PayPal email fail

Now that I've got a job working for an email service provider I've started taking a bit more notice of different companies' attempts at email marketing, and I have to admit to becoming slightly more sensitive about when they do it badly. Today I received yet another ridiculous failure that's so bad I honestly can't quite tell if it's an actual phishing attempt or not.

It's from PayPal. They sent out a message about "great summer savings", coming from paypal@info.paypal.co.uk - but with a Reply-To: address as reply2@info.paypal.com. That wasn't the first thing I found amusing, though - I've only just noticed that. The first thing was that I wanted to unsubscribe, and right at the bottom saw this:

"This email was sent to <insert user email address>, because your email preferences are set to receive the PayPal Periodical newsletter and Product Updates. Click here to Unsubscribe"

That's funny enough on its own, but a few lines above that, they've added:

"How do I know this is not a Spoof email? Spoof or 'phishing' emails tend to have generic greetings such as "Dear PayPal member". Emails from PayPal will always address you by your first and last name.

How ironic. Oh well, all I want to do is unsubscribe, so, after checking that the domains in the links aren't some dodgy fake ones I click the "Unsubscribe" link, an what do I get?

Wow. Wow, just wow. I mean, wow. How many fuckups can you get in one email? From one of the world's biggest internet companies? Eesh.

Posted in arse | No Comments »

Dear Linux.com, you suck. Love, pgl

Wankers.

[The below pasted verbatim, including grammatical errors, etc.]

From: Peter Lowe <pgl@yoyo.org>
To: Linux Foundation <events@linux-foundation.org>
CC: linux.com.users@linuxfoundation.org
Subject: Re: [Linux.com.users] 20% LinuxCon Registration Discount for Linux.com Members

I don't normally bother responding to poorly thought out marketing attempts
like this, but, your last one so annoying that I just - can't - help myself.

Look, you're trying to reach people who want to go to your event, right? You
could at least treat the people who _don't_ give a shit with a bit of
respect - I mean, like, think about the people you're sending to a *little*
bit, rather than just say woo look, a list of subscribers that's an easy way
to get the message out.

You've sent me a mail, with an unsubscribe link. But, you didn't send mail
directly to people (would that really have been too difficult?), but,
because I don't know which email address you've sent the mail to, I have to
guess both what my email address is, but also my password.

The first thing I did was try logging in to mailman using my Linux.com
registered email address and password, which, but course, that didn't work
-- I'm guessing because you've just done a mass import of all Linux.com
accounts into one big list, with new passwords for everyone?

So, then I had to guess which email address you sent it to in order to get
the password "reminder". Fortunately I got that right: because if I'd put in
the wrong address I would have had no way to know, as mailman reports "A
reminder of your password has been emailed to you" regardless of the address
you use in its password reminder form. I'm glad I got it right, because I
hadn't made a note of the address I'd not signed up to a list with.

If you're patting yourself on the back because not many people have
unsubscribed in response to your mailouts...

Also, it would be kind of nice if you could put some sort of, uh,
description of the list on the mailman page? It's not listed on the main
index:

 - https://lists.linux-foundation.org/mailman/listinfo

and the main page for the list:

 - https://lists.linux-foundation.org/mailman/listinfo/linux.com.users

doesn't have a single word about what the list is for. Also, why on earth
are the archives password protected!?

Another problem is that there's nowhere on Linux.com where I can say "don't
contact me about future promotions" or whatever. I can opt-out of "system
emails", "private messages", or "application notifications", but not this?

Lastly, and this really is just me being picky, but hey, using a consistent
domain (linux-foundation.org vs. linuxfoundation.org vs. Linux.com) would be
nice.

You're trying to attract people to your event, but unfortunately what you've
done is make me even less likely to go, and certainly less likely to treat
anything with "Linux.com" branding (or linuxfoundation.org, or...) with any
respect. Sadly I have a horrible feeling couldn't care less.

