It still falls on SixApart's shoulders, as they now own LiveJournal.
In all seriousness. If SixApart expects LJ to ever stop being a pink ghetto, they're going to have to start taking complaints like this seriously. LJ's "abuse department" has a long history of making screwy, inconsistent decisions that would (and should) appaul anybody at SixApart who cares about their corporate self-image and goodwill. From what I can see, this has not changed since SixApart took over.
So, yes, it's proper to blame SixApart for the problems LJ-Abuse has. SixApart is profiting from LJ, therefore it is ultimately SixApart's responsilbility how LJ functions.
Second, the GMs at blizzard really have no power. I asked for contact information. For email information. For names. For an appeal. To talk to a supervisor. And the best they would give me was the generic help phone line or a mailing address. Like with a stamp! I was told that almost every question I asked was unanswerable in game. I gave an email address but they never emailed. They wouldn't even tell me what was wrong with my nickname until after a half dozen inquiries of why. You have really no recourse against a GM. That scares me.
This has been the fundamental problem with darn near every MMORPG: the "officiating" is often arbitrary, and even worse there is absolutely no appeal process. On some games, the rules are often so byzantine and conflicting.. when you can actually read them, that is.. that nearly every player has been in violation of one at some point.
This is what killed Photon, a laser tag style game center. There was rampant corruption in the referees, and it just got to the point where people stopped playing.
GMs need to be held accountable to somebody. There needs to be an appeal process. And, worse: the rules need to be clearly defined and human readable.. and every rule needs a reason, also clearly defined. If there's no reason, there doesn't need to be a rule. If the title "Cmdr" doesn't exist in the game, there should be no problem with CmdrTaco, because there's no reason to ban it. Worse: the fact that the character was allowed to play for over 6 months before there was any issue should also have bearing.
Until MMORPGs solve these problems, they will continue to be viewed upon by "adult" gamers as not a place they want to play. Adults expect fairness: after all, even if you get a photo radar ticket you are still entitled to some due process of law. MMORPGs should be no different.
Nobody "needs" games. You could argue you "need" a word processor, a graphics package, and even a 3D rendering package, because those things are tools of their particular trades. The output of those programs creates marketable "goods", which one can exchange for their livelyhood.
But games are "wants", not "needs". And, I'm sorry, the quality of modern games is dogshit compared even to the quality of the average TV show, let alone many big movies. Storywise, we haven't progressed much further than the Atari 2600: video game stories and plots are threadbare. You can count the games with good storylines and plots on one hand. They are also highly derivitive: three of the games you mentioned above are just new versions of old games, two of which you can play the "old" game on the Mac, thankyouverymuch.
As someone who has spent most of his life being diabetic, I have never needed my glucose meter to talk to my computer. My latest glucose meter, a One-Touch UltraSmart, has all the logging and information functions I need inside it, including some basic information on diabetic exchanges. My diabetic care team poke a couple of buttons on it, get the averages from the menus, and hand it back to me. *chirp* Done.
Before that, I had this nifty device called a diabetes logbook, with the optional "pen" attachment. Worked great for logging.
I'm always concerned about running 100% biodiesel in my TDI. Volkswagen officially states that burning biofuel will void your warranty, and I'm not totally cool with ripping up my powertrain warranty because I burned bio. I've been burning B20, and have had no problems.. and the price here is only eight cents more per gallon than petrodiesel.
Don't know what Las Vegas you're going to, but the one I go to (in Nevada, not New Mexico) has plenty of beautiful women (and even a couple of handsome guys) serving drinks. And, usually they're plenty strong: after all, isn't it in their best interest to get you as plastered as possible?
Heck, even some of the off-strip places are getting pretty high-class now.
You gotta sit where the money is, though. Stop playing nickel slots at Terrible's Casino and you might know what I'm talking about.
I can get a "free" drink from my refrigerator. Actually, since I have a real life, I can have a scantily-clad babe even get it from the fridge for me.
Part of the "fun" of gambling is the show. Can't get that from a video game, no matter how much I beg my girlfriend to wear a cocktail waitress uniform.
For starters, part of the "gambling experience" for me is physically going to a noisy, crowded casino and taking in the atmosphere. It's like going to an amusement park: the ride just isn't fun unless you're strapped to the seat.
Plus, at home, I don't get scantily-clad babes serving me free drinks, and the infrequent comp from the casino host isn't a bad thing either.
Online gambling appeals to the pros, perhaps. Which is exactly why I don't want to play there. I'd rather be taken by the house at Blackjack in Vegas.. at least there I get to sit in a pretty building.
Much to my dismay, there are very few police and fire services that use the radio spectrum in question. I believe the California Highway Patrol still uses VHF-Lo, but they are the exception. Every local and regional public safety department I know of on the West Coast uses, at minimum, VHF-Hi, if not some whiz-bang 800MHz trunked radio system.
The real concern of much of local LE and other public safety was the loss of ham radio and other shortwave regional backup systems should their microwave links fail in a disaster.
