This is kinda cool. I'd still like to see us colonize the moon by the end of this century (no way in hell:( It's still funny when you think of people 20 years from now saying "Oh jesus! we can put a repeater on the moon but we can't make a car that doesn't break down."
BTW - my favorite quote from a NASA representative: "this IS rocket science"
FluX After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
lol - i fucked up. I wanted to say french fry...but that would have been redundant in the sentance (doesn't make for good humor). So instead i said chip but forgot to delete the "french" part Now that i look at the post again i'm like "what the fuck??"
oh well. the beautifully patatoic imagery remains the same .:P
FluX After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
i hope that was a rhetorical question. Of course journalism can be done with (near) complete objectivity. While the/. crew gets some leeway in this area, this story was written not with bias, but with a completely jaded angle to it. Michael wasn't just expressing his opinion, he was doing it in a manner that seemed to advertize "this is what you should think too. Isn't it obvious"
I'll make that determination myself thanks. If i want cynical or misrepresented news...i'll go watch 60 minutes.
FluX After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
well...i seriously appreciate slashdot now. Prior to this article, i had thought it important to draw my own conclusions on stories posted by the slashdot crew. Thanks to michael, i don't have to do that anymore, since it's blatantly obvious that he's done that for me:)
Slashdot FUD for nerds. Opinions that matter
FluX After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
first off. anyone remember what that last A stands for in the 'MPAA'??? I just....can't...seem...to...remember...
Secondly. I sort of disagree with the article on the whole topic of universities being our last bastion of freedom. Look at napster. Universities were some of the first institutions to ban it. Look at the mid 30's. Universities in germany were sponsoring book burnings even before Hitler came to absolute power. To say defending a University just because it's a school or some such argument is sort of, well, dogmatic. The key thing to remember is the phrase "give 'em an inch, they'll take a mile." If the MPAA is going to start screwing with anyone and everyone who writes about DeCSS (Ironic that it wasn't even reverse engineered in the states), then anyone and everyone needs to fight the MPAA, and the DMCA, and any other law or organization that aims to take away rights which we feel are worth fighting for. If you let these kinds of acts go unnoticed when they're against "small" people - like joe user on the internet, then the crap that goes on at Oxford, or anywhere else for that matter, is moot.
FluX After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
While i would recommend a web based ticket tracking system, I'm not altogether sure that a fully web based support system is the answer. For one thing, it removes the personalized aspects of the support process. Customers, or whoever, may have problems letting you know exactly what needs to be done, as they may not fully know themselves. After all, that's what you're there for.
That being said. There is a really good utility that we use here at my company, a Problem Resolution support system. Users are allowed to login and create problem reports, then assign them a priority and a status (such as open, feedback, etc.) - This allows the most pressing problems to get tackled first. Additionally, when a problem report changes status, or gets closed, - both the user and the tech (or whoever) get notified via email.
While this may not be exactly what you're looking for..it's a good variant. Just remember...none of it is as good as a phone call, or better yet, being there in person.
FluX After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
assuming that you live in denver..you should know that both papers are sticking around. the only thing they're basically sharing is operating costs (basically just making them less competitive). I'll still keep my subscription to the Post as it seems to me to just be a better written paper. The RMN isn't a bad paper...but i just don't think it's got the same quality.
FluX After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
or at least one of the two IT's that i'm thinking of. maddog is the type of guy i really want to be like. when kids talk about growing up...they say "i want to be a fireman, a policeman"
Personally. when i grow up (not for the next 30 years:) I want to be like these guys. I place maddog next to torvalds on my list of guys who "get it"...or who have actually done an incredible amount, not just for the linux community, or the open source community, but for the computer/internet community.
That's not to say i think maddog or Linus are gods (that word is only reserved for Stephen Hawking:P ) but they're the type of people you can't think of one bad thing to say about.
"uhhh...sir. we've traced all the AC/Natalie Portman posting back to some guy named hall's house in New Hampshire"
FluX After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
I didn't visit the link because i can't stand the RMN (I read the post here in Denver)...but this is basically the equivalent of transferring the ENTIRE encyclopedia britannica in 15 seconds.
FluX After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
I've seen this same view posted a few other times on this article..but what good's a/. account for if not to post.
