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Infinium Labs Threatens HardOCP Again
XBox4Evr writes "In a follow up from two weeks ago, Infinium Labs is again threatening the tech website HardOCP with legal action. This in itself, is no big deal, but to actually read the letter from Infinium Labs lawyers will make you wonder if an educated person actually penned the documents. This seems to another huge blow to IL's credibility in the console market in general, now that ex-Xbox manager Kevin Bachus is on board with Infinium Labs."
Are lawyers nerds? I'm seeing more and more "Here's a link to some legal documents, enjoy!" on the front page of slashdot. I can't read these things without falling asleep on the first paragraph. Is there some sort of hobbyist lawyer nerd demographic that i am completely unaware of reading this site? Legalese thrill seekers? Not only that, but this is the gamers section of slashdot... Dude, i'm so into GTA, QUAKE and LEGAL DOCUMENTS, woah! Anyone?
SCO just keeps getting crazier and cr...wait, this isn't SCO?!?
Mix the failings of Usenet with the shortcomings of the World Wide Web and the result is slashdot.
Now that Google has removed SCO as the #1 hit for the phrase, might I suggest Infinium Labs for the title of litigious bastards?
They want to invent the "Phantom Lawsuit" as well. I for one think SCO has already invented this, and will soon claim copyright to it. So Infinium Labs will lose their $25 million in capital paying off licesing fees. Darn, I was really looking forward to that amazing Phantom too........
Why would they use a pen when they can use crayons?
using namespace slashdot;
troll::post();
I love this bit:
These lawyers must get paid by the word. For their next threatening letter I'd recommend something that will get them a few more bucks. How about:
I really should have gone to Lahw Skool, the past 20ish years of geeking seem wasted by comparison..
Trolling is a art,
I don't think a lawyer even wrote that letter. I jsut kep seeing "you need to correct" over and over again.
This guy is way out there
Just speaking from experience with corporate lawyers, what often happens is that a corporate leader (i.e. CEO, etc.) is upset by some event (i.e. the article), and they demand that Legal take some action. The lawyer, not wanting to be disbarred for malpractice, points out that they have no legal claim, but to avoid beign fired they then fire off a letter that simply states what the higher-ups say, with a small note about a law suit. I'd bet solid money no law suit ever solidifies.
The writers at Hard are pretty fucking funny though: they've done an excellent job of reforming their statements to accord with the demands, even while making them more acidic.
"Stumble before you crawl"
Get sued by SCO and the two of these bottom feeding companies will sue each other out of existance while they spam their "legal" notices back and forth across ev1servers.
And what kind of console company puts Labs in their name?
These guys are trying pretty hard and haven't got one yet.
Nerd: Derogatory term typically directed at anybody with a lower Slashdot ID than you.
...trying to compete with SCO for most idiotic use of litigation is a poor hobby to have for 2 reasons:
1. SCOs litigation is pretty much about as inane and frivolous as it gets
2. see #1
I think we may have to add stage four to the cycle.
1. Microsoft
2. SCO
3. RIAA
4. ???^H^H^HInfinium!!
====
Crudely Drawn Games
I shall taunt you a second time! You silly english KINNNIGIT!
-- Having a Creationist Museum is like having an Atheist place of worship
I think Infinium Labs should chagne its name to Infinum labs. A word for greatest lower bound describes the company's output better than a word drrrived from infinite.
I would LOVE to see what Gabe and Tyco would do. Probably ream them a new A$$.
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
me talking to a girl...
http://ablegray.com
Is it really surprising that they are nothing more than a "sue the world" company?
They are, after all, claiming development expenses to put a PC motherboard in a case with a custom boot loader - big forking deal.
Please, Phantom Idiots, you might be able to fool some oil baron out of his money, but you can't pass a PC as a custom gaming console around here. Peddle your snake oil somewhere else.
Besides which, Phantom Idiots are just opening Pandora's Box. As more and more of their bullshit becomes apparent, they are only inviting an FTC and SEC investigation.
BTW - Nice try going after HardOCP instead of Wired Magazine - which gave the Phantom far worse press than the website.
Screw off, and take your 50lb midtower "console" with you.
I want to get in on the fun and sue someone SCO, Infinium Labs, Microsoft everyone seems to be sueing someone but me, I feel left out.
I think HardOCP made it pretty clear last time that they stand by their reporting. If Infinium wants to keep making threats they're going to keep getting ignored.
I know there's nothing but wannabe pretend-experts on slashdot, but I'm going to ask this anyway, on the offchance maybe there happen to be some wannabe pretend-experts who mostly post on Groklaw who wandered in by accident. I've been wondering for awhile:
From a legal standpoint, exactly how far and how often can you move toward *threatening* a lawsuit before it becomes illegal to not actually declare one?
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
I just checked
..from what I can see, hardOCP did indeed write an article which was deliberately set out to make Infinium come off badly; whether or not Infinium are a 'bad investment', as their lawyers put it (I don't know, and I don't really care), this clearly wasn't a fair article; it seems obvious that the writer/journalist(s) concerned had other motivations for penning it beside the truth (similarly, Infinium may have other motivations for writing the letter, and may have had problems with HardOCP in the last, but that doesn't justify it either way).
I am a viral sig. Please copy me and help me spread. Thank you
If they'd have gone with "Ex-Box", they would have gotten sued instead of doing the suing. This way, it doesn't sound unsafe like a vapor box or even vapor console would. I mean, don't you see people putting water in it to see the vapor?
That url again is Hardocp.
Don't forget those poor slashdotted souls over at Hardocp!
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
These guys should just fucking merge with SCO and be one big fucking all talk no fucking action company, for fuck's sake!
Hurrah! Free ammo for Penny Arcade. Maybe this will give some more inspiration to the penny arcade guys! They haven't posted a new comic in a while now.
"There is no spoon." - The Matrix
It wasn't even a 'link to some legal documents'. It was an article containing HardOCP's response to a poorly formed legal threat. You might be giving these Infinium letters the most weight and validity out of anyone involved.
It was intended to be an entertaining read, and not out of line with anything else that ends up on this site.
People talking about Penny Arcade are leaving out the funniest bit. The best part of the Penny Arcade comic is the response from Roberts (or whatever the Infinium guys' name is). He claimed in a forum post that the penny-arcade comic was a response that they put all console designers through as a part of an initiation process and that they were hungry for bandwidth. Kind of funny when talking about a site that gets millions of hits a month. Read the post and the site's response at their site.
Is that if you'll note, the day after they posted the Phantom strip, Penny Arcade's comic posting script broke (or maybe "broke"). Despite three new comics since then, the Penny Arcade "newest strip" link hasn't changed away from the most recent phantom strip in over a week.
did IL have credibility?
1. ???
2. ???
3. Profit
The article mentioned that some of the pictures released were actual photographs. Which one might that be? The one with the most ray-tracing passes?
Exactly! It's horribly underhanded of Infinium to deprive Tycho and Gabe of their well-earned libel lawsuit. It's high time that they stopped beating up little kids for pocket change and moved on to a better target.
P.S. - I heard that Timothy Roberts can't send cease-and-desist letters without consulting the HAPPY FUN BALL.
