@ThatBrazilianGuy Usually not. And I can't help you with that, not being a mod – sorry. But as they usually follow chat silently (at least one of them), chances are good you'll be helped soon!

Hi Izzy! I was reviewing this answer and found that the link for instructions there mentions to sideload a zip without first clearing system. The link noted that it is meant to flash latest version of CM.

// My point, I mostly flash using fastboot where I explicitly erase system partition before flashing a ROM, so I want to know whether flashing a new ROM through recovery without clearing System would create issues or not?

If it would then the answerer must be advised to edit the answer immediately and a note in the comments for the caution should be posted. I did Google and found that some tutorials instructs you to hard reset and delete system before flashing the ROM. IDK which one to take as granted. // I think the erase instruction would be explicitly mentioned in the installer script of the zip file, otherwise, the ROM would definitely conflict with the previous ROM and would create unnecessary trouble.

hiii friends anyone here

need ur help

@Tufan I think it would be better to post the issue you want to be helped with rather than saying "need your help" (please don't use some derivative of English words. It's 'your' not 'ur'). In that way, if you're offline then the other users can still see the issue and if willing to, will help you out.

Hi. This thing called Whatsapp is very popular in India. Practically a standard. Are there any downsides/security risks to using it? It is not itself a secure application, it seems, but I suppose that does not necessarily make it bad.

And is this a suitable question to ask on the site?

@FaheemMitha How do you weigh the security I need to know? Is it privacy of the user, the integrity of the data, etc? What is your criteria of concluding that this app isn't secure (Facebook owns it, FB app might fall in this category as well)? Are you thinking its security in terns of privacy, or something else is at play here? // For a quick note, the messages it sends are encrypted at least.

@Firelord Ugh, Facebook owns it? Not exactly a recommendation. I don't see how the message it sends are encrypted. Do you mean in transmission. And no, I don't have exact criteria.

I just don't want spyware crap on my phone. If this isn't it, it's in that direction.

@Firelord As I wrote in a comment there: seems to depend on device and ROM. If the original instructions say so, do it. If they don't say, to my experience it cannot hurt (at least not if you have a Nandroid ;) If they strongly advice against, keep your fingers off :)

@Firelord WA encryption is weak – I wouldn't want to depend on that. As Faheem writes: FB owning it is not exactly a recommendation. Definitely not when it comes to privacy ;)

@FaheemMitha See this link on Whatsapp's website. It a reputable app as AFAIK, though I never used it.

I would never use it, for mentioned reasons :)

Same applies to Facebook :) And speaking of that: @Firelord your avatar seems to be broken. I don't see any image. When I try to directly load the image, I see a Facebook URL with a blank page...

@Firelord Define reputable. Is FB reputable?

@Izzy I checked my profile in private browsing without logging in. Everything seems fine to me. Here is the image fetched from Facebook by AE.

@Izzy Thank you for your feedback. :-)

@Izzy I'm seeing it Ok here.

I'm seeing the image linked from your message. But strangely not as avatar next to your name – though now it also loads fine if I check that directly.

@FaheemMitha I define bad reputation as selling or sharing my data without my knowledge. Facebook and Whatsapp clearly abides by their rule in this case compared to apps that are weak in their T&A. I think I should've wrote (before) what I meant by reputation. Speaking of spying, I can't really speak about that because I've never seen any report on their code audit by an open community.

@Firelord Zero technical information. Very reassuring. ROT13 is technically encryption too.

Just reloaded chat to check: instead of the avatar, it shows the ALT text of the image :(

Also, mentioning the FB wasn't a recommendation, otherwise I would've explicitly mentioned it. I used it to let you know, if you're were unaware of it somehow, that FB app alike Whatsapp should also be seen with same suspicion.

@Firelord Actually, the net has tons of complaints about Facebook. And there is an ongoing class action lawsuit in Europe against FB.

@Firelord Ok, fair ehough.

@Izzy Goodness! let me check this from a demo profile. Tell me do you see this broken avatar in chat only or on AE as well. And thanks for telling me. I would've never come to know of it. :)

@Firelord I don't see any brokenness. I wonder why the difference.

@FaheemMitha Umm, what would be the technical information in defining FB or other app as reputable?

@Firelord Dunno. Showing respect for privacy. Ok, here is one data item. When I email someone with a gmail account, that person mysteriously starts appearing in my FB and Linkedin recommendations.

This is called data sharing. And it is Not Good.

