Pet hates

[Nick Jones]

Probably a rich seam of disgruntlement to be tapped here.... I know I have a few.  But one at a time only please, no lists 

Today's beef: websites who require you to create an account in order to order anything, so you have to come up yet another password to meet their stated criteria, only to discover after you've entered it, that does not not meet their all criteria - as they have held a few back in reserve  and only now see fit to reveal!

Still, they were the cheapest by £ 10 (8%)

[Escadrille Ecosse]

1 hour ago, Nick Jones said:

Still, they were the cheapest by £ 10 (8%)

You cheap sellout... but now we know the cost of your 'virtue'

I too have very many but how about the word 'ongoing'?

For most of my personal existence and for centuries before we seemed quite capable of existing without it and now it's 'ongoing' use is everywhere.

It's a bloody tautology....

"Police are asking for witnesses to help with their ongoing inquiry". Well they wouldn't need witnesses for an inquiry that hasn't started, or for that matter one that is complete now would they.

Or how about "due to the ongoing COVID pandemic", is that just to stop people wondering if it's one of the other COVID pandemics that's being referred to.

Or the 'ongoing war in Ukraine'.

In that superlative film "The Cruel Sea", Captain Ericson (Jack Hawkins) apologises to his First Officer Lockhart (Donald Sinden) in an emotional exchange by saying "It's the war Number One, it's the bloody war". Would that scene be improved by inserting the word 'ongoing' at any point? I think not.

How much ink is wasted on that bloody word. In none of these instances would the utter and complete expunging of the word 'onging' change the meaning in any way whatsover.

Up there with 'forward plan'. Grrrr

OK glad I got that off my chest. Now I need a lie down in my 'quiet place'.

[JohnD]

OK, if it's modern English usage, then "they sadly died".

The semi-literate 'journalist' writing so means, ,"sad to say, they died".    No doubt their family and friends were sad, and none of us want to die, but unless they died in miserable circumstances(which is never what is meant) you can't be sad after you die.

Editor's should educate their subs!

John

[thebrookster]

Oooooooo, englishisms that annoy you. I like this game.

Okay, I'll lead in with "fatally injured". Normally used in relation to some poor splatted cat or dog at the side of a road, or at least it is in the Helensburgh district.

[Nick Jones]

Hmm…. Not so clear cut I feel. Certainly possible to be injured non-fatally…… How else would you put it? Just plain “killed” or “splatted”?

[Nick Jones]

Returning to bastid websites….

Those which gleefully inform you that you password is wrong (when you are fairly confident it’s correct), then on navigating the reset process further inform you that this same password which you are trying to reuse (on the grounds that you’d clearly not used it on this site before) is unsuitable as it’s the same as your last one! 

[yorkshire_spam]

My pet hate as an "IT Professional" when it comes to website passwords - ones that have password rules that make it LESS secure.

Special characters? Nope not allowed

Password too long!? 

FFS. Get your sh1t together and have a proper system!

 

[Nick Jones]

Yeah… well, as I tell my IT professionals (in Germany), if you require people to have 4 different passwords to access the companies frustratingly unintegrated systems, and you make them change them all every three months (for security), and you refuse to entertain the idea of using password management software (as recommended repeatedly in your very own cybersecurity training), you really shouldn’t be surprised when the users write the passwords on post-it notes and stick them under the screen….. They don’t seem to get it.

They also have Microsoft security turned right up so the bloody computer insists on having you verify your identity about twice a day.

 

 

[Escadrille Ecosse]

6 minutes ago, Nick Jones said:

Yeah… well, as I tell my IT professionals (in Germany), if you require people to have 4 different passwords to access the companies frustratingly unintegrated systems, and you make them change them all every three months (for security), and you refuse to entertain the idea of using password management software (as recommended repeatedly in your very own cybersecurity training), you really shouldn’t be surprised when the users write the passwords on post-it notes and stick them under the screen….. They don’t seem to get it.

