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Slashdot's Disagree Mail

There is an old Japanese proverb that goes, "Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher." This week's mail is all about teaching. Whether it is about the seriousness of psychic ability, a short history of trolls or explaining how much free time and malice your dad's attorney has, these people just want to impart information. If what they sent me is any indication, they had a lot of sick days. Click on the link below to become enlightened. This lady doesn't like the message you get on our banned page because it belittles psychics and the good work they do.

On Sat, 4 Jun 2005 ******** wrote:
"I normally don't take the time to write to anyone on the internet because they are so rude and closed minded but I must object to your flippant use of the term psychic in the banned message I received. First off I did nothing wrong on purpose to you. If something was wrong it was a mistake. My mother has done a lot of work with local law enforcement and once for FBI. She helps people while you punish them. I've not yet developed my skills enough to help anyone but I do have glimpses. Many reputable brokerage houses and even former presidents rely on psychics for decisions. Maybe if you opened your mind you wouldn't need to punish people for no reason."


Here is a guy that knows a lot about trolls

On Wed, 5 Apr 2006 ******* wrote:
"Dude your troll option don't make sense! I know yall think that it means someone bad but trolls used to be good. They'd build stuff if you left them bread or wine and they made the viking gods armor and spears. Don't let a few years of internet people destroy what something means. Be smarter than that! Yall don't have to play follow the leader. learn about trolls. I guess some were bad and you have to trick them into cutting open his belly in an eating contest but that doesn't even matter when it comes to what your saying. Do some research."


Finally we have a man who wanted me to delete all of his comments. When I explained that I couldn't, he sent me this.

On Mon, 9 Jun 2008 ******** wrote:
"Holy Shit are you guys fucked! If I own my words your fucking page says so! I asked my dads lawyer and he said you are fucked to. He doesn't do much because my dad is honest not like your users bunch of liberal fags! My dads lawyer is a mean sonabitch and would love to sue you back into the darkages he said so. I almost hope you don't change your mind. I'd love to be there when it all goes down in court. You could do what you know is right and what is right for a place that is supposed to be about customers (readers). If you don't try and do what your reader wants you to do without having him tell you all the time then you are a good business. If not then you are getting YOUR ASS SUED!! If you made cars and I wanted you to crush it and you said no you wouldn't be in business long. Get a fucking CLUE. If I don't want people to see me I can go inside but if I don't want people to read me you won't get rid of my posts? BULLSHIT!! you have to or youll get a call from my dads lawyer buy Friday and then hell will rain down on you. DO WHATS RIGHT AND GET RID OF ME!!!"

41 of 354 comments (clear)

  1. Might As Well Try to Discuss This by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "This lady doesn't like the message you get on our banned page..."

    What is Slashdot's banned page? I did not know such a thing existed. If you were a bot, I suspect you'd be banned but how does a psychic get banned? What are the conditions that cause a user to get banned? Has anyone else seen this?

    "My mother has done a lot of work with local law enforcement and once for FBI."

    What is it with nutjobs and claiming they have done work for important government agencies? Yeah, I understand there was a program in the 70s to explore using psychics against the commies but is there a form of dementia that causes one to hallucinate that they are serving a higher power? You know like John Nash or Tom Cruise style? I'm sorry, that wasn't really fair to Doctor Nash.

    --

    "I guess some were bad and you have to trick them into cutting open his belly in an eating contest but that doesn't even matter when it comes to what your saying."

    Is this a reference to some historical myth that I am missing? I think I understand where this (satire) is coming from in that some mythologies contained trolls or troll like creatures. But what is the eating contest reference to? Anyone heavy on Norse mythology or is this some remote Fantasy reference?

    --

    "If I own my words your fucking page says so!"

    Despite he fail English possible, I have always been interested in what your disclaimer means for us, the ones who post. You make that claim to avoid legal troubles, I understand, but if we own what we post here, what are our rights. I have no way of easily accessing my prior posts. I often remember a post I made about something (like Iceland) and I have to go to Google for it because there is simply no way to page through all my comments in my user page. Sometimes someone replies with a thread linking to a useful open source tool and I can never remember what story it was on or where it was attached.

    Also, what happens if Slashdot goes offline or is shutdown in the future? What will happen to all my 'property'? Have you considered allowing users to export posts, threads or stories? It would most likely be too taxing for the server but if these posts are owned by the users, shouldn't they be made available to them for keeping in their records?

    "you have to or youll get a call from my dads lawyer buy Friday"

    My god, lawyers have figured out how to license days of the week! Quickly, how do I acquire the rights to 'Saturday'? I'll be rich!

