AQ : Rantings and Ravings

Frequent visitors to this page may have noticed the three new Pet Peeves I added to my list in Page Tips last month. I would like to use this rant to further explain why I added one of these to my list, why it annoys me so and also how this new trend is useless. The one I'm talking about are those "Anti-Right-Click" JavaScripts. I also want to take some time to discuss another weird trend I've noticed lately, "Fake" Pages.

First lets get to those lovely "anti-right-click" scripts. If you don't know what I mean, this is a script that prevents site visitors from using the right mouse button on a site so they can't open the "right-click" menu in your browser. Instead of the menu, you open a message box, which often contains a message asking you not to take material from that site. The purpose of the script is to prevent visitors from using the easiest method of downloading graphics and other files by right-clicking the file and then clicking "save as" in the menu.

Putting the whole copyright question aside for a second, I have always disliked image stealing. You should ask permission first, unless the owner has a message saying you can just download what you like. It's just nice to show some respect to a few of the people who spend a lot of time scanning in images and buying the manga, artbooks, etc.. and then put them online for all of us to enjoy. BUT! There are so many reasons why this script doesn't quite do the job it was mean for. Also, it often ends up being used in idiotic ways, and it annoys some of us who like using the right-click menu for other purposes.

Why doesn't it work? Easy, there are so many ways to get around this script and still save the file. You can turn off JavaScript in your browser settings, you can look up the address of the file and go to it directly, or you can also just pull it out of your cache. The only people this script stops are really new newbies who don't know any of these tricks.

Then there are the idiotic ways the script is used. A few people who use this script tend to like putting stupid insulting phrases in the message box that opens when you try a right-click. They say things like: "Sorry you thief!" and "Ha-Ha!" this is really annoying to people like me who often use the right-click for other things. As for the real "Image Thieves", this only tends to piss them more and they are further motivated to use one of the alternate ways of downloading the file. Actually, some Image Thieves like to gloat to site owners when they go around the script and save the files, even if the Message Box message is not stupid and insulting. Several website owners have told me about how they tried the script, but then dropped it, because they kept getting messages from gloating idiots.

Whoops! I almost forgot the most idiotic use I've seen. Image Galleries with thumbnail navigation that use the script. To protect what? The thumbnails? Most properly set-up thumbnail navigations use images you can click to bring you to a larger version of the graphic. The link often brings you right to the file, not to a HTML. Thus you can't set-up the JavaScript there. The purpose of using the script is not achieved, rendering it a waste of code. On top of that you can't use the right-click menu to open each file in a new window. Leaving the visitor to wait for each pic to load up completely, then move on, rather than opening several to load up at once in different windows, while you continue browsing.

Actually, that's one of the biggest reasons I dislike this script. I like using the other items in the right-click menu, including the "Open in New Window". I find this option comes in handy, especially when you're visiting sites with somewhat poor navigation set-ups. Using "Open in New Window" allows me to visit other sections, while leaving the index page open so I can quickly move on to another section, without having to hit "Back" several times to return to the index. With the useless Anti-Right-Click Script in place, I (and others who like browsing this way) no longer have this option.

Okay, now with that out of the way, let's deal with the other topic of this rant: "Fake" Pages. These are SM pages people are setting up as jokes, with a ton of wrong info, misspellings, broken pics, and so on. Basically they go out of their way to make something that contains a bit of everything most SM fans dislike seeing on web pages.

The idea of a fake page is fine, if you're using it as an example of what not to do, or purely as a joke, and you clearly mark that it is a joke. Sure, we even have one these fake pages in Page Tips as part of our Case Study Section. The problem is a lot of these fake pages do not mark clearly they are a joke. They only mark it with hidden text, or links, or they don't mark it at all. For the sake of some newbies who may not know the info is incorrect, it would be better to include a readable disclaimer in small print, but not hidden on the bottom of the page. Then any doubts they have will be confirmed.

Then there is the part of this trend which effects us directly. We have been noticing a disturbing trend all through the fall/winter in the review nominations, especially this month. (By the way, we are working on the reviews, they have been delayed mostly due to the over 200 nominations we had to sort through!) A lot of people are trying to nominate these joke pages. Now in some cases we believe they are honest nominations, visitors to these sites are nominating what they think is a bad site, whether or not they noticed it was a joke. Those nominations are okay, but then there are a few people who think they are pulling a fast one on the AQ and others by nominating pages they made, and they know are jokes. They believe if we actually review their joke page, we are the stupid ones for believing it's a real site… Oh haha… funny.

Ummm these people are forgetting one of the two purposes of this site. We review to help warn people about bad sites, to steer them away from stuff that is a waste of their time, to help stop people who may have less knowledge of the story from being misinformed. Most times we know it is a joke at a glace, however, we have been duped a couple of times in the past few months. But, we only reviewed them because it does have wrong information, and there is nothing to tell people this is being done on purpose. The casual passer-by may actually wonder if some of this stuff is true. So, if we inform a few people the information on that site is incorrect, we are still serving a purpose by reviewing it. We don't feel there is any egg on our faces.