Since in when in the hell does the Federal government get to decide how my neighborhood gets wired?!?! And where is this written out? I don't see 'utility regulation' in Article 1 Section 8 of the US Constitution - powers delegated to Congress.
It doesn't... what they use is the "interstate commerce" clause as an excuse for just about every unjustified expansion of federal government. And both parties do it.
Because a couple of crap articles are controlled by a few nitwit administrators with no recourse to their power, that's why. It undermines the credibility of the whole project.
You've made one of the only intelligent comments I've read on here... I must say though that while you are right, it's current technological ability which is holding things back. We're not even close to being able to do the things you are mentioning (not in any reliable way, anyway).
Move somewhere else in the US, vote (or otherwise become part of the process to change things), or leave the country. Whatever you do, don't sit around and impotently whine. I have no respect for whiners.
According to Slashdot, the US is a internet backwater where hardly anyone has an internet connection...at the same time we are "rife" with internet addicts.
For your own good... that's probably for the best.
Honestly you are just swallowing the Slashdot Kool Aid. I metamoderate and the system cannot possibly hope to keep up with the large effect that mindless groupthink has on this place. It's why when an article is posted you get the same banal opinions and unfunny jokes... because of rampant karma whoring and fear of being downmodded for going against the groupthink.
Just because a view is censored by democratic vote doesn't mean it's not censorship. And that's how Slashdot is censored, through democratic vote.
The intention of marking a post "flaimbait" simply because you disagree with it is censorship, plain and simple. And it happens ALL THE TIME.
When I metamoderate, post after post has been downmodded for going against the groupthink. There's no end to it, really. To believe it doesn't happen is just buying the Slashdot hype.
Hypocrisy, sir. You complain about censorship and then go and moderate an opinion as "flamebait" because you don't agree with it. It's called hypocrisy and they have it on Slashdot in large amounts.
They certainly have that right... my point is that it's hypocritical to complain about censorship and then turn around and censor a post because politicall you disagree with it.
Dude, I dutifully metamoderate here... do you know how many posts I see that are marked (-1, flamebait) because they don't mimic the "Bush/Microsoft are evil incarnate" line here?
The intention of those who downmod unpopular opinions in this community is to silence those opinions that it does not agree with. The intention is to suppress unpopular opinions... by default unregistered users do not see posts modded to below zero. The intention of down-moderating is suppression of unpopular opinions.
The intention is to silence an opinion you do not agree with. The intention is censorship... sure you can get the opinion if you really want it... but by default those opinions are not shown on Slashdot. The fact is that there is a certain portion of this population that will cry about "censorship" like free speech zones and then turn around and try to downmod opinions they do not agree with. They downmod for the express purpose of suppressing that opinion.
Gimme a break, Slashdot is overwhelmingly "left wing"... every once in a while a libertarian/conservative post gets modded up but it's fairly rare. Generally if an article is posted, the same 120 bland nonthinking comments are posted because everyone is afraid of getting moderated downward. This place is just a shrill greek chorus to the political bias of the editors.
C'mon... I metamoderate as much as possible, it's the only check of censorship in this place. It's the one thing I applaud this site for. But you're dreaming if you don't think that unpopular opinions aren't moderated ALL THE TIME with the express purpose of censoring unpopular opinions. Also remember that liberal idiots like Kdawson are editors and have unlimited moderation points... and if you don't think the Slashdot editors aren't politically biased then you are blind or just willfully ignorant.
It's still censorship... the aim is to hide unpopular opinions from popular view. Down moderating unpopular opinions happens constantly on Slashdot... yes you can get around it, but most people probably leave their settings on default. It still doesn't matter, the goal of the moderation is censorship, plain and simple.
Slashdot's moderation system is a form of censorship. Opinions that don't follow the anti-Microsoft, anti-American party line are regularly censored. People on Slashdot will complain about free speech zones and then mod down posts that they simply don't agree with. Happens all the time.
Well, we were kinda helping to defends Western Europe weren't we? I understand that mindless US bashing is in fashion here, but have some insight, will ya'?
Slashdot Mirror
Since in when in the hell does the Federal government get to decide how my neighborhood gets wired?!?! And where is this written out? I don't see 'utility regulation' in Article 1 Section 8 of the US Constitution - powers delegated to Congress.
It doesn't... what they use is the "interstate commerce" clause as an excuse for just about every unjustified expansion of federal government. And both parties do it.
Unfortunately, both parties only support federalism and the 10th amendment when it suits their interests.
On the other hand, we'd have less "sprawl" if we didn't force companies to deliver services to customers in unprofitable areas.
