Phaedrus

Congratulations, OD. You bring both entertainment and wisdom to us all... keep it up!

Excellent stuff, Meg! Congratulations, and thoroughly deserved...

That noise you just heard was the sound of my chin hitting the floor. Are they hand-woven from unicorn-hair by vestal virgins on a sacred mountain during a solar eclipse, or something?

This is just a specific example of a far more general problem; the Internet transcends borders and jurisdictions, and any law passed in any particular jurisdiction will simply be ignored by the rest of the world (except for the sections of it which notice it and mock). If someone in Canada sees an online ad for someone that they think is underage in Australia (hosted by a Japanese company, on a server in France, posted by a Russian currently resident in Brazil), should Washington State be policing that? Of course not. They can't. It's just silly.

Also on the Cooper/Maiden bandwagon. But I'll be there for the rest of it too. And they've even put Nickelback in the middle so I can have a guilt-free night off and catch up on some sleep!

Happy birthday, Samantha!

Guys, remember... you still need transport!

Alcatraz

For those who are interested, here's something worth reading on contribution inequality. To be honest, I think this is just good netiquette (as applied to the specifics of CERB. It's always good to find out a little about the rules - both written and implicit - of a new forum before you dive in. I did the same. I can. I've seen it in other contexts. Trust me, it's... unpleasant. Of course any forum that does this will be deprived of most of its potential new blood, and sooner or later will whither and die.

No idea, but when it's done right... it works. Oh god, it works. Given the way it can bypass all rational thought, I suspect women have been doing it since time immemorial. I hope that doesn't catch on. Duckface is NOT sexy. Bang!

Someone really didn't think this through...

And suddenly... this is inevitable :)

I'd say a rumour is unsubstantiated, which isn't the same as false :) And I'm afraid I must also disagree with your implication that gossip is, by definition, true... Either way, it's all highly entertaining... until it's about you or yours, and suddenly it's not so fun any more...

Awesome! Fantastic job, Carrie!

So here's a song from a movie which is very much about being online, or not. Propellerheads - Spybreak!

Congratulations, Gabriella! Thoroughly well deserved! And for the record, I'm not RG's wife either. :)

Oh, stop complaining. Come back when it's crunchy on top :)

For those who are concerned about online privacy, and being tracked (or not) by our corporate lords and masters... this looks good. http://www.ghostery.com/

What's with all these Es? Essex :)

Well, WIT's second-last post implies that a tip-off from a concerned client may have triggered the police involvement in the first place. Whether that's the case or not, we don't know... but to be honest, I think that's the only viable way of catching this stuff. The victims themselves generally seem far to scared to seek help. Of course, if we had Swedish-style laws here, we probably wouldn't be reading about this because the concerned client would have been quite justifiably concerned about being prosecuted himself, and would therefore have remained silent. And because they'd heard nothing, the politicians would now be congratulating themselves on having eliminated the problem. Yeah, right.

Email auto-replies are really good for this. If any email sent to you gets an auto-response saying that you won't be replying until next Tuesday, it saves people wondering what's up; it also means that anyone looking for a meeting in the near future can simply either move on or adjust their expectations accordingly. Glad things are back on track! FWIW I don't think resending after a few days is at all unreasonable...