They also have Microsoft security turned right up so the bloody computer insists on having you verify your identity about twice a day.

So it wasn't just BP then?

[yorkshire_spam]

35 minutes ago, Nick Jones said:

Yeah… well, as I tell my IT professionals (in Germany), if you require people to have 4 different passwords to access the companies frustratingly unintegrated systems, and you make them change them all every three months (for security), and you refuse to entertain the idea of using password management software (as recommended repeatedly in your very own cybersecurity training), you really shouldn’t be surprised when the users write the passwords on post-it notes and stick them under the screen….. They don’t seem to get it.

They also have Microsoft security turned right up so the bloody computer insists on having you verify your identity about twice a day.

 

 

Oh dear, so many anti-secure practices! 
Shall we start with: https://www.packetlabs.net/posts/periodic-password-changes/#:~:text=Conclusion,to do with password age.

[RogerH]

Aside from IT jargon/stupidity one of my pet hates is changing what was/history etc

OK change things to improve life/functionality - But!!!!!

I read, on the front page of the Telegraph yesterday that Puffin Books/Netflix have brought the 'sensitivity editors in to update Roald Dahl's books

No more fat people.  No more short men that come up to your knees  but -  little people  etc etc etc.

They  are steralising humanity

 

Roger

 

[JohnD]

Here's a password one.  Norton offers a "Password Generator" that produces a random sequence of letters and symbols, up to 64 characters long!

For instance:  drOcos7ophesp!broc8-2i*r-+o-$Newispesl&!$odudraj_s0$-zocr81r?wr!   

That's in "Paste" mode.  But what doesn't show is that there is a space and a return between each character!  Print it as plain  text and it looks like this:

d
r
O
c
o
s
7
o
p
h
e
s
p
!
b
r
o
c
8
-
2
i
*
r
-
+
o
-
$
N
e
w
i
s
p
e
s
l
&
!
$
o
d
u
d
r
a
j
_
s
0
$
-
z
o
c
r
8
1
r
?
w
r
!

So while it makes getting a new and uncrackable password easy. you have to edit it by deleting all the returns, to make it usable.

John

PS No, I don't use 64 character passwords!  20 is enough -"more than the age of the Universe" is long enough. but cleaning them up is still boring.

 

[Nick Jones]

On 2/19/2023 at 9:52 AM, RogerH said:

Aside from IT jargon/stupidity one of my pet hates is changing what was/history etc

OK change things to improve life/functionality - But!!!!!

I read, on the front page of the Telegraph yesterday that Puffin Books/Netflix have brought the 'sensitivity editors in to update Roald Dahl's books

No more fat people.  No more short men that come up to your knees  but -  little people  etc etc etc.

They  are steralising humanity

 

Roger

 

Yes…. I saw that and my blood pressure rose significantly. Cultural vandalism. Nothing less.

If RDs original words offend, I think a stint helping cleanup operations in Syria/Turkey/NZ might give a sad, over-sheltered life some real-world perspective…..

[mpbarrett]

Surprised no one has mentioned the rewriting of Roald Dahl stories.... so they don't upset the present generation.

Mike

[RogerH]

Look up three posts  -  my post yesterday

 

Roger

[mpbarrett]

13 minutes ago, RogerH said:

Look up three posts  -  my post yesterday

 

Roger

Sorry missed that. I am away and doing this on my phone so very easy to miss stuff. 

Mike

[RogerH]

Hi Mike,

no problem -  it is good to reinforce the barriers against the stupidity that surrounds us.

 

Roger

[JohnD]

Just discovered another.   At my age I have to  renew my driving licence every three years.   OK, there are some doddery old barstewards on the road, let's be rid of them!  But what are the DVLA filtering for?    I got through some six of seven pages (!!!) that asked for my name and address, but then how long had I lived there.   Then they wanted to know my name at birth - Ok we don't want drivers using false names, but then are they likely to 'fess up for this?  And,  my mother's maiden name!   What?    It got more  and more like Kafka, they wanted my National Insurance Number AND my Passport Number!   