    I think that this last post indicates clearly that we (Americans) are an overly litiguous society. We are so dependent on lawyers that childish remarks immediately default to "my dad's lawyer will sue you." This individual sounds like a minor and I suspect that overexposure to lawsuits and court cases have brought this on. Don't confuse this with 'justice.' "I'm going to beat you up" has been simply replaced with "I'm going to sue you!" And although the violence element has been removed, there is still this overly aggressive, unjust attitude saturated from the highest corporations to the immaturest minds.

    One more thing, why is my preview formatting all funny on Idle?

    --
    My work here is dung.
    1. Re:Might As Well Try to Discuss This by RealGrouchy · · Score: 5, Informative

      Re: Troll - If I correctly remember an earlier reading on trolls on Wikipedia, the term derives from the verb "to troll", as in the ships that troll the ocean for fish--not to the mythological creature.

      Re: Ownership of comments: You own the copyright on that particular set of words attributed to you (or your username), and you implicitly grant Slashdot permission to publish those comments. If you were to grant a newspaper permission to reprint your comments (i.e. by sending a letter to the editor), you cannot ask them to collect all copies of their newspaper and cut out your letter after it's been printed.

      Re: Idle's comment box: Holy fuck, this thing's annoying! And the comment formatting doesn't work.

      - RG>

      --
      Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
    2. Re:Might As Well Try to Discuss This by JWSmythe · · Score: 3, Funny

      I was playing with open proxies on day quite a while back. While I was taking a break, I stayed on the last proxy I was on, and went to Slashdot. I got a banned page. I don't remember the text verbatum, but it had something about the IP was detected to have been abusing, and was blocked. It's probably automatic, and probably kicks in when trolls post too much from one IP. Really, the abuses here aren't too bad considering how many people read and write here.

            I'm guessing they were using a bad proxy, or they were posting so much crap that they tripped the abuse system and it blocked them. Being psychic, they should have seen it coming. :)

      --
      Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
    3. Re:Might As Well Try to Discuss This by hyfe · · Score: 5, Informative

      Is this a reference to some historical myth that I am missing? I think I understand where this (satire) is coming from in that some mythologies contained trolls or troll like creatures. But what is the eating contest reference to? Anyone heavy on Norse mythology or is this some remote Fantasy reference?

      It's not Norse, but it is Norwegian (or scandinavian, I'm actually not sure).

      It's referring to a story about a guy named Askeladden who got captured by a troll, and challenged him to an eating contest using porrige. Askeladden put his backpack and as the eating contest went on, filled his backpack up. When it was full, he said to the troll: 'It's no problem, I'll just slit up my stomack and I'm ready to eat more', and he cut open his backpack.. A while later the troll was full too, and askeladden persuaded him to do the same :)

      --
      "" How about taking the safety labels off everything, and let the stupidity-problem solve itself? """
    4. Re:Might As Well Try to Discuss This by mrchaotica · · Score: 3, Informative

      Nope, he really did mean "troll". Not only is it a real word, they even make motors for that purpose. (In contrast, there is no such thing as a "trawling motor.")

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

  2. FIRST by Kral_Blbec · · Score: 5, Funny

    I demand you delete this

  3. Good advice by xaxa · · Score: 5, Funny

    I should really follow the advice on the front page that sometimes appears, "Never go to idle.slashdot.org -- it's a complete waste of your time".

    Oh, first post?

    1. Re:Good advice by Tridus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The problem is that idle.slashdot.org is now coming to us on the front page. The advice is just to never go there, but now we have to actively take steps to fight it off.

      There's an "In Soviet Russia..." joke in this somewhere, I'm sure.

      --
      -- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
    2. Re:Good advice by xaxa · · Score: 5, Informative

      For anyone looking, the option is on this page: http://slashdot.org/users.pl?op=edithome

      That's the last you'll hear of me on this /. section :-)

    3. Re:Good advice by AP31R0N · · Score: 5, Funny

      LEAVE IDOL.SLASHDOT ALONE!

      --
      Utilizing the synergization of benchmark e-solutions to pre-workaround action items!
  4. the banned page by jamie · · Score: 4, Informative

    For those of you who have never been lucky enough to witness the "pink page" we display to banned users, here's the text of the template we generate it with. I confess I'd never before thought about how offensive that might be to psychics.

    1. Re:the banned page by eldavojohn · · Score: 3, Interesting

      "For those of you who have never been lucky enough to witness the "pink page" we display to banned users, here's the text of the template we generate it with. I confess I'd never before thought about how offensive that might be to psychics."

      That's pretty horrible but ... not enough use of the <marquee> & <blink> tags.

