Slashdot Mirror
Ask the Man Behind the Legend - Cowboy Neal
After many reader requests, we're finally getting around to interviewing the famed, mysterious CowboyNeal. He's more than a poll response, you know. He's the guy you go to if you have problems with your Slashdot user account -- or if you just generally need a cheerful face on a day you're feeling a little down. But who is the "real" CowboyNeal? Here's your chance to find out. Post questions below. We'll send 10 of the highest-moderated ones to Da Man and run his answers as soon as he gets them back to us.
From what I've seen, the cap is 50 even for accounts that existed before the cap. I used to have a couple hundred karma, then for a few weeks there was a phenomenon where it only went down and could never increase, but it stayed around 200. Then one day, I looked, and it had magically changed to 50.
Sure. go to a search engine. Search on McRotch. Now search on McRotch , but exclude Pat. Notice the difference in results returned? For your ploy to "work" you need to be discredited less easily.
-vivik
The name Cowboy Neal comes from a Grateful Dead song, The Other One. It refers to Neal Cassady.
*grin*
Yeah, I'm that guy.
Nope - I think it was high school.
Yeah, I'm that guy.
How come you never hang out in #slashdot anymore? You too good for us now? Huh?
How about this for an answer: He doesn't, CmdrTaco does.
And for a replacement question: How come you don't hack the database to win anymore?
Dude that's deep....
What's all this business I hear about hugging?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Stating on Slashdot that I like cheese since 1997.
1) Potato 2) Napster 3) Why are you? 4) What makes you Tick? 5) CowboyNeil
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Seriously, linear karma is stupid. IMHO, we need a 2-D or 3-D karma system, to represent the different types of post and style.
eg: Someone with +50 might be a very funny poster, but lousy on facts or a troll at times. By having something like +50/-25/+4, with the first being "interesting/informitive", the second being "funny", and the third being "social", that would give you a much better picture of the poster.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
It was the summer of 1983 and I was on the beach on Majorca, two weeks of holiday in between shuttling tourist groups back and forth from Akron and Paris. That was my cover job, anyway. My real job, the one that bought the house in Majorca, in fact, was mule, hauling meth from the States in boxes marked "feminine napkins" and bringing Chinese "tourists" with fake papers back from Corsica.
On my last trip, the one before retirement, I was busted. A lanky dude with hair like Kris Kristofferson, what must have been a 15-gallon hat, and dusty iguana-skin boots was sitting there, pants at his ankles, using my beach house toilet and pointing a sawed-off shotgun at me in the doorway.
"Don't move, dude. And don't drink the water in Guayaquil."
My question: was that you, Cowboy Neal?
Wordnik, a dictionary project which aims to collect
Anonymous Coward had over 2000 last time we were told. This has certainly increased.
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Who is your favourite Shoto?
* Ken
* Ryu
* Satsui no Hadou Mezameta Ryu
* Akuma
* Dan Hibiki
* Makoto
* Sean
* CowboyNeal
--
AC posts start at Zero.
They can be moderated down once before no more negative moderatino can be done.
They can be moderated up 5 times before no more positive moderation can be done.
--
I think it would be very cool if all slashdot submissions went into a queue where the community could decide what news should be posted. The community ownership of the news that already exist would only improve in my opinion if you did this, and your moderation/meta-moderation system already seem adequate to accomplish the task. Would you consider opening up /. further with this sort of change?
-- Solaris Central - http://w
I have to say that CowboyNeal is the single biggest reason that I obsessively check for new Geeks In Space episodes.
I suppose my question then is : Are you that hyperactive normally, or is that your "GIS Face"? I imagine that being CowboyNeal would be exhausting :)
( Hmm, Being CowboyNeal ... I smell sequel! )
The fact that no one understands you doesn't mean you're an artist.
Do you have the same problems that I have with:
JonKatz could do a series on big fat guys, and why we don't get the {ladies,men,CowboyNeal} of our dreams. I'm sure it's just as important as the Hellmouth. :-)
Andrew van der Stock
Being a big guy myself, I have problems find clever t-shirts in my size. So whats a geek to do? Or more exactly whats a Cowboy Neal do?
This Signature does Not Exist !! FNORD
ToiletDuk
Protector of the Wastes
ToiletDuk
Protector of the Wastes
ToiletDuk
Protector of the Wastes
Moderate this hubristic sucker DOWN, people!
"It's OK, my sheet's got a hole in it!"
Actually, "Pacific Bell DSL Customer Service" is an oxymoron.
It would be hard to compute and accurate average. There are many people who only read /. for the articles... (I won't go there.) ...they never post anything. Do you just throw out the 0's?
Also, is Thomas Wolfe or Tom Wolfe the wolfe in question?
Simple question.
What's the best thing that happened to you since Slashdot started? Conversly, what's the worst?
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That's not what I meant.
Have you seen The Lain?
Not only has he seen Serial Experiments: Lain, he lent me his copy so I could see it. CowboyNeal is a seriously nice guy.
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how to invest, a novice's guide
Rob's working on Animefu, Hemos does work on Everything 2, and Nate's the brains and looks behind Everything In General.
