Profanity tends to piss people off, especially on slashdot.
If they have a problem they should deal with it and not take out on me. I'm entitled to speak however I see fit and moderating someone down just because you do not agree or becuase you don't like how they speak is not in the spirit of the moderation system.
If these people don't like me, too bad. That is their problem, but you don't abuse your power just to silence me because you don't like what I have to say.
OK, you mods obviously are smarter than I am, so will someone please tell me WHY WHY WHY my parent post was a Troll? I just want to know why?
Was it because I used too much profanity? Why should that matter, my point is still valid and well thought out. I used profanity to illustrate my frustration with this topic, and because there is no rule that says I can't. If you don't like what someone has to say, you should deal with it and not just say, "you're an idiot" and mod them down etc.
Was it because you didn't like it? You should not mod based on your opinion of my idea, that is not the point of the moderation system.
Was it because it was Offtopic? Well then why didn't you moderate it as such?
Trolls are posts written with the specific intention of just pissing people off for the fun of it (e.g. crapflods, racist posts, etc.) and the way I see it my post does not fall under this category. So I ask again, WHY?
And if you don't like it here, stop visiting this site. Just get out. Who's forcing you to visit it?
You know what? This is really a shit attitude that is so common among... well... a lot of people not just on slashdot but in my day to day interactions with other people over here in the face to face world.
I mean seriously, when does it stop?
Don't like this website? Don't read it. Don't like your cable provider? Don't use it. Don't like your country? Move to another one.
These are just fucking cop out responses to avoid an argument, but to you really think that it fucking helps anything when you say this shit? Sure it will shut the troll up, but what if maybe his complaint is legitimate and he isn't just making it up to piss people off for kicks or whatever. Maybe perhaps something needs to be fixed and we should take responsibility and fix it.
OK, I don't run slashdot and I doubt the people who run this site really give a fuck what I think, but if enough of us got together and tried to look at what might be wrong and make proposals to fix it. Maybe then (if the owners of slashdot liked the idea) we could help create something better than what we have. You ever thing of that? Just because we don't own slashdot doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to take responsibility to make it better. That is ultimately what this rant is about: taking responsibility instead of spewing cop-out cliché replies.
Also, I'm not saying there is anything wrong with slashdot since I don't really have an opinion on the state of the moderation system here. However, I hope that this rant will encourage people to stop blowing each other off and start giving a damn because that is the only way things will improve.
DRM often being overly restrictive, easily bypassed, or otherwise inneficient does not mean that there should not be some _Rasonable_ system in place that prevents misuse, and only mis-use.
I would like to point you to this article and follow up by submitting that what you ask is either not possible or so impractical that we should not waste our energies on such a project.
To summarize the article, it basically states that because of the complexities of society, only humans should be allowed to decide the implication of the law in a case by case basis. Such decisions are not for the cold logic of a computer unless a sophisticated AI is created for DRM, which is the impractical part I was referring to earlier.
The key word in the article is "leeway", something that machines are completely incapable of.
Look at it this way, do you really want your computer telling you what you can and can't do? Now you can say that this is important for security and to prevent damage to the machine (e.g. Don't allow other users to access the machine, don't allow users to delete system files), but those are simply bad analogies and I encourage you to avoid them since they will only hinder this discussion.
Who are you to say that they don't deserve money for their product? I have satellite TV and it works fine, and is worth the money. I have more channels than I could ever watch, the picture is clear, and some of the channels even have basic interactivity. Just because its a company doesn't mean you have to fight it and that its "evil"
While you are correct that corporation != evil, this corporation has proven by its excessive actions against this individual that it is more on the evil side than not.
I will also admit that I was ranting when I said "greedy and overpaid corporation" but I think there is enough truth in that statement to justify it.
Also I would like to point out that the only crime he actually committed was conspiracy to commit a crime (and we aren't talking about anything serious like murder or grand theft or holding up a bank). I don't know the specifics of how conspiracy is treated in a court of law, but I would hope that it would be little more than a slap on the wrist and a firm warning. I realize that this does not happen with drugs, or attempted murders etc. but we are not talking about those things here so please stop making those pseudo-insightful comparisons.
I am also aware that he is a repeat offender. Again, this is a repeat offender of IP infringement which is basically petty theft, if that, and it should be treated as such.
I know it is fun to play devil's advocate to rack up insightful mods, but really it does not help and only goes to show how much we are willing to be abused. I've said this before when people were saying how we should stop complaining about the DRM at the iTunes Music Store because it wasn't going to get any better. Well, when we have so many people with that attitude, that will be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
OK, let's forget about the $500/month payment and just focus on the FIVE YEARS in prison for a crime he never actually committed. To top it all off, this wasn't even a serious crime; it was IP infringement, which is already a sketchy area to begin with.
