From Newsgroup: comp.misc

Warning - slight rant content.

I've been coming across multiple instances where a program displays what appears to be a prompt screen, e.g. "Choose between cash or card." only
to immediately display some other screen. In the example given, on a self-checkout device, if the only option is card, then it goes
immediately to the screen telling me to use my card.

I thought this practice might reflect the Android development
environment, but I see it (as in my example) on machines that are
running some version of Windows.

I don't understand this philosophy. It's bad enough that user interface
seems to have degenerated to the point where there is no feedback as to whether one has managed to select something, other than an eventual
response which sometimes takes a minute (yes, that's a separate gripe).
But these days one doesn't even know whether a selection is required.

I've even tried to select something only to select something completely different, and unwanted, on the subsequent screen.

Every paragraph above, except the first, starts with 'I'. Hmmm....

Sylvia.
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From Newsgroup: comp.misc

Sylvia Else:

Warning - slight rant content.

I've been coming across multiple instances where a program
displays what appears to be a prompt screen, e.g. "Choose
between cash or card." only to immediately display some
other screen. In the example given, on a self-checkout
device, if the only option is card, then it goes
immediately to the screen telling me to use my card.
[...]

This happens when UI is renamed into UX (Usee eXploitation,
(c) xwindows), and its design delegated to artists instead
of interface engineers.

I had a funny bug on my OnePlus A5. When a talk over the
phone ended, I would take the phone away from my ear and
press the /Hand up/ button. Half the time, however, the
other party would hang up first and the call window with the
/Hang up/ button would disappear just before I tapped it.
As the result, my tap would land smack dab on the person I
just called, on the underlying /Contacts/ window and
initiate dialing. I have dumbphone now, but modern
dumbphones are all dumper interface-wise than my dear
Siemens C25, from 1995.

Railroad ticket-vending machines here in Russia play a dirty
trick on anybody wishing to buy a physical ticket, instead
of adding funds to a transport card. The first time you
press /Single ride/, you end up in a window that has no
option for buying a physical ticket. You have to press
/Back/ and then go to /Single ride/ again. That's a cruel
way of discouraging the use of normal tickets and imposing
transport cards.
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From Newsgroup: comp.misc

On 17/03/2025 04:49, Sylvia Else wrote:

Warning - slight rant content.

I've been coming across multiple instances where a program displays what appears to be a prompt screen, e.g. "Choose between cash or card." only
to immediately display some other screen. In the example given, on a self-checkout device, if the only option is card, then it goes
immediately to the screen telling me to use my card.

This to me sounds like your local program is engaging a communication
with a remote program, driving the commands to the latter as if a
physical user was there.

Maybe the latter program, some payment processor I guess?, is a HTTP web
page delivered encrypted from elsewhere over HTTPS, and is very locked
down with regard to possible API routes and return responses? Your local program is unable to shield you from this clunkiness, in fact it
probably is unable to "see" any of it due to the encryption.

I thought this practice might reflect the Android development
environment, but I see it (as in my example) on machines that are
running some version of Windows.

If the above, this would display identically on various different OS's.

I don't understand this philosophy. It's bad enough that user interface seems to have degenerated to the point where there is no feedback as to whether one has managed to select something, other than an eventual
response which sometimes takes a minute (yes, that's a separate gripe).
But these days one doesn't even know whether a selection is required.

Flat UI, and bad low contrast of radio buttons, are bad. Even worse is
forcing these systems on people that are not the best experienced at IT,
have vision and keyboard/mouse operation issues, but need to use it to
order medication.

I've even tried to select something only to select something completely different, and unwanted, on the subsequent screen.

Every paragraph above, except the first, starts with 'I'. Hmmm....

I do something similar with some systems, just to break them ;-)
--
Adrian C
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From Newsgroup: comp.misc

Adrian Caspersz <email@here.invalid> wrote or quoted:

I do something similar with some systems, just to break them ;-)

|I generally get best results by writing a test program that
|no sane user would ever think of writing. My test programs
|are intended to break the system
Donald E. Knuth


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From Newsgroup: comp.misc



On Mon, 17 Mar 2025, Anton Shepelev wrote:

Railroad ticket-vending machines here in Russia play a dirty

Oh, you are in russia? Tell me, when do you think Putin will fall? Will he have a brutus moment?

