Cav's Place

The post’s title states that more than a week passed before I managed to write about this, but in a matter of hours it’ll be more than two weeks, so I have to somehow pick up from where I left off at the end of the previous post, when I was just crossing the start line of the Bucharest Half Marathon, which the official results state happened about 5:48 after the actual start, though I guess a more exact value would be 5:48.50.
Didn’t go through the thousands of pictures posted on the event page and there aren’t any posted on the site yet, but did go through the thousands posted by one photographer and you can spot me in three of those made right after the start. I’m on the far side, with the blue cap; my face is outside the frame in the third picture. Can actually also just spot the cap in the distance if you go three pictures back from the first one I linked to, but in the two in between I’m completely masked by another person. Either way, I was there, albeit starting so far back that I was already disappointed and had to give up on the first goal from the start, as I said in the previous post.

Being in such a large crowd and still at least aiming for less than two hours as real time meant I needed to pick my way through, but at the same time try not to tire myself too much in doing so. Needless to say, that was hard to manage and all the weaving and the speed variations probably took a bit of a toll later, but even so I barely managed to cover the first kilometer in the planned six minutes, and that initial plan was made assuming I’ll take it easy at first, which was not the case. The only thing I was glad of was passing the last group of pacemakers, aiming for a time of 2:20, just as I reached that one kilometer marker.
The next few kilometers were pretty much more of the same and I didn’t even check my time again during that period, since I was getting past just about as many people as I reasonably could and there wasn’t much else I could have done about my pace. Attempting to get past the 2:10 pacemakers and the group running alongside them was quite a problem though, as they pretty much formed a solid triple wall of people that I think I spent some 500 meters struggling to work my way through. What’s strange is that I was sure this took place between kilometers four and five, but I recall running on the tram lines while struggling with that group, and that could only happen just after the first five kilometers, so it may have been between kilometers five and six instead. One of the memories is obviously wrong, but not sure which one.
Either way, I used most of the cup of water I grabbed from the first refreshment point to wash my hands, since there was no way to do that after going to the toilet before the start, and then poured the bit that was left on my sponge, using it to wet my face and the back of my neck. And then, whether shortly or more than a kilometer after finally passing that 2:10 group, I clearly remember finally checking the time again as I passed the six kilometer marker and noticing that, while I had definitely made more effort than I wanted to, I hadn’t actually lost a significant amount of time while working my way through the slower people ahead of me and was still on target to meet the goal if I could maintain the pace of 5:20 per kilometer that I had planned for kilometers five to fifteen and again for the seventeenth.
Making my way past others was also starting to become somewhat less difficult at that point, since the group was becoming less compact, but I know that shortly after passing that marker I bothered someone enough to make him complain out loud about me getting back on the actual road right in front of him after using the tram line to get past. Meant to tell him to stay under 5:20 per kilometer if he doesn’t want me in front of him, but kept quiet and kept going, calmly getting past him again when he sped up after complaining. And otherwise I did my best to stay out of the way of those who were faster and not bump into those who were slower all the way from start to finish and, while I do remember a few moments when I unfortunately didn’t quite manage to do so, don’t recall anybody else complaining.

