CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Roughly two-thirds of college students read slashdot, but the image of a nerdy guy who spends all day in a dimly lit room typing first-posts and old in-jokes is off base, according to a new study.
College slashdotters are not necessarily male -- or anti-social hermits. And while about a third of those surveyed admitted reading slashdot during class, it generally doesn't conflict with their studies, says the researcher who conducted the survey for the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
"It's not taking the place of studying; nor is it taking away from other activities," says researcher Steve Jones, chairman of communications department at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "What they seem to have done is incorporated slashdotting into a very multitask-oriented lifestyle."
In addition to the survey data, Jones drew his conclusion from observations he and fellow researchers made while watching students in college computer labs -- many of them writing papers, then taking short breaks to read slashdot and send online messages to friends.
Often, he says, groups of students stop to look at the comments their friends are writing.
"What we found is that it's a very social activity," Jones says.
The survey, released Sunday, was compiled from questionnaires completed last year by 1,162 college students on 27 campuses nationwide. Its results have a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Among other things, surveyors found that 65 percent of those who responded were regular or occasional slashdot readers. Most said they read in their rooms or parents' homes.
Nearly half said slashdotting keeps them from studying "some" or "a lot" -- though their study habits matched closely with those reported by college students in general, Jones said.
"There's this stereotype of slashdot readers wasting time, goofing off, that really isn't valid," says Marcia Grabowecky, a Northwestern University psychologist who has studied visual perception in humans, including those who read slashdot.
Reading slashdot is so common for this age group, it's almost second nature, Jones says. "It's common maybe in a way USENET was years ago," he says.
Nearly 70 percent of those questioned said they were in elementary school when they first heard about the site. By junior high and high school, about half said they had visited at least once, and 43 percent said they had an account there.
David McNulty, a 19-year-old computer science major at the University of Maine, started reading slashdot at age 5. He now hosts slashdotter parties and joins online discussions with people who live across the world.
McNulty says he stopped reading during his first semester because he was worried it would hurt his grades, but he found that his social life suffered.
He started reading again and says it hasn't affected his studies.
"It takes less time to read a few stories than to go downtown or see a movie with your friends. It's easier to meet them online and write with them," McNulty says, chuckling.
The survey also found that, while reading slashdot has a reputation as a male-dominated pastime, women are avid... uhm... I'd better stop now.
swordboy wrote: > I would be GLAD to give several hundred dollars > to any company that can make a consistent, > user-friendly, non-MS OS for my x86 > hardware
What sets LinuxSTEP apart is the goal to create a fully integrated desktop Linux operating environment that is not bound by some of the more traditional approaches of common Linux distributions. The idea is to bring a workspace-like user interface, ease of use, and the development concepts offered by NEXTSTEP and OPENSTEP to the Linux "platform."
To argue that this is wrong because of defeating the DVD CSS in a DMCA-defying act is like arguing it's suddenly O.K. to roast Jews because Nazis in power passed a law saying so. (Yes, yes, Godwin's Law, and the concentration camps' purpose was somewhat hidden from the populace
Wasn't AOL supposed to be phasing out Internet Explorer in favor of Netscape?
They are. In April, AOL-owned Compuserve switched to Mozilla's Gecko rendering engine with the release of Compuserve 7.0, and a couple of weeks ago, AOL for Mac OS X did the same. Looks like they are using Compuserve and Mac OS X as a real-world test of Gecko before putting it in the Windows version.
On the subject of opening new windows, I don't want a website ever opening new windows on my machine.
Then Mozilla is the browser for you. In addition to blocking onload/onunload JavaScript popups, you can also override the target="_blank" attribute which makes links open in new windows when you click them.
Remember that Mozilla/Netscape needs to be completely closed (including quicklaunch) when you edit prefs.js, otherwise your changes will be overridden.
There's even better one. I wonder why isn't it included in the guy by now..?
Because dom.disable_open_click_delay is only a temporary solution. The long-term plan is to make popups whitelist-based: Instead of having a list of places where window.open is commonly abused (onload, ununload, etc.), Mozilla will have a list of places where it's allowed (e.g. when clicking a link manually). Any window.open's not in the whitelist will be blocked.
The group has also done significant work localizing the operating system to support Chinese-language characters, which will be contributed back into the Linux community
Uhm, why does Linux need to be localized to support Chinese characters? Doesn't the thing use Unicode?
BTW, I've been to some peaceful demonstrations, in our nation's capital and other places, and no tanks and soldiers have ever shown up, shot large numbers of peaceful demonstrators, and covered the numbers up. That kind of thing just can't happen here
Slashdot Mirror
CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Roughly two-thirds of college students read slashdot, but the image of a nerdy guy who spends all day in a dimly lit room typing first-posts and old in-jokes is off base, according to a new study.
