A Break From Annoying Ads?
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Are You Annoying?
Are You Annoying?
07/24/2004 01:14 PMHow Annoying is This?
How Annoying is This?
01/21/2003 10:56 AMHow Annoying is This? or Always, Always Blame the Data !
I was just debugging code as part of Mark's new online magazine Tekka.
I wrote the login code and the way we wanted it to function was that
if you tried to view something you didn't have access to then it would
display a preview of the content (we originally were going to have it
automatically create the previews based on the source text but we
opted to create them manually to make sure that everything looked as
good as possible; it made sense since the preview is essentially
"marketing" for the article itself).
What started happening over the weekend was that the previews worked
fine for content I created. Of course as soon as the real content and
previews flowed into the "system" (and I use the term "system"
loosely; very loosely) then we started to see errors. In specific we
saw that the previews were getting arbitrarily clipped. Now the
previews I had made were quite short (probably between 1K and 4K of
data) and the real ones were much longer.
Of course the very first thing I thought of was some kind of byte size
limitation. I knew that I was passing a much larger chunk of content
into my templating class and perhaps that was it. So I merrily
plunged into Google looking for information on string size limits in
PHP. Sigh. Since Google seems to treat the extension of a url as a
word (at times; it is bizarre) within the url's content it means that
searching for PHP content can be difficult at times. I did find a
most helpful bit of content on string size limits in BEALogic
application servers though. Nothing to do with PHP of course but
helpful to someone I guess. So then I delved into the source code for
the templating library, FastTemplate. Nothing.
Then I stopped reacting and started thinking. Yes that is the hardest
part of debugging and one that all of us just plain hate to do. What
I did was setup a simpler test case, pulling JUST the display code out
of the logic and then taking my own data and making it larger. No
problem. Worked fine. ###?*($#*# (fill it in). Hrm... Then I
started thinking about the content I was getting from Mark and what I
knew about it. Well I know Mark is an all Mac shop so I started to
wonder about lower order ASCII characters being hidden in the content.
You know -- what about ASCII 17? Or ASCII 3? So I scp'd the content
back to my own server Windows box and used a gui editor. Sure enough
there turned out to be two ASCII 0s embedded in the content EXACTLY
where the content was being truncated. Mark and I hashed it out and
I'm still not sure where these came from but it really doesn't matter.
He made sure to get rid of them and so did I.
What was happening was that the ASCII 0s were acting to truncate the
string of preview content as it was passed to the display method. I
ended up adding this to the routine before passing the content off for
display:
$preview = str_replace("\0","",$preview);
Moral of the Story?
Think before debugging.
Simply your test case as much as possible.
Check the data; even invisible things can screw you up.
Free to be annoying
Free to be annoying
06/12/2004 12:00 AMUSA Today Jun 12 2004 3:06AM GMT
Over 3,400 Annoying Gimmicks
Over 3,400 Annoying Gimmicks
03/25/2005 04:09 PM
Consolidated
B-24 Liberator nose
art archive.
Signs of the
zodiac,
dirty jokes, self-fulfilling
prophecies, and
stumpers. (Some
questionable content [NSFW-ish] and site design)
Annoying Mousequito
Annoying Mousequito
08/22/2004 10:40 PM
ugh, get away When Tech Gets Really Annoying
When Tech Gets Really Annoying
06/24/2005 07:22 PMIt's almost lunch time, and I'm driving down the street, not too
fast and not too slow. My belly has been reminding me for a while that
it's been several hours since I finished my bowl of Honey Bunches of
Oats, and just then a Burger
King joint comes into view. I'm thinking, "Hmmm. I wonder what
their special is today." Apparently reading my mind, the super spiffy
gee-whiz Daktronic
s Message Center animated sign flashes "SPECIAL" several times in
a very special animated sequence that must've taken hours to program.
Then the display changes to read
TENDERCRISP CHICKEN
in really big letters, and pauses for a few seconds. As I get
closer and closer to the restaurant's driveway, I'm thinking to
myself, "That would taste really good about now," but the cheapskate
in me is also asking, "How much does it cost?" By this time I'm less
than a block away. Next comes
SANDWICH COMBO
(or something like that) in really big letters. Great. So you've
got a SPECIAL on a TENDERCRISP CHICKEN SANDWICH COMBO and it takes you
four blocks to tell me that? By the time it's too late for me to turn,
in the sign still hasn't flashed the SPECIAL's price, so I drive right
on by, looking for another place to buy lunch. Their advertising
efforts just lost them a sale.
I realize that there are few rocket scientists running Burger King
restaurants, but does it take a marketing genius to know that there is
a limited amount of time for them to convey a message to passing
motorists? With the old-fashioned signage, a Burger King would put up
"TNDRCRISP COMBO $3.95" or something like that, which can be read in a
glance and gets the message across in a fraction of a second. The
galling thing is that with the electronic signage they could do the
same thing, but they choose to jazz it up, and end up failing to get
their message across.
