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Poole To Zuckerberg: You’re Doing It Wrong

An anonymous reader writes "At South by Southwest Interactive 2011 in Austin, Texas this week, 4chan founder Christopher Poole (also known as 'moot') took the stage to talk about various online issues. One of these was how important anonymity is on the Internet and how Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg doesn't get it."

371 comments

  1. Useful info by gazbo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Shame he'll not be able to hear how wrong he is through his insulating walls of billions of dollars. In fact it's surprising moot isn't aware of this issue given his similarly vast wealth.

    1. Re:Useful info by Microlith · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Because, of course, billions make you right.

    2. Re:Useful info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      "Argumentum ad argentum"

    3. Re:Useful info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Yes, it does. If you're aim is to make lots of money. If you don't like FB's policies, here's a shocker for you, don't use it you twat.

    4. Re:Useful info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Moot is wealthy?

    5. Re:Useful info by syousef · · Score: 3, Funny

      Because, of course, billions make you right.

      I'm wrong pretty often, despite my best efforts. I'd sure like billions to comfort me ;-)

      --
      These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
    6. Re:Useful info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, it does. If you're aim is to make lots of money. If you don't like FB's policies, here's a shocker for you, don't use it you twat.

      I don't for myself, but you know what? Sometimes you don't want to let a con man take advantage of other people. Yes, it's terrible wanting to impose on somebody else's freedom and liberty, and I'll feel bad about it for about -3 seconds, but hey, it's for the best really.

      Shoot, you might as well be making the argument, don't like being shot? Don't stand where somebody is shooting. Reasonable to a certain extent, but there's also reason for people to be restrained in where they shoot.

    7. Re:Useful info by BigDXLT · · Score: 3, Funny

      Right, wrong, he's the guy with the money.

    8. Re:Useful info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Argumentum ad argentum"

      Argument against a photo lab in Los Angeles?

    9. Re:Useful info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Worthington law: "people that make more money than you are better than ypu and beyond criticism"

    10. Re:Useful info by mug+funky · · Score: 2

      yeah, that came as a surprise for me. i'm not sure how he could develop a business model outside porn ads on 4chan.

      perhaps large companies are paying him not to introduce an /i/ board?

    11. Re:Useful info by Wrath0fb0b · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't for myself, but you know what? Sometimes you don't want to let a con man take advantage of other people. Yes, it's terrible wanting to impose on somebody else's freedom and liberty, and I'll feel bad about it for about -3 seconds, but hey, it's for the best really.

      You can't help those that don't want to be helped. You ought to believe that people are entitled to make mistakes, if only because you want the right to take actions that others believe are mistaken.

      Consider the situation if the roles were reversed. You are a consumer that enjoys Facebook and doesn't care much about the privacy implications of having your vacation pictures and some banal details online. Some guy tries to explain to you that its evil and simply will not take "I like Facebook leave me alone" for an answer. What are you supposed to think, other than "this guy ought to mind his own business"?

      It's disturbingly common how many intelligent but partisan people get into the rut of believing that everyone who has thought about something must have come to the same conclusion. I feel like I hear it from everywhere these days -- the FSF crowed, the console fanboys, the Tea Party -- everyone seems convinced that no honest person could possibly disagree with them. Again, these are generally intelligent people, so much so that you would imagine they could grok the idea that thoughtful and honest people could legitimately disagree about the purity/utility of FSF, the merit of consoles or PCs or the values and policies in our country.

      At least I imagine it sometimes, and then I read these posts and am shaken back into hyper-partisan reality.

    12. Re:Useful info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      what's with all the animosity? I can only imagine you must own Facebook shares to be so agitated with someone's disapproval... ??

    13. Re:Useful info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "All I want is the chance to prove money won't make me happy" - Spike Milligan

    14. Re:Useful info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Adam Smith and the Free Market says.... yes.

    15. Re:Useful info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      moot is the worlds leading provider of whoooooooooooooooooooooooooosh

    16. Re:Useful info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      m00t's point is moot

    17. Re:Useful info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, it does. If you're aim is to make lots of money. If you don't like FB's policies, here's a shocker for you, don't use it you twat.

      Pepper in some twunt and cuat in your daily life. Variety is the spice of life.

    18. Re:Useful info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It does in the USA

    19. Re:Useful info by MightyMartian · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If the claim is "anonymity is valued on the Internet, and Facebook has got it wrong", then I'd say Zuckerberg having a company that has an astronomical value and millions of members who don't seem to give a shit about anonymity, then yes, I'd say that makes Zuckerberg right and this guy wrong.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    20. Re:Useful info by lobiusmoop · · Score: 1

      Funny but kinda true - he was quite wealthy and successful, but a manic depressive.

      --
      "I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
    21. Re:Useful info by Dynedain · · Score: 2

      Perhaps not, but with billions at your disposal, you can probably redefine "right".

      --
      I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....
    22. Re:Useful info by geekmux · · Score: 1

      Because, of course, billions make you right.

      Uh, no, billions make you not give a flying fuck about....well, pretty much anything.

      And besides, I'm failing to see how blaming the CEO has anything at all to do with the fact that hundreds of millions of Farcebook members also don't give a fuck about privacy.

      Ignorance obviously is still very blissful for millions of future identity theft victims.

    23. Re:Useful info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      No. 4chan takes $85,000 in ads per year just to break even. Canv.as' $650,000 of investors' money can hardly be counted to his personal wealth either. If he has other money, he hasn't let 4chan know.

    24. Re:Useful info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      There's a difference between assuming that everyone agrees with you, and just not caring whether or not people disagree with you because they're wrong.

    25. Re:Useful info by MrHanky · · Score: 1

      Not really. Anonymity might be valued, but so might personal information. To make money off one of them, you need 1) the ability to deliver, 2) a method for getting paid, and 3) wealthy customers. Facebook gets all of these, 4chan only the first one (and to a limited degree). Also note that Facebook's customers (the source of its revenue) aren't the users, but the advertisers. Invading the privacy of millions of others is obviously worth a lot more than simply saving your own.

    26. Re:Useful info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      So customer-retention is unimportant to you. Because you know, those who've been on Facebook for a while tend to turn it off completely.

      Facebook is like Myspace, a proprietary and intrusive fad.

    27. Re:Useful info by ocdscouter · · Score: 2

      "Argumentum ad argentum"

      Argument against a photo lab in Los Angeles?

      Have you ever tried to argue with a photo lab clerk?

    28. Re:Useful info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But isnt there already a /i/ board, called 'oekaki'?

    29. Re:Useful info by cheekyjohnson · · Score: 2

      I feel it is a shame that so many people believe that their opinion is an absolute fact.

      It's disturbingly common how many intelligent but partisan people

      It's not just those people, but likely a majority of the population ( from what I've seen).

      --
      Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
    30. Re:Useful info by t2t10 · · Score: 1

      You can't help those that don't want to be helped. You ought to believe that people are entitled to make mistakes, if only because you want the right to take actions that others believe are mistaken.

      No, but you can inform the uninformed and then let them make informed choices.

    31. Re:Useful info by stealth_finger · · Score: 1

      Because, of course, billions make you right.

      Billions make it so it doesn't matter if you're right.

      --
      Wanna buy a shirt?
      https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
    32. Re:Useful info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can't help those that don't want to be helped.

      Sure you can. It may be unappreciated, it may be resented but you can do it to a certain extent.

      You ought to believe that people are entitled to make mistakes, if only because you want the right to take actions that others believe are mistaken.

      Yet here you are telling me what I ought to believe.

      Notice the contradiction there?

      Consider the situation if the roles were reversed. You are a consumer that enjoys Facebook and doesn't care much about the privacy implications of having your vacation pictures and some banal details online. Some guy tries to explain to you that its evil and simply will not take "I like Facebook leave me alone" for an answer. What are you supposed to think, other than "this guy ought to mind his own business"?

      And consider it from the view of the Anti-Facebook opponent, with somebody mindlessly doing something that is unwise at best, dangerous at worse. Did you do that?

      No, you did not, because you're stuck in the mental trap of chasing a false idealization of liberty and freedom, of somehow it being good for folks to be allowed to stick their hands in fires to learn from it instead of saying "Hey that's hot, stop!" .

      It's disturbingly common how many intelligent but partisan people get into the rut of believing that everyone who has thought about something must have come to the same conclusion. I feel like I hear it from everywhere these days -- the FSF crowed, the console fanboys, the Tea Party -- everyone seems convinced that no honest person could possibly disagree with them. Again, these are generally intelligent people, so much so that you would imagine they could grok the idea that thoughtful and honest people could legitimately disagree about the purity/utility of FSF, the merit of consoles or PCs or the values and policies in our country.

      At least I imagine it sometimes, and then I read these posts and am shaken back into hyper-partisan reality.

      Somehow I bet you're one of those guilty persons. There are times where people can simply disagree. And there are times where that will not work.

    33. Re:Useful info by ifiwereasculptor · · Score: 1

      Because, of course, billions make you right.

      To a lot of people and in a lot of courts, yes, it does.

    34. Re:Useful info by smellotron · · Score: 2

      It's disturbingly common how many intelligent but partisan people

      It's not just those people, but likely a majority of the population

      I could be wrong, but I don't think "partisan" was meant in the political sense. I think the word is being more generically used, as in a firm adherent to a party, faction, cause, or person; especially : one exhibiting blind, prejudiced, and unreasoning allegiance.

      Sadly, you are probably right that the term refers to a majority of the population.

    35. Re:Useful info by smellotron · · Score: 4, Funny

      Have you ever tried to argue with a photo lab clerk?

      OMG you're totally right. They just never let up about those bathtime pictures with the neighbor kids! It's like fighting with a brick wall and then they call the police.

    36. Re:Useful info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If your goal is to make lots of money, then yes, having billions means you are doing it right.

    37. Re:Useful info by nabsltd · · Score: 1

      To make money off one of them, you need 1) the ability to deliver, 2) a method for getting paid, and 3) wealthy customers.

      You only need #2, since I believe Zuckerberg made all his money from the IPO, before Facebook was profitable.

      So, he got paid based on people believing he would eventually have both #1 and #3, and it's really just the belief that matters.

    38. Re:Useful info by 1u3hr · · Score: 5, Insightful

      having a company that has an astronomical value and millions of members who don't seem to give a shit about anonymity, then yes, I'd say that makes Zuckerberg right and this guy wrong.

      Yep, let the market decide what's "right" and "wrong".

      So, that means McDonald's and Coca Cola's approach to nutrition is "right". Cigarette companies are "right" that their product is safe. Fox's news reporting is "right".

    39. Re:Useful info by jshackney · · Score: 1

      He has #3. His product on the other hand, they'd be willing to give away the moon for some meaningless electronic currency.

    40. Re:Useful info by Wrath0fb0b · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yet here you are telling me what I ought to believe.

      I'm telling you what you ought to believe if you want to be consistent with your own expectations. You certainly can persist in saying that you are entitled to judge for others what is best for them concurrently with saying that others are not entitled to judge what is best for you. I, for one, will not take such a transparently non-universal position.

      This is really no more than Kant's categorical imperative -- do not presume to substitute your preferences for others' for the same reason (and by the same logic) that you do not want others to substitute their preferences for yours.

      And consider it from the view of the Anti-Facebook opponent, with somebody mindlessly doing something that is unwise at best, dangerous at worse. Did you do that?

      Dangerous and unwise in your judgment. Do you allow for the fact that perhaps someone else, seeing the same facts, could come to a different conclusion, or do we all have to abide by your estimation of what is dangerous and what is not?

      No, you did not, because you're stuck in the mental trap of chasing a false idealization of liberty and freedom, of somehow it being good for folks to be allowed to stick their hands in fires to learn from it instead of saying "Hey that's hot, stop!" .

      If an adult wants to stick his hand in the fire, that's his business. If he seems inclined to listen to my advice, I will share my opinion with him. What I'm not going to do is start interjecting myself into what other human beings want to do with their own hands and their own fires against their will.

      Otherwise, when I turn around and want to ride my motorcycle or eat some Cheetos, I will have no grounds to complain when the safety sissies or the nutrition naysayers start berating me for my choices that they think are dangerous or harmful.

      Quid pro quo -- I'll leave you to make mistakes (that you think are not mistakes) and you'll leave me to make mistakes (that I think are not mistakes). Note the beautiful symmetry of the situation -- it's exactly the same if you swap the identities of the participants. If you want to propose a contrary arrangement that obeys that symmetry -- that operates the same on you with relation to everyone else as it operates on everyone else with relation to you -- be my guest, but such a symmetry is a fundamental requirement.

    41. Re:Useful info by NateTech · · Score: 2

      Ahh, you just hit the real crux of the game. To these guys, they're in charge... so telling each other "you're wrong" is their whole world view.

      The fact that millions of people agree or disagree with them, doesn't matter at all to their distorted view of the world. They argue amongst themselves and whatever us "millions" do, must have happened because of something THEY did, not our own free will.

      That's their view of it all, anyway.

      --
      +++OK ATH
    42. Re:Useful info by Sloppy · · Score: 1

      Billions show you made the right decision about whether to be right or wrong.

      --
      As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
    43. Re:Useful info by miffo.swe · · Score: 1

      Seen this more and more. People just get tired of Facebook and tune out. Its handy for simple communication with people you rarely want to talk to but very boring in the long run.

      --
      HTTP/1.1 400
    44. Re:Useful info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All hail to our savior, the green, the bucks, the cash.

    45. Re:Useful info by GNious · · Score: 1

      Fox's news reporting is "right".

      Very much so, yes (for political meanings of "right".)

    46. Re:Useful info by vegiVamp · · Score: 1

      I'd like to see how many "members" 4chan has. I'll bet it's quite a bit more than Facebook, especially if you look at the active ones.

      --
      What a depressingly stupid machine.
    47. Re:Useful info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fox's news reporting is "extreme right", actually. :p

    48. Re:Useful info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep, let the market decide what's "right" and "wrong".

      So, that means McDonald's and Coca Cola's approach to nutrition is "right". Cigarette companies are "right" that their product is safe. Fox's news reporting is "right".

      Well.... yep. That pretty much summarises the current system. :-/

    49. Re:Useful info by Narcogen · · Score: 1

      having a company that has an astronomical value and millions of members who don't seem to give a shit about anonymity, then yes, I'd say that makes Zuckerberg right and this guy wrong.

      Yep, let the market decide what's "right" and "wrong".

      I'd say yes, when the context being used is about the market itself. Poole is saying that the market wants anonymity, and Facebook's value proposition is that people want to share information, and that if you have to err, you err on the side of sharing too much rather than too little.

      Within this narrow context, where "the market" means "the potential audience for content and services available on the Internet", Poole has a point, which is that anonymity has value, but his counterpoint, that Facebook has "got it wrong" because of the value it places on sharing information, has little merit.

      The article goes on to point out how 4chan uses Facebook Connect signups in some areas for "weeding our your more casual trolls"-- so I guess he sees the value in some amount of personal information, shared with some people.

    50. Re:Useful info by Narcogen · · Score: 1

      I'd like to see how many "members" 4chan has. I'll bet it's quite a bit more than Facebook, especially if you look at the active ones.

      Depends on which image galleries you're looking at. I'd guess, quite a few.

    51. Re:Useful info by Upphew · · Score: 1

      So customer-retention is unimportant to you. Because you know, those who've been on Facebook for a while tend to turn it off completely.

      Facebook is like Myspace, a proprietary and intrusive fad.

      What I have heard and read, is that MyFace and other so called social media is not a fad, but crack, and the users that go away, tend to come back.