What keeps CowboyNeal busy when he's not keeping Slashdot running, or mixing some tasty tunes in his recording studio?
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how to invest, a novice's guide
I hope this question doesn't make the top 10. It is a question better suited for pudge on slashcode.com, where the slash perl development takes place.
CBN - have you:
Herded cattle?
Roped Calves?
Plowed?
Pulled a calf?
a clue about what the previous question refers to?
Cut/stacked/bailed hay?
Branded cattle?
Eaten rocky mountain oysters?
There's more to it than this.
How confident were you during the Andover buy-out? Was it one of those situations where you felt it was a "good deal" or was it "the only deal"?
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Does anyone really believe that there would be a cowboy named Neal?
Both sides fighting in a war produce propaganda in order to try to either justify what they are doing or to simply gain force in their efforts. If the "war" to keep information free came to it, for example if there was a threat of open source software becoming criminal, what would your opinion on be on using online media as propaganda injections? Would you support a pro-freedom movement even if it meant purposely and knowingly bending the truth in news posts or would you be more apt to provide only, by your knowledge, factual information? Has /. done this in the past? Do you think you could kill a man with your bare hands? How many fingers am I holding up?
When you become a famous hip-hop freestyle break-beat scratcher, will you remember slashdot and all of its wonderous trollies?
If you think you know what the hell is going on you're probably full of shit. -- Robert Anton Wilson
If you think you know what the hell is going on you're probably full of shit. -- Robert Anton Wilson
jdube is who
Which character, if any, in Dragon Ball Z would you want to be?
If you think you know what the hell is going on you're probably full of shit. -- Robert Anton Wilson
If you think you know what the hell is going on you're probably full of shit. -- Robert Anton Wilson
jdube is who
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Ack Ack Ack!
"You enjoy myself!" - Trey Anastasio
Do you get really tired of listening to the WHO after awhile? Have you programmed any backdoors into the MP3/stereo control program to over-ride Taco's requests for more WHO songs?
I think there was a character named CowboyNeal in Neuromancer... has that been assigned as a text in high school, yet?
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click a button, feed a hungry person!
Get off my launchpad!
what your favorite breakfast cereal is.
Science, like Nature, must also be tamed, with a view turned towards its preservation.
Any thoughts on why Hemos' houses keep burning down?
-=-
Computer geek for hire. Reasonable rates. Email me.
What poll in which you were an 'option', did you find most amusing/entertaining?
What was the most depressing?
-- Chris Chabot
"I dont suffer from insanity, i enjoy every minute of it!"
The first one is about Slashdot while the second one is about you.
1. What was life like with Rob and Jeff in "real life" before Slashdot was aquired by Andover? I'm a Geeks in Space fan and it always sounded like you guys were the best of friends - especially the Kurt bashing part. Did you guys go to school together, how did you come into the picture?
2. Why are you so cool? Do you do special yoga exercises every morning to be so cool? Do you drink a special formula to be so damn cool?
Thanks and when's the next Geeks in Space?
--
All browsers' default homepage should read: Don't Panic...
All browsers' default homepage should read: Don't Panic...
Have you ever acted in an independent film in which you sat around eating pudding with other... cowboys?
(To MrP: His name is Jeebus! You will burn for your spelling error!)
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that should be:
...and to 'furthur' that
"Furthur" is was was painted on the infamous Bus that Cowboy Neil drove - incorrect spelling and all.
What is your favorite poll that you were a part of? And would that be a poll you nearly won?
--
Gonzo Granzeau
Gonzo Granzeau
"Nothing the god of biomechanics wouldn't let you into heaven for.." -Roy Batty
That's really an interesting idea, i appreciate that too.
I'm sure that when you first became associated with Slashdot, you had ideas (maybe fantasies is a better term) about what /. would be like in times to come. Did it even come close? Do you think back and try to identify some singularity, some single moment when you chose Door #1 and in retrospect would now go with Door #2?
Why do you get out of bed in the morning? What drives you to get up and go out into the hard, cruel world and face the legions of trolls and misanthropes you know you're going to have to face during the day? What's the motivation? (Hey, could be worse: I could be asking this of Katz!)
At the moment, this is the question with the most moderation points. The idea is truly good; I would most certainly use it, but I don't think this is a very interesting question for an interview; why don't you just mail ComboyNeal this request as explained in the FAQ?
0x or or snor perron?!
How often have you posted anonymously? do you have a pseudo handle? Have you ever trolled?
Are you getting bored with slashdot? What is the biggest screw up that you did to the site that we never found out? Have you ever used "super moderating power" to mod down posts attacking slashdot editors...? What is your favorite pizza topping and sandwich?
------ Curiosity killed the cat. {satisfaction brought it back | it didn't die ignorant | lack of it is killing mankind
Oh well, moderate this down as off-topic. Who needs karma anyway...
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If I actually could spell I'd have spelled it right in the first place.
