Introducing 43...

September 16, 2005 | 16 Comments

…43 reasons to be sick of 43. Just kidding.

What is the deal with 43? I mean, we’ve got 43 Folders which I really love and is probably the only 43 I pay any attention to. Then there are 43 Places, 43 Things and today I got an e-mail from 43 people? I mean, seriously. I’ve never found much use for those sites and I darn near hate it when they show up in my Google results, but I suppose they’ve got a use of some sort. Still, I’m sick of 43. It’s getting kind of silly now.

What’s next? 43 Songs? 43 Pets? 43 Recipes? 43 Aliments? 43 Ways To Leave Your Lover? 43 Signals? I’m surprised nobody’s gone there yet.

I read somewhere that in Web 2.0 land it’s a new rule not to use a number in your company name. I’d second that. It’s getting kind of old. I know, I know. I’ve got 7nights and I’m a member of 9rules, (with To-Done) but we’re old school. I mean, I got my number name to make sure the old 7nights Design showed up high in directories.

That was SEO back in 1996 baby. Web .02.

Filed under: Web General
Keyword Tags: 43

Comments

1. Johan Edlund said:

Excellent rant, Keith. More of that please.. :)

Posted on September 16, 2005 09:12 AM | #

2. Derek said:

So the idea behind 43 People is to list people you want to meet? Hmm…

1996 was definitely Web 0.2.

Posted on September 16, 2005 09:39 AM | #

3. Jennifer Grucza said:

Well, I know my mom always uses 43 as a random number in conversation. Like “I’ve told you 43 zillion times not to leave your socks in the living room!” And she’s been doing that probably since before I was born. Maybe it just sounds good?

Posted on September 16, 2005 09:50 AM | #

4. Mark B said:

43 is the new 42!

Posted on September 16, 2005 09:55 AM | #

5. jason carlin said:

I actually quiet enjoy 43 Things and 43 Places. I can’t say I use the sites very often, but as soon as I knew what they were I hopped over and got myself an account to show some support for the idea.

I believe that idea is that by talking about and sharing the things you want to do and then places you want to see, you can learn more about those things, perhaps just by the act of quantifying and describing them to others. Then you can read about others experiences with similar tasks. Whether or not it motivates anyone, I can’t speak to, but the idea is nice in a feelgood hit of the summer kind of way.

Posted on September 16, 2005 10:19 AM | #

6. Keith said:

jason – I don’t have anything against those services really. I never use them, and I personally don’t get much out of them. But they are cool ideas and the use of technology is neat. This post was more of an observation meant to be funny than a real rant against anything…

;-)

Posted on September 16, 2005 10:22 AM | #

7. Dale Cruse said:

No numbers? Uh oh.

Posted on September 16, 2005 11:02 AM | #

8. Remi said:

Number organizations (or names) are out, just like number bands names like Sum 41, Blink-182 and the like.

Sum 41 talked about that in their videoclip “Still waiting” then they fakely changed their name to “The Sums” ;-)

Posted on September 16, 2005 11:23 AM | #

9. B. Adam said:

Seeing numbers in domain names always reminds me of the single most high-larious McSweeney’s list:

E-mail Addresses It Would Be Really Annoying to Give Out Over the Phone.

Posted on September 16, 2005 12:30 PM | #

10. Britt said:

Oh, god, my next birthday is number 42. Then what?

I seldomly use 43 Places but those sites haven’t yet made it onto my “use often” list such as Flickr, del.icio.us, Backpack, etc.

I think part of the issue is that they overlap with other services that I prefer better. 43Places is the most useful. 43Things is interesting but I don’t actually use it to keep track of my goals. I use Backpack for that.

I knew 43People had to be next, but I doubt I’ll use it since there are so many other similar services. And they never seem to remember me. I always have to log in.

Posted on September 16, 2005 12:32 PM | #

11. Taco John said:

Just for the record, and you probably know this Keith, 43 is popular right now because 43 is the number of folders needed to create a full “tickler” file in David Allen’s GTD system. Hence 43 Folders, 43 Things, and 43 Places.

Posted on September 16, 2005 12:35 PM | #

12. Keith said:

Taco – I did know that and get how it applies. But thanks for the reminder. Anyway, I’m not sure about “43 People”…I mean, do we need yet another social networking thingy? I don’t know, but it seems like everytime one of these comes out all us Web professionals need to jump on the band wagon to see what it’s all about. Sometimes it’s just a bit much. But who knows, maybe it’s really cool….I guess I’ll have to see.

Posted on September 16, 2005 03:27 PM | #

13. Bryan Veloso said:

Meh, I get them all confused anyway. 43… 37… 975… all the same to me.

Posted on September 16, 2005 05:20 PM | #

14. beto said:

It can be either 43, or

4 + 3 = 7, seven, the essence of divine perfection and the most esoteric/philosophical of all numbers.

I hadn’t realized the connection with David Allen and GTD. That makes a lot of sense - Allen is sort of a lifestyle Messiah for Generation X.

Posted on September 16, 2005 09:46 PM | #

15. Tom Oakes said:

This is somewhat off-topic, but - I’d like to call a moratorium on bands using numbers in their naming convention - we have enough Eve 6, Matchbox 20, Seven Mary Six, 311, Maroon 5, Sum 41, Blink 182, etc etc.

I think the numbers somehow suck the (otherwise present) quality right out of the band…

Posted on September 17, 2005 08:28 PM | #