Well, you were half right - it is stupid. I like to think of it as a feature that the script sometimes tricks people into thinking it's a first post.
Notice the fact that you wouldn't be looking so foolish if you simply hadn't said anything about First Post. What would you have accomplished with that even if you were first, besides to still make yourself look stupid? --
I don't have a DVD drive either, but I think that this is a really important issue anyway. Even the people with DVD players won't get any immediate benefit from winning - DeCSS is still available all over the place.
This case isn't about that kind of immediate benefit. It's about defending our rights.
That said, if you want to filter it out, do so on the preferences page. You'll lose other articles in the Justice section, but deal with it.
Finally, no, you're not 1st. Try 154th. Sheesh. --
And they're probably going to try and get us with this. In one of the other articles about this, someone pointed out this useful fact: some DVD players can be tricked into playing from a directory on the hard disk instead of the DVD drive. So it's not necessary to break the encryption or to write it to a DVD to make a copy of a DVD. --
Well, your plugin sounds like a cool idea, and I appreciate that you included the headers so that it would compile - but I'm afraid I can't vote for you, because the window for your plugin stays completely black all the time. --
I'm sure this would probably be pretty obvious to an experienced Linux user, but nowhere does it mention that none of these plug-ins will work without xmms-devel or the xmms source installed. That was kind of annoying until I figured it out. --
It's funny, because if xmms didn't exist, you or some other casual Linux user would be complaining about the lack of a program like Winamp. I hardly think xmms is cheap - it does its job very well.
I also wonder what you mean by "wasting it" - what is "it"? Time? People write software like this in their spare time, and they write what they want to. If they had to write software that they didn't want to write, it wouldn't be fun anymore.
Anyway. I agree that we need better software, and maybe a killer app or two, but it's still important to keep up with ubiquitous Windows software.
Your post is written quite like a troll. I'm glad some moderator realized that your post does, in fact, make some kind of point. --
Re:Image Alteration has it's uses.
on
Live or Memorex?
·
· Score: 2
One instance of the advertising being the news around here, was when a computerized billboard went buggy. The billboard is for the New York Lottery, and it has numbers that can change to reflect the current jackpot. Anyway, at one time it started enthusiastically displaying that the jackpot was 0 MILLION DOLLARS! All the local news mentioned it.
However, I'd suppose that anti-advertising rules have exceptions for things like that. They sound like a really good idea to me, except that they'd be almost impossible to introduce in the USA. --
Re:Here is a full explanation of how it works - co
on
Live or Memorex?
·
· Score: 2
I don't think they're trying to fool you, they're just trying to help you figure out the game.
It's obvious that they aren't trying to make it look like part of the field, for example, when the ball is intercepted and the line promptly fades away. --
Actually, Industrial Base gives you better armor, not Industrial Economics. But I guess that kind of proves your point.
The technologies are confusing, until you start reading the quotes and descriptions of the technologies. They're actually entertaining - I know that came as a surprise to me, after playing CivII where the technology descriptions were intolerably boring. --
Ah ha! Thank you for clearing that up. I'd only heard a vague rumor of Sid Meier's "Sweep of Time Trilogy", which would include Civ III, Alpha Centauri (II?), and one other game... I couldn't concieve of a game set before 6000 BC, so I assumed it would be a continuation of Alpha Centauri, which would be extremely odd because the big ending of Alpha Centauri involves "transcending" and essentially turning into gods. That'd be one weird game.
Of course, a sim with dinosaurs is also weird... but I'm confident that Sid can manage to make it a good game. --
If you're complaining about the color scheme, it seems you haven't tried the gamma correction option in the game. Turn it up to 1.5 and things are nice and bright.
I agree about Civ:CTP. I played the demo of it - it was okay, but it wasn't instantly addicting the way the Alpha Centauri demo had been. Plus, it felt like one of those Civ2 scenarios where the scenario maker messes with all the settings just because he can. (Clue to game designers: don't assume you're better than Sid at designing the fundamental rules. You're probably wrong.)
RoadRunner was just becoming a good, un-intrusive ISP.
They recently got rid of their login software, so that it works completely transparently.
In the beginning, the technicians who installed the cable connection had some FUD for Internet Explorer that they would spread. ("We can't guarantee this will work with Netscape.") They've stopped doing that now.