Come to think of it, these electronic marquees suffer from some of
the same maladies that make PowerPoint presentations so painful. Deane
has written
several
posts about some of the issues with PowerPoint; if only the people
setting these signs up would bone up on Po
werPoint etiquette they'd have better success with their
streetside advertising. Or at least it wouldn't suck quite so
badly.
There should be a severe penalties for people who set up messages
on electronic marquee boards that span more than two pages.
Annoying the sharks
Annoying the sharks
07/03/2004 11:43 AMWhere I'm staying, the kids have had the Discovery Channel all
morning. It's shark show after shark show. The underwater scientists
wrestle them, tag them, measure them, and check their teeth for
unsightly plaque. Fine, but I plan on swimming in the ocean this
summer, so could we please stop annoying the sharks for a while? Thank
you....
Such a small thing, and yet so very
annoying
Such a small thing, and yet so very
annoying
03/14/2005 05:54 PMNav-commenters.gif is dead DEAD! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! DEAD I TELL YOU!
Yay! As an aside, and reading John's piece, it suddenly pops into my
head that the day a major hole is found in MT, it will be the presence
of nav-commenters.gif...
Blowing away that annoying hum from a
PC's fan
Blowing away that annoying hum from a
PC's fan
05/28/2004 07:50 PMIHT May 29 2004 0:48AM GMT
STOPzilla - End Annoying Pop-Ups Forever
STOPzilla - End Annoying Pop-Ups Forever
07/01/2004 10:35 AMAd - http://www.aboutpeopletechinc.com Jul 1 2004 3:35PM GMT
Aren't Cellphones Annoying? And What's
Up With Those PDAs?
Aren't Cellphones Annoying? And What's
Up With Those PDAs?
08/19/2004 07:35 AM
There was a time where I thought my career was going
to be in that sparkling sugarplum factory known as "computers," but
reading columns like this one by Robert J. Samuelson has convinced me
that my career in "journalism" is much more suited to my desire to
string lots of curmudgeonly words together and get paid for it. This
week's insightful column? "A Cell Phone? Never for Me." You fight that
power, Samuelson. (I especially like the part where he notes that he
has also "resisted ATM cards, laptops, and digital cameras." This is
the part where Zombie Thoreau puts down his cell phone and slaps the
wax out of him.)
So that's journalism, I guess. I can't wait until I'm old and can
write columns for Newsweek like, "What's Up With Mustard?" and "Holo
Porn? It's 2D for Me."
Read - A
Cell Phone? Never for Me. [Newsweek]
the 20 most annoying conservatives of
the year
the 20 most annoying conservatives of
the year
12/06/2003 05:05 AMpandagon.net/archives/00002229.htm
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Why Mobile Phones Are Annoying
Why Mobile Phones Are Annoying
04/13/2004 07:20 AM"Why Mobile Phones are Annoying"
"Why Mobile Phones are Annoying"
04/18/2004 03:21 AMTruth- More Annoying Than Fiction!
Truth- More Annoying Than Fiction!
08/30/2004 01:35 PMDirect and Related Links for 'Truth-
More Annoying Than Fiction!'
Well, having run down the rest of the page referenced in my revised
“Rumor?” post, it appears that those little Microsoftians
have been busy. Unfortunately, they’ve been busy figuring out
ways to break Windows XP under the guise of ‘improving’
security. As you go down the page you may start to wonder why Windows
XP works at all after installing the SP-2 patch. Something that I
think will catch Messenger users by surprise, since I…
DHTML Pop Up Ads Redefine Annoying
DHTML Pop Up Ads Redefine Annoying
12/30/2002 10:45 AM"The novelty has worn off and now it's a hate/hate relationship. The
new "pop out" type ads on web sites are the newest plague to sweep
advertising on the internet. They totally block the content on the
page until you locate the little teenie weenie "close" link."
Potentially Annoying Features
Potentially Annoying Features
05/13/2004 02:04 PMI just installed The Unread, a menubar application that tells me how
many unread messages I have in my inbox.... (155 words)
Annoying AirPort Error Message #1
Annoying AirPort Error Message #1
07/05/2004 07:11 PMIf you're going to throw an error message this useless, log more
detailed information to the Console or wherever so I can figure out
what the hell is going on without wasting two hours on a nice holiday
afternoon. By Tim Jarrett (via MyAppleMenu)
Mick Hucknall, Simply Annoying
Mick Hucknall, Simply Annoying
01/10/2004 09:38 AMDuring the time that 1,000 People More Annoying than Mick Hucknall has
been in existence, only
97 celebrities have
been judged less annoying. Another
10 achieved the
sweet release of death. (01-09)
Annoying Web Ads Redux (Ziff Davis)
Annoying Web Ads Redux (Ziff Davis)
04/12/2004 06:17 PMZiff Davis - There are more effective and less annoying alternatives
to pop-up ads.
