Life on the Internet Is Hard When Your Last Name Is 'Butts' • Hacker News Board

Re: Life on the Internet Is Hard When Your Last Name Is 'Butts'

#11

Post by jackhack » Wed, Aug 29, 2018, 6:40 PM UTC

Probably not as bad as if your last name is Null. https://www.wired.com/2015/11/null/

In the early 80s I worked with a guy who wanted an unlisted phone number (back in the days of paper telephone directories). He was really miffed at the idea that the phone company would charge him an extra $10 (or similar) per year for this "service". ("Ten dollars to NOT do something?!? That's extortion!") He couldn't believe this so he asked for a list of service charges which they mailed to his home. Apparently changing your name was free. So, for several years you could call "Kirk, James T., Capt." I guess he showed them. Bonus: saved $10 per year. Extra bonus: frequent crank calls at all hours, for free.

Funny thing is I can't remember his real name.

Re: Life on the Internet Is Hard When Your Last Name Is 'Butts'

#12

Post by kstrauser » Wed, Aug 29, 2018, 6:42 PM UTC

I worked at an ISP in the '90s, and our first paid customer was John Blank. On several occasions, a well-meaning biller would delete his account because it was "obvious a test".

Re: Life on the Internet Is Hard When Your Last Name Is 'Butts'

#13

Post by jackhack » Wed, Aug 29, 2018, 6:42 PM UTC

earenndil wrote: post #10

> Take the case of Jennifer Null, for instance, whose name was frequently rejected in input fields because the program treated her last name as a form of code, rather than text For all those who say javascript the language is fine: ^^

She should change her first name to 'or 1=1;drop table customers;commit;--', sit back, and watch the fireworks.

by the way, best use case of this I've ever seen? It was pasted on a sticker on a car's bumper, right below the license plate, in a nice easy to read/OCR font. Now, I've no idea if the speed/traffic/tracking cameras read it and acted on it or not, but the idea amused me.

Re: Life on the Internet Is Hard When Your Last Name Is 'Butts'

#14

Post by rootlocus » Wed, Aug 29, 2018, 6:43 PM UTC

Vice is getting their articles from imgur now?

https://imgur.com/gallery/MeMGmx4

Re: Life on the Internet Is Hard When Your Last Name Is 'Butts'

#15

Post by crooked-v » Wed, Aug 29, 2018, 6:44 PM UTC

earenndil wrote: post #10

> Take the case of Jennifer Null, for instance, whose name was frequently rejected in input fields because the program treated her last name as a form of code, rather than text For all those who say javascript the language is fine: ^^

The value `null` and the value `"null"` are not the same thing in Javascript, and `null == 'null'` is `false`.

Re: Life on the Internet Is Hard When Your Last Name Is 'Butts'

#16

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Aug 29, 2018, 6:45 PM UTC

rootlocus wrote: post #14

Vice is getting their articles from imgur now? https://imgur.com/gallery/MeMGmx4

[deleted]

Re: Life on the Internet Is Hard When Your Last Name Is 'Butts'

#17

Post by shawn » Wed, Aug 29, 2018, 6:46 PM UTC

Relevant: https://www.reddit.com/r/xboxone/comments/9a0wuc/my_name_is_...

Re: Life on the Internet Is Hard When Your Last Name Is 'Butts'

#18

Post by TheRealDunkirk » Wed, Aug 29, 2018, 6:48 PM UTC

First name Seymour?

Re: Life on the Internet Is Hard When Your Last Name Is 'Butts'

#19

Post by stormcode » Wed, Aug 29, 2018, 6:49 PM UTC

As much of a chuckle as I got from this article... It's actually not hard.

Re: Life on the Internet Is Hard When Your Last Name Is 'Butts'

#20

Post by peterwwillis » Wed, Aug 29, 2018, 6:50 PM UTC

As George Carlin pointed out[1], it's the context of the use of language that determines whether it's good or bad. So machine learning just sucks at determining context. Trying to get people to stop being offended by the utterance of arbitrary sounds probably will never happen, but at least we can make computers less stupid.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUvdXxhLPa8 (trigger warning: comedy)