Frequently Asked Questions

From time to time I get asked questions. If the question is asked multiple times or I think it will be it gets posted here.

What the Hell is “Creative Commons?”

Unless otherwise noted it’s the copyright license I use for all my content on this page. It means anything not otherwise noted on this page is free to redistribute, remix, add onto, expand, etc. (it’s clearly defined in the license, just click on the Creative Commons image). The only requirements are you give credit back to me and you don’t use my content for commercial (i.e. money making) reasons.

You never update the page on the weekend!

That’s not even a question it’s a declarative statement, moron. But good point I don’t update this site on the weekend (most of the time). Nobody really reads websites on the weekend (seriously traffic to most sites drops dramatically on the weekend) so there isn’t really a point in me putting effort into it. Also it’s the weekend and I’m usually doing something not computer related. Finally I’m just fucking lazy.

I’m mad that you [insert random reason here]! I’m going to stop reading your site!

Once again this isn’t a question. Anyhow if you don’t like what I do with my site you have two options available to you: shut up and deal with it or stop reading my site. It may surprise you but I don’t make this site to entertain the masses, I make it for myself. I have no advertisements on this site, I make no money off of it, I gain nothing by you being here, therefore I have no interest in keeping you around. Granted I do like having people visit this site but I lose nothing by you not reading my site.

Why did you delete my comment? Aren’t you for free speech?

Yes I am. But being this is my site I get to make the rules. I have no problem with anybody posting an opinion that contradict mine, in fact I’m all for it. Your comments will never be deleted for such a thing, but with that said there are some ground rules.

First and foremost any comment containing links utilizing a URL shortening service such as Tiny URL or its ilk will be deleted, period. URL shortening services mask the actual URL and thus readers do not know where the link will take them until they actually click on it. This is a security hazard as most malicious software is now installed on peoples’ machines via web browser exploits contained on malicious pages.

Personal attacks against other commenters will most likely get deleted (unless they make me laugh). Making fun of public figures is completely OK with me though.

If your post is in a language I do not understand (pretty much anything besides English and most computer programming languages) it will be deleted. I don’t understand Russian, Spanish, Chinese, Swahili, or LISP. Because of my utter lack of knowledge when it comes to any foreign language I haven’t a clue what you’re saying and for all I know you could be posting a personal attack against somebody I know. I’m not insensitive, I just realize the fact that if you can read an English website you should be able to write an English reply.

As you can tell by the language used on this page it’s adult oriented. This means I have no problem with cursing in comments but try to keep it civilish. Also keep the number of curse words lower than the number of all other words. Having a comment that consists almost entirely of swearing shows that you’re probably 12 years-old and just learned some of these words for the first time.

As already pointed out this is my site so I get to make the rules. That means I reserve to delete your comment for any reason including the face I don’t want to see the word “it” in a comment that day, I don’t like your e-mail address, I feel like deleting every odd comment that day, or I’m just having a bad day. If you don’t like it shoot me an e-mail with your case. What’s that you say? I don’t have an e-mail listed on this site? Precisely.

Why do you post the entire link in the link tag? Can’t you just use words in your post as links?

This practice has been redacted. Although I hate having to look at the status bar to see where a link actually navigates to I realize that you have to trust that the text of the link I posted and the actual link are the same. Since I’m a security conscious person I realize that you should trust no one and hence should be verifying the links in the status bar yourself.

My reasoning behind this is quite straight forward. I hate having to look down at the status bar of my browser to determine where a link is going to take me. Because I want to know the site I’ll be going to ahead of time (for instance I don’t want to find myself and some damned myspace page) I appreciate having the full link in plain sight.

Why don’t you have all of your links on the side of the page?

Simple, I don’t like clutter. Having a hundred links running down the side of the page creates a cluttered web page. I’m trying to make this page as clean and simple (like my mind) as possible. Any interesting links will be located in the reference library.