I thought the federal government was required to present all materials on the WWW to be capable of being rendered by a text-to-speech engine for the blind.. has nobody pointed that out to the Copyright Office?
Theft of service and fraud are both valid crimes that are a threat to society. Additionally, theft of potentially protected personal information is also a legitimate public safety concern.
Yes, 640 years is extreme. But, prison is totally appropriate for the crime.
And, based upon Nintendo's fairly successful lawsuit against Atari/Tengen et. al. over this exact same issue (vendor hardware locks used to only allow "authorized software" to run), I think the courts would agree that Real is in the wrong.
As opposed to carrying a phone, camera, and a PDA in your front pocket?
The Treo 600 is only slightly thicker all the way around than the original StarTac, the phone you compared it to, and with a sturdier, stocky antenna (I kept breaking the antenna on the StarTac when I shoved it in a front pocket).
I was in your camp, until I got a PalmOne Treo 600.
Acceptable battery life, a usable camera, and (at least the GSM model) a good usable phone. Plus, having all the data service I can eat on my provider means that I'm always on IM and have instant and perpetual accesss to my E-mail (both with good third-party apps).
And, I only have to carry one device.
Nokia's phones are notorious at being lousy cameras and PDAs. But, to Palm's credit, the Treo made me a believer in the concept. It is, indeed, possible to get enough usability out of one device to make it worthwhile.
The first line in the above post should have read:
"Consumer WISPs have yet to establish... "
Yes, I am aware of Speakeasy (and others) business-oriented offerings. However, considering they are charging $500/month for what is essentially a service they sell for $50 over DSL (3 MB/s, which is granted configurable any way you please), this is essentially T-1 carrier-grade prices.
Slashdot Mirror
It still falls on SixApart's shoulders, as they now own LiveJournal.
In all seriousness. If SixApart expects LJ to ever stop being a pink ghetto, they're going to have to start taking complaints like this seriously. LJ's "abuse department" has a long history of making screwy, inconsistent decisions that would (and should) appaul anybody at SixApart who cares about their corporate self-image and goodwill. From what I can see, this has not changed since SixApart took over.
So, yes, it's proper to blame SixApart for the problems LJ-Abuse has. SixApart is profiting from LJ, therefore it is ultimately SixApart's responsilbility how LJ functions.
Second, the GMs at blizzard really have no power. I asked for contact information. For email information. For names. For an appeal. To talk to a supervisor. And the best they would give me was the generic help phone line or a mailing address. Like with a stamp! I was told that almost every question I asked was unanswerable in game. I gave an email address but they never emailed. They wouldn't even tell me what was wrong with my nickname until after a half dozen inquiries of why. You have really no recourse against a GM. That scares me.
This has been the fundamental problem with darn near every MMORPG: the "officiating" is often arbitrary, and even worse there is absolutely no appeal process. On some games, the rules are often so byzantine and conflicting.. when you can actually read them, that is.. that nearly every player has been in violation of one at some point.
This is what killed Photon, a laser tag style game center. There was rampant corruption in the referees, and it just got to the point where people stopped playing.
GMs need to be held accountable to somebody. There needs to be an appeal process. And, worse: the rules need to be clearly defined and human readable.. and every rule needs a reason, also clearly defined. If there's no reason, there doesn't need to be a rule. If the title "Cmdr" doesn't exist in the game, there should be no problem with CmdrTaco, because there's no reason to ban it. Worse: the fact that the character was allowed to play for over 6 months before there was any issue should also have bearing.
Until MMORPGs solve these problems, they will continue to be viewed upon by "adult" gamers as not a place they want to play. Adults expect fairness: after all, even if you get a photo radar ticket you are still entitled to some due process of law. MMORPGs should be no different.
Wow. They do television on HF now?
(Clue: HF is the radio spectrum from 3 - 30 MHz. All TV is on VHF [Channel 2 is around 56 MHz] and UHF.)
Games I don't play. So, what's your point?
Nobody "needs" games. You could argue you "need" a word processor, a graphics package, and even a 3D rendering package, because those things are tools of their particular trades. The output of those programs creates marketable "goods", which one can exchange for their livelyhood.
But games are "wants", not "needs". And, I'm sorry, the quality of modern games is dogshit compared even to the quality of the average TV show, let alone many big movies. Storywise, we haven't progressed much further than the Atari 2600: video game stories and plots are threadbare. You can count the games with good storylines and plots on one hand. They are also highly derivitive: three of the games you mentioned above are just new versions of old games, two of which you can play the "old" game on the Mac, thankyouverymuch.
Funny. I have all of that, and no Microsoft software on my machine.
Oh, wait. I have a Macintosh.
(goes back to playing Railroad Tycoon II on his Mac)
As someone who has spent most of his life being diabetic, I have never needed my glucose meter to talk to my computer. My latest glucose meter, a One-Touch UltraSmart, has all the logging and information functions I need inside it, including some basic information on diabetic exchanges. My diabetic care team poke a couple of buttons on it, get the averages from the menus, and hand it back to me. *chirp* Done.