When it was capped, I had ~125 (I think)... then I had a submission posted, and it dropped to 50 on the +3 readjust... sucks sometimes. I keep getting bitten by the +2/+3 -1 syndrome... especially since the -1 is usually 'overrated' after you've hit 4 or 5 for the post. Thusly, I bounce between 47 and 50 on a slowly rolling basis... both of which are plenty high to allow the +1 bonus...
--
"It's tough to be bilingual when you get hit in the head."
Are you gay or straight?
:)
Just wondering after all the discussion over this issue with tech ppl earlier
"I will take the Ring," he said, "though I do not know the way."
Where'd you get your nick from? The Grateful Dead song, the beatniks?
If it's the dead, do you trade CDRs? See any shows? Hang out on r.m.gd?
George
I just looked at mine, still triple digits.
George
Funny, there is *no* Dead song refering to Neal Cassady. There is a song named Cassidy, however it was named after a girl.
Really? How about these lines?
Lost now on the country miles in his Cadillac
or even
Quick beats in an icy heart, catch colt draws a coffin cart
There he goes and now here she starts, hear her cry
George
Let's see... one thread, two postings by you, and SIXTEEN GODDAMN MISSPELLINGS OF THE WORD KARMA! Why don't you go to dictionary.com and learn how to FUCKING spell? Goddamn, you're a moron. People like you should be fucking put to sleep.
Besides, it's kind of early for school to be out... playing hooky again?
Hmm, so you are saying that dictionary.com is the definitive source of Hindi-English (or is kharma a Sanskrit word?) translations?
Well, for a new account the current limit is 50 kharma.
For accounts that were in effect before the kharma count was instituted, you kpet your kharma, but you can only go down, ie, I have a triple digit kharma, but if I get modded down enough, my kharma would drop and it would never increase, until I got below 50.
Anecdotally, siggy had a 700+ kharma, IIRC.
George
really, the Slashdot crew is thinking of us when they gave us a kharma cap.
You probably remember the first time you got a positive moderation, it felt pretty good, like, Wow someone likes my work.
When you past 10 kharma points, it was nice, not as good as the first point though.
When you got your first +5 moderation, you were on a high, though not as much as your first points.
When you got 26, and could post with the +1 if you wished, it was special, but still, not as good as the first time.
Face it, kharma is a drug. It's never as much fun as your first time, and if there was no cap, you'd keep setting inane goals (when I get to triple digits I'll stop, I'll have all the kharma I'll need, when I get 200 I'll stop...) to feed your kharma jones, and end up spending all your time reading Slashdot and gathering kharma, trying to recreate that first kharma high.
That becomes ugly real fast, you become a bona-fide kharma-whore. Trust me, Taco has seen the bad sides of severe kharma-whoredom, and he is thinking of us when he instituted the cap.
George
WHY I can't tell you, but for those of you non hippie-music fans out there, cowboy neal is probably a Grateful Dead reference from the song That's it for the Other One first published on the album "Anthem of the Sun" (1968).
"...there was cowboy Neal at the wheel of the bus to never ever land."
It seems that people think that this is a neal cassidy/ken kesey furthur acid bus reference.
But yes, why this name is still a decent question.
+++ ATH0 +++
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Comment removed based on user account deletion
You obviously have nothing better to do.
"If you love someone, set them free. If they come home, set them on fire." - George Carlin
That wouldn't work. If anonymous posts could be linked with an account, even within Slashdot's code, it would defeat the purpose of posting anonymously.
--
Obfuscated e-mail addresses won't stop sadistic 12-year-old ACs.
Win dain a lotica, en vai tu ri silota
8 inches is between 20 and 21 cm. It is not 24 cm.
Trees can't go dancing
So do them a big favor
Pretend dancing stinks!
And not necessarily even a technical question.
"What do you shave, and why?"
http://drteknikal.blogspot.com/
Well plugging it into Google like this ;)
http://www.google.com/search?q=heghoughi
I do get a hit for a Julie Heghoughi
so yes plugging it into a search engine does work
Is there a maximum amount of karma one can earn?
The Max Karma one can achieve is 50. I emailed Cmdr Taco about that a few months back.
Who among us is the current Karma Whore King, and what is their score?
I am currently at level 50.
Is there a cutoff level where you auto-post at 3 or above?
As it stands my current posting only auto score 2.
"Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality." -Jules de Gautier
if the question were "CowboyNeal?" what would the answer be?
it doesn't change the fact that you're a troll.
Nope. When they capped karma, they just made it so no positive moderation could be done to accounts with more than 50 karma. They didn't shave karma off the stack, they just made it so you couldn't accrue any more. Positive moderations do nothing, but negative ones bite you. I could score +5 with four +1's and a -1, and only the -1 would have any effect.
When it was capped, I had right around 250, and have managed to dwindle it down to 212 since. I figure if I keep up my regular rate of posts, I'll make it down to 50 sometime in March, 2004.
.sig: Now legally binding!
This is offtopic, in relation to your sig. On the Fight Club DVD the actual line that was cut out in favor of your sig was something along the lines of, I want to have your abortion. It was cut out for obvious reasons.
I am referring to the deleted scenes on the DVD. If you look at the deleted scenes on the DVD, the line is there. I am pretty sure there is also some director commentary on why it was removed for the release, but I can't remember off the top of my head. Great Movie though!
