Slashdot Mirror
PROPAGANDA Closes Its Doors
Bowie J. Poag writes "I'll keep this short and sweet--
Due to the lack of upkeep on the site (read: The guy I gave control of the site to didn't do anything to keep it going like he promised..) I've decided its time for Propaganda to close its doors for good.. I'm not going to pursue the idea of finding a replacement, or going back to doing it solo.
For now, the site will remain up for those who still care to visit. I've finally managed to locate a site where I can move my work to, in order to cut any remaining ties with VA Linux Systems. The work will remain publically available elsewhere, but no further additions will be made to the collection. The last two less-than-stellar volumes will also be removed.
Myself, the people I worked with, and my project have been through a great number of ups and downs in the last year or so..Some of which I really enjoyed, but most of which i'd honestly like to forget. To me, I'd rather see the project come to a respectful end than to see it continue to languish. I accomplished what I originally set out to do in '98, so, I guess we won in the end.
(A note to the Slashdot staff: Just to repeat, this isn't an April Fools joke. My decision was made a few days ago. Sorry for the bad timing.)
" I'm sorry to see the Project go - but you can be sure I'll treasure the Volumes that remain.
Or at least those last two volumes? Seriously! I really liked the last couple of volumes. They were very different from Bowie's normal stuff, but they were still very cool- one has been my background for a couple of weeks. I'd love to get my hands on those last two sets before they disappear forever... please take out the SPAM and drop me a note...
~luge
IAAL,BIANLY
Didn't Segfault and some other sites (UserFriendly?) "close their doors" last year due to some random lawsuits on *dun dun dun!* April 1st? Coincedence, or conspiracy? If you were wise, I'd take this with a grain of salt.
I just deleted all of Propaganda because I needed some disk space. I knew I'd be able to download it when I wanted it again. Anyone know of a mirror site?
Nope. It's 404ed
My journal has hot
Maybe you don't as much as you think you do.
Ok thanks. I found it here, and it is indeed inflammatory. Let's not insist on this.
I strongly believe that trying to be clever is detrimental to your health. -- Linus Torvalds
heres the link : ... poag was having ego problems with VA. its a collection of wallpaper an stuff..nothing i'd consider real important, but it was probably to some people. i wish poag would get off his high horse and quit bitchin about VA. ok..so he got screwed over at sourceforge..but so what ? VA open sourced sourceforge anyway.
http://propaganda.themes.org/
its dead now
Granted, this may not be the instant satisfaction all-on-a-silver-plater style that the web tends to foster these days. But I'm sure this kind of adversity will build character.
Ok, so I followed the link for dirt on Poag. I can't say that there is much incriminating there though. There are some OS flames, and some general rudeness, but nothing really out of place. That stuff goes on all the time, and taken out of context they don't really mean much. The only thing I really considered offensive were the two instances of apparent gay bashing, which makes him seem a bit immature. But for the most part the other quotes seem sort of innocuous. So perhaps he's flip, given to colorful language, and has some strong views on things. Anything /other/ than that?
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
Before it was at propaganda.themes.org, it was at propaganda.system12.com, which is 404'd too. system12.com has the default Apache page. Its still registered under the name Propaganda, with nameservers at VA Linux, so who knows what its status is..
I really never had much use for the wallpaper (neat, but I'd rather my XServer spend it's cycles rendering what I'm working on, not the background) but I loved the story! It's a shame he won't be keeping that story up to date: Maybe that's what we need, a OSS version of the story of Propaganda, like the old "Never ending stories" we used to have back in the BBS days. (You mean there was something before the Internet, Papa Smurf? Yes you little whippersnapper, let me tell you about when we only had 300 baud, and we were thankful!....)
www.eFax.com are spammers
I'm a firm believer in the fact that Propaganda is mostly just the same few basic core designs. Everyone always goes wild over it, and I honestly can't see why. It's all the same lot of swirling patterns in different colors, and to be honest, it gets mad repetitive.
Not all of Propaganda is bad, it's just not deserving fo the praise it constantly receives.
Oh, and marking this as "flamebait" would probably be a good way of enforcing my point, which is that the whole damn Linux/Slashdot community is blindly in love with Propaganda and doesn't want to hear otherwise.
