Talk:Proxomitron

Tone warning
I have changed the page in an attempt to improve the tone, and hopefully have added some useful content. Please change as required. Note that Scott does have a Wikipedia page, and that is where information about him should go. WhiteHatLurker 01:19, 15 February 2007 (UTC)


 * After a bit of searching on Wikipedia, especially reading the discussion around the template for tone, I believe this version should be okay w.r.t. tone, and have removed the "tone" tag. WhiteHatLurker 06:50, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

Content previous to 2007-02-15
A Tribute To A True Techno Artist

History provides us with wonderfully many examples of exceptionally technical minds, and no doubt an equally wonderfully many examples of exceptionally artistic minds. But rarely indeed does it provide us with persons who were richly possessed of these two and typically irreconcilable proclivities. DaVinci comes to mind, and few others. In Scott R. Lemmon, we find, essentially lost within the fast pace of the modern world, a notable example of just that rare balance of both logical and artistic thinking. Because of this, the person of Scott Lemmon is inherently worthy of significantly more attention than one can truly say he's been given to date.

Through particularly elegant means, Scott created in 1999 what is known as a filter language designed to trick invasive web material into confirming that it has succeeded when in fact it has not, the consequence being that one’s browsing experience flows along without any such interruptions. Though not the only such tool in existence at the time, one of the things that made Scott’s tool so popular was its very elegance, that is, its ability to accomplish such tasks without a large fingerprint in the form of extensive and complex code. Plus, as it remains, Scott's tool was user-configurable and open to further enhancements of its filter set. But it was Scott’s decision to make his tool available for no cost that made it popular far beyond the reaches of those who could actually appreciate its core elegance.

This technical elegance of course is the clear product of an exceptionally logical mind. But if one stops there, one misses much of what it is that made Scott Lemmon as exceptional as he was. His sheer artistry itself is every whit due our attention. Whether it be the name he gave his tool (which incorporates ‘proxy’, ‘omit’ and ‘tron’ bundled together); the icon he created for his tool (which clearly mocks the monocular pyramid on US currency, and thus delights in foiling the underlying financial motivations for all things web-intrusive, and which equally clearly plays upon the arrowhead shape of the common ‘cursor’); the unprecedented characterization of his ‘freeware’ as a function of user allegiance to an institution of art (the Japanese girl band “Shonen Knife”); or the many examples of subtlety and wit which characterized his various forms of support ---all these things speak emphatically to the equally rich presence in Scott of prime artistry.

To date there is surprisingly little information available within the public forum about the person of Scott R. Lemmon. Though his Proxomitron has no small fan base, indeed an international one, Scott himself cannot be said to have benefited from a sufficiently direct homage. This is not to say that he has received no well-meaning attention, but rather and only that the amount of that attention falls short of what Scott is due. There exists not, for example, a detailed bio for Scott covering the rudimentary things by which most greats are defined. There is no open record of where Scott was born, where he lived, how he made his living and so forth. There are no pictures of Scott at any age. There are no anecdotal stories from persons with whom Scott shared personal contact, family or otherwise. It is the intention of this discussion to prompt the realization of just such things. And it is the position of this contributor to Scott’s legacy that right and fair tribute to Scott has not been paid until just such things are permanently in place for all to appreciate.

Scott’s death by all accounts was a sudden and unexpected one. That his death was a suicide is almost impossible not to infer. For starters, there are nowhere any statements/proofs to the contrary. Furthermore, the very nature of Scott’s total disillusionment/disfranchisement with his project (and peoples’ response to his project) is such that it strongly supports that inference, as does much of the fatalistic language he used in his parting. That Scott was an artist in the high and evident degree lends all the moreso to this inference, and that because the highly artistic are known to be among those who are most likely to become overwhelmed by the oft obtuseness of the larger populus. But is it fair, is it decent, is it even in any way useful to speak so plainly and openly about the circumstances of Scott’s death? The answer is not only yes, but more than yes. Failure to acknowledge the circumstance of Scott’s death goes hand in hand with failure to acknowledge the person of Scott R. Lemmon himself. Scott had arguably more to offer than anyone at the time was really even taking note of. This itself must have been intensely frustrating. (See Los Meidos’ post on tinyurl.com/3tma7 for Scott’s only explanation as to why he abandoned Proxomitron). But by failing to look the more closely today, even be it to fix our sights on the inherently unpleasant, is simply to ignore the man all over again. How one justifies this as acceptable or appropriate is hard to imagine. This was a great man. History never fails to speak perfectly frankly about the details of great men’s lives. Our refusal to do so here and now is synonymous with our refusal to embrace and acknowledge Scott’s greatness.

It is all this mysteriousness of course, and people’s uncomfort over the details themselves, which lend so richly to silence and to lack of effort regarding Scott the man. The sad thing is that this very reticence could prevent there ever coming into existence an adequate and fitting public record of the very details which bring Scott’s greatness into plain view. One should hope that Scott’s family itself would come to a place of adamance about seeing to it that scores of details come forward. But if Scott’s family were much in the way of dysfunctional, which is not unlikely, such details are not likely forthcoming from that sector. Thus it stands as incumbent upon friends and acquaintances to communicate what they knew and remember of Scott, and equally incumbent upon the more noteworthy proponents of Proxomitron to invest themselves in that very process.

Please make use of this discussion board to post only such things as befit Scott himself. This is not a place to fuss and argue, not about anything. The focus here is Scott, not me, not you nor anyone else. Let us not dishonor Scott’s memory by failing of that centralmost thing. Any details you might happen to have should be made known, as it may well be that you are the only one who is either privvy to those details or willing to share them. Fundamental details, the sort of things stock to any bio, are self-evidently needed. But of particular import beyond such rudiments are pictures of Scott and reports of personal experiences, that is, experiences which by dint of content and detail tend to reveal how exceptional Scott was. If you feel led to draw broader attention to existing material on the web, please posts no more than a description and a link rather than filling the board with what is simply replicative in nature.

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.40.27.88 (talk • contribs) 06:56, 25 March 2005

Base condition for diagnostics
Can anyone describe the minimal set of conditions to exactly emulate a direct connection while NOT bypassed?

I'll outline the importance of that apparently absurd question. :) With electronic music synthesisers capable of silence when sound should be heard, or of making extremely confusing noise, there is a 'parked' or neutral state for the main controls so the user can quickly test things or return to a safe state. I want to use Proxomitron as a diagnostic tool, to make one or two test filters or just watch the log window. Instead of aiming for some 'ultimate filter set', I want to use Proxomitron to explore and fix specific weaknesses in the context of a given system. A 'parked' condition equal to the direct connection state is the most important thing to allow this, because it offers a scientific 'control' condition for precise comparisons.

Is such a state possible? If so, how?

Removing all filters and editing the configuration never got me the exact same results as a direct connection. I searched the 'unofficial Proxomitron forum', not finding guidance. It may be worth adding details of how to do it on the main page if there is a known source to be cited. 31.51.85.234 (talk) 23:15, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

No reference to the precursor 'ijbswa'
There is no reference to the precursor application 'ijbswa'.

Family Guy Guy (talk) 19:06, 2 October 2023 (UTC)