The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

2011-04-22 Reply Admin

Captain Obvious:
hoodaticus:
Kerpo Sparx:
TRWTF is toll roads.
TRRWTF is that every road isn't a toll road. Why should I pay for a street I never use?
Why should those without cars be forced at gunpoint to pay for highways?

So the fire trucks and ambulances can reach you.

You're already paying for both services through some combination of property tax, local income tax or sales tax.

It's just like if I'm paying for a delivery, the shipping company folds the cost of any tolls into the shipping fee, along with fuel (and thus gas tax), vehicle registration, maintenance, driver salary, driver licensing, etc.

2011-04-22 Reply Admin

hoodaticus:
Meep:
Anon:
hoodaticus:
Kerpo Sparx:
TRWTF is toll roads.
TRRWTF is that every road isn't a toll road. Why should I pay for a street I never use?
Why should those without cars be forced at gunpoint to pay for highways?

So you'll gladly pay the tolls if you ever need an ambulance then?

You don't think you're paying for the gas the ambulance uses, the maintenance, etc.? Would it really be that hard for the ambulance company to add a transponder bill into the mix?

If all roads are tolled automatically, by some combination of cameras, plate scanning, and GPS. When a road gets busy, the prices go up right away, and everyone's GPS is constantly considering better routes, so traffic is routed away from jams and accidents before cars are even on the roads. And the busiest roads are naturally going to have the most funds for improvements.

This is the sort of thing markets are ideal for.
It certainly beats armed robbery.

How many armed robbers allow you to walk away at any time and stop paying them?

2011-04-22 Reply Admin

hoodaticus:
Kerpo Sparx:
TRWTF is toll roads.
TRRWTF is that every road isn't a toll road. Why should I pay for a street I never use?
Why should those without cars be forced at gunpoint to pay for highways?

If you don't like the services that our country provides in exchange for your tax dollars, then you're quite welcome to choose another country more to your satisfaction. Free market at work, man.

2011-04-22 Reply Admin

nobody:
hoodaticus:
Kerpo Sparx:
TRWTF is toll roads.
TRRWTF is that every road isn't a toll road. Why should I pay for a street I never use?
Why should those without cars be forced at gunpoint to pay for highways?
If you don't like the services that our country provides in exchange for your tax dollars, then you're quite welcome to choose another country more to your satisfaction. Free market at work, man.

Or to push for changes. Democracy at work, man.

2011-04-22 Reply Admin

hoodaticus:
Kerpo Sparx:
TRWTF is toll roads.
TRRWTF is that every road isn't a toll road. Why should I pay for a street I never use?
Why should those without cars be forced at gunpoint to pay for highways?

I think access to the internet should be charged by the byte. Why should my fees go to supporting people using up bandwidth? Do away with package plans. Allow governments to tax the portion of the internet going through their jurisdictions. Limit data rates during congestion, and only provide relief to those who can afford it.

Oh, and this site and all internet sites should charge a fee. These socialist ideas have got to go.

2011-04-22 Reply Admin

foo:
nobody:
hoodaticus:
Kerpo Sparx:
TRWTF is toll roads.
TRRWTF is that every road isn't a toll road. Why should I pay for a street I never use?
Why should those without cars be forced at gunpoint to pay for highways?
If you don't like the services that our country provides in exchange for your tax dollars, then you're quite welcome to choose another country more to your satisfaction. Free market at work, man.
Or to push for changes. Democracy at work, man.

Our road system is in place because of democratic votes. The people have spoken. History at work, man!

2011-04-22 Reply Admin

some dude:
foo:
nobody:
hoodaticus:
Kerpo Sparx:
TRWTF is toll roads.
TRRWTF is that every road isn't a toll road. Why should I pay for a street I never use?
Why should those without cars be forced at gunpoint to pay for highways?
If you don't like the services that our country provides in exchange for your tax dollars, then you're quite welcome to choose another country more to your satisfaction. Free market at work, man.
Or to push for changes. Democracy at work, man.
Our road system is in place because of democratic votes. The people have spoken. History at work, man!

Laws can be changed by future votes. Basic knowledge at work, man!

