The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

ferrengi · 2006-02-03 Reply Admin

paranoidgeek:
ferrengi:
I must be missing something here. How is LOGGED_ON=NO a security hole and how does changing it to LOGGED_ON=YES help?
It is implied that changing the URL manually to LOGGED_ON=YES will give the user access. Since this is very easy to guess it would be trivial for an unauthorized user to gain access. It is a but like having a door lock with the lock/unlock on the outside.

So, that would just be idiotic design by the "web developer" that allows the user to use the URL to get around actually signing on with a username and password. Why would the solution to this problem be to change the URL to LOGGED_ON=YES? It's not that much harder to hack.
If someone wants to play around and manually type in the URL, they might very well try changing the YES to NO and see what happens.

2006-02-03 Reply Admin

stevekj:
Anonymous:
You can actually go deeper than that. Go to the website, click a company with cameras, like Dearden, and click a camera. You will be prompted for a password. Go back to the main page, change ADMIN=false to "true" and click on Dearden and click on a camera. It will then bypass the password and present you with a camera viewer. Is this bad security or what? For a serveillance company (I think), it certainly has poor online security.

OK, I couldn't get this to work. How exactly do you execute the "Go back to the main page" step? I don't see anything different when I do this, since I am just typing the URL back into the address bar the same way as the first time. So I get asked for a password the second time too.

I tried later on and it didn't work; they must have fixed it. The first time I tried, it did work.

mooney · 2006-02-03 Reply Admin

Zlodo:
It's from Office Space I think (I didn't see it).

wuzzah, uh,... Seriously?

John Bigboote · 2006-02-03 Reply Admin

mooney:
Zlodo:
It's from Office Space I think (I didn't see it).

wuzzah, uh,... Seriously?

[leonardVoice]
I believe you'd get your ass kicked saying a thing like that.
[/leonardVoice]

trollable · 2006-02-03 Reply Admin

Alex Papadimoulis:
his coworker scoffed, saying something about no one actually looking at those.

That's a wonderfull honey pot.
Or a good cloaking technic.

Magic Duck · 2006-02-03 Reply Admin

Rank Amateur:
Magic Duck:
Rank Amateur:
Anonymous:
hash:
Gene Wirchenko:

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

<pullinghair>Can you PLEASE stop ending every post like that?! It annoys the crap out of me everytime I read one of your posts, I doubt i'm alone.
</pullinghair>

You're not alone.

Now, doggonit, I've been signing the end of my posts since before I joined this forum. Why aren't I annoying anyone?

--Rank

Because your not sincere enough, dear sir!
Sincerely,
Magic Duck

Well, there you go. It seems every third Tuesday, someone on this forum complains, "Oh, we need sarcasm tags or emoticons --people don't realize I'm kidding." But when someone comes out and explicitly says he's being sincere, it's more controversial than a supreme court nominee. Gee whiz, make up your mind. Boy. Gosh darn.

--Rank

Amen, brother! Amen!

Sincerely,

Magic Duck

chaim79 · 2006-02-03 Reply Admin

I am a developer of a realy nice CMS and we develop for firefox/mozilla/safari then do some hacks to get IE to look right... there's only one developer here who prefers IE and will use tables and transparent images to build a layout...

We're in the transition stage right now from that one developer and tables/transparent images to Divs and CSS. In this time the 'spacer.gif' is the bane of our web existance, it's a single pixal transparent gif that has been used for easy spacing on a webpage, so you'll see img tags all over our older sites with this image...... we've had trouble in several places becuase we will be 6 to 10 tables deep, all of our old code will create tables for everything. Even the class bully is scared by some of our HTML output......

chaim79 · 2006-02-03 Reply Admin

... that is a reply to "awaiting troll points" or Elf 17... depending on which part of his message you look at....

2006-02-03 Reply Admin

connected:

WTF Batman:
ammoQ:
He should have scrambled it.

http://www.initech-foundation.org/support/giving.aspx?NO_DEGGOL=ON

;-)

Or, for SUPER DUPER high security, Rot-13 is your friend:

http://www.initech-foundation.org/support/giving.aspx?YBTTRQ_BA=BA

You've completely missed the point. What this guy did is nothing short of genius...placing something like that wide in the open is clearly a new form of security--one based not on obfuscation or encryption, but on psychological deterrence. Anyone looking to break into the site will see it, but the stupidity of it will overwhelm the mind, and the hacker will be "shocked" into giving up.

I had heard of this recently.... it's called the 'shock and awe' secure network technology. I heard there's a cert for this too! gonna get certed and make some good cheese!

2006-02-03 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
connected:

WTF Batman:
ammoQ:
He should have scrambled it.

http://www.initech-foundation.org/support/giving.aspx?NO_DEGGOL=ON

;-)

Or, for SUPER DUPER high security, Rot-13 is your friend:

http://www.initech-foundation.org/support/giving.aspx?YBTTRQ_BA=BA

You've completely missed the point. What this guy did is nothing short of genius...placing something like that wide in the open is clearly a new form of security--one based not on obfuscation or encryption, but on psychological deterrence. Anyone looking to break into the site will see it, but the stupidity of it will overwhelm the mind, and the hacker will be "shocked" into giving up.