I dunno... this seems more like a battle of the usual NIMBY busybodies rather than any coherent argument.
Actually, the fact that you find advanced math topics "crap" says loads about your particular education/skillset.
Because a couple of crap articles are controlled by a few nitwit administrators with no recourse to their power, that's why. It undermines the credibility of the whole project.
His party was in charge of Lousiana when Katrina occurred?
You've made one of the only intelligent comments I've read on here... I must say though that while you are right, it's current technological ability which is holding things back. We're not even close to being able to do the things you are mentioning (not in any reliable way, anyway).
So the President has the power to ratify treaties? The ignorance displayed on Slashdot is appalling, sometimes.
Move somewhere else in the US, vote (or otherwise become part of the process to change things), or leave the country. Whatever you do, don't sit around and impotently whine. I have no respect for whiners.
According to Slashdot, the US is a internet backwater where hardly anyone has an internet connection...at the same time we are "rife" with internet addicts.
if your post is not a troll or otherwise illogical/offtopic it's unlikely to be severely modded down.
Completely, totally, and utterly false. You couldn't be more wrong if you tried and you're obviously swallowing the Slashdot Kook Aid.
This is my final post on this subject.
For your own good... that's probably for the best.
Honestly you are just swallowing the Slashdot Kool Aid. I metamoderate and the system cannot possibly hope to keep up with the large effect that mindless groupthink has on this place. It's why when an article is posted you get the same banal opinions and unfunny jokes... because of rampant karma whoring and fear of being downmodded for going against the groupthink.
Just because a view is censored by democratic vote doesn't mean it's not censorship. And that's how Slashdot is censored, through democratic vote.
The intention of marking a post "flaimbait" simply because you disagree with it is censorship, plain and simple. And it happens ALL THE TIME.
When I metamoderate, post after post has been downmodded for going against the groupthink. There's no end to it, really. To believe it doesn't happen is just buying the Slashdot hype.
Hypocrisy, sir. You complain about censorship and then go and moderate an opinion as "flamebait" because you don't agree with it. It's called hypocrisy and they have it on Slashdot in large amounts.
They certainly have that right... my point is that it's hypocritical to complain about censorship and then turn around and censor a post because politicall you disagree with it.
Dude, I dutifully metamoderate here... do you know how many posts I see that are marked (-1, flamebait) because they don't mimic the "Bush/Microsoft are evil incarnate" line here?
The intention of those who downmod unpopular opinions in this community is to silence those opinions that it does not agree with. The intention is to suppress unpopular opinions... by default unregistered users do not see posts modded to below zero. The intention of down-moderating is suppression of unpopular opinions.
The intention is to silence an opinion you do not agree with. The intention is censorship... sure you can get the opinion if you really want it... but by default those opinions are not shown on Slashdot. The fact is that there is a certain portion of this population that will cry about "censorship" like free speech zones and then turn around and try to downmod opinions they do not agree with. They downmod for the express purpose of suppressing that opinion.
It's called hypocrisy. You whine and cry about "censorship" and then turn around and censor an opinion you don't like with moderation.
Gimme a break, Slashdot is overwhelmingly "left wing"... every once in a while a libertarian/conservative post gets modded up but it's fairly rare. Generally if an article is posted, the same 120 bland nonthinking comments are posted because everyone is afraid of getting moderated downward. This place is just a shrill greek chorus to the political bias of the editors.
C'mon... I metamoderate as much as possible, it's the only check of censorship in this place. It's the one thing I applaud this site for. But you're dreaming if you don't think that unpopular opinions aren't moderated ALL THE TIME with the express purpose of censoring unpopular opinions. Also remember that liberal idiots like Kdawson are editors and have unlimited moderation points... and if you don't think the Slashdot editors aren't politically biased then you are blind or just willfully ignorant.
It's still censorship... the aim is to hide unpopular opinions from popular view. Down moderating unpopular opinions happens constantly on Slashdot... yes you can get around it, but most people probably leave their settings on default. It still doesn't matter, the goal of the moderation is censorship, plain and simple.
Slashdot's moderation system is a form of censorship. Opinions that don't follow the anti-Microsoft, anti-American party line are regularly censored. People on Slashdot will complain about free speech zones and then mod down posts that they simply don't agree with. Happens all the time.
Well, we were kinda helping to defends Western Europe weren't we? I understand that mindless US bashing is in fashion here, but have some insight, will ya'?
What do laptops have to do with education? Nothing. Let's teach kids the basics: reading, writing, and the rest of it. ;)
;)
I have to question the education level of Slashdot posters who think that giving laptops to kids will be a magic cure for education.