"I would give my right hand to be ambidextrous."
Once again, I am struck by the double standard that, while our country's assurances of freedom of speech rightly protect claims made against our elected officials, whether substantiated or unsubstantiated, saying bad things about a company-- even a company that allegedly barely exists-- can result in threats of legal action. Is there a reason why some fly-by-night electronics outfit is entitled to protections not even the President enjoys?
I am Sartre of the Borg. Existence is futile.
Um they don't have a product yet and have been vaporware forever.
So um, whos hurting who?
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
A fourth grader wrote this with the help of Clippy. The innuendo is that the writer needs to use a little more variety, and fewer templates...
"Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.
The Innuendo is that the phantom sucks.
...you mean that allowing your personal bias to influence your writing isn't allowed?
That must be why most newspapers are considered liberal or conservative. That must be why LinuxInsider always prints the whole truth and nothing but the truth. That must be why the 1st Amendment specifically addresses the right of the *press.* Revealing that interpreting facts is an absolute sure makes me feel better. Think of all those guilty people on death row who are now MOST UNDOUBTEDLY guilty!
The problem is that nothing is entirely factual. Given a set of facts different people will see them different ways. That interpretation of the facts is what's known as journalism in this case. Kyle Bennett published what he thought was the truth. I hadn't even read the OCP article before the Slashdot mention of the 1st set of letters and I'm of the opinion that Infinium Labs is a bunch of slimeballs trying to make a buck off a scam.
So as for justification, there is none. There is only interpretation and acceptance. And God help us all that litigation is how companies live and die in the United States of America.
*spits on SCO and Infinium*
My reality check bounced.
Under most interpretations of libel law, there are three things that Infinium would need to prove.
The first is that not only did HardOCP publish incorrect information, but they did so willingly. In other words, they had to know at the time the article was factually incorrect. If Infinium provided correct information at the time, then this might not really be in dispute. That said, many of the items in the letter appear to be judgements and opinions.
Second, Infinium would have to prove that HardOCP published incorrect information with malice. This is not easy by a long shot, since you are trying to prove motivation.
Finally, Infinium has to prove that they were damaged by the article in clear monetary terms. This is always one of the hardest things to measure in a libel action.
All that being said, I think it is clear that HardOCP has some valid points in the article but at the same time, has been given corrected information (such as location of offices, etc). If HardOCP truly takes journalism seriously, then a few corrections should be forthcoming. The fact that an expense paid invitation to view the facility was turned down suggests a strong anti-Infinium bias.
This is one of those things where both parties stop the shenanigans and own up to the truth. Each is falling far short of being forthright about the matter.
Lines like
"You allege that Mr. Roberts was employed for Worldcom for a period of time. The innuendo is that Mr. Roberts was employed for a significant period of time. You need to correct your article to state that Mr. Roberts worked out of his home for WorldCom for 90 days as a non-officer"
90 days is a freakin' period of time! 20 seconds is a period of time! the sentence is a true statement! Under what US law is publishing a true statement a crime? (well, other than copyright, patent, and trademark laws; depending on the context, but those aren't being argued here).
anyways, its-a funny readin'
"I'm a Genius!"*
*Not an actual Genius
... that no such console exists.
Their site puts Mozilla into an infinite reload loop. They're probably trying to do something annoying involving a forced ad, but Mozilla is resisting.
- SCO plainly states they are going to sue a linux user today. When today comes, they do not do anything, but simply produce more elaborate threats and a new deadline of "tomorrow".
- Infinium Labs plainly states they are going to sue HardOCP soon. When today comes, they do not do anything, but simply produce more elaborate threats and a new deadline of "soon".
- NASA implies they are going to reveal an important Mars discovery today. NASA does in fact then reveal the discovery that Mars did in fact have significant and widespread liquid oceans in the distant past and that sediment analysis confirms this.
In short: Between SCO, Infinium, and Life on Mars, Life on Mars is at least for today far and away winning the credibility race.-- Super Ugly Ultraman
Shouldn't that be Infantile Labs?
I mean, the more someone gets upset at someone elses comment goes to show just how much the said comments actually bothered them.
If Infantile Labs just blew off most of the HardOCP comments as nonsense and got on with business, this issue wouldn't have surfaced and no-one would have batted an eyelid.
Now that they've blown the issue up (all by themselves), everybody sees them as being a big cry-baby just like SCO is - and HardOCP's comments as credible.
Can you say... shoot self in foot?
READY.
PRINT ""+-0
Lawyers don't sue people, people sue people?
I swear, just one more time !!! WE ARE NOT KIDDING THIS TIME ! WE WILL VOTE AGAIN!!!
...infimum.
THE NERD IS THE COMPUTER.
However after googling a bit I did find some info, I think.
James Aker seems to be a real lawyer at least.
He seems to do Litigation, Employment law, construction, and personal injury. Not really specilized it seems.
Then if someone was abusing the legal system in order to attack you, you'd only have to report it to the police and they'd handle it from there. This would reduce costs to the target quite substantially, while putting a trained group of independant professionals into the system in order to prevent abuse of an anti-abuse law. (Filing false police reports is already a crime.)
From what I gathred reading the articles at HardOCP, IL, and Penny Arcade, this all seems like some kind of high school popularity contest. Let me explain.
Nintendo, M$, and Sony are your populars who will always be despite the mistakes they make. Everyone knows about them but in the long run no one seems to care because let's face it: their popular.
HardOCP and Penny Arcade are in the middle when it comes to the social mix. They are not producers of their hardware but have enough room to have their own opinions of such matters. They talk to everyone because they can. HardOCP is that trustworthy quiet guy from shop class and Penny Arcade is the class clown. When they say stuff people listen.
Along comes the transfer student, Infinium Labs, who is trying to make a name for himself by being cynical of those who are clearly above them. His best friend is N-Gage. Together they follow every move and try to emulate their superiors formula to better their status.
IL , despite his efforts, fail at presenting themselves in a way their peers deem acceptable. Well Nintendo, M$, and Sony laugh hilariously at them because to put it briefly, they know what their markets. HardOCP and Penny Arcade don't buy it because they represent the market. If either peer fails to buy what you are selling you are out of luck.
So IL attacks his peers as being hypocritical liars although he secretly wishes to be one of them. Four years later they all graduate. Nintendo, M$, and Sony go on to college and are succesful. HardOCP and PA too. IL fades into obscurity... and N-Gage is killed in a fatal car crash.
Years later whenever anyone remembers IL they have a good chuckle. N-Gage unfortunately was killed in a car crash soon after graduation.
.deviatefromtheabsolute.
Infantile labs goes in infinite gloopy loop -- Anthony Burgess
OCP don't need to take nobody's bull.
Call up the fellas in the 95th floor and have them round up ED-209.
"Drop your lawsuits. You have 20 seconds to comply."
We have secretly replaced these Slashdot mods' sense of humor with a rusty nail. Let's see if they notice!!
... you've slashdotted it!
Is this "OCP" related to RoboCop?
Hey dumbass. There IS NO CASE HERE. Somebody wrote somebody else a letter. That's all that happened. Blame the guy who wrote it, not the court system that isn't even fucking involved yet.
