Re:What no Guantanamo Bay for him?
on
GitHub Hacked
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· Score: 2
Not exactly - he was suspended while they investigated the incident, not when he reported the bug. As they explained on their blog yesterday, their standard procedure is to suspend accounts that get into this kind of thing until they investigate the incident to see if there was anything malicious happening. They determined there wasn't so they reactivated his account. I'd say GitHub handled the situation excellently.
Average user time is the wrong metric to look at for a developing social network, because the engagement across users isn't flat, and shouldn't be modeled that way. Think of it this way - if I'm a Google+ user who actively uses the product, I have a whole network of friends to engage with and post back and forth, so the average time spent by my network is probably fairly high. If I'm a user who signed up for Google+ because of the hype, then never bothered to post anything, it's probably because my network of friends is filled with people who act similarly. This means you'll have networks that are full of engaged users and networks that are completely barren - and the average will probably be something meaningless like three minutes a month. What's the distribution look like? Of the people who're posting more than three minutesper month, are they checking it every day for an hour? Is it just the rest of the users who are dragging down the metrics, ultimately leading everyone to believe Google+ is dead when there are pockets of vibrant user communities? This is the information they should look into.
Hate to boost Microsoft on Slashdot, but I've been taking notes on a tablet (Toshiba M200 Portege) in class using Microsoft OneNote 2010 (the beta) running on Windows 7. There's some great features in OneNote and, while there's definitely a few kinks to work out, at its base it's a pen and paper and you can take the same notes as you would on a regular notebook, and sort it all out later. The full-screen mode makes it really non-distracting, and a pretty great solutions. The fact that trying to use Windows 7 with a pen is annoying and somewhat slower than with a keyboard and mouse breaks off the distraction factor. Ignoring the fact that the M200 has some serious flaws and is a relatively underpowered machine.
Plus, if someone forgets notes, I can send them a quick PDF of the day's lecture with two clicks. Makes me kind of a popular guy.
Really? In the engineering education I've been exposed to (I'm in a Canadian engineering program right now) they heavily play up the importance of eliminating bias and groupthink to find the "best" option. There's an immense stress on the idea that there is no "right" option, and that even the option you choose to be right has to be properly sourced and cited with a fully documented process, so you are accountable for your decisions. In fact, that accountability is an immense part of the "professional" part of the education, and I'd argue that's why engineers wouldn't make good extremists; they'd be looking for the kind of backup that just isn't there with some religious beliefs.
Add that to the fact that hackers and nerds, more so than other groups I've seen, tend to be more questioning of traditional religions than the average person - and it's not just me who notices.
This is a VERY important point, if I had points I'd mod you straight to the top.
This isn't an issue of privacy, or having something to hide or being a criminal; this is about control. This is a private corporation saying they have the authority to take away my right to control what I disclose to people, I'm saying they don't. When you blog about a restaurant you go to, sign up for last.fm and let the world know your favourite song is "Jesus, Take the Wheel", or set your Facebook information to "Looking for: Men" when you're male, you are opting in to something; it is your choice to tell people that. Disclosure is, and should always be, opt-in...that's the only thing that makes sense. If this was all verbally disclosed, you'd be opting-in by opening your mouth in the first place. There's no situation in which your mouth would be open and sound coming out by default, with you having the "opt-out" option to close it.
I thought there was a decent chunk of children's literature about how talking behind people's backs is mean, how if you know a secret, something bad about someone, then you shouldn't tell it to everyone because it's wrong. Did Eric Schmidt miss that part of Kindergarten? How is this different?
I believe it's more accurate than you'd think, having been praised by several physicians and neuroscientists as a "close to perfect" representation of anterograde amnesia.
That's VERY true, I've seen "Waiting for analytics.google.com" in the status bar one too many times for Steve Souders, performance guru, to complain about something like this. He keeps flopping back and forth between coming off as genuinely interested in the well-being of the internet, and boosting another Google service...although they're free services, and Google's been excellent about data liberation, so I don't quite know what I'm complaining about.
