Re: UKNM: ho ho ... oh.

[Ben Thompson]

Richard,


Actually I would not regard Yell as a respectable site (personal opinion I

know but none of the people I know who worked on the site rate it highly

either).


There is a simple problem here, there are nowhere near enough GOOD

programmers in the UK (i.e. people who can spec the program, see problems in

advance and incorporate solutions into the costings). Yes, I am biased

(after all I write programs for a living ) but I have not meet many

programmers who I would trust to offload work onto.


Using the Yell Counter as an example there is a vast difference between an

easy to use counter (as Yell uses) and a spoof-proof version which would

require a database, various complex queries to validate IP addresses,

control software and an awfully big hard disc. In cost terms the simple

version would cost sod all (I know there is Perl version on my Linux box and

I have both cold fusion, ASP and ISAPI versions on my portable) while the

spoof-proof version would be nearer �5,000 (minimum). Take you pick but how

many sites would willingly pay that for a better version of something that

is free.


See ya Tonite,


Ben



>Ben,

>We know that this type of spoofing is not new and that it can be avoided.

However, the point is that even a comparatively respectable property such as

Yell *wasn't* guarding against it and was properly duped.

>