They have decent Linux support - back when you had to log in, they pointed Linux users to a Perl script you could use to log in. They have Linux-related newsgroups on their server as well.
With AOL buying them out, I'm afraid this could all go straight to hell. In the eyes of AOL, Linux simply doesn't exist, since it has nothing to do with their target market. Their login software is notorious for being as intrusive as possible - one program that you have to start, and you can only effectively use the Internet programs that are assimilated into it.
In the old RoadRunner login software, there was an option to open RoadRunner's home page automatically, which provided "content" in case anyone cared. AOL seems like the kind of service that is liable to put the login system back just so they can have their "Channels" show up on login. And of course it would only be a Windows/Mac program.
Now, I hope I'm wrong. AOL pretty much left Netscape alone, so it's possible that RoadRunner will remain the same as well. However, I really doubt it. AOL's network has problems. What if they dump all their users onto RoadRunner's network? It doesn't matter how fast the connection is, if it's got a bottleneck that has to be shared by millions of people. --
It would disprove their theory if it actually happened, which I seriously doubt. The moon remains the same size in the sky.
To test this, hold a dime a certain length away from your eye when the moon looks big, so that it just covers it. Then hold it the same distance away when it looks small, and it'll still just cover the moon. --
A government, be it in USA or Republic of Tonga, cannot bring about justice. The only thing a government can do is enforce a set of utilitarian rules, that, the goverment thinks, will maximise happiness.
That's very true. Just remember that politicians will weight the scale of happiness so that their own happiness is maximized first. --
You know, that ties in really well with the belief of Douglas Adams that "anyone who wants to be President should on no account be able to do the job", and Arthur C. Clarke's corollary: the best government would be one where certain groups of people (criminals, politicians, etc.) are eliminated, and the President would be determined by picking randomly from the eligible people who were left. The resulting President would then want to do their job well, on the hope that they'd get time off for good behavior.
The anti-vote system could determine who to eliminate. Obviously, if you've heard of the person, they're trying too hard. So have a vote where you simply write in the name of someone that you do NOT want to be President, then pick the President randomly from everyone who got 0 votes.
So what if someone gets moderation points and goes through moderating every post that's, say, pro-KDE, as 5 percent? They're never going to run out of points, so nothing would stop them.
It's not like meta-moderation would be very easy to do if there's 100 possible effects of moderation, instead of 2. "Hmm, they gave this a 74%, but I think it deserves an 80%. Unfair."
Also, everyone would moderate on a different scale. 70% would mean "good" to some people (because it's higher than 60%), but "bad" to others (perceiving it as a grading system, where 70% is a C minus)
Amazon.com's reviews are an example of what happens when people are allowed to rate on a scale like that. People are asked to rate books on a scale of 1 to 5. They want their rating to have as much influence as possible, so the majority of the ratings are either 1 or 5. The same thing would happen here. If you like a comment that's at 78% and you think it should be at 85%, do you give it 85%? No, you give it 100% and let the averaging take care of it.
The end result would be basically the same as the moderation system we have now, except that the numbers would be extremely weird, and controversial comments would be screwed - two opposing moderations currently cancel each other out, while in your proposed system they would average to a 50%, dragging them down toward the level of an anonymous coward. --
I know I'm just contributing to the problem here, but hey, at least the thread's not my fault:)
Moderators: try this. When someone tells you to moderate them down, don't fall for the reverse psychology; moderate them down. If they start bitching about it, moderate them down again. I think this could cut down on a lot of blather.
I know it would hurt to admit that these people are right about something ("yes, that's right, you ARE going to be moderated down"), but otherwise they're just taking advantage of you. --
Don't "force" the moderators to do anything. A moderator can choose to turn off scores, and choose to see newest comments first, or whatever, if he thinks that will make him a better moderator.
However, forcing those options to be on would make moderator status seem like a punishment. I can see people spending all their moderation points at once just so they can get back to reading comments the way they choose.
I personally read all the comments when moderating even though they're still in the order I like. And I tend not to moderate up posts that are already at 3 or 4. --
Slashdot Mirror
Well, you were half right - it is stupid. I like to think of it as a feature that the script sometimes tricks people into thinking it's a first post.