The remaining ones are illegal intruders (non-citizens).
That's a very good point, it's a known fact non-citizens and illegal immigrants don't get sick or need help in any way. Those damn cyborg immigrants, not only are they stealing our jobs, parking their cars on their lawns and fucking our wives behind our backs, but they're also immune to pain and disease! It's just unfair.
Actually, no one can call themselves an "engineer" without applying for a license with the necessary professional organization. There are organizations which accredit software engineers, though it's not a requirement, but if you're a company that is worried about that, don't hire someone who isn't accredited.
The only reason a million times as many people prefer Spears and the like is because of advertising and promotion.
[citation needed]
Honestly, I hate the elitist attitude of people who don't like pop music. Some people really, honestly like Britney Spears, the Spice Girls, whatever overproduced musical group happens to come along. Go to any average club night or party and tell me if you don't see the crowd go absolutely crazy when "Wannabe" comes on. Not (necessarily) because it's been overhyped, but because people actually like it. The attitude that we're in the middle of a paradigm shift and that we're about to enter music's Age of Aquarius is wrong every time. Things will change, but music you don't like won't just go away.
I wish there was a new mod category so this could be rated "+5 Zing". Hit it right on the head. I say the same thing to people who think we shouldn't have to pay to support mentally disabled people with special schooling. We made the decision long ago to help each other out, we can't just pick and choose now, unfortunately plenty of people don't understand that.
I like the "memorialized" version of the page. How bad do you think it would be for someone to look through pictures of the recently deceased, go back to the profile and see all kinds of "Hey man, haven't seen you in a while...where've you been?" posts...
I just hope there's no "Like" option for the change.
...which is a clear example of using the wrong website style for the audience. My point was that some people are impressed by a "cool" website. Hell, even the Hamster Dance made it on the radio.
And gues wat? NOBODY visits any web site because it's "cool". Stop trying to impress me, because you're not going to do it with a "cool" web site. You'll only annoy me. You're putting the cart before the horse.
Clearly, you've never met a teenager. There's different website styles for different people; some people want things that are flashy and cool, some people just want to check their e-mail. The point is applying the same design philosophy to both projects would be crazy.
Truth? Wikipedia might actually have a good idea. Truth is whatever the majority believes at the moment, and the majority can always edit the story to make it fit the latest fad.
That's an awfully short summary of a pretty big field of philosophy, right there. Sure, there's a spin on it and we will always see what we want to see, but 100 years later, when people have had time to dissect leaked documents with the benefit of hindsight, things will surface. The majority may believe something at the moment, but it's not the truth.
I don't know if you know, he did actually do a bit before he was in office. They might have considered things before he became the President for his nomination.
Guantanamo Bay hasn't been closed yet because the previous administration didn't care enough about many of the prisoners there to keep proper files on why they were there in the first place, and they don't want to release everyone on the grounds that they don't quite remember what they did. Granted, a lot of them shouldn't have been there in the first place, but they don't want to accidentally release some criminals along with however many presumably innocent people are there...the point is that they don't know whether releasing them or not would be really, really dangerous, and they're trying to find places to move them while they figure it out.
Similarly, with the health care reform...well, I don't know if you've heard, but there's been somewhat of a debate on the issue holding it up a bit? Nothing huge, it'll probably blow over soon.
I'll give you that one, there's definitely a time when people need to have the authority shown, just like how you can't parent with a smile all the time. But if you're not a people person, their managers should be, and you can tell them they're compromising the security of the company, and they can ream ass on their employees.
This is the same problem that teachers face every day. Teachers who give up and figure most teenagers "just don't care" aren't the ones kids thank later in life. Of course people are going to react negatively when you try and take away their YouTube. Let their manager deal with their lack of productivity in whatever ways managers do it best (or worst...).