How can I become a Poll option, like you? Who must I kill? What must I wear? Is there any grovelling involved? Does one have to shave on a regular basis?
Feed the need: Digitaladdiction.net
You being such a cool guy, I figure you had, at the very least, an interesting childhood. So, did you color with crayons, markers, or colored pencils, or the oh-so-squishy finger paint? Do you still feel the urge to pick up one of the aformentioned coloring utencils and to scribble on the walls? I do.
-k-
Cowboy, we see everything on /. from Linux to Censorship to geeky coding contests etc. Of all the different geeky topics that are discussed on /. which ones do you enjoy reading about the most (if any), or which ones are you most involved with in your personal life during your free time?
From the Dead song, referring to Kesey's Magic Bus trip, which Neal Cassidy was driving, generally wired on meth or equivalents.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Your nick is an obvious paean to Neal Cassady.
I mean, even Kerouac would be less hippie. Are you a bonafide longhair (ah, what an industry the tech industry is, I can work for a Fortune 500 company and still have long hair), or is there just something about Neal Cassady that you admire?
He was probably, like many people, a fan of Jack Kerouac's On the Road.
:wq
How often do you vote for yourself in slashdot polls?
-rak (the former holder of account 31337, which mysteriously went foom)
How can we ask the Real CowBoy Neal when everyone know Neal Casidy is dead.
oh well. this one just caught my attention.
One Can Never Own Enough Musical Instruments...
How did you become tangled up in this Slashdot thing with that CmdrTaco guy? How did you guys meet?
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Do you even know anything about perl? -- AC Replying to Tom Christiansen post.
Have you ever seen G-Force, aka Gatchaman, aka Battle of the Planets?
Why call it Slashdot? Is that an obscure computer command? I mean, / is root, right? But why the dot?
Phyrkrakr "Always be yourself, regardless of state or federal laws."
Psychic spies from China try to steal your mind's elation.
Because if there were no cap, Siggy could troll at +1 for years... oh wait, he's already doing that...
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Perfect knowledge and the ability to avoid unintended consequences, what is the one thing you would add to or remove from Slashdot? Would you edit the mod systems, make everyone ACs, or perhaps send all the trolls here?
It may not be just, but it is fair, and that is more important.
I had about 140something in karma when the kap went into place, so it gradually crept down since I speak my mind and make occasional jokes and sometimes people mod i down. But shortly after I was down to about 120, I submitted a story and it was accepted. I think you get a +3 for getting a story accepted. But since I was above 50, it reset my karma to the kapped level.
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws."--Tacitus, *The Annals*
The studio told the director to change the line "I wanna have your abortion" after seeing the scene on dailies. Annoyed, they purposefully tried to come up with a line even more offensive to replace it. Needless to say, when hearing the replacement line I'm currently using as my sig, the studio stopped interfering. :-)
On a related note, word is the release of the Dogma: Special Edition DVD is being delayed indefinitely, even though it's been completed for months, because of assholio Disney execs. The film was produced by a Disney subsidiary company, but because of protests by Xtian Xtremists, Disney sold the film off to an unrelated studio. Well, Disney apparently still owns the rights to deleted scenes and some extra material produced during filming, and isn't allowing their use. Columbia Tristar is trying to negotiate with Disney to get the rights to the extra materials, but Disney is being a monumental bitch. Score another one for corporate oppresion and censorship. I'd like to drop that fucking Mickey Mouse into a cuisinart...
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws."--Tacitus, *The Annals*
Actually, 'further' was painted on the bus for the majority of its travels. The changed it to 'furthur' in an attempt to go undercover as they crossed the border into mexico!
Better would be a script that allows load handling between the mirrors.
El Karma: excelente(principalmente la suma de moderación hecha a los comentarios de los usuarios)
1) Because you want to
2) Because you need to
3) Because you think it's funny
4) Because we think it's funny
5) Because it's different and people get tried of the same old, same old
6) Because you are very insecure about yourself and need to feel loved so you put yourself as an option so people will vote for you to boost your low self-esteem and validate your pathetic existence
7) Mr. Sketch
8) CmdrTaco
9) Signal11
10) CowboyNeal [had to incase of #6]
11) Other, please elaborate.
Don't complain about lack of options- You've got to pick a few when you do multiple choice. Those are the breaks.
Feel free to suggest poll ideas if you're feeling creative. I'd strongly suggest reading the past polls first.
This whole thing is wildly inaccurate. Rounding errors, ballot stuffers, dynamic IPs, firewalls. If you're using these numbers to do anything important- you're insane
Things you think are in the Constitution, but are not.
There is invariably a lot of flamage about bad
/.?
grammar, bad reporting, incorrect facts, and occasionally even completely untrue stories.
Have you considered (or would you) getting an editor and fact checker for new stories before they get posted? How would you see that affecting
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
Can you name three books (or other stable sources of input) which had the greatest effect on your life, as far as you are aware?
Would you do it again? With the success of /., to the point that even other sites (like cnet, zdnet, msnbc, etc) look to this page to see what the "programming community" is talking about, would you have made Slashdot the same way, or is there a different path you would have taken?
