How LWN is faring in 2025

FWIW, since everyone and their dog now seems to have a (usually pretty badly behaved) web crawler [1], I don't think I'm alone in having some pretty extensive search engine block lists just to keep my systems from being DoS'd. It would be one thing if those bots ever led to referral traffic, but... they nearly never do.

[1] Bing was particularly egregious in is misbehavior, and that was in the pre-AI days.

Where it gets frustrating is where the search engine completely misunderstands what's being asked, and insists on answering a completely different question instead. Mind you, that was common enough even before the AI slop. It would help if AI had a basic grasp of English grammar, and could actually tell the difference between subject and object, for example ...

Cheers,
Wol

In Europe you'll find Lydia, Wero and probably others. This area is evolving rapidly and there is hope.

In the US, Venmo and Zelle are modern enough to be be designed correctly: they do not allow random and uncontrolled "pulls". But unlike the Great Credit Card Ripoff[*], these new services are "too cheap". They don't make enough profit, so:

- With the free version of Venmo you really are the product _exactly_ like social media and with all the same data abuse. Which is why so many people love it! /s "Venmo business" charges fees.
- US banks dragged their feet and started Zelle to reluctantly counter Venmo and similar. It works but the software tends to be clumsy and slow. The basic, universal version is not allowed for businesses, which could also explain what you just wrote about PayID.

BUT I just discovered right now that a number of US banks support "Zelle for (small) business" and it seems free! If the overhead is reasonable, maybe it could be a convenient option for LWN? Zelle supports payment "requests" which in theory could reduce tracking overhead? There are transaction limits but they are well above the price of LWN subscription. My... 2 cents.

[*] Search "who pays for credit card rewards". To be fair: credit cards also have the best rollback policies.

So why do banks always say you can't set up direct debits on savings accounts? I can't even set up a standing order on my savings accounts (Barclays), so I'm sure some random Tommy would be blocked from setting up a direct debit.

Alternatively, use a building society, then you need that 3rd piece of info called a "reference", and my building society will not allow me to withdraw money into anything other than a pre-arranged account (although setting that account to be a foreign account might be problematic ...)

Cheers,
Wol

I really don't like the fact that - in the UK - customers are actively pushed to direct debit. Coupled with the government's push to force poor people to take control of their financial affairs (why are these people poor? Unfortunately, the obvious cause is the majority of them are a slice short of a sandwich!).

So we have people who have often shown they are financially incompetent, forced to take control of their finances, and denied a tool (standing orders) that I found INCREDIBLY useful when I was a youngster. When I got paid, all my bills went out one or two days later (because *I* was in control of the payment date), and whatever was left at the start of the month was all I had to see me through the month.

Now, with bills going out monthly, money coming in fortnightly or four-weekly, so many people are faced with the decision "I have money in the bank for next week's rent payment, do I use it to feed my kids today because we're starving".

The standing order put the customer *completely* in control. The adverts "direct debits give you control" are a complete untruth. All they do is give you a legal guarantee that the bank is liable if it's not your mistake.

What we need is either a requirement that says utilities et al MUST take the money on the date you want them to, or a bank account that says "direct debits WILL be paid provided they add up to less than the income coming in". So a direct debit would be able (and expected) to put an allegedly "non overdraft" account into overdraft. WITHOUT crippling fees.

Cheers,
Wol

What happens if you don't have online access to your account? I don't mean "the bank doesn't provide it", I mean "you are disabled / learning difficulties / don't understand etc etc".

As I've repeatedly said, I have multiple family members who through age or disability can not (any longer) cope with much modern technology.

Oh - and giving a third person access on their behalf should be a no-no on data protection / fraud / whatever grounds.

Cheers,
Wol

You mean Western Europe?

The wealthy may think they're okay, but much of Europe seems to be ablaze these days (that, or rivers bursting their banks and destroying towns).

In maybe 20 years, I suspect we will be spending billions to try and avoid catastrophic floods in London. The arctic ice has gone - the Humbolt Current and Gulf Stream are both failing - that's going to play havoc with Western Europe and the US Eastern Seaboard. The glaciers feed many of our major rivers - what happens when the Alpine, Himalayan and Andean ice caps melt? Will India, the Amazon Basin, and much of central Europe become dust bowls?

I personally don't think AGW is going to hit the poorest hardest - I think it's going to hit the rich far worse. How are we going to cope when nature takes out all our life support systems? That catastrophic flood I mention in London - how are we going to rebuild when the world is in chaos and the West is bankrupt?

Cheers,
Wol