This is FUNNY! the letter sent to HardOCP is really, really amusing... it's written as if by a primary school child.
It's basically... "You wrote that we have not shown any real machines yet... you imply that we don't really have any"
"You wrote that you haven't seen an office yet... you imply we don't have an office"
It's just paragraph after paragraph of them saying things like that... it reads so very, very badly.
Plus it falls into periods of text which CANNOT have been written by anyone with ANY sort of legal training:
"The article inaccurately claims that HardOCP 'Compiled and researched all of the publicay available information we could find.' Clearly this is not the case or you are not very good at finding publicly available information."
Dear god that's terrible... it's so much like "you, you, you're a poopy pants... and, and, my dad says that what you said is wrong... you poopy pants"
I can see why they have not taken this seriously.
Did anybody else sign up for the beta test. I submitted for the test. They emailed me, told me they were having trouble and resubmit at their website. I had to write a fucking essay AGAIN. Worst, they never sent me the email that said that they have made the decisions for who got into beta, and didn't list the news on their site, like they said they were going to. These people have been full of shit from day one.
http://www.hardocp.com/news.html?news=OTU5NCxNYXJj aCAgICAsMjAwNA
As I've said before... "The innuendo you state, is the hyperbole you make"
Life is not for the lazy.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/08/27/hln.game.phanto m/
It's interesting that no matter what you see from these guys, it somehow appears there's just no substance to it, just like their fluffy website, that says they're a leader in the 10 billion dollar gaming industry, and all their online store sells is t-shirts, mugs, teddy bears, and frisbees sporting the Infinium logo, and the link for their stock quotes just features blank spaces where the quotes should be.
Wonder who they managed to sucker VC dollars out of? If they don't see the train wreck coming, they deserve to lose their money.
It should be interesting to see if HardOCP does comply and change their article or take it down completely in the days leading up to the deadline of Monday, March 8 that Infinium has set to carry out the lawsuit on HardOCP. Oh the drama!
"Clearly this is not the case or you are not very good at finding publicly available information" This doesn't sound like lawyer speak to me, more like someone doing their best to try not to sound like they're being insulting, but they actually are, or trying to be.
You state that 'A fourth grader wrote this with the help of Clippy. The innuendo is that the writer needs to use a little more variety, and fewer templates...' The innuendo is that you're making an innuendo about our use of the word innuendo within our letter. You need to stop that or else we'll get really angry with you. And moreso we shall imply with strong innuendo that you sir, are a smelly plop head.
Signed
Infinium lawers
I don't have the time or the inclination to go through both the complaint letter and the original article with a fine tooth come and determine which complaints are valid and which are not. Saying that I did spend a few minutes looking over both and HardOCP's responce does seems to smear the truth a bit.
In at least several of the cases where "Kyle Bennett" claims innuendo the reasonable reader probably does assume the "innuendo." For example when the article said that "Timothy Roberts, has helmed several businesses that have failed or have gone bankrupt in the last six years." It seems reasonable to me that he was at the helm when they bankrupted - even though this isn't true. It isn't completely obsurd to say that this is HardOCP's suggestion. At the same time is it really HardOCP's responsibility to clarify this? Doesn't seem like it to me.
More disturbing however is that HardOCP says in its defence that "After hours of consideration, out of the 18 items noted we have found 5 that were in need of addressing as outlined below... As for the rest of Infinium Labs' demands, they seem to us to simply not be based in reality." But then he doesn't comment that they did correct the factual mistake pointed out in complaint 7: "You allege that Mr. Roberts' brother stepped down as CEO of Wanforce. You need to correct your statement to state that Mr. Roberts' brother is still the CEO of Wanforce - he never stepped down as CEO." They did in fact say this in the original article and they did correct this. So saying that he didn't address any other complaints is just not true.
HardOCP says in its defence that "The odd thing to me about the above letter is that it continually refers to statements we never made and innuendos that are nonexistent in our article." If so why not quote a few places in the letter where this happens. That certainly would be entertaining to a fan of HardOCP. From what I read the complaints made by Infinium Labs don't seem to raise to the level of anything close to damning. But again at the same time saying that the complaints aren't based in reality... well that doesn't appear to be true either.
You know if this whole lawsuit thing had not happened I would never have gave that article a second thought.
I read Hardocp, I'm sure I must have seen the article and forgot about it. Now thanks to this threat of legal action I will avoid Infinium products. While before all this I would have been blissfully unaware.
http://www.kubuntu.org/
Well, for those of you who want to view the profile/credentials of James E. Aker, the man who penned the letter, This appears to be it.
I don't know how many civil trial lawyers named James E. Aker there are working out of Sarasota, FL, the same city Infiumium Labs is based, but my guess is that it's the same guy.
-R
GRAMMAR
Yes, I'm offtopic. I'm also drunk. But, look... this is a suggestion for improvement on /., so here goes:
This in itself, is no big deal, but to actually read the letter from Infinium Labs lawyers will make you wonder if an educated person actually penned the documents.
Should be re-written as:
This, in itself, is no big deal. However, actually reading the letter from Infinium Labs' aywers will make you wonder.....
Mod up or down as you will. Yes, I really am wasted on Balmoral whiskey and Arrogant Bastard ale. Moderate as necessary.
Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
Isn't this like the recent 15 million suit from that obscure pet shop owner against those who said he was lame?
(of course, his suit proved them right)
What now?
In case anyone is interested
I'll let you know if they write back. *smirk*
You don't have to be the person you've become.
Do you or do you not have a beta phantom console (Gen I or Gen II) in your possession?
Your NDA does not preclude you from stating that you have a unit, just doscussing any technical or operatinoal details in a public forum.
If you don't want to repeat the past, stop living in it.
I'm new to this story and I read through a lot of the comments in this thread before I went and read the letter from Infinium. Well it's as if some of the people posting in this thread have read a different letter!
Unless HardOCP can prove that the contentious statements are in fact true, they are guilty of appalling journalism. They have mislead their readers, mainly by omission. Call me old-fashioned but as a reader and an occasional journalist myself, I believe journalism serves one purpose: To report the truth. You are a servant to your reader. Your reader is not someone whose trust you abuse to further your own agenda.
If I were a HardOCP reader I would ask for point-by-point rebuttals of every complaint made in the letter from Infinium Labs. If it transpired that anything in the original article was either knowingly false or misleading by deliberate omission then I would consider the site a no-go area for trustworthy reporting.
As it stands, to me as an outsider, Infinium is the victim here.
I have it under good authority that this console is not vaporware. This friend of a buddy of mine who went to school with this dude actually saw the system running Duke Nukem Forever!
Donny, you're out of your element.
Someone knows what they are talking about on /. regarding a legal matter! DANGER DANGER!! Does not compute!!! DANGER DANGER Dangerrrrrr *sput*
While not linked to on the actual Infinium Labs website, I was able to find the stock price($7.50) and SEC Filings on Yahoo! Finance. It makes for mildly amusing reading, especially the charts that show a 15,000% gain over the last year.
"I would give my right hand to be ambidextrous."
one of Infinium Labs, Morrison & Foerster, LLP has a very suitable domain name for lawyers.... www.mofo.com (aka mutha f*****). Make it plural and it's perfect.
