That I work in an industry with people who would put their name to this. It's like suddenly discovering that the real job of veterinarians is to drown puppies.
See also RSS feeds. Problem: half of the world uses RSS, half uses ATOM? Solution: come up with a third type, different from either of the other two, that nobody will use.
That's kind of the problem. I dropped in to watch a couple of episodes, and found myself utterly disinterested in the characters or plot. Maybe there was some kind of bigger story going on, but with no decent hook in each episode, I never got a chance to care.
Babylon 5 suffered from much the same problem, but I think we've moved on even since then to a world where if you can't make enough ad money from the eyeballs you've got in every episode, then you can kiss that option to renew goodbye. There are a lot of hungry Ideas Guys out there and a lot of grasping execs (with, as they say, a fiduciary duty to maximise profits) and the potential earnings of the Next Big Show are going to give us a lot more one series wonders like Firefly, Jake 2.0 and Tru Calling. Cast a bunch of nobodies with cheap wirework and FX, and you can keep something like Mutant X ticking over, but if you want a big budget, you'd better be prepared to make with the goodies in every episode.
Please look out of your basement window. You see that little patch of blue up there? That's the real world. In the real world, developing cheaper, more efficient, more usable methods of killing and maiming other humans is not cool.
I said: "Maybe the thinking is...". If you have trouble with the concept of seeing things from other people's point of view, I'm sure that RMS or ESR could tell you what to think about it.
MarketDroid #1: Dammit, people aren't buying enough of our $30 discs.
MarketDroid #2: Hey! What if we 'rented' them out for $3 per view?
MarketDroid #1: Brilliant! Let's go snort coke out of hooker's ass cracks.
MarketDroid #3: But... who's going to want to 'rent' something like that? We'd have to charge less than a proper rental disc to persuade them, so we'll only make pennies per disc. And even if we succeed, all we're doing is guaranteeing that we miss out on $27 of pure profit on a regular disc. Wouldn't we be better to sell people what they actually want, like a lot more regular discs for $15?
MarketDroid #1: You must be new here.
MarketDroid #3: Uh, yeah. Sorry. I guess I need to snort some more coke out of hooker's ass cracks.
That's a great anecdote. Say, can you scurry off and find a few other products that were designed 70 years ago by people literally working with guns to their heads that didn't turn out so well?
First, please take five minutes to go and read the patent. It covers "A method and system are provided for extending the functionality of application buttons on a limited resource computing device."
A game console is a limited resource computing device.
Only wathed by tentacle porn addicts, kiddie fiddlers and overweight Lunis using virgins living in their parents' basement. Yes, you know who you are. I'm talking to you.
With (much) respect, I'd put the death at closer to 18 months, pretty much after rusty's huge burst of rented enthusiasm after the fund drive ran out. It didn't have to be that way. It could so easily have gone the way he promised.
It's quite obvious (in retrospect) from rusty's diary history. A big burst in July-September 2002, then a swift tailing off that dissolves into rambling about yachting and rubbing his wood. And one, count it, one diary in 2004, on January 1st.
Whoops. Good point. However, the anonymity and the protection extended only to the users. rusty can and does (well, did) IP ban, which (depending on your type of connection) is somewhat more extreme than having a throwaway account wiped.
Sorry, I was unclear. My point is simply that having one person in absolute charge of a "community" site is a risky strategy for the participants. Without checks and balances, fatigue, malice or good old accident and injury can take out a site, with no one able to - or allowed to - pick up the reins.
Slashdot Mirror
That I work in an industry with people who would put their name to this. It's like suddenly discovering that the real job of veterinarians is to drown puppies.
Well, Windows is an operating system, and Linux is a kernel. Hmm, I'm almost beginning to see why GNU/RMS gets so annoyed about this stuff.
We drop Mono and have no support for .NET bytecode apps on Linux. How's that worse than never having it in the first place?
See also RSS feeds. Problem: half of the world uses RSS, half uses ATOM? Solution: come up with a third type, different from either of the other two, that nobody will use.
