
Mozilla removes -moz-opacity; man threatens to sue for $18,000 - pavel_lishin
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=765645
======
jrockway
I like how he says in one sentence that maintaining code is too hard, and then
in the next, asks Mozilla to maintain extra code. It is scary how few
programmers realize that software they use every day is the same as software
they write themselves. There is no magic.

Also, duuuude, the site in question is _awesome_ :
[http://www.constellation7.org/Constellation-
Seven/Josiah/Ind...](http://www.constellation7.org/Constellation-
Seven/Josiah/Index.htm)

~~~
_sh
While the site is indeed good, if you want truly _awesome_ , BEHOLD the POWER
of the TIME CUBE: <http://www.timecube.com/>

~~~
jrockway
Too LONG; didn't READ.

------
DigitalSea
To make it easier for everyone, the comment where he demands the cash is here:
<https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=765645#c13> \- otherwise you
have to read through lots of drivel before you get to the juicy part. This guy
sounds absolutely nuts, the other property for opacity has been supported for
over 8 years now and the dude is still using old code? Wow.

~~~
joering2
"Estimate this to be around 100 hours of time, as it has to be done manually
in text files for every single instance of the code"

search and replace anyone?? carefully crafted query using even Funduc S&R
would take it max 5 minutes... but hey, given the content of the site... I
would be afraid of a guy quoting bible verses in replies too!

------
Splognosticus
The bug was filed by no less than YHWH Himself. I've heard of cases where
people tried to sue God, but this is the first time I've seen the reverse.
Can't He just smite them?

~~~
dmix
For those who dont get it (as I didn't):
<http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=YHWH>

~~~
Dylan16807
For some reason I'm bothered by you saying 'get it' and linking to
urbandictionary. To me it implies some kind of slang word or internet term. So
I'll link a more normal dictionary or two.

<http://www.thefreedictionary.com/YHWH> <http://dictionary.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/yhwh>

~~~
vacri
The urban dictionary entry is the first one using YHWH in the link title in my
google results. It's the third result total, but the first two use 'Yahweh' in
the link title, not YHWH

------
statictype
The Mozilla devs were surprisingly civil and patient with him. Kudos to them.

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mgkimsal
<http://www.constellation7.org>

I think we've just found this generation's TimeCube.com

~~~
nnash
I had a hard time taking his complaint seriously after looking at his website.

~~~
mgkimsal
But if you look at it with firefox 12 (before firefox 13) you'll understand
his point a lot more vividly. With that opacity, it used to look great. Now...
it's all broken. :/

------
valdiorn
surely this must be a troll... please let it be a troll.

Edit: OH DEAR LORD look at their web page!!!

<http://www.constellation7.org>

~~~
suresk
I got prompted by Chrome to allow 3 different plugins to run on the homepage
alone.

This site might be useful to the internet as the canonical web design anti-
pattern repository.

~~~
xqyz
> We just create __visually appealing __, informative and Evangelical websites
> since AD 1997. - YHWH

emphasis mine.

------
fein
"Yes, external CSS style sheets ARE BETTER..just haven't had the time to even
CONSIDER doing this yet..." -YHWH

Why do these guys even bother to give people like this the time of day?

------
b0o
"My hourly rate as CEO of this Corporation is HK$1900 or US$247.00 per hour.

Think that with a discount, US$18,000 should be sufficient to cover all my
time related costs, fixing ALL code instances, for ALL the aforestated
reasons..."

Then he adds:

"Thanks a bunch for being SO HELPFUL !!!"

Also, $18,000/$247.00/hour comes out to about 72 hours.

His first post was on 2012-06-17 21:06:44 PDT and his last post was on
2012-06-19 23:11:22 PDT, so it's only been ~50 hrs since he posted it until he
asked for the money.

~~~
vacri
I once worked as a customer service staffer for a phone company. I was
extremely surprised by the number of people complaining about service being
cut for not paying bills who were "stockbrokers" losing "thousands per hour".
Really, sir? Most of them knew their bluff was called when we told them about
the difference between residential-class and business-class services, but a
few hardy souls would stick on. Strangely enough, those few hardy souls whose
time is worth thousands an hour were rarely willing to pay a phone bill worth
a hundred...

~~~
trafficlight
ISP tech support is the same way. The guy paying $30/month for his internet is
complaining that he has lost tens of thousands of dollars today. Perhaps he
should invest in some redundancy if the internet is so important to him.

------
ck2
Isn't this obviously mental illness? Should we be mocking that?

~~~
blvr
Or a troll...

------
ward
I was assuming this guy was some sort of troll, though the website seems too
elaborate (and horrible). I think he's actually being serious...

This one made me chuckle

> Ideally, ALL browsers SHOULD support ALL extensions,

I don't think he quite gets it.

------
rexreed
I don't see a threat to sue here? I see him saying he will send Mozilla an
invoice for $18,000 based on his (very rough, very inaccurate, very arbitrary)
estimate, but there's no legal force behind that. It clearly was an idle
threat and his last responses seem to indicate he was resigned to having to
eat his labor and treat the cost as a lesson learned.

But the title of this post is a bit inaccurate in that he didn't threaten to
sue. He threatened to send Mozilla an invoice for his work, but he came out
looking very foolish, and ended up tucking tail.

~~~
smallblacksun
He did said he would take them to court if they didn't pay the invoice. It
_was_ clearly an idle threat, though.

------
cpeterso
Ignoring his tone, it is a fair question: why not keep the prefixed alias?

~~~
phaus
In the thread, multiple people answered his question. Here are the two most
significant reasons that I noticed.

1\. The prefix was already not being supported by most browsers, thus
supporting it would mean supporting the development of websites that don't
work properly in other browsers.

2\. Best practices suggest that one shouldn't rely solely on the prefixed
version of an experimental alias. If this developer had written good code to
start with, he wouldn't have had the problems he ran into.

------
tommorris
On the "threatening legal action against open source projects" thing, you
wouldn't believe the number of times people have threatened to sue Wikipedia
or individual admins because the spam article about them or their business was
deleted.

Here's an example I blogged about a while back:
[http://blog.tommorris.org/post/6898909918/quoted-for-
hilario...](http://blog.tommorris.org/post/6898909918/quoted-for-hilarious-
ron-knight-of-knight-mediacom)

------
joshschreuder
Reminds me of this: <https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=50696>

Minus the extortion of course.

------
mparlane
It looks like he was happy with the ending and did take peoples comments in to
consideration. Not sure he understood the sed instruction being thrown at him
though. Clearly not everyone understands temporary postfixes.

------
weaksauce
It's funny that someone so enlightened as he is unaware of a suitable find and
replace all in whatever tool he is using. Also, that had to be the most god
awful webpage I have seen since geocities shuttered.

------
jhuckestein
This is almost certainly a troll. Pretty well done, too.

~~~
loopdoend
If it is, it is God-level, 10/10, serious long-term trolling executed
masterfully. The domain has been around since 99 and the site has looked
like... that... since at least 2001 according to the Wayback Machine.

So I doubt it. I'd love to believe it, but I doubt it.

------
sliverstorm
The first mistake: Thinking a software group you aren't paying money, owes you
anything...

~~~
jrockway
But his hourly rate is $237 an hour!

------
lightyoruichi
Bloody hilarious