The first 180° turn was at seven kilometers, then as we turned towards the stadium the road finally became wide enough for passing people to really not be a problem anymore. However, I was still mainly interested in passing those who were still ahead of me but not running at the pace I meant to maintain as we went around the outside of the stadium, so instead of sticking as close to the inside of the road in order to minimize the distance covered, I ended up covering a fair bit more, which was another thing that took a toll later.
Still, after getting back out of the stadium area and returning to Basarabia, around the nine kilometer marker, I actually saw the white balloons of the 2:00 pacemakers ahead. There was still some distance between me and them and I wasn’t about to run faster than I had to, but I intended to keep my eyes on them and get a little closer each kilometer, with a goal of running alongside them as we’d need to start that climb on Victoriei, after some 15.6 or 15.7 kilometers. Also, had grabbed a water bottle from the sponge point at about 7.5 kilometers, so I thought I had what I needed for quite a while, also ignoring the cups offered at the refreshment point that came after ten kilometers.
Unfortunately, it was just that water bottle that caused problems, because I didn’t really know what to do with it. Took a tiny sip, rinsed my mouth with it and spat it out, wet my sponge, yet it still looked like hardly any of it had been used. So I caused myself a bit of a problem, feeling my heart skip a beat and my breath be somewhat difficult for just a moment, obviously due to the difference in temperature, when I poured just a little bit down my back. However, what was far worse was when I decided to pour a little water right on my face instead of just wetting the sponge and then dabbing that on my face, because this caused me to feel like I was drowning for a moment and I pretty much had to stop and “reset” my breathing, and after that I kept sort of blowing my nose for a while as I was breathing out.
Needless to say, that’s not what you want to do when you’re trying to maintain a certain pace, so I started getting slower and by the time I got back to Constitution Square, at kilometer 14, those white balloons were too far ahead to be seen anymore. But at least, after rinsing my mouth and spitting a few more times, pouring some more down both my back and my chest, under my shirt, and a bit on my head as well but making sure it won’t end up directly on my face anymore, and making sure my sponge was sufficiently wet, I had managed to finish that water bottle before that 14 kilometer marker, so I threw it in the Square as we passed by the start area again, then just grabbed cups at the next points, not wanting to cause myself that sort of trouble again even if another bottle would have been offered. Don’t think I even noticed whether one was or not.
One thing I definitely was noticing at that point, however, was that I rather needed to go to the toilet. Had started feeling an increasingly pressing need around kilometer 13, in fact, which was after eating the slice of orange I had grabbed when I actually saw the fruit being offered and that options other than bananas were available, but it would have happened anyway and it’s quite normal and expected for such distances. Experienced this during or after my longer runs before as well, and I know that garlic tends to get things more or less back in order, so that was why I had those two small cloves in my pocket and I ate them at United Nations Square, as we were approaching the 15 kilometer marker. Was actually just doing that when a woman asked what our time was and I remember looking at my stopwatch, which I remind you I had started nine seconds after the official start, and seeing one hour and 29 minutes. She then also asked whether we were at least around kilometer 18, give or take one, not sure anymore, and I told her it’s more like 14.5, and 15.5 is when we reach Victoriei.
Probably more like 15.7 there, as I mentioned before as well, but 15.5 was close enough, right? And at least the garlic had done its job by then and I no longer felt like I was about to shit myself, so I think I grabbed a slice of apple as well, if not even two, from the refreshment point that was there, or somewhere around that area, and got started on that slope, made worse by the fact that traffic was again a problem. Entirely expected, since a single lane was available and people were slowing due to the slope, but it was unpleasant to suddenly have to once again struggle with the crowd as well when the slope itself would have been more than enough. And the gate marking 16 kilometers, which was supposed to cool runners struggling with the slope with a fine spray of water, didn’t really do anything on the way up because the wind carried the droplets away, to the lanes used on the way down.

