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'Plugspreading' is an Abomination (cnet.com)

Posted by msmash on from the somebody-had-to-say-it dept.

Mark Serrels, writing for CNET: A man [on a train], a human man as he lives and breathes, has put his bag, his stupid goddamn bag on the seat. He thinks his bag is more important than your buttcheeks. Than your tired legs. He is undermining your right to rest those legs, to plank those weary buttcheeks on a seat. This train is busy. He is a bad person. He doesn't care. This is a metaphor. In this metaphor the terrible man-person is a tech company. The bag is their terrible plug. A plug that is not content with taking up one slot on your powerboard, but needs two. Not for power, oh no. It just wants the space to... christ, I don't know. Mess with your day? Piss you off? Make your life worse? Stop you from plugging an extra device into your powerboard for no goddamn reason. Jesus wept. I call this phenomenon "plugspreading" and it's an abomination. [...] This is bad behaviour. This is a problem. That second socket was innocent man, it was collateral damage. He did nothing to deserve this. You ruined its life, starved that socket of its purpose, its reason for existing. Plugspreading is everywhere. It's a disease.

13 of 362 comments (clear)

  1. Plug-Spreading? by gerald.edward.butler · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'd really be afraid to Google that without "Safe-Search" turned on. That being said, I agree with your premise. How come if I have a power-strip with 8 sockets I can only ever plug-in 3 damn things? Crap Design! As usual. I don't know where all the "Designers" came from, but, be toasters, coffee-pots, vacuum cleaners, plugs, or software interfaces, they are ALL universally worthlessly incompetent and should be beaten with the "You have failed at your job Stick" until they leave the profession.

    1. Re:Plug-Spreading? by Hognoxious · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The purpose is to avoid you cramming in too many things without a chance of airflow for cooling.

      I'd always wondered why the size of the plug was proportional to the power it draws.

      Oh wait, I haven't. Because it isn't.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    2. Re:Plug-Spreading? by batkiwi · · Score: 5, Interesting

      In Australia, where this article was written, almost every home power outlet is side by side, so he didn't go to ANY trouble to find a power outlet which was side by side.

      Also your standard "buy it at the shops" power board has that same spacing since it's a standard. You have to buy a special hugely spaced power board. Notice this one has only one specially spaced one: https://www.target.com.au/p/us...

      This one has none: https://www.officeworks.com.au...

      This one has actual spacing markers to show you where they will fithttps://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/hpm-5-outlet-power-surge-protector-hpd1055

    3. Re:Plug-Spreading? by another_twilight · · Score: 5, Informative

      Apple?
      You mean the power supply where you can remove the mains connector to reveal that it connects via a IEC 60320 C7/'figure 8' socket, allowing a short cable to be installed moving the 'wart' to the middle of the length like you want? It's been a while since I checked and may be recalling incorrectly, but I thought that while Apple sold a cable with a moulded connector that fit in the socket and merged with the 'wart', that the socket itself was standard and you could use any suitable cable.

      Frankly, these are some of the best designs I've seen. Most of the bulk is away from the mains connection, so it doesn't interfere with other plugs and you can switch between wall-wart and cable-wart.

    4. Re:Plug-Spreading? by Plus1Entropy · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The reason companies use wall warts is because of certification. If you are going to sell a device that takes AC from the mains directly into itself, whether it converts it to DC internally or not, it has to pass a far higher bar than one that takes in DC directly.

      So instead of trying to pass those regulations, it's much cheaper to simply buy an AC/DC power supply which has already been certified and ship it with the product you design. The alternative is what a lot of laptops have, the power brick style, which is AC to a little box (certified) and then DC to the laptop. The manufacturer designs one supply to certify and sells it with multiple laptop models.

      For example, any device which takes in AC from the mains will have to pass a HiPot test, which is where you apply 2x(device rating) + 1000V DC* between the input terminals and the ground for one minute, during which the device cannot pass any current to ground (i.e., short). So a laptop which would be powered by 120V directly would have to withstand 1240V for one minute.

      *These are Canadian Standards Association numbers, but I know that CE and NEC requirements are similar.

      --
      Only crack the nuts that crack. You don't put the ones that don't crack in the sack.
    5. Re:Plug-Spreading? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Here's the solution: Outlet Extender/Outlet Saver/Power Extension Cable - 10 Pack

      Plug one of these into an outlet or power strip, and then plug the wall wart into the other end.

      I keep one in my backpack, a few in my desk at work, and several spares at home.

  2. What the fuck are you talking about? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Are you on drugs?

    1. Re:What the fuck are you talking about? by Travelsonic · · Score: 5, Insightful

      He is talking about, I think, plugs whose designs are such where if you needed to plug it in to a power strip, you needed to fit it in on one end, or else you're covering up one or more other outlets in the strip (and as a result unable to use said plugs).

      Seriously, why couldn't they design the plug to take up vertical space, and not horizontal space?

      --
      If you believe in privacy, and believe you have "nothing to hide" at the same time, you're a goddammed idiot
    2. Re:What the fuck are you talking about? by war4peace · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Seriously, why couldn't they design the plug to take up vertical space, and not horizontal space?

      They have. And it's equally bad. There's even an animation in TFA depincting that very situation.
      What needs to happen is to have a regular, small footprint plug continued with a wire which goes into the AC/DC converter itself. problem solved. Everyone's happy.

      --
      ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
  3. I love 2018 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When you can't tell anymore whether articles like this are satire or not you know why "millenial" has become an insult.

  4. Re:WTH? by king+neckbeard · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Newly invented term to describe a "wall-wart" to millennials.

    --
    This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
  5. Re:The solution: short extension cords by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 5, Funny

    Goddamnit, Jim - if you engage in topical responses they will post more of this shite.

    Complaints, only, man.

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  6. Re:Blocking the outlet? by gerald.edward.butler · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That's not a solution. That's a work-around to design that does not bother to take even the slightest consideration of actual usage. Of course you can fix it. I can take the damn power supplies apart and internally connect longer wires and re-encase the transformers if I wanted to. I don't want to. I want to buy a power connector that takes these things into proper consideration. I shouldn't have to work around it. Somewhere, there was somebody actually "PAID" to "DESIGN" this crap. Don't you think they should be held accountable for their incompetence?