Every time something like this happens, I always see a few people that say "good, they broke the law, they got their punishment", well I have a little something called "empathy".
Put yourself in their shoes, would you like it if you were sent to federal prison for five years just because you might have cut into the profits of an already greedy and overpaid corporation? You need to put this in perspective, people charged with assault and other various violent crimes get off easier than this. This is complete and total bullshit and you people are just going to sit there and not only take it, but praise the government for brining another "dangerous criminal" to justice. Let me make it absolutely clear that the he didn't actually do anything, he was charged with conspiracy to do something.
Doesn't the amount of power that corporations are demonstrating they have SCARE YOU at all? Or are you just to completely oblivious to the world around you?
Seriously, compared to some of the shit that goes on in our society today, I really think the last thing we should be worrying about is copyright infringement. Sure it may be illegal, but when we can't even handle murderers and rapist, I don't think wasting time, energy, and money on copyright infringement is a good idea.
Of course, the corporations disagree because the more they push for stronger enforcement of these laws, the more money they can make. Theoretically speaking of course.
Wal-Mart only carries edited music, and this is only because the label offers the edited version. Any music with the parental advisory sticker that does not have an edited version available will not be sold by Wal-Mart. Hence, no Eminem.
Movies are another story, all movies are the same as the ones you will buy in any other store, which is why Wal-Mart cards anyone trying to buy an R rated movie since you need to be over 17 to purchase it.
If how you see yourself is different from how everyone else sees you, who is wrong? If how you know yourself is different from how everyone else knows you, who is wrong?
The answer to this is obvious. No one can know you better than you know yourself since no one has access to your mind except you. It is true in many cases that people do not look at themselves clearly enough to completely understand themselves, but it is still only themselves that can get a clear picture if they strive for it. No one else can do that. People can claim to know someone better than they know themselves, but it is rarely true unless the subject in question is truly blind to their own condition. In my case, I am acutely aware of who I am, and I find it quite insulting and arrogant that you believe otherwise.
But you don't know me, so assuming that you are better than me is the easiest way to make you feel superior. It's only human nature.
As for everything else, I honestly don't care about your opinion anymore. I did what I did because I felt like it, I'm sick and tired of all the rules and guidelines one must follow to be respected in society. I just wanted to do whatever I felt like with complete disregard for whatever anyone else thought.
As for me being guilty of assuming I know something about others (e.g. me calling you an idiot or arrogant), I just put that in there to avoid the "Pot calling kettle black" statement that is so very annoying. I'm well aware of such a statement, but I don't care because I did not feel going into not being able to assume anything due to lack of complete data.
With this level of apathy I question as to why I am bothering to reply at all. I guess I'm just bored and need to put you into your place and have you cease your arrogance. For I despise nothing more than unjustified arrogance.
Of course then we come back to the argument that I don't know you so how can I know you are being arrogant. Well, I can't. This is the point where I stop caring completely. I've had enough, and I will not be posting any further replies since this argument is circular.
So lets just drop this whole thing and move on to bigger and better things.
No one took your post as anything other than a troll.
Not true, you will notice that 20% found it "Funny". There was even an "Insightful" mod for a while, I'm guessing that it was meta-moderated as unfair at some point. Oh well.
Or perhaps another reason for using an AC account is that I'm on company time and people in my company know my handle and I don't want them do know I'm spending company time to post?
Actually I didn't think of this possibility because I have something called a "work ethic". Typically I don't go posting to news services at the office unless I'm on my lunch break or such. I'm usually too busy with actual work to bother with such unproductive tasks. However, now I'm at home and I have some time to kill... so here I am. If this is simply not the case for you, perhaps you should re-think your choice of career.
Oh, and I'm not annoying a service. In fact, it appears I'm annoying only you.
Oops, you found me out! Although if there was anyone left reading this other than you and me, I'm sure we would both get modded down as being annoying. I just felt like releasing some anger though, thanks for your help on that one.
This is where you are wrong. It is impossible for anyone to know anyone better than they know themselves. This is due to a fundamental flaw in the way humans communicate. Verbal and written language is far too awkward to articulate everything that a person may be thinking at a given moment (this is necessary to fully understand anyone's perspective). It is also far too slow. People can think they understand, but this is ultimately self-deception.
You have a point with you figuring out that I don't subscribe to the "Christian faith" but your point is very minimal since that is only one of the nearly infinite factors that makes up my personality.
You don't know me, you never will, and I never expect you to.
