Today is Firefox 3 Download Day - go and get it! ...if it's out. At the moment I'm still getting the page for FF2 and RC builds of 3.0... Hmmm.

Oh and in case you're wondering why I've disappeared off the face of the internet, it's because I have none at home at the moment (moving house). So there you go.

One of the questions I am asked most is "will you write a tutorial on how to install PHPAskIt?". My answer to this is always no because people need to learn to read. Included in the PHPAskIt zip file is a file called readme.txt. Now I don't know about you, but when I'm unsure of how to install something, the first thing I do is to look at the readme file (if there is one). When a file is called "READ ME" it usually signifies that it should be read, no?

So why am I bombarded time and time again with this question when I clearly explain how to install the script in the readme file? That, I cannot tell you. But what I do know is the internet population appears to be getting stupider. People use known insecure scripts such as Wak's Ask&Answer and CuteNews because "nothing's ever happened to me" and "I like that script"; people take images they have absolutely no permission to use (and they know this) and make website layouts out of them; and as Jem regularly points out with her Pants Awards, there is no shortage of people giving out stupid advice in the form of tutorials.

I came across a site the other day which combined the aforementioned issues. The site owner had been asked "please can you write a tutorial on how to install and use PHPAskIt" and had done just that. They wrote exactly what I wrote in the readme file, just worded slightly differently. I'd link the tutorial but the site's gone on hiatus (how convenient). What was the point of that? So imagine my delight when I found yet another one of these tutorials. I kid you not, this one is even worse than the other one, and assumes the visitor can't read or something (um, redundant much?).

The tutorial basically follows this format:

1. Download the script!
2. Upload everything then go to install.php! Yay! Done!
3. It will say delete so and so files, delete these files: import directory, upgrade.php, install.php

PLEASE LINK ME IF YOU USED THIS TUT!1!!

"So and so files"?! So basically you're assuming your visitor hasn't read what's on their screen (it tells them which files to delete) or that the message is too confusing (um, you just wrote it out again, word for word. The point?) or something and that your tutorial is the answer to all that? Get over yourself.

Oh yes, and while I'm in a rant mood... I've noticed someone is commenting around the place using my URL. This person appears to go by the name of "Nancy" and uses my site (or the link to PHPAskIt) as their URL. Thanks for the extra hits and everything, "Nancy", but this site actually belongs to me and I'd appreciate it if you could stop doing that.

If you came here from one of "Nancy"'s comments, sorry to disappoint and all, but my name's Amelie and I've never heard of anyone called Nancy.

Pssst: If you have received a comment from "Nancy" using my details, please contact me as I'd love to see who on earth is doing this. :)

To those of you who were unfortunate enough to receive one of the millions of emails "I" sent out last night ... yeah, sorry about that. As you might have guessed, I am not interested in selling you replica watches, Russian brides, various sexual enhancing products, cut-price versions of popular software or crediting you with my late-husband-who-just-so-happened-to-be-the-president-of-Nigeria's secret millions (sorry). Despite having an SPF record on my server, some spammer thought they would send a load of emails in my name and email address (but not from my server - the SPF should have blocked anything that doesn't come from my server but it didn't. Ho hum), with the result that I am now blocked from writing to many of the major email providers. Blah. Thanks a lot, spammers. *Grumble*