Are you adult enough to shop for electronics?

[exe]

Man, I just searched for banana plugs on aliexpress, and it asked me if I'm over 18 years old. Am I missing something about electronics? 

[Towger]

Aliexpress has gotten into serious trouble with the EU Commission for selling banned and adult material.  This is probably part of their attempt to clean up and not sell banana but plugs to children :-)

https://www.reuters.com/technology/eu-probes-aliexpress-over-possibly-illegal-online-products-2024-03-14

[Bud]

So what sort of bananas they sell in that section of Ali ?

[pcprogrammer]

So what sort of bananas they sell in that section of Ali ?

The ones that smell iffy after usage. 

[nctnico]

Aliexpress has gotten into serious trouble with the EU Commission for selling banned and adult material.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/eu-probes-aliexpress-over-possibly-illegal-online-products-2024-03-14

That is not what the article says. Aliexpress is being monitored but so far no serious issues have been discovered.

[pcprogrammer]

And what does it show when searched for "banana plug" and telling you are over 18. Nothing but banana connectors 

[voltsandjolts]

This attempt to protect younger folks from TEA should be applauded not ridiculed! TEA is real!

[coppercone2]

yeah you gotta be over 18 to be able to deal with the frustration of using cheap shitty banana connectors, they trying to limit self harm in frustrated people. The prompt should say "are you ready and mentally strong enough to deal with some bullshit hardware?"

If you are making lab hookup get the best it will last

[Zoli]

For AI the the banana plug is the equivalent of the b*tt plug; the second certainly is adult only 

[nctnico]

About stuffing things in the rear end....
At the research institute I used to work at, they also did tests with people in a climate chamber. For safety the temperature of the persons needed to be monitored carefully so they used rectal temperature sensors. At on end a tiny NTC encapsulated in rubber and on the other end a big plug to connect to a recorder. Some test subjects found it necessary to insert the big plug in the wrong place 

[SiliconWizard]

And what does it show when searched for "banana plug" and telling you are over 18. Nothing but banana connectors 

Were you disappointed?

Beyond this "adult material" thing, I've found their search engine to be increasingly hopeless anyway.

[exe]

> tests with people in a climate chamber
> climate chamber

Let me guess, the climate chamber was a sauna, and the research institute is named Thermen Soesterberg or Elysium?)

> Some test subjects found it necessary to insert the big plug in the wrong place 

That makes, uhm, a more secure insertion?

[amyk]

And what does it show when searched for "banana plug" and telling you are over 18. Nothing but banana connectors 

Their AI just has a dirty mind... but we do know why connectors were named male and female, after all

[Smokey]

And what does it show when searched for "banana plug" and telling you are over 18. Nothing but banana connectors 

Suuuure...  And that "personal massager" is for sore muscles....  :⁠-⁠)

[pcprogrammer]

And what does it show when searched for "banana plug" and telling you are over 18. Nothing but banana connectors 

Were you disappointed?

Of course, because what man does not think about sex every seven seconds. 

Beyond this "adult material" thing, I've found their search engine to be increasingly hopeless anyway.

It sure is, and requires erasing cookies to get the best results. 

[Xena E]

Aussie vintage technology website cool 386 was blocked by Google at one point because it featured vibrators. You needed to put your credit card details in for that. John Hunter, who owns the site was understandably miffed that the bloody word police were stopping access to his site.

There was the guy at work, (my department), who was investigated for searching for insulating washers on the net, one suggested search term was 'top hat bushes'. . .  It returned unwelcome results.

It's so inconsistent that one thing could be blocked and another actually show pictures of uncensored mutts.

The whining HR snowflake who 'investigated' the incident with the zeal of the Spanish inquisition eventually had to be told to f*ck off and let people get on with their work:

over protection causes ignorance, ignorance encourages abuse...parental control is for the home environment, word policing the Internet for everyone is just a f*gg*t¹.

¹ traditional meaning, look it up FFS.

Xena, since1994 lifetime politically incorrect and proud of it.

