Slashdot's Disagree Mail

Everyone likes to belong to something. Whether it be for fun, a sense of belonging, or a need for attention, a group gives you a feeling of solidarity. Surrounding yourself with people that share common goals and ideas can be comforting. Sometimes however, you realize that you hate the people you've surrounded yourself with. Your religion doesn't allow you to read anything that has profanity or you've subscribed to Slashdot thinking you could learn more about hockey. This week's collection is composed of people who don't want to play, read, or be associated with us anymore. Read below to find out how bad they want out. On Mon, 11 Apr 2005 ****** wrote:
"I'm relly sick of the level of discrimination that goes on here. I thought it might be different with other people who maybe didn't win everything. But its no different people won't be nice when your nice first. I try to say what others are saying and they get marked up? Not me as well? How can that be? If I'm the same how can they not act the same to me. It's like you have to be around forever before they won't say bad things about your comments. I thought it was different but they are just as BIG COCSUCKERS!!!!! Take my account and throw it away I've had enough of the newbie bigotry and FUCKING UNFAIR LIES."

Being just like everyone else is harder than you think. This next guy at least isn't concerned about being accepted. He has a clear vision of what he wants out of life. His vision is a world without profanity.

On Tue, 13 May 2008 ******* wrote:
"I try to live a good clean life by learning all I can and nurturing my body and spirit. I'm afraid that I will not be able to become part of your community as I find it sick. Sick in mind body and soul. Why your people deem it necessary to use the language that they do I can never understand. Women, children and people of faith will never be able to learn what you have to impart because of the filth you are tending in this rank garden. Please stop sending me email."

This next guy had me puzzled. I'd never had a complaint from fans of Guns-N-Roses, horror movies or unsound logging practices about the confusing "Slash" part of Slashdot.

On Wed, 23 Jan 2008 ******** wrote:
"I came here to learn about hockey and there is no hockey to be found. Your lucky that I didn't send you any money or we would have a big problem right now. If you don't want others to be confused to I suggest you think about changing your name to something that isn't obviously about hockey. I asked some coworkers and they agree, I'm not just some idiot. Come up with a name that means something."

Comments

So Many Questions About This Section

[eldavojohn]

What was it that prompted Slashdot to start posting its hate mail? Was someone clamoring for this? I see mild humor in it but I get a bigger kick out of watching people duke it out in ping pong comments than reading misdirected hate towards the editors.

Also, what is the expected result of our discussions of this stuff? Is it to pick it apart and analyze it? Is it to provide user generated retorts that you can't due to legal reasons? I shall try a little of both.

Is Slashdot trying to add an optional low brow element to satisfy users that have left for other sites dedicated to that? Because, you know that half of your users are going to tag this 'pleasestop' or some such negative approval tag.

Also, why does it look different than the rest of Slashdot? Isn't it just another section? Why do you need another CSS for it? I seem to think it would be better site design to have a thorough reused theme but maybe you want the reader to know it's Idle. Who knows? Sure seems to upset a lot of people.

--

"I'm relly sick of the level of discrimination that goes on here."

This level of reverence for the moderation system never ceases to amaze me. Hell, I myself can have a sour day if I'm given a thrashing on a post. This person doesn't even seem to be a regular user and they are already upset.

A very peculiar amount of power, these mod points are. Enough for someone to call a negative moderation discrimination!

--

"I try to live a good clean life by learning all I can and nurturing my body and spirit."

Despite being raised Roman Catholic for 18 years, this still baffles me. I know I'm not the first person to share this view (I think I read about it in Vonnegut's "Palm Sunday") but there is a reason I don't swear often. It's not so I can be 'clean' and 'pure' ... it's so that when I do swear, people know I'm not fucking around. Seriously, if you're dropping f-bombs left and right then where do you go when you're genuinely upset? I prefer to not raise my voice so those words are reserved for extreme moments. I feel bad for the people who incorporate them into everyday life ... how loud do you think an injured rapper would have to raise their voice before people gave them medical attention?