2011-04-22 Reply Admin

foo:
some dude:
foo:
nobody:
hoodaticus:
Kerpo Sparx:
TRWTF is toll roads.
TRRWTF is that every road isn't a toll road. Why should I pay for a street I never use?
Why should those without cars be forced at gunpoint to pay for highways?
If you don't like the services that our country provides in exchange for your tax dollars, then you're quite welcome to choose another country more to your satisfaction. Free market at work, man.
Or to push for changes. Democracy at work, man.
Our road system is in place because of democratic votes. The people have spoken. History at work, man!
Laws can be changed by future votes. Basic knowledge at work, man!

Yes, I'm sure the "tear up all public infrastructure and privatize every single road" movement is going to catch on with the general public any day now.

When will you anarcho-capitalists realize that you're a fringe movement?

boog · 2011-04-22 Reply Admin

hoodaticus:
Kerpo Sparx:
TRWTF is toll roads.
TRRWTF is that every road isn't a toll road. Why should I pay for a street I never use?
Why should those without cars be forced at gunpoint to pay for highways?

Not at all how it works in my neighborhood. Around here there are actually people who don't pay for public roads that are using them.

For example, just the other day I saw my neighbor's 7-year-old kid riding his bike in the street. You know, the street that I pay for? This time I didn't let it slide; I threw open the front door and screamed at him, demanding he stop stealing from the hard-working folks that pay for that road. I should have forced him to pay up at gunpoint (since that's commonly how people who don't use public roads are forced to pay), but I probably would have just kept the money myself, and I know that wouldn't be right. Still, someone should really do something about this menace, and others like him.

The worst part is, about 10 minutes later, the little bastard rode by again!

2011-04-22 Reply Admin

hoodaticus:
Kerpo Sparx:
TRWTF is toll roads.
TRRWTF is that every road isn't a toll road. Why should I pay for a street I never use?
Why should those without cars be forced at gunpoint to pay for highways?

To misquote Mark Steel - people should have to pay to NOT grind their way along queued-up toll roads. In the same way that rail tickets are cheaper during the hours when you're less likely to get a seat.</fantasy>

2011-04-22 Reply Admin

Meep:
Anon:
hoodaticus:
Kerpo Sparx:
TRWTF is toll roads.
TRRWTF is that every road isn't a toll road. Why should I pay for a street I never use?
Why should those without cars be forced at gunpoint to pay for highways?

So you'll gladly pay the tolls if you ever need an ambulance then?

You don't think you're paying for the gas the ambulance uses, the maintenance, etc.? Would it really be that hard for the ambulance company to add a transponder bill into the mix?

If all roads are tolled automatically, by some combination of cameras, plate scanning, and GPS. When a road gets busy, the prices go up right away, and everyone's GPS is constantly considering better routes, so traffic is routed away from jams and accidents before cars are even on the roads. And the busiest roads are naturally going to have the most funds for improvements.

This is the sort of thing markets are ideal for.

You mean the government would get to track my every movement, ostensibly to price road tolls. Sign me up! I don't see how this could ever be a bad thing.

2011-04-22 Reply Admin

boog:
hoodaticus:
Kerpo Sparx:
TRWTF is toll roads.
TRRWTF is that every road isn't a toll road. Why should I pay for a street I never use?
Why should those without cars be forced at gunpoint to pay for highways?
Not at all how it works in my neighborhood. Around here there are actually people who don't pay for public roads that are using them.

For example, just the other day I saw my neighbor's 7-year-old kid riding his bike in the street. You know, the street that I pay for? This time I didn't let it slide; I threw open the front door and screamed at him, demanding he stop stealing from the hard-working folks that pay for that road. I should have forced him to pay up at gunpoint (since that's commonly how people who don't use public roads are forced to pay), but I probably would have just kept the money myself, and I know that wouldn't be right. Still, someone should really do something about this menace, and others like him.

The worst part is, about 10 minutes later, the little bastard rode by again!

