We don’t have Middle Names you Idiots!

Now and then I get rather flustered when I see websites crash because they make assumptions about people around the world. Although I myself might make such mistakes, I see no reason for big corporations who have presence in the target country for YEARS to make such mistakes.

Here’s an example: I don’t have a MIDDLE NAME. “Middle Names” is a Christian tradition – read up wikipedia’s entry and you’ll see bias flags. Even the first sentence is wrong: “Many people’s names include one or more middle names”… NO!! Only a handful of people’s name include middle names, and they reside in the US and other western countries!

Here’s the shame of the day (would also remind you to hide your stack traces from your customers):


The web site you are accessing has experienced an unexpected error.
Please contact the website administrator.

The following information is meant for the website developer for debugging purposes.
Error Occurred While Processing Request
Variable MN is undefined.

The error occurred in D:\WEBROOT\strategymix\ca_singapore\_registration_form.cfm: line 752
Called from D: line -1
Called from D:\WEBROOT\strategymix\ca_singapore\_registration_form.cfm: line 723
Called from D: line -1
Called from D:\WEBROOT\strategymix\ca_singapore\_registration_form.cfm: line 613
Called from D:\WEBROOT\strategymix\ca_singapore\_registration_form.cfm: line 56
Called from D:\WEBROOT\strategymix\ca_singapore\_registration_form.cfm: line 1
Called from D:\WEBROOT\strategymix\ca_singapore\paper2_registration_form.cfm: line 75
Called from D:\WEBROOT\strategymix\ca_singapore\paper2.cfm: line 92


750 : </TR>
751 : <cfelse>
752 : <input type="hidden" name="middlename" value="#mn#">
753 : </cfif>
754 :


Resources:
* Check the ColdFusion documentation to verify that you are using the correct syntax.
* Search the Knowledge Base to find a solution to your problem.


Browser Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.5) Gecko/20070713 Firefox/2.0.0.5
Remote Address 203.120.36.165
Referrer http://www.apj.ca.com/singapore/paper1.cfm?p=PGAR30e1&dx=BXAXN34135&track=e1&lg=0
Date/Time 01-Aug-07 01:52 PM
Stack Trace
at cf_registration_form2ecfm893757551._factor164(D:\WEBROOT\strategymix\ca_singapore\_registration_form.cfm:752)
at cf_registration_form2ecfm893757551._factor19(D:\WEBROOT\strategymix\ca_singapore\_registration_form.cfm)
at cf_registration_form2ecfm893757551._factor166(D:\WEBROOT\strategymix\ca_singapore\_registration_form.cfm:723)
at cf_registration_form2ecfm893757551._factor25(D:\WEBROOT\strategymix\ca_singapore\_registration_form.cfm)
at cf_registration_form2ecfm893757551._factor248(D:\WEBROOT\strategymix\ca_singapore\_registration_form.cfm:613)
at cf_registration_form2ecfm893757551._factor249(D:\WEBROOT\strategymix\ca_singapore\_registration_form.cfm:56)
at cf_registration_form2ecfm893757551.runPage(D:\WEBROOT\strategymix\ca_singapore\_registration_form.cfm:1)
at cfpaper2_registration_form2ecfm10736713.runPage(D:\WEBROOT\strategymix\ca_singapore\paper2_registration_form.cfm:75)
at cfpaper22ecfm1622516749.runPage(D:\WEBROOT\strategymix\ca_singapore\paper2.cfm:92)

