Toy WTF



  • It was my son's birthday recently. We got him a box of Zrtnoybxf(uggc://jjj.zrtnoybxf.pbz/ra-hf/fubc/pbafgehpgvba-gblf/perngr-a-cynl/ohvyq-a-tb-cnq-oblf) - kind of a "lego's-patents-have-expired-so-screw-you-and-the-lawyer-you-rode-in-on" construction toy. If you care to follow the link, you'll see that it comes in a neat little box, the top of which is a base-board. It's got a small stack of cards with plans for a couple of cars, a spaceship and the like.

    It also has an A4 sheet of paper that says at the bottom in 6pt text "Danger - choking hazard not suitable for under 3s" in about fifteen languages. Just above that it says "Please retain for future reference" in the same languages. The rest of the paper (about two thirds of it) is taken up with a diagram showing you how to slide the lid off the box.

    I found it inside the box.

    This has got to be someone's idea of humour, yes? Yes?



    [mod - link removed (well ROT13d) on request of the OP, and brand ROT13'd; if they don't want the traffic, sod 'em - PJH]


  • Well, that's probably about par for the course given that you're getting the cheap knock-off Legos.

    However, TRWTF is the Zrtnoybxf "legal" page (uggc://jjj.zrtnoenaqf.pbz/yrtny):

    "It is forbidden to create a hyperlink to the Site or any part of the Site without our prior written consent."I'd love to know what legal genius came up with that condition and what part of his brain thinks it might be enforceable...



  • @inori said:

    Well, that's probably about par for the course given that you're getting the cheap knock-off Legos.

    However, TRWTF is the Zrtnoybxf "legal" page (uggc://jjj.zrtnoenaqf.pbz/yrtny):

    "It is forbidden to create a hyperlink to the Site or any part of the Site without our prior written consent."I'd love to know what legal genius came up with that condition and what part of his brain thinks it might be enforceable...

    Legal notices are seldom enforceable, they are there simply to scare people using legalese and FUD. It's a numbers game, like spam or ads.


  • Considered Harmful

    @Ronald said:

    @inori said:

    Well, that's probably about par for the course given that you're getting the cheap knock-off Legos.

    However, TRWTF is the Zrtnoybxf "legal" page (uggc://jjj.zrtnoenaqf.pbz/yrtny):

    "It is forbidden to create a hyperlink to the Site or any part of the Site without our prior written consent."I'd love to know what legal genius came up with that condition and what part of his brain thinks it might be enforceable...

    Legal notices are seldom enforceable, they are there simply to scare people using legalese and FUD. It's a numbers game, like spam or ads.

    Wait, aren't inbound links how you build PageRank? Shouldn't they want that?


  • @joe.edwards said:

    @Ronald said:
    @inori said:

    Well, that's probably about par for the course given that you're getting the cheap knock-off Legos.

    However, TRWTF is the Zrtnoybxf "legal" page (uggc://jjj.zrtnoenaqf.pbz/yrtny):

    "It is forbidden to create a hyperlink to the Site or any part of the Site without our prior written consent."I'd love to know what legal genius came up with that condition and what part of his brain thinks it might be enforceable...

    Legal notices are seldom enforceable, they are there simply to scare people using legalese and FUD. It's a numbers game, like spam or ads.

    Wait, aren't inbound links how you build PageRank? Shouldn't they want that?

    They have a kind of written consent (uggc://jjj.zrtnoenaqf.pbz/ebobgf.gkg) for Google...


  • Considered Harmful

    @Ronald said:

    They have a kind of written consent (uggc://jjj.zrtnoenaqf.pbz/ebobgf.gkg) for Google...

    Those look like some interesting URLs to investigate.



  • Hmm. So apparently they use drupal(uggc://jjj.zrtnoenaqf.pbz/vafgnyy.cuc) and didn't bother cleaning up after installation. Cute.



  • @joe.edwards said:

    @Ronald said:
    They have a kind of written consent (uggc://jjj.zrtnoenaqf.pbz/ebobgf.gkg) for Google...

    Those look like some interesting URLs to investigate.

    They are running Drupal, which is a distant cousin* of Community Server. So it's basically bullet-proof.

    * In case you don't know what is a distant cousin, see the answer here.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    Well since they don't want any traffic I've gone through the thread and ROT13d their brand name and any URLs to their site for posterity, rather than remove them completely; since doing so would render the thread less coherent than they usually are on here.



  • They don't want people to link to their website? As these people clearly do not understand the absolute basics of the internet I don't expect them to understand how to operate boxes.



  • @PJH said:

    Well since they don't want any traffic I've abused my mod privilege to make an editorial comment and gone through the thread and ROT13d their brand name and any URLs to their site for posterity, rather than remove them completely; since doing so would render the thread less coherent than they usually are on here.

    EFFed that for you. If you want to make jokes that only mods can make why don't you run a CS server in your basement and let people use public forums as they are meant to.

    Fucking modmeddler.



  • Hey, their site is licensed under the TAH TCY (uggc://jjj.zrtnoenaqf.pbz/YVPRAFR.gkg)! That means we can copy it as long as we share!



  • @inori said:

    "It is forbidden to create a hyperlink to the Site or any part of the Site without our prior written consent."

    The first rule of Zrtnoybxf is that you do not talk about Zrtnoybxf.



  • Amusingly, I think Home Depot or Lowes has a clause in their privacy policy with similar ridiculousness.



    A gem I found at Lowes terms of use is:


    Use any robot, spider, site search/retrieval application, or other manual or automatic device or process to retrieve, index, data mine, or in any way reproduce or circumvent the navigational structure, or presentation of the Site or its contents;




    So Google, don't go here!



