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US Navy buys Apple as Linux Platform
Nine Mirrors Turning writes "According to the Register the US Navy has ordered 260 XServe servers running Yellow Dog Linux from Terra Soft Solutions. Terra Soft is the only reseller allowed to resell Apple hardware with a third-party operating system installed. The XServes will be modified by a unnamed third-party and will be running a custom kernel. The XServes are destined for US Navy submarines and will be used for real-time image processing. I do wonder how many will be installed on each sub, though. Are we talking clustering here? I didn't even know the USN was running Linux on front-line ships."
This is version 0.65 of a troll HOWTO. As a draft, comments and criticism are always welcome, if not appreciated :) By version 0.7, sections on karma whoring,
conning the Slashdot users in to clicking your links, and how to beat the other trolls to the punch. If you would like to work on
the ./ Troll HOWTO, please by all means modify it as you see if, please post
the new version of your howto as Unofficial until I can come and pick it and
merge the the two together. Make sure to make your version a minor release,
as I will be in charge of posting all new major releases.
Section 1 - Trolling techniques
There are techniques used by successful trolls to elicit the maximum amount of responses from unthinking /.ers. This section is dedicated to explaining
how to use these in the course of your trolls. Remember though, a great troll
can break any or all of these and still be successful..
* Timing
Because you're posting as an AC, your troll will generally be ignored in favor of posters using their accounts, and so getting in early is essential. A good guideline is to get into the first 20 posts, so that people reading the article will see the troll before it is swamped out. One way of increasing the speed with which you get your troll into play is to prepare them beforehand, and then quickly customize them for the current article. This is easier than it sounds since /. typically repeats stories with small variations and runs lots of similar
stories.
Note that this is why Jon Katz stories are pretty worthless as trolling material - by the time you've found the article and prepared a troll there's already 50+ posts on it, most of them flaming Jon Katz anyway :)
* Exposure
Once you've got your troll in, you need people to actually read it. You also want replies - /.ers are more likely to read your troll if it starts a large
thread. You also want to remember that some people have set their comment thresholds
to values higher than 0 - to get the attention of these you either want to get
your post moderated up (see Style, below) or get a reply which gets moderated
up to 4 or 5, in which case your troll becomes visible to all.
* Accounts
An alternative to the time-honored tradition of AC trolling is that of creating a troll account. This gives you the advantage of posting at 1 rather than 0, and slashbots are more likely to take you seriously, especially if you at least sound reasonable. If you do this, try to avoid posting stuff where it is obvious you're a troll under the account - post it anonymously instead - some slightly more canny readers actually check your user info before they reply. Not many though :)
The ultimate goal of the troll account is to secure the +1 bonus, which is currently received once you hit 26 points of Karma. To get there, employ the techniques of karma whoring that we see every day on /. and watch the karma
roll in. And of course once you get the +1 bonus, the world is your oyster in
terms of /. Posts made at a default of 2 hit even those people with the threshold
of 2, are more likely to get moderated up even further if they are at all coherent,
and people tend to lose their critical thinking abilities in the face of the
+1 bonus. Milk it for all it's worth.
* Layout
To get people reading it a troll needs to be easily readable. Make sure you break it down into easily digestible paragraphs, use HTML tags where appropriate (but always make sure you close them properly) and use whitespace appropriately.
* Size
Generally a troll shouldn't be too short, otherwise it'll get lost in the crowd. A workable minimum is a coup
frosty piss dudes...
Imagine the UT2003 framerate on that sucker!
Well thank you, that helped some.
...
BTW I'd like to point out that most Europeans don't hate the US or Americans. Not at all. And speaking for myself just one sec. I love NY, Boston and large parts of the US. I have plenty US friends and don't think BUDWEISER is so bad a beer at all...
What we "hate" if that's the word to use, is the effects of extremely hazardous foreign politics. And right now I'm not really thinking about Iraq...
I currently live in El Salvador. For those not totally unaware of anything happening outside their borders, that should say enough. The perspective you gain by living in any Central American country gives a special flavor to airings of a US president venting against "terrorists and dictators".
Or those boso's saying the UN has failed, or some other idiots saying the International Court in De Hague is against US interests
I'm all for fighting against dictators. If only that was remotely on the US foreign agenda...
I think, therefore I am...I think.
Only if you don't pursue any additional degrees.
Only if you don't flunk out.
Only if your adviser didn't screw up and you still need some credits.
(No, I am not A bastard. I am THE BASTARD, and that's MISTER BASTARD to you!)
www.eFax.com are spammers
Who is Jon Katz?