Was feeling rather exhausted and knew I was falling behind the target when I reached the second 180° turn, but it did feel a little better to go down that slope I had just climbed, which also implied going through the fine mist created by that gate, which as I already mentioned ended up cooling those going down instead of those struggling to climb. At the 17 kilometer marker, at the base of that slope, it still looked like I could make that two-hour real time target, and I knew I was over one kilometer and therefore over six minutes, maybe even over seven, ahead of the 2:10 pacemakers, who had started some distance ahead of me, in Sector D, and were just starting the climb as I was reaching the bottom on my way down.
Unfortunately, that was the last time I had any hope of finishing under that target of two hours as real time, because by the 18 kilometer marker I had hit the wall. It was also around that time that I saw perhaps the best sign held by someone cheering on the runners: “Smile, you paid for this!” Didn’t help me much though, as my legs kept getting heavier and harder to move and my hands started getting numb. Around the 19 kilometer marker my legs started feeling like they were on fire, and as I was heading towards 20 kilometers I was even starting to feel quite out of it, perhaps my vision narrowing as well, or at least feeling like it.
I know I checked the time at 18 kilometers, but also know I had forgotten it even before reaching the finish line. I remember something about 1:44, but that seems pretty much impossible, as it’d have implied covering over three kilometers, probably closer to 3.5, including the slope on Victoriei, in 15 minutes, since there’s that 1:29 at United Nations Square that I remember very clearly. So I guess I just happened to see 1:44 when I looked before reaching that marker, leading me to the next time I remember seeing, which was 1:47. Again, this is official time, so if I did reach 18 kilometers in 1:47 official time, so 1:42 or even just a bit under that as real time, I was still just marginally on target at that point, as the initial plan had set aside 18 minutes for those final 3.1 kilometers, knowing I’ll most probably hit the wall and fall behind the pace of 5:20 per kilometer.
Either way, I was perfectly aware I couldn’t cover the remaining distance in the time I had left in order to finish in under two hours as real time, and that was even without taking the people that started to pass me more and more often into account. There was even a brief moment when I considered giving up, and more than one when I considered simply walking all the way to the finish, but I gritted my teeth and refused to allow myself to be defeated quite so thoroughly, deciding to keep running, albeit slowly, aiming for an official time under 2:10 or at the very least under 2:15, to at least get the benefit of a Sector D start if I’ll participate again next year and sectors will be split in the same manner.
And that was the story of that final portion, where you can also see me in five pictures posted by that same photographer. Taking it step by step, focusing solely on putting one foot in front of the other despite the pain and the burning sensation and the numbness and anything else. At least after crossing the river and starting the way back on the other side, after the 19 kilometer marker, I was looking at my watch at least every minute, possibly even more often, but I wasn’t really aware of the actual time anymore and definitely wasn’t calculating anything, merely using it as another method to prove to myself that I was getting closer to the finish, since time was passing and I kept moving forward.
At some point after 19 kilometers, perhaps around 19.5, maybe even slightly later, as I was easily passing a woman who had hit the wall even harder, I heard a man who had paced himself well and rushed past both of us say, apparently to her, that there was another refreshment point at 20 kilometers and to use it, and I sure did. Hadn’t cared much for those points until then, grabbing things pretty much just because they were there and, as I mentioned above, not knowing what to do with that bottle, but I definitely needed that one and actually stopped for a moment to get a cup of water, one of juice and a slice of orange. After rinsing my mouth with a bit of it, meant to pour the water on the sponge and then drink the juice, but got my hands confused and accidentally spilled half the juice as well, so ended up drinking only the remaining half, but then I walked for a few more steps as I ate the piece of orange, and this really saved me for that final part.
After that, I struggled to run again and eventually turned right, at around 20.5 kilometers, and the finish started appearing in the distance. Didn’t make me run any faster at first, as it still took everything to just keep putting one foot in front of the other and people were passing me left and right, but just at the end, when I found myself in a bit of space, I did whip myself just a bit harder and stayed just ahead of the next person coming after that five-second gap. May have raised my hands as I was crossing the line, or may have meant to, but didn’t have the strength for it and didn’t really feel them anymore either, so not sure what actually happened. Didn’t even know the exact time, not looking up as I covered those final meters, but correctly assumed it was around 2:08:30 as official time. In fact it was 2:08:27.10, while the official results list 2:02:39 as real time, though the chip apparently registered 2:02:38.60 and I always round down my run times.

Once past the line, everyone passed first through a set of gates where the timing chips were cut away and taken back, then through another where the finisher medals were given, then went past a series of stalls where large cups of water, half-liter bottles of juice and pieces of fruit were offered. As for myself, I grabbed the water and, after keeping the first couple of sips in my mouth for a moment before swallowing, drank the rest right away. Then I took a bottle of juice and just kept it, only drinking it after getting back home. Waited a while before getting to the fruit, since people kept cutting ahead and those of us waiting calmly in line weren’t getting anywhere, but I eventually did what the rest were doing as well, spotted an apple only cut in half instead of four or five slices and grabbed both halves, then a slice of orange as well, and ate all of those. Obviously ignored the bananas.
Feeling somewhat better, I then made my way back to the WWF area, where I had my picture taken before heading into the main tent, meaning to pick up my bag and change. However, the gap that allowed access from the main tent to the bag storage area before the race had been closed, so at first I got back to a line of people I had noticed waiting to get massages, since a medical center was offering them there. Did realize it’ll be rather weird, since I had those trousers on and it’s hard to pull them up, but didn’t mean to leave my spot in order to change until I was told the person handling the line I was in was going to stop offering massages with the person right ahead of me.
It was pointed out that two more were left, so the three lines will merge into two and I could just move over, but I decided to walk away and change after all, returning once that was done, in shorts, somewhat to the surprise of one of the other people from that medical center, who remembered me and that I left just before it was my turn. I ended up at the person who seemed somewhat less interested in giving good massages though, so mine lasted about half as long as the one given by the other guy to someone else at the same time, but it was free and I’m not keen on massages anyway, so it was fine.