People like you disgust me, thinking themselves all high and mighty just because they think they know something about someone that they do not. Such an assumption is quite arrogant. Of this I am also guilty, but I don't really care if I'm correct or not because in the end I'm just doing this because I'm bored and I like to observe people's reactions to uncommon stimuli. At least, uncommon in a civil society.
Yeah, you made your point. The point you made is that you CAN'T MAKE A POINT FOR SHIT. If you want to post to Slashdot, the only reason you should use an AC account is if you are talking about a company you work for and you don't want your higher-ups to know who you are. Otherwise, get an account or SHUT UP. Or better yet, annoy some other service. SO JUST FUCKING SHUT UP AND LEAVE!
If you don't have an account then fucking make one or SHUT UP. Or is that too hard for you? You have NO EXCUSE to post AC and then whine that you don't have an account because it is FREE.
Like yours are SOO much better. I don't feel like putting any actual thought into responding to a fuckhead like you. I just like to tell you to shut up you fucking prick.
Your comment seems to be the most common one I see among the "satisfied customers" of the iTunes music store. I really don't see it as very insightful since all you are saying is "It doesn't intrude on any of 'my' rights, so it must be fair for everyone else too"
In your defense, I really can't think of anything that I would need to do with these AAC files that would be inhibited by the DRM. However, that doesn't mean that someone else will come to the same conclusion. You underestimate the complexity of society, chances are there is something that neither you nor I no Apple thought of.
This is the point of the article; we should not be letting computers tell us what to do instead of the other way around. This is mostly because even us humans are incapable of governing ourselves simply because we cannot think of everything, ever. Just like I'm quite certain that there is some hole in this logic that people are going to pick apart, completely invalidating my argument. Oh well, so is Slashdot.
Slashdot Mirror
plenty of those menu systems are done in straight javascript, though.
There is nothing straight about JavaScript.
It is ignorant to think that p2p vs. riaa is about freedom, when it is clearly about greed.
Who's greed? Our greed or theirs?
All we want is some music, they want everything.
"If your agenda is to educate, it's knowldege. If it's something else, it's propaganda."
-Sean Kennedy
What do you suppose the RIAA's agenda is?
Profanity tends to piss people off, especially on slashdot.
If they have a problem they should deal with it and not take out on me. I'm entitled to speak however I see fit and moderating someone down just because you do not agree or becuase you don't like how they speak is not in the spirit of the moderation system.
If these people don't like me, too bad. That is their problem, but you don't abuse your power just to silence me because you don't like what I have to say.
OK, you mods obviously are smarter than I am, so will someone please tell me WHY WHY WHY my parent post was a Troll? I just want to know why?
Was it because I used too much profanity? Why should that matter, my point is still valid and well thought out. I used profanity to illustrate my frustration with this topic, and because there is no rule that says I can't. If you don't like what someone has to say, you should deal with it and not just say, "you're an idiot" and mod them down etc.
Was it because you didn't like it? You should not mod based on your opinion of my idea, that is not the point of the moderation system.
Was it because it was Offtopic? Well then why didn't you moderate it as such?
Trolls are posts written with the specific intention of just pissing people off for the fun of it (e.g. crapflods, racist posts, etc.) and the way I see it my post does not fall under this category. So I ask again, WHY?
And if you don't like it here, stop visiting this site. Just get out. Who's forcing you to visit it?
You know what? This is really a shit attitude that is so common among... well... a lot of people not just on slashdot but in my day to day interactions with other people over here in the face to face world.
I mean seriously, when does it stop?
Don't like this website? Don't read it.
Don't like your cable provider? Don't use it.
Don't like your country? Move to another one.
These are just fucking cop out responses to avoid an argument, but to you really think that it fucking helps anything when you say this shit? Sure it will shut the troll up, but what if maybe his complaint is legitimate and he isn't just making it up to piss people off for kicks or whatever. Maybe perhaps something needs to be fixed and we should take responsibility and fix it.
OK, I don't run slashdot and I doubt the people who run this site really give a fuck what I think, but if enough of us got together and tried to look at what might be wrong and make proposals to fix it. Maybe then (if the owners of slashdot liked the idea) we could help create something better than what we have. You ever thing of that? Just because we don't own slashdot doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to take responsibility to make it better. That is ultimately what this rant is about: taking responsibility instead of spewing cop-out cliché replies.
Also, I'm not saying there is anything wrong with slashdot since I don't really have an opinion on the state of the moderation system here. However, I hope that this rant will encourage people to stop blowing each other off and start giving a damn because that is the only way things will improve.
DRM often being overly restrictive, easily bypassed, or otherwise inneficient does not mean that there should not be some _Rasonable_ system in place that prevents misuse, and only mis-use.