The problem is that there's a fine line between "keeping twerps from using up all the company bandwidth" and "administering draconian policies to get everyone to work your way or else". The only difference between the two is the discretion of whoever's in charge, and leaving it up to that person often has disastrous results. The answer is definitely not to fight from both sides until someone gives up, that just makes enemies out of both sides, when it's in the interest of both parties to be on the same side.
For example: a common method to limit bandwidth is to block users from installing Flash and thus block websites which use Flash to stream content (YouTube, streaming radio stations, etc.) But then you run into having to allow access to people who want to use Flash for legitimate reasons. Or people who want to stream content in the background while working more productively (like listening to music at work)?
If you're in IT, it's your job to make sure the systems work so that people can do their jobs better, not to hinder the systems so that people do their jobs worse.
It's undoubtedly your trusting & respectful attitude that makes your workplace a wonderful place to get things done. What ever happened to educating people about what the problem is with this software? I wouldn't go so far as to say start holding classes, but if it's a continuous problem there's nothing stopping you from sending out a mass e-mail telling them that there are fake things on the internet that people need to watch out for. Mention the extreme security risk, include lots of pictures and borrow a copywriter from Marketing for a half hour to make something people will actually read, instead of dismissing like "another IT e-mail," and you just might reduce some problems. Management & people skills shouldn't be just for the guys in the suits.
Want a car analogy? What if AAA took away your keys and left you with the valet one everytime you locked your keys in the car, or your insurance company installed a camera on your dashboard to make you paranoid and start to do that check-your-mirror-every-3-to-5-seconds thing you did while taking driving lessons and then immediately stopped once you passed your test.
Sure, it's your job to take care of the company's computers - and this involves keeping them clean and virus-free - but power-tripping with technology most people don't understand properly (or understand only as deep as they need to do their jobs) doesn't help anyone. Neither does a "no mercy" policy.
Slashdot Mirror
Not exactly - he was suspended while they investigated the incident, not when he reported the bug. As they explained on their blog yesterday, their standard procedure is to suspend accounts that get into this kind of thing until they investigate the incident to see if there was anything malicious happening. They determined there wasn't so they reactivated his account. I'd say GitHub handled the situation excellently.
Average user time is the wrong metric to look at for a developing social network, because the engagement across users isn't flat, and shouldn't be modeled that way. Think of it this way - if I'm a Google+ user who actively uses the product, I have a whole network of friends to engage with and post back and forth, so the average time spent by my network is probably fairly high. If I'm a user who signed up for Google+ because of the hype, then never bothered to post anything, it's probably because my network of friends is filled with people who act similarly. This means you'll have networks that are full of engaged users and networks that are completely barren - and the average will probably be something meaningless like three minutes a month. What's the distribution look like? Of the people who're posting more than three minutesper month, are they checking it every day for an hour? Is it just the rest of the users who are dragging down the metrics, ultimately leading everyone to believe Google+ is dead when there are pockets of vibrant user communities? This is the information they should look into.
Hate to boost Microsoft on Slashdot, but I've been taking notes on a tablet (Toshiba M200 Portege) in class using Microsoft OneNote 2010 (the beta) running on Windows 7. There's some great features in OneNote and, while there's definitely a few kinks to work out, at its base it's a pen and paper and you can take the same notes as you would on a regular notebook, and sort it all out later. The full-screen mode makes it really non-distracting, and a pretty great solutions. The fact that trying to use Windows 7 with a pen is annoying and somewhat slower than with a keyboard and mouse breaks off the distraction factor. Ignoring the fact that the M200 has some serious flaws and is a relatively underpowered machine. Plus, if someone forgets notes, I can send them a quick PDF of the day's lecture with two clicks. Makes me kind of a popular guy.
