(This is the Online column, written for The Southland Times)
There’s some good news for those of you who drink and browse in the form of the Social Media Sobriety Test.
A news report on Stuff this week says the plugin for Firefox web browsers has been devised by an American internet security firm as a way of stopping us making dicks our ourselves on Facebook while liquored up.
Webroot reckons nothing good happens online after 1am (really? I do some of my best browsing during the wee small hours) so it allows you to block access to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter during set hours.
If you try to post to one of the nominated sites during the blocked hours you will have to pass a test to prove your sobriety: typing the alphabet backwards perhaps, orfollowing a circle with your cursor.
Now I don’t know about you, but I’d have some difficulty typing the alphabet backwards even when sober so I’d be buggered. z x y w v u … er, I give up.
Besides, some of those drunken burbles on the web are fascinating reading. You only need to look at the gems that appear on Failbook and Facebook.
And let’s not forget the likes of Tracy and her message typed in the wrong box on Facebook.
The post is now legendary online. Warning: don’t click the link if you’re of a sensitive disposition.