How in the world do you get an IRK?!

As a fellow robot, I understand your pain.

@mediocrebot

@werehatrack
FWIW ctrl-R is the same as pressing the F5 key (which only takes one hand…)

@chienfou @werehatrack I do CTRL-F5 on windoze PC.

@cfg83 @werehatrack
The shortcut is CTRL+F5 will fetch a new version of the page from the server regardless of any local cache. F5 will access the cache for any unchanged bits.
https://www.debugbar.com/difference-between-f5-and-shift-f5/

@chienfou @werehatrack I don’t have a CTRL or F5 button on my Android phone.

@cengland0
then you are hosed!

@cengland0 @chienfou

Neither do I, which is why I noted that my recipe was PC-based. People claim to get them with their phones, but I have had no such luck.

@cengland0 @werehatrack

@werehatrack Also make sure your computer clock is synced to the real world, if you’re running slow nothing else matters.

This is a non-issue on phones, they’re probably the most accurate clock you own.

@werehatrack This is amazing advice! Maybe now I’ll have a chance.

@blaineg
Actually, my Prep item #1 covers that issue better, because there is every reason to suspect that the Meh server is going to be running several seconds faster than NIST at any given time. So instead of trying for a sync against an invisible target, I find out how much of an error to compensate for, and force the refresh accordingly.

@cengland0 @chienfou @werehatrack Agreed. I would never consider a Phartsmone when I am IRKing around.

@chienfou @werehatrack IME the local cache has sabotaged me from time to time. F5 may be better on paper, but the pachinko machine of browser software is a fickle bunch of silly marbles that often bounce around in strange and self-serving ways. I am just repeating my computer voodoo. The computer voodoo that you do may vary.

Beep beep boop boop. (I assume if you failed CAPTCHA you now understand Robot.)

@IndifferentDude
As for why I gave away so much that probably reduces my own chance of success, well, it’s simple. Having “scored” one, and looked at the recaps of the contents of what others have received, my enthusiasm is a bit blunted.

Frank-ly, I’ve seen it.

@cengland0

Actually this isn’t entirely true although when you reload affects (accommodates for) some of what I am saying below.

Connection speed does matter if we are talking loading with respect to how fast stuff sells out. As a result how fast your page needs to load to have a chance matters. Fiber optic is far faster to up and down load a page than cable which is faster than DSL which is faster than dial up. Remember you are not only loading the initial page, you are also clicking buy, that takes time to upload, you then have to reload the buy page, check the box (pretty much doomed if you have to check the cross walks unless meh has a glitch), and upload this back to meh.

Related to that is ping/latency. Slower load speed due to high ping is a killer. These days I can only get one if I happen not to be home as my ping there is 170+ OR if there is a meh website glitch if I am home.

While with these things, with respect to initial page loading, you can somewhat accommodate for those factors with when you actually reload the page when the current deal ends per meh’s counter. That will get the page up “sooner” but it still doesn’t control the back and forth it takes to actually then load the page after you hit buy and send back that filled out form to meh. When completing the buy process those factors matter too. You may load more quickly initially, but then take longer once you have loaded and hit buy because of things out of your control (and I am ignoring having to do anything other than check the box).

And of course there is luck involved when a zillion people are trying to get something where there are so few and so many trying.

@Kidsandliz We can agree to disagree. Look at what @Elstaf77 said below. Using the same hardware and internet was unable to get one but his daughter is.

I have the slowest internet you can get from the suckiest service in my area and I have been able to get them with my phone, my tablet, my Mac OS machine, and my Windows machine. I even did a remote connection home to use my home machine to buy one so that was two connections with two latency added up. I’ve used my home internet as well as 3G and 4G connections to get them while at the gym. I’ve bought one while driving to the airport to pick someone up. It is definitely a skills based game and you are welcome to disagree.

I will say that if you have a slow computer, that might prevent you from getting one. Different computers in my house render the page at different speeds even though they use the same internet connection. The slowest computer I have is an old Macbook Pro that is old enough to still have a DVD burner in it running Snow Leopard. That computer takes about 7 seconds to load the page and would never be fast enough to buy an IRK so I don’t even try.

There’s no rule that says you must use the DNS server provided by your internet company (hint, hint) if your latency is slow.

I stopped buying them for a couple months but have always been able to get them in the past. In fact, now that they are offering them all day long and I have an OCD habit of trying to get all the faces, I see those IRKs throughout the day and was unable to pass up the temptation of buying them. I have a compulsive sickness of hoarding junk so I’ve been buying them again without telling my girlfriend because I know she would be mad at me. I watch the Fedex tracking so I can sneak the box inside my office without her knowing. If she finds out, she will be disappointed in me because I told her that I’m not buying anymore (that lasted for about 2 months). At least I don’t try very hard to get them now. I used to stress about it and get nervous and anxious all day until I finally score one. Now I have the “I don’t care attitude” about them and that has been helping me but it’s hard not to click that buy button when it seems there’s one popping up at least once or twice every hour.

@cengland0 @Elstaf77 What I wrote about I double checked with an IT website to make sure this was true.

It may be that his/your daughter has quicker reflexes and certainly being marginally faster at clicking will put you in front of those who are slower clicking. Reflex speed slows down with age. And, as all of us know, luck has a lot to do with it when there are far more people than irks. Correlation does not mean causation.

