Live data from Hacker News

Don't watermark your legal PDFs with purple dragons in suits

arstechnica.com

141–150 of 297 posts

Re: Don't watermark your legal PDFs with purple dragons in suits

#141

Also, sometimes we (developers) like to use wacky data for testing purposes. For example, I like to put Batman as a dummy user, and my QA likes to upload cat pictures when testing uploads/images. We do it so it's obvious it's test data, and also we're lazy to think of more "real" data. Just say some users expect real(ish) data for testing. I had a client who was totally not happy when he saw Batman and Superman in th…

There was a bank that wasn’t happy with “Rich Bastard” being used as dummy data but not being replaced in the mail merge, resulting in a couple thousand of their wealthiest customers getting a mailing with the salutation “Dear Rich Bastard,” https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/dear-rich-bastard/

I learned a long time ago to be very careful with mock, dummy, or test data.... because some people will just push anything to prod, take screenshots during your demo and paste it into the official documentation... you name it.

I was giving a demo on how to set up multiple computers in a federated setup using Active Directory, ADFS, etc... I had about 5 VMs named things like Hank, Peggy, Bobby, Boomhauer, Bill, and a test user HHill, 123 Rainy Street, Arlen, TX -- someone screenshotted and took notes during the demo and now that's in some formal training somewhere material. Thankfully, it's all internal.

When I and doing dev work and I need an available port, just any port, I use 666 -- because it's never used by anything and also DOOM. I gave a sprint demo and I used 660 instead of 666 to demo that the customer can specify the port number of screen X. Someone put that in the internal and also customer facing documentation... so now my company's product is default setup on 660, even thought it's completely user-configurable. Thank God I didn't demo with 666...

Re: Don't watermark your legal PDFs with purple dragons in suits

#143

Also, sometimes we (developers) like to use wacky data for testing purposes. For example, I like to put Batman as a dummy user, and my QA likes to upload cat pictures when testing uploads/images. We do it so it's obvious it's test data, and also we're lazy to think of more "real" data. Just say some users expect real(ish) data for testing. I had a client who was totally not happy when he saw Batman and Superman in th…

When designing, the standard practice is to use Lorem Ipsum - sort of mangled Latin that works like normal text but is very recognisable. This backfired once when I did a website for the Jesuits - the feedback they gave was that the design looks good but they were all baffled by the text and could I do something about it please. I’d not considered that they might be the only client where everyone was fluent in Latin.

Reminds me of the Catholic friend who once told me that he had done IT support for every Catholic religious order with a presence in the city where he lived, except two.

The Carthusians didn't use computers, and the Jesuits didn't need his help.

Re: Don't watermark your legal PDFs with purple dragons in suits

#144

Oh no! How dare someone have some fun

Courtrooms are not a place designed for "fun". If you're in serious legal trouble you better hope your lawyer isn't there to have "fun" and make it difficult for the judge to read about your case.

Re: Don't watermark your legal PDFs with purple dragons in suits

#145
Is there a term for this (bad) style of writing or linguistic device where you mention the thing ('purple dragon') in the title/first paragraph and then really force a synonym in the second?

> Federal Magistrate Judge Ray Kent of the Western District of Michigan was unamused by a recent complaint (PDF) that prominently featured the aubergine wyrm.

(Emphasis mine.)

Re: Don't watermark your legal PDFs with purple dragons in suits

#146
post #111

My dad said something a few years ago - we’re all more interested in being ‘funny’ and ‘edgy’ than acting like adults and getting on with each other. The world has gotten very embarrassing.

Did he ever specify what he meant by ‘acting like adults’? I can imagine a number of changes in attitude one might associate with growing up, and I find a good part of them regrettable at best.

Re: Don't watermark your legal PDFs with purple dragons in suits

#148
post #145

Is there a term for this (bad) style of writing or linguistic device where you mention the thing ('purple dragon') in the title/first paragraph and then really force a synonym in the second? > Federal Magistrate Judge Ray Kent of the Western District of Michigan was unamused by a recent complaint (PDF) that prominently featured the aubergine wyrm . (Emphasis mine.)

You could call it Elegant Variation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elegant_variation

Re: Don't watermark your legal PDFs with purple dragons in suits

#149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To a normal person, sure. But the legal system ruins lives and deals in ruined lives every day. They don't blink twice at that stuff. A cartoon dragon on the other hand...

The formality of the process helps them keep their conscious clear. Attacking the formality of the process therefore threatens them.

This is really important to understand. Formality isn't an arbitrary concept invented by old fogies, it's a psychological hack we apply to convince people to take things seriously. People really like joking around [citation needed], so that's hard to achieve. A lot of people develop weird complexes about it, because there are big gaps between otherwise close subcultures in what should or shouldn't be taken seriously, but I hope nearly everyone can agree that court proceedings are a serious matter.
Post reply on HN