:)

Everybody knows how to raise children, except the people who have them. P. J. O'Rourke

2011-04-22 Reply Admin

32gen:
Meep:
Anon:
hoodaticus:
Kerpo Sparx:
TRWTF is toll roads.
TRRWTF is that every road isn't a toll road. Why should I pay for a street I never use?
Why should those without cars be forced at gunpoint to pay for highways?

So you'll gladly pay the tolls if you ever need an ambulance then?

You don't think you're paying for the gas the ambulance uses, the maintenance, etc.? Would it really be that hard for the ambulance company to add a transponder bill into the mix?

If all roads are tolled automatically, by some combination of cameras, plate scanning, and GPS. When a road gets busy, the prices go up right away, and everyone's GPS is constantly considering better routes, so traffic is routed away from jams and accidents before cars are even on the roads. And the busiest roads are naturally going to have the most funds for improvements.

This is the sort of thing markets are ideal for.
You mean the government would get to track my every movement, ostensibly to price road tolls. Sign me up! I don't see how this could ever be a bad thing.

Why the government? We can delegate this to a private corporation. I feel so much better now.

2011-04-22 Reply Admin

adiener:
"1 bottles"
I never thought sprintf("%d bottle%s", bottleCount, bottleCount == 1 ? "" : "s") was all that hard. If it's localized in multiple languages, translating both singular and plural and choosing the correct one isn't hard either. Just a pet peeve of mine...

ngettext manual:

Looking through Unix source code before the time anybody thought about internationalization (and, sadly, even afterwards) one can often find code similar to the following:
printf ("%d file%s deleted", n, n == 1 ? "" : "s");

Sadly indeed. (Note the list of languages and different plural forms near the bottom of the page.) Fortunately, a function like ngettext solves this problem -- and if you heed the general advice to preferably translate full sentences instead of fragments, also the problem of matching adjective forms mentioned elsewhere. A problem remains if a sentence contains several items each of which may be plural. In this case you'll have to split it into separately pluralizable parts.

2011-04-22 Reply Admin

The error has been successfully thrown.

Think how many computer dialogs contain the word "successfully." Now try to think of an example where it's not redundant.

2011-04-22 Reply Admin

You do realize not every language has just a singular and plural rule? Some languages have up to 6 plural rules.

2011-04-22 Reply Admin

Because you reap massive benefits from living in a society with public roads, even if you personally never drive on them.

2011-04-22 Reply Admin

Er, meant to quote hoodaticus in the above:

hoodaticus:
Kerpo Sparx:
TRWTF is toll roads.
TRRWTF is that every road isn't a toll road. Why should I pay for a street I never use?
Why should those without cars be forced at gunpoint to pay for highways?

lolwtf · 2011-04-22 Reply Admin

bad news:
hoodaticus:
K:
Localisation is a stress-inducing activity, and it affects even simple stuff like capitalisation.
It is even more tricky in languages like German. The letter ß (U+00DF) only exists as a lower case letter. If you do want to write all upper case the upper case version would be SS. When converting from upper case to lower case, then SS needs to be replaced by either ss or ß depending on the pronunciation of the preceding vowel. Moreover the rules are different in different German speaking countries.
TRWTF is that everyone hasn't switched to Lojban yet.
FIFY

FTFY.

2011-04-23 Reply Admin

I'm not quite sure why Matt would feel the need to call the Bavarian Bier Cafe for take out, when he's in the cafe, holding the cafe menu.

2011-04-23 Reply Admin

Fred:
32gen:
Meep:
Anon:
hoodaticus:
Kerpo Sparx:
TRWTF is toll roads.
TRRWTF is that every road isn't a toll road. Why should I pay for a street I never use?
Why should those without cars be forced at gunpoint to pay for highways?

So you'll gladly pay the tolls if you ever need an ambulance then?

You don't think you're paying for the gas the ambulance uses, the maintenance, etc.? Would it really be that hard for the ambulance company to add a transponder bill into the mix?

If all roads are tolled automatically, by some combination of cameras, plate scanning, and GPS. When a road gets busy, the prices go up right away, and everyone's GPS is constantly considering better routes, so traffic is routed away from jams and accidents before cars are even on the roads. And the busiest roads are naturally going to have the most funds for improvements.