Annoying things about giant sunglasses
Annoying things about giant sunglasses
06/24/2005 05:13 PMSeveral things struck me in this New York Times article,
Sophia? Is That
You Behind the Shades?, about giant sunglasses, none having to do
with the weaing of giant sunglasses themselves.
First it was the discovery that the house style at the
Times is to spell New York's Nolita neighborhood, "NoLIta"
which I guess makes sense (North of
Little Italy) but sure looks ugly in
print. Then it was the realization that "crème
brûlée" was being used as an adjective to describe the
color of someone's giant sunglasses. I object. Crème
brûlée is a yummy dessert, and sounds far too affected
when used as a color -- unless you're a French chef with a limited
command of the English language.
The final blow was the quote from a woman in the business who said,
"People are loving theses shades because they make you look hoboish in
a rich way[.]" You've got to be kidding, that sounds just like Derelicte to me! And what the hell is,
"hoboish in a rich way"? I spent five hundred dollars on giant
sunglasses and a peasant skirt but look like I slept on the street? Is
that it? Sounds hoboish in a stupid way to me.
Virus-like game annoying AOL IM users
Virus-like game annoying AOL IM users
02/11/2004 08:17 PMA new Web-based game that lets players pretend to catch Osama bin
Laden is annoying America Online Inc.'s (AOL's) Instant Messenger
users with its virus-like self promotion, according to reports from
users.
Ad Blockers Working To Get Rid Of
Annoying Flash Ads
Ad Blockers Working To Get Rid Of
Annoying Flash Ads
03/06/2004 02:05 AMMost people know that lazy (bad) marketers are never going to realize
that forcing annoying ads on people is not the proper way to build a
sustainable business, but is it too much to hope that some will
realize there's a better way? These days they just seem to move from
one bad idea to another. As more and more people have started using
pop-up blockers, advertisers are increasingly switching to "rich
media" ads, usually using Flash technology, that takes over the
browser to display some ad, rather than what the surfer is looking
for. That is, instead of realizing that people don't want to see
their ads, and maybe such intrusive and annoying solutions are a bad
idea - they just find new intrusive and annoying methods that get
around the blockers. As we were
just
discussing, this pisses people off, because it screws up the
reason they're online. Pissing off your potential customers doesn't
seem like a good long term strategy. Already, the various ad blockers
are
working
to block out these rich media ads as well, and we can be pretty
sure that these same lazy marketers will put what little effort they
have into coming up with another annoying and intrusive ad campaign -
rather than figuring out how to deliver something people want.
The 10 Habits of Highly Annoying
Bloggers
The 10 Habits of Highly Annoying
Bloggers
02/21/2003 04:44 PMFor a long time I've known that some things have bugged me about
certain blogs and/or bloggers. This is my attempt to collect them in a
top-10 list. I was going to write a paragraph for each one, but I...
Email viruses are more annoying than
spam
Email viruses are more annoying than
spam
06/15/2004 03:47 AMI've had my primary email address for many years, and I also get email
through a number of work-related aliases, including editors at
newsforge.com, roblimo at slashdot.org, and rmiller at osdn.com. So I
get spam. Tons of spam. And I filter it all. I filter viruses, too,
not because they can affect my Linux computer, but because they suck
up bandwidth. And my virus email traffic now exceeds my spam traffic
by a factor of at least two to one.
Online Advertising May Get Less Annoying
As The Market Improves
Online Advertising May Get Less Annoying
As The Market Improves
05/25/2004 11:55 AMSince the online advertising has rebounded (quite a bit), one very
good consequence might be the fact that we'll actually be
seeing
fewer intrusive and annoying ads. When the ad market was
struggling, publishers were willing to go with ever more intrusive and
annoying ads, because advertisers were willing to pay more for them
(stupidly believing that the more they annoyed users, the more they
may buy from them). Lazy marketers have been spending lots of time
trying
to come up with more intrusive ways to get around the various
blocks people have put up to stop intrusive and annoying advertising.
Of course, this is even more pointless than just coming up with
intrusive advertising in the first place. Specifically getting around
a requested block tends to bring out quite a bit of anger in users -
which doesn't seem likely to lead to a favorable buying decision for
the advertiser. However, now that the market has rebounded, and
publishers are realizing they're competing for visitors, not ad
dollars, they're able to be a lot more picky in the ads they'll offer.