    52. Re:Useful info by murdocj · · Score: 2

      You are trying to inject rationality into the discussion. That isn't allowed on Slashdot.

    53. Re:Useful info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Moot is never wrong...

      ever.

    54. Re:Useful info by rust627 · · Score: 1

      "...........it being good for folks to be allowed to stick their hands in fires to learn from it instead of saying "Hey that's hot, stop!" . "

      "if He had been wearing his sign I could have stopped him, I could have said, now I know you are not going to understand this ........."

      (with thanks to Bill Engvall, Here's your sign)

      --
      da da da dum indeed.
    55. Re:Useful info by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 1

      Here's a little of the real Adam Smith for you :

      "As soon as the land of any country has all become private property, the landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed, and demand a rent even for its natural produce."

      US style "free market capitalism" is to capitalism as Scientology is to religion.

      --
      If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
    56. Re:Useful info by 1u3hr · · Score: 1

      I'd say yes, when the context being used is about the market itself.

      That wasn't the context of the post I was responding to.And not how most people use the words "right" and "wrong".If you're just talking about profitability, you should say so and not use words that imply a higher purpose.

    57. Re:Useful info by trickyD1ck · · Score: 1

      Here's a little of the real Adam Smith for you : "As soon as the land of any country has all become private property, the landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed, and demand a rent even for its natural produce."

      Your point being? Isn't rent compatible with capitalism?

    58. Re:Useful info by trickyD1ck · · Score: 1

      since I believe Zuckerberg made all his money from the IPO

      Not that it undermines your argument, but there was no Facebook IPO yet.

    59. Re:Useful info by trickyD1ck · · Score: 1

      "Right" is whatever you choose. The market allows us to coexist peacefully, otherwise we would have constant conflicts over the choice of the national toothpaste, operating system, etc.

    60. Re:Useful info by thesandtiger · · Score: 1

      Depending on the question, yes, yes it does.

      --
      Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.
    61. Re:Useful info by KnownIssues · · Score: 1

      The "market" isn't made up of only the sellers. The market is the sellers and the buyers. So, McDonald's and Coca Cola's appreach to nutrition can only be seen as "right" if the consumers also see it as right. Of course, that's assuming a free and open market, which we don't have.

    62. Re:Useful info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fox News reporting IS to the "right" :)

    63. Re:Useful info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course our benevolent know-it-all-alien-overlords should make those decisions not us unwashed masses. And it surely is it's nutritional value that makes me buy Coca Cola.

    64. Re:Useful info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Implying Facebook isn't next after Anon finishes with the Middle East and other pressing issues.

    65. Re:Useful info by anyGould · · Score: 2

      Yes, it does. If you're aim is to make lots of money. If you don't like FB's policies, here's a shocker for you, don't use it you twat.

      That would be a great idea, if Facebook would mind it's own business.

      But FB will happily let other users slap your name all over photos (and if you're not a user, you won't be notified that Goatse is now labeled as being *you*). Those "like" buttons that are popping up all over the bloody place? They track you even if you're not registered with Facebook. And now they're farming out their logins for other sites (my local paper now requires a Facebook account to send a letter to the editor).

    66. Re:Useful info by Risen888 · · Score: 1

      How far do you go with that? Is slavery okay as long the slave doesn't seem to mind?

      --
      Hey, I finally got my first freak! Took you long enough!
    67. Re:Useful info by _0xd0ad · · Score: 1

      No. 4chan takes $85,000 in ads per year just to break even [imageshack.us].

      They're able to break even but they can't make a profit on the ads?

      If he has other money, he hasn't let 4chan know.

      If I had money, I wouldn't let 4chan know either...

    68. Re:Useful info by Rysc · · Score: 1

      The word is that most advertisers refuse to be associated with 4chan. Would you want your company logo displayed right next to the average post on /b/?

      Because demand for adspace is low ads are relatively cheap and thus not very profitable. I suppose it's too late to go back to the "donation drive" model for support...

      --
      I want my Cowboyneal
    69. Re:Useful info by _0xd0ad · · Score: 1

      Poole saying that 4chan makes enough to "break even" implies that they make more than that. It's highly unlikely that they make the precise amount required for them to break even. Unless he was lying, his statement probably means they make enough to break even, and then some. How much more may be unknown, but it's probably some non-zero value.

    70. Re:Useful info by Shotgun · · Score: 1

      No. Fox's reporting is the same AP wire dribble that you hear everywhere else. Now, their commentary is "right".

      Example to prove the point: They also 'reported' on Charlie Sheen, just like every other news station, even though it means absolutely nothing.

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
    71. Re:Useful info by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 1

      Sure it is, you just have to keep the landlords in check or eventually they become tyrants. This is relevant to the AC's point because he claimed that Adam Smith would say that the fact Zuckerberg has a lot of money means he is right while it according the the quote it could just as well mean he has "reaped where he didn't sow" in other words he's taking advantage of people and the system to enrich himself without producing anything of merit.

      --
      If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
    72. Re:Useful info by Deliveranc3 · · Score: 1

      Isn't capitalism supposed to be in support of freedom?

    73. Re:Useful info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      4chan doesn't have image "galleries". It has discussion threads with image attachments to replies. At any given time there can be only a certain number of threads, and if someone creates a new thread, an old thread gets pruned (404'd). In fact that's been used to grief 4chan in the past, creating dozens of threads per second with the aid of a botnet so that all of the legitimate threads 404.

  2. The final showdown of final destiny... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The one who spread internet attention-whoring face-to-face with the one who spread anonymity...
    disgunbegud.gif

  3. Remind me, which one is the billionare? by timeOday · · Score: 2
    Facebook took off precisely by leveraging pre-existing real-world relationships, but allowing people to be exclusive in sharing what they write.

    All of that is based on people as people, not as ideas.

    If you want ideas to predominate, come to slashdot or, I guess, 4chan.

    1. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by DurendalMac · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Exactly. Sorry Moot, you have a good point, but Zuckerberg didn't hear you over the sound of how much money he made in the time it took you to make that statement. Moot seems to genuinely care about online anonymity, but Zuckerberg cares about making money and doesn't think twice about selling every piece of info he has on you to anyone who wants it.

    2. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by surgen · · Score: 3, Insightful

      >Remind me, which one is the billionare?

      I'd say that's a bit of a false comparison. I'd be surprised if moot has even 1/4 of the business ambitions with his website than Zuckerburg does with his.

    3. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yeah, as a not-too-distant friend, not sure what he is getting at in all honesty.

      Both Facebook and 4chan have different targets.
      Facebook is a place for people communicate and evolve.
      4chan is a place for ideas to evolve. (and sometimes, go to die horrible deaths, same for Facebook actually...)

      Anonymity tends to allow ideas to be the forefront of thought, rather than who is behind the idea.
      While this can be really helpful in some cases, it is also detrimental because some might not take the idea seriously enough due to the fact it was suggested by some random person who wishes to be anonymous.
      Of course, as you can see in some boards on 4chan, as well as the hundreds of other imageboards around the globe that have the same philosophy, Anonymity + audience = retards.
      While 4chan, for a while, tended to be smart people pretending to be idiots, in recent years, it has evolved in to idiots pretending to be smart. The smart people are now in the minority since 4chan has become more mainstream with people. (which has been a pain on poor mootykins since he has had to deal with all sorts of shit, from child-porn to attacks on major businesses, and even threats on others lives, some that have been carried through with)
      The content has also suffered too, from what used to be brilliant photoshop threads to terrible MSPaint threads with barely any effort put in.
      But this is also due to the fact that people have been brought in to an environment where threads can die within a matter of minutes. Taking your time just can't work. (which is why i have suggested he split up the more popular boards and let the community load-balance themselves, which should balance out itself within about a month probably)

      Facebook, despite its privacy-raping nature, is really helpful for people who know each other to stay in contact with each other more often, especially if they lead busy lives.
      The privacy-concerns are a bit of an issue admittedly. Personally i don't care as much. To have content related to my personality would be a god-send.

    4. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by mug+funky · · Score: 4, Insightful

      4chan was never good

    5. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by sourcerror · · Score: 3, Funny

      You mean his point is moot? /ducks

    6. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by poetmatt · · Score: 1

      not everyone's that stupid, sites like diaspora are trying to create alternatives that don't fuck people over like facebook.

    7. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      4chan is the never-never-land of the internet, where assholes pretend that there are no consequences to harmful actions, and the humorless can feel funny by repeating jokes over and over and over and over and over and over. Also porn.

    8. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Moot seems to genuinely care about online anonymity

      Moot also cares about MONEY and FAME so he is associating himself with Mark and his Facebook for money & fame via CANVAS. Why you no understand.

    9. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by Americano · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yeah, diaspora's really a resounding success, just look at their github: a handful of contributors actually working on the code (one of the more active ones recently appears to be someone who isn't even a member of the original "Diaspora" team), a steady downward trend on the pageviews graph, and no notable news since November's alpha testing started, other than a blog post at the end of January saying "We're still like, working on stuff, and we're still super-relevant, just look at these blogs that called us cool!"

      With success like that, it's just a matter of weeks before Facebook is obsolete.

    10. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Wow, so it's just like Slashdot, but with porn?

    11. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by Purity+Of+Essence · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yes. Moot point is moot. /rabbits

      --
      +0 Meh
    12. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by sakdoctor · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Neither was facebook

    13. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by masterwit · · Score: 1

      No, the website functions more reliably over there too...

      --
      We should start a new Slashdot and return control to the geeks. It actually wouldn't be that hard to get some users to
    14. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by CodeBuster · · Score: 1

      Zuckerberg cares about making money and doesn't think twice about selling every piece of info he has on you to anyone who wants it.

      And yet people continue to use Facebook and hand over their privacy to Zuckerberg in exchange for trinkets. It's actually quite astonishing that so many people could be so ignorant, careless and naïve. Zuckerberg constantly whores their personal information, relationships and anything else they give him to any and all comers and still they use Facebook. Do they not yet understand that Facebook equals complete privacy fail? To paraphrase Zuckerberg himself, "Why did they give me this information? Because they're dumbasses."

    15. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      BRB Trolling Fuckerburg

    16. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by Cimexus · · Score: 1

      To play devil's advocate: what is this incredibly sensitive personal information that Facebook has that could not be obtained by anyone else very easily?

      Most people on Facebook have their name, email and maybe their address and phone number. Name and numbers are already in the phone book. Addresses are on the publicly-searchable electoral roll (though you'd be an idiot to put your address on Facebook anyway). I just think most people couldn't care less that someone might find out these things. It's not like their banking information or tax file number/SSN or passport number or other information that someone could actually use to hurt them is on there.

      The only other 'valuable' information from a privacy perspective that Facebook might reveal is who you are friends with. But again, this is fairly unlikely to be information that is unique to Facebook (unless you are completely indiscriminate with who you add, and what read/write rights you give them to your profile/wall/etc). Provided you understand that anything you put on Facebook should be considered public knowledge and can never be retracted (like anything on the Internet), I don't really see a problem. I know there are some that are stupid about what they post, or stupid about who they add (e.g. adding their boss or colleagues). But that doesn't mean everyone who chooses to use Facebook is an idiot or ignorant of the potential consequences. They just don't perceive basic personal details to really be secret information in the first place.

    17. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What has that got to do with it? Anyone can make profit by doing the wrong thing.

      Hell, half of the people here could have built facebook themselves, and had similar success, had they been willing to (arguably illegally, at least immorally) download account details from other sites and spam them, then spam them more with apps, the way facebook does.

    18. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      fallacy.. it depends on what you're comparing.. poole didn't say he's doing it wrong financially.

    19. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by Cant+use+a+slash+wtf · · Score: 1

      >This seems like a reasonable article to point out that you can't greentext on /.

    20. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by Rysc · · Score: 1

      IMO it would help to have a much, much larger number of mods (janitors too) patrolling /b/. Just banning threads that belong on topic boards would be a start. Change the /b/ mandate from "anything goes" to "anything that's offtopic elsewhere" and then ban accordingly.

      Or turn back on the black-screen CSS thing. That made /b/ almost pleasant again for one glorious day.

      4chan's problems have to do with scale and not popularity.

      Facebook's problem, well one of them anyway, is that despite how useful it may be for some purposes it is a permanent invasion into your life and a usurpation of fundamentals of the internet. Implementing applications over HTTP and the facebook API instead of doing them properly is only harmless as long as it's not the norm.

      --
      I want my Cowboyneal
    21. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It's not about your name, address, and phone number. It's about the content you post, your interests, mining you for what you think is interesting! If, hypothetically, Facebook will exist in 100 years, then they will have all data on people from the moment they touch the net, to the last. Analysis of various life stages, mental conditions, what is it that makes YOU happy and how can they use all that against you!.

      "When you give up that data, you’re giving it up forever" - Maxwell Salzberg

    22. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by MysteriousPreacher · · Score: 1

      Nothing wrong with adding the boss or colleagues. Depends on the relationship with them and how irresponsible/dishonest you are. i.e. bad idea if you're planning on skipping work with a fake excuse, after posting photos of yourself enjoying cocktails at 3am that morning, or if your boss is a devout Muslim and you enjoy posting daily examples of Muslim butthurt.

      --
      -- Using the preview button since 2005
    23. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by xenobyte · · Score: 1

      It's always fun when moot plays around with the CSS, forcing silly music or crazy layout/colors on those too dumb to know how to avoid...

      The good thing about anonymous boards like 4chan is the fact that people can talk (write) about anything without worrying about leaving a stain that will be remembered forever. Sure there are trolls and pedophiles but it's my impression that they get banned pretty quickly.

      Some people object to the idea that you can write whatever you like and while it's read by those passing by, it doesn't stick and it won't come back to haunt you. These people obviously feel that if you WRITE something, it's different than if you just SAY it verbally. But they're wrong. There's no difference. Both are ways of expressing your opinion and they should be equally free. The protection of not being face to face is not just a reason to be abusive in ways you wouldn't if you were face to face; it's a reason to speak your heart without fear of someone running out of verbal arguments and resorting to violence, thus ending the discussion in a very useless way.

      Now, 4chan cannot in any way be said to be a serious forum for serious discussions. We actually need something like that. The closest are blogs with handles and no stored identification and no logging. You have a handle that's yours. Your real email (or a disposable one) are used only in the setup phase. Sure, you might be able to 'profile' the writing style and that way identify you through comparison with other stuff known to be written by you, but there are ways around that too. This way to can truly speak your mind without fear of reprisals and that's how it should be; that's the essence of free speech.

      Whether moots new idea is good or bad remains to be seen though.

      --
      "For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." -- H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) --
    24. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by poetmatt · · Score: 1

      Wow, what a moron.

      I never said it was perfect, just said that people are trying to do what any good competition does: emulate the good parts of your competitor and drop the bad.

    25. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd say that's a bit of a false comparison. I'd be surprised if moot has even 1/4 of the business ambitions with his website than Zuckerburg does with his.

      True, but conversely, it's probably also fair to say that Zuckerberg won't have 1/4 of the ambitions that Poole has with HIS website, whatever those might be. They do different things, care about different things, and run different sites that focus on different things in different ways. Neither is going to go to the other for advice, or listen when it's given unasked.

    26. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by Americano · · Score: 1

      And from all indications, they are failing to compete on any level.

      What were the good parts they're keeping, again? Reviews upon their initial alpha release indicated that they failed to deliver on the single feature that they claimed they were going to do better than Facebook: privacy and security controls. Claiming that there's some legitimate "more private" alternative to Facebook is just... wrong. There's a lot of good intentions and fancy talk, but good intentions haven't written a single line of code yet.