cheers,

 - Peter


Linux Foundation wrote on 2009-07-29 Wed 8:10 am:
> LinuxCon  - The New Technical Conference for All Matters Linux
> September 21-23, 2009
> Portland Marriott Waterfront � Portland, OR
> 
> =========================================
> Linux.com Members Receive 20% Discount to LinuxCon
> =========================================
> We�re pleased to offer a 20% discount off of registration fees
> exclusively for Linux.com Members. Register before the August 15th
> early registration deadline and attend for only US$319!
> 
> Register Here: http://events.linuxfoundation.org/component/registrationpro/?func=details&did=1
> 
> Use this discount code when registering to receive the 20% discount: LC_COM
> 
> ================================
> Top Five Reasons You Can�t Miss LinuxCon
> ================================
> *Top Tier Speaking Talent You Can�t Find Anywhere Else*
> Speakers including Linus Torvalds, Mark Shuttleworth (Founder of
> Ubuntu), Bob Sutor (VP, Open Source & Linux at IBM), Imad Sousou
> (Director of Intel�s OSTC), and more. This is your only chance to see
> Linus and other kernel developers speak at a general conference.
> 
>  *Innovative Content for Developers, Business and Operations*
> Over 75 sessions spanning Developer, Business and Operations Tracks
> filled with in-depth content straight from the leaders of Linux, not
> just marketing presentations.  Click here to View Full Schedule:
> http://linuxcon.linuxfoundation.org/meetings
> 
> *Free in depth tutorials to improve your Linux skills*
> 11 in-depth, free tutorials that will help you advance your career.
> From scaling your systems administrators to kernel debugging.
> 
> *Meet Linux Luminaries, Change the World*
> A flexible schedule featuring abundant �hallway track� time, attendee
> lounges, and a special �Bowling for Penguins� fundraiser on Monday
> evening that will help you save the penguins while challenging your
> favorite Linux developers to a bowling match.
> 
> *Network with speakers and attendees before, during and after the conference*
> With the LinuxCon online attendee community, you can plan your
> schedule and connect with speakers or attendees before the event to
> ensure your time is well spent.  Check it out here:
> http://linuxcon.linuxfoundation.org/
> 
> =============================================
> LinuxCon  - The new technical conference for All Matters Linux
> September 21-23, 2009
> Portland Marriott Waterfront � Portland, OR
> =================================
> This is just the beginning.  In addition to fantastic content and
> speakers, we promise you a great experience at LinuxCon that will
> bring you back again and again in the years to come.
> Register Today!
> http://events.linuxfoundation.org/component/registrationpro/?func=details&did=1
> 
> Additional discounts are available for Linux Foundation Individual
> Members and LPC Attendees � contact angela@linux-foundation.org for
> more information.
> 
> Questions? Contact us at events@linux-foundation.org
> ==================================
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.linux-foundation.org/mailman/listinfo/linux.com.users
> _______________________________________________
> Linux.com.users mailing list
> Linux.com.users@lists.linux-foundation.org
> https://lists.linux-foundation.org/mailman/listinfo/linux.com.users
> 

They have not, of course, replied. All I've received by way of acknowledgement is a rejection of my attempted post to the linux.com.users list.

I finally did get to see the other mails from the list: after looking through the Linux.com.users mailing list archives, I discovered that there had been three prior mails from May that were less annoying, but still made the same basic mistakes of etiquette and common sense that the above did.

(Ironically, first introductory mail, which didn't mention the fact everyone had been signed up to a new list, talked about "gain[ing] goodwill and support of fellow Linux.com members", and that the new Linux.com is "for the community by the community" - hah!)

Perhaps I'm overreacting to this, and I should just ignore it. They're just such... idiots! Arg.

Posted in arse | 2 Comments »

Incroyable - fantastique

Posted in poetry | No Comments »

screen: split windows + how to use them

  (ctrl + a,: to bring up prompt for entering screen commands)
  :split              split current window into two regions
  :resize +20         grow the current region by 20 lines
  :focus down         move to the lower region

  (ctrl + a, until the desired window is visible)
  :focus up           move back to the previous region

  ... later, when the new region is no longer (des|requ)ired..
  :remove             remove the current region

Posted in tech | No Comments »

RSS feed for friends' Twitter updates - in Google Reader

Hooray. I like keeping up with what my friends are up to, and add any weblog feeds I find to Google Reader whenever I come across one.

Recently I've realised how many of them are using Twitter, which I've signed up for but have no interest in using myself. So, it was kind of annoying to find out that while there is an RSS feed for each individuals' updates, the RSS feed that combined all my friends' updates together was password-protected.

This meant that rather than keep using Google Reader, to keep up with the all those Twitter updates I'd have to check Twitter itself - which truly doth sucketh.

However, problem solved! Not too complicated in the end really. Woo.

I've written a tiny script that uses curl to get a copy of the password-protected feed and runs from cron regularly and makes a local copy I can subscribe to in Google Reader:

• Twitter / pgl with friends

Thankfully curl lets you use your .netrc file to specify the username and passowrd, and the Twitter feed is available over SSL, so it's even properly secure. Rah.

[jem:pgl]:~/scripts $ crontab -l | grep twit
 */5 * * * * twitter-friends-rss-update.sh
 
##~
 
[jem:pgl]:~/scripts $ cat twitter-friends-rss-update.sh
 #!/bin/bash
 
friendsrssurl='https://twitter.com/statuses/friends_timeline/14063001.rss'
localcopy="$HOME/p/twitter/rss/friends.rss"
 
/usr/bin/curl -s -n "$friendsrssurl" -o "$localcopy"
 
##~
 
[jem:pgl]:~/scripts $ curl --help | egrep -- '-[sno]/'
 -n/--netrc Must read .netrc for user name and password
 -o/--output  Write output to instead of stdout
 -s/--silent Silent mode. Don't output anything

Posted in tech | 7 Comments »

wowmods: updates - user registration, favourites, more!