They are more focused on not annoying their users with such intrusive
ads, and making sure the user experience is much more welcoming. Of
course, this doesn't mean they won't be seduced by newer formats - but
it does mean visitors should let sites know when they find the
advertising intrusive and annoying.
"E-mail Addresses It Would Be Really
Annoying to Give Out Over the Phone"
"E-mail Addresses It Would Be Really
Annoying to Give Out Over the Phone"
08/28/2004 02:53 AMStop that! / Industry acting, somewhat,
to address annoying pop- ...
Stop that! / Industry acting, somewhat,
to address annoying pop- ...
06/06/2004 06:45 PMPittsburgh Post Gazette,PA-14 hours ago ... While Web portals such as
Yahoo! and Google already use stronger limits, observers say rogue
marketers are unlikely to be affected by such voluntary standards. ...
Remove or relocate annoying Adobe Fonts
Remove or relocate annoying Adobe Fonts
01/22/2004 02:36 AMIt like it when Adobe provides me free fonts. I hate it when they
install them in strange places and you can't seem to find where that
strange font that you never ever use resides. Or where that triple
version of Courier is h...
Oracle president: Company perceived as
annoying
Oracle president: Company perceived as
annoying
05/19/2004 08:37 PMSAN FRANCISCO -- The public's perception of Oracle, that the software
vendor is a bit annoying, is disappointing to company President Safra
Catz.
"pandagon.net - 12/04/2003: "Twenty Most
Annoying Conservatives of..."
"pandagon.net - 12/04/2003: "Twenty Most
Annoying Conservatives of..."
12/06/2003 03:50 AMJudge Says Oracle Can Keep On Annoying
Peoplesoft With Bids
Judge Says Oracle Can Keep On Annoying
Peoplesoft With Bids
09/09/2004 08:14 PMWhile the Department of Justice had said that an Oracle takeover of
Peoplesoft would harm competition a federal judge has just announced
that
the
DOJ had not proven its case, thus allowing Oracle to keep on
trying to take over Peoplesoft. Of course, that doesn't mean they're
actually going to get Peoplesoft, as the company has pretty
effectively been pushing aside each and every bid. So far, the whole
merger attempt has done nothing but slow down both companies.
Opera Chat: Disabling annoying colors
Opera Chat: Disabling annoying colors
02/01/2005 10:08 PMColors on IRC can be annoying. This is a tiny howto on how you can
disable them in Opera.
"Why Mobile Phones are Annoying (Jakob
Nielsen's Alertbox)"
"Why Mobile Phones are Annoying (Jakob
Nielsen's Alertbox)"
04/14/2004 09:03 AMWhy Mobile Phones are Annoying (Jakob
Nielsen's Alertbox)
Why Mobile Phones are Annoying (Jakob
Nielsen's Alertbox)
04/13/2004 04:55 AMCell phone conversations in public places annoy people .. Why Mobile
Phones are Annoying .. Jakob
Nielsen
useit.com/alertbox/20040412.html
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A fix for annoying mplayer full-screen
mode switch
A fix for annoying mplayer full-screen
mode switch
07/21/2004 09:27 AMUp to now, I have been usin VideoLan Client (VLC) to view videos on my
Mac. But I don't like VLC because keyboard control is too complicated.
I really like MPlayer, because I can skip forward and backwards simply
by pressing ...
Spam's Assault Going Beyond Annoying
E-Mail (Los Angeles Times)
Spam's Assault Going Beyond Annoying
E-Mail (Los Angeles Times)
05/31/2004 05:38 AMLos Angeles Times - Within weeks of Ed Harwood's fatal motorcycle
crash, the memorial website for the charismatic copywriter from
England who called himself "Fatso" was filled with hundreds of
remembrances.
"The 2nd Annual Twenty Most Annoying
Liberals In The United States -- The
2003 Edition"
"The 2nd Annual Twenty Most Annoying
Liberals In The United States -- The
2003 Edition"
12/10/2003 10:15 PMChinese Authorities Annoying Poster
Spammers With Automated Phone Calls
Chinese Authorities Annoying Poster
Spammers With Automated Phone Calls
12/15/2003 02:26 AMIt appears that authorities in Shanghai are picking up on one
anti-spam method: spamming back the spammers to knock them out of
commission. The BBC is reporting that a system has been set up to
automatical
ly call phone numbers found posted in posters and fliers around the
city once an hour, telling people to take down the illegal posters
(and to pay a fine). After a couple days of hourly annoyance, the
system will
increase the rate of calls to the point where phone
numbers found in such posters should expect to receive one such
automated call every eight minutes. The only way to stop the calls?
Pay a fine or disconnect the phone number.
Grok Description matches for A Break From Annoying Ads?
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A Break From Annoying Ads?
