9
\$\begingroup\$

Trick the user that StackExchange is broken:

Stack Overflow error page

It can be done in several ways:

  • Your program starts a browser in some certain way (with a proxy server, for example);
  • Your program shows static picture;
  • Your program is executed in address bar using javascript:.
  • (your other creative way)

StackExchange error page should be displayed to user one way or another. It may appear immediately or after user tries to do something (i.e. to post a comment). The program should look like some useful StackExchange enhancer (e.g. a userscript that highlights happy posts, i.e. posts containing the word happy).

Try to aim for the shortest program (original tag was ) and/or obfuscated code. You may depend on some concrete browser (Firefox, Chromium, Opera).

Encouraged:

  • Preserving address line "normal";
  • Finding actual faults in StackExchange software;
  • Making it "hard to fix" (on this computer), e.g. making it cached;
  • Making it show different error depending on on which site do I start the program (if it is a in-browser snippet);

Discouraged:

  • Simply redirecting to http://.../error. You can still try to sneak it -style.
  • Trying to permanently mess with user's StackExchange account.

(inspired by this)

Improve this question
\$\endgroup\$
8
  • 7
    \$\begingroup\$ This seems to be too vague for me. "As closely as possible" is not really an objective criterium. \$\endgroup\$ – Ingo Bürk Oct 30 '14 at 18:05
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ Is this a duplicate? codegolf.stackexchange.com/questions/12340/… \$\endgroup\$ – Justin Oct 30 '14 at 18:10
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ @Quincunx No, that is very different - it allows much more than displaying errors. \$\endgroup\$ – isaacg Oct 30 '14 at 18:17
  • 3
    \$\begingroup\$ I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because underhanded challenges are no longer on-topic on this site. meta.codegolf.stackexchange.com/a/8326/20469 \$\endgroup\$ – cat Apr 18 '16 at 15:28
  • 2
    \$\begingroup\$ @cat, Is PPCG definition shifting (or shifted) compared to two year ago? I though the sole reason of PPCG is to offload funny code trickery with away from StackOverflow. Underhanded contests or code trolling definitely feel like a funny trickery... \$\endgroup\$ – Vi. Apr 18 '16 at 21:30