Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Charles Stross’s website hates me
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Wandering the theoretical if not downright imaginary corridors of the internet this late afternoon I found myself at Charles Stross’s personal website. This is not a terribly unusual sort of happening in and of itself, however as my gaze tracked down the screen it came to rest upon something sitting there so unassumingly at the bottom of the bullet point list as to be easily overlooked. Something that shocked and delighted me. A link labeled simply “Bug me by email”.
One click and before me boldly titled “Send mail to Charlie Stross” was a simple form (rendered in rather dreadful Easter egg colors) a form for submitting email directly to Charles Stross. It requested the sender’s email address, the subject and the message text. Of course I had to send him something. I was here wasn’t I? It was only polite… because as we all know I am NOT a stalker.
So this is what I wrote.
______________________________________________
Subject: In joyful remembrance of the terrible lurking unknown
Dear Mr. Stross,
Stumbling upon your web site today I feel compelled to take this random opportunity to thank you personally for your participation in the H. P. Lovecraft panel at Denvention 3 this past month. It was one of the most memorable moments of my convention experience… and not just because I happened to be sober when it occurred.
Many thanks.
Be well.
The Urban Elf
___________________________________________
Then I smilingly clicked upon the “Submit Query” button and I was suddenly smiling no more as I was confronted by this…
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Bogus content
Due to comment spam received in the past couple of days, this script has implemented spam checking. You appear to be using a spamming tool or attempting a buffer overrun attack. This mail has not been sent. Please accept my apologies if you are indeed a legitimate user.
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It would appear that Mr. Stross is skipping hand in hand with the zeitgeist of the Cthulian mythos. Setting pastel painted electronic traps bent on the inducement of insanity in those who would wander into certain seemingly harmless quadrants of the internet. Clever. Very clever. And eeeeeeeee-vil. No wonder he was so good on that panel.
Wandering the theoretical if not downright imaginary corridors of the internet this late afternoon I found myself at Charles Stross’s personal website. This is not a terribly unusual sort of happening in and of itself, however as my gaze tracked down the screen it came to rest upon something sitting there so unassumingly at the bottom of the bullet point list as to be easily overlooked. Something that shocked and delighted me. A link labeled simply “Bug me by email”.
One click and before me boldly titled “Send mail to Charlie Stross” was a simple form (rendered in rather dreadful Easter egg colors) a form for submitting email directly to Charles Stross. It requested the sender’s email address, the subject and the message text. Of course I had to send him something. I was here wasn’t I? It was only polite… because as we all know I am NOT a stalker.
So this is what I wrote.
______________________________________________
Subject: In joyful remembrance of the terrible lurking unknown
Dear Mr. Stross,
Stumbling upon your web site today I feel compelled to take this random opportunity to thank you personally for your participation in the H. P. Lovecraft panel at Denvention 3 this past month. It was one of the most memorable moments of my convention experience… and not just because I happened to be sober when it occurred.
Many thanks.
Be well.
The Urban Elf
___________________________________________
Then I smilingly clicked upon the “Submit Query” button and I was suddenly smiling no more as I was confronted by this…
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bogus content
Due to comment spam received in the past couple of days, this script has implemented spam checking. You appear to be using a spamming tool or attempting a buffer overrun attack. This mail has not been sent. Please accept my apologies if you are indeed a legitimate user.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
It would appear that Mr. Stross is skipping hand in hand with the zeitgeist of the Cthulian mythos. Setting pastel painted electronic traps bent on the inducement of insanity in those who would wander into certain seemingly harmless quadrants of the internet. Clever. Very clever. And eeeeeeeee-vil. No wonder he was so good on that panel.
