Charles on… anything that comes along

I’ve always thought Computing magazine’s Backbytes column has the tone just right for a “miscellany”: slightly bemused by the readers and the things they do (like setting records for how many biscuits they can stuff in their mouths), yet indulgent. (Like the Guardian diary but without the whimsy, I guess.) The December 2 issue, for example, has the payoff line in one article “This remorseless application of logic to dispel our lazy assumptions is what marks out IT professionals from the rest of the population. This, and your unusual beards.”

And then there’s the pointer to Blueyonder’s help page for anyone worried about premium-rate diallers - which concludes with the immortal line: Where can I seek further advice?

For further, more detailed advice for removing premium rate dialler software from your PC, we suggest that you call our dedicated Telewest Extended PC Support number on 0906 991 0001. Please note: Calls are charged at £1 per minute, and call charges from mobiles and some other networks may be higher. Tip of the hat to Backbytes, and by proxy Andrew Healing, who pointed them to it.

These posts might be related (the database thinks..):
• Those damn premium diallers, and Apple vs Real (4 August 2004; score: 62.05%)
• Come and hear me drone on about PR and blogs and stuff like that (19 July 2006; score: 45.57%)
• The end of cheap credit means a big shock for those who grew up on it (26 March 2008; score: 38.91%)

Apologies if you’ve tried to post a comment here and had it rejected (after a long wait) with the message “Sorry, you’re banned from commenting on this blog. Either your comment content was found to contain spam, or
your IP address (or a subnet of your IP address) has spammed this blog before.”

I’m going to have to tweak my anti-comment-spam filters as I’ve myself been blocked from commenting three times now, which is ever so slightly embarrassing, and scary. (Paging Dr Frankenstein.. white courtesy phone..)

If this happens to you, reveal the navigation bar of the popup window, press “Back” to get back to the window where you posted your words of wisdom, copy that text, then go back to the main window and click on the headline of the post itself. You’ll then get the post with the comments arrayed underneath, and should be able to comment without harassment.

Update 17:17: I’ve disabled the spam-blocking plugin that was doing this. Let me know if you get blocked while posting a comment.

These posts might be related (the database thinks..):
• Pop go the comments (27 July 2004; score: 44.29%)
• At last, Dave Winer is famous in Illinois, and all because of blocked email (26 August 2004; score: 35.49%)
• This is just *madness*: more than a thousand attempted comment spams a day (7 December 2004; score: 34.15%)