• (cs)

    Nothing really beats the thrill of being able to shout "frist!1" without really having anything to say.

    Worst. Comment. Ever.

  • Kluge Doctor (unregistered)

    With all the good domains taken, it's hard to create an email address UNDER 16 characters these days.

  • null (unregistered)

    With all whose people lying about its age, you need a second opinion about it.

  • Shinhan (unregistered)

    They meant to write "How old do you feel?"

  • (cs)

    Last time I bought something online, it didn't even warn me about my email address length. The final confirmation page just had my email address without the last two characters.

    Needless to say, I never got an order confirmation or shipment confirmation from them. Luckily, my item did in fact arrive.

  • notme (unregistered)

    An email address with four letters might theoretically even be possible.

    Suppose for some reason you are in a position where you can manipulate the zone data for a two-letter country-code TLD, say "aa". You could then insert an MX record for the TLD itself, pointing to whatever mail server you like. Next, create a user with a one-letter username on that mailserver and you can have an email like "a@aa".

    I don't think any TLD actually does that, though.

  • Chris (unregistered)

    I was reknewing my passport recently and even the paper form only permits a 30 character email address. Mine is only 2 characters shorter than that.

  • TonyT (unregistered) in reply to Chris
    Chris:
    I was reknewing my passport recently and even the paper form only permits a 30 character email address. Mine is only 2 characters shorter than that.

    My address at a customer site is 38 chars long :-)

  • fountainier (unregistered)

    I can't really cope with writing a comment. This may be featured!

  • Worst. Name. Ever (unregistered) in reply to notme
    notme:
    I don't think any TLD actually does that, though.

    $ dig mx tt

  • (cs) in reply to Chris
    Chris:
    I was reknewing my passport recently
    I usually reserve that for ex-girlfriends, although I prefer to call it "recycling". "Reknewing" sounds so biblical.
  • El Dorko (unregistered)

    Next time I catch one of our developers trying to save a few measly bits in some field like that, I'm going to kill them. Straight off the bat, no mercy, splat! They're dead. I sooooo effin' hate that.

    Just recently my bank "improved" their system, and in the process they shortened a field that is used to write a short explanation of a payment, which is then visible in the monthly statements. It used to be quite handy, I would write "Office rent, January 2008" and stuff like that - but now it's just 20 characters so it's friggin' impossible to write anything important in it.

    It used to be 40 characters. Just for the hell of it, let's say I'm making 20 payments a month (usually a lot less), so that's already a whopping 400 characters saved a month, or 4800 a year. Almost 5K ! Oh yeah, that's worth saving allright - in just about a million years it'll be as many characters saved as can fit on an average USB stick. Woo hoo!

    So you, yes you, next time you think of those field lengths: think big, or be prepared to die a horrible, script-language infested death with a mouse with it's vertical axis movement reverted!

  • (cs) in reply to FredSaw
    FredSaw:
    I usually reserve that for ex-girlfriends, although I prefer to call it "recycling". "Reknewing" sounds so biblical.
    You recycle your ex-girlfriends? Salvaging usable parts, selling the rest for their scrap value?
  • (cs) in reply to SQB
    SQB:
    FredSaw:
    I usually reserve that for ex-girlfriends, although I prefer to call it "recycling". "Reknewing" sounds so biblical.
    You recycle your ex-girlfriends? Salvaging usable parts, selling the rest for their scrap value?
    Check out "know" in the biblical sense. Hint: Genesis 4:1, King James Version
  • (cs) in reply to FredSaw
    FredSaw:
    SQB:
    FredSaw:
    I usually reserve that for ex-girlfriends, although I prefer to call it "recycling". "Reknewing" sounds so biblical.
    You recycle your ex-girlfriends? Salvaging usable parts, selling the rest for their scrap value?
    Check out "know" in the biblical sense. Hint: Genesis 4:1, King James Version
    Yes, I "know". Nonetheless, recycling sounds American Psycho-esque, unless you're doing so for complete and functioning models.
  • (cs) in reply to SQB
    SQB:
    Yes, I "know". Nonetheless, recycling sounds American Psycho-esque, unless you're doing so for complete and functioning models.
    Honestly, the comment was based on a cartoon I saw in Playboy many, many moons ago (probably about 1972), in which a guy is lying in bed halfway under the covers and a naked woman is crawling into bed with him, and she's saying to him, "You don't fool me, Freddy. You're just recycling old lovers."

