I think the problem is if the ads weren't so intrusive, folks wouldn't go looking for an ad blocker (or write one). I think I was first annoyed (that I can recall) by the "hit the monkey" ads. I didn't click it however it was distracting. I started in on hosts file but eventually I found ABP and started using that. I use a tablet for much of my off-computer browsing and there are enough crazy ads that my browser crashes to the home screen several times a week. Just this morning I went to a news site and there was a video which auto-started.

That means you'll have more of a problem getting people off of ABP than if the ads weren't so intrusive in the beginning as to have folks looking for a solution like ABP. Heck, new users now are inundated by intrusive ads and popups not to mention drive by malware. Folks like me recommend ABP and NoScript by default.

[John]

You could try meetup as well. We have a large RPG meetup group in Denver (over 1000 members with over 2000 games since 2006). There are a few others including board game meetups.

[John]

I didn't realize there was a "men's" chess league. Why is there a "woman's" chess league?

[John]

Ahh, that explains the regulatory issues. Thanks.

[John]

For those of us who don't know, a "selfie stick" is just a long pole or boom with a mount for a phone so you can take a picture from farther away or without the phone being in the picture.

I've seen them mostly for folks riding on the dirt where they have a GoPro or something on the end and are taking shots of the front of the vehicle zooming through the dirt.

[John]

Sounds like a HOA.

[John]

Not zealotry. I'm not a fan of having to install extra software such as Ruby or other agents on every server. If I can't manage every server with the tool, then I continue using what I do now or look for a tool that doesn't need an agent. Heck, security requirements make installing extra software a bear due to dependencies. I have to manually install and chase down the additional packages. We have quite a few older systems which don't support these agents, even cfengine. So having an agentless tool to do configuration management is the goal. I am considering Ansible but if it doesn't work, I'll continue to use my ssh based scripts.

[John]

Yea, we're evaluating config management tools and have excluded puppet and chef specifically because it requires a ruby instance.

[John]

Why not? I'm using it for a couple of my sites. Comments must be approved by me and I've locked down access to the admin directory to only accept logins from my home machine.

Instead of saying "Why?", provide suggestions as to a good replacement.

"WordPress has so many security holes mostly due to unsecure themes and plugins. Why not use Drupal or at least make sure you follow these steps to secure your site."

It's just annoying to hear "what a piece of shit, what idiot uses [whatever you don't particularly like]?" Folks like me will simply disregard your comment as unhelpful and continue using whatever software (or Wine or Whiskey or Car or Programming Language or Beer or Blog Software or Linux distro (or BSD distro)) you don't particularly like.

[John]

Yep. I have to approve all comments.

[John]

Agree. It saves hardware and the hassle of troubleshooting problems caused by poor power conditioning. I have UPSs on my computer and gateway/cable box. During a power outage (seldom, I admit), I can still access the internet :)

[John]

The one that sneaks in ad emails at the top of your inbox so you click on it by accident? I've done that a few times when the connection is slow. Rat bastards.

[John]

It was a combination of similar events. He'd been caught taking video inside the company, walking around with his iPad up and recording. Evernote was the well known trigger. And he was a manager (still is just somewhere else). We are pretty picky about electronics. The sign at the front entrance says we're not allowed to bring in USB keys and other personal electronics (like laptops or wireless only tablets). But again, that is more to the "don't let personal devices access the corporate wired/wireless network" and "don't plug personal USB keys into your laptop or the servers". The company supplies hardened USB keys if necessary. Heck, we're not permitted to take pictures of servers in the data center. I have access to the data center archives so can use company approved server images (helps when we have remote hands out and we don't want the wrong server powered off).

I will say that the company deals with human lives in the US and Canada on a daily basis. We were even the subject of a recent Slashdot article :)

[John]

Not just no, but fuck no.

Having internal company correspondence, communication between groups and corporate offices will have valuable company information in Facebook's hands. We've had people walked out, fired, for using Evernote in meetings.

Remember what Zuckerman said.

[John]