@Tinkeringbell same tbh. It gets really humid here, up to 90% RH on messy summer days. It's hell when that happens. I find very dry heat of 35C or above tolerable while humid heat of 30C is pretty nasty
@ShadowWizard just wondering... I have though for a while to upgrade from a very lame 10mb connection to what they (illegally) call "optical fiber connection - which is actually a vsdl2 connection
problem is - it seems that where I live the only way to have a vsdl2 is to also have voip only telephone service....
And then they lock you into their contract at a higher rate for 4 years while promising to fix it, fully ignoring the fact that they use the same end lines as the other major telco here but can only book 50% of a normal connection for that
@ShadowWizard the phones have to be connected to something, right? Since they don't give out the parameters for the voip configuration (to the point that somebody actually crafted a python script to calculate them, only for them to reply by attempting to add more obfuscation....) you have to connect regular non voip phones to the router they provide.
a) all your phones need to be connected to the router... which I think has only one (maybe two) phone ports. Meaning they must be in the same place too.
b) since the router has to stay with the phone, while your pc probably will be somewhere else... good luck connecting that.
c) no internet == no phone. Right now, I have very frequent connection problems, and sometime can't even connect at all. If I am going to assume that such behavior would continue... it would mean that the phone would be isolated too, not just internet
@Derpy sounds like you made up your mind to not "upgrade", which I also support. Slow doesn't mean broken, and like you said the connection quality of that new provider might also be as bad.
@ShadowWizard it is not "made up my mind", it is that either I have to go by their term (wi-fi, voip only and no control on connection security settings) or just live with what I have
proper Optical fibre broadband is likely to have a ONT with multiple ports and the VOIP built into the ONT
(granted, I actually did split my router and AP up like that, but not for security reasons)
@Derpy could you give an example of a router they use?
Make and model
> example: it seems that they don't make the connection settings public, in order to try to force you to use the modem/router they provide 7470197 21:21:00 which is customized to block of access to some settings.
They "customize" the authentication by doing their own homebrew hash (I think it was a modification to MD5 to add round constants or something silly).
They called it something like "unbreakable authentication".
Naturally I found out about this as someone came to me asking if I knew anything about reverse engineering that firmware so they could pwn some gigantic ISP...
@JourneymanGeek ok, I have checked. Seems the connection parameters are public, but the site also has a very odd line at the end of the page for the offer...
A new budding business modal for ISPs is to monetize sites their subscribers view with pop over ads inserted into the sites directly. To do that they need to install their own root certificates to bypass https
@forest The internet connection doesn't work unless you install their software, which includes tracking, on-computer ads in like the windows search bar and browser, sometimes browser toolbars, and root certs to match
ISP business is becoming like cable, where every intermediary wants to insert their monetization
Like video games you buy for 60€ that have ingame ads that you can't turn off without paying more, or even that you can't turn off at all without incurring xp or loot penalties
street fighter V has a new system where you gain extra xp and loot if you turn on "ad mode" costumes for your fighters and arena back grounds with sponsored content
I remember reading an analyst article who complained that the games industry was dramatically under-monetizing their users and should aim for cable-tv style ad ratios for paid content (so 30%ad 70% game) on paid games and should be aiming to charge at per-hour rates comparable to cinema movies for playing games
something like "unfortunately there is a lot of money left on the table by under-monetizing on a per user and per hour basis, as well as because of a low adoption and presence rate of in-game advertisements, which could be leveraged to substantially increase yield"
not sure of the exact wording, but it was a stock analyst
But the whole "leaving money on the table in video games" argument is total BS because there's already plenty of precedence to say "don't do that, you'll fail if you try to squeeze people even more." which means it's not law, but optimistic greed that drives any intent to do it.
@Magisch Yes, but the thing is, as long as there's contention there's plausibility which means there's no profits left 'deliberately on the table' in a way that's financially irresponsible by the company (in the legal sense). It remains a choice.
@forest yep probably I could, but like I say it is not about how I can "avoid the obstacle" but more like "why they give me such obstacle on the first place"
In theory paperclip maximizing could be really good if it served the train of though of "Make something so good people will want to buy a lot => profit" exclusively
@JourneymanGeek to use the voip, you have to use their router. Even with the parameter I wouldn't exclude that they do some form of "encryption" to check that the phone passes thru their router.
for instance if you go "make a Q/A site so good everyone will want to shower us in money to hire the best participants" and "so good everyone will pay out their behind to run modest ads on it"
@JourneymanGeek That last claim is based on the fact that they give you "support for two phones connected to the router" but you may "pay #$ to have your line set up to use more phones"
What if anything stops you from just finding out the connection parameters and putting their router in a corner where it doesn't annoy & then use your own?