--

"I came here to learn about hockey and there is no hockey to be found. Your lucky that I didn't send you any money or we would have a big problem right now."

Am I the only person that had the sudden urge to register hockeydot.org and have it redirect to Slashdot?

"If you don't want others to be confused to I suggest you think about changing your name to something that isn't obviously about hockey. I asked some coworkers and they agree ..."

Are these the same coworkers that face physical abuse or verbal ridicule if they don't agree with you?

" ... I'm not just some idiot. Come up with a name that means something."

Of course you're not an idiot, you're just a hockey fan. And if <insert object here> isn't bleeding with hockey (in this case the internet), you are angered with it. I understand. I'm from Minnesota where many of your kind roam around in large herds laying waste to beer and stadiums. I would suggest moving there for solace and the ability to experience all hockey all the time.

Re:So Many Questions About This Section

[Cheeko]

can't tell if you're trolling, but this is just the weekly crossover from idle.slashdot.org.

Its the /. topic section for totally random waste of time nonsensical sort of things. Its late on a Friday and they feel like sharing once a week some of the random, potentially humorous mail they get.

I actually find them fairly entertaining each week.

Re:So Many Questions About This Section

[olclops]

For what it's worth, I look forward to these disagree mails. Low brow? That's one way to see it. But on another level, I find it a useful reminder, especially in a fairly-like-minded community like this, that much of the world thinks far differently than I do.

Re:So Many Questions About This Section

[paazin]

Slashdot's moderating system is total bullshit and the admins are retards for still keeping it around. Nearly every downmodding that occurs on Slashdot is 100% invalid.

Including the -1 you just got? ;)

Re:So Many Questions About This Section

[zappepcs]

They are entertaining. For awhile, I wondered about moderation and how it works here, but figured it out finally. Now, When I get modded troll or flamebait, I like to think of it as a trophy... for having offended someone enough to waste their mod point that way :)

Seeing others get angry out of confusion or just tech illiteracy does my heart good.

Reading their comments, you just know this is the guy at your local watering hole wearing the nascar hat backwards and having a great time with some light beer. (with some luck, I've just offended a few more people :))) {it's humor people}

It's fun to see that /. gets its share of normal people who do not know rm -rf from a hole in their hard drive.

Re:So Many Questions About This Section

[ChrisKnight]

"Am I the only person that had the sudden urge to register hockeydot.org and have it redirect to Slashdot?"

Registered. I'll have it redirecting to this story shortly.

-Chris

Re:So Many Questions About This Section

[merreborn]

"I'm relly sick of the level of discrimination that goes on here."

This level of reverence for the moderation system never ceases to amaze me. Hell, I myself can have a sour day if I'm given a thrashing on a post. This person doesn't even seem to be a regular user and they are already upset.

A very peculiar amount of power, these mod points are. Enough for someone to call a negative moderation discrimination!

I actually enjoyed that email, 'cause I can understand where the kid was coming from. Until you've got positive karma, you might as well be posting directly to /dev/null most of the time. I posted for months before I got a karma bonus, and then, all the sudden, I'm getting posts modded up on a regular basis.

I didn't find it quite as frustrating as this kid did, but that email really shows how I'm sure thousands of "outsiders" feel about slashdot. Slashdot's tendency to weed out all but the most dedicated keeps the signal-to-noise ratio extremely high, but it probably drives away many, many potential posters.

here is a reason I don't swear often. It's not so I can be 'clean' and 'pure' ... it's so that when I do swear, people know I'm not fucking around. Seriously, if you're dropping f-bombs left and right then where do you go when you're genuinely upset? I prefer to not raise my voice so those words are reserved for extreme moments. I feel bad for the people who incorporate them into everyday life ... how loud do you think an injured rapper would have to raise their voice before people gave them medical attention?

Seriously? You can't tell the difference between someone saying "Fucking thing sucks! We'll do it live!", and "HOLY FUCK THERE'S A HOLE IN MY ABDOMEN AND MY FUCKING SPLEEN IS ABOUT TO FALL OUT!"?

