WANTED: SOFTWARE INVENTIONS

[Hicks]

By "mental", you mean "mentally unstable", "mentally disturbed",
"insane" or "just plain ga-ga"?
This use of the word "mental", correctly meaning "pertaining to the
mind", is annoying me.

I think it's fairly clear what the meaning is in this context.

 

[Paul Lutus]

Joona I Palaste wrote:

/ ...

By "mental", you mean "mentally unstable", "mentally disturbed",
"insane" or "just plain ga-ga"?
This use of the word "mental", correctly meaning "pertaining to the
mind", is annoying me.

In American slang, its meaning is clear (deranged), and I understand your
frustration with the use of an apparently neutral term to mean something
specific.

You may or may not know this, but Americans have as many slang terms for
"crazy" as a typical culture has for "drunk." Strange as it may sound, even
the word "postal" has been known to be applied in this context.

 

[Larry Barowski]

Joona I Palaste wrote:
/ ...

In American slang, its meaning is clear (deranged), and I understand your
frustration with the use of an apparently neutral term to mean something
specific.

You may or may not know this, but Americans have as many slang terms for
"crazy" as a typical culture has for "drunk." Strange as it may sound, even
the word "postal" has been known to be applied in this context.

I believe the origin of this use of "mental" is Scottish,
though it has certainly spread to America.

 

[Jim Cochrane]

Some observations:

Your site opens 3 popup windows, while at the same time is asking me
to install GAIN.

GAIN is spyware. They are taking advantage of the people's lack of IT
knowledge in order to sell personal information about them. In fact,
currently, GAIN is regarded as a threat by antivirus products or
spyware removal tools. Any person/website associating with them are
compromised.

...

Good points, but there is one problem: you're giving him tips on how to
not look like a slimeball. He might use them.

 

[Jim Cochrane]

Here is the latest stunt this parasite has gotten himself involved in
(combine the next two lines in your browser's address bar to see the search
result):

http://groups.google.com/groups?safe=images&ie=UTF-8
&[email protected]&as_scoring=d&lr=&hl=en

(click the first link in the resulting list)

A quote:

"Customer X buys my application. He installs the application on his
computer and opens the workbook. This sends an email to me with the
message. 'User X opened TestMarket.xls'"

"This is a sneaky way for me to know who is using my application. Is it
also possible to tell OUTLOOK and/or OUTLOOK EXPRESS not to save a
copy of the sent email?"

IMO, there is one advantage (to potential victims) of him making his
schemes so public: It makes it much easier to see what he's up to. I think
it's very likely there are much smarter scammers who are asking such
questions, but in a private context where they are asking a person they
"can trust". IOW, there are much more dangerous con artists in the world.

 

[Jim Cochrane]

Yes, Mr. Shark?

Here's the latest on Guzman. He posted this same advertisement in
comp.programming yesterday, but the operators promptly deleted it for
cause.

...

Guzman, every time you post here (meaning anywhere on Usenet), I will post
more information about your sleazy scams.

Why not just post them (in an appropriate group, with a post in this
thread pointint to it), rather than waiting for a reason. This will be
helpful to potential victims.

 

[Jim Cochrane]

Evidence that this person is not very good at business or marketing:

You harbor a lot of anger don't you. You don't know a damn thing about
me. I saw your website and there is absolutely nothing on your webiste
of any value to society.

Emotional statement not grounded in reality - It's apparent to anyone
browsing his site that Mr. Lutus makes several contributions available,
for no charge, that have "value to society."

Disregard Paul's post. He is nothing,
but a loser, who for whatever eason, has decided to become the chief
of police for thisw NG.

Another emotional statement, insulting the person he is responding to.
Even if Paul were criticizing him unfairly, responding with insults is an
unprofessional action for a business person with integrity and indicates
lack of either training, competence, or a proper sense of business ethics.
It gives a bad impression of him, which gives a bad impression of his
advertised services.

I don;t report to you Paul, so please take your shit someplace else.

Such language, though appropriate in some contexts, is not appropriate
in this context - a thread started by someone trying to sell a product.

Any bright programmers with real software
products, in the areas that I mentioned in my post, please contact me.
If you software fills a need in the market or solves a problem not
currently addressed, I definitely what to know about.

Advertising in an inappropriate group - a technical group whose purpose is
discussion of technical matters, not advertising a service or product.
His original post, of course, has the same problem.

 

[Grant Wagner]

Not in IE with the Google toolbar (popup blocker enabled), IE in Windows XP Service Pack 2 (popup blocking set to the default
configuration), or Firefox 0.9.3 (or any Gecko-based browser for that matter). Several "Internet Security" products also
block unrequested popups.

The GAIN install attempt must be targeted at one of the new windows, since with the popups blocked, I never receive a request
to install GAIN.

Unfortunately, informing comp.lang.java.programmer of ways of securing their browsers against the likes of Marcello do Guzman
is unlikely to help the millions of uninformed personal computer users blissfully downloading GAIN, Gator, CosmicCursor and
Emoticon Toolbars.