And what about the economy? Is it as bad as western news say it is?
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From Newsgroup: comp.misc

On Mon, 17 Mar 2025 14:19:26 +0300, Anton Shepelev wrote:

Railroad ticket-vending machines here in Russia play a dirty trick on
anybody wishing to buy a physical ticket, instead of adding funds to a transport card.

The term for that is “dark patterns”.
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From Newsgroup: comp.misc

D:

Oh, you are in russia?

Yes.

Tell me, when do you think Putin will fall? Will he have a
brutus moment?

I don't know, but if he does fall, we are going to have some
bloodshed, so I fear that moment, especially while Russia is
at war.

And what about the economy? Is it as bad as western news
say it is?

The economy is only too good, seeing how much money is
wasted on reconstructions in my hometown, &c.
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From Newsgroup: comp.misc



On Tue, 18 Mar 2025, Anton Shepelev wrote:

D:

Oh, you are in russia?

Yes.

Tell me, when do you think Putin will fall? Will he have a
brutus moment?

I don't know, but if he does fall, we are going to have some
bloodshed, so I fear that moment, especially while Russia is
at war.

So you don't think he has prepared a mini-Tsar to take over? Or will there
be an all out war among his crown-princes?

And what about the economy? Is it as bad as western news
say it is?

The economy is only too good, seeing how much money is
wasted on reconstructions in my hometown, &c.

Exactly what I suspected! A lot of businesses are done through the dirka-dirka-stan countries according to an old acquaintance who has
relatives there.

How is the inflation?

And what do you think about the contested land areas in Ukraine?
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From Newsgroup: comp.misc

On Tue, 18 Mar 2025 23:00:06 +0100
D <nospam@example.net> wrote:

On Tue, 18 Mar 2025, Anton Shepelev wrote:

D:

Oh, you are in russia?

Yes.

Tell me, when do you think Putin will fall? Will he have a
brutus moment?

I don't know, but if he does fall, we are going to have some
bloodshed, so I fear that moment, especially while Russia is
at war.

So you don't think he has prepared a mini-Tsar to take over? Or will there be an all out war among his crown-princes?

And what about the economy? Is it as bad as western news
say it is?

The economy is only too good, seeing how much money is
wasted on reconstructions in my hometown, &c.

Exactly what I suspected! A lot of businesses are done through the dirka-dirka-stan countries according to an old acquaintance who has relatives there.

How is the inflation?

And what do you think about the contested land areas in Ukraine?

I suggest any Russian posting to an open forum would be wise to ignore
your attempts to goad them into posting an unsafe opinion.
--
Bah, and indeed Humbug.
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From Newsgroup: comp.misc



On Wed, 19 Mar 2025, Kerr-Mudd, John wrote:

On Tue, 18 Mar 2025 23:00:06 +0100
D <nospam@example.net> wrote:

On Tue, 18 Mar 2025, Anton Shepelev wrote:

D:

Oh, you are in russia?

Yes.

Tell me, when do you think Putin will fall? Will he have a
brutus moment?

I don't know, but if he does fall, we are going to have some
bloodshed, so I fear that moment, especially while Russia is
at war.

So you don't think he has prepared a mini-Tsar to take over? Or will there >> be an all out war among his crown-princes?

And what about the economy? Is it as bad as western news
say it is?

The economy is only too good, seeing how much money is
wasted on reconstructions in my hometown, &c.

Exactly what I suspected! A lot of businesses are done through the
dirka-dirka-stan countries according to an old acquaintance who has
relatives there.

How is the inflation?

And what do you think about the contested land areas in Ukraine?

I suggest any Russian posting to an open forum would be wise to ignore
your attempts to goad them into posting an unsafe opinion.

It is my firm belief that russians are adults and entirely capable of
making their own decisions. Thank you very much for your concern.
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From Newsgroup: comp.misc

D to Anton Shepelev:

I don't know, but if he does fall, we are going to have
some bloodshed, so I fear that moment, especially while
Russia is at war.

So you don't think he has prepared a mini-Tsar to take
over?

Mini-tsar?! No, I think this a problem with both Putin and
Lukashenko: by preventing any real legal opposition and
competition, they have removed any strong future candidates,
as well. But Lukashenko at least publicly admints that he
is a "outgoing politician".

Or will there be an all out war among his crown-princes?

Not an all-out war I think, but some criminal wars are
possible, what with the Prigozhine mutiny. And once it
starts, foreign armies may invade Russia as well, exactly as
it happened during the so-called Allied Intervention.

