• (cs) in reply to Anonymous
    Anonymous:
    "Every little helps" looks pretty wtf too, although perhaps it's common usage with Tesco.
    It's their slogan. So, yes.
  • LotusCMS (unregistered) in reply to Vollhorst

    Just for to let continental Europeans know what a the keyboard looks like. On a German Keyboard every key is the same except that the 'Y' and the 'Z' is switched.

    So they have a: QWERTZ keyboard instead of a QWERTY

    The reason being that special characters are in different places and therefore they did not want to name it QWERTY as it is due to this.

    Just to clarify to those who were finding a previous post funny.

    CAPTCHA - 'eros' the same as only last time I posted.

  • (cs) in reply to mendel
    mendel:
    Could a competent network engineer explain switch capacity mathematics to me?
    Well, yes, probably, but they'd probably get it right and then it wouldn't be a WTF. It's much more fun to have some kind of marketard try and explain it to you, as the picture demonstrates ...

    i.e. the WTF is not just leaving in the note-to-subeditor, it's the whole brain-damagedness of the text in the first place. Asking for the gibberish to be cut-and-pasted over the entire leaflet is just the icing on the cake.

  • Demented Avenger (unregistered)

    Actually, I suspect there is a good reason that the Nortel Software does not allow Q's or Z'z in the password. There are no Q's or Z's on a standard telephone keypad.

  • P.M.Lawrence (unregistered) in reply to Coyne

    What, you never heard of thiotimoline? See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiotimoline for details.

  • P.M.Lawrence (unregistered) in reply to Coyne
    Coyne:
    Mhmx:
    The biodegradable bag is best to use before 10/09

    I don't know about that: The bag says "1009", not "10/09". Looks to me like it has a lifespan of -1000 years. (Now that is bio-degredation, when a bag degrades 1000 years before it is made!)

    Oops, I meant to quote before posting this:-

    What, you never heard of thiotimoline? See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiotimoline for details.

  • chew chew chew (unregistered)

    I like the articles here and I like reading the comments. It's a great site that has become a daily habit for me. One question, though: Why do so many post their captcha words? It's kinda pointless, innit?

    NOT TO THE ADMINS: Is there any way to put posts from people posting their captcha words on ignore? I don't care to read what these jokers have to say.

    CAPTCHA: populus - this awesome game i used to play a long time ago haha

  • Richard Barclay (unregistered)

    Thanks for featuring my picture fail, the huntsville NASA museum is a great place to visit if you're one for all things space, its just a pitty that the caption information for the static displays in the rocket park where clearly not copy checked before going to print, there where quite a few gramatical howlers on other captions, but was laughing so much I forgot to get more pictures!

  • Alex (unregistered)

    WTF #1: Can't start with Q or Z to prevent system administrators creating passwords such as qux, quux, quuuux, zyzzy, zyzzzzy, etc. Still braindead though since xuq, xuuuq, xuuuuq, yzzzzyz all get around the issue. But if you've got braindead sysadmins who use quuux for their passwords, well, you have bigger issues.

  • Xanni (unregistered) in reply to Mister Cheese

    Or September 2010.

  • (cs)

    But, a telephone keypad also has * # buttons, too.

  • cpun (unregistered) in reply to kennytm
    kennytm:
    Vollhorst:
    Guy, serious? The Q/Z thing is simple.

    Depending on your keyboard layout the standard passwords are either: QWERTZ or if you are creative: ZTREWQ

    That is a bullshit requirement to avoid standard passwords.

    123456?

    WTF! or should I say, 983? CAPTCHA: transverbero -> Verb substitution in Spanish

  • Kempeth (unregistered) in reply to Vollhorst
    Vollhorst:
    Guy, serious? The Q/Z thing is simple.

    Depending on your keyboard layout the standard passwords are either: QWERTZ or if you are creative: ZTREWQ

    That is a bullshit requirement to avoid standard passwords.

    Glad, I'm not the only one who thought this was pretty obvious.

    They should let people choose their passwords freely and introduce a password review with a public whipping of bad password choosers...

  • Faye (unregistered) in reply to Anonymous

    Maybe the "10 hours - 10$" parking is only 9 hours. You pay 10$ for first hour and 10$ for 9 more?

  • anonymous coward (unregistered)

    The first one could be to avoid AZERTY keyboard errors.

    If the keyboard is set up in AZERTY the user will have a hard time trying to log in with his QW password.

    It saves some support e-mails.

  • Lee K-T (unregistered) in reply to anonymous coward
    anonymous coward:
    The first one could be to avoid AZERTY keyboard errors.

    If the keyboard is set up in AZERTY the user will have a hard time trying to log in with his QW password.

    It saves some support e-mails.

    ??? There is about one keyboard layout per country (actually there are more than one just for my silly country) and guess what? People actually manage to enter passwords by their own!!!

  • C (unregistered) in reply to chew chew chew
    chew chew chew:
    CAPTCHA: populus - this awesome game i used to play a long time ago haha
    Actually, that was PopulOus... I have been wondering for some time why yu people wuld ever use the oh-so-British diphthong of "ou"... :P
  • Clover (unregistered)

    So I may not use passwords starting with q,Q,z,Z or 0? WTF.