I had heard of this recently.... it's called the 'shock and awe' secure network technology. I heard there's a cert for this too! gonna get certed and make some good cheese!

I just got certed and now I'm a MCSAWSNT. Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

rbriem · 2006-02-03 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
It's sad that I'm so tempted to bite because of the C++ comments. I've only been in the industry a relatively short amount of time, but in this area (Philly, central Jersey) there seems to be a lot of these ASP.NET jobs going around. Lots of friends, who happen to be relatively new also, tend to be getting positions doing ASP.NET. Is this just the type of job most young people can expect?

Nope.

The type of job most young people can expect involves phrases like "would you like to super-size that?" and "you want me to do what with my WHAT?"

The type of job you and your friends can expect involve ASP.NET.

Why? Because that's the type of jobs that are going around, and that are hiring you and your friends.

Today's lesson has been brought to you by the letter "DOH!".

rbriem · 2006-02-03 Reply Admin

tSQL:

it is kind of a Yawn .. of a wtf. Now, seeing a COBAL version of a webpage, now that would be down right neato! Do we have a screen shot please?

What would a COBAL version look like?

sammybaby · 2006-02-03 Reply Admin

kipthegreat:
connected:
This guy clearly doesn't know what he's doing. I mean, you can't just grant visitors access like that...you have to assign proper privileges:

LOGGED_ON=YES&LOGGED_ON_AS=USER

What he needs to do is LOGGED_ON=YES&PASSWORD=12345. If the password is something harder to guess than "12345", this solution is 100% unhackable!

"12345?!? That's the kind of password an idiot puts on his luggage!"

Zlodo · 2006-02-03 Reply Admin

Casiotone:
What exactly is wrong about comparing languages and discussing merits and disadvantages of each?

Debating stuff is not politically correct. It may tempt people to think, which is something uncomfortable for some.

rbriem · 2006-02-03 Reply Admin

BlackTigerX:

and I was just telling Ben about that

http://www.ben-rush.net/blog/PermaLink,guid,8e623a1c-17a2-46c3-a1a3-e38675f8f190.aspx

I quote my self

... typos and all ...

BlackTigerX:

"...we are migrating a generation that got to work on punch cards, assembler, C, C++, up to C#, those are (for the most part) the people that strougle, those are the same people that won't accept that a 15-20 (or younger that them for that matter) can kick their old butts

I think as new generations come in we'll do better moving on with technology"

The fun part about this is that it took that first generation 20-30 years to hit technological old-fogeydom; this new batch'll be staring down that barrel in 10 years, max. They'll be like athletes that blow out a knee or rotator cuff and have to retire at 30, but they won't have the multi-million dollar contracts to build retirement on, and there'll be a tidal wave of old-butt-kickers waiting to replace them at a better rate.

Good times.

2006-02-03 Reply Admin

Gene Wirch-I mean Lys-enko:
masklinn:

Remember guys, everything that's been done in CS in the past 40 years has been trying to catch up with Lisp with a more readable syntax for the beginner.

Spoken like a true Lisp smuggie. Lisp was ahead of modern CS 40 years ago in the same sense that Latin is the one true language of scholarship. Perhaps you should open your eyes to progress and accept that Haskell is more powerful and more expressive today than Lisp has ever been - and it's provably safe, too, unlike Lisp where you can kill a program just by taking the cdr of an empty list.

Spoken like a true Haskell smuggie.

Gene Nolystengud:

George Bezel:

SHUT THE F*CK UP ABOUT YOUR STUPID LANGUAGE OF CHOICE.
Yes, I did it in all caps, as a way to indicate that I am "yelling." Nobody gives two shits that you think that LISP or FORTRAN or Ruby is the best language ever.

And you think we give two shits whether you give two shits or not?

No, I don't really care. Since you completely missed the point of my entire post, I'll reiterate. It doesn't matter that your language of choice (which is obviously Haskell) is great for certain things. It's not as good as others for other things. Imagine that!

Geney Bobeeny:

George Bezel:

In the end, there's only one language, and it's machine language.

You, sir, are not only an idiot but an ignorant idiot. When you say "machine language", what the fuck do you think you're referring to? Which machine? In case you didn't realise, Pentiums and PowerPCs don't actually read the same language, ya know? And even Athlons and Pentiums only read the same language on the surface - they translate it into different code internally - so even IA32 "machine code" is only really an abstraction of what the processor reads, just like .NET's CLR or Java's bytecode.

Wow, great going, dipshit. You think you're the high and mighty king of computing now? Get off your high horse and introduce yourself to the real world.

I knew I'd get some smug douche bag like yourself waxing eloquent about their vast knowledge. That's why I purposely didn't go into details. Obviously every CPU is different, retard, do I need to spell that out every time? The point of the oversimplification was not to go into details about which commands to deal with high-order bits in the extended registers the Foo chip can handle, it's that they all come down to the same basic principles. It is you, sir, who needs to shut the fuck up. Note also that I didn't point fingers in my original post. It was a generalization, and you certainly fit into that category.