By the time we get to page TEN it's asking the important Qs - can I see, do I need glasses and a whole page of Health Qs:

Diabetes controlled by insulin (No need to notify us if you have diabetes controlled by tablets or other injections unless you experience hypoglycaemia requiring the assistance of another person)
 2. Epilepsy
 3. Any condition affecting both eyes, or the remaining eye if you only have one eye. Not including colour blindness or short or long sight
 4. Stroke, with any symptoms lasting longer than one month
 5. Fits or blackouts
 6. Any type of brain surgery, severe head injury involving in-patient treatment, or brain tumour
 7. An implanted cardiac pacemaker
 8. An implanted cardiac defibrillator (ICD)
 9. Repeated attacks of sudden disabling giddiness
 10. Any other chronic neurological condition including Multiple Sclerosis, Motor Neurone and Huntington's disease
 11. A serious problem with memory or periods of confusion
 12. Persistent alcohol misuse or dependence
 13. Persistent drug misuse or dependence
 14. Serious psychiatric illness or mental ill health
 15. Parkinson's disease
 16. Obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome
 17. Narcolepsy
 18. Any condition affecting your visual field
 19. Total loss of sight in one eye
 20. Any persisting limb problem which needs driving to be restricted to certain types of vehicles or those with adapted controls
 21. Severe learning disability

Then, THEN!  It askes me to register with the NHS Organ Donor Register!   At 76!   I know corneas can be used at any age, but!!    No probs, I am already, have been for fifty years, so on to next pages.  They want my email  address, thne to confirm it and then to tick a box to say that I know that  to obtain a licence fraudulently is a criminal offence.   Again, is this a real world filter against criminality??  And we're up to fifteen pages - I've lost count. 

And they haven't finished yet!   Please will I cut my old licence in two and post it to them?    Implying that I won't get a new one unless I do.  More pages, was I satisfied with the process, will I use it again?   Must be up to tenty pages by now and at last I get another page that says "Finish"!

Need a cuppa now!

JOhn

[Escadrille Ecosse]

Thank goodness I still have my old pink licence

[JohnD]

Indeed!  Complicated by my booking in my most modern modern for a service.  The dealer will be glad to lend me a 'courtesy car', but wish to see my licence -which is cut in two and in the post to Swansea!   Which promises to send the new one in a week, but foolishly I put a 2nd class stamp on the envelope!

Online, the DVLA offers to "create a licence 'check code’ to share your driving record with someone, for example a car hire company"   which would be handy - but yuou need to know the number on your licence - which is cut in two etc etc.  Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

[Nick Jones]

When renewing my photo licence online a few years back (less complex than above) it was strongly implied but not explicitly demanded that I should return the licence to them by post, cut in half. This seemed like such rank stupidity and waste of resources that I decided I wouldn’t. So I hung on to my old licence until the new one arrived (which it did, quite promptly) checked that my various driving entitlements had been maintained (they had) and then chopped up the old licence into many pieces and binned them.

[Nick Jones]

Half-wit motorists…..

Tuesday it took me 50 minutes to drive 18 miles to work. Normally about 35 minutes. The reason?

 Someone with a puncture blocking one lane of the major two lane road on/out of Yeovil. Just stopped with their hazard lights on in the middle of the lane. Just 200m short of a turning with ample room to get out of the way.

Judging by the state of the flat tyre they’d already driven on a couple miles after the last of the air departed, so another 200m wouldn’t have hurt it any more and would have saved many, many wasted man-hours. But.. oh no, now I know (finally realised) I have a puncture, my car can suddenly no longer move….. at all.

Too dim to operate machinery…… licence revoked…. I wish

[JohnD]

I should have posted - DVLA were as good as their word!  New - renewed - licence returned beginning this week! 

John