    I guess at that time recycling was brand new, and joke-worthy. Anyway, the image stuck and I remember it all these years later.

  • Walleye (unregistered) in reply to Shinhan
    Shinhan:
    They meant to write "How old do you feel?"

    To quote Groucho Marx: "A man is only as old as the woman he feels".

  • qdfsqdfqsfdsqdf (unregistered) in reply to Worst. Name. Ever

    Connected to 66-27-54-138.san.rr.com. Escape character is '^]'. HELO foobar 220 www.nic.tt ESMTP Sendmail 8.12.8/8.12.5; Wed, 7 May 2008 08:52:53 -0400 250 www.nic.tt Hello ....@..... [....], pleased to meet you MAIL FROM: t@tt 250 2.1.0 t@tt... Sender ok RCPT TO: t@tt 550 5.1.1 t@tt... User unknown QUIT 221 2.0.0 www.nic.tt closing connection Connection closed by foreign host.

    Why don't they have t@tt? It's the only emailaddress that makes sense.

  • (cs) in reply to El Dorko
    El Dorko:
    Next time I catch one of our developers trying to save a few measly bits in some field like that, I'm going to kill them. Straight off the bat, no mercy, splat! They're dead. I sooooo effin' hate that.

    Next time I catch an accountant copying and pasting a Word document into one of my text areas, I'm going to bap them with a rolled up magazine.

  • Dave (unregistered)

    FAST won't be too happy about the use of a recording capture device in the cinema... how many years is that being afraid to pick up the soap?

  • (cs) in reply to FredSaw
    FredSaw:
    SQB:
    Yes, I "know". Nonetheless, recycling sounds American Psycho-esque, unless you're doing so for complete and functioning models.
    Honestly, the comment was based on a cartoon I saw in Playboy many, many moons ago (probably about 1972), in which a guy is lying in bed halfway under the covers and a naked woman is crawling into bed with him, and she's saying to him, "You don't fool me, Freddy. You're just recycling old lovers."

    I guess at that time recycling was brand new, and joke-worthy. Anyway, the image stuck and I remember it all these years later.

    Ah, I never saw that cartoon when it came out. Couldn't read yet, two years before birth.

  • qdfsqdfqsfdsqdf (unregistered) in reply to Worst. Name. Ever
    Worst. Name. Ever:
    notme:
    I don't think any TLD actually does that, though.

    $ dig mx tt

    There are 21 TLDs that do it.

    ai = 10 mail.offshore.ai.

as = 30 lhr.relay.gdns.net.

cf = 10 mail.intnet.cf.

dj = 10 relais2.intnet.dj.
      5 smtp.intnet.dj.

dm = 10 mail.nic.dm.

gp = 20 manta.outremer.com.
      5 ns1.nic.gp.
     10 ns34259.ovh.net.

gt = 10 mail.gt.

hr = 10 alpha.carnet.hr.

io = 10 mailer2.io.

kh = 10 ns1.dns.net.kh.

km = 110 bow.snpt.km.
     100 mail1.comorestelecom.km.

mh = 30 mx2.mail.twtelecom.net.
     10 imap.pwke.twtelecom.net.
     20 mx1.mail.twtelecom.net.

mq = 10 mx1-mq.mediaserv.net.

ne = 20 bow.rain.fr.
     10 bow.intnet.ne.

pa = 5 ns.pa.

td = 10 mail.intnet.td.
     20 bow.rain.fr.

tk = 100 atafu.taloha.tk.

tt = 10 66-27-54-142.san.rr.com.
      0 66-27-54-138.san.rr.com.

ua =  5 km.nic.net.ua.
     20 mx1.he.kolo.net.

va = 10 lists.vatican.va.
     20 paul.vatican.va.
     50 proxy2.urbe.it.
     90 john.vatican.va.

ws = 10 mail.worldsite.ws.
  • Anonymous (unregistered)

    "You are not permitted to use any camera or recording equipment in this cinema. This will be treated as an attempt to breach copyright. Any person doing so can be ejected and such articles may be confiscated by the police. We ask the audience to be vigilant against any such activity and report any matters arousing suspicion to cinema staff. Thank you."

    Act now against Active Desktop Recovery Piracy!

  • Romuald (unregistered) in reply to notme
    notme:
    An email address with four letters might theoretically even be possible. ..

    I don't think any TLD actually does that, though.

    Actually, the .ai tld has an MX on it, so x@ai may be a valid email address.

