The Dream Soldier
Should reporting an ad you don't want to see again but it does after choosing "not interested in this ad" count as Idiot Programming? In my opinion, it most certainly does.
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More likely, the system doesn't actually care that you don't want to see the ad again. You're not the customer in this context, after all.
Trouble Cube continues to be a general-purpose forum for those who desire such a thing.
Previous Trope Repair Shop thread: Misused
, started by razorrozar7 on Aug 17th 2017 at 7:01:40 PM
Should the 2018 Tumblr incident qualify? The bot used has become infamous for flagging anything the can be remotely construed as inflammatory, even completely innocent posts have been flagged purely because the bot reads certain key words out of context.
The last sentence of this entry is being edit warred over. Please sort out here whether it fits or not:
- There's one point in X-Men (1993) where you have to literally restart your Genesis to continue. A fun idea in concept that wouldn't normally be considered this, but the issue is that it wasn't thought out too well. For one, a lot of later Genesis models like the Nomad lack a reset button entirely, and powering the system off and then on doesn't count as restarting the system. Even then, it's really finicky on whether or not it actually works, you have to press the reset button just long enough to where it sends the actual signal, or else the game soft resets entirely. If this sounds like a massive pain to deal with regarding the circumstances, don't worry, there's a level select code.
I'm with Malady easily on this. The last bit is just Zero Context. "don't worry, there's a level select code to let you skip this level." and leave it at that. Although it's a slight rewrite(since "part of the game" in their original rewrite is a bit too vague).
It's always important to never assume people know context. And the original example is assume everybody knows how it works. Level Select, even input as a code, can vary among games. Some might still only let you select the specific ones you unlocked. Some might let you go anywhere. Some might depend upon the exact version of the game you're playing(Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles both have unique level select options due to the fact certain levels only work if they're connected to each other). The lack of context is more confusing than it needs to be.
...It's weird having so many websites and no way to properly display now, lol.
I'm with Malady too.
"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
I have never played a game with a code that only lets you go to levels you've unlocked. As for codes that only let you go to specific levels, the only time that's happened was with Game Genie and the like, which aren't even level select codes in the first place.
Edited by pgj1997
That wasn't the point of the example I gave. The point was that without context, quite a few readers won't know exactly the point of even mentioning that. "Level Select" doesn't explain anything at all. How is it being used? Why does it exist?
Never assume readers know the context as is. That's the golden rule here. It's not hard to put a slight few more words to make it entirely clear and concise. Right now it says nothing of use. You also can't use that factor(your personal experience) as an excuse here. Not every game has the same way to get level select as is. Some are purely gameshark codes, that don't properly skip a level at all, so much as entirely dictate where you go into the game, and saves to one file, not the file you entirely selected by default(Super Mario 64 does this. Level Select is not a normal option whatsoever).
When you input level select into the Sonic games, especially 3, as well as Knuckles, you actually cannot access certain levels. So it actually does matter whether you combine the game or not, or who you specifically have as your playable character. The context matters in this case, because it's entirely unclear what you can do just by saying it has a level select code. Even moreso, the fact we don't say what the level select code is could be a lack of context too. But that's arguable of whether we should bother listing that bit. Just saying it exists means people will look for it if they play the game. But it doesn't tell him how the code exactly works or how it's used(which is the context needed to make the example work).
Edited by Irene ...It's weird having so many websites and no way to properly display now, lol.
How about we Take a Third Option and not mention the level select at all? Strictly speaking, the fact that you can skip this portion that way doesn't have any effect on the fact that it's terribly designed.
Trouble Cube continues to be a general-purpose forum for those who desire such a thing.
Given that there are at least three examples related to IBM (A20 line in the AT, Deskstar, and RANDU), would it be time to give IBM its own folder? If so, I'd like to suggest that it be called "IBM: Someone Should Have Been Fired for Buying These".
Since I don't want to enter into an edit war over an example, here's why I think Dwarf Fortress, as alpha software, doesn't really belong on this page:
Unfinished software that isn't being marketed as RC or final and doesn't contain blatant wtfs in the code itself isn't really inside the scope of this article, because it is very unlikely that it's actually good - a 'half-decent' pre-alpha build is one that doesn't corrupt your database, delete the backup, set fire to your processor, lose all your life's savings, alpha strike your office, steal your girlfriend, and leak memory.
In this case, you're telling us that performance issues are unacceptable in a debugging build. At this stage, the focus is on making the game stable, not on making it perform well.
Edited by 77.103.132.189 Hide / Show Replies
I was wondering why Dwarf Fortress didn't get a mention.
There is one issue that seems glaringly bad: there is no real quit running this program option other than using Task Manager to kill the program.
Probably because the game is the result of a one-man devteam working for years to create a game that's simulating an entire world down to the most granular detail.
.Also I'm pretty sure that was patched out a few years ago,.
Why is "The You Testament" mentioned twice in this article?