The human genome project should be a totally non-commercial project. This is a field of research that affects humans a helluvalot more than a car or a truck, or a TV for that matter. We're not talking about a pill you take to get a boner, or a bigger, better plane. We're talking about the building blocks of life. I think that should be given a little forethought...at least more than "Hey...we know how to build people now. How can we make money off this?"
Oh well...i suppose this is just another type of ozone deal. We'll say fuck it untill it either starts to kill us...or we can't scrape any more cash out of the sun-burned bodies of our consumers.
viva la capitalism! - what a joke!
this post was brought to you by the national association for the advancement of owls.
FluX After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
that there is modern evidence that Japan was about to surrender anyway...and the U.S. knew this. There is a widely believed theory (one which i'm not too quick to discard) that the only reason we dropped fat man and little boy was because we wanted to show the russians that we already had the nukes...and we could use 'em.
The A-bomb, and it's modern counterparts (ergo Hydrogen and the like), are a blessing and a curse. The best quote i've ever heard about nukes was "There is no learning curve with nuclear weapons." - We've had alot more peace since world war two than we would have had otherwise. Possibly a third world war (although hitler/stalin/moussolini/hirohito all appearing at the same time in history is sort of a distastrous glitch).
The only problem is that, as i said, there's no learning curve for the weapons we have now. One day, someone's going to do something stupid with a big bomb, and over 6 billion people are going to die because of it. Humanity is farther from the edge than it was 50 years ago...but the fall just got a lot farther.
FluX After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
Bill Gates made an operating system? MS-DOS was bought by Microsoft
lol - had i bet $200 that i'd get called on the Bill statement. I'd have $400 in my pocket right now. I'm WELL aware that Gates didn't write DOS. But he's responsible for where M$ is today. Without Gates, there is no windows...that was more of the point i was elucidating to. Especially since i can't remember the name of the guy that coded DOS.
FluX After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
Does anyone remember when we all started using linux cause it was cool?? It was this REALLY GOOD operating system. Now linux is getting into a framework where everyone talks about the "business model" and the "value added" components, and the blah and the blah and the blah.
And the winner of the worst, or most cliched, term involving linux is....(drum roll)
Tim O'Reilly for "Thinking Outside the Box"
(we watch as Tim goes up to accept his award and i'm in the back puking my guts out - i shout from my station at the porcelain cubicle "I'm fucking switching to BSD")
I posted in another article that one of the large downfalls of the internet is going to be "ownership." Everyone wants to own a piece of the HUGE economic pie that is the internet. Nearly the same could be said for linux...only it's eventual downfall will be one of two things. Either a better OS comes along (probably not, as evidinced by the perennial domination of that "other" graphical based operating system), or it will sink into the myre of business based applications and corporate double-plus-unspeak. The scariest thing i see about the articles we all just read...is that the second looks like it's going to happen sooner than we think.
That's not to say that linux is going to be around forever, or die in the next two years. Linux is going to be a BIG player in the next decade....but i'm afraid that corporate big wigs are going to kill it. I'm afraid that corporate greed is going to usurp the freedom that everyone went to linux for in the first place. Why would a business open source a product that IS their cash cow? Look at Microsoft. Look at Apple. Sorenson, Real. Proprietary business looking to make a buck off linux eventually challenge the GPL and make proprietary changes (which have a frighteningly strong chance of holding up against at relatively weak GPL). They'll demand that everyone in their company use it, fuck compatibility! And they'll start using terms to describe linux, and linux based companies, that refer to "thinking outside the box" - of course, we'll need to make sure that they're "value added" (I just actually understood what the fuck that meant like a month ago).
Eventually, hackers (not the ones you saw defined in Webster's) will get sick of all the bloat that linux has become, and they'll switch to the next "linux" - (probably invented by some bolivian hacker named Binuso Torvales or something). Why? Because quick changes stoped being made, code wasn't as good as it should have been. Proprietary software wasn't just common, it was the norm. And linux turned into what it was supposed to kill. You may not like it...but if linux IS the best operating system available today (just nod, cause it is)...then we've seen it's fate in another OS. (hint, it's founder's name starts with B, and ends in "ill Gates")
I'm not saying I'm abandoning linux. That's not going to happen for a LONG time to come. I'm just saying let's watch it. Let's never forget the ethic that made most of us switch to it in the first place, not the relative bloat of Windows, but the absolute freedom of linux.