And that’s it for now. Meant to also include what I did on my way back, since I wandered around for quite some time, but this is twice the size of the previous post already and I spent far too much time writing it. So I’m posting it as it is and will continue with the rest of the day and the time that passed since then at a later time. When will that be, I don’t know, nor do I know whether I’ll continue with a more generic personal update or stick to that day and how I felt, mainly in terms of my mood, over the next few, but at least I finally managed to post this, just hours shy of two weeks after the fact.

Over a week has passed since May 15 and I still didn’t write this post, so let me now try to pick up from where I left off, which was when I woke up, at 6:15 AM. Was on my feet as soon as the first alarm went off, of course, but wanted to set two for the first time in order to feel more at ease, as otherwise I highly doubt I’d have gotten even that half an hour of sleep that I did get.
Was told I should be there no later than 8:30 AM and aimed to leave at 7:30 AM in order to likely arrive around 8:15 AM even if I’ll have to wait a bit at the metro, to allow for a bit of time in case something will go wrong. As such, I grabbed a little something to eat, checked whether anything new was posted, went to the bathroom, checked the bag one more time and made some changes I thought of after getting in bed, got dressed, put two small cloves of garlic in the wrapper of the energy tablet sample that was part of the race kit and shoved that in a pocket along with two mints, went to the bathroom again and then left. Right on time, if I remember correctly.

On the way to the metro I saw the route, which passes through this area as well, still being worked on and a group of volunteers getting themselves organized. Then saw a few people wearing the race t-shirts in the metro from the start, but there were a whole lot more obviously going there after switching trains, recognizable by t-shirts, bags, timing chips on their shoes and the conversations they were having. Of course, the stretch of road between Unirii and Constitution Square was full of even more, nearly everyone heading in the same direction and for the same reason.

Actually got there at 8 AM, so even earlier than intended, since the trains came quickly and I walked at my usual pace, if not even faster. This gave me time to go all around the area twice and also check the map quite carefully, looking for the WWF area, since they were the obvious choice for me out of the NGOs one could choose to support when registering, 10% of the fee being donated by the organizers for this purpose. However, my search yielded no result, even though I had been told they’ll have their area at the start and the others were definitely very visible, with both stands and teams of volunteers.
That was unpleasant, but there was little else I could do at the moment, so after the first search I dropped off the bag, taking a cue from others and writing my name on the sticker with the number, and after the second I also decided to take part in the warmup in front of the stage. Didn’t initially mean to, since I thought it was going to require more effort than it actually did and wanted to conserve my energy, but I went there since there was little else to do at the moment and stayed until the end since it was quite light and took less time than expected, and than the schedule said it would.
That still left me with quite some time until the 9:10 AM start, but I decided to head to the starting area and see what’s going on anyway… And happened to stumble into the WWF area, which I’m quite sure wasn’t there when I first looked and only consisted of a plain background for pictures and one person standing in front of it, holding a camera. Actually walked up to her and the first thing I said was that they sure are hidden, to which her reply was “that’s the idea”. When I asked why, she said it’s because of the main sponsor and people asking them what are they doing at an event sponsored by a fossil fuel company. Which in a way makes sense, and I said so at the time, but on the other hand it’s exactly the sort of place where a strong environmental message is needed.
Either way, from there I went back to the large tent where the bags were being left to grab my cap again, deciding to wear it after all, and then I wanted to go to the toilet again before starting. However, after passing in front of one row of toilets to search for a green sign and finding one, I noticed it was just a problem with the door and somebody was in there after all. Then, when I tried to go in after another person who had just come out of another I was pulled back by the next person in line, letting me know there was a line. And when I stepped behind him and the next person, I was actually shown where the line started, several more people behind and for every single available toilet, making me realize that large group of people wasn’t there to get ready for the start, but for the same reason I was. Was also told I sure am an optimist, obviously for thinking I could just find a free toilet so quickly.
Not that the wait was that long, only about ten minutes, but with the start time approaching and others even behind me, nobody was feeling comfortable. And then there was also the fact that the girl who went before me allowed the door to slam shut when she got back out, and it locked itself, making me have to try to pull it open and pretty much forget how it even worked, since I wasn’t expecting that and being among so many people plus the earlier interaction meant my brain wasn’t really working anymore anyway. That a guy told me it’s locked and that means it’s occupied didn’t help either, but while he simply repeated that it’s still locked when I said the person who was there came out, someone else got involved then and pulled hard enough to force it open… Which I guess had to be done for another a moment later, since as soon as I got in I heard someone else shout that another door was stuck closed. I made sure to hold it open for the next person when I was done, of course.

