Chet – I just really found it weird that you knew entity codes but didn’t know how blogs like WordPress work.

If you mean codes for italics, etc – they never change. And I had a liking for “secret codes” as a kid; basic HTML plays into that same mindset.

People learn differently, I guess.

That’s it exactly.

It’d be easier to remember if everybody had the same standards, but with so many different, competing blog backends, that’s not likely to happen any time soon.

Yes, that’s what I meant. (Though I wouldn’t use those words, <g>) The HTML itself is standardized, but the uses that are allowed are not. And I visit so many different blogs – with different “backends” – that I haven’t yet got a handle on what works where.

Like I said sorry for not making sense.

Not a problem; at least now I know there’s something else out there. Old dogs learn slower, but we do learn. One of these days, I’ll get it all figured out, but I find that I don’t learn something new until I, personally, feel the need to use the information. Till then, as a 55-year-old non-techie, I’m quite pleased with myself. When I went to college, an electric typewriter was hot stuff; I’ve come a long way, baby!

I learned what very little HTML I know by being given the codes, and trying it, and it worked. “SQL-based backend that doesn’t strip HTML for safety’s sake” means absolutely nothing to me.

Wow, really?

I apologize for my tone, I just really found it weird that you knew entity codes but didn’t know how blogs like WordPress work. I’ve been developing half-assed webpages for years now and I still have to look up entities in a book if I want to use them. People learn differently, I guess.

I didn’t mean to shoot a bunch of jargon at you.

Things would be a lot easier if HTML / web actions were standardized

Well, HTML is standardized. Different blogging software, though, allows different HTML tags in posts. If they allowed every tag, you could make a post that disseminated malicious code to everybody that viewed your post. So they strip all HTML tags but a few exceptions (the style codes, basically.)

Different blogs, different exceptions. Some strict software strips all the codes. It’d be easier to remember if everybody had the same standards, but with so many different, competing blog backends, that’s not likely to happen any time soon.

Like I said sorry for not making sense. Back to your regularly scheduled topic!

Unrepentant White Racist #1, circa 1920: What’s all this whining about lynching?

UWR2: Tosh! Bunch of drivel!

UWR1: I mean, they say they face this threat of violence that white people don’t face. Can’t be true — I’VE never felt threatened by lynching! Have YOU, Fellow White Person?

UWR2: Not at all. Our white experience of relative safety disproves non-whites’ claims of raced-based violence. Impeccable logic.

UWR1: And anyway, murder is ALREADY illegal, people. Hel-LO! They HAVE recourse — in the form a legal system that I know benefits ME, and so I’m pretty sure that means it’s fair for everybody.

UWR2: How right you are. There’s no threat at all. Nothing even to talk about, really… why are they overreacting?

UWR1: What they’re PROBABLY talking about – and I know this because my experience is universal – is just the normal everyday business of dealing with jerks.

UWR2: Jerks, yes. Threats of lynching = jerkiness.

UWR1: Well, I’ll tell you: I have to deal with jerks. You don’t see me complaining, do you?

UWR2: Nope, you and I are paragons of dealing effectively with jerks. One needs to develop a thick skin, is all.

UWR1: Exactly – a thick skin!! It’s an essential skill. And these people wonder why they’re not more successful!

libdevil: The blogger “code of conduct” has been widely criticized by just about everyone, including those who spoke out in defense of Kathy Sierra. That’s not the issue.

The problem is that he belittled Sierra and dismissed her valid concerns. The “if you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen” line of thinking is obnoxious. Why should it be acceptable or expected for bloggers to receive death threats and hateful, sexualized attacks? Is that the kind of public space we want to inhabit? Further, Sierra’s no controversial, in-your-face political blogger who could expect to get hate mail. The woman writes a freaking tech blog for Christ’s sake.

Too much of the commentary on these events has been smug, macho (masochistic?) “well I got hate mail and I wasn’t a whiny bitch about it” stuff that doesn’t address the real problem.

Exactly. Christ. It’s like the difference between saying, “I think that VAWA will fail to prevent violence against women because…” and, “I think that VAWA isn’t necessary because most women lie about being raped and get all hysterical about the threat of rape. I got shoved by some drunk guy in a bar once. Suck it up, ladies!”

and quite the sociopath judging from his usual posts.