      Say, Jamie, why is the idle comment boxes different and why are the <quote> tags not functioning like they do on the rest of Slashdot?

      --
      My work here is dung.
    2. Re:the banned page by jamie · · Score: 3, Interesting

      We may have CSS issues... I'm pasting your comment's URL to our UI guys right now :)

    3. Re:the banned page by Ifni · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Actually, because of the lack of a "but" it can be construed as a contrasting comparison - to wit: "we're good, therefore/because we are not psychic". Most readers will realize that the true intent was "we're good, BUT we are not psychic," but the lack of a conjunction does leave it slightly open to interpretation.

      --

      Oh, was that my outside voice?

    4. Re:the banned page by Ceriel+Nosforit · · Score: 3, Funny

      I confess I'd never before thought about how offensive that might be to psychics.

      It's OK. You're good, not psychic.

      On a side-note, I hold the educated opinion that speaking ill of self-proclaimed 'psychics', 'healers', or tarot card readers is fundamentally not only naive, but also immature and detrimental to your own ability to understand your surroundings. Many of us have experienced things not you nor we can begin to comprehend, and your ridiculous belittling attitude only serves to stop us from sharing our experiences. - Experiences which enrich our lives and makes us kinder, gentler human beings.

      --
      All rites reversed 2010
  5. Please just stop by rolfwind · · Score: 4, Insightful

    with the emails.

    There aren't really enough, and I guess I don't have enough of a sense of humor to really get this non-sequitur summary and emails.

    1. Re:Please just stop by philspear · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Not to mention you're only encouraging people to troll you like all three of these obviously were.

  6. Temper, temper! by the+darn · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'd hate to have to be the one to tell him that his dad's lawyer buddy is screwing his Canadian girlfriend...

    --
    Ceci n'est pas un post.
  7. Psychic not banned, yet! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, the psychic has NOT actually been banned yet, but she knew it was coming.

    1. Re:Psychic not banned, yet! by Nefarious+Wheel · · Score: 3, Funny

      I dated a psychic once, but she broke with me two years before we met.

      --
      Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
  8. DO WHATS RIGHT AND GET RID OF ME!!! by ByOhTek · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is it just me, or did he ask you to hire an assasin?

    He know's that's illegal, doesn't he?

    --
    Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
  9. Trolls by harrkev · · Score: 4, Funny

    I kind of like the "troll" comment. It was coherent, and not babbling. Yes, it challenges our common conception of a popular phrase used on the internet a lot. However, I can honestly say that I do not know enough to be able to say that he is wrong, so he may even be right?

    To put such a reasonable (although slightly strange) e-mail up here for ridicule seems somewhat unfair.

    If there actually was such a thing as a race of benevolent trolls, I bet they'd be pissed right about now.

    --
    "-1 Troll" is the apparently the same as "-1 I disagree with you."
    1. Re:Trolls by Experiment+626 · · Score: 3, Funny

      My understanding is that "Troll" in the context Slashdot uses it derives from the fishing term. It refers to a technique of using a lure to bait the fish, with the lure in this case being a trouble-instigating post. The fact that the mythical creatures (popularized by Tolkien, Treasure Trolls, Warcraft, etc.) share the same name is coincidental, and not an attempt to disparage them. The fishing term comes from Middle English and Anglo-French, whereas the creature name is of Danish/Norwegian/Old Norse origins.

    2. Re:Trolls by SydShamino · · Score: 4, Funny

      If there actually was such a thing as a race of benevolent trolls, I bet they'd be pissed right about now.

      I understand that a secret race of benevolent canned lunch meat products are furious, too.

      --
      It doesn't hurt to be nice.
  10. Free advice for Taco: by DwarfGoanna · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you want to fix your toilet, don't hire an electrician.

    If you want to rewire your house, don't hire a landscaper.

    If you want humorous content on slashdot, maybe you should hire a fucking comedy writer.

    --

    "You know why you do not see me styling wit my homies? Because I have no homies!!" -Mojo Jojo

  11. This makes me want to send a rude email. by LWATCDR · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How about, please stop putting this on the front page. By definition nothing under idol should make it to the font page.
    You know "Slashdot, News for Nerds. Stuff that counts."
    Idiots on the Internet isn't news and none of this counts.
    BTW why can't you delete all the posts made by somebody?
    If they didn't post as an AC then a simple query should bring up their posts and then you could delete them or at least the body of the message.
    Of course it wouldn't take out replies or quoted text.
    Yes I do know the difference between possible and practical but this does seem possible but I should wouldn't want to have to do it.

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    1. Re:This makes me want to send a rude email. by Sockatume · · Score: 3, Funny

      Idol? Dont' give them ideas!

