Meet Ian Ring, failed REGEX PIMP

OK this is embarassing, but funny so I'll share it with the world. Sugarrae needed some help with a Regular Expression (more specifically, a redirection rule in .htaccess), and ended up appealing to me by proxy (her underpaid webmaster buddy Ryan is actually pretty good at Regex, but knocks on my IM when he's in a pinch). The conversation went something like this (paraphrased): Me: I've got your REGEX. It'll cost you a link on your blogroll SR: ROFLMFAO Me: Deal? SR: ROFLMAO you're kidding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Me: no kidding. Put me on your blogroll, and the expression is yours SR: SR: SR: OK FINE SR: I can't believe you're fucking blackmailing me for a link Me: That isn't blackmail, it's business. Blackmail is if I threatened to tell people about _____(use your imagination)______ So that's how I negoatiated a link-for-regex trade with a top SEO. Tip to programmers: SEO people may be brilliant in their own ways, but they generally suck toast at things like Regular Expressions, while-next loops, variables, SQL, stuff like that. They pay people to do that for them. And if you're one of those friends who doesn't get paid? Negotiate in a currency they understand. LINKS. The aforementioned Ryan once got me a link on Restaurantica as a SQL pimp. He needed an INNER JOIN, and I wanted a link from the best restaurant guide on earth. Fair trade, in my opinion; I probably saved him 20 minutes of frustration, which is worth a lot in the currency of RMay cycles. Here's the embarassing part: I had this REGEX that worked great in my own environment, and when I applied the pattern to a collection of sample URLs. But for some reason when added to Rae's .htaccess, it didn't work. Actually it was a brutal failure; it broke all the image links sitewide and started chains of infinite redirections all over the place. Her stats are going to look weird for December because of those few seconds when my browser requested her page a kajillion times in an infinite loop of stupidity. So - no link for me. And now that the price has been set, I don't WANT a link on Sugarrae unless I get that f**ing regex working. Now it's not just the link - it's the link + my pride. I may be a Regex pimp, but I'm not a link whore.