That, or who'd win in a mud-wrestling fight: Linus or RMS?
John "Dark Paladin" Hummel
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
I was thinking the same thing, I'm glad someone else has had enough time to analyze the pointless as much as I have.
:]
-justin
Burris
" Skippin' through the lily fields I came across an empty space,
It trembled and exploded, left a bus stop in it's place.
The bus came by and I got on, that's when it all began,
There was Cowboy Neal at the wheel of the bus to never ever land."
Cowboy Neal was the nickname for Neal Cassidy.
not in Contra, and playing 2 players, bro
http://www.gamewinners.com/nes/Contra.htm
eh, was just a poke -.^
.cig - what you do after winning a good flame war
Seeing as in most Geeks in Space episodes Anime quotes and quips spew forth from you, I think we the listeners (and deranged readers) should see exactly how your background in anime developed.
When did you really get into Anime?
What was the first anime movie/series you watched?
Are there any in particular that stick out as being particularly good or "close-to-home"?
If you could be any anime character, who?
Have you seen The Lain?
.cig - what you do after winning a good flame war
I'm at home on a 28.8k line. So I have to wait 5 minutes to download 1/2 megabyte of responses when all I want to do is glimpse at the main article.
I see two more ways to fix this:
Like Tetris? Like drugs? Ever try combining them?
Will I retire or break 10K?
Without the intention of offending, I notice that your pictures indicate that you have an issue with weight and thousands of other men and women are, so it is not uncommon. For example, pictures of RMS indicate he is in the same boat. There is undeniably a significant health risk associated with obesity and I am curious about your thoughts on this issue.
Do you have plans to lose weight, and what are those plans?
What other sites to you like/frequent? Do you ever hit the other weblogs, like k5 or half-empty? Google or Alta Vista? ect....
-- Chris Reinhardt
That already exists. It's called 'Slashdot Stats'. Look for it in your preferences.
"We obviously need a new moderation category: (-1, Woo-fucking-hoo)" --Mr. AC
So, for those of us who are too lazy to look for ourselves, is there some code so that, when you look at the polls on /. the last response just says "Me"?
My other
I've tried to complete every single /. poll, and I was just wondering-How'd you manage to become so many things? I mean, weapons, toys, numbers, food-you seem to have done it all. So tell us, oh great master, what is you secret?
Quid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.
Anything said in Latin, sounds profound.
What's the story on this? Inquiring optics want to know.
"Mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent present in every electron." -Freeman Dyson
And yes, I know 5 - 10 years is an eternity.
--
Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.
--
--
We have fought the AC's, and they have won.
What does it take to get a hug from the cowboy? It's personally my lifelong dream.
They have a story submission queue where users can vote on wether they want the story to be posted or dumped. It also has a higher s/n ratio than ./
How often do you get laid, CowboyNeal? And is it because of your affiliation with /. ?
...18...19...20 Submit
What is your opinion about Microsoft and the other main players in the computer industry?
Note the question is quite open, just select who you think are the main players.
I was an English major in college, and still retain a healthy admiration for Beat-Generation literature. Seeing as the great beat heroes have mostly died off (Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs) -- with the possible exception of Gary Snyder -- I'd like to ask you about Cassady.
What impressed you the most about him? According to the numerous depictions I've read (Tom Wolfe's Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, plus the beat canons), Cassady was some sort of human dynamo, radiating nervous energy and constantly spouting reams of poetic prose. So what did y'all talk about?
Sincerely,
Vergil
Vergil Bushnell
Insects and Grafitti Photos
Funny, I always thought 8 inches was between 7 and 9 inches.
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
I saw your picture on cowboyneal.org. Are you really a gnome?
Bugger off, Richard.
No, Thursday's out. How about never - is never good for you?
As Cowboy Neal, what do you think of this idea:
Slashdot allows people the opportunity to offer free web-hosting space. When a story is posted on slashdot, a script automatically uploads the link(s) the story refers to, to a whole slew of alternate mirror sites provided by slashdots users.
Then, a new icon appears beside the new stories which lists a link to the mirror sites. Anyone offering space can give you an account which has access to only x-amount of space.
This way, we slashdot lovers don't have to wait for 3 days to read a story, we can simply go to 1 of a hundred mirror sites when the main site has been slashdotted. Having a large number of volunteered mirror sites also ensures no one mirror site loses too much bandwidth.
Ace
What's the most embarrassing thing you've ever done?
Neil
The maximum would be 50. If you have 50 you can get modded up for a week. If you get modded down your karma goes to 49. Therefore the answer is no, no, no. Because the max is 50 and many of us are there.
Cypherpunks: Civil Liberty Through Complex Mathematics. Those who live by the sword die by the arrow.
Simply:
What is your favorite slashdot troll (i.e. hot grits, not CmdrTaco)?
