Slashdot's Disagree Mail

Ernest Hemingway's micro-story, "For sale: baby shoes, never worn," is one of my favorite examples of how less is sometimes more. Sometimes a few sentences say it all; you don't always need a hundred pages to convey an idea. Most of the mail I get is brief and to the point. Others are just brief. To be honest, I appreciate the short, crazy email more than the long rants, and they can be just as funny. Read below for this week's mail snippets.

The less we talk about this first guy, the better. Let's just hope that he found love and a treadmill someplace.

On Mon Aug 25, 2003 ******** wrote:
"Hello, I am a 'generously proportioned' male (375 pounds) with a less than generous penile length (4 inches erect). I seek a vendor of quality inflatable sheep who can give away free samples as I am unemployed. Best regards."

I'm not really sure what this message means. I didn't get the cryptic first mail that he talks about, but it sounds important.

On Sat, 20 Aug 2005 ******* wrote:
"Be well advised that my last email contains information about the persons that this script was, in fact, not written for. this section contains authorizations as to ensure that authorizations would work. Also be advised that the infromation therein is no longer valid."

The last two are both from people who obviously used the wrong address. I can assure you that I never accused the second guy of any sexual impropriety.

On Tue, 30 Aug 2005 ******** wrote:
"hi, i look for south america road atlas. can be each country or two \ three countries combination gather in one. can you addvice or help me? thanks ahead."

On Sat, Aug 23, 2008 ******** wrote:
"Seeing as you accused me of having child pornography AND I DIDN'T and you accused my of ATTEMPTING TO RAPE YOU and I didn't I thought it best that I didn't have any contact with you. You are a disturbed person. Do not contact me. Thank you."

Comments

Yeah, this is silly.

[apathy maybe]

Most of the other "Disagree Mail" actually was about Slashdot, as opposed to being totally unrelated. Yes, you got four emails, but note, they don't even talk about Slashdot or the web. I don't know why you posted these ones.

(What's this crap doing on the front page? I know that I can go into my settings and turn it off, but I'm lazy! This shouldn't be on the front page at all! Even if I'm a lazy bum. Shut up! I hate you!)

Re:Yeah, this is silly.

[Toyotoyo]

Thanks, man. Hearing I could turn this crap off for good, I've somehow mustered the energy required to permanently disable this God-forsaken section. I'm in your debt.

Re:Yeah, this is silly.

[owlnation]

"What's this crap doing on the front page? I know that I can go into my settings and turn it off, but I'm lazy! This shouldn't be on the front page at all!"

You can turn it off the front page, but NOT off the RSS feed. So it's still possible to be inflicted by the Idle crap by accident.

Taco, if you MUST persist with Idle (in the face of mostly displeasure) can you not have it as a totally separate site? It's only fair isn't it? Those who don't want this crap need never see it, and the cast-offs from Digg can go to the new Idle site any time they want. Is this not fair?

Please, read what you write before you post it

[Peter Cooper]

How is this crap getting posted to a landmark site of the tech industry? We might be able to put up with news making it to Slashdot three days after everywhere else, but these posts are abysmal.

Re:Please, read what you write before you post it

[u38cg]

Hear, hear. For crying out loud, editors, think for a minute. Posting like this kicks up your page views in the short term, but I guarantee it's not doing anything to for your long term health. Does anyone else remember when the discussion was more insightful than the summary? Does anyone remember when a discussion didn't consist of nothing jokes and idiots who think tl;dr is a religion?

Re:Please, read what you write before you post it

[Luyseyal]

I tried Digg for awhile, but the comments system is crap. I have never peaked at Slashcode, but IMNSHO, the Slashdot comments system is much better. I like it better than Fark and K5, too, though K5 is a close second.

My other big complaint about Digg is I hate all the pap that's always on the front page. At least with Fark, you're GOING for the funny. I don't visit Slashdot for funny. I visit it for interesting tech and science news stories that have been culled down from a great many. I also visit it because real scientists post things on Slashdot.

I can find more specialized content in a variety of blogs, but /. has a mix of things that I am interested in, with a great comments system, and that's why I come back.

Seriously, though, idle IS pants.

-l

Re:Slow NewsDay?

[truthsearch]

you don't need to post when you've got nothing to say.

And yet here we are...

I For One...

[GreenPickles]

Enjoy this mindless humor on a Friday.