Daily Archives: August 18, 2008

Cyber Bullies – cowards and imbeciles

Posted by David Hurst on August 18, 2008 None comments

One of the problems with the Internet is anonymity. Perversely, this is also one of the great things about the Internet, but anonymity is not a universal wall of protection behind which bullies should hide. Over the years I have experienced cyber bullying in many forms, and none of them is pleasant.

I used to use email as a form of marketing, and was accused by some of sending “spam”. I beg to differ. Thoroughly researching a local business and then sending a tailored email of introduction is not the same as sending out blind spam advertising Viagra, penis enlargement or Angelina Jolie’s tits. Yet, the reactions I got from a few (presumably) well-respected local business owners were nothing short of disgraceful. Had I chosen to send them a letter, would they have written similarly venomous replies back to me? Hardly. And yet, sending a letter is more costly to the environment and opening and reading it takes significantly more time than opening and reading an email. I just don’t bother sending emails to people I don’t know any more.

Others like to write abusive comments on sites like YouTube, or in chat rooms or forums. Why? What is so fundamentally wrong with these people that makes them feel it is OK to abuse other members of the human race in such a way.

I’ll wager that none of the people I have received abusive messages from would have the guts to come and say it to my face. I’m 6ft1 and over 17 stone: people generally are not rude to me. But, offer up a virtual screen for them to hide behind, and it seems all sorts of people are ready to take a shot. Shame on you all.

Meeting Roary the Racing Car at Haynes Motor Museum

Posted by David Hurst on August 18, 2008 None comments

Over the past couple of weeks I have been noticing flyers advertising Haynes Motor Museum littering the public highways around Yeovil. In particular, the flyers announce the presence of Roary the Racing Car at Haynes Museum on the 17th August. For those of you that don’t have kids (or don’t secretly watch kids TV whilst skiving off work with [insert life-threatening ailment here]), Roary the Racing Car is an animated TV show for kids. It features the vocal talents of Peter Kay as “Big Chris”, and an assortment of car characters that race around the “Silver Hatch” race track.

So, when an opportunity presents itself to take your not-quite-three-year-old son to meet some of his fave telly heros, as a responsible and loving parent you surely have the obligation to grasp said opportunity. I’m not sure what I was expecting – the posters weren’t particularly helpful, and nor was the website. A small printed notice at the museum entrance informed us that Big Chris and Roary were not performing a show, but were making “appearances” throughout the day. The notice was suitably ambiguous so as not to deter any parting with cash, and we duly paid our entrance fee. Haynes, obviously keen to capitalise on the money making opportunities of the day, had lowered the child ticket age threshold to 1 – i.e. all children aged one or over had to pay. There’s nothing quite like profiteering from babies is there?

As it transpired, the day was completely lacking in anything approaching organisation, as frustrated parents filled the museum waiting in a queue so their precious darlings could spend 30 seconds shaking hands with some bloke (or blokette) dressed in a furry Big Chris costume, whilst “Roary” sat there and rolled his mechanical eyes. In fact we queued for 70 minutes (during which entire time the 30 second theme tune was playing in a loop through some very tinny speakers), getting hot, sweaty and irritable, so our son could get his 30 seconds, and we could get some photographic proof of the event so that we would have something to show for our time. We got lucky, as Big Chris could only manage 40 minutes between cups of tea, and clearly the promotions company putting on the (non)show would not stretch their budget to a second Big Chris to fill in the Health and Safety gaps. The people behind us were not so lucky, and the general atmosphere was degenerating quickly into that of a linch mob, so camera and photos grasped firmly in hand, we left in a hurry.

I’m sure Haynes can do better than this. I certainly won’t be planning to go visit Bob the Builder or whatever else they choose to put on.

The highlight of the trip for me was the Ferrari Enzo on display in the supercars room (along with an XJ220, a McLaren GTR and a Ferrari F40). I managed to take some reasonable pictures of the big red beauty in between the kids running past, touching the car, and even sitting on the bonnet! The parents of said darlings walking past too, blissfully unaware of me trying to take my photo, and the fact that their kids were perched in their jeans on the paintwork of an irreplaceable piece of automotive history worth 700 grand. “Oooh that’s a nice one isn’t it?”

What my blog is (and what it’s not)

Posted by David Hurst on August 18, 2008 None comments

It’s sad but I feel the need to clarify what this website is: a personal blog. I use it to provide technical guides and reviews that are pertinent to my line of work, and that I think will be helpful to others. It’s also an opportunity to vent my spleen (which I do regularly) as it is an excellent form of stress relief – try it sometime.

My views are my own. It’s always interesting to hear other viewpoints, and reactions to my posts, so I leave the comments field available for others to contribute. This is largely successful, and WordPress does a reasonable job of killing all the spam, but some comments go straight through, and some I have to moderate.

I was stunned this morning to find some guy had hijacked my well-ranked post about connecting iPhone to SBS2003 and posted a blatant advertisement for his website and services. This is not acceptable. Why would anyone think that it’s acceptable to piggy back on my search engine success and rob my bandwidth for commercial gain?

There are a few discreet adverts on my website, and I get paid for them. Companies that I think are exceptional get links, and I would never consider accepting money for them. People and companies I don’t know that post blatant adverts and links in my comments box are likely to receive the sharp end of my tongue.

Others feel strongly against my views on various issues and write rude and abusive comments. None of these will be published. It’s fine to disagree, because everyone is entitled to their opinion and free speech is one of the principal foundation stones of the Internet, but it is not fine to be rude and abusive to me on my website (you can write whatever you like on your own website).

I write what I think – some will agree, some won’t. I don’t force anybody to read anything.

My various technical articles are very successful, and I love to receive comments of thanks. It’s nice to know you helped someone out or saved them some time.

So, that’s what my blog is about, and providing you don’t post adverts or spam to it, we’ll all get along just fine.