      --
      No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    2. Re:This makes me want to send a rude email. by Captain+Splendid · · Score: 4, Interesting

      How about, please stop putting this on the front page.

      How about all you fucking whiners spend 5 minutes learning how to set a few preferences and STFU? You guys are as bad as the parents who want lily-white safe TV for their kids to watch but are offended at suggestions they simply use the on/of button on their remote instead.

      --
      Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
  12. Just in case... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    The last post, where the month is missing, is from June. Only day 9th in 2008 (so far) to land on a Monday. Boy, am I OCD.

  13. TOS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Quoth the Terms of Service:

    With respect to text or data entered into and stored by publicly-accessible site features such as forums, comments and bug trackers ("SourceForge Public Content"), the submitting user retains ownership of such SourceForge Public Content; with respect to publicly-available statistical content which is generated by the site to monitor and display content activity, such content is owned by SourceForge. In each such case, the submitting user grants SourceForge the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, and display such Content (in whole or part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed, all subject to the terms of any applicable license

    1. Re:TOS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Left something out, there...

      With respect to text or data entered into and stored by publicly-accessible site features such as forums, comments and bug trackers ("SourceForge Public Content"), the submitting user retains ownership of such SourceForge Public Content; with respect to publicly-available statistical content which is generated by the site to monitor and display content activity, such content is owned by SourceForge. In each such case, the submitting user grants SourceForge the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, and display such Content (in whole or part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed, all subject to the terms of any applicable license. Oh, and we hate all you fucking psychics. Assholes, the bunch of you.

      There. Fixed that for you.

    2. Re:TOS by clone53421 · · Score: 3, Funny

      You must be a psychic, then, because that's written in invisible ink. Only psychics can read it.

      --
      Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
  14. MY EYES! by Quasar1999 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I read the white on green text, and then when I scrolled down to the comments area with black on white text, I think I went temporarily blind, or had a seizure... Not sure...

    How do you editors not go blind when creating the page?

    --

    ---
    Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
  15. Cars by jadedoto · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can imagine that...

    "I'm buying this new slashdot car..."
    "Oh good! Would you like us to crush it for you?"
    "Most certainly, if you wouldn't mind!"


    :| Troll.

  16. think of the children! (re: no white on green) by SABME · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The white text on green background is very difficult to read. Please consider using the "boring" old black text on white background.

  17. Re:Trolls.. by SpicyLemon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Wow, correct usage of the word "Ironically." These days, that, in itself, is ironic.

    --
    This post approved by Shampoo.
  18. Be bold! by tepples · · Score: 3, Funny

    "I hereby move that we change a Troll moderation to a +1 value."

    I hereby move that you open your preferences and change your reason modifiers accordingly.

  19. Re:One mean sonabitch by jellomizer · · Score: 5, Funny

    I was playing Starcraft once and I remember thwamping some kid. (team game my team mate was my friend and we had a fixed stratagy that worked more then not) Both play Protoss he focuses on full attack I just kinda build up drones. an carriers and some defense. Then I take a couple of zealots and a couple of drones. over to the enemy with my partners attack force. While the guy is battling the group of carriers and a few zealots who are on automatic I control the peon and make cannons in the middle of the battle covered by carriers. When the battle clears out and loosing 8 or so carriers what is left is about 20 cannons just formed. right in the middle of his town with the peon just making more and more... But I digress. This annoyed the kid who said his Dad owned the internet and I would get banned and world send me a Virus. I hedged my bets and assumed his dad wasn't Al Gore. We just laughed at him for being such a poor looser.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  20. My dad's psychic by thrillbert · · Score: 5, Funny

    I spoke to my dad's psychic and she said that the last guy is a moron. My dad's psychic also said that she saw my post get a score of +5 Funny. I also talked to my dad's proctologist and he said the 2nd guy is an anal retentive troll.

  21. So what is it Taco? by Slightly+Askew · · Score: 4, Funny

    Pictures of you dressed in Hello Kitty bondage gear? Passwords to your routers? What does samzenpus have that could possibly force you to let him on here week after week posting this inane drivel? Please make it stop before someone pokes out an eye.

    Or are you going for the perfect storm of bad layout, dull commentary, and unfunny content? Well, pack it up and call it a day, my friend. You have followed where only the great Tripod members of the late 90's have trodden. I salute you.

    --
    Public use of any portable music system is a virtually guaranteed indicator of sociopathic tendencies. -- Zoso
  22. Re:One mean sonabitch by RiotingPacifist · · Score: 4, Funny

    much like your mother.

    --
    IranAir Flight 655 never forget!