That left me with minutes until the announced start time, so I made my way to the entrance to the start area for Sector E, where those with a last official time over 2:15 or with no official time within the past two years were supposed to start from, quite a long way behind the start line. Since the crowd went around the square and the tents were in between, we couldn’t even see the start line from there, and while we could perhaps hear that something was being said and how loudly, we definitely couldn’t make out the words… And 9:10 AM came and went, with no sign of anything happening.
At least that gave me a bit of time to try to recover after the earlier events, somewhat less anxious over being in a crowd of people, since none of them had anything to do with me. But I was getting ever more anxious that something was wrong or we were simply being held back, losing time compared to the official start, as until then I still had an ideal target of two hours as official time in mind, which considering my optimistic target of 1:56 as real time meant I could afford a maximum of four minutes to reach the start line and I’m pretty sure it was past 9:14 when I heard something that gave me the impression the start was given.
As it was later proven, I was correct, as I started my stopwatch a few seconds later and when I eventually managed to see the official timer I saw mine was only nine seconds behind. However, I only got to that point after waiting for a few minutes longer, during which time nothing moved not only in Sector E but even in Sector D ahead, and then barely walking slowly until there was enough room to try to start lightly jogging as we finally approached the line. Unfortunately, by then it was already clear that a target of two hours as official time was merely wishful thinking, as my start time seemed to me to have been 5:47, or at least that was what the official timer displayed when I looked up just before crossing the line, though the official results state it was actually about 5:48. Either way, significantly more than the four minutes I could afford to lose, so I settled for two hours as real time instead.

But I think I’ll stop here, at the start, and continue with the run itself and the rest of the day at a later point. Ideally, that will be tomorrow, but may even be next week. Right now I’m content I finally managed to post something about this and I’d rather not struggle with it even longer and risk not finishing today, leaving me to need to get myself going again to continue tomorrow or who knows when and not have anything here at all until then.

After installing an update to Windows Update released around the time of the start of the push to make everyone “upgrade” to Windows 10 made it no longer alert me that important updates are available, I have to glance at the available updates at least once every few days myself in order to catch any important ones released outside the normal schedule. Well, when I did that yesterday, I noticed two new optional ones, released on May 17, one of them being KB3156417, which when I checked I noticed had the interesting title of “May 2016 update rollup for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1”.
That looked like something I should look into more, so I did just that last night, immediately finding plenty of articles and an official post which make it clear that, while it’s not called as such, it’s pretty much Service Pack 2, including nearly all updates released after Service Pack 1. There are some exceptions, and I see people confirming that the “Get Windows 10” nagware is fortunately among the updates not included, but I’m not seeing an actual list anywhere and that’s not the only one I don’t want on my computer, so I’ll be staying away from it at least until I’ll know more.
Then again, my list of hidden updates is quite short and I’m sure that, on top of many unnecessary but at least harmless ones, I installed at least a few I shouldn’t have since this push to “upgrade” started. For example, as I was searching now I stumbled into a forum thread containing a long list, while my list of hidden updates includes only the following, which I’ll list along with the reason why I chose to hide them. However, short as it is, I definitely do not want these updates to end up installed:
Related to “upgrading” to Windows 10: KB2952664, KB3021917, KB3035583, KB3123862
Adding telemetry: KB3068708, KB3075249 (*), KB3080149
Causing some fonts to become hard to read: KB2970228, KB3102429
(*) This seems to no longer be offered, as I have it on this list I keep but it doesn’t show up as either hidden or available. I’m not even completely sure I hid it, as I know I simply left it pending for a long time and there is a chance I added it to the list of updates to avoid but never actually hid it before it vanished, if that didn’t happen very recently.
In addition, on top of KB3156417 and KB3139923, which was the other one released recently, at the moment I have KB3118401, KB3133977 and KB3140245 still pending, the first one because it makes me a bit wary, the second because there is something that sometimes feels a bit unstable after multiple reboots within a day or so and that update has a double restart requirement, and the third because I’d need to edit the registry to take advantage of what it adds and then write down what to do in case I’ll need to do it again later and at the moment I’m not sure I’ll get any real benefits from it.