Interestingly, he specializes in personal injury and employment law. From his bio: "Jim's experience covers a broad spectrum in litigation. He litigates personal injury actions...". Does this make him an ambulance chaser, or just a bit inexperienced to deal with IP / News Media / Libel issues?
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
They're threatening lawsuits over "innuendos." My god, Hard|OCP can't tell the truth? The guy worked for Worldcom. Hard|OCP isn't required to give alternate statements for every possible statement that can be misconstrued. EVERYONE is skeptical about this.
Heck, Penny Arcade made a joke about this lawsuit. Guess what? Timothy responded saying they asked him first and that it's a rite-of-passage. PA NEVER CONTACTED HIM. THAT WAS A LIE.
The fact is, all we've seen so far of the console is a case, some numbers and some names.
But the article was a good read. Best line:
"By the way, you later told Kevin Bachus of Infinium that you declined any follow ups because - you believed that you were being invited to visit Florida only so Mr. Roberts could physically attack you."
For those who don't want to read the full 5 pages, here are two favourite quotes that I've typed from the images:
"By the way, you later told Kevin Bachus of Infinium that you declined any follow ups because - you believed that you were being invited to Florida only so Mr. Roberts could physically attack you."
"In short your "volunteer" appears to have locked authority."
And yes, that really does read "locked authority".
While I'll admit on the surface Infinium looks like BS (and probably is) and that letter from their lawyers is laughable, I can't say I'm impressed with HardOCP's efforts with the initial article or their follow-up.
Maybe it's forthcoming, but I'd like to see them address the points one-by-one, because while many of them are silly they do refer to their article. I know this is Slashdot, but I actually read it... =)
And one big point that's not very clear - is HardOCP saying that they *weren't* invited to come visit the labs? Because if they were I'd expect them to follow up on that, or give a reason why they declined.
I am taking exception to their allegation #4. I have done a more than cursory glance at their website and i dont see anything that looks like a photograph to me. Every picture of the console looks like a 3D rendering to me.
/href=u ct_sheet .pdf" product specs i noticed the ethernet right above the AC power input. That really doesn't give me warm fuzzies. Not to mention tha microsecond glimpse you get of the rotating console in the WMV advertising blitz video shows a different port output. (not that this is really surprising for beta HW)
I even sat thru the vacuous low quality '500k' video and say nothing that resembled an actual photograph. Whatever IL is carrying on about there seems to be no actual pictures. HardOCP not asking for them is irrelevant. Consumers examine the content on the site not in a press packet. also when I looked at the site when the first letter was sent, i also saw no pictures that i would identify as photos.
On 2 other notes, i noticed in the one mockup in the
"http://www.infiniumlabs.com/phantom_prod
The video blurb goes on to say that it has the most games of any console. I'll believe it when i see it. Also as a console "designed by gamers for gamers" one of the selling points is 'pay for play'. I cant say i know any gamers that want that.
The whole thing give me the 'real player' feeling. Not actual innovation going on.. just a venue to try and sell content.
Thanks Mr. Roberts. Your comments are always welcome. Say hello to Darl for us, won't you?
"By the way, you later told Kevin Bachus of Infinium that you declined any follow ups because - you believed that you were being invited to visit Florida only so Mr. Roberts could physically attack you."
13. "...Your article has obviously damaged Roberts and Infinum in the millions of dollars."
I know I hate it when someone damages me in my millions of dollars.
1. Keep it on-topic. Obviously, this is the most important thing to remember.
2. Post early. Most moderating is done when there are less than 100 posts on a story. This is extremely important. There may be hundreds of posts on a topic, so naturally it is the most important thing to remember of all.
3. Use something familiar. Everyone has apparently seen Monty Python, but nobody seems to have the exact specifics of the very funny Iraq Information minister nailed down. example:
There is no open source licence. These GPL boffins would have you believe that in America they give away software for free. But it is all lies! I triple gauruntee that there is no free nasa software, allah be praised. The United States has said that they are approaching the free software front cautiously, but when they besige us, we will surround them it will be them who will be beseiged, allah willing. We will sell them our proprietary space software for only 299 dinar and a shoe.
This site has loads of quotes from the Information Minister which says that that post ought to be funny, but it is only a +2, funny. Oh well. The weighing of the duck scene seems to be popular as well, directly quoted with no imaginitive inserts. So much for creativity. You must be creative or you won't stand out. Creativity therefore is the most important rule to remember in posting to /.
4. Browse at a very low threshold for a little while (a LITTLE while, prolonged low threshold has been shown to drive moderators insane, hence the moderating system) to see what doesn't work, what gets modded troll, how offtopic you have to be to get modded offtopic, etc. Knowing where the boundaries are will make you a better poster. There can be no doubt that this is the most important thing of all.
5. By all means, take a good idea and run with it. But don't go too far. Examples:
All your somethings belong to us
1. something 2. ??? 3. Profit!!!
In Soviet Russia the Somethings verb you!
These have to be really funny or they don't make it. Having a set plan is good, but knowing when too much of a good thing is really too much is of the utmost importance.
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
A quick look around the disgusting Infinium Labs site reveals an even more repulsive "Phantom Reservation" form... it was so disgusting, it left me wondering... how is this thing submitted?
Preorder Now!
It's been many years since I've seen a form submitted through a mailto: trick!
"The Phantom Console"....Freudian slip?
Remember when Tom Arnold gave the Roberts brothers a plug on Leno (or was it Letterman)? He was a major investor in one of the companies.
As far as I can tell, the Phantom outdoes Apple - not only do they not give you a floppy drive, they don't give you any option for inserting physical media aside from swapping the 'storage device' (I guess. I mean, it claims to be upgradeable). So it seems that they're offering An intel box (up to 3.0 gHz) intel processor (or at least an intel motherboard), with a 100 gig internal drive, a keyboard, mouse, wireless controllers, news, chats, parental controls, and pay per play. so its pretty much a crippled PC? in a shiny, software rendered box? but it has wireless and always on broadband! i didn't have broadband before. dude - buying this thing'll give you broadband! // end drunken ramble
Don't worry - its just stigmata. Pass me a napkin and don't you dare tell my mother.
How can they threaten anyone, they're not even a real company.
Trolls dont like to be Flamebait, because they burn so well. Protect our Troll heritage!
And I'm albino.
THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
Infinium Labs may not like when someone make a search for Infinium Labs on google, they find this article about Infinium Labs.
So let's help Infinium Labs and don't make links for that article using their name on our blogs or high ranked sites like slashdot, so it don't get a high page rank. Specially not in pages with Infinium Labs on the name, like infinium-labs.html
Please be advised that these asshats will be suing everyone and everything connected to the internet.
If you see two differing opinions being expressed on slashdot, it is altogether possible that the two differing opinions are being expressed by two different people.
Who says that once IL does go down, they blame it all on HardOCP?
It is amazing the absolutly antiquated systems you can find in an average law office, espically given the amount of money they make. They like what they like and see no reason to change. Well Office wasn't always the big dog of office suites. So, for people who hate change, WordPerfect is often the choice.
"Honest officer, I wasn't driving the vehicle when it crashed!"