@FaheemMitha Dunno?? And you expected me to write technical info!! :D Anyhow, how do you tell that an app is respecting your privacy? I'm not asking an opinion that an XYZ app is asking only this much permissions compared to FB/Whatsapp and rest. If the source code isn't available to review, how do you verify that the app is respecting your privacy, not to mention you'll have to make sure that the app installed is the same as compiled from the code by yourself.

@FaheemMitha How do you expect a company whose business clearly depends upon data to make profit?

@Firelord See my comments above. Where do you think FB and Linkedin could have got the names of people I know (or have at least corresponded with) honestly?

Maybe they plucked those names out of the ether? Or consulted a psychic?

@Izzy Does the broken avatar still persist? I think Faheem doesn't see a broken one.

I can see my avatar and Faheem's as well – but not yours.

Ah, guess I have an idea. Yours is loaded via some script URL, could that be?

I can see a tracker for "Facebook social graph" being suddenly active here on chat. That would be your avatar I guess. As I've blocked that tracker (I don't like being tracked by half the world's companies), that would explain why it stays "empty".

Bingo. Your avatar's url is http://graph.facebook.com/100008233456437/picture?type=large&ssitoken_143257946‌​3203_. That URL type is classified a tracker named "Facebook social graph", and thus blocked by Ghostery. You might consider hosting your avatar with a less suspicious place :)

(hint: Imgur would be a good place, or Gravatar which most people use here)

@Izzy Thanks for mentioning the tracker part. I'm absolutely aware of this tracking. Privacy badger by EFF actually disabled it when I first made my account here. I had to explicitly allow it there to see my own avatar image. Anyhow, the FB ID with which I'm registered with here isn't something I really care for. It's just a dummy.

My primary FB id is always logged in on a firefox profile protected with noscript, requestpolicy and privacy badger. I explicitly diasbled facebook tracking on the other Facebook profile. // Anyhow, I'll try see for an alternative

.

@Izzy You've blocked it just for yourself?

@Firelord It's nothing really important, but would be nice for others. Thanks in advance :)

@Izzy This Ghostery sounds like a good app. let me check it out.

@FaheemMitha Yupp. I'm using Ghostery to block a lot of all those trackers.

If somebody wants to follow me, they can do so on Twitter :)

@Izzy Checking it out now. Thanks.

It's pretty useful, and well maintained. Goes together with AdblockPlus here, keeps most of the crap out of my browser :)

#3 in the list is NoScript, saving me of the remaining popups and stuff :D

@Izzy I'll look at that too. Does it block any valid/useful functionality?

@Izzy Would you please confirm my image. I uploaded an image from my system now. Privacy Badger isn't reporting graph.fb access so you should be able to see avatar by now.

Looks like it had no effect. Graph is still tracking me. @Izzy, I'll have to try Imgur suggestion I guess.

// This is odd. I can see my avatar (now fetched from i.stack.imgur.com) on other SE sites easily irrespective of graph.fb is enabled or not. However, Chat.SE is explicitly fetching my avatar from graph.fb and not from imgur. I don't see any option to change my image in Chat.SE. Does anyone know how to change it here?

@Firelord Chat should fetch it from the same place. Maybe it takes a little to sync up. Have you reloaded chat page already? I will try that in a minute (have to check the new feed items first ;)

Still invisible after reload :(

I'll try a force-reload to skip cache...

Nope, didn't help either. Guess we'll have to wait a few hours in case there's a sync thingy. Will try your profile page to cross-check...

@Firelord confirmed: shows up fine on main-page in the user list and on your profile. So I guess it might just take a little to sync up to chat. I'll keep an eye on it and let you know tomorrow, OK?

Yippie. It's working. OMG, It's working finally. Hurray!

@Firelord Uh – Hi Firelord-with-avatar! It shows up for me on chat now as well – congrats! \o/

@Izzy Hi Izzy with gravatar! It's good to find that the issue has been solved. Thanks for your assistance. I appreciate that. :) Anyway, \o/

Yupp, strike :D

This is interesting! I was searching for a question when I encountered this website awebmast.com I should first mention that the website is hosted in Japan. I visited this website and to my surprise, it seemed to be fork of SO. What's more: like SE there exist a clone of tens of SE websites (all hosted in Japan; SE websites are hosted in USA). Even AE has a clone here.

I tried to look for keywords awebmast on SE and Meta.SE but couldn't find anything related to this website. // Does anyone know what this website (it's broken in functionality) is and why does it look like an exact replica of an SE website? IDT SE core folks would be running such kind of website publicly to test something.

The WhoIS records differs for SO and this imposter.