"Astroturfing" refers to the generation or simulation of an artificial grass-roots movement (artificial grass, get it? It's what passes for humor these days.) It seemed to me to be an attempt at presenting an anti-linux, pro-windows point of view as if it had come from one of/.'s beloved AC's (that's you, I think).
Here's the leap - I was suggesting, politely and indirectly, that perhaps the poster's motivation was due to his possibly being employed by the sleeping giant of Redmond. Were that the case, I can honestly say that it would qualify, in my book, as a bit of astroturfing.
But then, I'm not in charge of the geek dictionary these days. I'm sure you're right, and I simply misused an attack term. What else would you have called that anonymous post if it turns out to be from a real Microserf? Troll, yes; but my suggestion (I know, I've really got to avoid subtlety where AC's are concerned) was for something more insidious and purposeful. Pray forgive me; I'll try not to tread on the sanctity of your favorite words again.
"I'm sure that, just like you, the poster would not advocate Windows 98 as a "professional OS with high performance, scalability, stability..." nor would any business looking for those qualities choose Win98. Those businesses, if they were to choose a Microsoft OS, would choose Windows 2000."
That may be. Certainly I have done so, when I have built high-end non-linear editing systems. I've also recommended Win2k to my father and others.
However, the post (troll?) didn't mention Win2k. It specifically did mention both 98 and ME, and compared them semi-directly with Linux. IOW: I didn't bring them up, he did.
I honestly don't see how you putting words into his mouth is more fair than me answering specific comments that he *did* make. But hey, I was never on the debate team. Perhaps I should call the cooper right now.
I'd have sworn it said, "Open Source", not "Linux". Hint: *BSD? Try to stay on topic.
"I could go on and on and on, but the conclusion is clear. Linux is not an option for any one who seeks a professional OS with high performance, scalability, stability, adherence to standards, etc."
Oh, but ME adheres to standards? Whose? Where's that SMP copy of 98 again? Mr. Pot, meet Mr. Kettle.
"According to Linux advocates, an alternative to EXT2FS would be ReiserFS. Unfortunately, ReiserFS is still in beta stage. This means it is not intended for production use (although according to many Linux advocates this shouldn't be a problem, which makes me wonder how (little) valuable they find your data)."
Straw man. 10 minutes in the barrel for you, buddy.
I know that *I* have more than 2 to the 14th neurons.... but this is slashdot. The number of (Pick any two: trolls / clueless OS zealots ("Oooh! Shiny!") / people who believe that being able to run Q3 at 125 fps qualifies them to have opinions on nuclear physics and global warming) posting here on/. is large enough that the *average* number of neurons may, in fact, be on the order of 16384.
I, for one, am sick of this global climatic change. I'm also sick of the debate over its causes, whether it's good change or bad, etc, etc. Let's all commit NOW to stopping global climatic change in its tracks. We know the cause, now let us effect the cure:
Kill all the butterflies!
It's obvious that there's a species of giant butterfly, perhaps in Brazil or Norway, continuously flapping their wings, causing giant changes in the weather, and ruining my picnics. I want them stopped.
What? Oh, I'm sorry, have to go now. Nurse says it's time for my injections again. Already?
I bought a SoundFeeder SF100 from BestBuy for $10. It has a 1/8" plug for sound input (soundcard, anyone?) and a cig lighter plug to power itself. I replaced the internal antenna with a 1/4 wave piece of wire, soldered an old cig. lighter adapter socket I had lying around to a HDD power cable / fan adapter....
And now my computer directly powers my FM transmitter. Put a second soundcard in dedicated to the SF, and now I have XMMS crossfading through my playlist, all over the house.
$10 SF100 $9.50 Soundcard from compgeeks.com $2? Cig.lighter splitter to cannibalize
Beats the hell out of the cost of the Ramsey FM25, which is bulkier and doesn't work any better without a seriously improved antenna.
See, the thing about "Battlefield Earth" -the book- was that L. Ron used the narrative to set up a state of susceptibility to Scientology - like, say, a feeling of repugnance towards psychologists and "security" types. It was intended to be subtextual and sort of insinuate its way into your own personal feelings. Of course, after I read it 20 times or so, it was pretty obvious. "Mission Earth" was even more obvious.
In the movie, there was no room for the noxious subtext. It was so shallow that you can't bury anything in there. It's like a catbox with no litter. That way, you can see how full of crap it is.
Slashdot Mirror
Don't forget, when it comes to poking fun at Organized Christianity©, there's nothing better than Betty!
Come on, the congruency is uncanny... I've known this for years.
Bo & Luke == Luke & Han.
General Lee == Millenium Falcon
Dynamite Arrow == Lightsaber
Uncle Jesse==Obi-wan
Daisy==Leia
Cooter == Chewbacca
Roscoe P. Coltrane == Darth Vader
Boss Hogg== Emperor
Cletus==Boba Fett.