I realize the parent was an off-topic troll, but it was still darn interesting.
Nope! I don't think any of your assumptions are true. All us nerdfolk are accustomed to following rules and thinking logically. We love to solve problems!
Hey, lawyers are smart, they study for years to practice law. They must follow rules and logic too! Trials are just an expression of a problem, right? When we parse legal problems, the solution seems obvious. We can't understand why the other people don't see what seems obvious to us.
Our expectations are that the law, and the legal profession, should follow rules and be logical. The problem is that legal rules are convoluted and dense: they include not just what makes sense to us, but also case law and previous judicial decisions that we've never been exposed to.
There's a fair amount of marketing and spin that goes into making legal arguments. Often, the win goes to the side with the clever argument, rather than the side with the logic. Questionable decisions get turned into hard rules and affect future decisions. (Not to mention all the greedy bastards who try to "play" the system.)
That's why we pick apart this stuff, have disdain for the system, and dislike lawyers -- they're not logical from our perspective.
...with a lot of contacts throughout the industry (the exodus from two imploded companies that had a lot more industry experience), I can say that these /. stories are the only reason I have heard anything about Infinium since their comical launch way back when. Haven't seen them at GDC, haven't seen them at E3: if they have a presence at the shows, it's a very small one.
I know no developer working on an Infinum title: unless their box emulates something else, or plays PC games or something (which cannot possibly be the case if the thing has a TV for a head), or they are porting or creating titles themselves, then they Have. No. Developers.
No one I know anywhere in the industry even has any awareness of Infinium.
The campaign against SCO still holds the #1 spot on litigious bastards of course google removed the actual sco site from the top, but the 1st one still says SCO!
There's not much, but still the console exists in real hardware and plastic.
Nerds might not be lawyers, but lawyers can be nerds. As a nerd in lawyering (IAAL), I find this letter amusing. I doubt it was written by an actual lawyer on behalf of the firm. Any self-respecting lawyer would identify himself as such on the signature line. Work product from a serious law firm is not spruced up with ALL CAPS and bold text unless it is total amateur night.
Of course, I work out of New Yor, but even Cali lawyers usually generate professionally acceptable output. The reference to the MoFo lawyer in the opening line is strange, too. Lawyers rarely team up between firms unless they are being forced to do so. I know a letter from me on behalf of my client is going to avoid speaking on behalf of another law firm except in some really rare instances!
Anyway, it looks like someone's playing lawyer to scare HardOCP. If not, there's a legal malpractice claim on the horizon. ; ) (I told you -- IAAL).
http://www.cafeshops.com/ilabs.5978112 Who the fuck would buy this?
I for one am glad that a poor, abused corporate interest is finally standing up for itself and taking legal action against infindels like Kyle at HardOCP. If there's one thing that capitalism has proven, it is that big business makes the best decisions for all parties involved. Follw the money. We'll be a better society for it. Do you really think government would function without big corporations helping out?
I think we should take it to the next step. I think the CEOs of the Fortune 500 companies ought to be the only ones allowed to nominate and vote for candidates for public office. I mean, it's not as if the general public enjoys having to go out in crappy weather and vote. Leave it to professionals.
Latest technology survey from Law Office Computing had 80% of responding firms using Word.
Reasons:
WP has not kept up with the times. No major new relevant features. Maybe the upcoming verison 12 will change that.
WP released several hopelessly buggy versions.
WP does not play well with current versions of the Document Management Systems (Interwoven, Docs) that are used by major law firms. Most legal-specific add-ons and document creation packages are targeted to Word first.
Legal document creation is a much more cooperative undertaking with clients especially large corporate clients who all use Word. Firms have discovered that converting back and forth is a nightmare so they go with Word to keep the process smooth.
If you don't want to repeat the past, stop living in it.
Obviously Infinium Labs is a group of 12 year olds working out of their clubhouse modding an old 8bit nintendo with their ultra leet skill to do thy bidding!
"There's a fair amount of marketing and spin that goes into making legal arguments. Often, the win goes to the side with the clever argument, rather than the side with the logic. Questionable decisions get turned into hard rules and affect future decisions. (Not to mention all the greedy bastards who try to "play" the system.)"
Laws are complicated because everyone is a "greedy bastard". Look at how simple "Thou shall not kill" is and look at the human version. A twisted thing because some people really do want to kill (for whatever reason, or however a degree) without consequences. Look at "Thou shall not steal" as an even better example for many want to steal, for except in it's most blatent form, it appears to be without consequence. We as humans really have little room for disdain of our laws for all were human forged to contain the beast within, while a perfectly acceptable choice was present almost from the beginning. We made our bed, now were going to lie in it.
A quick visit to the web site shows a page that lets you preorder the phantom console.
Some funny excerpts:
We will be releasing our units to the public early in 2004.
Oh really? I'm not going to bet on it.
It will be action packed and appeal to all audiences and will be the best service for gaming available on the market.
Now those are some pretty audacious claims! This run on sentence brought to you by Billy.
One bad monkey spoils the whole barrel.
This company is pure comedy gold. Nothing could make them look any stupider than their own websites, and that goes double for Timmy's old site. All you have to do is look past the flashy flash (designed by a group with real talent, wish I could remember their URL, not Infinium Labs) and read their press releases and such. Their own press releases make them sound like an amateurish cross between a boiler-room operation and a PHB's wet dream. One could write an essay on all the hilarity and irony jam-packed into every crevice of Infinium's web presence.
"Free speech does not mean speech without accountability.
"
Are you sure, you poopey-head?
I just can't get over how appropriate the name is. Now they may have a "phantom lawsuit" one their hands, too! Following further in SCO's buisiness model, should they say that HardOCP is being supported by IBM?
How about the parol evidence rule? Are non-lawyers familiar with this *vital* aspect of all contract law?
That people don't know it is one good reason why in some jurisdictions it's becoming more often "deprecated" (to use a geek turn of phrase). UCC 2-202's formulation includes course of dealing, course of performance, and trade usage in order to explain the terms of the contract; that covers a lot of ground the old rule kept out. Lots of places allow "tacking" of non-contradictory additional terms, either in other writings or referred to in other writings.
Hell, most non-lawyers don't even know the difference between slander and libel,
Whoo...I'm shaking. It's not like they have to pay 150 grand and three years to learn. They can pick this shit up from Black's. I'll teach 'em now:
Slander = spoken defamation
Libel = written defamation
Damn, that was hard. What's "defamation," you say? That's another story...
Law, as a subject, isn't that hard. Chief Justice John Marshall only studied it for six weeks, and he was a fabulous judge. "Being a lawyer" is about a way of thinking and approaching problems, not waving your dick around screaming terms from your real property text.
Oh yeah, who am I? Future lawyer, University of Michigan, class of 2005.
Can we get some photo's of Infium Lab's "Actual" headquarters. I mean they told us where their "offices" are. They gave us an adress. Can we get someone from slashdot down there to take some photo's of this set of "offices"? *Note to Infium Labs" I am making no such innuedo that infium labs does not have a headquarters but I DO refuse to correct this post. Please do not sue me.
Does anybody else think they are shooting themselves in the foot?