This is the sort of thing markets are ideal for.
You mean the government would get to track my every movement, ostensibly to price road tolls. Sign me up! I don't see how this could ever be a bad thing.
Why the government? We can delegate this to a private corporation. I feel so much better now.

I think Apple would be happy to do that. Oh wait...

ZPedro · 2011-04-23 Reply Admin

'Tain, j'ai vécu dans la région de Nîmes pendant un certain temps, et le prix du Costières a sacrément augmenté depuis que je suis parti!

daily · 2011-04-23 Reply Admin

TRWTF is Notes

2011-04-23 Reply Admin

Why is that Domaine Rouviere a WTF? Looks like a really good volume discount to me, especially as 2009 was a pretty good year.

Let's see, 12 for the price of 1 - that's a 92% discount!

Captcha valetudo - there,even Akismet agrees it's good value!

2011-04-23 Reply Admin

The title reminded me of Otto Dix (a band, not the painter).

GodsBoss · 2011-04-24 Reply Admin

What's wrong with the first one? I once wrote a Web application where /login was the URL for the login and /logout was the URL for the logout. If you weren't logged in, there was no link to /logout and if you were logged in, there was no link to /login, but of course you could just type "/login" or "/logout" into the URL bar (and anyone could link to it).

So in this case there was a message like "You must be logged in to log out. Log in?" (I don't remember exactly)

Or is the existence of a logout button when you're not logged in the WTF? "Medal of Honor" sounds like a game or an application for managing military decorations.

hatterson · 2011-04-25 Reply Admin

I have never once heard of someone, outside of the internet, being forced to pay taxes (or tolls for that matter) at gunpoint.

Apparently there's a secret underbelly to the IRS (and DMV) that I've never experienced.

2011-04-25 Reply Admin

hehe... I like it...

2011-04-25 Reply Admin

Anon:
hoodaticus:
Kerpo Sparx:
TRWTF is toll roads.
TRRWTF is that every road isn't a toll road. Why should I pay for a street I never use?
Why should those without cars be forced at gunpoint to pay for highways?

So you'll gladly pay the trolls if you ever need an ambulance then?

FTFY

2011-04-25 Reply Admin

Anon:
hoodaticus:
Kerpo Sparx:
TRWTF is toll roads.
TRRWTF is that every road isn't a toll road. Why should I pay for a street I never use?
Why should those without cars be forced at gunpoint to pay for highways?

So you'll gladly pay the tolls if you ever need an ambulance then?

Anyway - ambulances are free. What sort of backward country do you live in where you have to pay?

2011-04-25 Reply Admin

Anon:
hoodaticus:
Kerpo Sparx:
TRWTF is toll roads.
TRRWTF is that every road isn't a toll road. Why should I pay for a street I never use?
Why should those without cars be forced at gunpoint to pay for highways?

So you'll gladly pay the tolls if you ever need an ambulance then?

Anyway - ambulances are free. What sort of backward country do you live in where you have to pay?

Zemm · 2011-04-25 Reply Admin

itsmo:
Anyway - ambulances are free. What sort of backward country do you live in where you have to pay?

My electricity bill begs to differ!

(Yes, I'm serious)

2011-04-25 Reply Admin

"I spooted this questionable value while browsing the telegraph wine site"

I hope this guy bought the wine. When I got my refrigerator, the extended warranty offerred by the store system was quite unique bargain... $70 for one year or $55 for two years. The salesman looked very puzzled, but I said "deal, two years! quick!"

Captcha: plaga... I disagree, it was very pleasant glitch!

2011-04-25 Reply Admin

"I spooted this questionable value while browsing the telegraph wine site"

I hope this guy bought the wine. When I got my refrigerator, the extended warranty offerred by the store system was quite unique bargain... $70 for one year or $55 for two years. The salesman looked very puzzled, but I said "deal, two years! quick!"

Captcha: plaga... I disagree, it was very pleasant glitch!

hoodaticus · 2011-04-25 Reply Admin

nobody:
hoodaticus:
Kerpo Sparx:
TRWTF is toll roads.
TRRWTF is that every road isn't a toll road. Why should I pay for a street I never use?
Why should those without cars be forced at gunpoint to pay for highways?
If you don't like the services that our country provides in exchange for your tax dollars, then you're quite welcome to choose another country more to your satisfaction. Free market at work, man.