FluX After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
lol - first off. i initiated "the discussion at hand", so i'm willing to bet i know what it's about. Basically, it's about the major difference between *spam* and email advertising. Unfortunately, being that i didn't explicitly state this, i generated a shitload of responses.
Just to reiterate - I am trying to defend email marketers who aren't sending to ill gained addresses, or what have you. The reason for the original post is that the vast majority of the internet going public has no idea of the difference. As for you, you seem to have a pretty good grasp on the situation, aside from an earlier comment about sending through open mail relays:
the great majority of all email goes through these relays. They are out there on the internet and available for use by anyone that needs to use them (i.e. email way-stations). While spam sucks, i wouldn't classify their use of these mail relays as part of their "immoral" actions. more of a by-product. I'm not too concerned how *spam* gets to me anyway...i'm pissed that it gets to me at all.
FluX After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
Your post raises some good questions. But some are, perhaps, misguided questions.
Most people who post about *spam* (both solicited email and non solicited email) have the attitude that advertisements in the email form are somewhere being near breaking one of the 10 commandments. They argue with the appearance that what these advertisers are doing is morally wrong. While they don't intend to sound as such, that's the way most come across.
I believe that some of the tactics that email marketers use is blatantly abusive of the end user, but most are not. Have you considered suing slashdot, or perhaps andover for compensation for the bandwidth that it took to download the banner ad at the top of the page you're seeing now? if not...why? you didn't ask for the banner ad. It's a blantant infringement of your rights as an internet user.
Most people who are violently against any type of advertisement in their email are the same who don't realize the way economics work. Nothing is for free. Even slashdot isn't free. The price you pay for the content is the banner ad at the top of the page. I am willing to dispense a little of my time, or my ever so precious bandwidth to support sites like slashdot. These guys have to make a living somehow. And to keep the site free to us (at least monetarily speaking) is to sell some of their space to advertisers. Depending on the needs of the site, company, or what have you, and the service it produces. It may be necessary to ask you if you want to recieve some other ads in the mail. If you don't...you get to click a button that says you don't want it. But for people to criticize a practice that keeps alot of the things i like free, is just, ill informed.
If you're against everything that "marketed email" stands for - then please. go home...throw away your TV and your radio....because that's how "free" content gets paid for. Advertising.
FluX After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
I'm not going to post that i love getting spam in my email. Unsolicited email is a pain in the ass...but not all of the ads i get in my mail box are what i would classify as "spam"
I know of alot of people who complain about getting "spam" in their email box from some company they bought something from, but either checked, or didn't think to uncheck that nice little box that says "notify me of other products." Fly by night email advertisers who gain gobs of email addresses by illegal means, or who illegaly use properly obtained email addresses should be prosecuted. But there *ARE* email marketing firms who are trying to do the right thing. They don't over pressure their "customers", and they don't try to screw people in the name of the almighty buck...*cough*double-click*cough*
While the majority of what just about every slashdot reader gets is spam (because, while many appear to have a preoccupation with hot grits, they are vastly more internet savvy than the general populous), most people are just not internet-wise enough to know where/where not to click to recieve/not recieve targeted email. I'm afraid that this is going to put alot of good people out of work for no reason but to get rid of a couple of emails in your inbox that you opted to recieve.
is it hot in here? i think i'm about to get flamed.
FluX After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
I was pretty sure (back when i started using the internet) that at some point in time something was going to happen to fuck it all up. A good thing, unfortunately, is almost always a fleeting thing.
In this particular moment in time, i just realized what it is:
OWNERSHIP!
Perhaps the reason the internet became so cool, and so big, was because, in the beginning, a bunch of people got together and created this really cool network of computers. - No one really OWNED this network. It was just a colaboration of people, trying to do something they thought was good (for whatever reasons). (i know 500 of you want to correct me on the specifics of DARPANET...but you get the gist of it)
Now that every asshole has a computer, and every asshole at the head of every company realizes they can make money off these other assholes - Everyone wants ownership of something.
Blah blah, my domain, my ip, my this, my that! The downfall of the internet is that we're one by one, through various means, assigning specific ownership of all the various miscellany that is occurring on the internet. Something's got to give.