College slashdotters are not necessarily male -- or anti-social hermits. And while about a third of those surveyed admitted reading slashdot during class, it generally doesn't conflict with their studies, says the researcher who conducted the survey for the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
"It's not taking the place of studying; nor is it taking away from other activities," says researcher Steve Jones, chairman of communications department at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "What they seem to have done is incorporated slashdotting into a very multitask-oriented lifestyle."
In addition to the survey data, Jones drew his conclusion from observations he and fellow researchers made while watching students in college computer labs -- many of them writing papers, then taking short breaks to read slashdot and send online messages to friends.
Often, he says, groups of students stop to look at the comments their friends are writing.
"What we found is that it's a very social activity," Jones says.
The survey, released Sunday, was compiled from questionnaires completed last year by 1,162 college students on 27 campuses nationwide. Its results have a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Among other things, surveyors found that 65 percent of those who responded were regular or occasional slashdot readers. Most said they read in their rooms or parents' homes.
Nearly half said slashdotting keeps them from studying "some" or "a lot" -- though their study habits matched closely with those reported by college students in general, Jones said.
"There's this stereotype of slashdot readers wasting time, goofing off, that really isn't valid," says Marcia Grabowecky, a Northwestern University psychologist who has studied visual perception in humans, including those who read slashdot.
Reading slashdot is so common for this age group, it's almost second nature, Jones says. "It's common maybe in a way USENET was years ago," he says.
Nearly 70 percent of those questioned said they were in elementary school when they first heard about the site. By junior high and high school, about half said they had visited at least once, and 43 percent said they had an account there.
David McNulty, a 19-year-old computer science major at the University of Maine, started reading slashdot at age 5. He now hosts slashdotter parties and joins online discussions with people who live across the world.
McNulty says he stopped reading during his first semester because he was worried it would hurt his grades, but he found that his social life suffered.
He started reading again and says it hasn't affected his studies.
"It takes less time to read a few stories than to go downtown or see a movie with your friends. It's easier to meet them online and write with them," McNulty says, chuckling.
The survey also found that, while reading slashdot has a reputation as a male-dominated pastime, women are avid... uhm... I'd better stop now.
If a robot crashes while operating your brain, I think you'll have more important things to worry about than money.
> When is Mozilla going to recognize the
> "border" tag for tables?
Already does.
> And why does background=#444444 only work
> in IE?
Because that attribute doesn't exist.
Seriously, why are you not using CSS?
swordboy wrote:
> I would be GLAD to give several hundred dollars
> to any company that can make a consistent,
> user-friendly, non-MS OS for my x86
> hardware
What sets LinuxSTEP apart is the goal to create a fully integrated desktop Linux operating environment that is not bound by some of the more traditional approaches of common Linux distributions. The idea is to bring a workspace-like user interface, ease of use, and the development concepts offered by NEXTSTEP and OPENSTEP to the Linux "platform."
http://www.linuxstep.org/
"amd won't be making desktop processors in 2 years time."
Says who?
A good time to start using ISO time.
He said Free, not free.
You did it!!!
1. Write open source software.
2. Get everybody to sue you.
3. Profit!
If you do a custom install and unselect the mail client, Mozilla will use your default mail client.
If you're a *Mozilla* and not a *Netscape* developer, how would you know anything about what happens in Netscape's private tree?
If people find the "dinosaur stuff" scary, get them Beonex Communicator. Mozilla-based, targeted at end users, no dinosaurs, popup blocking included.
But... this is Slashdot! Why would anyone here need a spell checker?
support has (unfortunately) been added, yes.
Where did you get the idea that <blink> support is new? Mozilla has always supported <blink>.
How are you trying to edit XML in an HTML form? Can you post a code example?
Yeah, what a great thing we have everything backed up on MP3.
I'm rather certain they used to only demand royalties for encoders, not decoders.
Netscape might actually be planning to fork the UI. See this newsgroup post by a Netscape developer.
Just add this line to your prefs.js:
user_pref("browser.block.target_new_window", true);
If you are annoyed by web pages forcing links to open in a new window when you click them, Mozilla (and Netscape) has another preference you can use:
user_pref("browser.block.target_new_window", true);
Remember that Mozilla/Netscape needs to be completely closed (including quicklaunch) when you edit prefs.js, otherwise your changes will be overridden.
Software Salesperson: 1 is prime, 3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 will be prime in the next release, ...
...
...
Accountant: 1 is prime, 3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 is prime deducing 10% tax and 5% other obligations,
Statistician: Let's try several randomly chosen numbers: 17 is prime, 19 is prime, 3 is prime, 11 is prime...
Advertiser: 1 is prime, 3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 11 is prime,
Psychologist: 1 is prime, 3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 is prime but tries to suppress it,...
BTW, I've been to some peaceful demonstrations, in our nation's capital and other places, and no tanks and soldiers have ever shown up, shot large numbers of peaceful demonstrators, and covered the numbers up. That kind of thing just can't happen here
Can you say Seattle 1999 World Trade Organization meeting?