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Mistake, probably. Doesn't need two mentions, I'd say.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
is "Always on DRM" this? It may not achieve what they want, but it works like it's programmed too.
These are not programming errors, they're just stupidity so I moved them here. Feel free to put em back if you disagree.
- Sony blamed the massive Playstation Network outage of April 2011 on a "external intrusion." How did this happen? Sony was running a version of Apache with known vulnerabilities for two months.
- It gets worse: Eighty million names, addresses, birthdates and hashed passwords were stolen, it seems the PSN servers stored them all in plain text. They transmitted credit card details using HTTP GET (that is, directly in the url). Unencrypted.
- StarForce doesn't have a very good track record when it comes to DRM in the first place: When people were complaining about how shoddy it was, how easy it was to bypass, and how very many OSes it had destroyed, one StarForce employee responded that the product prevented piracy by providing a link to a torrent for Galactic Civilizations 2, a game that doesn't have any DRM measures in place. Video game media quite accurately pointed out that StarForce was running a protection racket: protect your games with our DRM, or we'll point people to pirated copies of your game (the employee in question was reprimanded and the company disavowed his actions, but it did not help the company's standing at that particular time).
Would Print Music 2011 qualify? It apparently doesn't run properly on Windows 7, despite the fact that Windows 7 came out in 2009. What.
Edited by TheMartianGeek1
Further to the problems with the X Box 360 RROD problem. This had a partial cause in the changes to the worldwide regulations regarding use of lead in solder. New regulations meant that lead-free solder had to be used in pretty much any hardware potentially accessible by the end user. Trouble is, lead-free solder requires a higher temperature and different types of flux in order to maintain the correct consistency for adhering components to the board. This meant that under rapid temperature changes, the solder would crack, losing the connection.
Several manufacturing plants in places like Indonesia, Malaysia, China, India etc. switched to using lead0free solder without replacing the flux or fixing the soldering temp. Meaning many, many bits of hardware coming from those plants ended up faulty.
This wasn't a problem with just consoles, either. Talk to any large organisation that has bought large amounts of hardware that tends to be subject to rapid temperature changes, such as printers, plotters or photocopiers, you will probably find that large percentages of them developed faults. In one place I worked at, HP printer network cards had to be removed and cooked (in an actual oven, insert IANMTU disclaimer here) in order to get them working again.
On some un indexed horrible page, I found this.
- DEC Rainbow: To get a reformatted floppy, you could only order one from the manufacturer. The computer itself could not format its own floppies.
re:Cut
This needs clearing up to distinguishing itself from So Bad Its Horrible-Video Games or Software.
First we're not generally interested in software. Bad video game software and hardware is relevant to our interests not much else. The page isn't too bad on this effect but there are large sections talking about Flash- I don't care.
Second, keep it to the programming. Bad game design, mundanity in gameplay, bad visuals etc. are worthy of So Bads Its Horrible perhaps but are not Programming. Superman64 was shit for many reasons but if crashes, breaking frames and numerous bugs wasn't among them then it doesn't belong here.
Generally, the page is in fact useful and relevant. Genius Programming can be about those games which were technological leaps, impressive use of limited technology, things that changed the conceptions of what was possible. This can be about those games that just wouldn't work: the crashes, the bugs, the infuriating lost of saved games.
Edited by SomeSortOfTroper Hide / Show Replies
Idiot programming encompasses more than video games. Just because *you* don't care about horrible general computing applications doesn't mean it applies to every other troper; the large section talking about Flash is evidence of that. I agree with keeping it to the programming as far as video games, but if something was obviously left out of a game that could have been easily implemented, it does belong here. Just because most Atari 2600 games don't immediately crash doesn't mean some of them weren't made by code monkeys.
Imagine that when I was saying "I don't care" I was speaking in an official staff capacity because I was. If someone made a page to talk derogatively about general computing applications then I would take it as being off the wiki's mission and cut it. It is only the ability to be applied to the fields that this wiki cares about that saved it.
The fact that tropers were willing to write about flash on the wiki? Big yawn. Tropers were willing to talk about cat rearing. Tropers have a tendecy to talk about just about anything if you let them.
If something was obviously left out of a game that could have been easily implemented... then there's laziness, timing, budget and just plain old stupidity. If you can't frame it in terms of programming and make it a programming problem and inform me as to why this belong on a page with programming in the title then the page has too broad a focus to not devolve.
Flash is an interesting case, since as a media platform, it actually is fairly relevant to the wiki's mission. I agree that the page complains too much about Flash, but it's not as irrelevant as, say, Windows Live Mail.
For now, it'll take a while to get things sorted out and cleaned up, but I don't mind giving it a shot.
Edited by infraredshirt
About the "mandatory phone number for Discord"... I'm a regular Discord user, created a second account some two years ago, and wasn't asked for phone number.
This might be due to being European (and thus, having GDPR), though.
"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."