  • @flabdablet said:

    <font size="5">The first rule of Zrtnoybxf is that you do not talk about Zrtnoybxf.</font>
    QFT

     



  • @gu3st said:

    Amusingly, I think Home Depot or Lowes has a clause in their privacy policy with similar ridiculousness.



    A gem I found at Lowes terms of use is:


    Use any robot, spider, site search/retrieval application, or other manual or automatic device or process to retrieve, index, data mine, or in any way reproduce or circumvent the navigational structure, or presentation of the Site or its contents;




    So Google, don't go here!

    And we all know the best way to tell search engines not to index your site is to write a clause in your terms of service!



  • If you simplify the Lowe's terms of service by removing excess words, you get: @gu3st said:

    Use any manual device to retrieve the navigational structure, or presentation of the Site or its contents;
    Do not use a web browser to view the Lowe's web site.



  •  Maybe they're not completely certain about the legality of their Lego rip-off, and they think that if they don't advertise too blatantly Lego's lawyers might not notice it.



  • @Malenfant said:

    Maybe they're not completely certain about the legality of their Lego rip-off, and they think that if they don't advertise too blatantly Lego's lawyers might not notice it.

    With a name like Zrtnoybxf, you'r just asking for trouble.

     


  • Trolleybus Mechanic

    @El_Heffe said:

    With a name like Zrtnoybxf, you'r just asking for trouble.
     

    Say that name three times, and your blocks will form into an Eldritch horror. It will rise from beneath the bucket, and force you to endure endless Cthulu memes spouted by a legion of hipsters who have never even read Lovecraft because "reding iz hard lol".



  • @gu3st said:

    Amusingly, I think Home Depot or Lowes has a clause in their privacy policy with similar ridiculousness.



    A gem I found at Lowes terms of use is:


    Use any robot, spider, site search/retrieval application, or other manual or automatic device or process to retrieve, index, data mine, or in any way reproduce or circumvent the navigational structure, or presentation of the Site or its contents;




    So Google, don't go here!

    Site Search/Retrieval application = web browser

    reproduce ... the site or its contents = view the website in the browser

    Just ... Cant ... View .... Lowes ...

    What Really Bothers Me about their terms of use is: "reproduce the navigational structure". Does this mean that Lowes owns the concept of links, navigation buttons, tabs, etc that make up the navigation of a website? Could they claim that "well, we use links to let users navigate around our website, and we clearly state that others can't copy our navigation, so they can't use links"?

    I know that sounds stupid, but similar claims are being made all the time in software patents. I just read one recently which claims to incorporate into a online parking reservation system, the steps required to collect credit card information on a form. Yep -- everyone who ever wrote an website that collects credit card information is in violation of that patent.

    Patenting creative things or non-obvious things is fine; but patenting completely obvious things -- one-click shopping comes to mind -- is really troubling.


  • Considered Harmful

    @DrPepper said:

    @gu3st said:
    Amusingly, I think Home Depot or Lowes has a clause in their privacy policy with similar ridiculousness.



    A gem I found at Lowes terms of use is:


    Use any robot, spider, site search/retrieval application, or other manual or automatic device or process to retrieve, index, data mine, or in any way reproduce or circumvent the navigational structure, or presentation of the Site or its contents;




    So Google, don't go here!

    Site Search/Retrieval application = web browser

    reproduce ... the site or its contents = view the website in the browser

    Just ... Cant ... View .... Lowes ...

    What Really Bothers Me about their terms of use is: "reproduce the navigational structure". Does this mean that Lowes owns the concept of links, navigation buttons, tabs, etc that make up the navigation of a website? Could they claim that "well, we use links to let users navigate around our website, and we clearly state that others can't copy our navigation, so they can't use links"?

    I know that sounds stupid, but similar claims are being made all the time in software patents. I just read one recently which claims to incorporate into a online parking reservation system, the steps required to collect credit card information on a form. Yep -- everyone who ever wrote an website that collects credit card information is in violation of that patent.

    Patenting creative things or non-obvious things is fine; but patenting completely obvious things -- one-click shopping comes to mind -- is really troubling.

    Microsoft Patents Ones, Zeroes




  • @joe.edwards said:

    That's why Intel started selling Pentiumses instead of five-eighty-sixes.



  • @DrPepper said:

    What Really Bothers Me about their terms of use is: "reproduce the navigational structure". Does this mean that Lowes owns the concept of links, navigation buttons, tabs, etc that make up the navigation of a website?  <snip>
     

    No, the idea is the STRUCTURE not the mechanism. What are the departments, sub-departments, cross-lookups, etc....

    This does get interesting from a legal perspective, as topologies have been successfully patented (not just related to software). The question (critical to the validity of their claim) is if the topology represents something that was unique and original at the time of introduction, and is not something that is "inevitable".....

     



  •  Has anyone ever sued the cosmos for the tree structure of life?



  • @Ronald said:

    That's why Intel started selling Pentiumses instead of five-eighty-sixes.
    Technically it was a trademark issue.  They tried to sue AMD for selling 386s and 486s but the Patent and Trademark Office said you can't trademark a number.

    It's a shame, we could all be running our 801786s now.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @dhromed said:

    Has anyone ever sued the cosmos for the tree structure of life?
    No, they don't know where to serve the summons.



  • @dkf said:

    @dhromed said:
    Has anyone ever sued the cosmos for the tree structure of life?
    No, they don't know where to serve the summons.
     

    Just put it wherever.

    Or eat the papers.

    Because after all.

    The cosmos

    is also within us.

    -Karl Sagann


Log in to reply