13 June 2015 The Time I Accidentally Sent Porn To Clients

I’ve been interviewing lately and one of my favourite questions to ask is “What is your biggest fuck up?” One candidate asked me the same question, and this is what I told them.

I used to write a monthly newsletter for my clients, updating them on some of the digital trends and changes in the industry. Each section had a paragraph on the news and a button to find out more. It was always proofread multiple times (nothing worse than sending a typo to a few dozen clients) but one time I forgot to include a link on a button before it was sent.

As a placeholder to update later, I put in “xxx” rather than a URL in the hyperlink. But most browsers have a feature now where if a URL isn’t properly formatted it will turn it into a search instead.

Every client who clicked that button ended up Googling “xxx”.

So if you’re proofreading something, check the links as well. And if you’re going to use placeholder text, try “asdf” instead.