Please shut the fuck up about your stupid misconceptions that all languages are created equal. You CAN write code in Lisp, Python, Ruby, ML, or Haskell, that would be unfeasible to write in C++. This is called "being more expressive". Many people think this is a Good Thing. And we have a right to say so, whether you like it or not.

Maybe you should actually read my post before you decide to go all out and personally degrade me. To quote:

myself:
The real programmers use whatever language best suits their needs.

Dipshit.

Mikademus · 2006-02-03 Reply Admin

Anonymous:

ammoQ:
WTF Batman:
ammoQ:
He should have scrambled it.

http://www.initech-foundation.org/support/giving.aspx?NO_DEGGOL=ON

;-)

Or, for SUPER DUPER high security, Rot-13 is your friend:

http://www.initech-foundation.org/support/giving.aspx?YBTTRQ_BA=BA

This looks like Klingon :-))


tlhIngan Hol rurbe'chu', 'ej veQvam 'oghbe'ba' tlhIngan ghunwI'. QIpqu'ba'chugh tlhIngan ghunwI' 'ej veQvam rurbogh veQ ngIm lIngchugh, ghaytan SIbI' muHlu'.

(... Universal translator engaged) It's not Klingon, and a Klingon programmer obviously didn't create this garbage. If a Klingon programmer is that obviously stupid and produces putrid trash like this, he will likely be executed immediately.

I just want to say, I admire you!

NancyBoy · 2006-02-03 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
I think the real WTF here, is most obvious from the screen shot.

What kind of Web Developer would dream of using IE? That's just nuts! An outdated Mozilla build? ok, a Firefox 1.0 build? yeah, ok, even an Opera Install would have shown some apptitude for the task, but IE... yeah, only if you don't want to debug your applications, or build something Web 2.0.

That said just curious, for all the Developers on this forum, except for those doing IE-only .ActiveXXXNet stuff, what Browser do you use? Anyone already shaking their heads at the Beta2 of IE7 (oh man that's a LOOOOOONG way from a stable, public release)

Elf 17

I use IE6 and IE7 beta 2 looks terrific. Maybe you missed that it's a beta somehow. And far more stable than some pre-1.0 browsers I could mention (cough-Mozilla-cough).

2006-02-03 Reply Admin

Casiotone:
Zatanix:
Anonymous:
Hey elitist programmers! Please read the following message, as it's directed at you. SHUT THE F*CK UP ABOUT YOUR STUPID LANGUAGE OF CHOICE. Yes, I did it in all caps, as a way to indicate that I am "yelling." Nobody gives two shits that you think that LISP or FORTRAN or Ruby is the best language ever. The real programmers use whatever language best suits their needs. In the end, there's only one language, and it's machine language. Get your stupid mind around that, and shut up about how we're all dumb for using whatever other language we're using (to get the job done, no less). Use your awesome syntax and super framework elsewhere, because I'm sick of hearing about it. It's bullshit. It's analogous to saying a number 5 Torx is better than a #3. Love, George Bezel

Amen! I was just about to post the same. Fucking n00bs!
Also, different languages has different advantages. Sometimes it doesn't matter which language you choose (just a matter of taste), sometimes you need one of those advantages. I would have thought everyone posting at this site knew stuff like this...

What exactly is wrong about comparing languages and discussing merits and disadvantages of each?

To responsd to you and clarify on the original post: nothing, if you keep it nice and are actually "discussing." The people I was referring to are the elitists, who always must assert their superiority. As long as it doesn't get personal, I'm all for discussing the merits and disadvantages of languages. I just have yet to see that happen on this forum (that's a lie--I've seen many good things in this very thread), because of the aforementioned idiots.

rbriem · 2006-02-03 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
Hey elitist programmers! Please read the following message, as it's directed at you. SHUT THE F*CK UP ABOUT YOUR STUPID LANGUAGE OF CHOICE. Yes, I did it in all caps, as a way to indicate that I am "yelling." Nobody gives two shits that you think that LISP or FORTRAN or Ruby is the best language ever. The real programmers use whatever language best suits their needs. In the end, there's only one language, and it's machine language. Get your stupid mind around that, and shut up about how we're all dumb for using whatever other language we're using (to get the job done, no less). Use your awesome syntax and super framework elsewhere, because I'm sick of hearing about it. It's bullshit. It's analogous to saying a number 5 Torx is better than a #3. Love, George Bezel

Agreed, the language wars are annoying sometimes, especially when the true believers get involved.
Agreed, you should use whatever language best suits your needs, or at worst, be able to use the language mandated by the powers that be.
Arguing that people should quit arguing about languages is just another annoying voice in the already annoying language debates, and puts you in the same category as the "elitist programmers" you rail on.
Thank you for enlightening us all on the "all caps=yelling" item. Really.
Changing peoples' names above the quote blocks on replies is really childish.
If you want to get all butt-hurt about the discussions here and post a chest-thumping, vehement diatribe, at least have the balls to register.
Better yet, sick of hearing about it? Change the channel. Surf elsewhere. Go away.