I would like to point you to this article and follow up by submitting that what you ask is either not possible or so impractical that we should not waste our energies on such a project.
To summarize the article, it basically states that because of the complexities of society, only humans should be allowed to decide the implication of the law in a case by case basis. Such decisions are not for the cold logic of a computer unless a sophisticated AI is created for DRM, which is the impractical part I was referring to earlier.
The key word in the article is "leeway", something that machines are completely incapable of.
Look at it this way, do you really want your computer telling you what you can and can't do? Now you can say that this is important for security and to prevent damage to the machine (e.g. Don't allow other users to access the machine, don't allow users to delete system files), but those are simply bad analogies and I encourage you to avoid them since they will only hinder this discussion.
by CowboyMeal (614487)
+5 Hilarious name!
Who are you to say that they don't deserve money for their product? I have satellite TV and it works fine, and is worth the money. I have more channels than I could ever watch, the picture is clear, and some of the channels even have basic interactivity. Just because its a company doesn't mean you have to fight it and that its "evil"
While you are correct that corporation != evil, this corporation has proven by its excessive actions against this individual that it is more on the evil side than not.
I will also admit that I was ranting when I said "greedy and overpaid corporation" but I think there is enough truth in that statement to justify it.
Also I would like to point out that the only crime he actually committed was conspiracy to commit a crime (and we aren't talking about anything serious like murder or grand theft or holding up a bank). I don't know the specifics of how conspiracy is treated in a court of law, but I would hope that it would be little more than a slap on the wrist and a firm warning. I realize that this does not happen with drugs, or attempted murders etc. but we are not talking about those things here so please stop making those pseudo-insightful comparisons.
I am also aware that he is a repeat offender. Again, this is a repeat offender of IP infringement which is basically petty theft, if that, and it should be treated as such.
I know it is fun to play devil's advocate to rack up insightful mods, but really it does not help and only goes to show how much we are willing to be abused. I've said this before when people were saying how we should stop complaining about the DRM at the iTunes Music Store because it wasn't going to get any better. Well, when we have so many people with that attitude, that will be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
OK, let's forget about the $500/month payment and just focus on the FIVE YEARS in prison for a crime he never actually committed. To top it all off, this wasn't even a serious crime; it was IP infringement, which is already a sketchy area to begin with.
Every time something like this happens, I always see a few people that say "good, they broke the law, they got their punishment", well I have a little something called "empathy".
Put yourself in their shoes, would you like it if you were sent to federal prison for five years just because you might have cut into the profits of an already greedy and overpaid corporation? You need to put this in perspective, people charged with assault and other various violent crimes get off easier than this. This is complete and total bullshit and you people are just going to sit there and not only take it, but praise the government for brining another "dangerous criminal" to justice. Let me make it absolutely clear that the he didn't actually do anything, he was charged with conspiracy to do something.
Doesn't the amount of power that corporations are demonstrating they have SCARE YOU at all? Or are you just to completely oblivious to the world around you?
de minimis non curat lex
Seriously, compared to some of the shit that goes on in our society today, I really think the last thing we should be worrying about is copyright infringement. Sure it may be illegal, but when we can't even handle murderers and rapist, I don't think wasting time, energy, and money on copyright infringement is a good idea.
Of course, the corporations disagree because the more they push for stronger enforcement of these laws, the more money they can make. Theoretically speaking of course.
Wal-Mart only carries edited music, and this is only because the label offers the edited version. Any music with the parental advisory sticker that does not have an edited version available will not be sold by Wal-Mart. Hence, no Eminem.
Movies are another story, all movies are the same as the ones you will buy in any other store, which is why Wal-Mart cards anyone trying to buy an R rated movie since you need to be over 17 to purchase it.
If how you see yourself is different from how everyone else sees you, who is wrong? If how you know yourself is different from how everyone else knows you, who is wrong?
The answer to this is obvious. No one can know you better than you know yourself since no one has access to your mind except you. It is true in many cases that people do not look at themselves clearly enough to completely understand themselves, but it is still only themselves that can get a clear picture if they strive for it. No one else can do that. People can claim to know someone better than they know themselves, but it is rarely true unless the subject in question is truly blind to their own condition. In my case, I am acutely aware of who I am, and I find it quite insulting and arrogant that you believe otherwise.
But you don't know me, so assuming that you are better than me is the easiest way to make you feel superior. It's only human nature.
As for everything else, I honestly don't care about your opinion anymore. I did what I did because I felt like it, I'm sick and tired of all the rules and guidelines one must follow to be respected in society. I just wanted to do whatever I felt like with complete disregard for whatever anyone else thought.