  • Vollhorst (unregistered) in reply to Demented Avenger
    Demented Avenger:
    Actually, I suspect there is a good reason that the Nortel Software does not allow Q's or Z'z in the password. There are no Q's or Z's on a standard telephone keypad.
    If that would be the reason wouldn't it be stupid to allow those in the middle of the password and not only forbid their usage at the front/end? Also the error message does not look like those I see on my phone... :rolleyes:
  • Vollhorst (unregistered) in reply to To Lazy to sign up
    To Lazy to sign up:
    Perhaps the reason for not allowing Q or Z as the first letter of a password is simply an attempt avoid a really easy dictionary attack. How many words that start with Q or Z are 4 to 8 characters long?
    How about: QUIZ? ;) Zier, Zahl, Zelt, Zeug, Zone, Zeit, Zerg, Zahn... Just to name a few four character words. ;)
  • fw (unregistered) in reply to Vollhorst
    Vollhorst:
    To Lazy to sign up:
    Perhaps the reason for not allowing Q or Z as the first letter of a password is simply an attempt avoid a really easy dictionary attack. How many words that start with Q or Z are 4 to 8 characters long?
    How about: QUIZ? ;) Zier, Zahl, Zelt, Zeug, Zone, Zeit, Zerg, Zahn... Just to name a few four character words. ;)

    EGO!

  • Lee K-T (unregistered) in reply to fw
    fw:
    Vollhorst:
    To Lazy to sign up:
    Perhaps the reason for not allowing Q or Z as the first letter of a password is simply an attempt avoid a really easy dictionary attack. How many words that start with Q or Z are 4 to 8 characters long?
    How about: QUIZ? ;) Zier, Zahl, Zelt, Zeug, Zone, Zeit, Zerg, Zahn... Just to name a few four character words. ;)

    EGO!

    Zerg Rush!

  • dew|frost (unregistered)

    Did anybody already commented that not allowing to start with Q's and Z's means not allowing people to use passwords such as "zwerty" or "qwerty" depending on the keyboard? It's an advanced security feature!

  • Matthew Whited (unregistered)

    That password thing may almost be for a good reason. The intent is probably to stop passwords like qwert and zxcvb... I know, I'm a buzz kill.

  • Gliese (unregistered)

    "Every little helps"

  • Dinosaurs (unregistered) in reply to Phill
    Phill:
    Shuryno:
    Well, in the grand scheme of the Universe, 1000 years is relatively short!

    I'm pretty sure I read literature from some prominent Americans that assured me that the universe has only existed for 6,000 years so 1,000 years is a pretty long time.

    ... and of course I meant relative to the 1,000 years it takes normal plastic to biodegrade.

    NICE SO WHEN WERE DINOSAURS

  • Mooby (unregistered) in reply to Anonymous

    The plastic bag also appears to be missing a "bit" in "Every little helps". Hahah.

  • Biodegradable (unregistered) in reply to Anonymous

    Presumably the 1009 means October 2009.

  • Mike (unregistered) in reply to Anonymous

    Maybe 1009 is October '09?

  • Vollhorst (unregistered) in reply to Mike
    Mike:
    Maybe 1009 is October '09?
    September '10?
  • Mr. Bob (unregistered)

    No Q or Z? Is that because the administrator may need to log in with a telephone keypad?

  • Vollhorst (unregistered) in reply to Mr. Bob
    Mr. Bob:
    No Q or Z? Is that because the administrator may need to log in with a telephone keypad?
    Please learn to read. Thanks.
  • RRN (unregistered)

    The text is still there:

    http://www1.euro.dell.com/ed/en/business/networking/pwcnt_6224/pd.aspx?refid=pwcnt_6224&cs=edbsdt1&s=bsd

    (unfortunately, I am not able to explain what "2.7 terabytes of switch capacity" means...)

  • RRN (unregistered) in reply to RRN

    It seems they have actually managed to "make this change anywhere":

    http://www.google.com/search?q=%22math+and+see+that+they+would+be+at+about+2.7+Terabytes%22&filter=0

  • Stuart P. Bentley (unregistered) in reply to Chris

    When I read the URL-comment on XML, my first reacton was that I'd normally agree, but OpenSearch only requires, like, two lines. Then I noticed that it was Firefox and likely rather Mycroft, at which point I agreed fully.

    (Going to the page shows that it is, in fact, OpenSearch, and that the developer in question might be in the wrong field if that causes him to complain about XML.)

  • Qwertz (unregistered)

    Don't use qerty or qwertz or zxcv as you adminpassword!

  • Bubba (unregistered)

    I'm assuming that the password restricitons on the Nortel product was to make sure that the passcode is 'enterable' from a phone.

  • SomeBody (unregistered)

    Hmm, Nortel ... CallPilot. I'm guessing there's a requirement to enter the password via a touchtone interface at some point, and 0 is taken as the 'menu override'. Q and Z often do not appear on older TT phone pads.

  • Charmless (unregistered)

    There's an obvious reason why they don't allow Qs and Zs: they don't occur on touchtone phone keys. Duh?

    For you kids whose phones have full QWERTY, here's how us (apparently) old-timers managed phone text:

    http://www.flyingcolours.org.uk/download/139/ATTtelephone-large.jpg

  • moss (unregistered)

    'every little helps'....

  • David Castagna (unregistered) in reply to Anonymous

    Why hasn't anyone pointed out the glaringly obvious error on the plastic bag where they left out the word "bit" in big fancy script letters... oh wait... I just did.

  • David Castagna (unregistered) in reply to David Castagna

    Lol... n/m.

Leave a comment on “Mind Your Q's and Z's”

Log In or post as a guest

Replying to comment #:

Log Out

« Return to Article