Ask HN: Software That Insults You?

#1

Post by chockchocschoir » Sat, Mar 19, 2022, 12:45 PM UTC

Seems I'm not alone in believing that software is fun, and should be fun as well (while not getting in the way of getting work done) [from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30725843].

One example is the `Defaults insults` setting in `sudo` that will add a insult every time you get your password wrong. This has made me smile a couple of times when the insult is really good.

Is there other examples of software that insults you when you get something wrong/do something incorrect?

This list can serve a double-purpose: first as a recommendation list for us who like to get insulted for fun, and second as a list of software to avoid for the ones that don't like it.

Re: Ask HN: Software That Insults You?

#2

Post by jjgreen » Sat, Mar 19, 2022, 12:49 PM UTC

A long time ago I got an account on an old Unix machine (Irix? HP?), my first, I'd heard that you could get help by typing "man", so did so. The response was

    Apropos what?

which I thought so snooty that I laughed out-loud, and everyone in the room looked at me as if I were some kind of nut.

Re: Ask HN: Software That Insults You?

#3

Post by IgorPartola » Sat, Mar 19, 2022, 1:01 PM UTC

Have you seen the “sl” command?

Re: Ask HN: Software That Insults You?

#4

Post by mhitza » Sat, Mar 19, 2022, 1:12 PM UTC

Not sure if it qualifies, but I find humorous the mysql --i-am-a-dummy flag.

> Allow only those UPDATE and DELETE statements that specify which rows to modify by using key values.

Re: Ask HN: Software That Insults You?

#5

Post by TrispusAttucks » Sat, Mar 19, 2022, 1:16 PM UTC

IgorPartola wrote: post #3

Have you seen the “sl” command?

It's a shame it's not installed by default on most distros. Intentionally installing reduces the humor/surprise/terror.

Re: Ask HN: Software That Insults You?

#6

Post by Apreche » Sat, Mar 19, 2022, 1:19 PM UTC

I’m insulted every time an app has one of those forced tutorials I have to click through.

Re: Ask HN: Software That Insults You?

#7

Post by Thom2503 » Sat, Mar 19, 2022, 1:23 PM UTC

https://gitlab.com/dwt1/bash-insulter like this?

Re: Ask HN: Software That Insults You?

#8

Post by pintxo » Sat, Mar 19, 2022, 1:23 PM UTC

Here is was hoping for a venue to vent my anger with how using Microsoft’s recent products around Office kind of insults any sane person using it.

OneDrive syncing away files, created on that very same machine just to be not available anymore while you are working on a business trip with sketchy network connections?

Word just outright freezing to death on trying to create a OneDrive link to the current file?

Re: Ask HN: Software That Insults You?

#9

Post by mttjj » Sat, Mar 19, 2022, 1:23 PM UTC

I used it for about 30 minutes years and years ago and didn’t really like it but Carrot Weather for iOS fits this bill. I believe it insults the user and generally uses snarky language. That’s pretty much its whole schtick, so it’s not really a hidden feature or easter egg. I don’t even know if it provides any more accurate weather information than other apps; I think people use it mostly for its ‘character’.

Again, not really my thing but it’s featured on the App Store a lot and has won numerous awards.

Re: Ask HN: Software That Insults You?

#10

Post by DocTomoe » Sat, Mar 19, 2022, 1:27 PM UTC

mhitza wrote: post #4

Not sure if it qualifies, but I find humorous the mysql --i-am-a-dummy flag. > Allow only those UPDATE and DELETE statements that specify which rows to modify by using key values.

I'm fairly sure that many long-time db admins wished that was the default setting.