As for me being guilty of assuming I know something about others (e.g. me calling you an idiot or arrogant), I just put that in there to avoid the "Pot calling kettle black" statement that is so very annoying. I'm well aware of such a statement, but I don't care because I did not feel going into not being able to assume anything due to lack of complete data.
With this level of apathy I question as to why I am bothering to reply at all. I guess I'm just bored and need to put you into your place and have you cease your arrogance. For I despise nothing more than unjustified arrogance.
Of course then we come back to the argument that I don't know you so how can I know you are being arrogant. Well, I can't. This is the point where I stop caring completely. I've had enough, and I will not be posting any further replies since this argument is circular.
So lets just drop this whole thing and move on to bigger and better things.
No one took your post as anything other than a troll.
Not true, you will notice that 20% found it "Funny". There was even an "Insightful" mod for a while, I'm guessing that it was meta-moderated as unfair at some point. Oh well.
Or perhaps another reason for using an AC account is that I'm on company time and people in my company know my handle and I don't want them do know I'm spending company time to post?
Actually I didn't think of this possibility because I have something called a "work ethic". Typically I don't go posting to news services at the office unless I'm on my lunch break or such. I'm usually too busy with actual work to bother with such unproductive tasks. However, now I'm at home and I have some time to kill... so here I am. If this is simply not the case for you, perhaps you should re-think your choice of career.
Oh, and I'm not annoying a service. In fact, it appears I'm annoying only you.
Oops, you found me out! Although if there was anyone left reading this other than you and me, I'm sure we would both get modded down as being annoying. I just felt like releasing some anger though, thanks for your help on that one.
Anyway, have a nice evening.
it seems I know you better than you know yourself
This is where you are wrong. It is impossible for anyone to know anyone better than they know themselves. This is due to a fundamental flaw in the way humans communicate. Verbal and written language is far too awkward to articulate everything that a person may be thinking at a given moment (this is necessary to fully understand anyone's perspective). It is also far too slow. People can think they understand, but this is ultimately self-deception.
You have a point with you figuring out that I don't subscribe to the "Christian faith" but your point is very minimal since that is only one of the nearly infinite factors that makes up my personality.
You don't know me, you never will, and I never expect you to.
People like you disgust me, thinking themselves all high and mighty just because they think they know something about someone that they do not. Such an assumption is quite arrogant. Of this I am also guilty, but I don't really care if I'm correct or not because in the end I'm just doing this because I'm bored and I like to observe people's reactions to uncommon stimuli. At least, uncommon in a civil society.
Yeah, you made your point. The point you made is that you CAN'T MAKE A POINT FOR SHIT. If you want to post to Slashdot, the only reason you should use an AC account is if you are talking about a company you work for and you don't want your higher-ups to know who you are. Otherwise, get an account or SHUT UP. Or better yet, annoy some other service. SO JUST FUCKING SHUT UP AND LEAVE!
Jesus, will you FUCKING SHUT UP ALREADY? You don't fucking know me, so SHUT UP YOU FUCKING IGNORANT PRICK!
If you don't have an account then fucking make one or SHUT UP. Or is that too hard for you? You have NO EXCUSE to post AC and then whine that you don't have an account because it is FREE.
Like yours are SOO much better. I don't feel like putting any actual thought into responding to a fuckhead like you. I just like to tell you to shut up you fucking prick.
Dude, you're an AC and a fucking stupid one at that. Use your account or shut up. Oh, and I DO read Penny Arcade AND Real-Life.
Oh well. So much for YOUR fucking idea you fucking idiot.
Yeah, like you are any more fucking clever. You are boring and unorigional and I would like for you to stop talking. SO FUCK OFF YOU AC!
You are a fucking idiot.
Oh look! A fucking idiot! There is someting I don't see ALL THE FUCKING TIME on Slashdot.
Your comment seems to be the most common one I see among the "satisfied customers" of the iTunes music store. I really don't see it as very insightful since all you are saying is "It doesn't intrude on any of 'my' rights, so it must be fair for everyone else too"
In your defense, I really can't think of anything that I would need to do with these AAC files that would be inhibited by the DRM. However, that doesn't mean that someone else will come to the same conclusion. You underestimate the complexity of society, chances are there is something that neither you nor I no Apple thought of.
This is the point of the article; we should not be letting computers tell us what to do instead of the other way around. This is mostly because even us humans are incapable of governing ourselves simply because we cannot think of everything, ever. Just like I'm quite certain that there is some hole in this logic that people are going to pick apart, completely invalidating my argument. Oh well, so is Slashdot.
OK, sure fine... whatever you say it correct. You go have fun now with your +5 Funny mod.