Perhaps either huge "megacorps" are going to spam the fuck out of everyone with banner ad us up the wazoo - and they can do it because they "own" something on the net that now allows them to do it. (case in point: how many stories of law suits or legal notifications have you been reading about just on/. in the past couple of months?) Or perhaps the internet is just going to become so large that the signal to noise ratio becomes too much for everyone to handle. - But i'm starting to believe that "ownership" is going to play a HUGE role in this. - Anyone know why communism failed? Because it assumes that the populous is actually intelligent and knows the true meaning of the word "share". I think it's pretty obvious that most adults are about the same as a 2 year old in this area. They're just less eager to share different things. Instead of a Toy, it's now a Car. I'm becoming more and more afraid that the internet is going to fall in the same manner. Guys like Torvalds, Cox, and Gore (lmfao) - seem to be able to handle the whole "group" ownership thing. And for quite some time...i believe the general internet savvy public has too. But there's a paradigm shift coming - it happens when the same people that cut us off in trafic, the ones who take 40 items in the "express" checkout lane, the "general public" we talk about...becomes the average person on the internet. They can't keep the real world pristine...the internet's no different.
This "rant" has no direct link to the particular news article it is attached too. But, for the record, I believe that a domain name should be the leased property of the person it is registered to. No trademarks, no copyrights, just a leased name. when you stop paying your money...it goes back to the domain name bargain bin. - If I have an epiphany and think of some really snazzy domain name that's the next , I'll be fucking DAMNED if i shell out ~$70 and magically give it away to a registrar! NSI is never getting my business!
FluX After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
This sounds WAY to damned gimmicky for me. for the cost of this printer you could probably just get yourself a TV capture card, capture some frames, edit them if ya want, and then print off a picture of John Carmack with the body of (dare i say) Natalie Portman.
This is BOUND to flop...oh well...i still have my Apple Newton. hehehehehehaAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHABBBWHAHAHAHAHHAHAH AHHAAHAHAHH
sniff, sniff...ok. i'm better now
BBBWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
FluX After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
Slashdot Mirror
This is kinda cool. I'd still like to see us colonize the moon by the end of this century (no way in hell :( It's still funny when you think of people 20 years from now saying "Oh jesus! we can put a repeater on the moon but we can't make a car that doesn't break down."
BTW - my favorite quote from a NASA representative: "this IS rocket science"
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
lol - i fucked up. I wanted to say french fry...but that would have been redundant in the sentance (doesn't make for good humor). So instead i said chip but forgot to delete the "french" part Now that i look at the post again i'm like "what the fuck??"
:P
oh well. the beautifully patatoic imagery remains the same .
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
this has to be one of the coolest things i have ever seen.
Runs at 233Thz (That's tuberhertz)
It can just see the guys one night
Sysad 1: "what the fuck is wrong with the server?"
Sysad 2: "sorry man...the box got fried"
Sysad 1: "What happened...did it overhead"
Sysad 2: "Naw man, we got hungry...the box is fried...want some french chips?
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
i hope that was a rhetorical question. Of course journalism can be done with (near) complete objectivity. While the /. crew gets some leeway in this area, this story was written not with bias, but with a completely jaded angle to it. Michael wasn't just expressing his opinion, he was doing it in a manner that seemed to advertize "this is what you should think too. Isn't it obvious"
I'll make that determination myself thanks. If i want cynical or misrepresented news...i'll go watch 60 minutes.
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
well...i seriously appreciate slashdot now. Prior to this article, i had thought it important to draw my own conclusions on stories posted by the slashdot crew. Thanks to michael, i don't have to do that anymore, since it's blatantly obvious that he's done that for me :)
Slashdot
FUD for nerds. Opinions that matter
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
first off. anyone remember what that last A stands for in the 'MPAA'??? I just....can't...seem...to...remember...
Secondly. I sort of disagree with the article on the whole topic of universities being our last bastion of freedom. Look at napster. Universities were some of the first institutions to ban it. Look at the mid 30's. Universities in germany were sponsoring book burnings even before Hitler came to absolute power. To say defending a University just because it's a school or some such argument is sort of, well, dogmatic. The key thing to remember is the phrase "give 'em an inch, they'll take a mile." If the MPAA is going to start screwing with anyone and everyone who writes about DeCSS (Ironic that it wasn't even reverse engineered in the states), then anyone and everyone needs to fight the MPAA, and the DMCA, and any other law or organization that aims to take away rights which we feel are worth fighting for. If you let these kinds of acts go unnoticed when they're against "small" people - like joe user on the internet, then the crap that goes on at Oxford, or anywhere else for that matter, is moot.