The Boar's Nest==the Death Star.
My favorite quotes:
"Use the Bow........... Luke"
" A gyug, gyug, gyug! My little fat Emperor Buddy!"
"Hep me, Unca Jesse! You're my only hope!"
I could go on, but is that really a good idea?
"Astroturfing" refers to the generation or simulation of an artificial grass-roots movement (artificial grass, get it? It's what passes for humor these days.) /.'s beloved AC's (that's you, I think).
It seemed to me to be an attempt at presenting an anti-linux, pro-windows point of view as if it had come from one of
Here's the leap - I was suggesting, politely and indirectly, that perhaps the poster's motivation was due to his possibly being employed by the sleeping giant of Redmond. Were that the case, I can honestly say that it would qualify, in my book, as a bit of astroturfing.
But then, I'm not in charge of the geek dictionary these days. I'm sure you're right, and I simply misused an attack term. What else would you have called that anonymous post if it turns out to be from a real Microserf? Troll, yes; but my suggestion (I know, I've really got to avoid subtlety where AC's are concerned) was for something more insidious and purposeful. Pray forgive me; I'll try not to tread on the sanctity of your favorite words again.
"I'm sure that, just like you, the poster would not advocate Windows 98 as a "professional OS with high performance, scalability, stability..." nor would any business looking for those qualities choose Win98. Those businesses, if they were to choose a Microsoft OS, would choose Windows 2000."
That may be. Certainly I have done so, when I have built high-end non-linear editing systems. I've also recommended Win2k to my father and others.
However, the post (troll?) didn't mention Win2k. It specifically did mention both 98 and ME, and compared them semi-directly with Linux. IOW: I didn't bring them up, he did.
I honestly don't see how you putting words into his mouth is more fair than me answering specific comments that he *did* make. But hey, I was never on the debate team. Perhaps I should call the cooper right now.
Oh, the heady scent of freshly mown Astroturf.
I'd have sworn it said, "Open Source", not "Linux". Hint: *BSD? Try to stay on topic.
"I could go on and on and on, but the conclusion is clear. Linux is not an option for any one who seeks a professional OS with high performance, scalability, stability, adherence to standards, etc."
Oh, but ME adheres to standards? Whose? Where's that SMP copy of 98 again? Mr. Pot, meet Mr. Kettle.
"According to Linux advocates, an alternative to EXT2FS would be ReiserFS. Unfortunately, ReiserFS is still in beta stage. This means it is not intended for production use (although according to many Linux advocates this shouldn't be a problem, which makes me wonder how (little) valuable they find your data)."
Straw man. 10 minutes in the barrel for you, buddy.
I know that *I* have more than 2 to the 14th neurons.... but this is slashdot. The number of (Pick any two: trolls / clueless OS zealots ("Oooh! Shiny!") / people who believe that being able to run Q3 at 125 fps qualifies them to have opinions on nuclear physics and global warming) posting here on /. is large enough that the *average* number of neurons may, in fact, be on the order of 16384.
I, for one, am sick of this global climatic change. I'm also sick of the debate over its causes, whether it's good change or bad, etc, etc. Let's all commit NOW to stopping global climatic change in its tracks. We know the cause, now let us effect the cure:
Kill all the butterflies!
It's obvious that there's a species of giant butterfly, perhaps in Brazil or Norway, continuously flapping their wings, causing giant changes in the weather, and ruining my picnics. I want them stopped.
What? Oh, I'm sorry, have to go now. Nurse says it's time for my injections again. Already?
I bought a SoundFeeder SF100 from BestBuy for $10. It has a 1/8" plug for sound input (soundcard, anyone?) and a cig lighter plug to power itself. I replaced the internal antenna with a 1/4 wave piece of wire, soldered an old cig. lighter adapter socket I had lying around to a HDD power cable / fan adapter....
And now my computer directly powers my FM transmitter. Put a second soundcard in dedicated to the SF, and now I have XMMS crossfading through my playlist, all over the house.
$10 SF100
$9.50 Soundcard from compgeeks.com
$2? Cig.lighter splitter to cannibalize
Beats the hell out of the cost of the Ramsey FM25, which is bulkier and doesn't work any better without a seriously improved antenna.
See, the thing about "Battlefield Earth" -the book- was that L. Ron used the narrative to set up a state of susceptibility to Scientology - like, say, a feeling of repugnance towards psychologists and "security" types. It was intended to be subtextual and sort of insinuate its way into your own personal feelings. Of course, after I read it 20 times or so, it was pretty obvious. "Mission Earth" was even more obvious.
In the movie, there was no room for the noxious subtext. It was so shallow that you can't bury anything in there. It's like a catbox with no litter. That way, you can see how full of crap it is.
Rob