Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Underground Mac Community Foils a Coup

Posted by kdawson on from the fortunately-bloodless dept.

An anonymous reader writes "In an attempted palace coup that would not have been out of place in a Shakespearian tragedy, a moderator faction at Mac Serial Junkie, one of the largest underground Mac communities, was shut out this weekend after it was discovered that many staff members were plotting a coup. The plans included a surreptitious takeover of the domain name macserialjunkie.com. In an Open Letter to the Community, the founders of MSJ explain how a number of people at the highest levels of the underground planned their takeover activities for almost two years, only to be foiled at the last minute."

22 of 253 comments (clear)

  1. Who cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I assume this is some sort of piracy forum, but regardless, who cares? This stuff happens all the time on forums and IRC. Owner X doesn't do much/disappears leaving Y in charge. Y gets upset that he's doing all the work while X enjoys ownership. Y plots takeover, and either does or fail and is replaced by Z.

    1. Re:Who cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yea, it's a site to swap software serial numbers. Amusing that people who are content to rip off other people's hard work suddenly think they have the moral high ground when they're about to be ripped off themselves. Pot, kettle, etc.

    2. Re:Who cares? by Foerstner · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Are we talking about the CEO who laid off half the development team, required the remainder to work over time, and then gave himself a bonus by firing the rest after the product went gold or the pirates?

      I say this because more than naught developers are underpaid for their work and then have the hounds released on them by the bean counters when quarter figures need to look better.


      Nice little Freudian slip there.

      I'd wager that most of the successful commercial software companies treat their developers with a modicum of dignity. Sure, there have been dozens of exceptions over the years, but by and large it's hard to stay in the business if you treat your programmers like shit. It's a good way to make sure your company is a one-hit wonder. Perhaps that's why Adobe, Microsoft, and Google have all been on the "Best Companies to Work For" list, as have other software firms. They may not please all of their employees, but they generally have a reputation for taking care of their own.

      It's often a meaner existence for programmers who work for non-software companies like financial or logistics firms--they're viewed as a "cost," not a revenue stream.
      --
      The US free market: two halves of a government-granted duopoly are free to set the market price.
  2. tag this whocares by Kreigaffe · · Score: 3, Insightful

    seriously, e-drama. seriously.

    --
    ... still waiting for this free-as-in-beer free beer I keep hearing about. :|
    1. Re:tag this whocares by quanticle · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No kidding. This is like the stories about scams and drama in EVE Online, but even more irrelevant.

      --
      We all know what to do, but we don't know how to get re-elected once we have done it
    2. Re:tag this whocares by ScytheBlade1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is one story that I honestly feel could be deleted, and no one would care.

      Because no one cares.

      Get this off the front page.

  3. This Is News For Nerds?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This sounds like it should be an item in a high school newspaper. No wonder, it's a kdawson story, poster of all useless and leftist drivel.

    Are you guys going to cover how Timmy is going to plotting to take over the treehouse next?

  4. who fucking cares? by Reality+Master+201 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    No, really, who fucking cares? Is there nothing better to post as a story, anywhere on the intarweb?

    1. Re:who fucking cares? by Derek+Loev · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I've said it before and got modded down. But I'll say it again (and get modded down).
      Was anybody surprised Kdawson posted this? Seriously, anybody.

  5. WGAF by DoctorPepper · · Score: 3, Insightful

    All of you GROW UP! go on, get out of your parent's basement, into the real world. Get a real job and a (girl|boy)friend and just get on with your lives!

    None of this shit means anything outside of your silly little group. Sheesh!

    --

    No matter where you go... there you are.
  6. Subterranean Homesick Blues by zeromorph · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Thanks so far, for making sense out of this post, but:

    "... one of the largest underground Mac communities ... a number of people at the highest levels of the underground planned their takeover activities for almost two years,...

    WTF? No seriously WTF?

    --
    "Hannibal's plans never work right. They just work." Amy/A-Team
  7. How the hell did this make the front page? by djkitsch · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I mean...really? Slow news day, huh?

