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AutoInsult FAQ
This section answers frequently asked questions (FAQs). Some of
these questions are real ones that people have actually asked us, others are
ones that we think may be asked.
Please be sure to also read the AutoInsult documentation (available after installation) for usage information.
What on earth would I use it for?
I ran it and was deeply insulted by it all.
I wasn't insulted on the whole, but I think some of the words should be removed.
I wasn't the least bit insulted. In fact, I thought it was all a bit tame
Why don't you add this style....... ?
I want to add my own words! How can I do it?
Where are these Modern insults you mention? How do I get them? Do I need to pay you money or something?
I'm getting an error that says that I have an obsolete / incompatible / corrupted data file
Don't you ever use a spell checker? You don't know how to spell in your documentation and message boxes!
Hey, a lot of the spellings are wrong / I don't understand some of the phrases or words you use.
What happened to all the combo boxes / drop lists for the words you had in v2.01?
I paid good money to be a Registered User when AutoInsult was shareware. Now you've made it freeware, can I have my money back?
Can you write a version that I can use it in my own programs / on my web site?
Will you be releasing a Mac, Windows CE, Unix or PalmPilot version?
When its says you can "copy the insults to the clipboard to use later", what / where is this clipboard?
Why don't you have a fancy install program called setup.exe or something?
What language is AutoInsult written in?
Why have you changed your name back to Jumping Armadillo Software?
I want more information about AutoInsult / you haven't answered my question. What do I do now?
What on earth would I use it for?
If you can't think of a reason, then this program is probably not for you.
I ran it and was deeply insulted by it all.
Well, it is a program that generates insults, after all. Seriously, if this genuinely offends you, then we're terribly sorry. Please accept our apologies, uninstall and delete the program, and forget that
it ever happened. (Some people reckon we should just say "get a sense
of humour" here, but everyone has a different sense of humour, and some
people really don't find it funny. Ah well)
I wasn't insulted on the whole, but I think some of the words should be
removed.
As we said, people's sense of humour, and what they consider acceptable and
unacceptable vary enormously. Its an age-old problem of censorship - just where
do you draw the line? We hope we have drawn the line at downright
offensiveness, but some people are almost certain to disagree. If you find
that AutoInsult generates something you find unpleasant, even on the lowest
offensiveness level, then just use the "Generate" button to
generate another. Chances are it'll be something you find acceptable. If
not, the follow the advice for the previous question and uninstall it.
I wasn't the least bit insulted. In fact, I thought it was all a bit
tame
As we've pointed out in the previous few answers, everyone's sense of humour
is different. In order to keep the appeal of AutoInsult as wide as
possible we have drawn a fairly conservative line on the level of offensiveness. This was one of the things that the review by Ziff-Davies (the people who
Publish PC Magazine) praised AutoInsult on. If we had made it more
offensive we would have run the risk of sites like ZD-Net refusing to carry it. Undoubtedly once the registered user utilities are released, word files with
more "liberated" word sets will begin to be available from other
people. However we will not be responsible for them, nor necessarily
condone any of their content.
Why don't you add this style....... ?
We're always open to suggestions, but we'll require hard examples,
preferably lots. The style must also follow a set formula. At the moment
the formula is to pick one word from each of a number of columns in order to
generate a new sentence and apply it to a rule. For instance, the modern
style's rule is "You <column1> <column2> <column3>
<column4>", and it has 4 columns (or fields).
When the AutoInsult Editor is available you will be able to generate your own
add-on data files. In the meantime if you send us a data file in text
format we will consider incorporating it. There must be at least
5,000,000 combinations though. You can calculate the number of
combinations by multiplying the number of values in each column. That's
not as hard to attain as you think - 4 columns of 100 words / phrases gives
6,250,000 combinations!
If we incorporate your suggestion into AutoInsult then you'll get credit for
it.
Please note that an email that just says
"Can you add the blurgle-wugle style please?" isn't going to help us much - we'll need some examples.
I want to add my own words! How can I do it?
When the AutoInsult Editor is available (whenever that is) you will be able to generate your own
add-on data files. In the meantime, you can't.
Where are these Modern insults you mention? How do I get them? Do
I need to pay you money or something?