      You want to make a more private alternative to Facebook? Build a site that provides the same sharing functionality, with better security & privacy controls, and then start charging membership fees instead of selling ad space. Until somebody does this, there will be no serious competitor to Facebook that provides any more privacy and data control to its users than Facebook does. And I think we can all agree that getting people to pay for what they're getting already for free is a tough prospect.

    27. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by Rysc · · Score: 1

      puddipuddi, amirite?

      On a similar note I'm for the return of forced anon. The tripfagging has gotten totally out of hand.

      --
      I want my Cowboyneal
    28. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by ZorroXXX · · Score: 2

      To play devil's advocate: what is this incredibly sensitive personal information that Facebook has that could not be obtained by anyone else very easily?

      You know that is is actually trivial to find the sexual orientation of people, even for those that has not disclosed it? And who knows what else that might be possible to pick out from such a system. That you're a virgin? That you pick your nose? That you actually like "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley?

      For individuals or groups putting effort into data mining there are undoubtly information to be found that someone would prefer to be private. There is a paradigmic difference in everyone in the whole world can find out you are gay compared to just a few of your closest friend (and other gay men you meet).

      --
      When you are sure of something, you probably are wrong (search for "Unskilled and Unaware of It").
    29. Re:Remind me, which one is the billionare? by siriuskase · · Score: 1

      Right. I've been Siriuskase for longer than the internet, but nobody from my old high school ever contacted me until I was brave enough to create a facebook identity using my real name and school. Of course, that is the most boring version of me imaginable, overweight, middle aged, no opinions about anything except for my cat and my kids who are perfect, naturally, and just as boring as me.

      --
      If you must moderate, please moderate as irrelevent, not something bad, because I'm sure someone will find this interest
  4. Oh he gets it by CrazyJim1 · · Score: 1

    Remember Clasmates.com? Sounded like a great idea, but they charged money to use it. Facebook is free, and is for people who want to know their other real life friends/family. You just gotta treat Facebook with the tact of if you were running for public office... Because if you run for public office, they'll certainly look at what you said on Facebook. To me, it is a win because we won't have future politicians of America to have talked all sorts of drunken fratboy chat on Facebook in their younger years. Once this happens, people might go,"Oh, wow, I gotta monitor what comes out of my mouth instead of being a non-stop idiot"

    1. Re:Oh he gets it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Being a non-stop idiot has never stopped a single politician. They continue to say ridiculous things all the time, because we all know the absence of evidence....

    2. Re:Oh he gets it by yeshuawatso · · Score: 2

      ...Once this happens, people might go,"Oh, wow, I gotta monitor what comes out of my mouth instead of being a non-stop idiot"

      Yeah, because being non-stop idiots with diarrhea of the mouth has stopped soooo many politicians from getting and/or staying elected. You might want to hear/read some of the dribble these politicians are spewing now on Facebook, Fox News, and MSNBC and you "poke" me when one of these politicians lose an election because of a stupid/racist/offensive status update.

    3. Re:Oh he gets it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Facebook is only free if your privacy has no value.

    4. Re:Oh he gets it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It depends on who's saying what and who's looking to manipulate it. Dean Scream anyone?

    5. Re:Oh he gets it by mug+funky · · Score: 1

      you don't have to update your friends on every BJ you happen to give or receive, you know.

      yes, control of what you post on facebook is firmly in Zuckerberg's hands, but control of what you type in there yourself is quite literally in your hands

    6. Re:Oh he gets it by maxume · · Score: 1

      The sitting president wrote a book that discussed his use of various illegal drugs.

      The one before that was a heavy drinker and probably used cocaine.

      The one before that admitted he inhaled before he was elected and sat through a huge sex scandal.

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
    7. Re:Oh he gets it by Dails · · Score: 1

      I'd actually hope for the opposite. Modern political elections are about polls and smear campaigns. Someday, every ambitious politico will have their younger, wilder years on the internet somewhere, which will a) put everyone on equal ground in that respect, rendering the "he used alcohol twenty years ago you can't elect him" argument useless, and b) remind even the old Senatorial types that they were kids once, too, so maybe it's silly to make such a big deals out of things young people do (softer drugs, violent video games, sex, etc).

      Then again, money can buy you almost anything, so perhaps it'll just give rise to business who scour the internet for your dirt and get rid of it.

    8. Re:Oh he gets it by The+Snowman · · Score: 1

      you don't have to update your friends on every BJ you happen to give or receive, you know.

      yes, control of what you post on facebook is firmly in Zuckerberg's hands, but control of what you type in there yourself is quite literally in your hands

      Very true. I don't post pictures to my profile, although others do tag me. I don't list any personal information at all, not even there but allegedly hidden behind privacy controls. The posts I make are few and far between, with no drama or anything.

      I see people post all sorts of crazy shit to Facebook, things that they will regret later on. Oh well. I can't live people's lives for them.

      --
      24 beers in a case, 24 hours in a day. Coincidence? I think not!
    9. Re:Oh he gets it by Americano · · Score: 1

      Or you can easily share information that you have no interest in keeping private, and simply not post information that needs to remain private.

      Do I care if Facebook knows where I live, and that I like a particular band? Nope, in fact seeing a ticketmaster ad telling me that "That band you love has a concert in your area this week!" is actually something I don't mind seeing at all.

      Do I care if Facebook knows my credit card details, my medical history, and that one time I got so drunk I ended up doing something I regretted later? Yeah, I do. And that's why I don't post those things on Facebook.

    10. Re:Oh he gets it by Lumpy · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Actually it seems that it's a requirement nowdays.

      Want to be a senator? IQ below 72? check, welcome congressman!

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    11. Re:Oh he gets it by Anthony+Mouse · · Score: 1

      It depends on who's saying what and who's looking to manipulate it. Dean Scream anyone?

      That's the point. It has absolutely fuck all to do what what you've actually said or done and everything to do with who wants to end your campaign.

    12. Re:Oh he gets it by lostros · · Score: 2

      so it will be a win because the future leaders of america will all have little to no experience with actually living, and where such sociopaths that they decided by about 16 to never have a drink with friends because they wanted to run for public office. Many of our greatest presidents did things in their youth that if well documented and brought up in a campaign in todays political environment would keep them out of office.

    13. Re:Oh he gets it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or anything George Bush ever said!

    14. Re:Oh he gets it by mattack2 · · Score: 1

      Actually, he said he "didn't inhale". (The citations on the wikipedia page are from his books.)

    15. Re:Oh he gets it by Rysc · · Score: 1

      May I introduce you to the concept of operational security? Not divulging seemingly-harmless information has value, because the aggregation of a large amount of seemingly-harmless information can result in a great deal being revealed that is unintended. Facebook is helping any adversary interested in harming you by doing a great deal of his intel work for him. What's more, it is doing such gathering right now even if he won't be interested in you for a couple years. Once he wants to build a profile of who you are it's a trivial matter of data mining. And that's *even if* you were being careful about what you post on facebook.

      Facebook is an untrusted channel used to catalog information for present and future adversaries. its use in any form is unwise. If you think you're never going to want to keep something from someone for a legitimate reason, think again.

      --
      I want my Cowboyneal
    16. Re:Oh he gets it by Americano · · Score: 1

      Facebook is an untrusted channel used to catalog information for present and future adversaries. its use in any form is unwise. If you think you're never going to want to keep something from someone for a legitimate reason, think again.

      May I introduce you to the concept of paranoid schizophrenia? There's operational security, and then there's stark-raving-mad paranoia, friend. Pray tell, what nefarious purpose can be furthered by someone knowing of my fondness for the music of Johnny Cash and Bruce Springsteen, and the fact that I enjoyed the Shawshank Redemption?

      "Dear Sir, I represent the late Mr. Johnny Cash's estate. He has entrusted me with 10 million dollars to be smuggled out of Zaire, and I have decided to reach out to someone who is clearly a fan of his music, and thus likely to help me avoid the government agents trying to illegally seize this money. I know that you are sympathetic to the plight of someone who is mistreated by the government, for you liked the Shawshank Redemption, and are therefore an easy mark - I mean willing silent partner - in this endeavor to help the late Mr. Johnny Cash avoid the loss of his moneys to an illegal seizure by the government. Please to send me your bank information and personal credit history so I may begin the transfer to you, my silent partner. For helping with this transfer, you may keep 10% of the moneys!"

      I was born at night, but not last night.

    17. Re:Oh he gets it by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 1

      Facebook is an untrusted channel used to catalog information for present and future adversaries. its use in any form is unwise. If you think you're never going to want to keep something from someone for a legitimate reason, think again.

      What a utterly depressing worldview. Personally I think the whole "information is power" thing is on its way out. As we move into the information society the amount of data on everything will be so huge and passed around so quickly that it'll lose its value.

      --
      If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
    18. Re:Oh he gets it by wamatt · · Score: 1

      If someone wants to whack you or physically mess with you, they gonna do it with our without the internet.

      Security through obscurity is not the way forward (even in a personal sense).

      Best not to conduct your affairs as to cause adversaries to arise (ie by becoming a criminal or dealing with shady people), if that is unavoidable (IE you are a public figure), then you need to accept there will always be whackos out there and have real security systems in place to provide a wall of defense against such undesirables.

    19. Re:Oh he gets it by Rysc · · Score: 1

      A good con game is built around knowing the probable behavior of the victim. I would never go to a Springsteen concert whereas you would. Your movements have become more predictable. It's not irrational paranoia, it's a plausible but not likely avenue to a variety of attacks. Break in to your home when you're away at a concert, plant illegal substances on you while you're there, etc.. These things are all assisted by knowing something about what you like.

      --
      I want my Cowboyneal
    20. Re:Oh he gets it by Rysc · · Score: 1

      Personally I think the whole "information is power" thing is on its way out.

      You could be right.

      Let's do a quick cost/benefit analysis.

      Scenario 1: You're right and you divulge possible-sensitive information via Facebook.
      Scenario 3: You're right and you don't divulge possible-sensitive information via Facebook.
      Scenario 2: You're wrong and you divulge possible-sensitive information via Facebook.
      Scenario 4: You're wrong and you don't divulge possible-sensitive information via Facebook.

      Where HA=Harmless and DE=Detrimental please consult the following matrix of outcomes and tell me what you think.

      S1 S2 S3 S4
      HA HA DE HA

      Now tell me: Which scenario is best to avoid?

      There is no disadvantage to being right and safe except that you don't have the dubious privilege of using Facebook. I can live with that.

      --
      I want my Cowboyneal
    21. Re:Oh he gets it by Americano · · Score: 1

      You're joking... right?

      Break into your home when you're away at a concert.

      Ah yes, because knowing I like Bruce Springsteen means I'm guaranteed to be at every concert he does within 100 miles of my home. If somebody wants to target me specifically, all they need to know is where I live (easy enough to find) and then sit outside my home until they see me leave. If they're not targeting me specifically, they aren't going to say "Let's find people who like Bruce Springsteen, and go see if they're out of the house at his concert, and rob them if they are!" Burglaries are overwhelmingly opportunistic crimes - go to a rich part of town, find a house with weak security (unlocked, open doors, no alarm system...), break in, grab what you can, and run. Either I'm being specifically targeted (in which case my musical preferences aren't going to make a bit of difference), or I'm not being specifically targeted (in which case, information about me on Facebook is irrelevant to my being targeted).

      plant illegal substances on you while you're there,

      Really? REALLY? How many times has this *ever* happened in the history of the world? You watch way too many spy movies.

      If anybody's targeting me with the level of sophistication you're suggesting, they already know way more about me than anything they'll find on Facebook, because they already have me under surveillance, they've likely broken into my computer and cataloged its contents (and they'd easily notice a lot of Bruce Springsteen and Johnny Cash MP3's while they're there). And they're already well aware of my routine, and could find a much easier time and place to plant "illegal substances" on me than when I'm at a one-time event when I'm hanging out with half a dozen friends, rather than, say, at the spot I stop every day for my morning coffee on my way to work, or in my car which is parked in roughly the same spot every day, all day, while I'm at work, and in roughly the same spot all night, every night, when I'm at home.

      Some of us prefer to not live our lives in fear of an asteroid smashing into the earth with no warning. I bet that fear must cripple you.

    22. Re:Oh he gets it by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 1

      Now tell me: Which scenario is best to avoid?

      There is no disadvantage to being right and safe except that you don't have the dubious privilege of using Facebook. I can live with that.

      Ah good ol' Pascal's wager, I haven't seen a version yet where the likelihood of the 'hell' outcome isn't vastly exaggerated. In this case if you look at the "detrimental scenario" there may be risk but how likely is that risk to lead to actual problems ? Looking at the real world we see a lot of identity theft to be sure but it's comparatively rare when compared to the whole internet population of users that are uninformed about privacy issues. Your table simply isn't correctly weighted.

      --
      If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
    23. Re:Oh he gets it by Rysc · · Score: 1

      Weighting is irrelevant. I didn't try to suggest that a harmful outcome is *probable*, only possible. It is up to you to weigh the benefit vs the cost and decide what to do. As I said, for me not using Facebook is very easy so it's easy to choose this option. In Pascal's wager I choose to risk hell for the same reasons: I weigh the cost and benefit of my choice against all (known) possible outcomes and come to the opposite conclusion. Your conclusion is up to you.

      --
      I want my Cowboyneal
  5. FTFA, plus pen names are way pre internet by Suki+I · · Score: 1

    “Mark Zuckerberg has kind of equated anonymity with a lack of authenticity, almost a cowardice,” said Poole. “I would say that’s totally wrong. I think anonymity is authenticity. It allows you to share in a completely unvarnished, unfiltered, raw way. I think that’s something that’s extremely valuable. In the case of content creation, it just allows you to play in ways that you may not have otherwise. We believe in content over creator.”

    Maybe Zuckerberg never heard of pen names when he was busy with more important things in school? His FB policy was always a bit of a puzzle to me, but not one big enough to look into until I saw this on /.

    1. Re:FTFA, plus pen names are way pre internet by mbkennel · · Score: 1

      Of course he heard about pen names and handles, and was 100% aware of MySpace and a million other blogs and boards in 2003.

      The crux of the matter is that Zuckerberg's customers Really Want To Know Your Real Name Because That Helps Them Make Lots Of Money. The Customer is always right. The neat trick was convincing 500 million FacebookFriends to use their real names, and emotional manipulation about authenticity and, initially, exclusivity, helped.

    2. Re:FTFA, plus pen names are way pre internet by Upphew · · Score: 1

      And yet none of my accounts has the same name that reads in my official papers...

  6. duh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    Mark Zuckerberg is getting it. lots of it. billions actually.

    He also gets anonimity. He just does not care about (other people's) anonimity.

    1. Re:duh by blair1q · · Score: 1, Funny

      Thanks Mark. Now go fix your website. It's almost as lame as 4chan.

  7. moot by psergiu · · Score: 4, Funny

    moot on /. ? a 1st page article about 4chan ?
    How long until /. introduces image attachements for each reply ? :)

    --
    1% APY, No fees, Online Bank https://captl1.co/2uIErYq Don't let your $$$ sit in a no-interest acct.
    1. Re:moot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      rules 1 and 2, newfag

    2. Re:moot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL U MAD

    3. Re:moot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >implying it is not you who are mad

    4. Re:moot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      This illustrates part of Moot's point, I think; before you can begin to receive his idea, let alone process it, you already know who made the statement, and that has colored your perception in some way (you aren't obviously for or against 4chan, but you clearly know what it is). Anonymity is therefore arguably better for the transmission and sharing of ideas, because each idea is forced/allowed to stand on its own. Obviously there is also a place for credited work, such as peer-reviewed submissions, but I think his position is a strong one.