I seriously doubt that rappers really have trouble getting medical attention whenever they need it. Really, how do you imagine that scene working out in your world? "Oh, I'm sorry Mr. DMX. When you said 'Bitch, I got shot in the knee - I need a fucking ambulance', I thought you were just experimenting with some new lyrics"?

Re:So Many Questions About This Section

[PC and Sony Fanboy]

Clearly, he knows what he is talking about. I mean, he said so THREE TIMES. Come on, would ANYONE repeat themselves THREE times if they weren't right?

Really ... Three times! What an argument! I can't believe that you would even TRY to contest his absolute knowledge, he is clearly correct. clearly!

No doubt about it.
Three times sure.
really.

Re:So Many Questions About This Section

[Curtman]

I live in the center of Canada, where I can't go one single day (even in off season) without someone attempting to talk to me about sports. I have no idea what the connection to hockey might be. Does slashdot sound too much like slapshot? Or is there another connection somewhere?

Re:So Many Questions About This Section

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe /. looks kind of like a hockey stick hitting a puck?

Re:So Many Questions About This Section

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe you get modded "Flamebait" and "Troll" because they're closer to "Douchebag" than any of the other choices

Re:So Many Questions About This Section

[Artifakt]

By definition "Theft of Music" is stealing. Copyright infringement isn't theft.
Don't like that? Argue with the U. S. Congress. They carefully put copyright law in Title 17 of the U.S. Legal code. The just as carefully put all theft related law in a different whole title. That title is the one reserved for ALL normally criminal violations, as it says right at the start of the code, so the U. S. congress thinks copyright infringement isn't theft AND isn't necessarily criminal at all.
Argue with the Supreme Court. They ruled that individual states can't enforce copyright, so if violations were theft, they would be taking away the right of the individual states to stop a type of theft happening in their own physical jurisdiction. The Supreme Court has already clarified that that is not what they did.
Argue with the Constitution. It uses the phrase "for a limited time". If violation equaled theft, then the law would be saying there is a type of theft where objects become too old to be protected under law, just from age and not from any loss of value.
Argue with the Berne treaty. If violation is theft, then what's all that bit in the treaty about non-criminal violation? Non-criminal theft? That's an oxymoron for sure.

If you really believe copyright violation is theft, then you need to get up impeachment proceedings against at least four of the current supreme court justices and over 40 still active congressmen who voted on these laws in the 80's and 90's. Depending on just which decisions you would rate as coddling thieves, that could be all the SCOTUS and over 250 active congress-members. You also need to impeach the President, Vice President, Secretary of State, and possibly several members of the cabinet for negotiating and signing various treaties and such. There are at least 10 currently serving ambassadors and their immediate staff that you need to get removed from office too, and various other functionaries. You probably should prosecute a large number of people now out of office, or at least support civil suits for denial of due process against many of them. You also need to get a constitutional amendment passed. If you aren't working for any of this, you don't really believe copyright violation is theft, or you lack the stones to speak truth to power. It's easy to harangue a bunch of rank and file people on slashdot - but if you really mean it, tell the big dogs off.

Re:So Many Questions About This Section

[Anonymous Coward]

It's generally called being an arrogant ass. It's not whether you're right or wrong, it's about making a blanket, insulting statement and then repeatedly trolling about how 'right' you are. Someone obviously thought that claiming that the "...moderation system is total bullshit and the admins are retards ..." (emphasis mine) was a troll or flamebait.

The moderation system is not perfect, but the majority of the mods that I see are fair; those complaining about the system being broken are usually the most profane, offensive people.

Re: So Many Questions About This Section

[skam240]

So let me see if I get this right. There's some vast conspiracy amongst the randomly selected slashdot modders to cover up the truth and promote a "self server corporate agenda" (which unless you're a CEO or a board member of a corporation doesn't seem to make sense to me but what do I know?). The answer to this problem is to get rid of it so I have to root through every post some 13 year old kid makes to find something interesting or to place the modding system into the hands of some enlightened elite group of people who know better than everyone else. Is that it?