Dismissively,

Rob Briem

bugmenot · 2006-02-03 Reply Admin

hash:
Gene Wirchenko:
Sincerely,
Gene Wirchenko
<pullinghair>
Can you PLEASE stop ending every post like that?! It annoys the crap out of me everytime I read one of your posts, I doubt i'm alone.
</pullinghair>

Can you please get a life. It annoys the crap out of me everytime I read one of your posts, I doubt i'm alone.

Sincerely,

!Gene Wirchenko

2006-02-03 Reply Admin

rbriem:

Anonymous:
Hey elitist programmers! Please read the following message, as it's directed at you. SHUT THE F*CK UP ABOUT YOUR STUPID LANGUAGE OF CHOICE. Yes, I did it in all caps, as a way to indicate that I am "yelling." Nobody gives two shits that you think that LISP or FORTRAN or Ruby is the best language ever. The real programmers use whatever language best suits their needs. In the end, there's only one language, and it's machine language. Get your stupid mind around that, and shut up about how we're all dumb for using whatever other language we're using (to get the job done, no less). Use your awesome syntax and super framework elsewhere, because I'm sick of hearing about it. It's bullshit. It's analogous to saying a number 5 Torx is better than a #3. Love, George Bezel

Agreed, the language wars are annoying sometimes, especially when the true believers get involved.
Agreed, you should use whatever language best suits your needs, or at worst, be able to use the language mandated by the powers that be.
Arguing that people should quit arguing about languages is just another annoying voice in the already annoying language debates, and puts you in the same category as the "elitist programmers" you rail on.
Thank you for enlightening us all on the "all caps=yelling" item. Really.
Changing peoples' names above the quote blocks on replies is really childish.
If you want to get all butt-hurt about the discussions here and post a chest-thumping, vehement diatribe, at least have the balls to register.
Better yet, sick of hearing about it? Change the channel. Surf elsewhere. Go away.

Dismissively,

Rob Briem

Hi Rob,

First of all, my message was indeed harsh and definitely portrayed me in a negative light. Secondly, thanks for taking me seriously enough to respond. Now that I've "cooled down," so to speak, let me respond.

3. Exactly right, and I actually considered that during posting. When it comes down to it, the old forum joke is true. I guess I thought that I wasn't alone in getting irritated by all the arguing and would post my thoughts. Obviously, they haven't really contributed to the converstaion, so it backfired.

4. No problem. I only hoped it pointed to the spiteful, yet sarcastic tone of the message. I guess, when it comes down to it, I was ultimately joking--it does bother me, but not to the extent which it seems.

5. Pointing out all the childish things a person does isn't much better. Honestly though, that message was typed in anger. If there's one person I've actually felt strong emotions toward in this thread, it's Gene. And not Wirchenko (I find the whole sincerely thing amusing, at the very least). I'm never justified in insulting someone, but the blantant personal diatribe Mr. Lysenko was dishing out was arguably at the same level.

6. I don't see your point here. This forum software sucks, and whether or not I register should not change anything from your point of view. There's nothing beneficial to being a member since you can't even edit your posts. I'm using my name, after all. Also, I can't even post from any browser besides IE, so that's limiting my posting as I normally don't use it.

7. I don't go away because usually it doesn't bother me that much, and I love reading this site.

Anyhow, even though you obviously don't like me very much, I thank you for the honest response.

2006-02-03 Reply Admin

I wouldn't say that there are no outstanding programmers using COBOL. Just that the programmers who believe they don't need to learn anything else, and that web apps are no different from what they were doing 30 years ago, aren't among them.

John Smallberries · 2006-02-03 Reply Admin

NewBie:
Just a thought.

Get a job where thinking isn't required.

2006-02-04 Reply Admin

John Smallberries:
NewBie:
Just a thought.

Get a job where thinking isn't required.

Done.

2006-02-04 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
Anonymous:
Anonymous:

This reminds me on an old C joke:

if (status = UNDER_NUCLEAR_ATTACK) {
launch_full_counterstrike();
}

Yours,

Tichy

You do know that you're assigning instead of comparing, right? That statement both puts the country under nuclear attack AND launches the full counterstrike! It's not rocket science you know.
*Ba-dum dum*

Are you explaining the joke? Or are you, having not understood the joke, pointing out a typo?

As you may have guessed or not, it is the typo the joke is about. Under the assumption the (assumed) constant/define of UNDER_NUCLEAR_ATTACK is not 0, the statement
status = UNDER_NUCLEAR_ATTACK
would assign this constant/define to status. The result of the operation would be the value of UNDER_NUCLEAR_ATTACK as well, that means, not null. The if(...) would get a true value and the launch_full_counterstrike() would happen, regardless of the value of status. The correct version would be a comparision (==), not an assignment (=).

Tichy

2006-02-04 Reply Admin

Anonymous:

That said just curious, for all the Developers on this forum, except for those doing IE-only .ActiveXXXNet stuff, what Browser do you use?

