is it really an ethical problem? it's not like most slashdot readers read the article anyway.
okay, on a more serious note, i did read the article, and was not aware of the pay-for-hit scheme. i'm not bothered by this particular case since it is a nonprofit project for something i support. however, it would have been nice if we were told of the situation beforehand - it seems a little underhanded, especially since the submitter is also the author of the article.
i consider this situation to be the same as a link opening several ad windows involuntarily. maybe in the future these things should be marked like those would be.
since the articles are GPL, a class of writers, i'll call them editors, could go around and collate all the disparate articles into one, which would become the main entry. if information is wrong, follow-up articles can correct them and cite sources, and the editor can verify the information or make a judgement call as to what to include in the new version. the old articles would still need to be available, according to the GPL, so they could be accessed through a "revisions" link.
it would be a continually evolving document, just like print encyclopedias. the advantage would be that those that detect the errors could fix it themselves instead of waiting a year for the next edition. eventually, certain articles would get to the point of being static and would get to the level of accuracy we desire.
okay, this is a quick thought, but the Text Encoding Initiative has a DTD for encoding works of literature. i've seen it used for articles, books, and stories, and it might work for an encyclopedia. there are existing engines that can bring these SGML documents to the web (in HTML). it would definitely be more flexible and easier to search for things than HTML. of course, XML is here, and with the power of Schemas over DTDs, is probably a better choice.
i'm not sure if it would be better to get a headstart in getting information into the system, and probably have to encode it (in XML or whatever), or to wait until the encoding standard is available. considering that many entries will be updated, i think the headstart is the better option. but it's going to be hella mundane encoding things after the fact.
you're delving into the concept of micropayments and transclusion, which has been talked about by Ted Nelson. the web could be considered part of his "docuverse", and it's possible to attach a micropayment system for views and citations. the problem lies in the billing - that would require some sort of identification system and account charging. how's that for intrusiveness?
but then, we wouldn't have these short articles spread over 20 pages just so more margin and banner ads can be crammed into it. of course, advetisers still need to advertise, so i think product placements will increase dramatically.
this is just another step in the evolution of this media. when products become widely available to combat this, there will be a new model. i'm pretty sure micropayments is coming fast on the horizon, although i doubt it will be the last.
Dan Bernstein's Unix Client-Server TCP package now comes with rblsmtpd. Although it's possible to run qmail without the ucs tcp package, you most probably already have it compiled. You will want to check out the qmail-HOWTO, section 12, on how to configure rblsmtpd:
http://www.flounder.net/qmail/qmail-howto.html
sometimes when i play my music, people will comment how it sounds like a video game, and intend it as an insult. i find it amusing how movie scores are considered "real" music while video game music often is not, although they do the same thing -- create an atmosphere. in fact, video game music composers have a harder time in the respect that the timing and length of the 'scene' is variable.
i loved the music from contra, and contra 2 even more. in fact, i wrote in to konami to ask if they had sheet music. i didn't get a reply. =(
best music from a video game, i think, would be ninja gaiden 2.
if anyone has read Ted Nelson's work ("Opening Hypertext"), this looks like a step closer to his inevitable universe of hypertext. although he talks mainly about electronic texts, this integration with traditional media is one of his predictions. could this be the new genre of literature he is talking about? no, i don't think so, but it's getting closer.
this technology allows traditional media (okay, forget about the imperfectness of the system for a moment) to become part of the docuverse. this allows for Nelson's concept of "transclusion" to happen. Basically, transclusion is a way for the integrity of original materials to be maintained. for instance, quotes can often be taken out of context in a journalistic article. transclusion would allow the quote to be linked to the full text. okay, that may not sound so amazing, but for an information junkie like me, it's useful.
there's another important aspect of transclusion Nelson talks about that some other posters touched on - automated royalty payments. if you follow a link, a centralized system can track you and automatically charge you (or the author of the article) for use of their original material.
it's java. if there's one buzzword you gotta know... okay, maybe java isn't it, but it's still pretty useful to know. i'm just glad linux is getting this support for java. it took sun long enough to make a jdk for it.
Slashdot Mirror
okay, on a more serious note, i did read the article, and was not aware of the pay-for-hit scheme. i'm not bothered by this particular case since it is a nonprofit project for something i support. however, it would have been nice if we were told of the situation beforehand - it seems a little underhanded, especially since the submitter is also the author of the article.
i consider this situation to be the same as a link opening several ad windows involuntarily. maybe in the future these things should be marked like those would be.
it would be a continually evolving document, just like print encyclopedias. the advantage would be that those that detect the errors could fix it themselves instead of waiting a year for the next edition. eventually, certain articles would get to the point of being static and would get to the level of accuracy we desire.
i'm not sure if it would be better to get a headstart in getting information into the system, and probably have to encode it (in XML or whatever), or to wait until the encoding standard is available. considering that many entries will be updated, i think the headstart is the better option. but it's going to be hella mundane encoding things after the fact.
SGML, by the way, is now 15 years old (1986).
but then, we wouldn't have these short articles spread over 20 pages just so more margin and banner ads can be crammed into it. of course, advetisers still need to advertise, so i think product placements will increase dramatically.
this is just another step in the evolution of this media. when products become widely available to combat this, there will be a new model. i'm pretty sure micropayments is coming fast on the horizon, although i doubt it will be the last.
Dan Bernstein's Unix Client-Server TCP package now comes with rblsmtpd. Although it's possible to run qmail without the ucs tcp package, you most probably already have it compiled. You will want to check out the qmail-HOWTO, section 12, on how to configure rblsmtpd: http://www.flounder.net/qmail/qmail-howto.html
~a doug@fsck-athome.lordlegacy.org & ~g comp.dcom.modems.cable
Besides the E-mail scripts, there are other documents on 256 upstream toolkits and stolen modems.
Posted by timothy on Thursday September 28, @11:37PM
they both link to the exact same article.
I think they'll be opening up the parts of source code that are least embarassing.
i loved the music from contra, and contra 2 even more. in fact, i wrote in to konami to ask if they had sheet music. i didn't get a reply. =(
best music from a video game, i think, would be ninja gaiden 2.
this technology allows traditional media (okay, forget about the imperfectness of the system for a moment) to become part of the docuverse. this allows for Nelson's concept of "transclusion" to happen. Basically, transclusion is a way for the integrity of original materials to be maintained. for instance, quotes can often be taken out of context in a journalistic article. transclusion would allow the quote to be linked to the full text. okay, that may not sound so amazing, but for an information junkie like me, it's useful.
there's another important aspect of transclusion Nelson talks about that some other posters touched on - automated royalty payments. if you follow a link, a centralized system can track you and automatically charge you (or the author of the article) for use of their original material.
transclusion
ted nelson
you're thinking of java 2 platform. java 1.2 was java 2 platform. so this 1.3.0 ibm release is also java 2 platform.
it's java. if there's one buzzword you gotta know... okay, maybe java isn't it, but it's still pretty useful to know. i'm just glad linux is getting this support for java. it took sun long enough to make a jdk for it.