      I think he's missing the point of Facebook a little bit, though; it isn't (at least in my experience) an exchange of ideas or the nexus of a creative endeavor. It's a really fancy online address book.

    5. Re:moot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is not I who am crazy. It is I who am mad!

    6. Re:moot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ohboyherewego.jpg

    7. Re:moot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tits or gtfo

    8. Re:moot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      (.) (.)
      [3/16/11 12:25am]

      ohai

    9. Re:moot by arth1 · · Score: 1

      I think an address book is the exact opposite of what it is. After all, who looks in an address book to talk to people they already know? And that's most of what Facebook is about.

      I see Facebook more as cliques of circle jerking tripfags under a single umbrella.

    10. Re:moot by tsm_sf · · Score: 1

      Oh, no! I know what you want! You coveteth my ice cream bar!

      --
      Literalism isn't a form of humor, it's you being irritating.
    11. Re:moot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sauce plz?

    12. Re:moot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What, you've never visited 4ch.slashdot.org ?

    13. Re:moot by adavies42 · · Score: 1

      see also the economist

      --
      Media that can be recorded and distributed can be recorded and distributed.
      -kfg
    14. Re:moot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      While I agree with you, the problem is most people are attention whores with bad self esteem and desperate need to appear to be relevant. And they seldomly have any ideas worth speaking of. That's why failbook is doing so well.

  8. But the two venues are way different by argan0n · · Score: 1

    facebook 4chan userbase may naturally overflow from one to the other, but I see the two sites as representing two sides of online communication. One is all about building lingering connections managed by the site, the other is about ephemeral connections (managed by memes?).

    --
    argan0n
    1. Re:But the two venues are way different by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The overlap I would say shows that they serve different purposes

  9. he get's it...... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Zuck is after one thing, a giant vault of money to swim in and do $5000 an hour hookers on. If anyone thinks he care about anything but money and profits they are incredibly disillusioned.

    Money and profit are the only motive.. Period.

    1. Re:he get's it...... by MysteriousPreacher · · Score: 2

      What does a hooker do to earn $5000 per hour? Make cheese sandwiches during sex, but with gold instead of cheese? For that price it'd have to at least include a journey in to space.

      --
      -- Using the preview button since 2005
  10. How does Zuckerman not get it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    He got to be worth $13.5 billion by being an asshole, so what reason would he have to stop being an asshole?

  11. 4chan and facebook are both wrong. by schnikies79 · · Score: 0

    They are different at ends of the spectrum, but too much of either is bad. 4chan is worthless, plain and simple (that includes so-called Anonymous). Facebook is a not worthless, but abuses what they have/know.

    Much like politics, you never want someone too far right or too far left.

    --
    Gone!
    1. Re:4chan and facebook are both wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      You sound too far in the middle. Are you from Neutropolis, the capital of Neutral Planet by chance?

    2. Re:4chan and facebook are both wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It does not seem plain or simple that 4chan is worthless.

    3. Re:4chan and facebook are both wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I wouldn't say 4chan is worthless, but that 99% of what it produces is worthless by almost any definition. However, the remaining 1% is probably more valuable than 99% of what other communities put out. The main problem is that 4chan as a whole unfairly gets lumped in with /b/, which is similar to judging an entire ethnicity based on the actions of its most maladjusted members.

    4. Re:4chan and facebook are both wrong. by inviolet · · Score: 2

      They are different at ends of the spectrum, but too much of either is bad. 4chan is worthless, plain and simple (that includes so-called Anonymous). Facebook is a not worthless, but abuses what they have/know.

      Much like politics, you never want someone too far right or too far left.

      Yep yep.

      Republican: Society needs less sharing in order to create incentives!
      Democrat: Society needs more sharing in order to create a middle class!
      Me: Shut up, you're both right.

      Likewise, we need anonymity in some contexts, and identity in others.

      --
      FATMOUSE + YOU = FATMOUSE
    5. Re:4chan and facebook are both wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      most importantly, you've found a way to feel superior to both

      time to find your dox and post embarrassing things on your facebook...

    6. Re:4chan and facebook are both wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      I don't think 4chan is worthless.

      Vulgar, irreverent, mob mentality... Can you honestly say facebook is none of those things? Wouldn't you say that it is all of those things, if you were honest? Is the veneer of "manners" and censorship really so important for its own sake?

      Maybe your mom would feel more comfortable in the lie (see what I did there?), but 4chan's /b/ is just as valid a form of human interaction and expression as facebook -- it merely operates by different rules, with different norms, and a different history. To deny that 4chan is important as a feature of the human condition is to deny that anyone has a mental life: the life that we don't blurt out in public for fear of social repercussions. Nevertheless, this aspect of humans does still exist, and you won't make it disappear just because you get rid of 4chan and other anonymous modes of communication. Repression makes things worse, never better.

      You do need both -- and you can't assert that 4chan is "worthless" and be self-consistent. Facebook, in all its corporate data-farm glory, is no more legitimately "good" no matter how much less child porn, no matter how much less gore, no matter how popular it is, and no matter how wealthy its owners.

      You're a a soft-skulled, sophomoric, self-righteous hypocrite. It doesn't say anything good about /. that you were modded up (why expect an enlightened, objective moderation response from the anonymous internet, though).

      Still. Parent remains profoundly inane.

    7. Re:4chan and facebook are both wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      4chan worthless? Pedobear will have to beg to differ.

    8. Re:4chan and facebook are both wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think you have a worthless definition of worthless.

    9. Re:4chan and facebook are both wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      no u

    10. Re:4chan and facebook are both wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah. Except it's the other way around - FB is worthless and 4chan is awesome. Call, fun at least. But then again, I never understood why anyone ever registered on FB. I think the answer is probably Al Pacino's favorite sin.

    11. Re:4chan and facebook are both wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      4chan has identity. Secure tripcodes. Hell, half of the reason for the initial pony-bans was due to trip-faggotry.

    12. Re:4chan and facebook are both wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      “Your neutralness, it’s a beige alert!”

      “If I don’t survive, tell my wife ‘Hello’."

    13. Re:4chan and facebook are both wrong. by Patersmith · · Score: 1

      I think they both have value, but for different reasons.

      Facebook allows the expression of what Jungians might call the persona, which is the face we all present to the world. Whether we know it or not, we construct our personas as a mask to protect our real selves. We show the world what we want others to believe about us. Clever people who realize this can quite convincingly construct an almost completely artificial self. Think politicians, business executives, and high-functioning sociopaths.

      What I think is more interesting about 4chan and /b/ in particular is that complete anonymity allows for expression of the shadow aspect. I think it's this idea that moot expresses when he describes /b/ as "the internet's dark heart." The thing I find fascinating is that many attributes that we hide from others, that we fear and dislike about ourselves, are common to the human experience.

      We conceal things about ourselves in order to form communities and we do it according to what we believe are the standards of that community. /b/ is important because it allows us to explore what we have in common without fear of punishment or ostracization.

    14. Re:4chan and facebook are both wrong. by geminidomino · · Score: 1

      But then again, I never understood why anyone ever registered on FB. I think the answer is probably Al Pacino's favorite sin.

      +1 Reference, even if the movie is a total mindfuck...

  12. Facebook is not for people who seek anonymity by H0p313ss · · Score: 4, Informative

    How anybody could not understand that, particularly an internet veteran like moot is rather mind boggling.

    --
    XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
    1. Re:Facebook is not for people who seek anonymity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      internet veteran like moot

      This kid is considered a "veteran" now? Hardly...

    2. Re:Facebook is not for people who seek anonymity by H0p313ss · · Score: 1

      Given his role and experience I would have expected him to have significantly more savvy than he is showing. Facebook is the opposite of anonymity by design so he's showing me he is just a young pup with a big mouth.

      Perhaps what he meant is that Zuckerberg does not understand privacy, now that I'll buy.

      --
      XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
    3. Re:Facebook is not for people who seek anonymity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, he gets that anonymity is valuable to anyone. You shouldn't have to "seek" anonymity, it should be default. The alternative should be strictly consensual.

      Facebook is not for people who don't want to be taken advantage of. moot is correct. Zuckerberg is doing it wrong.

    4. Re:Facebook is not for people who seek anonymity by H0p313ss · · Score: 1

      The default is anonymity, where and when exactly were you forced to sign up to Facebook?

      --
      XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
    5. Re:Facebook is not for people who seek anonymity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He is one of the few people ingrained enough into the internet culture to be considered a "sage." He can create memes at will. He has more influence than most people in the world. Luckily he chooses not to exercise any of it aside to play games with 4chaners. His points of view do carry weight even if they are wrong or just misunderstood.

    6. Re:Facebook is not for people who seek anonymity by izomiac · · Score: 1

      I'd imagine there is a lot of overlap between the member bases (especially given typical 4chan detective work). People participate in multiple social circles. Facebook is used when people want things attributed to their real world identity, 4chan is for when they don't.

    7. Re:Facebook is not for people who seek anonymity by gad_zuki! · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure about this. My facebook account is rarely used and involves a lot of self-censorship. I just don't think its fun or interesting and I always have a worry that future employers or whomever will find this stuff. Perhaps I'm more neurotic than most, but its a fear I find shared by a lot of people.

      I'd be more comfortable hiding behind a username and segregating groups of friends (colleagues, high school, college, current friends, etc).

      Regardless, maybe the FB people are right. Maybe they are not. Seems to me that Friendster and MySpace folded fairly quickly. My biggest worry is that social networking is a lot like the OS market - a natural monopoly. Maybe FB has enough people now that it will be a monopoly in this space for the foreseeable future.

    8. Re:Facebook is not for people who seek anonymity by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      I wouldn't go so far as to say Facebook is the opposite of anonymnity.

      I have three FB accounts, none of them provide any authentic information about a real person.

      You can register for Facebook and just give them a fricking @yahoo.com email address, for petes sake.

      They do have a band of 'enforcers' out trying to eke out and eliminate fake people on Facebook, but they only go after obvious fakes, etc. Spend several minutes writing up a fake 'history' of who you are and it only takes a few more minutes to create that person on Facebook.

      Now, it's too embarassing to admit why I would even want any of those FB accounts. So that part of the process, I will remain anonymous regarding.

    9. Re:Facebook is not for people who seek anonymity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I just woke up, but this is the dumbest thing I've read all day

    10. Re:Facebook is not for people who seek anonymity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unfortunately, Facebook is trying to get involved in everything else, to the point that it can be hard to do anything interactive online without going through facebook. The number of news sites and blogs that try to get you to sign in through your Facebook account is ridiculous...

    11. Re:Facebook is not for people who seek anonymity by H0p313ss · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately, Facebook is trying to get involved in everything else, to the point that it can be hard to do anything interactive online without going through facebook. The number of news sites and blogs that try to get you to sign in through your Facebook account is ridiculous...

      Which, if you wish to be anonymous, is the last thing you should consider doing. If you wish to be anonymous don't sign up for Facebook, ever.

      --
      XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
  13. Facebook isn't "Social" by rsborg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Society is a balance between privacy and sharing. When a so-called "social" website decides that everything that goes in the website should be "public by default" that really violates the public/private social balance.

    In the absence of strong information/data privacy laws, only a fool would use Facebook to put more than even the basic public details about themselves; you only need take a look at the growing legal, workplace and criminal ramifications to see the end results.

    The real tough part is that rabid facebook users can get you listed on Facebook just by "tagging" your photo. So you have to join to even purge the stupid... this is anti-social.

    --
    Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
    1. Re:Facebook isn't "Social" by sakdoctor · · Score: 1

      I can't decide if facebook is anti-social or sociopathic. It's definitely not social though.

    2. Re:Facebook isn't "Social" by 427_ci_505 · · Score: 1

      How's it not social? You can use it to plan social events.

      I mean, seriously. Think of Facebook as a big interactive phonebook that you use to plan the details of social events with other people. You might say that there's a lack of privacy; fine; put your non-private communication on facebook for the convenience, and use other channels for private data.

  14. Re:They're both wrong. by themightythor · · Score: 2

    Most people who use it do so to commit crimes, from trolling to murder.

    Two things:

    1) Do you have numbers to quantify "most"?
    2) Since when is trolling a crime?

  15. Re:They're both wrong. by Tigger's+Pet · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Are you trying to suggest that we shouldn't have anonymity because the bad side of it outweighs the good? I'd take the assholes, criminals and general wankers all day long as long as it means that people can have the ability to let the world know what is really going on in their various industries, countries, whatever-elses. If we were to have the ability to be anonymous removed then the world would be a far, far worse place. Anonymity is like everything else - what it achieves depends on what you decide to do with it - good or bad.

  16. "moot" doesn't get it. by John+Hasler · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Many (perhaps most) people do not want to be anonymous. This is Zuckerberg's market.

    --
    Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
    1. Re:"moot" doesn't get it. by syousef · · Score: 1

      Many (perhaps most) people do not want to be anonymous. This is Zuckerberg's market.

      Also known as "muggles" here on slashdot.

      --
      These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
    2. Re:"moot" doesn't get it. by jovius · · Score: 1

      Exactly. Facebook account can be established with a pseudonym and there's no obligation to give out any info (or correct info). Likewise anyone can reveal his/her identity on 4chan. In any case they are not competing but complementing platforms.

    3. Re:"moot" doesn't get it. by StikyPad · · Score: 1

      Exactly, most people want to be famous. I say give 'em what they want.

    4. Re:"moot" doesn't get it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Facebook account can be established with a pseudonym and there's no obligation to give out any info (or correct info).

      Uh, there is. If you use a pseudonym or any false infomation, you breach the TOS. Doing that and getting caught will get you deleted pretty sharpish. See the recent story about the (turkish, was it?) author.

    5. Re:"moot" doesn't get it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You and others like you are why I have no truck with nerds. You pretend to be superior whilst suffering the same shitty personality disorders of those you claim to be above. It disgusts me on a deep level to see such bigotry from self-proclaimed "elites."

      Never mind the pervasive populist stupidity you nerds also suffer from.

    6. Re:"moot" doesn't get it. by bean.java · · Score: 1

      i love how moot claims Anonymity is important when 4chan does its best to block Tor. its gotten to be i don't even check the site very often even when i don't use Tor because of 4chan's !Stated! prejudice against people who use Tor for the expressed purpose of being anonymous.

    7. Re:"moot" doesn't get it. by syousef · · Score: 1

      You and others like you are why I have no truck with nerds. You pretend to be superior whilst suffering the same shitty personality disorders of those you claim to be above. It disgusts me on a deep level to see such bigotry from self-proclaimed "elites."

      Never mind the pervasive populist stupidity you nerds also suffer from.

      Woah there bud, I made a joke, and you used it as an excuse to get on your AC soapbox. Perhaps you needed a smiley as a hint? Regardless, your deep seeded issues are your own.

      --
      These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
    8. Re:"moot" doesn't get it. by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but who cares? You make up another psuedonym and carry on.

      In fact, it's sort of one of our social responsibilities as renegade nerds to seed a reasonable amount of made-up bullshit on Facebook. It's what I'd call our 'Fuck you Zuck' obligation.

    9. Re:"moot" doesn't get it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is why society is broken, everyone wants to rule the world, wanna be a billionaire, wanna be the NEXT AMERICAN IDOL
      If this were true in the days of old our first king would be George Washington
      Thankfully the commoners did not win their wish
      Facebook is a 21st century cb radio, it will inevitably flame out
      Google will too as they are dedicated to tracking your every movement as well

  17. It's entirely possible... by sootman · · Score: 2

    ... that Zuckerberg gets it just fine and knows his users don't care.