;)
I mean, if they had left the article alone, it would have gotten limited coverage and would have been forgotten by most by now. Instead, with these threats, they 1) bring attention back to the article, and 2) make a larger audience aware of the article (I hadn't seen the article until 2 weeks ago - I'm not a hardocp regular sorry)
Also when they say in their letter "This is not what Laura Roberts told you. Laura Roberts told you [blah blah]" I think they really wanted to say "These are not the droids you are looking for"
Cheers,
Skilf
Phantom? Waiting on the Half Life 2 port.
Based on those legal letters that must have been written while drunk, one can assume that Timothy Roberts likes to start up phoney businesses, milk it and then investors for as much money as he can possibly get. Then get the hell out of dodge before they go under? He's probably going to drive his nice new phantommobile into his driveway, and wave to his neighbors Darl McBride, Mel Gibson, Bill Gates and George Lucas. I hear on friday they are having a Darl Shot First, The passion of the Tux, Phantom Strikes Back, America bluescreened party. uh oh.. that sounds bad... SLANDER!?
.. John Romero joining the project. Then we know it's suspect.
I was just poking around the infinium labs site and ended up over at robrady designs. Lo and behold I found this! http://www.robrady.com/infl.html It looks like actual hardware......not a computer rendering. I think there may be some crow to be eaten in the future.....at least in small quantities :-)
You state that you haven't seen me. The innuendo is that I do not exist.
Gaaah!
SIG: TAKE OFF EVERY 'CAPTAIN'!!
~"You further allege that we 'blow'. Please change this to the more accurate statement: 'IL blows for food stamps'"
Often, the win goes to the side with the clever argument, rather than the side with the logic.
Actually, what you may think is an example of rhetoric winning over logic in many cases will be an example of hidden logical arguments of law of which you have no knowledge because they belong to the arcana of law, winning over what was stated by the lawyers. A trial is not about what A (counsel 1) says vs what B (counsel 2) says but what C (jury or judge) thinks about the case in light of A, B, D (previous judges), E (legal commentators) and F (others) say.
BTW a clever argument is, IMHO, a logical one.
Dear g33kgirl,
In reference to the e-mail you sent to Infinium regarding their Phantom Gaming system. You made several statements which were either untrue or make inaccurate innuendos.
You said: "I have been following with some interest your threats of legal action against HardOCP." This implies that you have been reading articles on the internet. My client requests that you stop doing that as it may lead to self-education.
You said: "Surely you have noticed that a good portion of the online community agrees with HardOCP that your Phantom Gaming Console is vaporware - that it does not, and probably will not, exist." This leads to innuendo suggesting that vaporware is the equivalent of a non-existent system. This is untrue. Additionally, the fact that you have somehow found out that the latest technology behind our Phantom system is called VaporWare (TM), puts you in violation of the DMCA. We ask that you cease and desist from sending us any more correspondence, or else...
You said: "the console should have been released November 2003. Now, according to the Phantom Gaming Console website (www.phantom.net) "on March 31st you will be able to build your high-octane Phantom Game System and for a limited time only purchase lifetime subscriptions." If Microsoft can get away with slipping product release dates, then so can we. In the fast paced world being a leading-edge gaming console development firm, product release dates, feature freezes, paradigm shifts and fluctuation in the bahvior of the great conveyor, can all happen at any moment. You imply that a shifting release date is akin to a product not coming out when promised. You need to change this to reflect the truth that sometimes stuff like this just happens.
You said: "However, you must forgive me if I don't hold my breath." The innuendo here is that if you were to hold your breath, we would be guilty of murder because we promised but did not deliver. As noted above, slipping release dates are good enough for Microsoft, so they are good enough for us. After all, with all the slipped release dates that Micorosft has had, if people out there had held their breaths. Microsoft wouldn't be on trial for anti-trust. They would be on trial for murder. Show a little backbone.
Oh yeah... you're a big, umm... mr. poopy head doodoo pants who is stupid and has poopy in your pants!! So there! Yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!
If I happened to say that, when released, the Phantom will have an old Pentium motherboard, 8 megs of RAM and come with a lifetime subscription to the "Non-Alcoholic Sake of the Month" club, I would be stating things that were clearly untrue. Were I to say that, in my opinion, the Phantom will suck huge amounts of ass, and will also attempt to blow said ass, I would be stating an opinion. And opinions cannot be proven right or wrong. If Infinium wants to correct bogus facts, that's just fine (as long as the corrections are more accurate.) But telling someone to retract their opinions is a sure sign of being nothing more than an asshole.
*****
Dear Mary,
I yearn for you tragically,
A.T. Tappman, Chaplain, U.S. Army.
Infinium Labs went after tech site Sudhian yesterday. Sudhian has an editorial posted that does not paint the Phantom console in a very good light and it seems as though Infinium Labs took issue with that by asking that their trademark logos be removed. Sudhian followed Infinium's wishes, replacing the images with a bit of poetry.
Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
Refusing to allow anyone to publish pictures of your product
Implies that it sucks.
Perhaps MS will not remove this dangerous feature because it allows you to undo changes, even if you have saved the file, and come back and open it later?
But it seems like a pretty bad feature to me. Perhaps lawyers agree?
Two years ago or so there was a story here on slashdot about Microsoft's answer to those ads Apple had were they presented actual users, including that girl, Ellen Fliess, that everyone thought sounded like a pot-head.
Microsoft responded with an ad that featured a picture of a pretty girl, who wrote some trash about just moving from an Apple environment to Microsoft, and being pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to use. A wily slashdot reader had recognized that the picture of the pretty girl was taken from a commercial catalogue of images one could liscense. It wasn't a candid photo of an actual user. And the text of her Microsoft testimonial had very foolishly actually been written with Microsoft software. The proof, IIRC, was that the hidden info in the file revealed the anonymous author to be an advertizing executive at the ad firm Microsoft had hired to run that campaign.
So, how does this bug hit people? Somebody has to write an official letter to someone they dislike. To make the process more pleasant throughout the letter they address their nemesis as "asshole" or reasonable equivalent. When they are finished with their revisions they do a global change of "asshole" to "Mr Client". Then they save it.
If they transmit it to another naive Word user -- no problem.
But if they transmit it to someone who doesn't use Word there is a very good chance that their disrespect will become apparent. Perhaps lawyers feel it is a professional requirement to be aware of these kinds of gaffes.
Wordperfect lacks this "feature".
Worth noting, Microsoft keeps "improving" its native file format, so you can't always open new .doc files with older versions of Word. Wordperfects of fifteen years ago can open .wdp files created with the most recent software.
BTW a clever argument is, IMHO, a logical one.
Nah, that couldn't explain the Chewbacca defense.
That's Tim's plan, not Infamous Labs'.
Wherever IL makes profit or disappears doesn'T matter, he will walk out with a pocket full of stupid investor's money.
---- Take the Space Quiz!
I was showing the letter to my father, a corporate attorney, and he remarked that it was odd that there was no letterhead on this letter. Does the firm responsible want to hide under anonymity so this doesn't hurt them?
"All it takes to fly is to hurl yourself at the ground... and miss." - Douglas Adams
I have "flashblock" from Mozdev installed in mozilla, which very nicely blocks flash content (making it "click to start")... except on HardOCP? What hack are they running to bypass flashblock, and how do we fix it?