Really? In the engineering education I've been exposed to (I'm in a Canadian engineering program right now) they heavily play up the importance of eliminating bias and groupthink to find the "best" option. There's an immense stress on the idea that there is no "right" option, and that even the option you choose to be right has to be properly sourced and cited with a fully documented process, so you are accountable for your decisions. In fact, that accountability is an immense part of the "professional" part of the education, and I'd argue that's why engineers wouldn't make good extremists; they'd be looking for the kind of backup that just isn't there with some religious beliefs.
Add that to the fact that hackers and nerds, more so than other groups I've seen, tend to be more questioning of traditional religions than the average person - and it's not just me who notices.
This is a VERY important point, if I had points I'd mod you straight to the top.
This isn't an issue of privacy, or having something to hide or being a criminal; this is about control. This is a private corporation saying they have the authority to take away my right to control what I disclose to people, I'm saying they don't. When you blog about a restaurant you go to, sign up for last.fm and let the world know your favourite song is "Jesus, Take the Wheel", or set your Facebook information to "Looking for: Men" when you're male, you are opting in to something; it is your choice to tell people that. Disclosure is, and should always be, opt-in...that's the only thing that makes sense. If this was all verbally disclosed, you'd be opting-in by opening your mouth in the first place. There's no situation in which your mouth would be open and sound coming out by default, with you having the "opt-out" option to close it.
I thought there was a decent chunk of children's literature about how talking behind people's backs is mean, how if you know a secret, something bad about someone, then you shouldn't tell it to everyone because it's wrong. Did Eric Schmidt miss that part of Kindergarten? How is this different?
I believe it's more accurate than you'd think, having been praised by several physicians and neuroscientists as a "close to perfect" representation of anterograde amnesia.
Informative, thanks. I'll check it out when I upgrade.
That's VERY true, I've seen "Waiting for analytics.google.com" in the status bar one too many times for Steve Souders, performance guru, to complain about something like this. He keeps flopping back and forth between coming off as genuinely interested in the well-being of the internet, and boosting another Google service...although they're free services, and Google's been excellent about data liberation, so I don't quite know what I'm complaining about.
The remaining ones are illegal intruders (non-citizens).
That's a very good point, it's a known fact non-citizens and illegal immigrants don't get sick or need help in any way. Those damn cyborg immigrants, not only are they stealing our jobs, parking their cars on their lawns and fucking our wives behind our backs, but they're also immune to pain and disease! It's just unfair.
Actually, no one can call themselves an "engineer" without applying for a license with the necessary professional organization. There are organizations which accredit software engineers, though it's not a requirement, but if you're a company that is worried about that, don't hire someone who isn't accredited.
The only reason a million times as many people prefer Spears and the like is because of advertising and promotion.
[citation needed]
Honestly, I hate the elitist attitude of people who don't like pop music. Some people really, honestly like Britney Spears, the Spice Girls, whatever overproduced musical group happens to come along. Go to any average club night or party and tell me if you don't see the crowd go absolutely crazy when "Wannabe" comes on. Not (necessarily) because it's been overhyped, but because people actually like it. The attitude that we're in the middle of a paradigm shift and that we're about to enter music's Age of Aquarius is wrong every time. Things will change, but music you don't like won't just go away.
I wish there was a new mod category so this could be rated "+5 Zing". Hit it right on the head. I say the same thing to people who think we shouldn't have to pay to support mentally disabled people with special schooling. We made the decision long ago to help each other out, we can't just pick and choose now, unfortunately plenty of people don't understand that.
Ahhh, I've heard of this "Mitochondrial Eve".
I like the "memorialized" version of the page. How bad do you think it would be for someone to look through pictures of the recently deceased, go back to the profile and see all kinds of "Hey man, haven't seen you in a while...where've you been?" posts... I just hope there's no "Like" option for the change.
Didn't we try that already with that "United States" thing? I heard it didn't go so well.
...which is a clear example of using the wrong website style for the audience. My point was that some people are impressed by a "cool" website. Hell, even the Hamster Dance made it on the radio.
And gues wat? NOBODY visits any web site because it's "cool". Stop trying to impress me, because you're not going to do it with a "cool" web site. You'll only annoy me. You're putting the cart before the horse.