Hello,

and good day to you. I am writing this to let you know about a site I made. It's actually been around for a while, but hasn't changed much from its original (very much lacking) state after I stopped playing WoW nearly a year ago. Now that started playing again, I've finally gotten round to updating the website with some bits that I hope other people might find useful.

(This is actually a repost of the note I put up in the WoWAce forums - apologies for the duplication!)

It was originally written so I didn't have to check three places whenever I was trying to find an addon, or check for updates.

You can see it here:

• http://fin.instinct.org/wowmods/

Here's a quick overview:

• lists updates to addons hosted on Curse, WoWInterface, and (*spit*) ui.worldofwar.net
• updates available for previous hour, day, or three days
• allows filtering by site
• allows advanced filtering using Perlish regular expressions
• supports favourites lists (for registered users)
• can be accessed via an RSS feed (which should show the same list as set after configuring any filtering)
• searchable database (8809 addons across all the sites so far) (I find this really useful when I can't remember where I saw an addon)
• can be added as a Google Gadget to an iGoogle homepage
• can be added as a Google Subscribed Link
• supportsOpenSearch (at least, it should do!)
• includes detailed information for each addon
• where able, shows: links to sites able to be associated with the addon + changelogs + descriptions + details + update history + version numbers
• easy-to-use/remember URLs? (nobody else is going to care about this, are they, heh :)

Here's some links in addition to the main page, if anyone's interested in having a look:

• http://fin.instinct.org/wowmods/rss/ (I use it with Google Reader)
• http://fin.instinct.org/wowmods/find/ (I've tried to make it fairly logical with the searching (could do with better highlighting)
• http://fin.instinct.org/wowmods/help/ (various notes and stuff (including a changelog and todo list, woo!))

(Aside: just noticed ui.w are back to wowui.w - wtf? Another name change? Pff.)

It's not finished; there's lots more to do. But, now that there's finally favourites lists, I figured it might actually be useful for other people as well as me. :)

Any and all comments, criticisms, suggestions, and / or other similar communications, thoughts, opinions, and missives related, indirectly connected, or even nothing to do with the site are of course happily encouraged, welcome, desired, positively lusted over, and will find a soft warm home in my brain where they can relax with buttery toast and a nice cold alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage of choice and the fine company amongst peers and friends.

cheers,

- pgl / Fin

Posted in meta | No Comments »

bash: variable variables

How to use variable variables in bash:

[mimi:pgl]:~ $ tits=arse
[mimi:pgl]:~ $ arse=cheese
 
# this way I figured out myself after a long time pulling my hair out
[mimi:pgl]:~ $ echo ${!tits}
cheese
 
# this I found later at http://www.seocam.net/how-tos/how-to-create-variable-variables-in-bash
[mimi:pgl]:~ $ eval echo $`echo $tits`
cheese
 
# how to assign to a variable variable:
[vini:plowe]:~ $ tits=cheese
[vini:plowe]:~ $ arse=tits
[vini:plowe]:~ $ eval $arse='hello'
[vini:plowe]:~ $ echo $tits
hello

Explained -- obliquely -- in the manual:

   Parameter Expansion

   ...

       If the first character of parameter is an exclamation point, a level of
       variable indirection is introduced.  Bash uses the value of  the  vari-
       able  formed  from  the  rest of parameter as the name of the variable;
       this variable is then expanded and that value is used in  the  rest  of
       the  substitution,  rather than the value of parameter itself.  This is
       known as indirect expansion.  The exceptions to this are the expansions
       of  ${!prefix*} and ${!name[@]} described below.  The exclamation point
       must immediately follow the left brace in order to  introduce  indirec-
       tion.

("This is known as indirect expansion" - rubbish! Everyone calls it variable
variables! :))

Posted in tech | No Comments »

YouTomb - archive of removed YouTube videos

Interesting:

• YouTomb.

YouTomb is a research project by MIT Free Culture that tracks videos taken down from YouTube for alleged copyright violation.

Also: cool!

Posted in tech | No Comments »

Play Auditorium

Interesting:

• Play Auditorium

You proceed through the game by redirecting waves of light into targets by positioning things that divert the waves, with the levels getting more complex as you go on. There are "many ways to solve every puzzle"

This demo of Auditorium features 3 Acts. Each Act has at least 5 separate levels. We are currently working on the full version of the game and have estimated around 20 acts total to be released in the near future..

Posted in poetry | No Comments »

whois gateway finally fixed

Finally fixed my whois tool:

- http://pgl.yoyo.org/whois/

Previously, it arsed up on most domains due to overzealous sanitisation on my part. No longer! Hooray.

Posted in meta | No Comments »