    --
    Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
  18. The point is moot. by bistromath007 · · Score: 0

    Since his website was long since turned over to federal agents, I don't think his opinion is very relevant.

    1. Re:The point is moot. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      4chans was never "turned over" to federal agents. Moot has cooperated with criminal investigations when people use his site to coordinate hacking attempts or share child pornography, but that is hardly "turning over" and certainly not a bad thing to do, unles you are some kind of kid toucher

  19. Fine,but... by macraig · · Score: 1

    ... simple economics suggest that in fact Zuckerberg is "doing it" exactly right IF his goal is to enrich himself.

    Guess what Zuckerberg's goal is?

  20. Me to Poole: by pak9rabid · · Score: 1

    Are we a wee bit jealous of Zuckerberg's success?

    Given the ridiculous amount of success Facebook has seen over the past 5 years, I'd say you're talking out of your ass.

    1. Re:Me to Poole: by jcoy42 · · Score: 1

      One would almost think Poole was trolling.

      But of course he'd never do that.

      --
      Never trust an atom. They make up everything.
    2. Re:Me to Poole: by flimflammer · · Score: 1

      You didn't actually watch the discussion or even read what it was about, did you?

  21. Re:They're both wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You're posting under an anonymous alias right now, moron.

  22. Needs to be two "internets" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    one for financial transactions and serious intellectual discussion, where access guarantees your identity as being valid, where trolls cannot proliferate because they have to stand behind what they say and corporations cannot spend millions to astro-turf favorable commentary.

    and a separate internet for all the non-secure anonymous conversations/trolling.

    Of course, the irony of my comment is that I posted it anonymously.

  23. Idiots by cfalcon · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I love all these idiotic comments that Facebook MUST be right because they are successful. Would you stand up for an evil dictator with the same brevity? Well, he's in charge and all who opposed him are in anonymous graves SO HE MUST BE RIGHT!!1!1

    These are good points. That facebook snookered everyone about privacy and is headed by a cocksure asshole who doesn't care about HIS privacy (possibly BECAUSE he is privileged) doesn't make it right just because all the lies about privacy, all the broken promises, still haven't acted to sink facebook in any way.

    But he's rich herpderp doesn't stop you from critiquing, say, George Bush, does it? Or is it just that the Bushes aren't rich *enough*?

    1. Re:Idiots by pak9rabid · · Score: 1

      Next time you should try taking the entire Prozac.

    2. Re:Idiots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao, Hitler... Facebook?

      Sure, I'm seeing the connection now.

      Thanks for playing.

    3. Re:Idiots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      he's right. maybe you should take a cyanide pill

    4. Re:Idiots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What does depression have anything to do with this?

    5. Re:Idiots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Would you stand up for an evil dictator..

      No, but I also wouldn't assume an evil dictator doesn't "get it." In fact, I'd expect an evil dictator to "get it" better than 99% of the rest of the population.

  24. Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by PCM2 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    One of my very first bosses said to me, back when I was still a teenager, that if you have something to say, you should be able to stand behind it. Even if all you're doing is dropping a note into the cash register saying "we keep running out of nickels," you should have enough character to sign it and date it. If you feel like you can't do that, maybe you shouldn't bother saying what it is you were planning to say. I still mostly agree with him about that.

    Sure, I understand there are many cases where it would be preferable, or even essential, to remain anonymous: when you're acting as a whistleblower, for example, or working against an oppressive government. But for most exchanges that we have on a day-to-day basis -- the kind of thing Facebook is good for -- I think anonymity just spoils it.

    Compare MySpace to Facebook, for example. On the former, you're inundated with friend requests from "DarkLordSeth79" and "PowrGrrl," where their photographs are screen grabs from anime or movies. I haven't used MySpace in a long time, but ultimately I found the only meaningful exchanges I had on there were with the dozen or so close friends whom I knew well already. Anybody whom I didn't know came off as a troll cloaked in MMORP wish-fulfillment. (See also the people who post on YouTube videos.)

    So I guess in summary, 4chan has its place, and maybe that should remain the place for it. Facebook is a place for something else, and I for one am thankful.

    --
    Breakfast served all day!
    1. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by countertrolling · · Score: 1

      Standing behind what you say can put you out in front of a rifle. It's easier to stand behind what I say when standing behind the rifle

      --
      For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
    2. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your very first boss wasn't that smart.

      1500's
      "The Earth revolves around the Sun!" ---> DEATH
      "Hahaha! GOD?!! Hahahaha!" ---> DEATH

      Even now there are certain subjects to be discussed that you'd better not attach your name to. Some of these are in the 'politically correct' area People that in fact know better (in secret) will (in public) be hurrying to condemn you just to show everyone how correct and elevated they themselves are. Being redeemed after your death (like Galileo) doesn't really help you today. This is also true for certain topics in science.

      Some topics have to do with people that can afford to prosecute you on someone else's (company or taxpayer) dime. Remember that blogger that has to shell out 60,000 quid for saying things that are factually correct? Right. It would have been more convenient for him if he had presented these facts anonymously. Cowardly? Perhaps. Smart? For sure.

    3. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by MindlessAutomata · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Hah, when you're anonymous it's easier to debate because personal qualities of the people making the arguments are unknown; therefore, the arguments are more likely to stand on their own (although people do speculate).

      That "stand behind it" crap is really all just manly-sounding bullshit.

    4. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Says the man whose posts on a forum with (what I assume is) his actual picture as an avatar.

    5. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by DarwinSurvivor · · Score: 2

      So why isn't your screen name your full name and address then? That's what facebook attaches to everything you say on THEIR site. In fact, they attach your name to everything other people say TO you!

    6. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by PCM2 · · Score: 1

      Even now there are certain subjects to be discussed that you'd better not attach your name to. Some of these are in the 'politically correct' area People that in fact know better (in secret) will (in public) be hurrying to condemn you just to show everyone how correct and elevated they themselves are. Being redeemed after your death (like Galileo) doesn't really help you today. This is also true for certain topics in science.

      By all means tell us what these topics are. I am pro-choice, against the death penalty, for gun control, pro-immigration, am generally liberal on social issues and moderately conservative on fiscal ones. Am I missing any bases here? Is the Man coming to put me to death like Galileo yet?

      You're talking about political movements of the 1500s. I'm talking about connecting with my friends and family on Facebook. Big difference.

      Some topics have to do with people that can afford to prosecute you on someone else's (company or taxpayer) dime. Remember that blogger that has to shell out 60,000 quid for saying things that are factually correct? Right. It would have been more convenient for him if he had presented these facts anonymously. Cowardly? Perhaps. Smart? For sure.

      But who would have believed him? If you hide your identity to avoid people who are likely to call you a liar, what does that say about your integrity?

      --
      Breakfast served all day!
    7. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That "stand behind it" crap is really all just manly-sounding bullshit.

      Yep. The "stand behind it" idea comes from the days of "if you have something to say to/about me, say it to my face" (so I can take you behind the woodshed and beat the snot out of you if I disagree).

    8. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "By all means tell us what these topics are. I am pro-choice, against the death penalty, for gun control, pro-immigration, am generally liberal on social issues and moderately conservative on fiscal ones. Am I missing any bases here?"

      Helen Thomas

    9. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Aren't you oh so US of A(ssholes), damn! Your own set of sick morals is the right one and a shotgun blast to those who disagree! Even if you're just blasting from your ass (that would be your oral orifice, in case you're wondering). In any case there'll be shit everywhere. There's plenty of PwrGrrls on FecesBarrel, moronite. Every other day there's a story of how this thing you're so grateful for was "abused" - much like the other thing you sick fucks are so grateful for - religion - it isn't really abused, since properly using it isn't really abusing it, it's abusing other people. I think it should be shut down. All of it - the so-called social media is just manure. Steaming piles of shit, stinking up the already junk-filled fuckrag that is "Web 2.0".

    10. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by Fulcrum+of+Evil · · Score: 1

      if you have something to say, you should be able to stand behind it.

      Spoken like a man who's never considered the power of intimidation.

      --
      "We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
    11. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by jafac · · Score: 2

      I'm Just Another Fucking Anonymous Coward.
      And I understand that the fuckers in the KKK wore hoods for a reason.
      But then again, the perpetrators of the original Boston Tea Party dressed up like Natives for a reason too.

      --

      These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
    12. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Dear nazis,

      I don't think you should be killing jews and gays and blacks. I think it is wrong...why, I am jewish myself!

      Signed: My name"

      Somehow I don't think your idea applies to all situations...

    13. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And people on 4chan post child pornography.

    14. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One of my very first bosses said to me, back when I was still a teenager, that if you have something to say, you should be able to stand behind it. -- If you feel like you can't do that, maybe you shouldn't bother saying what it is you were planning to say.

      Well, I for one disagree. Most of the "active" stuff I do online (as opposed to just browsing, which would be "passive") involves helping people. I moderate forums, post helpful comments and answer questions, and none of the people I help know who I am. If I had to sign every action with my name and address, I wouldn't do most of them.

      Look at it this way, if you had to state your name, address and social security number every time you wanted to open a door for someone, would that make you open more doors?

      Here, again, I post anonymously -- if I couldn't, I wouldn't have commented at all. And no, you won't find me on Facebook, either.

    15. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are important differences between, say, you and I knowing who each other are when we communicate with each other, and the owner of the communication medium knowing who both of us are (and gleefully exploiting it at every opportunity). Especially as the use of that medium goes up.

      Facebook identity has extremely little to do with standing by your words. It's about marketing finding you things about you that you never said to them - often things you never said to anyone else, either - and making money from it at your personal expense. The ads you get bombarded with are the least bad aspect of this. It's the pile of data sitting in some private database with some private algorithm making secret decisions about you that should worry you the most, because if you friended a hundred people, most of the info there about you isn't even FROM you, but is actually a guess interpreted about you from the connections to everyone else.

      If that database is owned (or accessed by) law enforcement, banks, insurance, or potential employers, it will be interpreted in the manner least in your favor, no matter whether those conclusions are true. The conclusions won't be checked, but they'll be acted upon and you'll never be told the reason. It's the internet equivalent of the old sex ed warning ("you're having sex with everyone your partner ever had sex with!"); your association map will be assumed to have statistical bearing on your own habits.

      It's already come up in cases like: houses getting broken in to because someone ELSE said you were away; job applications being rejected due to being in a picture someone ELSE uploaded. It can trivially be extended to: your credit rating shifting due to the credit ratings of the people you are associated with; your security clearance chances shifting due to the demographics of who you are associated with; your car insurance costs going up due to anyone you know ever getting into a crash (because they're statistically likely to be near you, so your area is clearly more risky); your health insurance costs going up because your friends make poor health choices and, by association, you're assumed to be breathing their secondhand smoke on occasion (or partying and drinking, or doing drugs, or playing tennis, or whatever).

      As your own examples point out, people were doing fine mutually knowing the identity of who they talk to WITHOUT third parties knowing, before facebook started demanding and collecting that info for itself.

      (posting anonymously, so that PCM2 will be spared the additional association with a paranoid-sounding wheezing computer geek on the internets, because who knows, I could be a friend of a friend of a friend of a someone who'll turn out to be a TERRORIST in two years, and I'd hate to hear PCM2's house was raided or something two years later just because I responded to his slashdot post).

    16. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "That "stand behind it" crap is really all just manly-sounding bullshit."

      Lol so true.

      How many men would be willing to handwrite a note to their wife saying, "You look fat. Lose some weight."?

    17. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by guspasho · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Do you know any previously-closeted gays? Or currently-closed ones that haven't come out to everyone yet?

      Have you ever lived in a small community?

      Have you ever tried asking friends and family members about something personal and embarrassing to you, like erectile dysfunction? In a restaurant, or at a ball game?

      Beyond the rare cases where one is actually threatened with death or imprisonment, social ostracization occurs all the time, and stigmas are attached to practically everything, especially in small communities. These make it difficult, even unbearable, to live openly. I recommend you read these Wiki articles:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_of_silence

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shame_society

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guilt_society

      One can hope for a perfect world where nobody has anything to fear from sharing everything with anyone, but such a world is unrealistic in the extreme.

      I can go on 4chan and find people asking about things like erectile dysfunction, but I can't imagine that many people are willing to join groups about that on Facebook. That's the value of anonymity.

    18. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by Pseudonym+Authority · · Score: 1

      What is your name PCM2?

      Surely you don't think that a simple user ID is standing behind your words, do you? Even Kristpeit can get (several dozen) user IDs. Your real name and address please, so I can be sure that you are standing behind your word.

    19. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by sootman · · Score: 1

      You are absolutely right in theory and absolutely wrong in practice.

      --
      Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
    20. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ummm. yea... all it means is that the asshole with more time on their hand and who can make the most sock puppet accounts wins. The bigger the loser, the bigger the megaphone.

    21. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why didn't you use your full legal name when creating your Slashdot account, then, PCM2? You should have enough character to sign and date everything you write.

    22. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by misexistentialist · · Score: 1

      Yet you keep your boss and yourself both anonymous in that post. It's OK because unless you need to stand behind what you say, there is no reason not to be anonymous. Signing a request for nickels is pointless, though bosses love being able to track every movement an employee makes. And while I'll agree that there might be a use for a website that is non-anonymous, facebook keeps pushing to extend across to other sites--to every site.

    23. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That "stand behind it" crap is really all just manly-sounding bullshit.

      The idea behind 'standing behind it' is to enforce accountability and as such force one to think about their actions before doing it. Thinking about things before doing them is an important trait for people who operate successfully in a society.

      Not thinking about things before doing them is fantastic when there are no consequences involved...after all, it results in sometimes coming up with impulsive stuff that is actually a good idea.

    24. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What your oblivious first boss fails to acknowledge is that the only good reason there is for someone to "stand behind" a message is to provide that person's opponents a clear target that they can aim at in order to not only punish those who have the audacity to point out that particular message but also use it as an example for anyone who is stupid enough to repeat your mistake.

      A message is just a message. The only people who believe the messenger is important are the ones who don't like that particular message. Therefore, anonymity isn't a sign of lack of character; it's a necessity to avoid the evil bastards' attacks triggered by your need to state a message that they don't approve.

    25. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by Psicopatico · · Score: 1

      Hah! Because asking on a website about own erectile dysfunction instead of stopping by the doctor is so damned smart!

      --
      Mastering the English language is fucking easy: all you have to do is to put an f* word in every fucking sentence.
    26. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by guspasho · · Score: 1

      Thanks for demonstrating my point!

    27. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by MindlessAutomata · · Score: 1

      Good point, Anonymous Coward.

    28. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He's not hiding. Click on the "homepage" link next to his UID. Posting anonymous because I'm a low-life coward.

    29. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I must say that you make a very insightful point. Do please help yourself to an extra large serving of shitcock as a reward.

    30. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your erectile dysfunciton is probably a result of looking at 4chan in the first place.

    31. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      And I understand that the fuckers in the KKK wore hoods for a reason.

      The hoods that the KKK wore were part of the pagentry.

      Believe it or not, the KKK was the mainstream in many of the communities they were active in. It was in some ways the equivalent of being a Freemason, just the 'bad' kind. The people in the KKK were known by other people in their communities around them. When they put the hoods on, it was so they could act collectively as a faceless crowd. Not to keep people from knowing who they were.

    32. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      What point was that?

      Grandparent commenter was pointing out how ludicrous it would be to solicit medical advice on an online forum. Nothing more, that I can see.

