Contact
That is the only address, it reaches only me, and it has done since 2023. I read it in the morning and again before I stop for the day. An answer takes up to three working days; if a week has gone by, something has eaten the message and sending it again is doing me a favour, not bothering me.
If you are asking about a job
Four things make the difference between a useful first exchange and six messages of narrowing down:
- What the machines are - how many, roughly what generation, and whether they are all the same. «About forty, two batches, one from 2019 and one I do not know» is a perfectly good answer.
- What you have already measured, even if you distrust it. A wrong number with a method attached is worth more to me than a correct number from nowhere.
- What would count as success. A figure, a deadline, or an argument you are trying to settle internally - any of the three.
- Who I would be talking to and whether that person can get me a terminal on one machine. If the answer is that access needs three approvals, say so in the first message and we will both save a fortnight.
Rates and the shape of a job are on the work page; when I am next free is on the now page. I do not quote before I have read the answer to point one.
If you are writing about a note
Please do. Corrections especially: three of the figures in the notes have been changed after somebody wrote in, and in one case the correction was that my conclusion was backwards. I will credit you by whatever name you ask for, or by none.
If a link on this site led you to a missing page, the 404 page lists everything that exists, and I would still like to hear about it so I can fix the link rather than the symptom.
What I will not answer
- Recruitment. I am not looking, and I will not forward it to anyone.
- Requests to put a logo, a guest article or a link on these pages. There is no advertising here and there never has been.
- Anything that opens with a document to sign before I am allowed to know what the work is. One paragraph of what it is about first, then I will happily sign.
- Mail asking me to get on a call as the first step. I will, after the second message, once we both know whether there is anything to talk about.
No forms on this site, no newsletter, nothing that collects anything. There is not even a counter telling me you were here, which I admit I occasionally regret.