That doesn't sound "free" to me.

hoodaticus · 2011-04-25 Reply Admin

Canuckistani:
Because you reap massive benefits from living in a society with public roads, even if you personally never drive on them.

Such as traffic jams? The inevitable consequence of making a good public is that it will be over-used and under-maintained. This is so blindingly obvious that I can understand if you fail to see it.

hoodaticus · 2011-04-25 Reply Admin

Fred:
32gen:
Meep:
Anon:
hoodaticus:
Kerpo Sparx:
TRWTF is toll roads.
TRRWTF is that every road isn't a toll road. Why should I pay for a street I never use?
Why should those without cars be forced at gunpoint to pay for highways?

So you'll gladly pay the tolls if you ever need an ambulance then?

You don't think you're paying for the gas the ambulance uses, the maintenance, etc.? Would it really be that hard for the ambulance company to add a transponder bill into the mix?

If all roads are tolled automatically, by some combination of cameras, plate scanning, and GPS. When a road gets busy, the prices go up right away, and everyone's GPS is constantly considering better routes, so traffic is routed away from jams and accidents before cars are even on the roads. And the busiest roads are naturally going to have the most funds for improvements.

This is the sort of thing markets are ideal for.
You mean the government would get to track my every movement, ostensibly to price road tolls. Sign me up! I don't see how this could ever be a bad thing.
Why the government? We can delegate this to a private corporation. I feel so much better now.

There are two main advantages of private companies over governments in this regard:

If you don't like the service a private company provides, you switch. With government, if you switch, they either throw you in jail or murder you.
When you complain about the service, your fellow citizens don't tell you to either shut up or quit your homeland.

P.S. - My ancestors came over on the land bridge, so IMHO it's everyone else who can GTFO.

2011-04-25 Reply Admin

Steve The Cynic:
adiener:
"1 bottles"
I never thought sprintf("%d bottle%s", bottleCount, bottleCount == 1 ? "" : "s") was all that hard. If it's localized in multiple languages, translating both singular and plural and choosing the correct one isn't hard either. Just a pet peeve of mine...
FAIL. Some languages have separate noun-forms for each number up to normally about five. Imagine trying to code for this structure...

1 book 2 books 3 bookoj 4 bookilo 5+ bookau

And even without that, expressing affixed plural markers is hazardous if the word is also a variable. Examples this time from French:

1 tour (tower), 2+ tours 1 bureau (office, desk), 2+ bureaux (pattern for all -eau/-au words) 1 mois (month), 2+ mois (pattern for all words ending in s)

Added to which, adjectives in French add s when the base noun is plural, but some do not, either because they end in s or x or because they do not change (e.g. marron, chestnut-brown).

Localisation is a stress-inducing activity, and it affects even simple stuff like capitalisation. Quick: what is the upper case version of U+0069, i?

If you answered "U+0049, I, what kind of a stupid question is that?", you are wrong. If the text is Turkish, then the upper case version of a lower case dotted i is an upper case dotted İ, U+0130.

The correct way to handle localization/i18n is to have all possible output strings in a language specific bundle, and handle individual singular/plural cases there.

For example, Java's MessageBundle class lets you deal with all the problems mentioned above

"There {0,choice,0#are no books|1#is one book|2#are 2 books|3# are 3 bookoj...}."

Mike H · 2011-04-25 Reply Admin

daily:
TRWTF is Notes

Indeed. I just got the same "Query is not understandable" message when I tried searching my inbox for "safety topic."

"Topic" seems to be a reserved word.

Good thing we're getting rid of Notes in the next year or so. I can't see how I can possibly dislike Outlook more than Notes.

2011-04-25 Reply Admin

Zemm:
itsmo:
Anyway - ambulances are free. What sort of backward country do you live in where you have to pay?

My electricity bill begs to differ!

(Yes, I'm serious)

I was half-expecting a reply from Oz about 'Ambulance cover', but I had forgotten about the strange arrangements in QLD. So if you have no electrical supply, they just let you die?