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
Forgot to mention this. We use GNATS. It's under the GPL so it's definitely worth what you'd pay for it. :)
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
While i would recommend a web based ticket tracking system, I'm not altogether sure that a fully web based support system is the answer. For one thing, it removes the personalized aspects of the support process. Customers, or whoever, may have problems letting you know exactly what needs to be done, as they may not fully know themselves. After all, that's what you're there for.
That being said. There is a really good utility that we use here at my company, a Problem Resolution support system. Users are allowed to login and create problem reports, then assign them a priority and a status (such as open, feedback, etc.) - This allows the most pressing problems to get tackled first. Additionally, when a problem report changes status, or gets closed, - both the user and the tech (or whoever) get notified via email.
While this may not be exactly what you're looking for..it's a good variant. Just remember...none of it is as good as a phone call, or better yet, being there in person.
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
the theists have already got a pretty good search engine...
just ask jeez
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
or of course....my childhood favorite
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
assuming that you live in denver..you should know that both papers are sticking around. the only thing they're basically sharing is operating costs (basically just making them less competitive). I'll still keep my subscription to the Post as it seems to me to just be a better written paper. The RMN isn't a bad paper...but i just don't think it's got the same quality.
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
or at least one of the two IT's that i'm thinking of. maddog is the type of guy i really want to be like. when kids talk about growing up...they say "i want to be a fireman, a policeman"
:) I want to be like these guys. I place maddog next to torvalds on my list of guys who "get it"...or who have actually done an incredible amount, not just for the linux community, or the open source community, but for the computer/internet community.
:P ) but they're the type of people you can't think of one bad thing to say about.
Personally. when i grow up (not for the next 30 years
That's not to say i think maddog or Linus are gods (that word is only reserved for Stephen Hawking
"uhhh...sir. we've traced all the AC/Natalie Portman posting back to some guy named hall's house in New Hampshire"
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
hrm...suppose i should have read the damned article. lol
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
I didn't visit the link because i can't stand the RMN (I read the post here in Denver)...but this is basically the equivalent of transferring the ENTIRE encyclopedia britannica in 15 seconds.
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
you know...that's one hell of an idea. I wouldn't mind setting that up on something like freeshell. or even hotgrits.org (yes..it's there now).
Moderation is the sincerest form of flattery.
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
I've seen this same view posted a few other times on this article..but what good's a /. account for if not to post.
The human genome project should be a totally non-commercial project. This is a field of research that affects humans a helluvalot more than a car or a truck, or a TV for that matter. We're not talking about a pill you take to get a boner, or a bigger, better plane. We're talking about the building blocks of life. I think that should be given a little forethought...at least more than "Hey...we know how to build people now. How can we make money off this?"
Oh well...i suppose this is just another type of ozone deal. We'll say fuck it untill it either starts to kill us...or we can't scrape any more cash out of the sun-burned bodies of our consumers.
viva la capitalism! - what a joke!
this post was brought to you by the national association for the advancement of owls.
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
that there is modern evidence that Japan was about to surrender anyway...and the U.S. knew this. There is a widely believed theory (one which i'm not too quick to discard) that the only reason we dropped fat man and little boy was because we wanted to show the russians that we already had the nukes...and we could use 'em.
The A-bomb, and it's modern counterparts (ergo Hydrogen and the like), are a blessing and a curse. The best quote i've ever heard about nukes was "There is no learning curve with nuclear weapons." - We've had alot more peace since world war two than we would have had otherwise. Possibly a third world war (although hitler/stalin/moussolini/hirohito all appearing at the same time in history is sort of a distastrous glitch).
The only problem is that, as i said, there's no learning curve for the weapons we have now. One day, someone's going to do something stupid with a big bomb, and over 6 billion people are going to die because of it. Humanity is farther from the edge than it was 50 years ago...but the fall just got a lot farther.
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
Bill Gates made an operating system? MS-DOS was bought by Microsoft
lol - had i bet $200 that i'd get called on the Bill statement. I'd have $400 in my pocket right now. I'm WELL aware that Gates didn't write DOS. But he's responsible for where M$ is today. Without Gates, there is no windows...that was more of the point i was elucidating to. Especially since i can't remember the name of the guy that coded DOS.