Notice the fact that you wouldn't be looking so foolish if you simply hadn't said anything about First Post. What would you have accomplished with that even if you were first, besides to still make yourself look stupid?
--
I don't have a DVD drive either, but I think that this is a really important issue anyway. Even the people with DVD players won't get any immediate benefit from winning - DeCSS is still available all over the place.
This case isn't about that kind of immediate benefit. It's about defending our rights.
That said, if you want to filter it out, do so on the preferences page. You'll lose other articles in the Justice section, but deal with it.
Finally, no, you're not 1st. Try 154th. Sheesh.
--
In the comments of the last article about this, griffjon wrote a very cool Open Letter. I think this should fit the purpose very well.
--
I hope the other responses have shown you that you're wrong - this is exactly what the EFF is for.
--
And they're probably going to try and get us with this. In one of the other articles about this, someone pointed out this useful fact: some DVD players can be tricked into playing from a directory on the hard disk instead of the DVD drive. So it's not necessary to break the encryption or to write it to a DVD to make a copy of a DVD.
--
Well, your plugin sounds like a cool idea, and I appreciate that you included the headers so that it would compile - but I'm afraid I can't vote for you, because the window for your plugin stays completely black all the time.
--
I'm sure this would probably be pretty obvious to an experienced Linux user, but nowhere does it mention that none of these plug-ins will work without xmms-devel or the xmms source installed. That was kind of annoying until I figured it out.
--
It's funny, because if xmms didn't exist, you or some other casual Linux user would be complaining about the lack of a program like Winamp. I hardly think xmms is cheap - it does its job very well.
I also wonder what you mean by "wasting it" - what is "it"? Time? People write software like this in their spare time, and they write what they want to. If they had to write software that they didn't want to write, it wouldn't be fun anymore.
Anyway. I agree that we need better software, and maybe a killer app or two, but it's still important to keep up with ubiquitous Windows software.
Your post is written quite like a troll. I'm glad some moderator realized that your post does, in fact, make some kind of point.
--
One instance of the advertising being the news around here, was when a computerized billboard went buggy. The billboard is for the New York Lottery, and it has numbers that can change to reflect the current jackpot. Anyway, at one time it started enthusiastically displaying that the jackpot was 0 MILLION DOLLARS! All the local news mentioned it.
However, I'd suppose that anti-advertising rules have exceptions for things like that. They sound like a really good idea to me, except that they'd be almost impossible to introduce in the USA.
--
I don't think they're trying to fool you, they're just trying to help you figure out the game.
It's obvious that they aren't trying to make it look like part of the field, for example, when the ball is intercepted and the line promptly fades away.
--
Actually, Industrial Base gives you better armor, not Industrial Economics. But I guess that kind of proves your point.
The technologies are confusing, until you start reading the quotes and descriptions of the technologies. They're actually entertaining - I know that came as a surprise to me, after playing CivII where the technology descriptions were intolerably boring.
--
Ah ha! Thank you for clearing that up. I'd only heard a vague rumor of Sid Meier's "Sweep of Time Trilogy", which would include Civ III, Alpha Centauri (II?), and one other game... I couldn't concieve of a game set before 6000 BC, so I assumed it would be a continuation of Alpha Centauri, which would be extremely odd because the big ending of Alpha Centauri involves "transcending" and essentially turning into gods. That'd be one weird game.
Of course, a sim with dinosaurs is also weird... but I'm confident that Sid can manage to make it a good game.
--
If you're complaining about the color scheme, it seems you haven't tried the gamma correction option in the game. Turn it up to 1.5 and things are nice and bright.
I agree about Civ:CTP. I played the demo of it - it was okay, but it wasn't instantly addicting the way the Alpha Centauri demo had been. Plus, it felt like one of those Civ2 scenarios where the scenario maker messes with all the settings just because he can. (Clue to game designers: don't assume you're better than Sid at designing the fundamental rules. You're probably wrong.)
--
Funny, I've gotten about 70 e-mails from Slashdot. That many people seem to have figured out my address.
And it's not like your address is very clear - or, in fact, visible at all.
--
RoadRunner was just becoming a good, un-intrusive ISP.
They recently got rid of their login software, so that it works completely transparently.
In the beginning, the technicians who installed the cable connection had some FUD for Internet Explorer that they would spread. ("We can't guarantee this will work with Netscape.") They've stopped doing that now.
