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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
… 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.
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.
%20 is encoded space if I remember right, so even then they were already incorrect
Yep, the apostrophe would be %27
So Mc%27dole
It sounds like maybe they sanitized the apostrophe to a space and then encoded 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.
Now that’s the way to do it! Make it everybody’s problem, not just yours.
Always worth posting this classic.
There’s also the version with examples if you want to know exactly what and why it breaks.
And the git that collects all of these in one place, if you want to really nerd out.
Also relevant: https://www.wired.com/2015/11/null/
This is going to be bobby tables isn’t it?
Edit: It wasn’t?!
Lol I went through the exact same process.
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.
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.
Do they care about an apostrophe though? I can see any punctuation being a problem for systems.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“Diacritics” is the word you are looking for.
And unfortunately the kind of people who decide whether people get to board a plane do care about that stuff.
Your name is transliterated in your passport? That’s on the Swedish authorities then.
No, my passport has my real name of course, with “å”. In the airport system and on the boarding pass my name was spelled with “aa”.
I’m amazed that none of your family members have run into the same problem. If I were you I would compare passports with my family.
Scottish/Irish?
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.
Spent lots of effort to get names for my kids that avoid this. Swedish/French. It’s harder than it sounds.
… 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.
Mc’Dole is what they said, not McDo’le.