But now we get to the worse problem: If you keep reading that official announcement, or the articles mentioning this development, you’ll notice that this sort of bundle will be the method of releasing non-security updates from now on, as only the security updates will continue to be released separately while everything else will be available as a single monthly bundle. It is of course “sold” as a way to simplify the process and improve compatibility, but it’s obviously the latest in the series of methods to force users who stay away from the newer version of Windows, in large part just in order to avoid these things, to install undesired updates, starting with telemetry, possibly more ways to push Windows 10, and who knows what else, including those that they simply know will cause them problems. And this comes just at the end of the free Windows 10 “upgrade” period, so people who’ll want a way out of whatever will happen to their systems will need to pay for what may unfortunately quickly become a slightly lesser evil.

There’s also something there about updates no longer being available to manually download from the Microsoft Download Center, but only from the Microsoft Update Catalog, which is an old and, from what I gather, largely abandoned function that requires installing an ActiveX control, and therefore also using Internet Explorer, in order to use. There are promises that the Catalog will be updated in the next few months to remove the ActiveX requirement and therefore also allow the use of other browsers, but it’s definitely a bad practice to first require the use of something and only later develop it, which again makes me suspicious of the motives behind the move.

Either way, the main point of this post is to raise another alarm over these bundles of non-security updates that will be the only way to obtain said updates from now on, and which are certain to also include those people specifically want to avoid. As such, I guess the standard recommendation from now on will be to not install any of them, as they may even make some other methods of avoiding some of the undesirable consequences obsolete, and perhaps if you find yourself needing an included patch to try to find a way extract it individually from the package or find it posted separately somewhere by someone who did extract it, assuming you trust the source.

Sadly, yesterday I allowed myself to be drawn into the WP-SpamShield developer’s “I said, you said” game and went around in circles for a few messages until the moderator yet again closed the thread, and again I got the warning. So what’s left there are opposing statements from an unhappy user and the developer of a plugin with a 4.9-star average rating, with the developer insisting they have “literally been dealing with [me] since November of last year” and “bent over backwards trying to help” while I refused their help and have been abusing and harassing them all this time. And instead of simply posting the evidence and letting it speak for itself, I allowed myself to be drawn into that sort of game until the thread was closed, like I said.

So let me just post the evidence here now, starting with the logs being referred to, which the developer claims included “many errors in [my] theme and other plugins”. This is straight from the log I sent to him last November, when he asked for it in the first reply to the support request. At the time, the problem only appeared when first loading a page on my site after opening the browser, or more specifically when the session cookie was not set, but the delay is the same as what 1.9.8.1 caused on every single page or operation, every single time. Removed file locations, but these four notices are all from my theme, as anything from any other plugins would have been impossible anyway, since WP-SpamShield was literally the only plugin even installed, not to mention active.

If you check the times, you will clearly notice that 24-second delay in there, before loading one part of the code and another. On the other hand, below you see how it looks now, with WP-SpamShield removed and no delays anymore. Exact same notices, with some added information for the last one, the only real difference being the lack of a delay.

But what do you know, now that I looked I found an error log with the entry below. Only thing there, in fact. Again removed file location, but it said it was actually caused by WP-SpamShield, while I had 1.9.8.1 active. Must have happened when I checked a page that didn’t exist, as I recall noticing that it failed to display the normal message in case the page isn’t found and I ended up with a standard 404 page instead, so now I know why. Of course, now that works normally as well, with WP-SpamShield removed.