Before that, I had this nifty device called a diabetes logbook, with the optional "pen" attachment. Worked great for logging.
I'm always concerned about running 100% biodiesel in my TDI. Volkswagen officially states that burning biofuel will void your warranty, and I'm not totally cool with ripping up my powertrain warranty because I burned bio. I've been burning B20, and have had no problems.. and the price here is only eight cents more per gallon than petrodiesel.
How well does 100% bio run on your TDI Beetle?
... except you can't buy any passenger diesel in California. And CA regulators are trying to make it harder to import diesels from other states.
So, the fact that they aren't subject to any emissions requirements are mostly irrelevant.
Funny. I had an iPaq that interfaced just fine with my Mac.
"Third Party Software."
Don't know what Las Vegas you're going to, but the one I go to (in Nevada, not New Mexico) has plenty of beautiful women (and even a couple of handsome guys) serving drinks. And, usually they're plenty strong: after all, isn't it in their best interest to get you as plastered as possible?
Heck, even some of the off-strip places are getting pretty high-class now.
You gotta sit where the money is, though. Stop playing nickel slots at Terrible's Casino and you might know what I'm talking about.
You missed the point.
I can get a "free" drink from my refrigerator. Actually, since I have a real life, I can have a scantily-clad babe even get it from the fridge for me.
Part of the "fun" of gambling is the show. Can't get that from a video game, no matter how much I beg my girlfriend to wear a cocktail waitress uniform.
For starters, part of the "gambling experience" for me is physically going to a noisy, crowded casino and taking in the atmosphere. It's like going to an amusement park: the ride just isn't fun unless you're strapped to the seat.
Plus, at home, I don't get scantily-clad babes serving me free drinks, and the infrequent comp from the casino host isn't a bad thing either.
Online gambling appeals to the pros, perhaps. Which is exactly why I don't want to play there. I'd rather be taken by the house at Blackjack in Vegas.. at least there I get to sit in a pretty building.
We are told here in Portland, Oregon to expect about 1,000 refugees, to be transported here by bus.
I gather that some effort is being done to relocate people in scattered areas, so that one region does not have to bear the brunt...
Someone needs to beat that lawyer up with a rolled-up copy of the Constitution.
"Bad lawyer! Bad!"
Yep. Just what I need: one more way for Enron to rip off ratepayers.
Much to my dismay, there are very few police and fire services that use the radio spectrum in question. I believe the California Highway Patrol still uses VHF-Lo, but they are the exception. Every local and regional public safety department I know of on the West Coast uses, at minimum, VHF-Hi, if not some whiz-bang 800MHz trunked radio system.
The real concern of much of local LE and other public safety was the loss of ham radio and other shortwave regional backup systems should their microwave links fail in a disaster.
I like the line "Do you really represent Linus?", to which your response is "I'm not sure if Linus personally knows of our efforts.."
If Linus dosen't personally know of your efforts, you're scamming people. The trademark is HIS, and until he says "yes", you're a scumbag.
You missed the point.
We put other people who commit fraud and steal things in jail. He is no different. End of story.
Or, do you propose that everybody who steals things and commits fraud not be in jail?
Actually, isn't it illegal?
I thought the federal government was required to present all materials on the WWW to be capable of being rendered by a text-to-speech engine for the blind.. has nobody pointed that out to the Copyright Office?
Theft of service and fraud are both valid crimes that are a threat to society. Additionally, theft of potentially protected personal information is also a legitimate public safety concern.
Yes, 640 years is extreme. But, prison is totally appropriate for the crime.
I think that they do..
And, based upon Nintendo's fairly successful lawsuit against Atari/Tengen et. al. over this exact same issue (vendor hardware locks used to only allow "authorized software" to run), I think the courts would agree that Real is in the wrong.
"Business is war."-- Commodore founder Jack Tramiel.
It's a shame we couldn't have rounded up Microsoft's employees early in the game and gassed them.
As opposed to carrying a phone, camera, and a PDA in your front pocket?
The Treo 600 is only slightly thicker all the way around than the original StarTac, the phone you compared it to, and with a sturdier, stocky antenna (I kept breaking the antenna on the StarTac when I shoved it in a front pocket).
I was in your camp, until I got a PalmOne Treo 600.
Acceptable battery life, a usable camera, and (at least the GSM model) a good usable phone. Plus, having all the data service I can eat on my provider means that I'm always on IM and have instant and perpetual accesss to my E-mail (both with good third-party apps).
And, I only have to carry one device.
Nokia's phones are notorious at being lousy cameras and PDAs. But, to Palm's credit, the Treo made me a believer in the concept. It is, indeed, possible to get enough usability out of one device to make it worthwhile.
The first line in the above post should have read:
"Consumer WISPs have yet to establish... "
Yes, I am aware of Speakeasy (and others) business-oriented offerings. However, considering they are charging $500/month for what is essentially a service they sell for $50 over DSL (3 MB/s, which is granted configurable any way you please), this is essentially T-1 carrier-grade prices.