I just sent the following email to the abovementioned lawyerly firm:
I have been following with some interest your attempts to thwart the investigative reporting activity of Hard OCP on behalf of your client, Tim Roberts, and his Infinium Corp. The article is available for anyone to read, as are your two threatening letters to Hard OCP. From what I can see as someone who is conversant with the English language is a series of corrections of minutiae and complaints about various "innuendos" that stem from your lack of forthrightness about a product your client continuously refers to in the present tense, e.g., "Infinium Labs IS an industry-leading global entertainment...," "...IS marketing its flagship product the Phantom Game Console," "...IS the performance leader," "...marketS a robust game console," "Phantom(TM) IS the next-generation game console that supportS PC games...," etc.
In the light of these present tense statements about your client's product that any rational individual would take as statements intended to be taken as fact and not as marketing hype of an as yet unproduced product (this is not an innuendo, by the way, it is an inference), it is obvious to me as it should be to both you and your client, that the simple way of removing any doubt about the validity of your claims is not to sow fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD), but to produce examples of this product consistently spoken of in the present tense, to a group of reviewers and game afficionados and not to send threatening letters to them as if they were the enemy. They are, in fact your friends--if and only if your client does in fact have a genuine product to sell--and can be counted on to spread the word about his product when it comes to market. To specifically go out and annoy these very people either suggests that your client has a poor understanding of the game market, which does not bode well for the prospects of his product, or he simply does not have a product. I look forward to your reply. The product certainly SOUNDS interesting, and I would certainly consider buying it if it in fact exists.
Regards,
[signature]
"Is this Winkhorst a nova criminal?" "No just a technical sergeant wanted for interrogation."
Point 3 reads in part "You allege that Timothy Roberts has helmed several businesses that have failed or gone bankrupt in the last six years. [...] You need to correct the statement to reflect that Timothy Roberts was never at the head or helm of any business while it was in bankruptcy proceedings"
While point 16 reads in part "You allege that Mr. Roberts helmed several businesses that have failed or have gone bankrupt in the last six years...In fact, there has been only one that failed during the time that Mr. Roberts was there."
So which is it, no bankruptcy/failures, or one bankruptcy/failure in the last six years?
It continues "Mr. Roberts personally started three businesses prior to forming Infinium Labs. He did so between 1995 and 2000, and to be succesful in one out of three ventures does not imply a series of failures."
So which is it, one bankruptcy/failure, or two?
If you found this entertaining you might want to check out point 18 too...
I am disrespectful to dirt! Can you see that I am serious?!
Besides the absolutely bad design, the fine print on Icard, Merrill, Cullis, Timm, Furen and Ginsburg, P.A says:
The hiring of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely on advertising. Before you decide, ask Icard, Merrill to send you free written information about qualifications and experience.
So, they ask someone to make a website to tell people they can send written information, for free!
I don't really think HardOCP should worry.
I shot the sheriff
I hereby am not inferring in any way shape or form that Tim Roberts is a fiendish twitfuck or that he sleeps with goats regulary.
I have no knowledge whatsoever that he is a godless freak, a communist, and a subversive terrorist. I am not aware of any connection between Tim Roberts and Saddam Hussein. I know not of any cash transfers between Infinium labs and Al-Queda.
I am perfectly sure that Tim Roberts is not a convicted felon, nor has he ever been a suspected pope-abuser.
I'd like to take this opportunity to make everyone aware that I've never heard of Tim Roberts dressing up in drag and singing show tunes in a gay biker bar.
There probably isn't even any connection between Tim Roberts and the fucknuts that may or may not be referred to as litigious bastards
"...In your answer, ignore facts. Just go with what feels true..."
If Infinium sues Kyle, that guarantees I will not have one of their products in my household for a long, long, long time....
> Slander is when you call somebody a cock-sucking shit-eater, and you have proof. Libel is when you call somebody a cock-sucking shit-eater, and you don't.
Thanks for proving their point, nitwit. Slander is spoken defamation, without proof. Libel is written defamation, without proof. You can't get into legal troubles for defaming someone using provable facts.
Now shoo!
Virg
Okay, I realize that large companies do sometimes send out C&D orders via email en masse, such as when they are trying to shut down kids offering "warez" and roms of copyrighted materials for download. Generally, a hard copy letter is sent to the ISP involved, and there's never the threat of lawsuits: It's always, "Take this down, or we'll take it down. All your website are belong to us."
However, Infinium Labs is making very specific claims of libel against HardOCP, and isn't threatening them through their ISP, but is threatening litigation. Where are the physical letters involved? Email is not an acceptable means of formal legal communication. You don't send subpoenas by email. There's not an AOL sound for "You've been served!"
The fact that there is no physical paperwork involved tells me that whatever the claims, Infinium's lawyer(s?) is/are not competent enough to actually launch any kind of legal attack against HardOCP, because they don't know how to get in contact with HardOCP's writers, editors and staff outside of an email address.
Of course, if they try to go through, I have no doubt that the new claim will be "We had to halt production of the Phantom console in order to mount a legal attack on HardOCP for their FUD attack..."
So go to the Infinium Labs section of Cafepress, and buy the Phantom calendar. Use it to keep track of all the time you won't be using your phantom game console.
Happiness is relative, Based upon the way we live.
Second: 'You breached the journalistic code of ethics or conduct by setting out to create a biased article and by falling to conduct the proper due dilligence which would have brought the inaccuracies to light.' Ummmm the only thing that came to my mind was FOX NEWS. Accuracy in reporting stuff? Bias news article? I thought all news was bias by default as it was a human that put a story in it. Man even major news paper have proplems keeping accurate articles. Case in point Jayson Blair, nuff said.
Last but not least: http://www.infiniumlabs.com/dlflash2.html Flash needed for the dialup version of the web site are they brain dead or just stupid?
Life is marked by pain.
Yes, IANAL, but I swear, I've read enough court documents, done a little legal research, and even know enough lawyers, how much research and writing they have to do, and how literate they really are to know that this sentence would NEVER be written by a lawyer:
..."Rather than reporting both sides, you chose simply to report what you knew were false facts."
13.
First, freedom of the press grants that ANY publication has the absolute freedom to be as one-sided as they wish to be. There's nothing illegal about that.
Second, if this is to be a legal report, you have to use legal wording. "Report what you knew were false facts" is too many words for "libel." You can use as many words as you like to describe the situation (all lawyers do...well, at least the expensive ones do), but you still have to include the legal word which all of this points to. Statement 13 does not.
Third, and this is the big one..."false facts." Either this lawyer didn't pass the fifth grade, or he's not a laywer. "False accusations" or "false statements" or "false claims" ALWAYS. "False facts" is a contradiction which legally would not pass through a court because no judge would understand it's meaning. Sure, it's implied that "false facts" means false claim, but a fact cannot be false in and of itself. No real lawyer would ever use that wording in a written document.
This seems completely bogus.
Legalese: use it to make specific statements (and hopefully avoid possible misinterpretation like 'depends on what your definition of the word "is" is')
Slander/Libel: Actually.... Phantom implied whatever the hell they're implying. the [H] only pointed out that the first time they asked, someone told them he wasn't, then told them he was co-director.