  • (cs) in reply to El Dorko
    El Dorko:
    Next time I catch one of our developers trying to save a few measly bits in some field like that, I'm going to kill them. Straight off the bat, no mercy, splat! They're dead. I sooooo effin' hate that.

    Just recently my bank "improved" their system, and in the process they shortened a field that is used to write a short explanation of a payment, which is then visible in the monthly statements. It used to be quite handy, I would write "Office rent, January 2008" and stuff like that - but now it's just 20 characters so it's friggin' impossible to write anything important in it.

    It used to be 40 characters. Just for the hell of it, let's say I'm making 20 payments a month (usually a lot less), so that's already a whopping 400 characters saved a month, or 4800 a year. Almost 5K ! Oh yeah, that's worth saving allright - in just about a million years it'll be as many characters saved as can fit on an average USB stick. Woo hoo!

    So you, yes you, next time you think of those field lengths: think big, or be prepared to die a horrible, script-language infested death with a mouse with it's vertical axis movement reverted!

    Can we have that last sentiment on a t-shirt, please?

  • iusto (unregistered) in reply to TonyT
    TonyT:
    My address at a customer site is 38 chars long :-)
    Well, I have a 255 char email address after taking some of the pills sent to my original one...
  • (cs) in reply to SQB
    SQB:
    Ah, I never saw that cartoon when it came out. Couldn't read yet, two years before birth.
    Gotcha by about 19 years, then. But after all, you're only as old as the woman you feel, eh?
  • (cs) in reply to El Dorko
    El Dorko:
    Just for the hell of it, let's say I'm making 20 payments a month (usually a lot less), so that's already a whopping 400 characters saved a month, or 4800 a year. Almost 5K ! Oh yeah, that's worth saving allright
    Of course, if they use the same system for all their customers worldwide; and if they use the same system for business customers who probably make a damn site more than 20 payments a month; not to mention if they have a logging system that logs these messages which could double the storage requirements, and the fact that they'll be on raid so there's at least double the additional storage for mirroring, and since this is an enterprisey banking system it probably stores the message in five different tables in the database....

    OK, hyperbole perhaps, but you can see what I'm getting at.

  • Quai (unregistered) in reply to notme

    Think again;

    host -t mx tk. tk mail is handled by 100 atafu.taloha.tk.

    :)

  • (cs)
    tt = 10 66-27-54-142.san.rr.com. 0 66-27-54-138.san.rr.com.
    Anyone want to guess the ip address of those servers? ;^)
  • Anonymous Friend of Old-Skool Geeks (unregistered) in reply to notme
    notme:
    An email address with four letters might theoretically even be possible.

    Suppose for some reason you are in a position where you can manipulate the zone data for a two-letter country-code TLD, say "aa". You could then insert an MX record for the TLD itself, pointing to whatever mail server you like. Next, create a user with a one-letter username on that mailserver and you can have an email like "a@aa".

    I don't think any TLD actually does that, though.

    Some have in the past. I have a friend who was apparently once reachable at ji@gr. (Now try to get a modern MUA to accept that as a valid address--you begin to understand why properly recognizing all valid addresses takes a three-page regex.)

  • (cs)

    Email address verification is difficult when people don't understand how they are formed... I once had a telemarketer (flogging a product that sounded marginally useful) not accept my email address of "[email protected]" because they insisted that it had to have a .com or .net or something between the csiro and the au. I told them to just try it and see. Come to think of it, I don't think I ever got the email from them.

  • (cs) in reply to real_aardvark
    real_aardvark:
    El Dorko:
    So you, yes you, next time you think of those field lengths: think big, or be prepared to die a horrible, script-language infested death with a mouse with it's vertical axis movement reverted!
    Can we have that last sentiment on a t-shirt, please?

    I concur. Great T-shirt. Just spell "its" correctly.

  • Lev (unregistered)

    The real WTF,F,F,F! here is that stupid iRobot site dares to ask about Brent Rockwood's birth date. Why the heck do they need such personal information? Well, this is not iRobot's fault per se - looks like this is just a survey buy a nosy InsightExpress.com company - but I still find such surveys very invasive and inappropriate.

  • Joe Broderick (unregistered)

    I saw the same thing last night at the cinemark in American Fork, UT right after the previews for Iron Man.

    This WTF was not the theatre's fault methinks.

  • Kivi (unregistered) in reply to Romuald
    Romuald:
    Actually, the .ai tld has an MX on it, so x@ai may be a valid email address.

    n!ai is. My friend Ian snagged that one. He also took ?@ai, which has even fewer actual letters.