====
Crudely Drawn Games
Hey CowboyNeal,
From your homepage:
"Well, there's not much else to say really. I like listening to music (Who doesn't these days?) and I think everyone should listen to the Grateful Dead at all times, or at least until you move on and start listening to those who inspired the Dead, such as Bill Monroe, Muddy Waters, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane. Eventually, of course, you'll end up listening to Robert Johnson, because that's where all 20th century music comes from anyway. "
Allright, you hit on a bunch of stuff I live/work to. So, what's it gonna be.
A Love Supreme
Europe '72
Kinda Blue
RJ Greatest Hits
Pick only one. why?
Cheers,
Tom
Reality does not happen until you analyze the dots. -Don DeLillo (Underworld)
Why did you choose "CowboyNeal" as your handle? I know everyone hates these questions and all...but really...why cowboyneal? whats up with that?
The anti-salmon
Despite growing up in small-town Iowa, I managed to develop a taste for rap/hip-hop/techno/etc.especially scratching. (I think it all started with Run-D.M.C.'s "Peter Piper" from Raising Hell.)
Anyway, I listened to "CowboyNeal Meets R2D2" and "All That Scratchin'" and wanted to extend my complements! They're quite good! (I also noted the reference to DJ QBertfor Christmas I received one of Mix Master Mike's CDs, another of the Invisbl Skratch Piklz and DJ for the Beastie Boys)
I'd like to learn this skill. Jon, what sort of turntables do you own? Someday, perhaps I'll get some DJ-quality turntables. . . I've got a lot of vinyl that needs playing . . .
As a windows user about to take the plunge into the rarified air of Linux, I'm curious about where to start?
For my, and the rest of /.'s edification, which distribution(s) of linux do you use? Debian, RedHat, SuSE, other? Why did you choose the distribution?
If its a commercial distribution, could you email me in advance so I can buy stock in the company before your preference is revealed, I'd really appreciate it. :)
Waltz, nymph, for quick jigs vex Bud.
Have you ever got a fp on a story posted by yourself ??
as an Anonymous Coward ?
I mean, can i some day say, that i use the same palm as CowBoyNeal ?
;-)
Or the same cell as CowBoyNeal ?
Or..
maybe reverse.. like he uses emacs, and i use vim
Is this, working at slashdot and with blockstackers, what you always wanted to do but couldn't articulate?
/. importance and where do you see /.'s importance in terms of this whole "information age thingy'?
Where do you see yourself in terms of
Do you feel you are doing important work? Is it worth it?
What would you like to be doing, in all serious, that you are not doing right now in your life?
Finally, would you recommend staying in the Midwest if I plan to work in IT? What are the pros and cons? I am graduating in May and you could influence my choices in this matter.
Quite often I see links (on mainstream sites, newsgroups, and slashdot itself) to slashdot articles. The problem is that most of the time they also bring over the entire discussion associated with the article, which is a problem if I'm at home on a 28.8k line. So I have to wait 5 minutes to download 1/2 megabyte of responses when all I want to do is glimpse at the main article. Is there a simple trick to just read the article only, when I encounter a link like this?
(This has nothing to do with reading the main slashdot pages, where of course I have my preferences set as I want them.)
We know how Hemos got his nick, how did you get yours?
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
Or are you just a clever ploy used by Slashdot to have a running gag in all of the user polls they do?
It's a conspiracy I'm working on, you see. A theory if you will. The Conservation of Cowboy Neal, or something. It's a work in process...
J
OK, I asked this of Hemos and he responded. Now I'll ask it of you. Why doesn't Slashdot allow new editors to be interviewed for the site? I would like to try out, and I think I've made a pretty good contribution in my 1 1/2 years here (1/2 year spent being an anonymous coward).
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
Why don't you yourself ever post any stories, Cowboy Neal?
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
Hey, go easy on the guy! He's probably an Alanis Morriset fan ;)
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"Chiswick! Fresh horses!"
"Chiswick! Fresh horses!"
Well that's irony for ya, I guess. With the mod-ups of my recent above post, I just hit 50.
I guess I'll then ask Cowboy this:
Would you do us all a favor and up the cutoff limit of 50 a little?
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Let me give you the lowdown
Since you're probably the only one with real access to all the user records, you're the one to ask:
Who among us is the current Karma Whore King, and what is their score?
Is there a maximum amount of karma one can earn?brAnd finally, is there a cutoff level where you auto-post at 3 or above?
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Let me give you the lowdown
Aren't you the guy who updates the Slashboxes? Why are old, dead sties still listed in the Slashbox list, while new interesting ones like missingmatter never get added?
Well, as the t-shirt says, chix dig linux -- but some linuxchix *don't* dig /. because of a perceived misogynistic flavor. In all seriousness, what's your take on /. women, and women in general? They don't seem to figure much in your universe; is this an indication that you're one of those sublimatin' types? Comments?
quietly captured in the dark of the night and locked in a warm cell with Christina Ricci styled nymphomaniacal fembots until they die of dehydration!
What are you saying man - waste that on Trolls!
No, please Please PLEASE do this to me! me me me me! please please please!
So... what is your longest uninterrupted hacking binge?
Is it true that the "Cowboy Neal" option in the polls will be replaced by "Jon Katz" in the near future?
How'd you get involved in Slashdot, and how can I get involved at the Mass. office?