@JourneymanGeek sure, but I was saying that if paperclip maximizing was limited to making money purely through best serving the consumer it would be great
@Magisch but SE's kinda in one of those situations where that's impossible.
Public Q&A is both the "halo" product, and the one that both dosen't directly make money, and drives everything else. The everything else is variable ;p
so its hard to... work out what the paperclip is here
tweets don't directly make SE money or lose it. I mean, as a public listed firm maybe... but in the current scenario, its probably pretty localised to perception and goodwill
and least for now, there's certain groups of folk who will find SO indispensible no matter what.
I see someone called just "user" who is suspended, but their original name is showing through on community wiki posts that they created (but not their posts).
The former shows "Something Bad Happened", and the latter shows "user", both links to the exact same ID number. Whatever it is is stupidly inconsistent.
So if it was a redaction or something, it was done wrong.
This might be a nasty bug in the system if someone needs their name redacted for security reasons in the future, and it's redacted on all but community wiki posts...
@JourneymanGeek I was just interested to know about the name change, not why he got suspended in the first place (though I imagine it had something to do with freaking out about animal abuse or whatever it was, according to chat logs).
@forest interesting. Looks like that whenever edit occurs, all editor names are updated to the name currently in use. So based on that, if the answer will be edited now, it will show "user".
@JourneymanGeek last I saw, he changed the avatar to something offensive.
So maybe changing name to something offensive too was the last straw and led to both name reset and network suspension. (Didn't see it, but it makes sense and based on the other things, could have happened.)
Companies and organizations occasionally file DMCA complaints to get proprietary information off SE (particularly code and homework on SO), which is usually submitted by unauthorized personnel. But those posts are still visible to "unspecific users" (i.e. an arbitrary user with 10k, this is a huge number on SO), so doesn't this conflict?
@ɪBᴜɢ as far as I know, DMCA requests result in redacting the content, so nobody can see it, think not even mods. Possibly it's hard deleted from the database.
hmm, saw this comment which is rather aligned with Shadow's message above
OK, but it hasn't really been taken down. It's still visible to users with 10k+ rep. Surely a DMCA takedown notice requires that the content NOT be visible; rather than simply restricted to "advanced" users? — Dawood ibn KareemNov 5 '18 at 7:12
And... to make things (DMCA) worse, there's a meta effect.
Can someone here help us with this? I've been trying to ping various individuals (in comments and answers to meta.judaism questions) for a month plus, and no one seems to respond!
Currently the logo and the words mi yodeya in English in the banner serve as a link back to the home page. Clicking on the Hebrew does nothing. Would it be possible and/or advisable to link the Hebrew words to the home page as well?
Does anyone have a screenshot (or know where I can find one) showing what page you are taken to after you sign up for an account on Meta after being redirected from the "Ask Question" button? I'd prefer not to have to create a new account just to find out.
(I'm particularly interested in whether it takes you back to the "Ask Question" page, or sends you somewhere else, e.g. the homepage.)
@ɪBᴜɢ Removal means just that. If you want to comply you want to remove it, not complying is the other choice. You can write a reply if you believe that there is an error. Over on YT I got a takedown notice and a letter from Time's lawyer's office. I wrote back and four hours later they withdrew. But I was correct and it was they whom was in the wrong. Bigger and better race car wins. YMMV. If it's to be deleted it must be irretrievable. None of the above is "Legal Advice or Service".
Winter Bash 2018 is over now, and no one has opened this recurring question for the next round, so I'll just do it.
Please post your suggestions regarding how to make Winter Bash 2018 even more fun than the previous Winter Bashes.
New suggestions for hats and hat triggers (either regular or se...
At exactly the same timestamp, three identical edits were suggested to a post by a user.
Facts about those edits:
The first suggested-edit (from the bottom) doesn't show who approved or rejected it, but only "this item is no longer reviewable" and error 404 for others.
The second suggested ...
Currently the logo and the words mi yodeya in English in the banner serve as a link back to the home page. Clicking on the Hebrew does nothing. Would it be possible and/or advisable to link the Hebrew words to the home page as well?
Winter Bash 2018 is over now, and no one has opened this recurring question for the next round, so I'll just do it.
Please post your suggestions regarding how to make Winter Bash 2018 even more fun than the previous Winter Bashes.
New suggestions for hats and hat triggers (either regular or se...
At exactly the same timestamp, three identical edits were suggested to a post by a user.
Facts about those edits:
The first suggested-edit (from the bottom) doesn't show who approved or rejected it, but only "this item is no longer reviewable" and error 404 for others.
The second suggested ...