Resume: Roberts isn't lying, but he sure screwed it up. Explain how someone puts down the wrong name for a corp whose board of directors they are on? (the google cache was updated a day after the [H]ocp article). At best calling himself director is an oversight, at worse its willfull misrepresentation.
last but not least, Kyle asked for any corrections and it came from a law office, not from tim roberts... ~5 months after the fact. A letter to the editor or some other meaningful dialogue would have gone over much better for all parties involved & with the public.
did you read the papers & Kyle's response?
printf("\nS%c%cp%3s %co%1s",105,'m',"le,",0x6e,"?");
I'm sure that better examples exist. Anyway, programmers often write confusing stuff too.
"Much of the law is deliberately written to be confusing so only lawyers can decipher it".
Likewise, a lot of code is written so that only the original programmers can debug it.
Actually, legislation and programming look very similar when you look at their consulting sub-industries.
This is not my sig.
If you ever visit here, you should check it out.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
March 3rd. That would be... um... today! Anybody have a ticket to that? ;)
I'd have a personalized plate on my car, but "toxic bachelor" won't fit into 7 letters.
And they are TOTALLY nerds!! All of 'em!
(don't tell her I said this.)
P.S.- my wife is better at the Internet than I am(and I am a network programmer). She can beat the final boss. She says he's really hard.
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
A long, long time ago, I filled out a Beta application for the Phantom. I don't remember what info it asked for, but I do remember that the thing read like a job application. Did anyone else fill this out? I want to contact them and tell them to delete my application. Anyone have any ideas as to how this might be accomplished?
I run a video game message board that is fairly active. It seems someone from Infinium Labs (traced their IP) posted the five page letter on my site. Now, I wouldn't be bothered had they identified themself...but they didn't. They called themself "monkey" and titled the thread "Ilabs sues HardOCP, looks like HardOCP is screwed ugly". What is that about? Lawsuit by Mrs. Johnson and her third grade class. http://www.lunabean.com/forums/index.php?showtopic =2428
They are also hypocrites, they bitch and whine about how others selling out, and clame that they would never sell out, but have no problem with whoring themselves out.
Yeah right, they know it is bestiality and anti-gay jokes are the only reason people read their tripe.
And I am suppose to be scarded of their inept acne ridden fanboys "watching" me?
Of course, if you'd REALLY read the article, you'd realize that avoiding Infinium products is your only option, since Infinium doesn't actually seem to have a product, according to Steve & Kyle. ;)
\
You're really not helping hardocp out here with emails like that. If anything, they (lawyers) could argue that emails such as yours only supports their claim that HardOCP's article has had a tangible impact (read: damages), such as negatively influencing the (thousands?) of Slashdot readers.
The other thing that bothers me is all this talk about Vaporware when I have read articles about actual hardware being demonstrated at CES.
I am saddened by this ongoing, self-perpetuating saga, but unfortunately I am not at all surprised.
If Hard OCP and Penny Arcade's goal is to drag the public perception of games journalism through the shit by acting like clueless, attention-seeking, frustrated adolescents (as usual, in Penny Arcade's case), they are doing a fine job.
Hard OCP's story was notable at the time, and was seen as a great scoop. Unfortunately, Infinium's response blows some fairly large holes in the credibility and journalistic integrity of that story. I suggest reading Hard OCP's original article, and then Infinium's letter. Note the profusion of readily apparent falsehoods and intentional omissions that Hard OCP are still not addressing, for all their bluster. It really is that simple.
Of course, the majority of the respondents here have had their opinions formed for them by Penny Arcade, who have cultivated an inexplicable (and laughably histrionic) vendetta against Infinium Labs, for no apparent reason that could be explained while still sounding like a rational adult.
(Is seems the concept of an independent hardware company manufacturing and selling a games console was beyond their grasp. Perhaps they never heard about the GP32, Tapwave Zodiac, or that plucky outside of 1995, the Sony Playstation. Anyway...)
Still, if this ever comes to court it's a clear cut case of libel. Completely avoidable if H-OCP stop thinking with their dicks for five seconds.
I look forward to the lawsuit, and Penny Arcade inevitably wheeling out the "we're so victimised, and we represent YOUR hobby" panhandling bullshit for the millionth time. Excuse me while I puke.
Preferences > Homepage > Customize stories on homepage > Authors > Zonk > Uncheck
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/03/03/news_60905 25.html
Go [H]!
http://www.gamers-cy.com ~ Everything else is but a game.. (tm)
He can't have an orgamizm unless he kills a dog, l0l0l0l0l00-00000llllll1l1ll1!!!!~`~~~~
That is teh funnny !>!!!!>!>! We Gamors are t3h roxxx0rs!!!
Funny, it sounds more the person wrote that response is the asshole. I guess libel is ok, as long they are the ones doing it.
Penny Arcade has more readers in a given second than your site will ever have even if it were to sit and rot on the internet until time ends and the universe implodes.
Same can be said for your obscure little site, but I guess this is just another chance for them to talk about the size of their dicks/hits. And by this logic I bet spammers have the biggest ones of them all.
Heck this stunt just got them even more readers. Just look at everyone in this article linking to them, with lots of slahdoters going to their site.
I don't care if he likes the comic or not.
So he dosn't care if someone has a problem with their comic? Can I make a libelous one claiming Gabe has sex with little boys?
PA is a community and we have agents everywhere. Chances are they're watching you even now.
So they are also Big Brother, and issue threats.
Sheesh, I am so glad I don't read their stuff. I would hate to think of the kinds of people that do.
I know from personal experience that he's a liar. He in fact admitted in email to me and my lawyers that he was intentionally lying on his website "to protest" linking to "his" site. He's also a jerk who seems to enjoy picking fights and taking contrarian views (even against things he's said before). To top it off I'm not sure why people like Penny Arcade so much anyway...
So don't put a lot of stock in what he says.
They should have done a strip about him having sex with the dog.
Also, there is a bit of fun about this in the Phantom Forums...that actually exist.
It's `Down for maintainance'... so for all intents and purposes it doesn't exist.
Why do I have distinct memories that the Chewbacca defense was a SNL skit?
You are using the word "surely" far too often surely?
Those who sacrifice security to condemn liberty deserve to repeat history or something. - Benjamin Santayana
If the correct name is "MEDHIRE, LLC", not "eMed Hire", then why is it incorrect to imply that Roberts wasn't a director of "eMed Hire", even if he may have been a director if "MEDHIRE, LLC"?
Those who sacrifice security to condemn liberty deserve to repeat history or something. - Benjamin Santayana
The standards for libel in the United States of America are different from those in the United Kingdom.
Those who sacrifice security to condemn liberty deserve to repeat history or something. - Benjamin Santayana
When that happened, about 20 years ago, WordPerfect was the most sophisticated word processing system that would run on widely-available hardware. So lots of lawyers bought it, and created tons of templates in WP format. Plus, creaters of legal software (content mangement mostly) tended to provide WordPerfect plugins.
Add to this the fact that WordPerfect has an extremely idiosyncratic user interface, and you have a well-established user base with every incentive to stick with the product they know.