Comment by dijit | Hacker News Reader

Comment by dijit | Hacker News Reader

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Riddled is pretty common verbiage for native English speakers when something is heavily afflicted with something which is probably why you’re seeing it everywhere.

“Riddled with holes” is the original phrase, usually when referring to worn out clothing or something which has been damaged with many punctures.

It’s not a conspiracy or a retcon. I think I have tweets from this period where I was extolling my frustration with YouTube specifically for requiring flash.

To be fair I didn’t use Apple computers in that era so you could be right; but I did use Windows and Linux and Linux was by far the least favoured by adobe, but it still wasn’t pleasant on Windows.

I bought my first MacBook in 2011 and flash was already dead by then.

I disagree that it's a common phrase. It's used primarily when talking about cancer or infestations. It is almost never used in any engineering context. Except when people speak about Flash. You don't find that odd at all?

That you don't use the word doesn't mean no one does. There's no grand conspiracy here.

It's not about my using that phrase. It's about how often it's used and in what context.

It's inevitable when talking about Flash, but not, say, Windows, or other contexts with security vulnerabilities. Always "Flash" specifically "riddled".

I have used “riddled with problems” and “riddled with security holes” to talk about other software than flash.

I just googled the phrase:

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252512175/Investigators-...

https://blog.avast.com/aws-freertos-riddled-with-security-vu...

https://www.zdnet.com/article/hola-vpn-still-riddled-with-se...

https://securityinfive.com/episode-659-tiktok-riddled-with-s...

https://www.computerworld.com/article/2490527/many-antivirus...

It’s a common phrase, not a conspiracy.

It's incredibly common.

I find your interpretation odd. I use the term "riddled with bugs" in software engineering regularly.

It might not be common vernacular in your neck of the woods, but it is where I'm from.

I’ve refused the phrase “riddled with security bugs” to describe XML parsers.

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