But this is just a little thing, the more important matter being that they supposedly had to deal with me “literally” since last November and I have been abusive and harassed them all this time, right? Well, in that case I’d ask you to have a look at the end of the exchange from November and my first message from May. Masked e-mail addresses, just in case spam bots are smart enough to grab even from images, but that’s all there was, and I zoomed out that much in order to fit everything in one screenshot and not need to paste more than one together and give anyone any reason to assume I may have cut something out. I have the whole thing saved if anybody’s interested, starting from my support request on November 24 to this last message of mine on November 26, but in the image linked to above you have his last reply and my last reply from that initial exchange and then, like I said, the message I sent this month, after updating to 1.9.8 and noticing the issue appear when writing to the database, before 1.9.8.1 made it far, far worse. There was nothing in between and, seriously, if anybody sees me being abusive or harassing in there, or being “asked not to contact [them] multiple times”, please point it out to me.
Admittedly, since that wasn’t sent by e-mail, I don’t have the second support request sent, after his reply to that May 7 e-mail of mine. He insists I was abusive in that one and I definitely don’t recall anything of the sort. Asked for him to quote me if that was the case, which he did not, but I did already apologize regardless, in case my frustration at being talked down to and having what I say ignored did happen to grow to anger at some point as I was writing it.
However, what I do have is the next, and last, e-mail I sent, which resulted in me being completely banned for the site, supposedly because it constituted a bad case of harassment. So have a look at that as well and tell me which part of it could count as such, please. Again, masked the e-mail addresses for the same reason and also the links to the videos and one version number. Links would be dead now anyway, as I deleted the videos when it was clear there was no reason to have them there when they hadn’t been viewed even in the first place anyway, and call me paranoid but there are a few things I didn’t want to post so publicly. Everything else is right there though, and anyone can judge the facts.

And, of course, there’s also the issue of the problem appearing on other sites that use WP-SpamShield as well, which definitely rules out the claim that it’s something specific to my site. And to stick to facts, I just recorded another video of that happening on two sites that I found after searching for that little text users of WP-SpamShield can choose to have placed in the comments area if they wish to promote the plugin. Now I can’t know what version they use, but I can make a pretty good guess, considering the delay, which is in fact significantly longer than what I had been experiencing on my blog.

Over a year and a half since I switched to it, last night I switched back away from WP-SpamShield, which for my own use I’ll mention claimed to have blocked 72673 spam comments during this time, and returned to Akismet. What’s more, at this point I’d seriously advise everyone to be careful with WP-SpamShield because the developer’s attitude and refusal to admit its obvious behavior and the changes made to the code make me suspect malicious intent. It may of course simply be a case of thinking too highly of himself and too poorly of users, but I’m just saying I see reasons for concern and strongly advise caution if you care for your security and privacy, or even simply want to be taken seriously when you point out issues.