They have decent Linux support - back when you had to log in, they pointed Linux users to a Perl script you could use to log in. They have Linux-related newsgroups on their server as well.
With AOL buying them out, I'm afraid this could all go straight to hell. In the eyes of AOL, Linux simply doesn't exist, since it has nothing to do with their target market. Their login software is notorious for being as intrusive as possible - one program that you have to start, and you can only effectively use the Internet programs that are assimilated into it.
In the old RoadRunner login software, there was an option to open RoadRunner's home page automatically, which provided "content" in case anyone cared. AOL seems like the kind of service that is liable to put the login system back just so they can have their "Channels" show up on login. And of course it would only be a Windows/Mac program.
Now, I hope I'm wrong. AOL pretty much left Netscape alone, so it's possible that RoadRunner will remain the same as well. However, I really doubt it. AOL's network has problems. What if they dump all their users onto RoadRunner's network? It doesn't matter how fast the connection is, if it's got a bottleneck that has to be shared by millions of people.
--
It would disprove their theory if it actually happened, which I seriously doubt. The moon remains the same size in the sky.
To test this, hold a dime a certain length away from your eye when the moon looks big, so that it just covers it. Then hold it the same distance away when it looks small, and it'll still just cover the moon.
--
How does that work? X-rays pointing through the ground?
During a full moon, which is necessary for the eclipse, the side of the earth where it is night is the same side that can see the moon.
--
This could be funny. Go and see how many people you can convince that the Moon is crashing from a Y2K bug.
--
Phew. I'm glad I started browsing at +1 with hard thresholds - I didn't see any of that.
--
Nobody's going to start reading your posts until you turn off Caps Lock.
--
--
You know, that ties in really well with the belief of Douglas Adams that "anyone who wants to be President should on no account be able to do the job", and Arthur C. Clarke's corollary: the best government would be one where certain groups of people (criminals, politicians, etc.) are eliminated, and the President would be determined by picking randomly from the eligible people who were left. The resulting President would then want to do their job well, on the hope that they'd get time off for good behavior.
The anti-vote system could determine who to eliminate. Obviously, if you've heard of the person, they're trying too hard. So have a vote where you simply write in the name of someone that you do NOT want to be President, then pick the President randomly from everyone who got 0 votes.
--
So what if someone gets moderation points and goes through moderating every post that's, say, pro-KDE, as 5 percent? They're never going to run out of points, so nothing would stop them.
It's not like meta-moderation would be very easy to do if there's 100 possible effects of moderation, instead of 2. "Hmm, they gave this a 74%, but I think it deserves an 80%. Unfair."
Also, everyone would moderate on a different scale. 70% would mean "good" to some people (because it's higher than 60%), but "bad" to others (perceiving it as a grading system, where 70% is a C minus)
Amazon.com's reviews are an example of what happens when people are allowed to rate on a scale like that. People are asked to rate books on a scale of 1 to 5. They want their rating to have as much influence as possible, so the majority of the ratings are either 1 or 5. The same thing would happen here. If you like a comment that's at 78% and you think it should be at 85%, do you give it 85%? No, you give it 100% and let the averaging take care of it.
The end result would be basically the same as the moderation system we have now, except that the numbers would be extremely weird, and controversial comments would be screwed - two opposing moderations currently cancel each other out, while in your proposed system they would average to a 50%, dragging them down toward the level of an anonymous coward.
--
I know I'm just contributing to the problem here, but hey, at least the thread's not my fault :)
Moderators: try this. When someone tells you to moderate them down, don't fall for the reverse psychology; moderate them down. If they start bitching about it, moderate them down again. I think this could cut down on a lot of blather.
I know it would hurt to admit that these people are right about something ("yes, that's right, you ARE going to be moderated down"), but otherwise they're just taking advantage of you.
--
Don't "force" the moderators to do anything. A moderator can choose to turn off scores, and choose to see newest comments first, or whatever, if he thinks that will make him a better moderator.
However, forcing those options to be on would make moderator status seem like a punishment. I can see people spending all their moderation points at once just so they can get back to reading comments the way they choose.
I personally read all the comments when moderating even though they're still in the order I like. And I tend not to moderate up posts that are already at 3 or 4.
--