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I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022)

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Re: I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022)

#431

Post by johnea »

This was such a laugh!

I have to wonder if the whole exercise was a prime example of a brit "taking the piss" 8-)

> the US, Canada, and a few other countries don’t follow the standard international paper sizes, even though I had written about it earlier

I literally laughed out loud at this 8-)

And the outrageous expectation of obtaining... stamps!

It was just too funny.

For unfamiliar muricans: The success, according to british cultural standards, in the humiliation of the intended victim is increased, when the victim replies while being completely unaware that they are actually being mocked.

Re: I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022)

#432

Post by globular-toast »

NoboruWataya wrote: post #3

Not sure if it's being exaggerated for comedic purposes but it is interesting to me how alien the act of sending a letter by post is to the author. Granted I don't send them very often but I wouldn't think much of it if I had to. But I guess younger people and particularly those in tech may genuinely never need a reason to send a letter (or, it seems, write an address by hand).

As far as I know there are still some things you have to post in the UK, like sending your cut up old driver's licence to the DVLA and maybe you still have to post your V5 when you sell a car. OP might not own a car or drive, though, so who knows?

Re: I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022)

#433

Post by Rebelgecko »

retrac wrote: post #419
SpaceNoodled wrote: post #368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do? Where?

Mailboxes are bidirectional. If there is outgoing mail in the mailbox your postal worker will take it to the post office. That is what the flag is for. Not sure how well this is adhered to anymore, to be fair. I could be out of date.

Not sure about OP but it's become more common in certain areas of the US to not have mailboxes in front of each house. But usually there's a shared bank of mailboxes within a mile so with the ability to drop off outgoing

Re: I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022)

#434

Post by [deleted] »

eadmund wrote: post #222
School-Cotton wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are not particularly obstinate, we just have no strong reason to change. Metric is already used in areas where it actually matters (e.g. STEM)

> Metric is already used in areas where it actually matters (e.g. STEM) Using French Revolutionary units doesn’t really matter in STEM, either: one can conduct science just as well in any units one wishes. One unit of measure is not more scientific than another. For example, degrees Kelvin and Rankine measure the same thing with different units. If anything, the Rankine degrees are more precise!

[deleted]

Re: I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022)

#435

Post by Symbiote »

dheera wrote: post #379
krisoft wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean it is the fallback method. The solution for the "I never heard of this internet thing, or something else is preventing me from finding the licence online" problem. Almost everyone will just use their search engine to find this page: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.en.html What can you do to serve the licence to those who can't or won't do that (for whatever reason)? I think it is hard to find…

I mean, part of the problem is I didn't own a pen at the time. I have multiple computers and phones, I thought that was the interface to the post-2000 world. I do have paint, but that's a little clumsy. I grudgingly own a box of BIC pens now, but ... It's like requiring people to own a horse to do something these days. And in past experience during school days, those goddamn BIC pens all go bad (ink dries up or somet…

You are intentionally making things difficult when you don't own a pen.

That's very much your problem, and the rest of the world doesn't need to accommodate it.

Re: I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022)

#436

Post by Symbiote »

mvdtnz wrote: post #395
bigstrat2003 wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Physical mail isn't difficult, even now, for anyone with a modicum of competence. I can understand if someone hasn't used physical mail before, but it's very easy to look up how to send a letter + buy envelopes and stamps. If someone cannot do that without difficulty, they really need to work on their basic life skills.

His difficulty was finding postage stamps for the self-addressed return envelope, and clearly the author is not American. Do you think it would be quite so easy to "buy envelopes and stamps" if you had to send a stamped return envelope to Nepal or Manila? Is that a "basic life skill" or would you have to do a little research to figure out what you'd need?

He had difficulty writing an address on an envelope.

This skill is something we expect of 8 year old children.

Re: I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022)

#437

Post by alexjm »

bombcar wrote: post #89
owl57 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> legal (letter but longer) This one surprised me quite a bit. I think most people have A4/letter-sized folders. Why does anyone think that papers slightly longer than those folders are a good idea?

Legal size folders exist and are widely used by people who use ... legal size paper. Legal folders can be great to be able to print letter-sized things on, then you have an area at the bottom to write notes and stuff.

Many filing cabinets in the US are also sized so you can put letter sized folders in one way, or rotate the folders 90 degrees and legal sized folders will fit correctly.

Re: I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022)

#438

Post by renecito »

is the owner of the address a perpetual owner of the GPL? Example: - Step 1: Create evil Corporation - Step 2: Buy that address - Step 3: Create a new GPL, still GPL but technically a new version. This can make sure the sole owner of the claimed IP (remove the FSF of course). - Step 4: Sell your updated license to anyone that'd want to go around previous GPL.

Re: I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022)

#439

Post by aftbit »

ayewo wrote: post #423
ajb wrote: post #406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing I've been meaning to try, but never got round to, is to stick a URL on an envelope, pointing at a page with an address, and see if the mail (royal mail, in my case) actually deliver it. I suspect they would but that it would take a few extra days. It's no worse than some of the addresses that they do deliver.

What about encoding the address as a QR code? This should not require any Internet access to view by whoever is scanning it to be sorted for delivery.

It also does not help you to update the address later.

Re: I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022)

#440

Post by ndiddy »

yyhhsj0521 wrote: post #320
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You file tax returns by post? What country? Do they charge you extra to submit by post? That's crazy to me - tax returns for our micro-business and personal tax has been online since at least 2005.

I had to file my tax by postal mail in the US. Granted there is the option to file online, but that only works for ~80% of the people when things are completely within the intended domain. I have just one extra item outside of standard salary slips and some investment income, so I had to file physically.

For federal returns, there's a site called Free File Fillable Forms, which has digitized versions of all the tax forms. Unlike the normal IRS Free File program, there's no restriction on income. If you're comfortable filing paper tax returns, this is the exact same process except the returns are digital and sent over the internet. For state returns, the process depends on your state but everywhere I've lived has a free site that you can use to file your state return.
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