    33. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So why is your ./ account name PCM2 instead of "John Johnsson"?

      N

    34. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "I can go on 4chan and find people asking about things like erectile dysfunction, but I can't imagine that many people are willing to join groups about that on Facebook. That's the value of anonymity."

      Um, have you SEEN 4Chan?! it's not what I would call a good source of info (_especially_ /b)

    35. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What point was that?

      Grandparent commenter was pointing out how ludicrous it would be to solicit medical advice on an online forum. Nothing more, that I can see.

      The point was, the social stigmas are often so bad, people are too embarrassed to tell even their doctor about their problem, and would prefer to take the action that is less wise and less effective but more anonymous.

    36. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by i-linux123 · · Score: 0

      This is what most people don't notice. The privacy concerns aren't really about saying things one might later regret, stupid people do stupid things all the time. With Facebook, we're participating in a commercial market as research participants. They don't need to submit forms and questionnaires, they just query their databases, and the data they're querying on is intimate to our character, things we would never provide otherwise if asked for. We're providing them with market research data of how to screw us over commercially.

      Here on slashdot and many other sites, the talk is on news stories or some other subject, on Facebook the talk is about YOU and your personal life. The privacy settings are a facade when people should instinctively be cautious and normal, like in any other social situation.

    37. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wait, people discuss serious things on 4chan these days? I must really be an oldfag.

    38. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But 4chan still looks down on many people, ostracizes them, and tries to subject them to shame and guilt. Like, say, furries - how many do you know on 4chan?

      Maybe you can go on 4chan and ask about help with erectile dysfunction without having to be ashamed, and that's great, but it's not like the same social mechanisms that are at work everywhere else aren't also at work there. It's just that they're targetting different people, so instead of, say, the gay people you mentioned further up in your comments, it's other that are ostracized.

      This isn't such a big problem most of the time since if you're not welcome on 4chan, you can just stay away, unlike someone who's not welcome in their local community in real life and who might not be able to move elsewhere, at least easily. On the other hand, this staying away is a good example of the "spiral of silence" you mention, or a variant thereof.

      4chan has its upsides and its downsides. I don't want to demonize it, but you should not blind yourself to its flaws.

    39. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by zyzko · · Score: 1

      Posting to 4chan about erectile dysfunction is a very, very bad idea unless you have a really thick skin. Yes, you might get usefull anonymous advice. But more than likely you also get a metric ton of crap from people who just make cheap fun of you, because anonymity enables it easily.

      Anonymity has it's place. It enables people to share things that are not just personal but even dangerous to them or their family. So it is needed, in ideal world I thinks even should be the default so that the merits of it like "things arguing, not people" could be seen but its place is not (on todays internet where there are people who are basicly schoolyard bullies getting their kicks on mocking the one in weak state) on 4chan about erectional dysfunction or being gay, those subjects require more than anonymity and the most important thing is understanding peer group (friends/family/doctor/group of people in the same situation etc.) - anonymously if needed. Anonymity sadly tends to attract the jackasses who either troll for fun or are just mean to have a few lols.

    40. Re:Anonymity IS cowardice (hence the userid) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am pro-choice, against the death penalty

      So you're against the death penalty except for the crime of having irresponsible parents who fucked without using contraceptives. Got it.

  25. Isn't he being a little hypocritical? by noc007 · · Score: 1

    If he thinks people should be anonymous on the Internet, why does law enforcement get any of 4chan's logs when something illegal is posted? Putting aside arguments over whether a post was, was not, should be, or should not be illegal, the information was handed over and IMHO that's not anonymity.

    Not trying to troll; it just seems a bit off.

    1. Re:Isn't he being a little hypocritical? by guspasho · · Score: 1

      Why do you think that anonymity should extend to protecting blatantly criminal behavior? What kind of person does it take to even ask that question? By your statements you seem to want 4chan and anonymity in general to be a haven for lawlessness, as if you have something against the very idea of anonymity. I think you are trolling.

    2. Re:Isn't he being a little hypocritical? by noc007 · · Score: 1

      Why do you think that anonymity should extend to protecting blatantly criminal behavior? What kind of person does it take to even ask that question? By your statements you seem to want 4chan and anonymity in general to be a haven for lawlessness, [snip]

      You're putting words into my mouth. I'm questioning Poole saying Zuckerberg has it wrong by doing the opposite of anonymity and Poole being a big proponent of anonymity on the Internet when his site doesn't actually provide anonymity. I think it's great that sickos posting child porn are getting arrested, but that's not part of my question. My point is Poole seems a bit hypocritical in advocating anonymity yet his site, though it may seem provides a level of anonymity, doesn't provide anonymity and isn't in line with what he's saying.

      [/snip] as if you have something against the very idea of anonymity. I think you are trolling.

      Now you're contradicting yourself. I'm thinking I just got trolled.

    3. Re:Isn't he being a little hypocritical? by guspasho · · Score: 1

      When has Poole ever said that the cause of anonymity should stand above and beyond the law, or that supporting it necessarily demands that one put anonymity before even the law? Or anything remotely close that resembles "Anonymity > Rule of Law"?

      You are misconstruing Poole's advocacy of anonymity with that for absolute anonymity that is above and before everything else. And then you call him a hypocrite for failing to conform to the position you've invented for him. Also known as the straw man fallacy.

      Your insistence that anonymity must be placed above the law looks like an attempt to discredit anonymity as nothing more than a haven for criminality, hence you sound like a troll.

    4. Re:Isn't he being a little hypocritical? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's a difference between anonymity for a crime and anonymity for a debate; when you post something on-line you can't always take it back - the internet never really forgets. make one mistake, have one viewpoint that someone doesn't agree with, and instead of fading it keeps getting dragged back up by people attacking you, instead of debating the points.

      Basically, a lack of anonymity means that it's impossible to hold a controversial viewpoint without becoming a pariah.

      Criminality is a different kettle of fish as most of those crimes involve the potential for people getting hurt. Notice all the piracy chatter on 4chan? They don't stop that, they just go for the CP peddlers and the likes.

    5. Re:Isn't he being a little hypocritical? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In all cases where this actually happened on 4chan, lives were actually in danger (and were saved that way). I'm thinking of bomb threats and suicides.

    6. Re:Isn't he being a little hypocritical? by noc007 · · Score: 1

      When has Poole ever said that the cause of anonymity should stand above and beyond the law, or that supporting it necessarily demands that one put anonymity before even the law? Or anything remotely close that resembles "Anonymity > Rule of Law"?

      This is a position that you've invented for me. I never stated anonymity was above, beyond, before, or greater than the law or rule of law. I'm using the fact that law enforcement getting information from 4chan as an example of anonymity not existing on his site.

      You are misconstruing Poole's advocacy of anonymity with that for absolute anonymity that is above and before everything else. And then you call him a hypocrite for failing to conform to the position you've invented for him. Also known as the straw man fallacy.

      Your insistence that anonymity must be placed above the law looks like an attempt to discredit anonymity as nothing more than a haven for criminality, hence you sound like a troll.

      It appears we need to break out the Dictionary and define the word "anonymity":

      anonymity noun
      1: the quality or state of being anonymous
      2: one that is anonymous

      This leads us to define "anonymous":
      anonymous adjective
      1: of unknown authorship or origin
      2: not named or identified
      3: lacking individuality, distinction, or recognizably

      Based on the definition, one is either anonymous or is not. Having the logs of 4chan provides the author's origin and is an identifiable characteristic, therefore the author is not anonymous. To entertain your arguments, anonymity can't exist when information is used to charge an individual with a crime and an individual that is anonymous can't be charged with a crime since no identifiable information exists as a result of the individual being anonymous. It would be inaccurate to say anonymity is greater/above the law or even the opposite. It would be more accurate to say that anonymity and being able to enforce the law can't exist at the same time; with one existing, the other can not exist. That is the basis of my original statements and question.

      I would be interested to have a conversation with Poole on his statements. It would probably result in one of the following:
      - Poole state that his definitions of anonymity and anonymous are different than the Merriam-Webster Dictionary
      - Poole admit he's being a bit hypocritical within the definition of anonymity. Yes, 4chan is close to providing anonymity, but it doesn't provide it.
      - Or the definitions for anonymity and anonymous need to be changed

  26. Re:They're both wrong. by vux984 · · Score: 1

    Most people who use it do so to commit crimes, from trolling to murder.

    Am I using the anonymity afforded by an opaque slashdot account to commit crimes? Are you really saying I'm some sort of weird exceptional case? Really?

  27. Zuckerberg understands EXACTLY what moot is saying by BitZtream · · Score: 1

    And he doesn't give a flying fuck. His business is making sure people are not anonymous, tracked, and well documented.

    moot may have a valid point, but his goals are entirely different than Zuckerberg's.

    Facebook is all about selling the data for people who are easily manipulated, Zuckerberg knows EXACTLY what he's doing, and he doesn't care that its 'A Bad Thing'. He's probably rather proud of it actually. You gotta admit, Facebook throws in its users face on a monthly basis that they are idiots and they keep on loving it.

    --
    Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
  28. Re:They're both wrong. by BJ_Covert_Action · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Do you have any numbers whatsoever to back up your claim that most anonymous entities are criminals, trolls, or murderers? Or are you just making shit up to back up the same position that you have taken numerous times in previous threads regarding anonymity, blair1q? Because if I recall correctly (and I do), you have made claims in the past that are basically along the lines of "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear."

    For those of us with a sense of privacy, and who are a bit schooled in history, we realize just how silly and dangerous such a position is. So please, blair1q, before you go spewing more opinionated bile around Slashdot, could you back up some of your claims that:

    Most people who use it do so to commit crimes, from trolling to murder.

    Mind you, I count such practices as keeping sexual orientation, religious beliefs, political stances, and thoughts regarding your opinion of coworkers and/or bosses secret a form of anonymity, in the sense that you are keeping your personal details regarding those matters anonymous in the eyes of the public.

  29. And Zuckerberg can tell him back ... by Wrath0fb0b · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That when building a tool for the masses you go by their preferences, not your own valid-but-uncommon ones. And the plain fact of the matter is that most people do not mind the Facebook privacy model as evidenced by their enthusiastic uptake of the system and their lackadaisical attitude towards all these "ZOMG Facebook is the devil" news stories.

    I get it, the /. and 4chan crowds have a different set of preferences than the average consumer. This has been beaten to death so many times that there's scarcely anything more to add there except to remind you guys that not everyone must have the same preferences as you. In fact, many prefer the convenience of Facebook over the loss of privacy. We keep hearing the refrain of "if they knew the truth they'd change their minds" and yet they continue to not change their minds not matter how much bleating goes on, probably because they know and don't change their minds. I know this is an odd thing to the partisan/zealot, but really some people understand your position, heard the arguments and just aren't convinced. Try not to take it too personally.

    Heck, I've got a Facebook page that shares all sorts of banality. And truth is I wouldn't at all be upset if everything on there was printed out and handed to every person I've ever known (I would feel sorry if they decided to actually peruse through that banality, to be honest). Is is "authentic" as Moot wants it to be? No and I bloody don't want that in the first instance. The fact that he thinks I give a fig about his preferences for the content and tone of my communications is really astounding, roughly equivalent to me thinking that he should consult me on whether he should have jam or cheese on his toast (cheese, with a tiny bit of Marmite).

    TL;DR version: Not everyone is like you. This is a good thing, the world would be boring if everyone was the same. Quit projecting your own values onto others, at least in such cases where they have taken clear and unequivocal steps to demonstrate that they do not share those values.

    1. Re:And Zuckerberg can tell him back ... by binary+paladin · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I wish I had mod points for this. Oh well.

      One point I want to add though is that you don't lose any privacy by using Facebook. If Facebook jacked into my computer and started posting all kinds of things that I didn't authorize it to, that would be losing privacy. However, for the most part, my Facebook profile gets no more data than I CHOOSE to give it. I'm not giving up privacy by using it because nothing I put there is of a private nature. Otherwise it wouldn't be on Facebook.

      There is nothing I post on Facebook that I give a rat shit about the whole world seeing including government agencies. It's boring, mundane shit. As for target advertising... can someone tell me why this is a bad thing? I'd rather see 5 adverts about the New York Jets than some product I don't give a shit about.

    2. Re:And Zuckerberg can tell him back ... by sessamoid · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I wish I had mod points for this. Oh well.

      One point I want to add though is that you don't lose any privacy by using Facebook. If Facebook jacked into my computer and started posting all kinds of things that I didn't authorize it to, that would be losing privacy. However, for the most part, my Facebook profile gets no more data than I CHOOSE to give it.

      What you choose to give it, PLUS what everybody you're linked to chooses to reveal about you or inadvertently reveals about you.

      --
      "No, no, no. Don't tug on that. You never know what it might be attached to."
    3. Re:And Zuckerberg can tell him back ... by binary+paladin · · Score: 1

      Which is no different than real life.

      More damage has been done to me by the fact that my brother is completely incapable of not saying the stupidest shit at the most inopportune and inappropriate times than will probably ever be done by my Facebook profile.

      With that said, if someone goes digging through my Facebook profile—say as a result of a job interview—and finds something there that's grounds not to hire me. Fine. It's fine. The last thing I want to do is work for a snoop and I know ahead of time that working for a prick organization like that is going to be unpleasant anyway.

      Anonymity is fine. Privacy is fine. They're important and absolutely fundamental rights. However, I can exercise mine by choosing NOT to be anonymous and NOT to be private. At the end of the day, if you're that concerned about being private and anonymous, DO NOT SIGN UP OR PARTICIPATE ON FACEBOOK. If you're worried about other people revealing the mundane details of your life on a social network either get rid of your friends or deal with it. Gossip and bullshit are not exactly new inventions.

    4. Re:And Zuckerberg can tell him back ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The problem with facebunk is that the masses are encouraged to project their privacy preferences onto others - and even to infringe on the privacy of others. If you don't get that, you obviously didn't listen to the "bleating". Is bleating all you heard?

    5. Re:And Zuckerberg can tell him back ... by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      More damage has been done to me by the fact that my brother is completely incapable of not saying the stupidest shit at the most inopportune and inappropriate times than will probably ever be done by my Facebook profile.

      Has your brother friended you yet on Facebook? If not, has he tagged you on his Facebook page, or the page of any of his friends, or your common relatives, etc.?

    6. Re:And Zuckerberg can tell him back ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And what all people you are not (directly)linked to reveals about you.

      I have a facebook profile with 0 friends. Using it for the "attend on facebook and you're on the guestlist"-gray-clubs that are frequent in Sweden.

      The data mining facilities of FB is getting really scary. I signed up using my MSN-messenger email, I did not give away my password so FB could not directly scan all my contacts. Other people however did. So more or less everyone on my contact list shows up as "Is this your friend". That was expected. But as time goes more and more of my genuine friends are showing up. People from soccer teams and the likes. And I never even had them on Messenger. I suspect that someone posted a link to our webpage and that FB scanned our guestbook. Gradually FB gain more and more knowledge about me without my consent and without me posting anything.

      I sure hope the facebook/blog era will soon be over. Maybe we all could get together again actually having a nice dinner. Not posting a picture of your meal online.

    7. Re:And Zuckerberg can tell him back ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yah....

      My kid hasn't posted to FB in months (she's in her 20's) but after a recent health issue, there were a number of posts from "friends" wishing her well and providing some details of her illness. Not that it was particularly embarrassing (it could have been, depending), but as another post in on a related topic here in the last 24 hours put it... it was CREEPY.
      She hadn't looked at her page in a few months and was a bit taken aback to see what had spawned there. She didn't even need to mention it (and then get the expected well-wishing responses)... her "friends" saw fit to introduce the topic to the public for her.

