1161
Asking the real questions (jlai.lu)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/programmer_humor@programming.dev
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[–] 177 points 2 years ago (30 children)

I have an apostrophe and it's super annoying as some companies see it as a SQL injection hack and sanitize it.

So I've received ID with Mc%20dole or they add a space in it. Or I'll get a work email with an apostrophe but I cant use it anywhere because sites have it disabled. And I've missed my flight because I changed my ticket once to add the apostrophe and the system just broke at the gate.

Worse yet many flight companies have "you will not be able to board if your ID doesn't exactly reflect your details" but their form doesn't allow it. Even most forms for card payments don't allow it even though it's the name on my card.

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  • [–] 75 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    %20 is encoded space if I remember right, so even then they were already incorrect

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  • [–] 52 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    Always worth posting this classic.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    Been there, seen that, had to deal with it. Now add the problem that there are people who don't know their birth date or not even the f-ing year they were born in. And I'm not talking about someone from a lost tribe at the Amazonas.

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  • [–] 44 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)

    I have an apostrophe and it’s super annoying as some companies see it as a SQL injection hack and sanitize it.

    My surname contains a character that's only present in the Polish alphabet. Writing my full name as is broke lots of systems, encoding, printed paperwork and even British naturalisation application on Home Office website. My surname was part of my username back at uni, and everytime I tried to login on Windows, it would crash underlying LDAP server, logging everyone in the classroom out and forcing ICT to restart the server.

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  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago

    everytime I tried to login on Windows, it would crash underlying LDAP server, logging everyone in the classroom out and forcing ICT to restart the server.

    Now that's the way to do it! Make it everybody's problem, not just yours.

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  • [–] 21 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (8 children)

    you will not be able to board if your ID doesn't exactly reflect your details"

    Do they care about an apostrophe though? I can see any punctuation being a problem for systems.

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  • [–] 58 points 2 years ago (7 children)

    I had to convince people to let me on board a plane because my name contain a swedish letter (å). Their computer system translated it into "aa", which then didn't match my passport.

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  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

    That one I can actually see, having an extra letter that doesn't match. Dropped punctuation or symbols (whatever the flair is called) though personally I wouldn't care.

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  • [–] 20 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    That's the wrong way of looking at an å.

    It's not just an a with decoration. It actually has different pronunciation and is typically replaced with aa if no å is available. (I'm neither Swedish nor Norwegian, so not 100% sure, but it's what happened to Erling Haaland).

    Similarly, you would replace a German ä with ae. So if my name was Bäcker, it would be wrong to spell it Backer on a ticket. Baecker would be the way.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    Yes I'm aware it's not an a with decoration jfc. I'm saying for computer entries that garble things, I wouldn't care about matching it up so perfectly (with dropped whatever those things are called) as to not allow someone to board a plane.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Your name is transliterated in your passport? That's on the Swedish authorities then.

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  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago

    I have an apostrophe

    Scottish/Irish?

    some companies see it as a SQL injection hack and sanitize it.

    Which kind of apostrophe?

    A straight apostrophe, fine - that can and does get used in valid SQL injection attacks. I would be disgusted at any input form that didn’t sanitize that.

    But a curly apostrophe? Nothing should be filtering a curly apostrophe, as it has no function or use within SQL. So if you learn how to bring that up in alt codes (Windows, specifically), Key combos (Mac) or dead keys (Linux), as well as direct Unicode codes for most any Win/Mac/*Nix platform, you should be golden.

    Unless the developer of that input form was a complete moron and made extra-tight validation.

    Plus, knowing the inputs for a lot of extended UTF-8 characters not found on a normal keyboard is also a wee bit of a typing superpower.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago

    Same shit with American custom forms. On the one hand, they threaten you with Armageddon if you fill out the form incorrectly, on the other hand, they only allow plain letters, numbers, and a handful of special characters. Nobody there has the capacity of the mind that maybe a name cannot be correctly represented with that tiny subset of characters. So it is simply impossible to fill out that form without breaking the law. And it is a customs form, so they should know that people filling it out are most likely foreigners.

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  • [+] -27 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    ... why are you putting an apostrophe in McDole? The O-apostrophe in Irish names is an anglicisation of Ó, eg. Ó Briain becomes O'Brien. Mac Dól would become MacDole/McDole.

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  • [+] 86 points 2 years ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (4 children)
    [deleted]
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  • [–] 30 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Probably some bureaucrat decades ago making an incorrect assumption that passed down through generations. Happened to my family. No Irish roots whatsoever, yet somehow we ended up with the annoying form-breaking apostrophe in our 'legal' name just because it begins with the letter 'o'.

    "Oscar??? Surely, you're mistaken. I hereby decree your name to be O'Scar!" ~Arsehole circa 1937

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  • [–] 14 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Yep also happened to my family. There is a y in my family name, but that’s very uncommon in the Netherlands, my last name is of French origin. So some bureaucrat changed it to a Dutch y which is an ij and there was no time to correct it since my grandparents had to catch the boat to flee the former Dutch colony. Now my last name is constantly pronounced wrong. I’m probably going to change it in the future but in the Netherlands you are not allowed to change your name except for a few exceptions. And applying for a name change cost a lot of money and you won’t get it back if they reject it. So I probably have to get a lawyer to do it.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago*

    Yeah, I've considered a name change myself. Decided not to bother as it would mean every time I need to prove my identity to a government organisation I'd need to provide additional change of name documentation.

    Government is hard enough to deal with as it is without adding an extra thing that needs to be assessed.

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