Develop with Firefox, test with IE, Firefox, Netscape, Opera, Safari, WindowEyes and Jaws. Sorry, no Konquerer.

nobody · 2006-02-04 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
tSQL:
it is kind of a Yawn .. of a wtf. Now, seeing a COBAL version of a webpage, now that would be down right neato! Do we have a screen shot please?

To your pleasure : ASP.NET Cobol

Their FAQ is missing an entry:
Why would anyone do this?

2006-02-04 Reply Admin

I'm with Robert Glass on this one.

"Cobol is a very bad language, but all the others (for business applications) are so much worse"

2006-02-04 Reply Admin

ammoQ:
Zos:

BTW: People use COBOL to generate web pages. Big government health organisations lead the way in this.

I'm sure they do it in a more elegant manner than ASP.net COBOL. The usual way to do that is to write a normal (e.g. CICS) application and use an other (more adequate) language for the web frontend.

Really? Our CICS programs build the HTML inline and then pump it out through the CICS web interface. It's Delta though.. not as bad as COBOL.

zurmikopa · 2006-02-04 Reply Admin

Ah, now I know who writes the software that gets hacked in movies.

2006-02-05 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
6. I don't see your point here. This forum software sucks, and whether or not I register should not change anything from your point of view. There's nothing beneficial to being a member since you can't even edit your posts. I'm using my name, after all. Also, I can't even post from any browser besides IE, so that's limiting my posting as I normally don't use it.

now that's the real wtf.. I'm using Seamonkey 1.0 to post this very message

2006-02-05 Reply Admin

Anonymous:

Anonymous:

That said just curious, for all the Developers on this forum, except for those doing IE-only .ActiveXXXNet stuff, what Browser do you use?

Develop with Firefox, test with IE, Firefox, Netscape, Opera, Safari, WindowEyes and Jaws. Sorry, no Konquerer.

Wrong! Safari is Konqueror

Joost_ · 2006-02-05 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
Anonymous:

Anonymous:
Anonymous:

This reminds me on an old C joke:

if (status = UNDER_NUCLEAR_ATTACK) {
launch_full_counterstrike();
}

Yours,

Tichy

You do know that you're assigning instead of comparing, right? That statement both puts the country under nuclear attack AND launches the full counterstrike! It's not rocket science you know.
*Ba-dum dum*

Are you explaining the joke? Or are you, having not understood the joke, pointing out a typo?

As you may have guessed or not, it is the typo the joke is about. Under the assumption the (assumed) constant/define of UNDER_NUCLEAR_ATTACK is not 0, the statement
status = UNDER_NUCLEAR_ATTACK
would assign this constant/define to status. The result of the operation would be the value of UNDER_NUCLEAR_ATTACK as well, that means, not null. The if(...) would get a true value and the launch_full_counterstrike() would happen, regardless of the value of status. The correct version would be a comparision (==), not an assignment (=).

Tichy

Are you explaining the joke, explaining the explanation or are you pointing out the typo?

2006-02-05 Reply Admin

hash:
Can you PLEASE stop ending every post like that?! It annoys the crap out of me everytime I read one of your posts, I doubt i'm alone.

Can you please stop following up all Gene's posts with that remark. It annoys the crap out of me everytime I read one of your whines, I doubt i'm alone.

masklinn · 2006-02-05 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
6. I don't see your point here. This forum software sucks, and whether or not I register should not change anything from your point of view. There's nothing beneficial to being a member since you can't even edit your posts. I'm using my name, after all. Also, I can't even post from any browser besides IE, so that's limiting my posting as I normally don't use it.

I'm telling you that you probably should try harder from Firefox 1.5.

Anonymous:
Anonymous:

Anonymous:

That said just curious, for all the Developers on this forum, except for those doing IE-only .ActiveXXXNet stuff, what Browser do you use?

Develop with Firefox, test with IE, Firefox, Netscape, Opera, Safari, WindowEyes and Jaws. Sorry, no Konquerer.

Wrong! Safari is Konqueror

no.

2006-02-06 Reply Admin

Joost_:
Anonymous:
Anonymous:

Anonymous:
Anonymous:

This reminds me on an old C joke:

if (status = UNDER_NUCLEAR_ATTACK) {
launch_full_counterstrike();
}

Yours,

Tichy

You do know that you're assigning instead of comparing, right? That statement both puts the country under nuclear attack AND launches the full counterstrike! It's not rocket science you know.
*Ba-dum dum*

Are you explaining the joke? Or are you, having not understood the joke, pointing out a typo?

As you may have guessed or not, it is the typo the joke is about. Under the assumption the (assumed) constant/define of UNDER_NUCLEAR_ATTACK is not 0, the statement
status = UNDER_NUCLEAR_ATTACK
would assign this constant/define to status. The result of the operation would be the value of UNDER_NUCLEAR_ATTACK as well, that means, not null. The if(...) would get a true value and the launch_full_counterstrike() would happen, regardless of the value of status. The correct version would be a comparision (==), not an assignment (=).