      It is truly creepy to me. It's kinda creepy what people actually will share on FB... do they not realize how odd some of it looks? Apparently not. But a person can be responsible for, or embarrassed about, their own actions and learn from that. The idea of others being being able to "share" in your stead... publicly... sheesh.

      Back in the day, it was one thing to share your drunken party pix at the office or something, then toss 'em into a drawer to be forgotten (or just end up in the trash later). Local gossip likewise, more or less. It's another thing when it's shared digitally... everyone can get a copy of whatever it is to print and frame for all anyone knows, and it's going to be available forever if anyone (besides you) chooses to make it so.

      No, I don't do FB, despite some people I know insisting I should because it's easier for *them*. Those people really **don't know** the backstory details of what FB "connectivity" can entail in the negative. I know they don't know because we've had discussions about why I don't have an account. In the end, they don't care, and don't think it applies or has an effect on them, and tend to adopt the "nothing to hide" position. Lately, I just say I don't have time for it (which is absolutely true).

      Some stuff in tech, like FB, is like a bad drug. It's the latest thing and solves an immediate problem and/or provides an immediate benefit... then years later you find out there's a problem... like the FDA recalling Accutane...

    8. Re:And Zuckerberg can tell him back ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well if Facebook wants to get as many users as possible, perhaps they should acknowledge there are many people out there with different views on privacy. I'd say Facebook is the one who forces their preferences on everyone, not Moot.
      As for Facebook's users not caring about privacy: it doesn't mean they care about being so publicly open either. I think 99% of Facebook users either:
      - Don't realize how public they are on Facebook
      - Are very careful about their privacy and keep information to a minimum. Probably also use nicknames.
      Only the remaining 1% may be happy to have a social network where everyone is not anonymous.

      Facebook could definitely change things to make privacy easier to protect. Currently, privacy settings are a hassle to change, updates to FB have a history of being set to "0 privacy" by default, you can't shield yourself from friends talking too much about you (it would be great if, for example, being tagged in a picture allowed you to have certain rights over that picture, even if you did not post it, such as forcing it's deletion or at least blurring your face). And of course, every status you write, everything you do, it just has to show on all your friends' walls. You can't write a status that only people who care enough to check your page regularly will see - no, on FB either everyone sees it or you just don't post it.

      I'm fine with Facebook forcing people to use their real name and to be honest when they speak, Just let me control what people can know about me and what they can't. Honesty does not mean telling everyone everything, it only means telling the truth or remaining silent. Maybe when my control over info about me on Facebook goes beyond "Let either everybody or nobody know" I will use it.

    9. Re:And Zuckerberg can tell him back ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, not everything you choose. Facebook is also collecting data though the 'like' button
      http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/11/30/1734249/Facebooks-Like-This-Button-Is-Tracking-You
      (yet it's not available to your friends)

    10. Re:And Zuckerberg can tell him back ... by i-linux123 · · Score: 0

      People DONT understand our positions. They understand things such as "privacy setting changed, all your friends are now visible". When normal people think of facebook privacy, they think SOME SETTING. The privacy settings on the website is NOT what the privacy discussion is all about. It's about the microphone between you and your acquentices, and the analysts working on it.

    11. Re:And Zuckerberg can tell him back ... by yuhong · · Score: 1

      Me, I prefer to post non-anonymously but are well aware it is not always possible and some of the reasons why.

    12. Re:And Zuckerberg can tell him back ... by _0xd0ad · · Score: 1

      I signed up using my MSN-messenger email, I did not give away my password so FB could not directly scan all my contacts. Other people however did. So more or less everyone on my contact list shows up as "Is this your friend". That was expected. But as time goes more and more of my genuine friends are showing up. People from soccer teams and the likes. And I never even had them on Messenger. I suspect that someone posted a link to our webpage and that FB scanned our guestbook.

      Facebook also uses friend-of-friend relationships to guess who you might be friends with. If a dozen people are all mutual friends with each other, it'll consider all of them potential friends of yours, not just the one that had you in their address book.

  30. Right or wrong, by Phizzle · · Score: 1

    its a moot point!

    --
    I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.
    1. Re:Right or wrong, by CFTM · · Score: 1

      It's actually not a moot a point, as the original meaning of moot, is that of an issue of great importance. But, it has come to mean the opposite in modern day communication...

      With that said, languages are living entities that change with the times thus it is a moot point....

      So my point is moot...or is it? :)

      Source

    2. Re:Right or wrong, by Phizzle · · Score: 1

      It is a "moot point" because the guy making it, Christopher Poole, is also known as "moot". I guess its a dead joke that needs to be explained :( Sorry.

      --
      I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.
  31. Uh huh, that's our Mootles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's funny of how moot's opinion of Anonymity changes with who he's talking too..

    On 4chan, he loudly hates it, yet if he's addressing people who might make him millions of dollars off 'Anonymous', his pitch changes drastically...

  32. Who cares what this assclown has to say? by Powercntrl · · Score: 1

    There's pictures online of Mr. Poole nude that apparently were found by "anonymous" members of his beloved site. For someone so concerned with anonymity, it hasn't worked out so well for him. 4chan is the asshole of the internet (and yes, every once in awhile it farts to humorous results). Say what you will about Facebook, it has lots of popular time-wasting online games and it's a great way to share (family friendly) photos with your friends and relatives. To top it off, Facebook seems to have a business model that's working, as well.

    To use a car analogy*, this is like the guy who owns the local scrap yard commenting on how Toyota runs their business.

    * Wikipedia has portmanteaus, /. has car analogies
     

    --

    ---
    DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
  33. Re:They're both wrong. by blair1q · · Score: 0

    1. most = more than half. you can count them individually yourself, but I'm pretty sure it'll come out how i said it. probably by a couple of orders of magnitude.

    2. since when isn't it?

  34. Re:They're both wrong. by blair1q · · Score: 0

    No, you are. Mine can be traced to me by the simple expedient of getting a court order and serving /. with it.

    Actually, I take that back. I'm pretty sure your IP and login (if you're logged in) were logged even though you posted using the AC flag.

  35. Re:They're both wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's moran. Look it up.

    And I assume grandparent is currently thinking "Trolling is a art."

  36. Re:They're both wrong. by discord5 · · Score: 2

    Most people who use it do so to commit crimes, from trolling to murder.

    Damn, there's laws against trolling now? I always thought people were joking about the internet police thing, but I guess it's all true then.

    Oh shit, what have I done. Quick guys... HELP ME DELETE THE INTERNET!

  37. Re:They're both wrong. by blair1q · · Score: 0

    >you have made claims in the past that are basically along the lines of "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear."

    I have not made that claim. You simply claim that's my position.

    And if you want to keep secrets, keep them secret. That's not anonymity, it's secrecy.

  38. Oh, yes. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    On the former, you're inundated with friend requests from "DarkLordSeth79" and "PowrGrrl," where their photographs are screen grabs from anime or movies.

    Because I'm really Facebook friends of Admiral Viscount Nelson, who hasn't been alive for over two hundred years.

    If you think Facebook is some champion of accountability, you are sadly mistaken.

    1. Re:Oh, yes. by PCM2 · · Score: 1

      Because I'm really Facebook friends of Admiral Viscount Nelson, who hasn't been alive for over two hundred years.

      That's your choice, I guess. But as TFA points out, this is discouraged on Facebook, and the vast majority of my friends on there use their real names and an identifiable photograph. Most of the abstract ideas/dead people/companies/products that you can "be friends with" are actually pages, not user accounts, and the distinction between the two is pretty clear. For example, I don't believe pages can send you friend requests -- only the other way around.

      --
      Breakfast served all day!
    2. Re:Oh, yes. by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      But as TFA points out, this is discouraged on Facebook

      Sure, it is. There are enforcers and mechanisms in place on FB to actively discourage fakes and made-up identities.

      That mechanism, however, only serves to increase the value of said fake and made-up identities.

      The only reason I have my (several) Facebook accounts is for several games I decided to spend a little time fooling around with. I sincerely feel sorry for the people I encounter while playing said games who 'choose to only play the game with people they really know.' Then they whine a lot about how few 'neighbors' they have and how it means they don't get many of the various 'share this' bullshit items that said games are all about passing around.

      Jesus H. Christ. If you want to play a little game with just people you know in real life, go get a card table, dumbasses.

  39. Re:They're both wrong. by blair1q · · Score: 1

    You're presuming your opaqueness.

  40. Mark isn't stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Mark makes is money with the data. Selling it, using it for targeted ads, etc. How do you think facebook makes money? hello???

  41. It comes down to... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It all comes down to getting laid. I'm pretty confident more people are getting laid through FB than through 4Chan.

    1. Re:It comes down to... by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      But proportionate to the membership numbers, more people are getting laid through Craigs List than either of the two.

      But if you want to get Zucked, theres just one place to head.

  42. the consumer by codepunk · · Score: 1

    Hello, the consumer does not care. This is pretty much like the android vs apple riots, again the consumer does not care about walled gardens and or privacy.

    --


    Got Code?
  43. Re:They're both wrong. by mug+funky · · Score: 3, Funny

    lol. what are you gonna do, arrest me for trolling?

    *opens legs*

  44. Re:They're both wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wat?

  45. Re:They're both wrong. by mug+funky · · Score: 1

    most ACs here post AC to avoid getting their karma destroyed by stating an unpopular opinion (or trolling someone leaving themselves open to it).

    maybe 1 in 50 AC posts are overtly racist or whatever. certainly seems the good is outweighing the bad here.

    also, modding is anonymous.

  46. Re:They're both wrong. by BJ_Covert_Action · · Score: 1

    I base my claims on the comments you have previously made in this thread, amongst others. You might have do dig a bit to find your comments there, as many of them have been modded troll, but your position regarding anonymity is there for all to see. There were a few other threads in your comment history where I found similar positions taken, that anonymity is useless to most people other than criminals, but I really can't be bothered to dig through your comment history just because you are suffering a case of amnesia.

  47. Re:They're both wrong. by Dails · · Score: 1

    You could say the same thing about any means to acquire authenticity/anonymity. Can you prove that your RSA-encrypted comms are unbreakable?

  48. Does he not get it? by C_Kode · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure it isn't that Zuckerberg doesn't get it. I think it's more that he is paid millions and millions of dollars to *not* get it.

    1. Re:Does he not get it? by guspasho · · Score: 1

      That's precisely the problem. Zuckerberg is corrupted by his wealth. Zuckerberg pursues personal wealth, while Moot (presumably) does not. Even if it's only presumably, he isn't making his fortune through increasingly creepy invasions of his users' privacy.

    2. Re:Does he not get it? by hduff · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure it isn't that Zuckerberg doesn't get it. I think it's more that he is paid millions and millions of dollars to *not* get it.

      He gets it, but he doesn't make money off of 'getting it'.

      --
      "I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
  49. Facebook is a social network, right? by mosb1000 · · Score: 1

    The goal of the website is to connect people. Wouldn't maintaining anonymity preclude that? It seems like anonymity is actually the antithesis of Facebook, in which case I'd say Christopher Poole is the one who doesn't get it.

  50. Re:They're both wrong. by blair1q · · Score: 2

    i don't see me going AC to post an unpopular opinion
    my karma's fine. excellent, even.
    and if someone decides to karma-bomb me, i can point it out to the staff and they'll look behind the magic AC curtain and fix it.
    but, i don't share your observation that there's a 50:1 ratio of good:really bad; nor did i limit the bad to "overtly racist or whatever". i still like my n_good n_bad estimate.

  51. Re:They're both wrong. by blair1q · · Score: 0

    I don't support the statement that "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear".
    As I said. I never said that. You did. You can stop it now that I've explained it to you, again.
    If you have nothing to hide you have plenty to fear. Most of it from people who have plenty to hide, and are allowed to do it because your fear causes you to preserve the structures by which they can hide it.

  52. Re:They're both wrong. by blair1q · · Score: 1

    Of course not. Which is why if I ever did find a need to be anonymous, I wouldn't be so stupid as to leave a trail of neon paint leading back to my bucket and expect everyone else to be colorblind to that hue.

  53. Is DEMOCRACY a crime? by mangu · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The value of Anonymity of course depends on the value of what you're doing with it.

    Most people who use it do so to commit crimes, from trolling to murder.

    Most people vote in democratic elections anonymously. Do you think voting is a crime, or do you consider it trolling?

    1. Re:Is DEMOCRACY a crime? by blair1q · · Score: 1

      I'm pretty sure I bring an ID to the polling place every time I vote.

    2. Re:Is DEMOCRACY a crime? by mangu · · Score: 1

      I'm pretty sure I bring an ID to the polling place every time I vote.

      I'm pretty sure I send my IP address to 4chan every time I post.

    3. Re:Is DEMOCRACY a crime? by blair1q · · Score: 1

      Which means you're not anonymous there, either, and Poole - sorry, "moot" (...) - knows it.

    4. Re:Is DEMOCRACY a crime? by Palshife · · Score: 1

      Um, your vote is secret. Get it?

      --
      Attention deficit disorder is a complicated issue, spanning several major... HEY LET'S GO RIDE BIKES!
    5. Re:Is DEMOCRACY a crime? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not perfectly no, there's a matter of trust with the entity that is handling the medium not to publish your personal information when you vote batshitcrazyWing politician, or rant about your boss. I trust Slashdot and 4chan because they're run by people with souls. Facebook on the other hand, I don't trust in the least. Even though it has privacy settings, I just assume that anyone with a buck has access to anything and everything.

  54. Re:They're both wrong. by vux984 · · Score: 1

    You're presuming your opaqueness.

    Not really. I know how thin the veil is, but if I wanted more ... I could get one pretty arbitrarily impenetrable with sufficient effort.

    But this is anon enough for my needs.

  55. Might =/= Right by guspasho · · Score: 1

    Would it be too much to expect that everyone to realize it is both corrupt and fallacious to claim that Zuckerberg's ideas are superior because of his vast wealth? Anyone who jumps to defend Zuckerberg purely on his wealth alone, without addressing the arguments, is defending corruption itself. Ignoring the merits of the arguments, if anyone is right, wouldn't it be the one whose ideas are not tainted by the corruption of wealth? (Unless of course the subject is how to most efficiently accumulate wealth, but that is not what Moot is trying to do.)

    1. Re:Might =/= Right by nedlohs · · Score: 1

      But that is what Zukerberg is trying to do, and hence he isn't "doing it wrong".

  56. Re:They're both wrong. by blair1q · · Score: 0

    Yup. Keeps your employer from knowing what you're doing on his nickel.

  57. Re:They're both wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You're a fucking moron.

  58. My Hope. by mosb1000 · · Score: 1

    My hope for the end of anonymity is that people will someday realize that everyone makes mistakes. Everyone does things that we may find objectionable. Pretending not to is no way to bring people together. My hope is that one day we will learn to accept others for who they truly are.

    What? Why are you laughing?

  59. In other news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In other news, Facebook is ddos'ed in random attack.

  60. I have to agree with Zuckerberg on this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I don't understand why anybody would want anonymity on the internet, unless they were a coward or something.

    1. Re:I have to agree with Zuckerberg on this by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

      You own me a new irony meter -- you just broke mine!

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  61. Re:They're both wrong. by Pseudonym+Authority · · Score: 1

    since when isn't it?

    Are you fucking stupid?

    Oh, I get it, you are metatrolling. Well played!

  62. Zuckerberg gets it alright by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

    What Zuckerberg gets is that LACK of anonymity is an essential part of his business model, so whether or not it is good "for the internet" is irrelevant.