coldfusion.runtime.UndefinedVariableException: Variable MN is undefined.
at coldfusion.runtime.CfJspPage._get(CfJspPage.java:221)
at coldfusion.runtime.CfJspPage._autoscalarize(CfJspPage.java:928)
at cf_registration_form2ecfm893757551._factor164(D:\WEBROOT\strategymix\ca_singapore\_registration_form.cfm:752)
at cf_registration_form2ecfm893757551._factor19(D:\WEBROOT\strategymix\ca_singapore\_registration_form.cfm)
at cf_registration_form2ecfm893757551._factor166(D:\WEBROOT\strategymix\ca_singapore\_registration_form.cfm:723)
at cf_registration_form2ecfm893757551._factor25(D:\WEBROOT\strategymix\ca_singapore\_registration_form.cfm)
at cf_registration_form2ecfm893757551._factor248(D:\WEBROOT\strategymix\ca_singapore\_registration_form.cfm:613)
at cf_registration_form2ecfm893757551._factor249(D:\WEBROOT\strategymix\ca_singapore\_registration_form.cfm:56)
at cf_registration_form2ecfm893757551.runPage(D:\WEBROOT\strategymix\ca_singapore\_registration_form.cfm:1)
at coldfusion.runtime.CfJspPage.invoke(CfJspPage.java:152)
at coldfusion.tagext.lang.IncludeTag.doStartTag(IncludeTag.java:349)
at coldfusion.runtime.CfJspPage._emptyTag(CfJspPage.java:1915)
at cfpaper2_registration_form2ecfm10736713.runPage(D:\WEBROOT\strategymix\ca_singapore\paper2_registration_form.cfm:75)
at coldfusion.runtime.CfJspPage.invoke(CfJspPage.java:152)
at coldfusion.tagext.lang.IncludeTag.doStartTag(IncludeTag.java:349)
at coldfusion.runtime.CfJspPage._emptyTag(CfJspPage.java:1915)
at cfpaper22ecfm1622516749.runPage(D:\WEBROOT\strategymix\ca_singapore\paper2.cfm:92)
at coldfusion.runtime.CfJspPage.invoke(CfJspPage.java:152)
at coldfusion.tagext.lang.IncludeTag.doStartTag(IncludeTag.java:349)
at coldfusion.filter.CfincludeFilter.invoke(CfincludeFilter.java:65)
at coldfusion.filter.ApplicationFilter.invoke(ApplicationFilter.java:225)
at coldfusion.filter.RequestMonitorFilter.invoke(RequestMonitorFilter.java:51)
at coldfusion.filter.PathFilter.invoke(PathFilter.java:86)
at coldfusion.filter.ExceptionFilter.invoke(ExceptionFilter.java:69)
at coldfusion.filter.ClientScopePersistenceFilter.invoke(ClientScopePersistenceFilter.java:28)
at coldfusion.filter.BrowserFilter.invoke(BrowserFilter.java:38)
at coldfusion.filter.GlobalsFilter.invoke(GlobalsFilter.java:38)
at coldfusion.filter.DatasourceFilter.invoke(DatasourceFilter.java:22)
at coldfusion.filter.RequestThrottleFilter.invoke(RequestThrottleFilter.java:115)
at coldfusion.CfmServlet.service(CfmServlet.java:107)
at coldfusion.bootstrap.BootstrapServlet.service(BootstrapServlet.java:78)
at jrun.servlet.ServletInvoker.invoke(ServletInvoker.java:91)
at jrun.servlet.JRunInvokerChain.invokeNext(JRunInvokerChain.java:42)
at jrun.servlet.JRunRequestDispatcher.invoke(JRunRequestDispatcher.java:257)
at jrun.servlet.ServletEngineService.dispatch(ServletEngineService.java:541)
at jrun.servlet.jrpp.JRunProxyService.invokeRunnable(JRunProxyService.java:204)
at jrunx.scheduler.ThreadPool$DownstreamMetrics.invokeRunnable(ThreadPool.java:318)
at jrunx.scheduler.ThreadPool$ThreadThrottle.invokeRunnable(ThreadPool.java:426)
at jrunx.scheduler.ThreadPool$UpstreamMetrics.invokeRunnable(ThreadPool.java:264)
at jrunx.scheduler.WorkerThread.run(WorkerThread.java:66)


Similarly – Addresses around the world is different, the way we count of age (0-based vs 1-based) is different, calendars are different, the way we put the family name (in front or behind) is different, so on and so forth. If you are not sure: ASK!

p/s you can ask Me.