Tichy

Are you explaining the joke, explaining the explanation or are you pointing out the typo?

First and last.

Tichy

Richard Nixon · 2006-02-06 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
6. I don't see your point here. This forum software sucks, and whether or not I register should not change anything from your point of view. There's nothing beneficial to being a member since you can't even edit your posts. I'm using my name, after all. Also, I can't even post from any browser besides IE, so that's limiting my posting as I normally don't use it.

You're using your name, just as I can use your name and anyone else can use your name. Anyone can jump into a discussion and claim to be you. So, the fact that you are not registered does change something from my point of view. Any follow-ups to the discussion with your name attached to it are suspect.

While there could be some tom-foolerey with registered users passing out their password, it's less likely than someone just coming along and posting with your name.

My point isn't exactly rocket science here. It's pretty surprising that someone with your outspokenness didn't even bother to think your points through even a little bit. For shame...

sincerely,
Richard Nixon

rbriem · 2006-02-06 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
rbriem:

Anonymous:
Hey elitist programmers! Please read the following message, as it's directed at you. SHUT THE F*CK UP ABOUT YOUR STUPID LANGUAGE OF CHOICE. Yes, I did it in all caps, as a way to indicate that I am "yelling." Nobody gives two shits that you think that LISP or FORTRAN or Ruby is the best language ever. The real programmers use whatever language best suits their needs. In the end, there's only one language, and it's machine language. Get your stupid mind around that, and shut up about how we're all dumb for using whatever other language we're using (to get the job done, no less). Use your awesome syntax and super framework elsewhere, because I'm sick of hearing about it. It's bullshit. It's analogous to saying a number 5 Torx is better than a #3. Love, George Bezel

Agreed, the language wars are annoying sometimes, especially when the true believers get involved.
Agreed, you should use whatever language best suits your needs, or at worst, be able to use the language mandated by the powers that be.
Arguing that people should quit arguing about languages is just another annoying voice in the already annoying language debates, and puts you in the same category as the "elitist programmers" you rail on.
Thank you for enlightening us all on the "all caps=yelling" item. Really.
Changing peoples' names above the quote blocks on replies is really childish.
If you want to get all butt-hurt about the discussions here and post a chest-thumping, vehement diatribe, at least have the balls to register.
Better yet, sick of hearing about it? Change the channel. Surf elsewhere. Go away.

Dismissively,

Rob Briem

Hi Rob,

First of all, my message was indeed harsh and definitely portrayed me in a negative light. Secondly, thanks for taking me seriously enough to respond. Now that I've "cooled down," so to speak, let me respond.

3. Exactly right, and I actually considered that during posting. When it comes down to it, the old forum joke is true. I guess I thought that I wasn't alone in getting irritated by all the arguing and would post my thoughts. Obviously, they haven't really contributed to the converstaion, so it backfired.

4. No problem. I only hoped it pointed to the spiteful, yet sarcastic tone of the message. I guess, when it comes down to it, I was ultimately joking--it does bother me, but not to the extent which it seems.

5. Pointing out all the childish things a person does isn't much better. Honestly though, that message was typed in anger. If there's one person I've actually felt strong emotions toward in this thread, it's Gene. And not Wirchenko (I find the whole sincerely thing amusing, at the very least). I'm never justified in insulting someone, but the blantant personal diatribe Mr. Lysenko was dishing out was arguably at the same level.

6. I don't see your point here. This forum software sucks, and whether or not I register should not change anything from your point of view. There's nothing beneficial to being a member since you can't even edit your posts. I'm using my name, after all. Also, I can't even post from any browser besides IE, so that's limiting my posting as I normally don't use it.

7. I don't go away because usually it doesn't bother me that much, and I love reading this site.

Anyhow, even though you obviously don't like me very much, I thank you for the honest response.

Hey George -

5. One of the many things I enjoy about this forum is that the discussions rarely devolve into expletive-laden tirades. You briefly stepped in that hole, but back out again; Lysenko fell straight to the bottom. (My opinion).

6. There are several reasons to register, none of which provide you with any direct benefit:

As noted in a later post by Richard Nixon, it provides a minimal verification that you are indeed you.
Similarly, in follow-ups, your quotes are attributed to you, instead of to "Anonymous", which makes it easier to piece together the jigsaw of quotes.
It makes scanning the left-hand "written by" blocks in the thread a little easier, unless you consistently use the same name every time you post, at which point you may as well register to save the time.
As politically incorrect as it may seem, I ascribe to the theory that people naturally divide eveyone into pockets of "us" and "them", and this would make you an "us" (a player in the game) instead of a "them" (a spectator).
And last but not least, it gives Alex a way to track how many people are regulars, so he can decide how much time, energy, and money to devote to this project (and also possibly attract a little advertising - easier to do if you can provide stats on registered/regular users - so he can buy some non-sucky forum software, or an Ipod).

