Live shows may be a non-starter, too. Most bands have a flat (or somewhat negotiable) fee for the show and a promoter or venue hires them for the gig and sells tickets, for which they set the price, pay the advertising, accept the risk and keep bulk of the profits, if any. Where most touring bands make their money is off merchandising. There's a reason those cheap black concert shirts are $25-30. My (very limited) experience in promotions and negotiation with bands indicates that NOT having a house cut on the merch sales will result in some leeway with the performance fees or even the tech riders in some limited cases.
I think what you're experiencing there is the cultural anomoly that goes with being a geek.:-)
More seriously, I find that my own interest in technology and related matters results in my having a much greater technology comfort level than the majority of people my age. (Yes, it's sort of a A=A argument...) The result then is that I'm much more at home among a younger crowd, particularly when matters of communication and technology are concerned.
Geeks are a poor indicator of their generation's technology comfort. They are, however, a pretty decent indicator of the next generation's comfort.
I had the opportunity to hear Gorbachev speak back in 2000 in Florida. One of the quotes I took away was, "America tried very hard to lose the Cold War. The Solviet Union tried harder."
There are a number of issues at hand here. First, it's important to realize that copies of the GNT are generally compiled from multiple sources using the available documents. Where there exists doubt or variation among the documents, these are footnoted and referenced in the text. Within the Nestle-Aland 26th edition, approximately 1/4-1/3 of each page is taken up by those footnotes. The vast majority of those are very simple changes. For instance:
Opening pretty randomly to Mark 7:7, we see "mataen de sebontai me, didaskontes didaskalias * entalmata anthropwn", which roughly translates as "But in vain do they worship me, teaching (as) teachings (the) doctrines of man", with the words in () added for clarity. If we examine the footnote * (actually an upside down T, but whatever.), we find that P45 (papyrus #45, a 3rd century manuscript in Austria) inserts "Kai" into that space. Kai means "And", leaving us with "But in vain do they worship me, teaching teachings and doctrines of men." The change is at best subtle, and has little to no effect on the meaning of the text. The great majority of notations are similar to this one.
There are some that are more problematic, such as John 1:27, however. "o opisw mou epxomenos, ou ouk eimi egw agios ina lusw autou ton imanta tou upodaematos." Roughly "The after me one is coming, (and) I am not worthy to loose the strap of his sandle." But the footnote adds "ekeinos umas baptizei en pneumati agio kai puri." to the end of the verse, which roughly menas "He (was appointed?) baptize you with the holy spirit and with fire. ()'s in this case indicate that I'm unsure of that translation and don't have the leisure time to verify it at the moment. However, this addition occurs in a single sixth century copy of the Gospels, and is likely cross contamination from Matthew 3 where a similar wording is used.
Much of the talk that the existing manuscripts are "corrupted" is largely a waste of breath. If they are, and I'll gladly hold that they could be, the other manuscripts are noted and the reader is able to review the evidence for themselves. Obviously the editors of NA26 had to make some judgement calls, but the information is always available to double check their scholarship and make one's own call.
One classic example of the scholarship issues with those who hold that the KJV is from an uncorrupted manuscript occurs in Acts 8:37. Go look it up in the NIV. You'll find it as a footnote, at best. In the KJV it's a part of the accepted text. Now why is this? It's because between the translation of the KJV and the NIV earlier manuscripts were uncovered and studied. The earliest occurance of verse 37 in the text is found around the 6th century AD. Manuscripts before that time make no mention of those words at all. Advances in archaeology and scholarship have resulted in clarifications of the original text.
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/09/26/172624 0&mode=thread&tid=167 (return link to this thread...don't bother c&p'ing.)
Is this really the kind of publicity that Wiley publishing is interested in? I understand the need to protect trademarks lest they become public domain, but considering how many of your titles deal with technology issues, perhaps pursuing web sites engaged in what clearly seems to be protected speech, namely satire, is not your best public relations plan. To clarify, I'm not associated with the site in question, but I am aware of the many ridiculous lawsuits (by many companies) which seek to limit users' rights online, as are many Slashdot readers.
Additionally, to begin such a correspondence with a threat of legal action rather than seeking a mutual settlement is heavy handed and unnecessary. While it is by no means my place to tell you how to conduct your business or legal affairs, I reward those companies which conduct business in a respectable manner with my business. Pending a change in tone and tactics by Wiley, I shall have to find other places to spend my money. Such a change would be made most evident in ceasing to pursue the matter with slackersguild.com as well as a note of apology for the tone taken in the initial contact. I'm sure the moderators at slashdot.org would be more than happy to carry such news to help offset the negative publicity that this matter has generated for Wiley.
Thank you for your time, and I hope to be able to do business with you in the future.
Interesting...I had myself flagged and generally ended up with a question or so a week when I played. Of course, I'm at best a casual player, so that likely minimized the amount of calls I got. Good to know that programs like that can work, since AC's setup right now definitely doesn't.
Actually, no one is using volunteer help at this point. There was a lawsuit not long ago where several player "volunteers" demanded back pay for their time and were able to win in court. As a result no one is willing to risk having volunteer assistance any longer. Dark Age of Camelot has a very limited, unofficial helper program, but it's rarely used, in my experience.
Bottom line: Server support/newbie help will cost extra money for the developers, but probably not significant amounts. I know the response time in Asheron's Call was *much* faster when the volunteers were in place. (On the order of a few minutes compared to a few hours or even days with "professional" help.)