Intercarve Networks, LLC
A quick check to propaganda.themes.org gives you a 404 error. Either this is the truth, or a April Fool's joke taken to the max.
Plankeye
Who the hell told Carrot Top he was funny?
Just a little note all archived stories don't let you access one comment it's all or nothing.
But thanks for the inital tip!
Aaron "PooF" Matthews
E-mail: aaron@fish.pathcom.com
To mail me remove "fish."
ICQ: 11391152
Quote: "Success is the greatest revenge"
If this turns out NOT to be YAAFJ(tm) (Yet Another
April Fools Joke), feel free to drop a note to
UFO -
I'm quite sure we can find someone to continue
the work.
This message is provided under the terms outlined at http://www.bero.org/terms.html
The thread it links to is very informative.
Part of the problem with open source/free software is that
authors and artists need to find another motivation besides
money. A project is fun for a while, but once it passes the
point of being enjoyable for its own sake it becomes a real
drag to continue working on it. In addition, your ego tends to
take a hit every time someone writes to complain about your
project (no one writes when your project is going well; I'm as
guilty of this as anyone else which is why I'm writing now).
I guess what I'm saying is that we should be as supportive
during the positive phases of a project as we are during the
negative phases. Open source/free software is made for US as
well as the author, and anything other than support and
-positive- criticism ruins the fun of working on a project.
And, after all, if you take money and fun out of the equation,
what incentive is left?
Thank you for the free eye-candy Bowie. The effort you have
put into making our desktops cooler is much appreciated.
I'm a Propaganda addict. I've got Volume 12 on my Linux box and Vol 14 on my Mac. I've read the site religiously for over a year. And I hope it's shut down, now.
I have to say with complete candor that Bowie's replacement Asmodean just couldn't cut it. I only saw his first release, but it was pitifully small and the tiles were ugly. I'd rather see the site go into stasis than downhill.
What the hell is propaganda? Where is the link? Where is the background information?
----------
"They misunderestimated me." --George W Bush, Nov. 6, 2000
... which is why he left themes.org. Sourceforge is owned by VA, so this would defeat the purpose of leaving in the first place.
_________________
rooooar
I present my humble solution.
I am in the preliminary stages of setting up a site to distribute the Propaganda volumes. But I want to do more than that. It has been pointed out that there is a serious lack of quality, readily available, background images. A site like themes.org but for background images has been proposed, and I even thought about that myself before seeing the post. So I will be building it. I just don't know what to call it yet. (How about 'Slashback - Backgrounds for Nerds. Colors that matter'?) If you have any suggestions, e-mail me.
If you are interested in helping me out, either by helping me design the site, maintain the site (I want to use Slashcode to run a news front end, and I'm not sure how I want to distribute the files yet), or by making some cool background images to be distributed e-mail me.
Hopefully we can work together to solve this problem.
Kirn Malinus
a.k.a. Nicholas Newlin
_______________________________________________
All circuits busy.
--Ben
Bowie| I'll make this short and sweet.. I dont like long drawley boring thank yous, and theres much fun to be had.. :) /msg him and tell him he kicks royal carpeted and jeweled ass. ...anyway.. :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) You're gonna se *alot* of new things come out of Propaganda soon, and the tradition will continue. :) :) Its been one hell of a run. :) :)
Rahga| Annoucements from Bowie, followed by punch an pie!
Bowie| 10 months ago..I sat down on the corner of Park and Speedway infront of a Subway restaraunt royally pissed off.
Bowie| Just rampantly pissed.
Bowie| Met up with my best friend for lunch that day, and talked about what the hell I was gonna do.. I needed something to occupy myself with.
Bowie| That guy is Nach0, by the way.
Bowie|
Bowie| Bri said to me..
Bowie| "You know...You should just pick one thing and do it."
Bowie| "Cuz if you dont.."
Bowie| "...You're gonna forget what its like to complete anything."
Bowie| And so I did.
Bowie| Propaganda was originally launched on a 56K modem with a dynamic IP host..Every 8 hours, the IP would chnace because i'd get kicked off my ISP, and the DNS would have to propogate before anyone could get on the site.
Bowie| I worked, and I worked, and I worked.
Bowie| Got a lucky break for Christmas last year.. Rob and Hemos (who doesnt suck) announced the opening of my site, which kept the Tx light on my modem locked solid for 3 days straight.