(This affects versions up to v3.01). There were no crippled features
in AutoInsult prior to v3.2, neither were there any nag screens. However, since some people have been offended by the Modern style we hid and
disabled it until you go into the options screen (by clicking the
"More>>" button) and increase the offensiveness level. v3.1 Beta onwards always displays the "Modern" tab and shows a
message explaining this. Thanks to Phillip Garding for suggesting this.
I'm getting an error that says that I have an obsolete /
incompatible / corrupted data file
This error occurs when AutoInsult cannot successfully read a data file. As the error suggests, it is not in the correct format. It may have been
corrupted or be from a previous version (which had a different file format),
or it may be from a completely different program altogether if you install
AutoInsult somewhere silly like your C:\WINDOWS
folder, where lots of other files with a ".dat" extension reside. Its always a good idea to install AutoInsult into its own folder.
Don't you ever use a spell checker? You don't know how to spell in your
documentation and message boxes!
It all depends on which dialect you use. If you speak the
Queen's English, then you'll find we've made very few spelling errors. If
you speak something else like American English, then you'll find some of the
spellings are not as you'd expect. :o)
Hey, a lot of the spellings are wrong / I don't understand some of the
phrases or words you use.
Check you are using the correct dictionary. AutoInsult ships with both
English and American English versions. However, the American English
version is just the English one that has been spell-checked with the
spellchecker language setting set to "English (US)".
As for words and phrases, we're British here at Coruscant Ltd., so its
inevitable that colloquial words and phrases may creep in that are not in use
throughout the English-speaking world. We can't really do a whole lot
about this.
From v3.5 onwards you can select a word or phrase and right-click on it to look it up on dictionary.com
What happened to all the combo boxes / drop lists for the words you had in
v2.01?
As of v3.5 they're back! You must be using an older version.
I paid good money to be a Registered User when AutoInsult was shareware. Now you've made it freeware, can I have my money back?
We're sorry, but we cannot offer a refund like this. However, we can offer a free registration of the AutoInsult Editor when it becomes available.
Can you write a version that I can use it in my own programs / on my web site?
We have no plans to offer this. However there is an on-line version of AutoInsult called WebInsult that you can link to from your website if you wish.
Will you be releasing a Mac, Windows CE, Unix or PalmPilot version?
We do have a prototype version of AutoInsult running under the Gizmondo platform, but since we've bound by a Non-Disclosure Agreement with Gizmondo we can't release it. However, it is a proof-of-concept for further WinCE versions - so watch this space.
We have no firm plans at present for any other platforms, although we are interested in both Linux and Mac versions at some stage. This may well make use of the wxWidgets library to allow us to go multi-platform and support a number of operating systems.
Furthermore we've recently acquired a GP2X console so may be releasing a version of AutoInsult for that at some point too.
When its says you can "copy the insults to the clipboard to use later", what /
where is this clipboard?
We were surprised to be asked this question, but maybe its just a case of
knowing what the clipboard is, but not knowing that it is called the clipboard.
In almost any Windows application, you can select some text and select 'cut' or
'copy' (usually from the Edit menu) and the text will be stored in the Windows
Clipboard. When you choose 'paste' in an application (like your Word Processor
or an email) then the stored text is copied in at the point where your cursor
is. AutoInsult replaces whatever is in the clipboard with your insults, so
you can choose 'paste' (keyboard shortcut Ctrl+V) in your application and have
your insults pasted in.
Why don't you have a fancy install program called setup.exe or
something?
v3.3 onwards does! You must be using an older version.
What language is AutoInsult written in?
Microsoft Visual C++ and the MFC (Microsoft Foundation Classes), although we are in the process of breaking the dependency on MFC in order to allow us to more easily write versions for different platforms. Our aim is to dispense with MFC entirely eventually and use portable C++ and wxWidgets to make AutoInsult completely multi-platform. Unfortunately this will require an almost complete rewrite so we don't have a timescale for this.
Why have you changed your name back to Jumping Armadillo Software?
AutoInsult and WebInsult were not sitting well with Coruscant Ltd. so it was felt that it would be better all round to return them to Jumping Armadillo Software.
I want more information about AutoInsult / you haven't
answered my question. What do I do now?
Send us an email via the "contact us" page and we will do our best to answer you query.
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