Clearly, you've never met a teenager. There's different website styles for different people; some people want things that are flashy and cool, some people just want to check their e-mail. The point is applying the same design philosophy to both projects would be crazy.
Truth? Wikipedia might actually have a good idea. Truth is whatever the majority believes at the moment, and the majority can always edit the story to make it fit the latest fad.
Thrasymachus, is that you?
That's an awfully short summary of a pretty big field of philosophy, right there. Sure, there's a spin on it and we will always see what we want to see, but 100 years later, when people have had time to dissect leaked documents with the benefit of hindsight, things will surface. The majority may believe something at the moment, but it's not the truth.
I don't know if you know, he did actually do a bit before he was in office. They might have considered things before he became the President for his nomination.
Guantanamo Bay hasn't been closed yet because the previous administration didn't care enough about many of the prisoners there to keep proper files on why they were there in the first place, and they don't want to release everyone on the grounds that they don't quite remember what they did. Granted, a lot of them shouldn't have been there in the first place, but they don't want to accidentally release some criminals along with however many presumably innocent people are there...the point is that they don't know whether releasing them or not would be really, really dangerous, and they're trying to find places to move them while they figure it out.
Similarly, with the health care reform...well, I don't know if you've heard, but there's been somewhat of a debate on the issue holding it up a bit? Nothing huge, it'll probably blow over soon.
They probably have, you'll just have to look in the "multiverse" section because they're nonfree.
I'll give you that one, there's definitely a time when people need to have the authority shown, just like how you can't parent with a smile all the time. But if you're not a people person, their managers should be, and you can tell them they're compromising the security of the company, and they can ream ass on their employees.
This is the same problem that teachers face every day. Teachers who give up and figure most teenagers "just don't care" aren't the ones kids thank later in life. Of course people are going to react negatively when you try and take away their YouTube. Let their manager deal with their lack of productivity in whatever ways managers do it best (or worst...).
The problem is that there's a fine line between "keeping twerps from using up all the company bandwidth" and "administering draconian policies to get everyone to work your way or else". The only difference between the two is the discretion of whoever's in charge, and leaving it up to that person often has disastrous results. The answer is definitely not to fight from both sides until someone gives up, that just makes enemies out of both sides, when it's in the interest of both parties to be on the same side.
For example: a common method to limit bandwidth is to block users from installing Flash and thus block websites which use Flash to stream content (YouTube, streaming radio stations, etc.) But then you run into having to allow access to people who want to use Flash for legitimate reasons. Or people who want to stream content in the background while working more productively (like listening to music at work)?
If you're in IT, it's your job to make sure the systems work so that people can do their jobs better, not to hinder the systems so that people do their jobs worse.
This is Slashdot. I'll take the cheaper one with ads, and just run adblock. Until it's banned...
It's undoubtedly your trusting & respectful attitude that makes your workplace a wonderful place to get things done. What ever happened to educating people about what the problem is with this software? I wouldn't go so far as to say start holding classes, but if it's a continuous problem there's nothing stopping you from sending out a mass e-mail telling them that there are fake things on the internet that people need to watch out for. Mention the extreme security risk, include lots of pictures and borrow a copywriter from Marketing for a half hour to make something people will actually read, instead of dismissing like "another IT e-mail," and you just might reduce some problems. Management & people skills shouldn't be just for the guys in the suits.
Want a car analogy? What if AAA took away your keys and left you with the valet one everytime you locked your keys in the car, or your insurance company installed a camera on your dashboard to make you paranoid and start to do that check-your-mirror-every-3-to-5-seconds thing you did while taking driving lessons and then immediately stopped once you passed your test.
Sure, it's your job to take care of the company's computers - and this involves keeping them clean and virus-free - but power-tripping with technology most people don't understand properly (or understand only as deep as they need to do their jobs) doesn't help anyone. Neither does a "no mercy" policy.