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This is the placeholder text everyone sees in the edit tab of a profile if the "about me" section is empty (emphasis mine):

BY DAY: Alt-Rock Ninja Cowgirl at Veridian Dynamics.

BY NIGHT: I write code and code rights for penalcoders.org, an awesome non-profit that will totally take your money at that link. My kids are cuter than yours.

FOR FUN: C+ Jokes, Segway Roller Derby, NYT Sat. Crosswords (in Sharpie!), Ostrich Grooming.

"If you see scary things, look for the helpers-you'll always see people helping."-Fred Rogers

If you actually follow that URL, you'll be redirected to a random spammy site. I've been redirected to a site that tries to get me to install an "updated version of Chrome", which is almost certainly malware.

It's not very likely that someone follows the link as it is not clickable, but it can certainly happen due to curiosity. Some users might suspect SE to have hidden an easter egg there.

Mentioning a URL in the profile placeholder that SE doesn't control and that leads to potentially harmful sites is just not a good idea, even if the chance of people following that link is small. The URL should be changed to a domain that is more trustworthy or just removed entirely.

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6
  • Yep, its one of those unowned sites. Maybe the owner sold it and SE never updated it? And its Chinese so it might be from China
    – Universal Electricity
    Jun 30, 2015 at 10:05
  • @UniKitty Actually it's owned, bought about a month ago.
    – Shadow The GPT Wizard
    Jun 30, 2015 at 10:21
  • 1
    @ShadowWizard someone probably bought it because SE linked it
    – Amelia
    Jun 30, 2015 at 10:25
  • 2
    Well, I can't find any reference that such site ever existed, so I would guess this is a bad attempt at a joke by the developer writing the code.
    – Shadow The GPT Wizard
    Jun 30, 2015 at 10:27
  • 3
    I don't understand. Does SE intentially make this?
    – Ooker
    Jul 1, 2015 at 14:18
  • 16
    What on earth... is this really the placeholder text? Good grief.
    – Lightness Races in Orbit
    Jul 2, 2015 at 18:13

1 Answer 1

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32

Yup, that's a nuisance. Replacing in the next build with something that will never resolve and cannot be bought by a spammer.

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4
  • 1
    @EnergyNumbers which is why the new URL already involves example.org... (or will, when we deploy)
    – Marc Gravell
    Jun 30, 2015 at 12:05
  • 1
    "I write code samples and examples for example.com?" ;)
    – Shadow The GPT Wizard
    Jun 30, 2015 at 12:08
  • 1
    Great! (But example.org does resolve)
    – 410 gone
    Jun 30, 2015 at 12:21
  • 1
    Just be meta..reference an SO URL and pull the money grabbing joke (irrelevant at that point, unless there is a donate button somewhere here).
    – CubeJockey
    Jun 30, 2015 at 12:50

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