If so, my only question is who would choose these enlightened souls and / or who would they be?

Re:So Many Questions About This Section

[IdahoEv]

Or is there another connection somewhere?

I was befuddled as well. Trying to find out what the connection was, I googled "hockey slash". Oops. ... page after page of hockey player slash fiction.

/me reaches for the brain bleach

Re:So Many Questions About This Section

[Anonymous Coward]

Almost every single downmodding that occurs on Slashdot is completely unjustified

Preach it brother! Why, just the other day I was posting interesting goatse links and hilarious nigger jokes, and I kept getting modded down by fascist moderators.

This Rank Garden

[Ngarrang]

"Women, children and people of faith will never be able to learn what you have to impart because of the filth you are tending in this rank garden."

What? Hold the horses, here! There is something to be learned from Slashdot? And here I thought it was a place for over-opinionated (and often bored) tech folks committing the equivalent of mental masturbation.

Three frickin' emails!?

[GameboyRMH]

Am I seeing this right!? I don't have a problem with the idle section, but this isn't even worthy of an Idle thread.

I can answer one of your questions.

[RandoX]

Why your people deem it necessary to use the language that they do I can never understand
 
We're a VB.Net shop. The language was forced upon us. We don't like it any more than you do. Sorry.

Re:idle

[Hal_Porter]

Maybe you should write slashdot an email to complain.

Re:idle

[TheGeniusIsOut]

It blows my mind that people complain about something tagged as a complete waste of time and you should never go there being a complete waste of time but still going there...

Re:Slashot? Hockey?

[abigor]

To slash someone in hockey means to strike them with the blade of your stick, usually the lower legs. If the ref sees you do it, it's a two minute minor penalty.

Re:idle

[Lobster Quadrille]

Yes, listen to your users.

I find idle to be an aptly named entertaining time-waster.

Please count me as a vote to keep it, in all its green-backgrounded, hate-mail-filled glory.

Re:The Dunning-Kruger Effect

[Anne_Nonymous]

>> Funny how stupid people always think they're smarter than they are.

Oh yeah? Well I suggest you think about changing your name to something that isn't obviously about ninjas.

Epimenides would be proud

[spazdor]

This is fantastic. Your comment disproves itself!

Weak faith

[AioKits]

All I can say is that if your faith is shaken by if someone says fuck (or other profanity of choice) or not, it must be some pretty weak faith.

On that note: Cock!

Re:idle

[SatanicPuppy]

I likes it as well...All work and no play makes for a dull day. I wish all the goddamn whiners would learn to use the goddamn preferences if they don't want to see it.

HERE is the LINK you whiny bastards...Scroll down to "idle" and put the little dot in the little radio box under the universal circle/slash that means DO NOT WANT.

Re:Slashot? Hockey?

[HTH NE1]

Perhaps he should try underscoreslashdot.org ( "_/." ).

Re:Slashot? Hockey?

[Strange Ranger]

I'm sure the guy was equally pissed that digg.com is not about shovels and holes.

And The Onion. Don't even get him started on The Onion.

Re:The Dunning-Kruger Effect

[bonehead]

Not being a hockey fan, I guess I'm in need of some education. Just exactly how is the name slashdot "obviously about hockey"?

my impression of you

[spazdor]

COME ON MODS, FIGHT ME YOU FAGGOTS

What? Trying to pick a fight? Moi? Clearly you have no idea what picking a fight means, YOU DAMN FAGGOTS

Re:my impression of you

[Kesch]

The only sensible mod for this post would be -1 Troll, +6 Underrated. Thus achieving the holy grail of +5 troll.

No Hockey?

[genner]

I never notcied this before but he's right. There's not nearly enough hockey on this site.

I think this is the reason for the confusion:

[default luser]

Am I the only person that had the sudden urge to register hockeydot.org and have it redirect to Slashdot?

Check this out: Hockeydot.net.

Yeah, I know, slashDOT, hockeyDOT...right. It's a weak connection, but the sender was a weak idiot. I would expect this kind of stupid logic from a person like him.