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The Banter Page
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If you're wanting to get something off your chest, make general comments about the server, or post lonely hearts ads, then this is the place for you.
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Annual review...
Another year, another OS upgrade, things sort of work, but also sort of don't... I seem to have broken the Whoops! feature.
Nope
Yet another test
It probably hasn't worked for ages, knowing me
Indeed
There's nothing like working on a live site... staging, we've heard of it. Seems to work now, of a fashion
Whoops?
I think I've used it quite recently. Within the last couple of weeks, surely?
Moi Aussie
I am an Australian. Last week. Saturday, in fact.
What'd you do, Stevie? What'd you do?
Whoops!
It worked on some games, not others. Somehow, an index had got out-of-synch with the actual gameplay, which caused the de-whoopsing to fail. This is a brittle misfeature of the server code, motivated by a desire to keep the number of SQL queries to a minimum, which is probably a somewhat redundant optimisation given the tiny amount of data involved.

Glad to hear that the feature is used by people, though, as going backwards in time is not so straightforward.

Three more hours
Last day of working before two weeks off. It'll be a staycation mostly (we've both had a lot going on this year and we need some space to just be), but we might nip to France for a night to eat the food and stock up in a French hypermarche. On my shopping list: French washing-up liquid, which comes in lots of flavours that are way less boring than the Dutch ones, and a dozen of those glass jars of pates and rilletes that last forever. I'm hungry now.
Where are you going?
[Bis] Wherever it isn't going to be raining in Nord Pas de Calais or Normandy - a comfortable few hours' drive from home in the Netherlands. We're watching the weather radar like a hawk now...
Flaming appliances
I suggest you bring your ironing with you. Many hotels have a steam iron in the room.
[Pen] say hello to the hydrangeas from me. And it's been non-stop rain in Belgium. The choice seems to be drowning in the North and burning in the South.
Found an old forum game . . .
I found an old forum game and it was simply, "Things You Don't Want to See in Your Living Room." But, the point was to be brief, but outlandish. I had put, "A really hairy gorilla shaving his armpits while he sings Handel's Hallelujah chorus."
The game you don't want to see in your living room
[KS] Sounds... interesting! Give it a go - is there a free slot or do we need to make one?
Well, we could put it on Orange if we want guaranteed fast turnover.
House and game
[Bis] August 20 was third anniversary of my house being destroyed. Insurance quit paying everything and had to hire a lawyer and only FINALLY got settlement back in March! I used up ALL of my funds as the lawyer didn't provide any advances for living expenses, so things are always tight for me right now, though trying to get online theatre classes started once I get all of my lessons made.

[pen] Last I saw, a new slot needed to be made.
[Kagome] much sympathy.
Flash - bang
Gotta put this in even though I wrote it in 2010. It's the 65th anniversary of the best thunderstorm I have ever seen, even allowing for distance lending enchantment and teenage impressability. Spoilt for life at the age of 15.
Online Safety Bill
Important service announcement: You may or may not be aware that the UK government has recently passed the Online Safety Bill. This applies to all sites with 'user-generated content', with only a handful of exemptions. (Witless below-the-line comments and fake product reviews will still be allowed.) So this site will be in scope.

OFCOM guidance is apparently forthcoming, but from reading around the Bill, my understanding is that I will be required to ensure all users are of age and further to act proactively to prevent any harmful content appearing on the pages. The consequences of not doing so could result in bankruptcy-inducing fines and/or imprisonment.

Now, obviously, this is ridiculous. This site has been running for just over twenty years (slightly miffed to have missed the anniversary in January, but there we go) in the spirit in which it is intended (notwithstanding the ever-present risk of the Morden spiral and the harm that can come from falling into one of those). So thank you all for being responsible and permitting the existence of a site that is clean, fun and requires zero moderation.

However, unfortunately, unless the guidance this is forthcoming allows the legal obligations to be performed in a light-touch and quasi-autonomous way, I don't see any alternative to pulling down the shutters and saying goodbye to this place. It's not even obvious to me that an archive of the pages can be maintained without verifying the age of anyone wanting to look at it. So archivists might want to get archiving.

In the most sweeping interpretation of this bill, the UK government will have the choice of either fully providing and even externally imposing the verification system -- a stupefying technical undertaking of something like wartime scale -- or forcing nearly every web forum, wiki, etc., that's hosted in the UK out of business or at least offshore and under non-UK proprietorship. I do not see this going well.
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