ContraCorners · 2011-04-25 Reply Admin

"Forced to pay for roads you don't use."

How do you get from one place to another? Bike, bus, cab? Are you ever a passenger in someone else's car? I suspect you're using those roads at some point.

It's already been pointed out that you share in the benefits those roads creates - chiefly commerce but also public safely - so I won't harp on that.

I don't know about the rest of the world, but in the US road and highway construction is funded by the GAS TAX. So if you don't own a car, you're not paying for the roads you "don't use."

2011-04-25 Reply Admin

ContraCorners:
"Forced to pay for roads you don't use."
How do you get from one place to another? Bike, bus, cab? Are you ever a passenger in someone else's car? I suspect you're using those roads at some point.

It's already been pointed out that you share in the benefits those roads creates - chiefly commerce but also public safely - so I won't harp on that.

I don't know about the rest of the world, but in the US road and highway construction is funded by the GAS TAX. So if you don't own a car, you're not paying for the roads you "don't use."

In UK we have Fuel Duty (Gas Tax) AND VAT (Sales Tax) on petrol as well as Road Tax (payable annually for the privilege of owning a car) and the roads are still shit - feck knows what they spend this money on. MP's expenses and cruise missiles I expect.

2011-04-25 Reply Admin

They need to change the name of that icon to "My Commuter" amirite?

2011-04-25 Reply Admin

hoodaticus:
Fred:
32gen:
Meep:
Anon:
hoodaticus:
Kerpo Sparx:
TRWTF is toll roads.
TRRWTF is that every road isn't a toll road. Why should I pay for a street I never use?
Why should those without cars be forced at gunpoint to pay for highways?

So you'll gladly pay the tolls if you ever need an ambulance then?

You don't think you're paying for the gas the ambulance uses, the maintenance, etc.? Would it really be that hard for the ambulance company to add a transponder bill into the mix?

If all roads are tolled automatically, by some combination of cameras, plate scanning, and GPS. When a road gets busy, the prices go up right away, and everyone's GPS is constantly considering better routes, so traffic is routed away from jams and accidents before cars are even on the roads. And the busiest roads are naturally going to have the most funds for improvements.

This is the sort of thing markets are ideal for.
You mean the government would get to track my every movement, ostensibly to price road tolls. Sign me up! I don't see how this could ever be a bad thing.
Why the government? We can delegate this to a private corporation. I feel so much better now.
There are two main advantages of private companies over governments in this regard:

If you don't like the service a private company provides, you switch. With government, if you switch, they either throw you in jail or murder you.

When you complain about the service, your fellow citizens don't tell you to either shut up or quit your homeland.

P.S. - My ancestors came over on the land bridge, so IMHO it's everyone else who can GTFO.

And in the real world, a "private company" or (colluding group thereof) that controls a natural monopoly like, I dunno, the roads wields statelike powers without that pesky business of needing to please the electorate.

2011-04-25 Reply Admin

hoodaticus:
TRRWTF is that every road isn't a toll road. Why should I pay for a street I never use?
Why should those without cars be forced at gunpoint to pay for highways?

have you ever eaten food that was transported on highways, bought merchandise which was transported on highways, had friends visit who travelled on highways etc etc?

We all benefit from them, even if not by directly driving on them. This is why we all have a vested interest in them and should all help pay for them - even if our personal benefit is not as great as those who drive on them regularly

2011-04-25 Reply Admin

GodsBoss:
What's wrong with the first one? I once wrote a Web application where /login was the URL for the login and /logout was the URL for the logout. If you weren't logged in, there was no link to /logout and if you were logged in, there was no link to /login, but of course you could just type "/login" or "/logout" into the URL bar (and anyone could link to it).
So in this case there was a message like "You must be logged in to log out. Log in?" (I don't remember exactly)

Or is the existence of a logout button when you're not logged in the WTF? "Medal of Honor" sounds like a game or an application for managing military decorations.

The problem is that you are sending an error message simply for the sake of sending an error message. If they are already logged out, then just tell them they are now logged out. Is it really that hard? Why take the effort to create a failure message which achieves nothing of benefit.