[tooki]

The whining HR snowflake who 'investigated' the incident with the zeal of the Spanish inquisition eventually had to be told to f*ck off and let people get on with their work:

over protection causes ignorance, ignorance encourages abuse...parental control is for the home environment, word policing the Internet for everyone is just a f*gg*t¹.

¹ traditional meaning, look it up FFS.

I suppose no German-speaker there ever had a need to research bassoons?

[BrokenYugo]

I seem to have this memory of a time when children largely weren't allowed on the Internet, what with it being full of weirdos, gore, pornography, and made up bullshit in general. I didn't have private web access until I was like 13 and I was stealing it at the time.

Seems like the easier solution to me, but I suppose that would be less profitable, draining mommy's credit card is big business after all.

[tooki]

I seem to have this memory of a time when children largely weren't allowed on the Internet, what with it being full of weirdos, gore, pornography, and made up bullshit in general. I didn't have private web access until I was like 13 and I was stealing it at the time.

Seems like the easier solution to me, but I suppose that would be less profitable, draining mommy's credit card is big business after all.

The credit cards aren't to charge money, but to prove you're old enough to have a credit card. Just age verification.

[Xena E]

So what sort of bananas they sell in that section of Ali ?

The ones that smell iffy after usage. 

Anyway, bananas aren't any good for that, they go all squishy after a few minutes in the warm 

[HwAoRrDk]

A while back I was looking for some metal-bladed squeegees for spreading solder paste onto stencils.

Good thing I don't have an HR department monitoring me, because searching on eBay for "stainless steel spreaders" brought back some items which I suppose you could describe as "adult bedroom equipment".

[pcprogrammer]

So what sort of bananas they sell in that section of Ali ?

The ones that smell iffy after usage. 

Anyway, bananas aren't any good for that, they go all squishy after a few minutes in the warm 

Sounds like experience. 

[Xena E]

So what sort of bananas they sell in that section of Ali ?

The ones that smell iffy after usage. 

Anyway, bananas aren't any good for that, they go all squishy after a few minutes in the warm 

Sounds like experience. 

Shush! 

[NiHaoMike]

The credit cards aren't to charge money, but to prove you're old enough to have a credit card. Just age verification.

If users get used to that, phishing would become much easier.

[tooki]

The credit cards aren't to charge money, but to prove you're old enough to have a credit card. Just age verification.

If users get used to that, phishing would become much easier.

Many free adult sites have been using that method for years, it’s nothing new.

[SiliconWizard]

Yes, the method is safe and effective.

[EPAIII]

Of course, because what man does not think about sex every seven seconds. 

Women too! As a young lady of my past acquaintance told me, they are just sneaker about it.

[EPAIII]

You were on the internet at 13? What luck!

I had to wait until I was around 40 or 45. 

I seem to have this memory of a time when children largely weren't allowed on the Internet, what with it being full of weirdos, gore, pornography, and made up bullshit in general. I didn't have private web access until I was like 13 and I was stealing it at the time.

Seems like the easier solution to me, but I suppose that would be less profitable, draining mommy's credit card is big business after all.

[eutectique]

Man, I just searched for banana plugs on aliexpress, and it asked me if I'm over 18 years old.

Are you looking for a plug with a pony tail or a fox tail?

[pcprogrammer]

You were on the internet at 13? What luck!

I had to wait until I was around 40 or 45. 

It was not available when I was born and got introduced to it when it got more widely available at around 30 or so. Before that the odd bulletin board but mostly information via school, magazine or the library while playing with my TRS-80.

[pcprogrammer]

 

Looking for "diotec" on Aliexpress raises the same "are you older than 18" question, but actually gives a lot of adult toys as a result.

I tried to see if they had any components from diotec semiconducter, and it turns out to be not a lot. 

Won't post a screen cap of the result here to protect the innocent of mind. 

[onsokumaru]

I got the same message doing a search for some connectors, I got scared about what kind of results  I was going to get, but in the end just connectors