Enough F[][][]ing Boxes!!!

[techhead]

I've had enough of the stupid boxes in the server-list.
If I had a paypal account, I would pay cash to see someone implement a patch that fixes it. Please don't tell me to sort by ping, that only works if everyone does it, including the complete noobs out there. As long as by default the server-list sorts by name, servers will be climbing over one another's backs for the top of the list, and the boxes will still be there.

At least having 20 leading spaces in your name wasn't so f[][][]ing ugly.

[kevlarman]

the problem will still be there, people will spam their server name with whatever character is first among those allowed, or hack their server to report one name to master.tremulous.net and another to everyone else (this doesn't even require any code changes, just a few shell commands)

[Lava Croft]

How can you be so annoyed at some boxes. You must have serious personal issues, much like R1CH.

[benmachine]

hack their server to report one name to master.tremulous.net and another to everyone else

How will this help? The client sorts what it sees, surely?

And latest SVN versions sort by the first alphanumeric (edit: or is it just alphabetic? I forget) character in a name, which is much neater. Some people have cottoned on and started putting black AAAAs on the beginning of their name, so we just need that to be visible against the background and they'll look ridiculous again.

[kevlarman]

hack their server to report one name to master.tremulous.net and another to everyone else

How will this help? The client sorts what it sees, surely?

if the master server refuses to list servers named \x01\x01\x01\x01OMGCOMEPLAYHERE, then it's pretty trivial to set up a server that reports "This is not the serverlist spam you're looking for" to the master and \x01\x01\x01\x01OMGBOXES to clients.

[thirdstreettito]

NECRO! How do I put boxes into my server name? To get it to the top?

[player1]

Great, now I have to hang around here for three hours to give you all the smites that post deserved. 

//On Topic. Hate the boxes. Not fooled by the black "A" trick either. Just reinstalled recently and haven't even run across the patch yet for sort-by-ping. But, as n00b pl0x once said: sort by ping + stfu. (Just kidding, techhead; <3 u man).

[doomagent13]

Question:
Are the boxes as bad as the blank names?  The boxes come from, among other sources, "(char)1".  The blank names are people trying to use "(char)0", aka the null character and the string terminator.

[David]

if the master server refuses to list servers named \x01\x01\x01\x01OMGCOMEPLAYHERE, then it's pretty trivial to set up a server that reports "This is not the serverlist spam you're looking for" to the master and \x01\x01\x01\x01OMGBOXES to clients.

Except that's easy to find, simple script that asks every server, run it on lots of computers at once, see if the masters list differs from other.
If people do lie, then there server gets dropped.

[whitebear]

Black names are pain in the ass. I kick people using black in their names and no one in our clan is allowed to use black in their names.
Boxes are annoying as hell.

[Superpie]

Black names are pain in the ass. I kick people using black in their names and no one in our clan is allowed to use black in their names.
Boxes are annoying as hell.

http://www.mercenariesguild.net/patches/?do=details&task_id=76

edit: my wants patch for boxies now

[kevlarman]

The blank names are people trying to use "(char)0", aka the null character and the string terminator.

wrong, a NUL char would kill off the rest of the serverinfo, which is pretty undesirable, there is a much better way to make a blank name, which i won't reveal because we already have 3 servers too many with blank names

[_Equilibrium_]

Black names are pain in the ass. I kick people using black in their names and no one in our clan is allowed to use black in their names.
Boxes are annoying as hell.

qft x 2

i agree both are useless and annoying.

[Slayer.]

Why didn't *The #1 video creators of the 1# game* think to fix black text in the console?

[thirdstreettito]

How do I put boxes into my server name? To get it to the top?

[gareth]

i guess you should donate to the trem devs to release a new version then

[Slayer.]

I'm ok with 1.1 and don't rea;;y care about 1.2 for all that matter. If I want to play 1.2 i'll just play on MG dev server of some TremX server.

[techhead]

Correction: There are 5 servers with blank names.
At least the blank server names aren't an eyesore, and if they don't want people to be able to tell which server is theirs, go right ahead. BTW, I stopped playing on satgnu when I couldn't tell it apart from the other blank servers.

[Lava Croft]

BTW, I stopped playing on satgnu when I couldn't tell it apart from the other blank servers.

SatGNU is the only server in the entire list that shows up as having maxclients set to 14. It also is one of the few that regularly runs Uncreation. None of our regulars have trouble finding SatGNU, and to be frank, we do not miss you either.

[thirdstreettito]

How do I put boxes into my server name? To get it to the top?

[_Equilibrium_]

How do I put boxes into my server name? To get it to the top?

The fact that most people in this thread hate the boxes, as can be told by the thread name or the multiple posts against them, means you should know that we don't want you to have any fucking boxes in your server name. Now stop fucking asking.

[doomagent13]

How do I put boxes into my server name? To get it to the top?

The fact that most people in this thread hate the boxes, as can be told by the thread name or the multiple posts against them, means you should know that we don't want you to have any fucking boxes in your server name. Now stop fucking asking.

So...

SMITE SPAM!!!

[techhead]

SatGNU is the only server in the entire list that shows up as having maxclients set to 14. It also is one of the few that regularly runs Uncreation. None of our regulars have trouble finding SatGNU, and to be frank, we do not miss you either.

Aw, that hurt my feelings a bit. I also kept forgetting if it was 14 or 16 slots before I finally gave up.

[googles]

I also hate the box names, not only because its taking away from good servers that that hold a good player base, but also because most of the box servers are ran by abusive admins that just piss off noobs that just start trem. So how is trem being seen as a game when someone comes on, joins the first server on the list, and then gets abused? not very good thats how. So the solution is to patch the master server to disallow any names that cannot be typed on the keyboard. I will even make the patch if wanted for the master server.

[kevlarman]

So the solution is to patch the master server to disallow any names that cannot be typed on the keyboard. I will even make the patch if wanted for the master server.

it's been done

[techhead]

So, a positive change from over a year ago was undone at one point and never re-applied?
Even though the problem is worse now than when it was originally introduced?

[kevlarman]

So, a positive change from over a year ago was undone at one point and never re-applied?
Even though the problem is worse now than when it was originally introduced?

it's not really a positive change, 0, A, or \x01 are all the same. there will be no difference if nonprinting chars were removed (other than the fact that there is a small subset of people who run servers who haven't figured out how to put \x01 in a server name)

[PIE]

Ultimately sort by ping makes this unimportant.
Its a better way to sort and just makes all those boxes in front of your name make you look like a jackass.

[techhead]

Pure Tremulous has 3 servers with boxes in front of the name.
SST, Dretch-storm, and Fun-zone also do this.

If you include empty servers, last time I counted there were at least 40 of them. I'm going to get a better count right now.
EDIT: 5 No-names, and 46 with boxes, plus AA with boxes near the bottom of the list. There is also a server with [][][] in front of its name. Literally

[techhead]

*Author Bump*
If someone tells me that they happened to be behind a denial of service attack on servers with boxes in thier name, then I promise not to tell anyone.
If thats what it takes to stop the madness, I won't blame you.

I also will say that I do not under any circumstances plan on pulling one off myself.