Well, a new era has begun. The UIDs have rolled over to 7 digits. richardcpeterson has registered Slashdot UID 1,000,000. If you had been following my UID creation notes, you probably predicted, as I had, that that would happen sometime this summer. Unfortunately, I haven't been keeping up with those notes, and I wasn't paying close enough attention to when it actually happened. My estimates based on the previous data had put it sometime in July, but according to (currently) his only post, the account was created on September 02, 2006.

The post makes it sound as if it was a coincidence, but it's a bit hard to believe since over 100 UIDs prior are just six-letter garbage account names. On the other hand, NiceRoundNumber and million+one seem to have been trying to get clever numbers for their UIDs, so maybe richardcpeterson got lucky. I'm actually a bit surprised that there wasn't a story posted to the front-page about it. I know CmdrTaco doesn't care for "navel gazing," as he calls it, but it does seem like something of an event. Maybe when it hits 10^9.

Of course, the best part is that now us 6-digit UIDs have people to look down on. ;)

I haven't written in a while, so I thought I'd do a cool one today. This journal entry is all about users who made it difficult to view their user page. Clicking on a regular link of their name will take you to Slashdot's 404 page. The reason is that each name has a forward slash in it, which makes it into a non-existent URL. I believe Slashdot must have changed its username filter because all of the names have fairly low UIDs.

I found too many of these to list in one journal, so I'll just throw out some that I think are interesting. Here they are in UID order (with links that will actually work):

• /dev/null (12840): Slashdot wouldn't be complete without the world eater.
• /dev/reality (13787): Right behind him comes the illusion we all deny.
• rm -rf / (19757): Don't do it! You have too much to live for! (No wait, this is Slashdot.)
• /\/\acGyver (24668): The MacDaddy of cunning escapes.
• /. (33569): This looks familiar.
• / (33804): NoDot.
• /dev/chick (33950): If only.
• /.org (61541): A little more formal this time.
• call/cc (63564): Shift! Reset!
• /dev/dsp (72880): I wonder what Slashdot sounds like...
• // (81289): Double toothpick.
• 10/6 (99229): Why is a raven like a writing desk?
• 4/3PI*R^3 (102276): But what about surface area?
• 4/3PI*R^3 (102278): Notice anything odd about this entry and the last?
• |/\|00|y-/\/\a/\/\0t (106204): Username truncation strikes again.
• /usr/bin/perl (116592): One of my favorite interpreters.
• the /dev/null (129693): An imposter! No dice, buddy, we know the real one's identity.
• ./. (134619): You can also visit his bizarro twin.
• /. 24/7 (138596): That might be going a bit overboard.
• /dot (141180): A shoddy imitation.
• []D [] []\/[] []D (155168): I have no idea. But it looks cool.
• http://gunk.net/ (171788): The only web address username that I've seen. Unfortunately, now defunct.
• !@#$%&^*123?/ (182610): UIDs 182611, 182612, and 182614 look similar. Cat walking on a keyboard? Perl? Who knows.
• \\x/hite \\/ampire (185046): Be careful what you say about vampires.
• Bored S/W Engineer (186788): Slashdot's main demographic: the bored at work.
• /[^a-zA-Z]/ (202895): Alphabet-ical.
• /* The commentor */ (203263): He doesn't just save the world, he tells you how it's done.

Did I miss any that you think are cool? Post it and spread the love.