Slashdot Mirror
Live shows may be a non-starter, too. Most bands have a flat (or somewhat negotiable) fee for the show and a promoter or venue hires them for the gig and sells tickets, for which they set the price, pay the advertising, accept the risk and keep bulk of the profits, if any. Where most touring bands make their money is off merchandising. There's a reason those cheap black concert shirts are $25-30. My (very limited) experience in promotions and negotiation with bands indicates that NOT having a house cut on the merch sales will result in some leeway with the performance fees or even the tech riders in some limited cases.
I think what you're experiencing there is the cultural anomoly that goes with being a geek. :-)
More seriously, I find that my own interest in technology and related matters results in my having a much greater technology comfort level than the majority of people my age. (Yes, it's sort of a A=A argument...) The result then is that I'm much more at home among a younger crowd, particularly when matters of communication and technology are concerned.
Geeks are a poor indicator of their generation's technology comfort. They are, however, a pretty decent indicator of the next generation's comfort.
I had the opportunity to hear Gorbachev speak back in 2000 in Florida. One of the quotes I took away was, "America tried very hard to lose the Cold War. The Solviet Union tried harder."
Fairly succinct summary one would think.
There are a number of issues at hand here. First, it's important to realize that copies of the GNT are generally compiled from multiple sources using the available documents. Where there exists doubt or variation among the documents, these are footnoted and referenced in the text. Within the Nestle-Aland 26th edition, approximately 1/4-1/3 of each page is taken up by those footnotes. The vast majority of those are very simple changes. For instance:
Opening pretty randomly to Mark 7:7, we see "mataen de sebontai me, didaskontes didaskalias * entalmata anthropwn", which roughly translates as "But in vain do they worship me, teaching (as) teachings (the) doctrines of man", with the words in () added for clarity. If we examine the footnote * (actually an upside down T, but whatever.), we find that P45 (papyrus #45, a 3rd century manuscript in Austria) inserts "Kai" into that space. Kai means "And", leaving us with "But in vain do they worship me, teaching teachings and doctrines of men." The change is at best subtle, and has little to no effect on the meaning of the text. The great majority of notations are similar to this one.
There are some that are more problematic, such as John 1:27, however. "o opisw mou epxomenos, ou ouk eimi egw agios ina lusw autou ton imanta tou upodaematos." Roughly "The after me one is coming, (and) I am not worthy to loose the strap of his sandle." But the footnote adds "ekeinos umas baptizei en pneumati agio kai puri." to the end of the verse, which roughly menas "He (was appointed?) baptize you with the holy spirit and with fire. ()'s in this case indicate that I'm unsure of that translation and don't have the leisure time to verify it at the moment. However, this addition occurs in a single sixth century copy of the Gospels, and is likely cross contamination from Matthew 3 where a similar wording is used.
Much of the talk that the existing manuscripts are "corrupted" is largely a waste of breath. If they are, and I'll gladly hold that they could be, the other manuscripts are noted and the reader is able to review the evidence for themselves. Obviously the editors of NA26 had to make some judgement calls, but the information is always available to double check their scholarship and make one's own call.
One classic example of the scholarship issues with those who hold that the KJV is from an uncorrupted manuscript occurs in Acts 8:37. Go look it up in the NIV. You'll find it as a footnote, at best. In the KJV it's a part of the accepted text. Now why is this? It's because between the translation of the KJV and the NIV earlier manuscripts were uncovered and studied. The earliest occurance of verse 37 in the text is found around the 6th century AD. Manuscripts before that time make no mention of those words at all. Advances in archaeology and scholarship have resulted in clarifications of the original text.
Hope that's helpful!
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/09/26/172624 0&mode=thread&tid=167
(return link to this thread...don't bother c&p'ing.)
Is this really the kind of publicity that Wiley publishing is interested in? I understand the need to protect trademarks lest they become public domain, but considering how many of your titles deal with technology issues, perhaps pursuing web sites engaged in what clearly seems to be protected speech, namely satire, is not your best public relations plan. To clarify, I'm not associated with the site in question, but I am aware of the many ridiculous lawsuits (by many companies) which seek to limit users' rights online, as are many Slashdot readers.
Additionally, to begin such a correspondence with a threat of legal action rather than seeking a mutual settlement is heavy handed and unnecessary. While it is by no means my place to tell you how to conduct your business or legal affairs, I reward those companies which conduct business in a respectable manner with my business. Pending a change in tone and tactics by Wiley, I shall have to find other places to spend my money. Such a change would be made most evident in ceasing to pursue the matter with slackersguild.com as well as a note of apology for the tone taken in the initial contact. I'm sure the moderators at slashdot.org would be more than happy to carry such news to help offset the negative publicity that this matter has generated for Wiley.
Thank you for your time, and I hope to be able to do business with you in the future.
Interesting...I had myself flagged and generally ended up with a question or so a week when I played. Of course, I'm at best a casual player, so that likely minimized the amount of calls I got. Good to know that programs like that can work, since AC's setup right now definitely doesn't.
Actually, no one is using volunteer help at this point. There was a lawsuit not long ago where several player "volunteers" demanded back pay for their time and were able to win in court. As a result no one is willing to risk having volunteer assistance any longer. Dark Age of Camelot has a very limited, unofficial helper program, but it's rarely used, in my experience.
Bottom line: Server support/newbie help will cost extra money for the developers, but probably not significant amounts. I know the response time in Asheron's Call was *much* faster when the volunteers were in place. (On the order of a few minutes compared to a few hours or even days with "professional" help.)