2011-04-25 Reply Admin

blarg:
GodsBoss:
What's wrong with the first one? I once wrote a Web application where /login was the URL for the login and /logout was the URL for the logout. If you weren't logged in, there was no link to /logout and if you were logged in, there was no link to /login, but of course you could just type "/login" or "/logout" into the URL bar (and anyone could link to it).
So in this case there was a message like "You must be logged in to log out. Log in?" (I don't remember exactly)

Or is the existence of a logout button when you're not logged in the WTF? "Medal of Honor" sounds like a game or an application for managing military decorations.

The problem is that you are sending an error message simply for the sake of sending an error message. If they are already logged out, then just tell them they are now logged out. Is it really that hard? Why take the effort to create a failure message which achieves nothing of benefit.

I disagree. The user is attempting to perform an action that requires them to be logged in (i.e. authorized), and you can't logout() if you're not authorized. I suppose to can create some logic around this, but why? It's correct as-is: in order to invoke logout(), you need to be logged in. Same as in order to saveProfile(), you need to be logged in. I realize this may sound kind of silly, but the second you start adding in crap like this

if requesting logout() && !loggedIn then, else...

, you have started the ball rolling on creating an maintenance nightmare because I'm sure you'll find another edge case that "sounds silly". That's OK, I'll just add another else if...

boog · 2011-04-25 Reply Admin

C-Octothorpe:
blarg:
GodsBoss:
What's wrong with the first one? I once wrote a Web application where /login was the URL for the login and /logout was the URL for the logout. If you weren't logged in, there was no link to /logout and if you were logged in, there was no link to /login, but of course you could just type "/login" or "/logout" into the URL bar (and anyone could link to it).
So in this case there was a message like "You must be logged in to log out. Log in?" (I don't remember exactly)

Or is the existence of a logout button when you're not logged in the WTF? "Medal of Honor" sounds like a game or an application for managing military decorations.

The problem is that you are sending an error message simply for the sake of sending an error message. If they are already logged out, then just tell them they are now logged out. Is it really that hard? Why take the effort to create a failure message which achieves nothing of benefit.

I disagree. The user is attempting to perform an action that requires them to be logged in (i.e. authorized), and you can't logout() if you're not authorized. I suppose to can create some logic around this, but why? It's correct as-is: in order to invoke logout(), you need to be logged in. Same as in order to saveProfile(), you need to be logged in. I realize this may sound kind of silly, but the second you start adding in crap like this
if requesting logout() && !loggedIn then, else...
, you have started the ball rolling on creating an maintenance nightmare because I'm sure you'll find another edge case that "sounds silly". That's OK, I'll just add another else if...

But is there any real reason to advise the user to log in? Compromise: leave the code exactly the way it is and just change the failure message to say "Congrats dipshit, you are now logged out."

Problem: Solved.

2011-04-25 Reply Admin

boog:
But is there any real reason to advise the user to log in? Compromise: leave the code exactly the way it is and just change the failure message to say "Congrats dipshit, you are now logged out."
Problem: Solved.

But... if they're not logged in, how can you let them log out?

hoodaticus · 2011-04-25 Reply Admin

blarg:
hoodaticus:
TRRWTF is that every road isn't a toll road. Why should I pay for a street I never use?
Why should those without cars be forced at gunpoint to pay for highways?

have you ever eaten food that was transported on highways, bought merchandise which was transported on highways, had friends visit who travelled on highways etc etc?

We all benefit from them, even if not by directly driving on them. This is why we all have a vested interest in them and should all help pay for them - even if our personal benefit is not as great as those who drive on them regularly

"We all benefit" can justify socialization of any good. Are you a communist? Or do you just think like one?

The threat of force in taxation is morally wrong. To be morally justified, it has to solve a problem bigger than the armed robbery you support. Things like national defense might fit the bill. "I don't like to pay tolls" does not justify armed robbery.

When a man goes out and robs his neighbor at gunpoint, everyone is disgusted. But if you slap a symbol of authority on him, suddenly the sheeple all nod in approval.

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