynic!)

:-)

Cheers.

2. When posting my first blog, the blog entry showed up twice.
Another e-mail response from Rob. This time, the response was short - "What browser are you using, IE 6 or IE 7 ?" I'm not sure if this is because the site was only tested on those two platforms, or whether Rob is a little short-sighted, but I explain to him that I was using Firefox when this had happened. I suggest I will try posting tonight using IE 6 and 7, and let him know the results.

3. The pre-defined tiled background option did not work.
I must have annoyed Rob, because I haven't heard back from him on this topic. This may have something to do with Firefox again, so I will try later with IE 6 and IE 7.

I don't expect to hear back from Rob anytime soon.