7. Then by all means, stay. Just pointing up some options.

Don't know you well enough to dislike you (yet - don't push it), just trying to keep things civil here. (OH SHIT!!! I just became a forum cop. SHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT, I mean DARNDARNDARNDARNDARN).

Now. Back to making fun of bad code.

- rob

George Bezel · 2006-02-06 Reply Admin

rbriem:
Anonymous:
rbriem:

Anonymous:
Hey elitist programmers! Please read the following message, as it's directed at you. SHUT THE F*CK UP ABOUT YOUR STUPID LANGUAGE OF CHOICE. Yes, I did it in all caps, as a way to indicate that I am "yelling." Nobody gives two shits that you think that LISP or FORTRAN or Ruby is the best language ever. The real programmers use whatever language best suits their needs. In the end, there's only one language, and it's machine language. Get your stupid mind around that, and shut up about how we're all dumb for using whatever other language we're using (to get the job done, no less). Use your awesome syntax and super framework elsewhere, because I'm sick of hearing about it. It's bullshit. It's analogous to saying a number 5 Torx is better than a #3. Love, George Bezel

Agreed, the language wars are annoying sometimes, especially when the true believers get involved.
Agreed, you should use whatever language best suits your needs, or at worst, be able to use the language mandated by the powers that be.
Arguing that people should quit arguing about languages is just another annoying voice in the already annoying language debates, and puts you in the same category as the "elitist programmers" you rail on.
Thank you for enlightening us all on the "all caps=yelling" item. Really.
Changing peoples' names above the quote blocks on replies is really childish.
If you want to get all butt-hurt about the discussions here and post a chest-thumping, vehement diatribe, at least have the balls to register.
Better yet, sick of hearing about it? Change the channel. Surf elsewhere. Go away.

Dismissively,

Rob Briem

Hi Rob,

First of all, my message was indeed harsh and definitely portrayed me in a negative light. Secondly, thanks for taking me seriously enough to respond. Now that I've "cooled down," so to speak, let me respond.

3. Exactly right, and I actually considered that during posting. When it comes down to it, the old forum joke is true. I guess I thought that I wasn't alone in getting irritated by all the arguing and would post my thoughts. Obviously, they haven't really contributed to the converstaion, so it backfired.

4. No problem. I only hoped it pointed to the spiteful, yet sarcastic tone of the message. I guess, when it comes down to it, I was ultimately joking--it does bother me, but not to the extent which it seems.

5. Pointing out all the childish things a person does isn't much better. Honestly though, that message was typed in anger. If there's one person I've actually felt strong emotions toward in this thread, it's Gene. And not Wirchenko (I find the whole sincerely thing amusing, at the very least). I'm never justified in insulting someone, but the blantant personal diatribe Mr. Lysenko was dishing out was arguably at the same level.

6. I don't see your point here. This forum software sucks, and whether or not I register should not change anything from your point of view. There's nothing beneficial to being a member since you can't even edit your posts. I'm using my name, after all. Also, I can't even post from any browser besides IE, so that's limiting my posting as I normally don't use it.

7. I don't go away because usually it doesn't bother me that much, and I love reading this site.

Anyhow, even though you obviously don't like me very much, I thank you for the honest response.

Hey George -

5. One of the many things I enjoy about this forum is that the discussions rarely devolve into expletive-laden tirades. You briefly stepped in that hole, but back out again; Lysenko fell straight to the bottom. (My opinion).

6. There are several reasons to register, none of which provide you with any direct benefit:

As noted in a later post by Richard Nixon, it provides a minimal verification that you are indeed you.

Similarly, in follow-ups, your quotes are attributed to you, instead of to "Anonymous", which makes it easier to piece together the jigsaw of quotes.

It makes scanning the left-hand "written by" blocks in the thread a little easier, unless you consistently use the same name every time you post, at which point you may as well register to save the time.

As politically incorrect as it may seem, I ascribe to the theory that people naturally divide eveyone into pockets of "us" and "them", and this would make you an "us" (a player in the game) instead of a "them" (a spectator).

And last but not least, it gives Alex a way to track how many people are regulars, so he can decide how much time, energy, and money to devote to this project (and also possibly attract a little advertising - easier to do if you can provide stats on registered/regular users - so he can buy some non-sucky forum software, or an Ipod).

7. Then by all means, stay. Just pointing up some options.

Don't know you well enough to dislike you (yet - don't push it), just trying to keep things civil here. (OH SHIT!!! I just became a forum cop. SHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT, I mean DARNDARNDARNDARNDARN).

Now. Back to making fun of bad code.

- rob

Rob,

Some solid points. I have caved in to my own ego and registered. You win! (just kidding, I actually still win). As for the profanity, aren't colorful metaphors the spice of life? Though I agree, a flaming tends to only embarrass oneself, and rarely adds things to the discussion or causes change. Especially since I didn't think too hard about what I posted. My bad, what can I say?

Interestingly, I submitted something to Alex a few months ago and it was "added to the queue," but still hasn't showed up. A bit disturbing, perhaps, that there are that many WTFs that we haven't seen before?

Oh, and Richard: I'm surprised a man of your stature didn't simply assume that I was ego tripping...