The problem with capped Karma is it only goes down...
SIG: HUP
This would actually be great.
For a good look at some user-based slashbox-like entities, check out half-empty.org.
Useful glassboxes (as they're called):
Another feature that might be nice is allowing users to rate posts so that we can skim for the good ones. That's pretty subjective, though.
Question for "The Man":
Coyboy Neal, what is your take...
On haiku postings?
I'd like to see some stats on current usage and bandwidth resources.
Everytime I read an article where the source story is slashdotted I think about the kinds of resources being used by slashdot itself.
Kernel.org has a nice bandwidth meter - how about seeing the throughput of this site.
[at least then we can see how close slashdot is to being slashdotted]
cheers - swgn
*** I am the real stylewagon
/tma
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Boxers or Briefs?
-atrowe: Card-carrying Mensa member. I have no toleranse for stupidity.
I keep trying to check out the nudie section on your webcam site and it never works. What gives?
-atrowe: Card-carrying Mensa member. I have no toleranse for stupidity.
I watched that VH-1 behind the music on them and I never saw CowboyNeal once.
I would just love to see if there have been responses to my anonymous posts, too (ie, when I am authenticated but check 'post anonymously'). Just to check how my trolls worked, or how bad my karma would have been if I had signed my post.
Of course, other users should not be able to see my anonymous posts...
Ni!
My favorites will be Natali Portman and Anonymous Coward.
Well, I thought "CowboyNeal, why didn't you reply to my email where I asked about the possibility of a posting history Slashbox?" was kind of an obnoxious question. ;-)
Anyway, at least I'm not asking about an open submission queue for the zillionth time...
Like a lot of people, I bet, I frequently look at my user info page to see if there have been responses to my posts, and what moderations I have received. Would it be possible to provide a Slashbox with that information on the main page?
Having a high kharma is kind of like having an 8 inch (that's 24 cm to you UKians) penis.
You can't show a lot of people, but word gets around, and people are impressed, heh heh heh
You think I would have learned after I got my ass kicked laughing at Benjamin Dover.
I see far too many obvious trolls being given accounts.
Just today I saw a new poster, Patrick McCrotch. Now, seriously, Pat McCrotch, do you think that's real?
For the sake of Slashdot, please stop the spread of trolls, and don't give them accounts. Please work with the FBI to track down the trolls that are ruining Slashdot, and have them be quietly captured in the dark of the night and locked in a warm cell with Christina Ricci styled nymphomaniacal fembots until they die of dehydration!
Thanks!
Do you think that slashdot is now at, or at least near, critical mass - considering that it is posting interviews with it's own staff on the front page of the site?
Don't you thin kthat it is a little self-serving to do so in anything but a special interest portion of the site?
What's next on the agenda? Slashdot banner ads promoting Slashdot? Wouldn't that be, oh so AOL?
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
The REAL jabber has the user id: 13196
What you do today will cost you a day of your life
He's posted three of them recently.
Does my bum look big in this?
does anyone else think of gay cowboys eating pudding when the name cowboyneal is mentioned, or is that just me?
Have you been to many shows ??? What is your favorite show you have seen personally ?? What is your favorite show that you listen to ? What is your favorite era of 'dead' ??/ Have you seen Phil, Bobby, or anyone of the derivative Dead flavors since Jerry's passed........??...If you have what do you think...
Given the chance to go back 10 years in your life, what would you like to change? Why?
____
Sometimes the voices in my head speak over each other. This is one of those times.
you're making a big assumption
"Smart companies save money by deploying MySQL instead of Oracle." - slashdot post
'Eventually, of course, you'll end up listening to Robert Johnson, because that's where all 20th century music comes from anyway.'
How do you explain the above statement? I'm hoping you don't equate blues as the only new form of music created in the last century?
I think that Johnson had a profound affect on blues and it's derived forms. Listening to his music and the Stones or Clapton talking about him leave you in no doubt. It's a bit like saying Herbert Hollireth(sp) was the originator of all moern computing, or that Bletchley Park defined algorithims.
Youv'e got som really nice mp3's and stuff on your website. Any plans for it, or are you just doing it for fun?
This sig intentionally left blank.
"// this is the most hacked, evil, bastardized thing I've ever seen. kjb"
I've been following CowboyNeal's career for years, reading everything he writes, watching all of his movies and eating all of his cooking. Now I finally have a chance to ask him the question that's been burning me up inside: What's Taco really like?
Seriously, can you give us a breakdown of how much time each editor spends actually reading the site they nominally run? Like, time spent clicking on user comments?
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Non-meta-modded "Overrated" mods are killing Slashdot
(Hey Ryan! Here's your proof!)
Caution!!! Make sure boss not looking!!!
OK I'll make it easier....
Answer A: Horse. (oo cowboy pun oppurtunity)
Answer B: White Ant.
Answer C: Virtual Dog.
Also,
...
.
if you couldn't be a animal, what would you be??
cause it's obivous that you are the vapourware version of a human, talked about but never seen or heard in tangible form. CowboyNeal - speak to us.... unless you don't want to which is Ok aswell. maybe!!?!?!?!?!