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
Does anyone remember when we all started using linux cause it was cool?? It was this REALLY GOOD operating system. Now linux is getting into a framework where everyone talks about the "business model" and the "value added" components, and the blah and the blah and the blah.
And the winner of the worst, or most cliched, term involving linux is....(drum roll)
Tim O'Reilly for "Thinking Outside the Box"
(we watch as Tim goes up to accept his award and i'm in the back puking my guts out - i shout from my station at the porcelain cubicle "I'm fucking switching to BSD")
I posted in another article that one of the large downfalls of the internet is going to be "ownership." Everyone wants to own a piece of the HUGE economic pie that is the internet. Nearly the same could be said for linux...only it's eventual downfall will be one of two things. Either a better OS comes along (probably not, as evidinced by the perennial domination of that "other" graphical based operating system), or it will sink into the myre of business based applications and corporate double-plus-unspeak. The scariest thing i see about the articles we all just read...is that the second looks like it's going to happen sooner than we think.
That's not to say that linux is going to be around forever, or die in the next two years. Linux is going to be a BIG player in the next decade....but i'm afraid that corporate big wigs are going to kill it. I'm afraid that corporate greed is going to usurp the freedom that everyone went to linux for in the first place. Why would a business open source a product that IS their cash cow? Look at Microsoft. Look at Apple. Sorenson, Real. Proprietary business looking to make a buck off linux eventually challenge the GPL and make proprietary changes (which have a frighteningly strong chance of holding up against at relatively weak GPL). They'll demand that everyone in their company use it, fuck compatibility! And they'll start using terms to describe linux, and linux based companies, that refer to "thinking outside the box" - of course, we'll need to make sure that they're "value added" (I just actually understood what the fuck that meant like a month ago).
Eventually, hackers (not the ones you saw defined in Webster's) will get sick of all the bloat that linux has become, and they'll switch to the next "linux" - (probably invented by some bolivian hacker named Binuso Torvales or something). Why? Because quick changes stoped being made, code wasn't as good as it should have been. Proprietary software wasn't just common, it was the norm. And linux turned into what it was supposed to kill. You may not like it...but if linux IS the best operating system available today (just nod, cause it is)...then we've seen it's fate in another OS. (hint, it's founder's name starts with B, and ends in "ill Gates")
I'm not saying I'm abandoning linux. That's not going to happen for a LONG time to come. I'm just saying let's watch it. Let's never forget the ethic that made most of us switch to it in the first place, not the relative bloat of Windows, but the absolute freedom of linux.
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
lol - first off. i initiated "the discussion at hand", so i'm willing to bet i know what it's about. Basically, it's about the major difference between *spam* and email advertising. Unfortunately, being that i didn't explicitly state this, i generated a shitload of responses.
Just to reiterate - I am trying to defend email marketers who aren't sending to ill gained addresses, or what have you. The reason for the original post is that the vast majority of the internet going public has no idea of the difference. As for you, you seem to have a pretty good grasp on the situation, aside from an earlier comment about sending through open mail relays:
the great majority of all email goes through these relays. They are out there on the internet and available for use by anyone that needs to use them (i.e. email way-stations). While spam sucks, i wouldn't classify their use of these mail relays as part of their "immoral" actions. more of a by-product. I'm not too concerned how *spam* gets to me anyway...i'm pissed that it gets to me at all.
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
Your post raises some good questions. But some are, perhaps, misguided questions.
Most people who post about *spam* (both solicited email and non solicited email) have the attitude that advertisements in the email form are somewhere being near breaking one of the 10 commandments. They argue with the appearance that what these advertisers are doing is morally wrong. While they don't intend to sound as such, that's the way most come across.
I believe that some of the tactics that email marketers use is blatantly abusive of the end user, but most are not. Have you considered suing slashdot, or perhaps andover for compensation for the bandwidth that it took to download the banner ad at the top of the page you're seeing now? if not...why? you didn't ask for the banner ad. It's a blantant infringement of your rights as an internet user.
Most people who are violently against any type of advertisement in their email are the same who don't realize the way economics work. Nothing is for free. Even slashdot isn't free. The price you pay for the content is the banner ad at the top of the page. I am willing to dispense a little of my time, or my ever so precious bandwidth to support sites like slashdot. These guys have to make a living somehow. And to keep the site free to us (at least monetarily speaking) is to sell some of their space to advertisers. Depending on the needs of the site, company, or what have you, and the service it produces. It may be necessary to ask you if you want to recieve some other ads in the mail. If you don't...you get to click a button that says you don't want it. But for people to criticize a practice that keeps alot of the things i like free, is just, ill informed.