Bowie| Well, to sum it up..
Bowie| 14 volumes, 730+ images, a quarter of a million visitors and an estimate *half billion* tiles in distribution later......
Bowie| (yes, 500,000,000 tiles plus)
Bowie| its time for me to stop.
Bowie| Give somebody else a chance.
Bowie| Pass the tradition along..
Bowie| While Propaganda is still my project..and always will be my little pet.. the creative control behind the project is now in the hands of Naru Sundar at CalTech..Asmodean to many of you.
Bowie| I wouldnt dare hand over the project if I felt it was going to suck the instant I let it go. I've seen that happen..trust me.
Bowie| This aint the case.
Bowie| That 730 figure should top out over a thousand before the end of the year..hehe
Bowie| Anyway..
Bowie| I know i'm forgetting alot of people...Rob, Hemos, Scoop, Trae, David and all the other guys at t.o/VA who've helped me.. Bri, Kristen, my folks.
Bowie| Its the community that makes it work, not me.
Bowie| Thanks a shitload, guys.
Bowie| Nuff with the smalltalk. Lets see some goodies.
For more info on the beef with VA, check out this story, and check comments #101, #121, #122, and #126.
incidentally, its strange that when i click on a comment id, i just get a blank page instead of the comment..
Propaganda has been my sole sore for wallpapers of late, and if this truly isn't a April Fool's, it will be sad to see it go. Hopefully someone is as artsy as the old maintainers to provide these types of wallpapers in the future.
"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
It seems that Bowie is trying to suggest that it's all Naru Sundar's (the new maintainer) fault that Propaganda is "languishing", and so must be killed. The way I see it, he didn't have time to make more backgrounds, and so he got someone else to maintain the site and continue making backgrounds. Most probably that guy as well didn't have enough time in his hands to keep making backgrounds. And now Bowie is not only stopping his so-called "project", but he's removing the two volumes Naru had spent time to create, plus blaming him for the site's "demise". And judging from the article and his comments on other articles regarding Propaganda, methinks Bowie is a tad too arrogant about this "contribution" to the world. I liked the backgrounds, both his and Naru's, but his attitude has space for improvement. I mean, calling the last two volumes (Naru's) "less than steller" was downright rude.
Bowie, if you are reading this, calm down and stop being so protective of your "project". How about keeping the site up (wherever it may be) and allow other people to contribute, sort of like themes.org.
------------------
Loban Amaan Rahman ==> Anagram of ==> Aha! An Abnormal Man!
At the time I submitted this post to Slashdot, Propaganda was still up and running. That was around 11:30 PM last night. I went to bed shortly after that.
On the splash page, I put a little graphic which did a wonderful job of explaining how I felt about things.. Specifically, about what VA did to the people I worked with, myself, and those of you who actually supported the site. The lyrics from an old song by the Police, called "Murder By Numbers".
Clicking on the graphic then displayed a series of emails I had recieved from someone at VA Linux Systems from between April and May of 1999. A few of you know who I'm talking about, and thats fine. The bottom line is, that person knows who he is, and he has to live with himself. Thats all that matters.
Apparently, VA didn't like the fact that I had this sort of thing on public display, so, my site was basically destroyed by VA sometime between midnight and 9:00 AM when I woke up.
I don't have login access to the site anymore, nor do I want access. In addition to losing my login, all the materials that were once there are now gone. Artwork included. All of it. Gone.
If this doesn't underscore what i've been saying all along, I really don't know what more I can do to show you people. VA is a company willing to destroy a year and a half's worth of my work to prevent you from seeing a handful of emails which show you what kind of company they are on the inside.
The Linux community isn't the same anymore because of companies like VA, and what they're doing to us. It makes me sick. So sick, I refuse to even be associated with it. They can rot as far as I'm concerned. I'm out.
My sincerest thanks to all of you guys who were honestly thankful for all the work that went into the project, and took the time to write me tonight. or tossed a reply here.
(ignore the signature, btw. havent gotten around to changing it quite yet)
Bowie J. Poag
Bowie J. Poag
Wasn't the solution to this problem posted a few days ago? The Unmaintained Free Software Open Source project is your answer. It would help out UFO a lot too, to get such a high-profile site on there.
darren
Cthulhu for President!
(darren)