The story is that I first noticed a problem several months ago, at which time I had tracked it down to setting the session cookie and suspected it had to do with the change of ISP. Since as of then my IP could no longer be resolved and the problem also appeared on dad’s computer but not when using other connections, I eventually assumed it was a matter of WP-SpamShield trying to resolve it, possibly multiple times, before finally allowing that cookie to be set after a 24-second delay. Took it back and forth at length with support and, while the problem was never admitted and instead blame was laid on everything from my host to my WordPress version, theme or even browser, the issue was eventually fixed in an update. That delay still appeared when I tried to submit a test comment and when updating WP-SpamShield, but it made sense for it to check things then.
However, as of some point between version 1.9.7.7, when it was still fine, and 1.9.8, which I updated to directly about a week and a half ago, that delay appeared again whenever something was written to the database, therefore badly affecting the back end. Judging by the list of changes, I’d hazard a guess that something introduced in version 1.9.7.8 was the cause, but definitely can’t be sure and either way that became the lesser problem once I updated to 1.9.8.1, as then I started getting that delay on every single page and operation. 24 seconds to load a page, 24 seconds for something to be written to the database, 48 seconds for something that does both, such as publishing or saving changes to a post. As such, my site became next to unusable for me with WP-SpamShield active.
So I sent another reply to the old discussion I had saved after dropping it back then, but all I got back was another condescending reply listing all other things the developer thinks are wrong or simply doesn’t like even though none could explain the issue, telling me there’s nothing else they can do if I refuse their advice and closing the ticket, saying I can open another if I have other problems. Which I obviously did, once again explaining exactly what’s going on and why none of the proposed “solutions” tackle the actual problem I’m reporting, but there was no other reply.
Admittedly, I was frustrated and dismissive in that new ticket, but don’t see how it could have been considered abusive, yet when I posted a comment to another review mentioning slowing down a site, that was exactly what I was accused of, again being told that they “bent over backwards” trying to help me, yet again ignoring everything I was saying and force feeding their attempt to blame everything but WP-SpamShield for a problem that only appeared with it enabled, while nothing else that was mentioned as a potential other explanation was changed in any way. As I yet again pointed that out, I was simply told I was wrong and that was the end of it.
Well, I don’t appreciate being, albeit somewhat indirectly, called either a liar or an idiot or both, so I recorded video of the issue, using different browsers, then showed it go away with WP-SpamShield off, then reappear as it was reactivated. Then also showed it happen on another site I had found after searching for sites using WP-SpamShield, which should make it perfectly clear that it’s not something specific to my host, theme, WordPress version, options or anything else of that sort. Also made another short video to show the IP issue and how the delays fit right into the picture, and offered to test other sites or scenarios as well if needed. But I was unable to send the links as a support request, at the time being unsure whether that was due to an error or a ban, so I sent them by e-mail… Which resulted in me being banned from the site entirely.
Now I don’t take posting bad reviews lightly and have to admit that WP-SpamShield does also do what it should very well, in terms of eliminating spam, but at least these latest versions also very clearly do things they shouldn’t, the developer’s attitude and refusal to admit this is a huge red flag and today I felt I had exhausted all options of solving the problem amiably and at least somewhat privately, so I did post this story as a two-star review and, well, you can see what happened next. Not that you’d need to by now, since it’s pretty much the same story of what I’m saying being ignored while the developer force feeds his ideas to me and anyone else who may be reading, blaming anything other than WP-SpamShield for the problem and continuing to accuse me of being abusive while also adding harassment to the list now, since apparently sending the links to those videos as evidence amounted to that in his view and justified the ban.

But now that I wrote another personal post and not even about Sunday, let me also add something I kept forgetting to mention so far, which is that I received both Baldur’s Gate: The Original Saga and Baldur’s Gate 2 Complete on GOG. As I wasn’t even accepting the other games I was nominated for in The Community Giveaway, I definitely had no intention of asking for the second or entering another giveaway for the first otherwise, but when they stopped being available on their own on April 29 and people donated several keys for those who’ll just want the originals at some later time, I winced and awkwardly did so after all. Too awkwardly, in fact, as I asked for the second right after it stopped being available separately, but my request was missed due to how and when it was posted and I eventually even more awkwardly repeated it, obtaining the game on May 4. Got the first from that other giveaway on May 13, after donating Arx Fatalis to The Community Giveaway on May 11.
Now this hardly means I’ll get back to the first Baldur’s Gate in the foreseeable future, much less that I’ll start the second, but they’re there in case I ever will get to that point. Been years since I tried and abandoned the first, after all, and I was never sure I cared to continue it at a later point, but this counts as at least some amount of incentive to at least make another attempt, even if not too soon. Hope my old saves will work with the GOG version though, because even if I wasn’t far along I’d rather not have to actually start over, even though in some ways that may be the better option.

And one more thing I didn’t mention in a personal post is the fact that I hit my head quite hard against a metal bar during the May 6 protest. Entirely my fault, didn’t pay attention as I tried to duck under it while stepping forward and down, and I mentioned it in the post about those protests, but should probably add it here as well, especially since, while the lump pretty much went away by the end of the protest as a result of me spending most of the time keeping my hands cold and pressing and rubbing them against the area, you can still see the mark where the skin was scraped off. Also, that part of my head did feel slightly weird at first, there was an occasional dull pain that seemed located deeper, but that also went away after a few days, so I hope there will be no other consequences.