George Bezel · 2006-02-06 Reply Admin

masklinn:
Anonymous:
6. I don't see your point here. This forum software sucks, and whether or not I register should not change anything from your point of view. There's nothing beneficial to being a member since you can't even edit your posts. I'm using my name, after all. Also, I can't even post from any browser besides IE, so that's limiting my posting as I normally don't use it.

I'm telling you that you probably should try harder from Firefox 1.5.

Anonymous:
Anonymous:

Anonymous:

That said just curious, for all the Developers on this forum, except for those doing IE-only .ActiveXXXNet stuff, what Browser do you use?

Develop with Firefox, test with IE, Firefox, Netscape, Opera, Safari, WindowEyes and Jaws. Sorry, no Konquerer.

Wrong! Safari is Konqueror
no.

Odd. Somehow I'd previously tried in another thread to quote someone, using Firefox, and it raped the code. These last two messages were in 1.0.7, so you don't even need 1.5.

I eat my words.

TheRider · 2006-02-07 Reply Admin

I try to not imagine what happens when sombeody submits this url after chaning "admin_password_reset" to "true" on this one:

http://www.schoolexpert.de/home.php4?BODY=welcome&ADMIN=true&admin_password_reset=false&LAND=nrw

Richard Nixon · 2006-02-07 Reply Admin

George Bezel:
Oh, and Richard: I'm surprised a man of your stature didn't simply assume that I was ego tripping...

It's so simple to act like a jerk, backpedal, and place the fault on the other party to the behavior. Your profanity was childish and out of place. Your ideas about the merits of registration were ill-founded and poorly thought out. Don't be surprised, just apologize.

sincerely,
Richard Nixon

2006-02-07 Reply Admin

WTF Batman:
ammoQ:
He should have scrambled it.

http://www.initech-foundation.org/support/giving.aspx?NO_DEGGOL=ON

;-)

Or, for SUPER DUPER high security, Rot-13 is your friend:

http://www.initech-foundation.org/support/giving.aspx?YBTTRQ_BA=BA

Pfft. Everyone knows Triple-Rot-13 is much more secure.

George Bezel · 2006-02-07 Reply Admin

Richard Nixon:
George Bezel:
Oh, and Richard: I'm surprised a man of your stature didn't simply assume that I was ego tripping...

It's so simple to act like a jerk, backpedal, and place the fault on the other party to the behavior. Your profanity was childish and out of place. Your ideas about the merits of registration were ill-founded and poorly thought out. Don't be surprised, just apologize.

sincerely,
Richard Nixon

To you? Don't flatter yourself.

Ulvhamne · 2006-02-08 Reply Admin

TheRider:
I try to not imagine what happens when sombeody submits this url after chaning "admin_password_reset" to "true" on this one:

http://www.schoolexpert.de/home.php4?BODY=welcome&ADMIN=true&admin_password_reset=false&LAND=nrw

Well... I'd say you get a full printout of their entire database. ;)

Richard Nixon · 2006-02-08 Reply Admin

George Bezel:
Richard Nixon:
George Bezel:
Oh, and Richard: I'm surprised a man of your stature didn't simply assume that I was ego tripping...

It's so simple to act like a jerk, backpedal, and place the fault on the other party to the behavior. Your profanity was childish and out of place. Your ideas about the merits of registration were ill-founded and poorly thought out. Don't be surprised, just apologize.

sincerely,
Richard Nixon

To you? Don't flatter yourself.

The offensive language you used was completely out of line. You should apologize for your poor behavior.

sincerely,
Richard Nixon

George Bezel · 2006-02-08 Reply Admin

Richard Nixon:
George Bezel:
Richard Nixon:
George Bezel:
Oh, and Richard: I'm surprised a man of your stature didn't simply assume that I was ego tripping...

It's so simple to act like a jerk, backpedal, and place the fault on the other party to the behavior. Your profanity was childish and out of place. Your ideas about the merits of registration were ill-founded and poorly thought out. Don't be surprised, just apologize.

sincerely,
Richard Nixon

To you? Don't flatter yourself.

The offensive language you used was completely out of line. You should apologize for your poor behavior.

sincerely,
Richard Nixon

You can't be serious. If so, you are a bigger hypocrite than I thought.

2006-02-10 Reply Admin

Richard Nixon:

The offensive language you used was completely out of line. You should apologize for your poor behavior.

sincerely,
Richard Nixon

NO U

2006-02-11 Reply Admin

One of the reasons I've never bothered to learn PHP is that I was at an introductory talk once, and the sample code had a password check which set a variable (let's call it 'auth') to 1.

"So, what if you put 'auth=1' on the end of the URL?"

The speaker tried it, and it worked... PHP helpfully mixes program-supplied and user-supplied variables. At least there you had to guess/know the name of the variable (and that it was there).

If there are security holes in the first examples new programmers see, it'll always be an uphill struggle from there on out...

Jiri
PS: that includes scanf("%s", fruit); but C is rather too widespread to ignore

COBOL_SECURITY

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