The first was some First Great Western sleeper tickets to get me to London for a client meeting. I spent quite some time choosing the tickets (it’s a complex business anyway) then working through the checkout process. At the end, I’m pretty sure I briefly saw the Verified by Visa thing appear in a frame only to vanish to be replaced by the page hosting the frame in the frame. How recursive. I got angry then started all over again (yep, my basket was empty) with another card (one with which I’ve always managed to duck around the Verified by Visa thing by carefully clicking the tiny ‘No thanks’ button).

The second purchase was my exciting new Android phone from T-Mobile. Another lengthy checkout process (since it involves a credit check etc.) only to be presented by Verified by Visa. Everything actually appeared to go through this time, although I got no acknowledgement email from T-Mobile. Later that day, they contacted me to say the card verification on the purchase had failed. I phoned them and a nice chap took my details again and pushed everything through. I got the impression that failure at the Verified by Visa step was not uncommon.

I’m clearly not alone in my hatred for it. Plus, it seems as though it fails massively in its attempts to add any security anyway.

So what can we do? As consumers, we need to moan and whine to to the e-commerce businesses we buy from. And they need to moan and whine to the 3D Secure providers to sort out their system and provide better, bullet (and user) proof e-commerce integration. I’ve never had to implement it, but I’m  willing to bet that it’s a complete nightmare, with poor documentation and very little support so e-commerce developers rush to fit (using nasty hacky javascript and frame solutions) and forget.

It’s no good spending time and money improving e-commerce to increase sales if a third party payment system mucks it all up for users at the end.

The bros and their mos have been through a lot over the past month and I think it’s fair to say we’re all proud of what we’ve achieved. On the 1st of Movember, we were innocent smoothies, now we’re a seriously mean looking gang of four.

Sure, there have been funny looks from folks all over the place, but those people are fools who just don’t appreciate the sheer awesomeness of a hirsute upper lip. For true messages of appreciation, let’s turn to some ‘randomly’ selected comments from our generous donors:

• “I have my suspicions that you’re dying your mustache but nonetheless I suppose your efforts deserve some kind of reward!”
• “I sit next to Dave and I can vouch for the fact that this is all his own hair. All 17 strands of mo.”
• “not too impressive on day 10 – you need to try harder! mum” [thanks Mum]
• “Looking good! you should keep the look!”
• “Argh! No, stop it! Here’s my money…”

And the question on everyone’s (top) lips: are we going to keep them? I suspect that the answer is a resounding no. But watch this space for the post Movember news, including the final cut of what the critics are already calling “A sizzling extravaganza of 4-way simultaneous mo-growth action” (our timelapse video).

Oh, and one last thing. A massive thanks to all who have donated so far and a huuuge thankyou to you. Yes you. You haven’t donated yet, but it’s clear to see that the e-mo-tion of this final day is too much, and you’re reaching for your wallet and pushing your mouse towards this link:

https://www.movember.com/uk/donate/your-details/team_id/13289/

What we know is this:

• It starts at midday
• It takes 24 hours
• We’ll have food and drink, but no sleep
• We need computers
• The people involved are all on this twitter list

And, er, that’s it. Dave knows more but he’s keeping it under his hat. Doubtless we’ll be updating some kind of blog, whether it’s this one or elsewhere. We’ll keep you updated.

I can’t speak for the other chaps, but mine feels like its stabilised a bit now. But stabilised in a state where it itches like mad and looks absolutely terrible. Surely only the addition of bad aviators from Boots could make me look any more of a fool.

We’ve started debating shave off times and tactics already. The general consensus is that the 1st of December is when they’ve got to go. Rich seems keenest to ditch, asserting that “12.01am monday night/tuesday morning” is when his ‘tache meets its maker.

The mo bros will be converging in London for the first all-White-October-Mo-Bro-meetup tomorrow. As well as admiring each others mos and parading them proudly around the city, we’ll also be doing some kind of secret activity (I would imagine we’ll be blogging more about that here or somewhere else once we know what on earth is going on…).