The economy is only too good, seeing how much money is
wasted on reconstructions in my hometown, &c.

Exactly what I suspected! A lot of businesses are done
through the dirka-dirka-stan countries according to an old
acquaintance who has relatives there.

You mean parallel import to bypass the sanctions? This is
just one of the factors.

How is the inflation?

Quite high, thanks to the colonial policy of our Central
Bank. Did you know that /nobody/ was punished for letting
the West steal $3e12 of Russian reserves, by keeping
them in the banks of our geopolitical enemies?
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From Newsgroup: comp.misc

D:

And what do you think about the contested land areas in Ukraine?

This purposes of the "special operation" were rather vague
from the very beginning. If it is a mere quibble for "territory",
it will end in a flimsy temporary peace at best. When Germany
invated Soviet Union in 1941, the offical Soviet announcement
said clearly:

Our cause is just.
The enemy shall be defeated.
Victory shall be ours.

It was broadcast when the German Blitzkrieg was steamrolling
over Soviet land at full speed. For a comparison...
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On Thu, 20 Mar 2025, Anton Shepelev wrote:

D to Anton Shepelev:

I don't know, but if he does fall, we are going to have
some bloodshed, so I fear that moment, especially while
Russia is at war.

So you don't think he has prepared a mini-Tsar to take
over?

Mini-tsar?! No, I think this a problem with both Putin and
Lukashenko: by preventing any real legal opposition and
competition, they have removed any strong future candidates,
as well. But Lukashenko at least publicly admints that he
is a "outgoing politician".

I'm no fan of Lukashenko, but the guy does seem to have a good sense of humour. An acquaintance of mine who is swedish/russian, lived in Minsk for
a couple of months in between jobs, and he told me that white russians are
the "latinos" of russians. Apparently much more laid back than his
relatives in St Petersburg.

On the other hand, russia is big, and if the north/south cultural divide
of europe, also goes for russia, I would imagine that southern russians
are more social and open than northern russians.

Or will there be an all out war among his crown-princes?

Not an all-out war I think, but some criminal wars are
possible, what with the Prigozhine mutiny. And once it
starts, foreign armies may invade Russia as well, exactly as
it happened during the so-called Allied Intervention.

The economy is only too good, seeing how much money is
wasted on reconstructions in my hometown, &c.

Exactly what I suspected! A lot of businesses are done
through the dirka-dirka-stan countries according to an old
acquaintance who has relatives there.

You mean parallel import to bypass the sanctions? This is
just one of the factors.

How is the inflation?

Quite high, thanks to the colonial policy of our Central

I suspected as much. I think the peak where I live in the baltics was 10%
or so. Now it's down to 3. Woho! ;)

Bank. Did you know that /nobody/ was punished for letting
the West steal $3e12 of Russian reserves, by keeping
them in the banks of our geopolitical enemies?

No? I would have expected a few symbolic heads to roll. No one? Did they
just ignore the event?

It will be very interesting to see _if_ the EU will take that money and
give it to Ukraine or not. I think they are afraid to set a legal
precedence for the future, whereby future dictators could use that
situation to justify taking the property of their political opponents.

On the other hand, there are some new laws in some EU countries that let's
the government take your property without due process, so things are
becoming more and more authoritarian. I find it funny that the politicians
are wringing their hands so much about giving the russian property to
ukraine, and then not even blinking when taking away EU citizens property without any legal process.

There are strange times!
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On Thu, 20 Mar 2025, Anton Shepelev wrote:

D:

And what do you think about the contested land areas in Ukraine?

This purposes of the "special operation" were rather vague
from the very beginning. If it is a mere quibble for "territory",
it will end in a flimsy temporary peace at best. When Germany

I agree! I think there's a good chance that this conflict will freeze. I
do wonder though, if after it being frozen for 5-10 years, if Ukraine
might start it again once Putin dies?

I could imagine it!

Putin dies, there is civil unrest in russia, and Ukraine would then use
that time to start the conflict again.

invated Soviet Union in 1941, the offical Soviet announcement
said clearly:

Our cause is just.
The enemy shall be defeated.
Victory shall be ours.

It was broadcast when the German Blitzkrieg was steamrolling
over Soviet land at full speed. For a comparison...

Thank you very much, I highly appreciate your perspective!
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