they have to work with, not against, the way people want to use it.
They are. Most of friendsters users use it in the way its intended. A small minority don't. They shouldn't cater to the minority if its pissing off their good faith users.
I'm not interested in judging Friendster's actions as 'legal' or not
Does it all really boil down to "I will excercise as much power as a reasonably large group of people will tolerate."
It doesn't have to, but it might. And whatever that control is, it sure as hell isn't censorship. If they exert too much power, their website will fail. If it becomes too anarchic, they probably won't attract their target audience, won't sell enough subscriptions and adverts, and their website will fail. (Of course, this will probably happen anyway).
I don't know what's best for, but it's their money, so they should get to say how their webpage gets run.
the role of government is to create frameworks in which people can communicate... It's no different here.
Its very different here. Because Friendster aren't the government, and so they don't have to fulfill the role of government. The role of privately funded websites is... whatever they damn feel like, within the constraints of the law. No illegality here, so no problem.
I will remind them that I could be useful in rounding up people to toil in their underground carrot mines
bunnies aren't just cute as everybody supposes They got them hoppy legs and twitchy little noses And what's with all the carrots? What do they need such good eyesight for anyway? Bunnies, bunnies, it must be bunnies
Lyrics by Josh Whedon, reproduced without permission because, hey, its the internet and everyone does it...
Most of what you said was eminently sensible i.e. try not to piss off your user base (except I don't believe that pissing off the fakesters will offend anyone else.) I only objected to your misappropriation of the term censorship, which undermined the intelligent pieces of your post.
I don't think creating a fake profile is like spraying grafitti on someone's house.
No, you don't. But the friendster people do, and it's their house.
But deciding to kill profiles because they don't fit _your_ design for what people can and cannot do is most definitely censorship.
No, its not. Its their web site. Until you sign a contract with them saying otherwise, they get to set the rules, and they get to decide who plays. Don't like their rules, get your own website. Its not hard.
If you call that censorship, you have no idea what censorship is... If I graffiti your house, and you clean it off, would you call that censorship too?
Freedom of speech is protected, but only from Governmental interference. Thats what the "Congress shall make no law..." bit mean in the First Amendment. (This principle also holds everywhere else, so don't bring the "I'm not American" stich. Me neither.
If you use use my private resources for your speech, I absolutely have the right to withdraw my resources if I don't like what you're saying.
I guess that blows the "Apache is absolutely secure" myth
Hmmm. Apache is a Web server. The FSF had their FTP server cracked -- I don't know which they use, possibly wu-ftpd. I don't think this reflects on Apache at all.
Please not: The Debian Testing birthday cake will have 10 candles, the Debian Unstable birthday cake will have 9, and the Debian Stable birthday cake will have 7 -- and will only be upgraded to 10 candles when the concept of 10 candle cakes has proved itself sufficiently robust.
Scheduled for sometime around Debian's 15 birthday.
However, the recipe for the cake will be freely available and modifiable for all, as will instructions for the manufacture of the candles, and the party hats.
Which means it's not a Linux application, it's a Windows application that runs in an emulator. So what?
It means the emulator is getting better and better, so theres a good chance that more and more apps will work with it, which decreases MS's competitive advantage. And decreasing the competitive advantage of a monopolist is good for the market.
Who's sales figures? The chip manufacturers can only tell you what they've shipped to PC manufacturers, which isn't the whole story. The PC manufacturers can tell you their sales, but there are rather too many of them to get everyone's figures.
So, even on sales figures, there are sampling effects.
Or is no where in England that middle of no where?
Basically, nowhere in England is sufficiently remote for it to matter much. Some places don't get the (non-BBC) Channel 5. My mother lived in a valley in Wales that couldn't get terrestrial signals, but they all got the same channels on cable, for the same license fee. There may be some remote parts of Scotland that can't get the BBC, but I doubt it.
The iTrip can broadcast on one of four FM frequencies: 89.1, 89.3, 89.5, or 89.7. This is because frequencies that low are usually only taken by local college/community stations,
Not in the UK they're not. 88-91 FM is assigned to BBC Radio 2, a nationwide pop/rock/adult contemporary station, which is Britain's most widely listened to station (a 16.3% share in the latest figures from RAJAR)
I remember an episode of "Blue Peter" which showed how one of Servelan's spaceships was constructed by gluing two hairdriers together... It looked pretty cool, but I was about 8.
Slashdot Mirror
Does "Grabbed by the ghoulies" have the same sexual connotations in the US that it has in the UK?
Get a better dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary: censor (n) : One who exercises official supervision over morals and conduct.
The word comes from the title of Roman governmental officials.
I don't know what's best for, but it's their money, so they should get to say how their webpage gets run.
Sheesh.
They got them hoppy legs and twitchy little noses
And what's with all the carrots?
What do they need such good eyesight for anyway?
Bunnies, bunnies, it must be bunnies
Lyrics by Josh Whedon, reproduced without permission because, hey, its the internet and everyone does it...
No, its not. Its their web site. Until you sign a contract with them saying otherwise, they get to set the rules, and they get to decide who plays. Don't like their rules, get your own website. Its not hard.
Freedom of speech is protected, but only from Governmental interference. Thats what the "Congress shall make no law..." bit mean in the First Amendment. (This principle also holds everywhere else, so don't bring the "I'm not American" stich. Me neither.
If you use use my private resources for your speech, I absolutely have the right to withdraw my resources if I don't like what you're saying.
But then, unlike you, sir, I am not an idiot.
Please not: The Debian Testing birthday cake will have 10 candles, the Debian Unstable birthday cake will have 9, and the Debian Stable birthday cake will have 7 -- and will only be upgraded to 10 candles when the concept of 10 candle cakes has proved itself sufficiently robust.
Scheduled for sometime around Debian's 15 birthday.
However, the recipe for the cake will be freely available and modifiable for all, as will instructions for the manufacture of the candles, and the party hats.
So, even on sales figures, there are sampling effects.
0.1 of a percentage point? Whats the betting that is *well* inside the bounds of sampling error.
Nothing to see here, move along.
You only get those with the Linda iTripp...
You mean (And it's "bureaucracy", meaning "government by a cabal of expensive office furniture"). HTH.
In Britain.
In 19-frickin-49.
I didn't even mention China.
Yeah, it's pretty hard to imagine a regime so brutal it would have troops open fire on defenseless student protestors
Don't be silly, isn't it
10 PRINT "DAVE L. IS A PRAT"
20 GOTO 10
I remember an episode of "Blue Peter" which showed how one of Servelan's spaceships was constructed by gluing two hairdriers together... It looked pretty cool, but I was about 8.