Oh, and here’s another one of those mo over time videos that we’re still working on. Here are my first 20 days:

If you’ve been following along but haven’t yet donated, now’s the time:

https://www.movember.com/uk/donate/your-details/team_id/13289/

And stay tuned for the big mo finale in 5 days…

There’s been some discussion over the gap in the middle of some of our mos. Most notably mine. Apparently it’s a known style but I think it’s just rubbish. Maybe I should refer to what is surely the best mustache reference found so far: The Complete Ukulele Guide to the Moustaches of the World.

We’re getting more comfortable out and about now, striding forth with our mos thust proudly aloft. Dave even took his to a multi-Michelin starred restaurant where, as it turned out, it was right at home.

And some mo themed merchandise arrived at White October Towers this week. The favourite has to be the “White Movember Flocked ‘Mo’ Shirt” (that’s a mighty long URL) with its beautiful textured velvety mos. Mmm.

So, with only 10 days to go until “the big mo”, now is the perfect time to sponsor us if you haven’t already:

https://www.movember.com/uk/donate/your-details/team_id/13289/

And don’t forget to join in with the Movember, Mo Madness playlist fun. It’s the craze that’s quite literally not sweeping the nation.

But to keep you in the mo mood, why not start Spotify up and join in with the Movember playlist madness?

The idea is simple – find some tunes that either have “oh”, “no” or “know” in them. They should be catchy singalong numbers (for reasons which will become clear). Add the tunes to the playlist. Now, as you’re playing the awesome movember playlist, you should sing along but replace “oh”, “no” or “know” with “mo”. That’s it.

Here’s the linky: spotify:user:bouncingdan:playlist:5S4xtGeYYGRK1UKXo3wWM3

Join in and enjoy. Obviously I reserve the right to autocratically throw non-catchy or off-message songs off the playlist. Or shut the whole thing down if it descends into farce / abuse.

Dave (El Muchacho) is still looking pretty mean. But Ed (Spurlock) is clearly hot on his heels for the title of The Baddest (i.e. waaay goodest) Mo. Rich needs reintroducing to his razor and I feel as though I really ought to try to prise my finger away from my chin in these photos.

There are signs that we may be feeling the strain of a mo in public:

Even though I’ve arguably got the least impressive mo, I’ve notched up more sponsorship than everyone else (I think donor error may be a factor here, alas). Go me! But however it gets here, we should be proud to have raised more than £200 so far. Thanks and keep it coming people:

https://www.movember.com/uk/donate/your-details/team_id/13289/

Come back in five days for the next mo update…

Dave is clearly way out in front with a mo that is shaping up to be South America in style.  Ed is overdue a shave, but has informed us that he’s aiming for ‘The Trucker’. Rich assures us that he’s also going to bite the bullet, have a shave and go for full on mo-in-progress humiliation. Flattering (read terrible) lighting makes me look as though I have no mo at all.

For a taster of the mustache growth timelapse video extravaganza that Dave has planned, take a look at his first test video:

Meanwhile our team donations are looking healthier than our mos, frankly. Thanks to everyone who has donated so far. If you’re enjoying laughing at our efforts but  you haven’t donated yet, then please do so right here:

https://www.movember.com/uk/donate/your-details/team_id/13289/

We’ll keep you updated here with all the top lip hair growth news and pics you never really wanted.  And in exchange for the opportunity to giggle at our efforts, all we ask is that you sponsor us some of your hard earned in aid of the worthy cause of The Prostate Cancer Charity.

So get on it and sponsor us. We’ll love you forever. Or at least until we’ve had a shave on the 1st of December.

https://www.movember.com/uk/donate/your-details/team_id/13289/

One way is to keep contact forms short and snappy with a small number of fields. Usually that’s how things start off but often after a while we see more fields creeping in (presumably to gather more ‘marketing collateral’).

Here’s a study which backs up what seems like the obvious assertion that fewer fields will mean more conversions.

Via Luke Wroblewski’s Functioning Form.