  • Kivi (unregistered) in reply to Kivi

    [quote user="Kivi"][quote user="Romuald"]Actually, the .ai tld has an MX on it, so x@ai may be a valid email address.[/quote]

    Sorry, that's n@ai, of course.

  • Walleye (unregistered) in reply to tin
    tin:
    Email address verification is difficult when people don't understand how they are formed... I once had a telemarketer (flogging a product that sounded marginally useful) not accept my email address of "[email protected]" because they insisted that it had to have a .com or .net or something between the csiro and the au. I told them to just try it and see. Come to think of it, I don't think I ever got the email from them.

    Of course you didn't get email from them. After all, you don't have a valid email address, right?

  • (cs)

    In all fairness (with the email length), they did say "between 4 and 16 characters" with no mention of inclusive versus exclusive.

    5 is between 4 and 16, 4 is not :)

  • Dingbat (unregistered) in reply to notme

    An email address with four letters might theoretically even be possible.

    I've applied for a job, at least partly because it would give me an email address with only 5 characters in the hostname, including the dot, e.g. @xy.TLD . My personal best was already at @xy.com, but getting it down even further was just too tempting.

  • (cs)

    If I ever meet the guy who thought of having a second "verification" email text entry, I'll shake his hand and get his autograph. His brilliant expose of the mindless copying that most web developers do is Nobel-worthy.

    Every other web developer that puts dual email address fields on a page should be executed. That should measurably increase the average global intelligence level.

    While we're at it, maybe just go ahead and kill everyone who tries to "validate" email addresses. There is exactly one way to properly validate an email address, and it requires no regexes, or much code at all. And it's been around about as long as email has: just send a verification code to the address entered, and wait for the user to enter that code, or fix his email address and try again.

    All other schemes are broken, because they don't verify a damned thing that matters; which is that the address can be used to communicate with the user.

  • (cs) in reply to sas

    Can we come up with a suitable pre-execution torture for the nitwits that not only insist on having you enter your email address twice, but deliberately inserts some Javascript to stop you using cut-and-paste?

  • notme (unregistered) in reply to qdfsqdfqsfdsqdf
    qdfsqdfqsfdsqdf:
    Worst. Name. Ever:
    notme:
    I don't think any TLD actually does that, though.

    $ dig mx tt

    There are 21 TLDs that do it.

    (snip)

    Woah... You learn something new every day...

  • (cs) in reply to tin
    tin:
    Email address verification is difficult when people don't understand how they are formed... I once had a telemarketer (flogging a product that sounded marginally useful) not accept my email address of "[email protected]" because they insisted that it had to have a .com or .net or something between the csiro and the au. I told them to just try it and see. Come to think of it, I don't think I ever got the email from them.

    The real WTF is you buying from a telemarketer. They will only keep calling us as long as people like you ensure that the practice remains profitable...

  • notme (unregistered) in reply to KNY
    KNY:
    In all fairness (with the email length), they did say "between 4 and 16 characters" with no mention of inclusive versus exclusive.

    5 is between 4 and 16, 4 is not :)

    Under normal circumstances (i.e. when you don't have your address at a TLD mailserver), 5 characters for an email is still not possible. The shortest possible "normal" email address would be two characters for the TLD, one for the SLD, one for the dot, one for the @ and one for the username. Makes six.

  • N. K. (unregistered)

    Isn't Active Desktop Recovery the first in a trilogy?

    ◦ Active Desktop Recovery ◦ Safe Mode ◦ Restore Point

  • unum (unregistered) in reply to null

    With all whose people lying about its age, you need a second opinion about it.

    This is actually very true. Online surveys often ask questions twice to see if the respondent is actually paying attention.

  • LEGO (unregistered) in reply to SQB
    SQB:
    FredSaw:
    I usually reserve that for ex-girlfriends, although I prefer to call it "recycling". "Reknewing" sounds so biblical.
    You recycle your ex-girlfriends? Salvaging usable parts, selling the rest for their scrap value?

    How very Jeffrey Dahmer of you.

  • midiwall (unregistered)

    And if you pan a bit to the right on the Sam Ash user registration page, you'll see that while they don't understand long email addys, they do support SIXTY character passwords!

    [image]
  • James Schend (unregistered) in reply to Lev

    They're required by law (COPA) to ask your age and verify you're older than 13. In the US, at least.

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