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FSF Debuts "Shared Source" Initiative
matty_x points to coverage at NewsForge of the Free Software Foundation's new 'Shared Source' program. Cynics might call this selling out, but it actually makes a lot of sense for the FSF to listen to customers about what they really would like and benefit from, rather than only to developers and freeloading users. Bravo!
Here's the problem with April Fool's Day, this is one of those articles that makes you think "if only it were true." I guess the FSF getting a clue is too much to ask for.
Happy April Fools Day, but these stories are lame.
X(7): A program for managing terminal windows. See also screen(1).
There is a reason why most places only post a single April Fools Day joke -- it isn't because they don't have enough material, it is because "trick" jokes only work in isolation. If everything you say/do/post is a joke, for the entire day, it is nothing but annoying, and any jokes that may have worked well on their own don't work at all because it becomes WAY TOO OBVIOUS when you have them all huddled together.
unfortunately some are.
I found that article really quite amusing. Part of what made it so funny was that it sounded a lot like previous pro-shared source Microsoft'ish articles where MS tries to give the appearence of freedom while denying the power thereof.
My name is eSolutions, a troll from Adequacy and Kuro5hin. I daresay I've written some good trolls in my day -- if perdida still had the AQ archives up, I would link to them. You can find some of my stuff on Kuro5hin, but it's of much lower quality and quantity, as K5 sucks.
In any event, I feel at least a little qualified to discuss posting fake information online with the intent of confusing, angering, and amusing various readers.
The real problem here is that Slashdot editors spend most of their time stamping out trolls, shaking their collective, bony, pasty-white fists at trolls' posts. They haven't paid attention to the subtlety that can be put into a proper troll. Like any art form, it can be done skillfully -- seeking new ways to troll, trying new angles and new ideas -- or it can be done unskillfully. The slashdot editors are now walking this low road.
There is little hope for them, but I may as well lecture now on the Theory of Humour. You moderators should mod me up for the value of this alone -- it may make the editors stop this silliness; insulting, as it is, to both serious reader and geniune troll.
HOW HUMOUR WORKS
There's a Monty Python sketch with two guys on a pier. One of them is holding a herring in each hand, dancing a jig, and at the end of each measure slaps the other guy across the face with them, in time with the song. Then, at the end of the song, the other guys takes out the HUGE MOTHERFUCKING TROUT and beats the first guy over the head, knocking him into the water.
What is humour, and why is this skit funny? Humour is the *tearing down of what's been built up.* This is why breaking social conventions is often funny -- because social conventions are constantly exalted in our lives, and seeing someone throw a pie at the mayor tears down those conventions. Often, this depends on where one is personality-wise -- folks with different Meyers-Briggs scores tend to find different things funny. NTs like abstract humor, SJs like the people intentionally acting stupid, et cetera.
In the aforementioned Monty Python sketch, the guy with the two herring *builds up a pattern* by girlishly slapping the other guy to music. The other guy *tears down that pattern* by beating him with the massive, truncheon-like trout.
So, what you, my dearest editors, need to do is build a pattern up and then break it down. Once it's been broken down, it's no longer funny. (Heard much from Andrew Dice Clay lately?) You need to build up another pattern and break that one down.
Please, for the love of god, take this advice to heart.
Yours in Hubbard,
eSolutions
Next year, Slashdot...post one or two good jokes, and that's all. They are much more effective that way.