I've got two new toys in my web browsing tickle trunk: GishPuppy and BugMeNot.
BugMeNot
is a service that helps you to bypass all of those annoying websites
out there that want you to sign up just so that you can have access to
some downloads. CodeProject springs to mind here.
Next time you sign up to a site with some fake information (Ive been Fred Test and lived at 100 Main Street for longer than I can remember), head on over to bugmenot.com and register that site and your fake information. By doing that, other users can then take advantage of this account.
BugMeNot is aided by a really nice Firefox extension. Simply click in the Username textbox of the website and choose BugMeNot. The extension goes to the website, picks the first username/password combination and submits the page with that information. Voila no messy signups.
Now the first thing that I thought of when I saw this was.hey, this is just like those websites that give out hacked passwords to porn sites! Cool! But the BugMeNot folks must already be planning on the eventual lawsuits. This is from their FAQ:
Are you going to steal my identity or rob my credit card'
No. Our policy forbids accounts to paid services from being posted. However, just like a discussion forum, if you happen to find one then email and it will be removed. Privacy is not considered a commodity.Are you going to bankrupt my paid content service'
See above. If you are losing sleep over this then email the url and we'll add your site to the "automatically blocked" list.
BugMeNot is highly recommended, even if it cant get me free passwords to porn sites.
Ill let the GishPuppy folks describe their service:
GishPuppy offers disposable email addresses that automatically forward messages to your normal (private) email. Conveniently create a different GishPuppy email everytime you register on the web, and individually cancel them whenever you want.
You might think that GishPuppy is kind of useless after hearing about BugMeNot. But the great thing about GishPuppy is that it allows you to sign up for services that you might actually need. These are the types of services where youre OK signing up with personalized information (i.e. dont use BugMeNot) but youre not comfortable enough to use your own personal e-mail address.
Ive got tons of sites that ask me to sign up and then hit me with spam-lite. You all know what spam-lite is. Its not really spam because it consists of semi-useful information hidden in newsletters, site updates, etc. Its information that could be moved into an RSS feed but that would just be too easy and progressive, wouldnt it'
The really nice thing about GishPuppy is the GishIt extension for Firefox. Now when Im on a site that I want to sign up to, I just right-click and choose GishIt. A small window pops up with the current sites information (to help with searching later on) and a nice customized GishPuppy e-mail is created for me to use in the signup process.
Ive already Gishd my CodeProject, DotNetJunkies, SqlJunkies and ImageAfter memberships. This is a highly recommended service.