Matt
"I split coffee all over my wife's nightie
And why? (for the record, Frankie and Amy count, but Tawnia doesn't)
daed si luap
What was your last Dead show? How do you feel the tour/scene ended up? Do you blame any certain group of people for the demise of the Grateful Dead?
Buddy Lee could take em both out!
Where's the beef?
How does it make you feel everytime you log on and see your name scatters all over the polls (and you know they're all laughing at you). Do you feel like President Bush and say "Gee, I'm up 5 points today", or do you secretly turn off the poll box in your user account).
/.'ers.
Love from all
What are your feelings on the Napster situation and the DVD situation? Also, what do you think is the most important thing that GNU/Linux needs to add to continue its growth and become a better operating system?
The lines "it's Cowboy Neal at the wheel of the bus to Never Never Land" is from the Grateful Dead's "The Other One" This lyric paraphases scenes from both Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, which chronicles a cross-country bus trip undertaken by the Merry Pranksters, during which Neal served as the driver of their bus Furthur(yes, this is how it was spelled.) AND certain chapters of On the Road and Dharma Bums by Kerouac.
Of course the song Cassidy also refers to both Neal Cassady and Cassidy, a baby girl born to a member of the extended GDead family around the same time as Neal's death.
So there you have it. Now you know what I was studying in college. :)
Now, here's my question for CowboyNeal: Can I have your baby? If not, how about a hug? ;)
Can you use your connections at slashdot to pick up women?
Douglas Adams
1952-2001 :(
Having said that, why did you post that comment, even as AC? It takes at least 10-20 seconds to post a comment even that small, and all you did with it is insult some strangers.
I guess some people just enjoy randomly insulting others. What a bunch of dumbasses! ;)
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IANASRP- I am not a self-referential phrase
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IANASRP- I am not a self-referential phrase
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email: proprietary becomes free, org to com
Since they haven't put my submission onto the front page or the science section yet, I'm assuming its in an upcoming slashback or quickies fix.
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IANASRP- I am not a self-referential phrase
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IANASRP- I am not a self-referential phrase
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email: proprietary becomes free, org to com
I'm not sure you're the right person I should ask all of these questions, but I'll take my chance anyway.
1. First of all, what is the difference between working at Slashdot before selling it to Andover and after that?
What has changed in your life, your work and what has changed at Slashdot? I'm asking you because i heard a lot of people bitching about the way Slashdot works after it was sold to Andover. The problem you had on the 13th this month almost speaks for itself.
2. Why do you generate those user signatures in every post, why don't you just keep it as a part of the message, at the moment the message is submitted? I'm the kind of person who changes the signature very often, because I change the mood very often, or I find cool things all the time and I want to share them and it kinda sucks to see that changing your signature will affect all the comments you ever posted on
3. And the last, what do you think about PHP Nuke (I see it as a pale copy of Slash code), and how exactly does it feel to see you own work copied, butchered and spread over the internet? Don't give me that "open source/feel free to change" philosophy, I don't think it applies here.
I see now that somebody asked you the same question earlier, sorry for the redundancy.
Oh, yes, one more and I'm gone: why do you guys keep allowing these junk comments (like the ones concerning your weight and smell and sexual preferences) on the site and why don't you just erase them?
OK, that's it, take care and and keep up the good work!
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b0nechina
b0nechina
All wiyht. Rho sritched mg kegtops awound?
If you could have an endless supply of either pizza or , what would you choose?
Does slashdot.com mirror slashdot.org or is it the other way around?
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has the lowest karma on slashdot?
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you make it so that user info pages show not only the rating of the comment (Score: 2) but the complete rating (Score: 2; Funny) (if it was funny)... you get the point
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which linux distribution do you use and why?
who would win in a fight? You or Taco?
Okay, since someone else had you and Taco in a fake fight...what about Flat Eric (the orange Levi's guy) vs. Bad Andy (the brown Dominoes Pizza guy) in a fight? Would Flat Eric come out on top due to his superior ability to lay down the beats and sling a wicked rhyme? Or would Bad Andy win due to his overall "badness" when dealing with a Heat Wave bag?
One, how did you come up with your nickname. Is there any signifigance behind it or is it just something you came up with that sounded cool? If any other readers know this one, please feel free to fill me in
Second, a prominent figure (no puns intended) in the public eye, you undoubtedly have to deal with a lot of flames from immature readers. I'm sure you've heard your share of geek jokes or fat jokes during your employment at Slashdot. I think that I would tend to take that kind of thing as a personal assault and it would affect my already fragile self esteem. How do you deal the with lamers and flame warriors that are so persistant on this site?
Thanks for your time.
CowboyNeal? I'm confused. Are you really Harry Knowles or that guy from Ice Pirates?
|| The original aids monkey ||
P.S. Bite! You've been bitten by the Original AIDS Monkey! You have AIDS now!
=======
P.S. Bite! You've been bitten by the Original AIDS Monkey! You have AIDS now!
Character in User Friendly (the comic) do you most identify with?
"His name was Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged. He was a man with a purpose."