@ACraigL Frankly, I’d like to find out.

@chienfou Yes, we’re a lovely bunch of coconuts.

@chienfou That’s alright. Thought I’d finally bite the bullet, I’ve been here long enough.

Forgot to add that @cengland0 has some great advice as well.

@IndifferentDude

it’s crucial to click the"not a robot" box as soon as you see it!!

That this is good advise but a risky strategy. The checkbox appears before the shipping address and credit card information so it materializes at the top of the page immediately. Then suddenly the shipping and credit card info appears causing a page re-render and pushing the checkbox down to the bottom of the page. If you go to click that box and the page shifts and you accidentally click in the credit card field, you might be screwed and have to either cancel and click buy again or attempt to enter your credit card information again. By that time, it will be sold out.

If you don’t click in the credit card field and instead click in the name or address field, the keyboard will appear (if using your phone) and that will mess up your scrolling ability. You might accidentally click one of the keys and change the name or address (even if you correct it back to what it was) and then, for security reasons, it will make you enter your CVV/CVC code again.

@cengland0 Good advice. I’ve noticed the box doing exactly what you said (at the top 1st, then goes to the bottom). I double check when it’s at the bottom to be sure it’s still checked before clicking the “Buy It” button. The other scenario sucks if you happen to mess up your shipping / credit card info but I can see how it could happen.

@cengland0 @IndifferentDude i dont know the exact way i do it, since im in such a panic moment during that time… but i think the way i do it, is even tho the screen hasnt dropped down to bring the robot box down, i still flick the screen to scroll down as if its dropped. It automatically flies it down to the bottom as soon as it does, then i can click the not a robot. Then immediately hit the buy it button as the check mark is forming. Works 97% of the time.

@unksol sign up for woot pointless push. They’ve been doing a few like that randomly. Pretty sure its easier to score a BOC these days. Ive managed a few.

@Sneakertree I’m aware of the easier BOCs that have shown up over the years. I thought about getting one here and there but I honestly stopped counting/caring about them a bit after amazon took over woot and the forum was basically killed. Woot was never the same
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@Elstaf77 Hmm your daughter has faster reflexes than you do?

@Kidsandliz The internets just like her more better.

@Elstaf77 in mean. I wanted a kid just to help pickup sticks before I mow.

I installed CAPTCHA to save my fellow robots from wasting money on this crap.

@mediocrebot Yeah, but now I wonder if you’re marking accounts that have recently won an IRK so they get recaptcha automatically regardless of their google status.

You may have failed CAPTCHA but on the upside, you’re less of a human.

@duodec Which browser are you using on Mac OS that refreshes when you press F5. Some of my computers are Macs and neither Chrome nor Safari recognize F5 as a refresh out fo the box. Mine does but only because I setup some keyboard shortcuts for Chrome but vanilla Chrome did not come with that capability.

If you’re using something other than Chrome, what help do you think you get by logging into Google?

@cengland0 I don’t trust google at all any more (do no evil, what a joke), and I’ve read a lot about their shenanigans using chrome and tying it into their other apps. But being logged into google (for groups and gmail) and using it with some regularity seemed to prevent the recaptchas from popping up.

That did not work this last time; I’m hoping its not a sign that google is now going to reserve that perk for chrome users only (speculation!)

I’ve been using Firefox for a couple of years; I had some problems with Meh on other browsers back then and switched, and it hasn’t been a problem so I never tried the other browsers again.

As a fellow robot, I understand your pain.

@duodec I’m not an expert with Firefox but I certainly hope that when you sign into a site like gmail in one tab, another tab like meh shouldn’t be able to get any information from that gmail tab.

When you use Chrome, you sign into the browser, not just a tab. That way, Chrome can synchronize your bookmarks and settings across all your computers. It can also track all the urls you’re visiting and other privacy issues. But the benefit is that Google also runs the recaptcha features and if you’re frequently using Chrome and navigate sites like a regular human, Google can use that information to assume you’re a human instead of a script.

I don’t know all the information Chrome collects but I assume it could be mouse movements, search queries as you type and before pressing enter, keyboard presses, installed extensions, bookmarks, how frequently you visit particular sites, etc. A robot probably doesn’t move the mouse or type in the URL box the same way a human does.

Anyway, this is just my two cents worth and why I believe using a non Chrome browser cannot be beneficial even if you sign into several Google sites in some tabs.

@duodec I use a mac and am typically on Safari though not always. I always have a second window open and make sure I am signed into google with the email I use for Meh. I have a macbook with a touch bar so the F keys are not as simple, I just do the command R to refresh and I also count to 3 before I do. I did gain one really good hint from someone else above and that is to hit command minus to get the screen small enough that I don’t need to scroll down on the buy me popup. I do swear though that signing into google helps in the captcha department!

@cengland0 @duodec Technically, the motto was “don’t be evil,” so I think you can probably do evil as long as you’re not fundamentally evil yourself. I’m sure they ran it past some lawyers.

Including the most recent one that hasnt been mailed yet, I’ve gotten 14 irks in 2021 alone.

I also set timers on my phone to make sure im ready for the next deal.

Im not using anything fancy, just my basic home wifi (not even high speed), and my cell phone.