    --
    sig:- (wit >= sarcasm)
  8. tag: firehoseabuse by Nimey · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I see the trolls are gaming the firehose.

    --
    Hail Eris, full of mischief...

    E pluribus sanguinem
  9. I found it interesting.. by erktrek · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I know nothing about this site and I found it interesting from a social dynamic perspective. Also it's probably important to learn about such co-opting strategies.

    Not sure who is in the "right" here but the domain owners kinda get the last word on what they want and how to do things don't you think?

    It's also kind of curious that the first few posts here seem to be so vitriolic against the posting of this article. As I recall /. is supposed to be "news for nerds" or some such. It seems to me "Coups" and "Underground Mac Movements" are about as nerdy as you can get.

    Then again, I must be new here...

    1. Re:I found it interesting.. by EllynGeek · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's also interesting how many people who don't care took the time to post flames about how much they don't care. It's important to the people involved, and as you said possibly a good lesson for any online community. As far as nerdy stuff goes, well, /. is heavily-infested with trolls who are not nerds, and don't really have skills of any kind, except wandering all over the Internet putting down everything and everyone.

      --

      we will end no whine before its time

    2. Re:I found it interesting.. by osu-neko · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's also interesting how many people who don't care took the time to post flames about how much they don't care.

      It's the difference between a mature human being comfortable with his or her place in the universe, and an immature person who thinks he or she is the center of the universe. The mature individuals know some things interest them and some things don't, but that some of those things that don't interest them do interest other people. They simply skip over anything that doesn't interest them. The immature people get upset that something that doesn't interest them was posted. If it doesn't interest them, why did anyone waste the time posting it? If anyone else is interested in it, they must be "losers".

      The real problem at the core for them is, every time something is posted that doesn't interest them, it proves that the universe does not revolve around them, and they just can't stand that. So they must complain. Any time the universe does not appear to be specifically tailored for them, they must complain. Obviously something is wrong with the universe if it isn't arranged for their ultimate convenience.

      --
      "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
  10. File under "Who gives a shit" by rudy_wayne · · Score: 3, Insightful

    After reading the "open letter" only one thought comes to mind.

    These guys really need to get a life.

  11. Hypocrisy by lena_10326 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The general consensus seems to be this story is a non-story, of course I would agree, but I find it highly illuminating that the consensus was very different when a similar story appeared regarding virtual corruption in the game of Eve, which in my opinion was a very non-story.

    http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/26/ 0016226

    By the way, don't give me any bull that one is free and the other is a paid for service... they're both internet communities. No one is forced to use them.

    So, I guess the lesson is it only matters to you when it's a forum you happen to use.

    --
    Camping on quad since 1996.
    1. Re:Hypocrisy by jjohnson · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Not quite. Regardless of ./ers participation in Eve, it's well known that it's a 100K strong community, so any interesting community dynamics are newsworthy, moreso because they reflect on the MMO genre itself.

      Most of the reason this is a non-story is that there's a total of four people with two servers involved. I'm far from certain that there's more than 100 people who even give a shit about the 'attempted coup'.

      --
      Anyone who loves or hates any language, platform, or manufacturer, doesn't know what they're talking about.
  12. Honor among thieves? by cypherz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Very funny when pirates are upset when somebody tries to steal their board. Why would they think that their membership would behave honorably?

    --
    This sig kills fascists.
  13. Press releases for nerds, stuff that's made up by ebcdic · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If you're a computer security company no-one's ever heard of, you "conduct" an opinion poll showing that 84% of people will tell you their password in return for a jaffa cake, and the BBC will treat it as news. If you're a bunch of wannabe hackers that no-one's ever heard of, you make up a bunch of nonsense about a "coup" in your non-existent "community", and hey presto Slashdot will wet themselves.

  14. Hey Apple stole FreeBSD by Ice+Station+Zebra · · Score: 2, Insightful

    so this kinda things seems to run in the family