And do you know how a vaccine works? Go to the back of the class.
That's kind of the problem. I dropped in to watch a couple of episodes, and found myself utterly disinterested in the characters or plot. Maybe there was some kind of bigger story going on, but with no decent hook in each episode, I never got a chance to care.
Babylon 5 suffered from much the same problem, but I think we've moved on even since then to a world where if you can't make enough ad money from the eyeballs you've got in every episode, then you can kiss that option to renew goodbye. There are a lot of hungry Ideas Guys out there and a lot of grasping execs (with, as they say, a fiduciary duty to maximise profits) and the potential earnings of the Next Big Show are going to give us a lot more one series wonders like Firefly, Jake 2.0 and Tru Calling. Cast a bunch of nobodies with cheap wirework and FX, and you can keep something like Mutant X ticking over, but if you want a big budget, you'd better be prepared to make with the goodies in every episode.
Please look out of your basement window. You see that little patch of blue up there? That's the real world. In the real world, developing cheaper, more efficient, more usable methods of killing and maiming other humans is not cool.
Are we all clear on that now?
Friend, if the US ever gets into a shooting war with anyone with carriers, it'll nuke them first and deal with the fallout later.
Wow, you won a fight on Slashdot. That makes you King of the Retards! You can collect your crown over there by the sand pit.
Yes, that totally ruined Bridget Jones' Diary for me.
We're pushing the bounds of the possible! Daring the unknown! Challeng- uh, no... wait... it's not 1963 and we've kind of been over this before.
Wake me up when they get into orbit, k?
And please consider my equally ranty reply retracted. I should have read on a bit before kneejerking. Sorry.
I said: "Maybe the thinking is...". If you have trouble with the concept of seeing things from other people's point of view, I'm sure that RMS or ESR could tell you what to think about it.
If you won't pay for an OS, why would you pay for music?
I had my preferences set to ignore "stories" by this retard michael. How did that get reset?
You do not get to have it one way for the bits making up a Britney Spears mp3 and another way for the bits making up Half Life 2.
Did the intruders delete anything from Valve's system? Then it's copyright violation, not theft.
All clear now?
All that's changed is that they're being more honest? What's the problem? We all knew they were paying for play anyway.
That's a great anecdote. Say, can you scurry off and find a few other products that were designed 70 years ago by people literally working with guns to their heads that didn't turn out so well?
First, please take five minutes to go and read the patent. It covers "A method and system are provided for extending the functionality of application buttons on a limited resource computing device."
A game console is a limited resource computing device.
"The longer you hold down the fire button, the stronger your shot will be." R-Type, 1987.
"double-tapping the joystick right or left will cause the player to charge and smash into opponents.", Golden Axe, 1989.
All done now?
>Early CD burning tech led to [...] unreliable discs that wouldn't play in everyone's CD players
Thank goodness those days are long gone!
Only wathed by tentacle porn addicts, kiddie fiddlers and overweight Lunis using virgins living in their parents' basement. Yes, you know who you are. I'm talking to you.
Next big thing? How would you have time. You still "help run [K5] with Rusty"!
With (much) respect, I'd put the death at closer to 18 months, pretty much after rusty's huge burst of rented enthusiasm after the fund drive ran out. It didn't have to be that way. It could so easily have gone the way he promised.
It's quite obvious (in retrospect) from rusty's diary history. A big burst in July-September 2002, then a swift tailing off that dissolves into rambling about yachting and rubbing his wood. And one, count it, one diary in 2004, on January 1st.
Sad, really, that he can't just let it die.
Whoops. Good point. However, the anonymity and the protection extended only to the users. rusty can and does (well, did) IP ban, which (depending on your type of connection) is somewhat more extreme than having a throwaway account wiped.
Sorry, I was unclear. My point is simply that having one person in absolute charge of a "community" site is a risky strategy for the participants. Without checks and balances, fatigue, malice or good old accident and injury can take out a site, with no one able to - or allowed to - pick up the reins.