Are All Generalisations False?

I mean, basically.

@dang Can you add (2023) to the title.

Also, the linked reddit thread contains no concrete evidence of the alleged privacy breach in the title. This may be a candidate for re-titling / removal.

They probably meant to write 'shameless self-promotion'

I absolutely did

Every time threads like this come up I am reminded that Google has ads. I don't see them, presumably because of uBlock Origin.

I'm typing this response not to smugly boast, but because it's a lead in to the question that your comment raised within me:

Are you using Pihole to block ads at a network level, but not also using a browser extension to block them at the client?

I'm in the same boat as you, but taking it a step further, I'm completely blind to the first 1/3rd of google search results. The first 3 are already ads, and then there's the "quick info" card on most searches. I've subconsciously trained myself to just flat out skip over those results.

So in my case, I don't know that an ad blocker really even helps me on google, because I'm ignoring those first results anyway.

Yup, skip all sponsored and ad content. I do the same on Amazon and ebay - even when the advertised product is _exactly_ what I want, and the best price available, I refuse to purchase from a sponsored listing.

100%.

> Are you using Pihole to block ads at a network level, but not also using a browser extension to block them at the client?

A lot of Pihole users don't bother with browser extensions. In extension-only use cases, these results would just not show up. With Pihole, you have to copy and paste the URL and just enter directly in the browser. It's not like a huge roadblock.

Ads exist on mobile devices. In iOS games. All sorts of places/devices that can't run uBlock origin. That's why you use a DNS level blocker as well.

personally i use both. PiHole and uBlock. But PiHole is network wide so smart TVs iPads, etc in the house also get the benefit.

In case you're interested in finding out the exact age of your Microsoft account: A few years ago I opened a support ticket with Microsoft about how old my account was and they were able to tell me the date my account was created. In my case, it was 22nd June 1998.

While attempting to help a family member register for an account on this credit/finance company, I noticed that amongst the password requirements was this statemant:

" We do not accept automatically generated passwords from IOS / Android"

What would be the reason for that?

It may be relevant that Creation Finance are known as a bottom-feeder type credit agency preying on people who have bad credit history. I am assuming that anything they require of their customers is somehow a dark pattern but I can't figure out what it might be here.

The most common dark pattern: stupidity.

Agreed, in the UK:

- 'angled towards the ground' is 'On' (https://cdn.aws.toolstation.com/images/141020-UK/800/10481.j...)

- 'angled towards the ceiling' is 'Off' (https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Images/Products/size_3/MKK4870....)

But that's completely backwards from a normal rocker switch!

It's been archived

https://web.archive.org/web/20240128035720/http://www.homede...

Not a single use of the word 'webmaster' in the whole article. Was Zach even around in the 90s? ;-)

Still got my “Webmaster” business cards from the late 90s. No one will ever understand how “cool” it was to have that title back then. Now even I cringe when looking at them but so many good memories.

Why do you cringe?

The titles of today, such as Site Reliability Engineer, are way more cringey...

Not only was it full stack, but user/community management, strategy, perhaps sales, all rolled into one.

Yes, that's as far as you should have to go when it comes to somebody ultimately responsible for a whole website ;)

Hope you had a Nokia 7110 to go with it. I know I did.

Living 15 minutes into the future. shhhhh-clunk.

I worked with a woman who officially referred to herself a "webmistress". Not as a joke.

When I return a gas powered hire car, I'm required to return it with the same amount of fuel as I picked it up with. I sign a contract that states I'll be charged a higher-than-pump price to top up the car if I breach this requirement.

Does the same (or an equivalent, eg: Plug it in to charge upon return) requirement not apply to electric cars?

Car rental is different than auto share here. Car rentals work as you depicted. Auto share, is not that.

When they tried this with the pay per minute vehicles (both electric and gas) the reality is the time to fill electric made them completely untenable.

They also tried battery swaps, that was truly disastrous.