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Why Doesn't Sci-Fi Hit the Bestseller Lists?
Pomeranian writes "Sci fi readers often deplore book bestseller lists -- because review editors actively ignore many sci-fi sales, since they don't consider that stuff "popular", even though sci-fi titles often sell in far greater numbers than "serious" highbrow lit. But this all might change soon, with the launch of Bookscan: New technology that tracks actual sales at the cash register with greater precision than ever before. When similar technology launched in the music industry ten years ago, it proved the popularity of "new country" and hip-hop overnight. This story in the Washington Post wonders: Will Bookscan do the same thing to sci-fi? NOTE: this is a *shameless* self-aggrandizing plug, because I wrote the Washington Post story! But I figured it'd be of particular interest to Slashdot readers"
CD: While I'd love to see lists that are more reflective of reality, I don't think that a pure unadulterated list is in the interest of the reading public. When I worked at Waldenbooks many moons ago, we would commonly receive copies of one book, Dianetics, from the publisher, with our (And our competitors) sales stickers already on them. While this was an extreme case, it does serve as a cautionary tale about the lengths some will go to manipulate the numbers.
Here's one of the letters by the mailbox bomber. Of course, some of it sounds weird, but he's got at least a few good points: --- BEGIN LETTER --- Mailboxes are exploding! Why, you ask? Attention people. You do things because you can and want (desire) to. If the government controls what you want to do, they control what you can do. If you are under the impression that death exists, and you fear it, you do anything to avoid it. (This is the same way pain operates. Naturally we strive to avoid negative emotion/pain.) You allow yourself to fear death! World authorities allowed, and still allow you to fear death! In avoiding death you are forced to conform, if you fail to conform, you suffer mentally and physically. (Are world powers utilizing the natural survival instinct in a way that allows them to capitalize on the people?) To "live" (avoid death) in this society you are forced to conform/slave away. I'm here to help you realize/ understand that you will live no matter what! It is up to you people to open your hearts and minds. There is no such thing as death. The people I've dismissed from this reality are not at all dead. Conforming to the boundaries, and restrictions imposed by the government only reduces the substance in your lives. When 1% of the nation controls 99% of the nations total wealth, is it a wonder why there are control problems? The United States strives to provide freedom for their people. Do we really have personal freedom? I've lived here for many years, and I see much limitation. Does the definition of freedom include limitation? I've learned about the history of various civilizations in history, and I see more and more limitation. Do you people enjoy this trend of limitation? If not, change it! As long as you are uninformed about death you will continue to say "how high", when the government tells you to "jump". As long as the government is uninformed about death they will continue tell you to "jump" Is the government uninformed about death, or are they pretending? You have been missing how things are, for very long. I'm obtaining your attention in the only way I can. More info is on its way. More "attention getters' are on the way. If I could, I would change only one person, unfortunately the resources are not accessible. It seems killing a single famous person would get the same media attention as killing numerous un-famous humans. There is less risk of being detained, associated with dismissing certain people. Sincerely, Someone Who Cares PS. More info. will be delivered to various locations around the country. --- END LETTER ---
FoundNews.com - get paid to blog.,
I get quite easily annoyed by advertisements on any website and have taken such steps to ensure that I will not see them. I will share these tips with you so those in the Slashdot General Public can have a slight taste of what those in the subscribed section have.
Here are some software to help you out...
The Proxomitron
This program basically acts as a proxy server that filters whatever you want and will also allow you to write your own as-well. Configuration is easy and all you have to do for the browsers is tell it to use your computer (or someone else's computer) as a proxy. It will even allow you to proxy to another machine while you're at it too.
And fear not if you're a Linux user. This program has been tested and verified to run in WINE by the program's author himself.
Bannerblind (Mozilla Addon)
If you're a Mozilla user, this might do what you want. Install it and enjoy. It works for all OS-versions of Mozilla and is open-source.
Other things you could do is edit your hosts. Your hosts file is generally located in "/etc/" or "/usr/local/etc" (UNIX), "c:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc" (NT), or "c:\windows" (Win9x). Open the file up in notepad, vi, pico, nano, or whatever and do the following...
Note: The second one will block some images coming from the Slashdot website that are not advertisements.
I'll update this whenever I find the time, but for now, enjoy.
According to this site there have been 693 people who have paid 5 dollars. That equals $3465 Slashdot has made. However, that does not include those who have paid $5 more than once because they used up their pageviews. I am guessing this number is low.
Seriously that was funny. Extra points must be given to you for "TunaTaco" and "crotch rot".
Holy balls!
/.ers would be interested in:
This is slightly offtopic, but I think it's something
Go on, try it: search for "scientology"
This has been a Karma-Free(TM) Anonymous Public Service Announcement.
So Linus likes tubby bitches? I should have known.
On a related note, anyone have the link to the homepage of a retarded female linux user. She looks incredibly mentally disturbed in the photo. Someone post it please.
i'd like to take this opportunity to remind you all that if it ain't Scottish, it's crrrap.
thanks.
God, what a bad movie they made of that crap.
Any guy who sat through it with his SO deserves blowjobs from her every day for life. Even then, I'm not certain if that compensates for its unadulterated crappiness.
...the hand can be used as a knife. But this doesn't work on a tomato...
"Would it kill you to put down the toilet seat?" -- Maya Angelou
for this. It's convenient for all y'all rednecks that like to go huntin' in yer trucks. It'll attract all them floatin' kids.
Thanks for the response. (really!)
:-) I don't, however, pretend to be (an obscure fictional character from an Ayn Rand book) when I interact with others online!
I don't disagree at all with using an alias. In fact, I have one of my own, though not for Slashdot use.
I was just a little frustrated by the pains the author hadtaken in pretending, and the utter futility of their methods. Before commenting the first time, I reviewed all posts by "Sir Elton John." (I was curious.) I was disappointed because it all seemed so formulaic:
Post #1: As a popular musician
Post #4: I find the clouds charming and psychadelic...reminds me of London, 1966
Post #5: Bernie and I actually did write that
Post #6: As a fellow musician
Post #7: As a professional in the popular music industry
Post #8: As someone "in the business,"
Post #9: As someone who was to some extent in the "public eye" during the first science fiction boom
Intelligent, interesting posts with subtle hints and a less obvious alias would be a better way to troll as Elton John. But this person really seems to want to convince the reader (via brute force) that they are, in fact, "Sir Elton John."
uugh. I don't get it. But then again, I rarely understand why people do things.
Come on editors. Why do you try to stop "free-like speech"?
You allow us on these boards (with full posting privelidges), but shut up the ones you truely dislike. Even Malda said effectively, that he doesnt give a shit about us. So why should we care if we bruise your status-quo?
What am I looking for? I'm looking for a decent conversation between some editors and us. If you don't like our statements (banner killers), then ask us to leave- IN THE THREAD. If you would give us some respect, I'd surely give you respect too. However, simply bitchslapping -1 on an interesting thread is just plain inane.
Hopefully, we can at least have a decent conversation here or AnimeFreak's diary.
Thanks,
Josh Crawley