If you're against everything that "marketed email" stands for - then please. go home...throw away your TV and your radio....because that's how "free" content gets paid for. Advertising.
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
I'm not going to post that i love getting spam in my email. Unsolicited email is a pain in the ass...but not all of the ads i get in my mail box are what i would classify as "spam"
I know of alot of people who complain about getting "spam" in their email box from some company they bought something from, but either checked, or didn't think to uncheck that nice little box that says "notify me of other products." Fly by night email advertisers who gain gobs of email addresses by illegal means, or who illegaly use properly obtained email addresses should be prosecuted. But there *ARE* email marketing firms who are trying to do the right thing. They don't over pressure their "customers", and they don't try to screw people in the name of the almighty buck...*cough*double-click*cough*
While the majority of what just about every slashdot reader gets is spam (because, while many appear to have a preoccupation with hot grits, they are vastly more internet savvy than the general populous), most people are just not internet-wise enough to know where/where not to click to recieve/not recieve targeted email. I'm afraid that this is going to put alot of good people out of work for no reason but to get rid of a couple of emails in your inbox that you opted to recieve.
is it hot in here? i think i'm about to get flamed.
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
I was pretty sure (back when i started using the internet) that at some point in time something was going to happen to fuck it all up. A good thing, unfortunately, is almost always a fleeting thing.
/. in the past couple of months?) Or perhaps the internet is just going to become so large that the signal to noise ratio becomes too much for everyone to handle. - But i'm starting to believe that "ownership" is going to play a HUGE role in this. - Anyone know why communism failed? Because it assumes that the populous is actually intelligent and knows the true meaning of the word "share". I think it's pretty obvious that most adults are about the same as a 2 year old in this area. They're just less eager to share different things. Instead of a Toy, it's now a Car. I'm becoming more and more afraid that the internet is going to fall in the same manner. Guys like Torvalds, Cox, and Gore (lmfao) - seem to be able to handle the whole "group" ownership thing. And for quite some time...i believe the general internet savvy public has too. But there's a paradigm shift coming - it happens when the same people that cut us off in trafic, the ones who take 40 items in the "express" checkout lane, the "general public" we talk about...becomes the average person on the internet. They can't keep the real world pristine...the internet's no different.
In this particular moment in time, i just realized what it is:
OWNERSHIP!
Perhaps the reason the internet became so cool, and so big, was because, in the beginning, a bunch of people got together and created this really cool network of computers. - No one really OWNED this network. It was just a colaboration of people, trying to do something they thought was good (for whatever reasons). (i know 500 of you want to correct me on the specifics of DARPANET...but you get the gist of it)
Now that every asshole has a computer, and every asshole at the head of every company realizes they can make money off these other assholes - Everyone wants ownership of something.
Blah blah, my domain, my ip, my this, my that! The downfall of the internet is that we're one by one, through various means, assigning specific ownership of all the various miscellany that is occurring on the internet. Something's got to give.
Perhaps either huge "megacorps" are going to spam the fuck out of everyone with banner ad us up the wazoo - and they can do it because they "own" something on the net that now allows them to do it. (case in point: how many stories of law suits or legal notifications have you been reading about just on
This "rant" has no direct link to the particular news article it is attached too. But, for the record, I believe that a domain name should be the leased property of the person it is registered to. No trademarks, no copyrights, just a leased name. when you stop paying your money...it goes back to the domain name bargain bin. - If I have an epiphany and think of some really snazzy domain name that's the next , I'll be fucking DAMNED if i shell out ~$70 and magically give it away to a registrar! NSI is never getting my business!
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
After looking at that site...so professional, so similar to Outlook.
I just can't wait....
for the next release of PINE!
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
This sounds WAY to damned gimmicky for me. for the cost of this printer you could probably just get yourself a TV capture card, capture some frames, edit them if ya want, and then print off a picture of John Carmack with the body of (dare i say) Natalie Portman.
H AHHAAHAHAHH
This is BOUND to flop...oh well...i still have my Apple Newton. hehehehehehaAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHABBBWHAHAHAHAHHAHA
sniff, sniff...ok. i'm better now
BBBWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network