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Blog spam

Posted In: Everyday life — February 9, 2005 @ 10:28 pm — Peter

I setup a comment spam blocker tonight. Annoying online poker websites have been posting links to their websites as comments to our posts. This stupidity resulted in me having to spend time rebuilding PHP with FreeType support so I could add a code verification area to the comment form. I used Gudly’s plugin and it was pretty simple to setup. So, to those that comment on our blog, sorry for the extra typing this will result in. Hopefully it will stop the stupid spammers from getting content on our site.

I spent nearly 2 hours on the phone with Dell technical support today. A few months ago, my dual monitor adapter stop working on my office computer. I have been too busy/lazy to call support and have dealt with a single monitor for months. So, I rang the support folks and was connected with someone reading the typical support script and being excessively polite. After my first attempt at communicating my problem, he quickly said “You cannot connect two monitors to the graphics adapter”. I repeated myself, informing him that I specifically ordered a dual monitor capable card. He insisted, only one monitor was supported. He put me on hold as he did some research since I refused to accept his answer. I also did some research and found the manual for the card on Dell’s website. After the support rep came back from placing me on hold, I asked him for his email address. I forwarded him the email that states the graphics card was dual monitor capable.

“…you can select any combination of multiple displays, including digital flat panels, analog CRTs, and TVs and also modify the display properties using an intuitive software user interface.”

Even after seeing the above statement directly from the manual from Dell’s website, he insisted on not being able to connect both a LCD and CRT monitor to this card. Also, he said I was reading this statement incorrectly and that the only other device I could use for output would be a television. Heh, I could see that on my desk.. a nice 30 inch TV next to my LCD. I decided to try explaining this again, speaking very slowly since the person seemed dense and unable to understand the concept of dual displays…. He refused to accept that what I was experiencing was a problem, however, agreed to send me a replacement card. I was somewhat annoyed by this… Although I was having a new graphics card mailed to me next day air, I still wanted him to admit he was wrong. Anyway, I could not imagine dealing with these fools on a daily basis. I have much respect for people who have to call Dell support on a regular basis.

Oh, I almost forgot… A fellow geek cruiser sent me a video clip of us walking along the beach in St. Maarten… The clip is roughly 3MB, 11 seconds long… Thanks for sending it Chris!

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