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    1. Re:Zuckerberg gets it alright by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      It isn't anonymnity or the lack thereof that the Zuck is concerned with.

      Facebook is a giant filter. Similar to the really stupid ads you hear on low budget talk radio. Any moron should be able to tell that it's not the real deal when the announcer says to 'dial within the next ten minutes.' But if you're the kind of huckster who deals in that sort of business, you want just exactly and only the sort of suckers who will dial that number to call. In fact, establishing contact with them can be more valuable than the initial sale will realize.

      Similarly, Facebook only wants the 'uh, who cares?' crowd. They don't want smart or aware people in the groups of 'users' they herd around and sell to their real customers (the businesses they wholesale their userbase to.) Like the radio advertisers, he's in the business of compiling big lists of suckers.

  63. Re:They're both wrong. by Pseudonym+Authority · · Score: 1

    I'm not going to bother reading through your, no doubt insightful, comment history, but the phrase "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" comes naturally from "Most people who use it do so to commit crimes, from trolling to murder". Your unstated premise being that murderers and trolls hide their 'crimes' with anonymity for fear of retribution.

    I called you a troll in another thread. I apologize, I now believe that you actually believe the shit that you say. Whether that is an improvement or not is up for you to decide.

  64. Mr Moot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I represent a group of investors who would like to pay you $50 billion for 4chan. To whom do we make out the check?

    Hows that anonymity thing working out for ya?

  65. Re:They're both wrong. by blair1q · · Score: 1

    read the TOS.

    harassing other people will get you booted.

    in this shire, that makes it a crime.

  66. Re:They're both wrong. by blair1q · · Score: 1

    the phrase "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" comes naturally from "Most people who use it do so to commit crimes, from trolling to murder".

    Only if your "naturally" includes "illogically".

  67. Re:Zuckerberg understands EXACTLY what moot is say by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm not confident Zuckerberg understands programming, let alone the subtle, and not so subtle implications of his capricious and unilateral privacy "policies." I'm not even sure he understands what it was about facebook that propelled it to the position it's in, dragging him along with it, although I am sure that I don't understand how that happened (after all, If I understood it, maybe I could duplicate it and have gigantic fortune of my own....), so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on that one.

    I'll meet you halfway, though. I'm sure he doesn't care. Although I suspect he doesn't care about a lot of things...

  68. MODS = FAGS by Alex+Belits · · Score: 1

    MODS = FAGS

    --
    Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
  69. Funny. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't have a Facebook account nor have any desire to have one.

    Is that really so hard to do?

    1. Re:Funny. by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      I have three. I highly recommend you get some. If everybody just took a few minutes to do their civic duty and seed Facebook with two or three fake 'identities' it would be taken down in short order.

      There's no better way of saying 'fuck you Zuck' than to open a few new fake accounts.

  70. Re:They're both wrong. by Pseudonym+Authority · · Score: 1

    First, a ToS is not a law, it is not even really a contract, it is only a way to outline what the user should expect. Secondly, even if it were a contract, it would be a tort, not a crime.

    You sure do know quite little about the law for someone who plays the big bad internet lawyer on slashdot.

  71. I would tend to agree by Cyberllama · · Score: 3

    I've noticed recently that a lot of places have suddenly switched to the Facebook commenting system for their websites with that assumption that forcing people to post with their real names will cut down on trolling.

    It may well do that, but it certainly comes with a cost to non-troll posts as well. I, for one, have stopped visiting Techcrunch as a result -- let alone stopped posting there. People censor themselves when they know their friends will read their comments. This is not always a good thing, this includes keeping valid and valuable opinions to themselves simply because they don't want to offend anyone. Not to mention the number of people who will simply choose to say nothing at all. What Techcrunch and anyone who switches to this new commenting system has done is throw the baby out with the bathwater, then pat themselves on the back for getting rid of that pesky bathwater. It makes me kinda sad. The Facebookification of the Internet is the death of the internet. Go down that road at your own risk.

    1. Re:I would tend to agree by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      I've noticed recently that a lot of places have suddenly switched to the Facebook commenting system for their websites with that assumption that forcing people to post with their real names will cut down on trolling.

      Do you want to know something really weird? One of the biggest Facebook 'presences' in terms of a mass membership is the constellation of games from Zynga. FarmVille, Mafia Wars, etc. Hugely successful operation they've got going there.

      But the 'Zynga Forums'? A completely separate web presence. You can't even authenticate on the Zynga Forums using a Facebook account. Anybody can be anybody on their Forums, because you sign up for an account with a completely separate process from FB.

      Maybe it's not so weird, considering the Love/Hate relationship that Zynga and Facebook have with each other. Zynga makes their money from people playing games, in many cases people who don't care whether their 'real identity' is out there, and even in some cases, people who specifically do NOT WANT their real identity associated with the fact that they spend any time at all online playing games. You don't post on your resume that you're a Level 97 Farmer on FarmVille.

      Zynga exists in a symbiotic relationship with Facebook, and is run by the same sort of crooked fucks at the top level of the organization. But they really don't like being beholden to Facebook for their entire business.

    2. Re:I would tend to agree by Hazel+Bergeron · · Score: 1

      forcing people to post with their real names will cut down on trolling.

      How does Facebook force people to post with their real names?

      I once created a Facebook account using a completely random name-sounding pair of words.

      I've let someone else use my real name on Facebook, partly to prove a point and partly to muddy the waters.

    3. Re:I would tend to agree by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I've been posting AC on Slashdot for about 8 years. My comments were often sufficiently insightful or interesting or funny to be modded as such (which isn't saying a great deal, I know). However, since the new Slashdot interface was introduced a few weeks ago I've had about three mod points and one reply to approximately forty posts where previously I'd expect at least a third of my posts to get some interest. The new UI is very effective at hiding AC comments. It makes me kinda sad too.

    4. Re:I would tend to agree by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As someone who only has a troll account on facebook, I hardly see how this would do much more to prevent trolling than a regular user system.

    5. Re:I would tend to agree by LordSnooty · · Score: 1

      "People censor themselves when they know their friends will read their comments" Have you read a common Facebook thread recently? Did you see all the comments about Japan? Try lamebook and see how much censorship the use of real names enforces.

    6. Re:I would tend to agree by Thelasko · · Score: 1

      People censor themselves when they know their friends will read their comments.

      I don't care about that. I just don't want my comments indexed by The Great Googlebot (and tied to my real name). There is a flaw in Facebook's privacy settings that will allow search engine indexing on such comments, even if you have disabled indexing in your preferences. I discovered this flaw when I ran a Google search of my name.

      --
      One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
    7. Re:I would tend to agree by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      amen to that. i would also like to mention that facebook takes ownership of any thing you post (i could be wrong i haven't read the tos in some time) and if you click like on anything you end up with a thousand adds for it. ooh and what about the tracker that follow you every were you go on the web and the freakin' "custom" adverts that come along with it. do a research project on hemorrhoids and get nothing but hemorrhoid cream add for the rest of your life. anonymity (at least to some degree) is key to haveing a free web/internet.

  72. People are more stupid than we thing by Dodgy+G33za · · Score: 1

    I think we underestimate peoples stupidity. Take the recent case in Australia - invitations to a open house party go viral on facebook and tens of thousands sign up. You would think that the young girl would have got the message, but if you RTA you will see that afterwards she made a journalist her friend. WTF? http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/teens-facebook-party-cancelled-as-200k-threaten-to-show-up-20110314-1btsl.html

  73. He doesn't get it? by cvtan · · Score: 1

    As much as I hate it when people who do things I think are dumb become fabulously successful, I have to say that Facebook has made its creator a billionaire and has 500 million users. How is that "not getting it"?

    --
    Sorry, but gray text on gray background is making my eyes bleed.
    1. Re:He doesn't get it? by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      500 million 'accounts.' How many users they have is kinda unknown.

  74. and 1 more thing... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "if you charge a fair price for the product (which is fair for the market concerned), make the product easily accessible to people who want it, AND DON'T TREAT THEM LIKE CRIMINALS most people will be happy to pay for your product. " And one more thing..OFFER A QUALITY PRODUCT!!!!

  75. Poole doesn't get it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Zuckerberg is owned and controlled and will do what the hidden masters tell him to do, same as Google.

    Enslavement is coming through technology and anonymity and privacy are for terrorists.

    Wake up, sheeple.

  76. Re:Zuckerberg understands EXACTLY what moot is say by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Exactly why I'm not signing up!

  77. Disagree by Wolfling1 · · Score: 1

    I think I have yet to read one of these 'useful and creative' opinions on 4Chan. Its drivel. Its all 'Fag this' and 'Nigger that' and 'Fap the other'. 4Chan is little more than a source for new internet memes - which are a textbook example of group-think. Not exactly independent and free-thinking, as m00t's rhetoric suggests.

    The only really credible opinions I read these days are signed. Listen to some Geroge Carlin stand up comedy. There's a man who's prepared to put his lawyers where his mouth is.

    Whilst I don't like Zuckerberg, and I don't agree with what he's doing, it doesn't give m00t's concept of anonymity any credibility. There is nothing wrong with anonymity. The problem occurs when a mob starts voicing a vitriolic opinion. And that 'Lord of the flies' mentality is what 4Chan promotes. It is dangerous stuff, and it is sociopathic. We tend to sit around and joke that 4Chan is just a bunch of nerdy teenage boys living in their mum's basement - but, what those teenage boys are really doing is reinforcing thought patterns and psychological behaviours that are very destructive to society. When they come out of their basements, god help the society that tries to integrate them.

  78. sage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    sage goes in all fields

  79. His point is moot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yup moot.

  80. Exactly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If only Zuckerberg understood: Lack of anonymity of Facebook creates shallow, vapid content. Meanwhile, anonymity on 4chan creates.... uh.... I forgot what my point was.

  81. Both are needed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anyone ever hear of the concept of complementarity? You know, no cold without hot, no positive without negative, no good without evil, etc.

    Anyhow, there's no anonymity without identity and vice-versa. Opposites always provide some aspect of balance. The internet is not excluded from this principle.

    When you want people to find you and when you want to associate yourself with certain opinions and ideas, use sites like Facebook.
    When you want to experiment freely without risk of personal embarrassment or criticism and float out ideas publicly upon their own merits alone, post at the Chans or other places that let you be anonymous.

    It's not that hard to figure out that both are very much needed, and that each has its own virtues and failings.

  82. sage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    sage and reported for trolling.

  83. Re:They're both wrong. by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

    Well, uh, you seeeee.... gp has apparently bought into the whole 'virtual world' thing and that includes pretend laws, etc.

  84. Poole missed the point by Jarik_Tentsu · · Score: 1

    Poole completely misses the point of Facebook.

    People go there for lack of anonymity. You go there to make and keep contact with your friends, family and acquaintances. Pretty sure a clear identity is required for that to work. You use Facebook because everyone uses their real name, and you can thus easily track down people you may want to find.

  85. Wrong? by steeleyeball · · Score: 1

    He'd have to care about the anonymity of others to be wrong.... He just doesn't.

  86. Um... by Toze · · Score: 1
    --
    No OS on the planet can protect itself from a user with the admin password. - Yvan256
  87. Face book is a good thing by ken138888 · · Score: 1

    Face book is a good thing.

    --
    http://lyricsbus.net
  88. Both are right. The obvious solution. by Requiem18th · · Score: 1

    Zuck has a bigger userbase, but I think moot serves his userbase better.

    Channers get exactly what they want from 4chan. Sheep get *almost* what they want from facebook, except facebook keeps messing with their privacy settings, pulling the rug under their feet, taking away rights users used to have etc. --but still-- serves them mostly what they want.

    Both are right, they create different things. moot participated in the inception of an global culture that has taken a life of its own and is ready to try and change the world for better or worse, Zuck helped people reconnect with old friends, connect tighter with relatives, inflate egos and generate enough grief and collateral damage to make Anonymous seem rather nice and positive in comparison.

    They are different men with different goals. Zuck measure of success won't necessarily be the same. Zuck is a billionare and will be forever remembered as a brilliant and ruthless businessman that got million by creating one of the most evil[1] interfaces ever that most people use because everybody else is using it.

    moot is simply the guy who popularized image boards in the west. Maybe that's enough for him.

    1. Evil interfaces as described by the EFF, quoting: "[...] a good interface is meant to help users achieve their goals as easily as possible. But an "evil" interface is meant to trick users into doing things they don't want to."

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    But... the future refused to change.
  89. Re:They're both wrong. by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 1

    Law is the set of rules to regulate anti-social behaviour within a community.

    Breaking the law has consequences. These are, for serious breaches of the community rules (law), removal from that community (imprisonment).

    Therefore, banning someone from an online community for breaking the ToS is akin to imprisoning (banishing, as was?) someone for breaking the law. You "jail" their ability to contribute to, or abuse the members of, that community.

    Nobody is playing internet lawyer, they're offering analogy. Lern2grok.

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    Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
  90. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  91. Zuckerberg to Poole by hesaigo999ca · · Score: 1

    No....U don't get it, my friend, you are the one still in yesteryear, I have billions and you don't, so who really gets it....
    I am not surprised Zuckerberg never bothers to spit back at these people, he's too busy spending his money...

  92. Oblig. by Bobfrankly1 · · Score: 1

    Poole To Zuckerberg: You’re Doing It Wrong

    That's what she said.

  93. Poole? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I know that media-types love to call him Christopher Poole, because they like names that fit in to their view of normalcy, but on Slashdot? Posted by CmdrTaco? I would have thought the obvious fakery would not stand here and that moot would be called by his real name, which is moot. The name he was given at birth is something else (and unimportant), the name one gives oneself is what matters. That's who you are. Chris Poole is just a way to troll the ignorant.

  94. Re:They're both wrong. by spazdor · · Score: 1

    Did the AC reply above me break any laws in your jurisdiction?

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    DRM: Terminator crops for your mind!
  95. Re:They're both wrong. by spazdor · · Score: 1

    You're reading awfully charitably into "commit crimes", in my humble opinion.

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    DRM: Terminator crops for your mind!
  96. 4chan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And if you don't like 4chan, don't use... oh wait, it doesn't matter if you don't use it, because moots little army of Anonymous "honest" racists and "honest" homophobes and "honest" Japan-hating, Apple Computer hating, woman hating creeps will come after you and dig through your private life and do everything they can to make your life miserable, and of course its all your fault because they would only harass you if you were bad by some arbitrary moral standard of theirs in the first place!

  97. Re:They're both wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This should be modded (-1, Quit Feeding The Troll).

    Best drop this thread for now, sir (or madam, but we all know there's no girls on the internet).

  98. Death & Taxes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Those are the only things that certain in life. Privacy or anonymity? HA!. Here's an idea if you want to hide behind anonymity: STAY OFF THE FREAKING INTERNET! That's the best anonymity solution in any scenario on the internet. Unfortunately, many people move through life with the internet as something they depend upon.

    A few questions for Poole or anyone else pissed off that sites don't offer enough anonymity: Did your ISP grant you total or ANY anonymity when connecting to the internet? Did any website ever do that if it had you register? Long comments could follow, but let's keep it simple. The internet is a public domain regardless of the settings on your home network. While I agree with many that Zuckerberg is completely off in how he handles "privacy" policy on Facebook, Poole remains naive about the internet itself being a public domain, even if the "network location" set up on your home network is set to "home network." Rule of thumb applies on the internet as well as anywhere else: If you don't want something made public, keep it private i.e. STFU/put the keyboard down and keep it to yourself. You can't keep something private if you put it out there for someone to hear or see, and you can't demand .