OMG! It's our buddy Samir Gupta again! This is a classic Slashdot personality. Allow me to inform my fellow Slashdotters.
Samir is a troll who claims to work for a video game company. Used to be Sega...then it was Nintendo...always in a high position. Of course, this is complete crap, and people have investigated and contacted the companies to confirm that no, he has never been employed there.
While his ideas may be somewhat interesting, his words have zero credibility and are often just complete fabrication.
What I always found fascinating and really enjoy, is when you wake up in the morning, are half asleep, and time seems to be stretched so that when you close your eyes for 2 minutes, it seems like 10. I LOVE that because it makes me feel like I don't have to go to work so soon.
Does anybody know what causes that time stretching? Is there any way to intentionally induce it?
I actually employ a similar system. I have two different times that my alarm goes off. One at 7, one at 7:30. For some reason I'm incredibly grumpy and out of it if I wake up and immediately get into the shower. Its like I need a 30-60 min. wakeup period to not hate the morning. Anybody else NEED that half-awake period?
"also I would be willing to bet that there is at least one person you work with who seems completely normal and straight edge who shows up to work stoned everyday and they are not noticably different."
Ssshhhh, I think my boss reads/. and I don't want him getting any ideas.
So technically if you could keep the brain alive after death, and figured out how to read the physical structure of the synapses, you could theoretically run into the same plot as The Final Cut.
Taco, as someone who admittedly knows very little about you, or your actual job as editor, I was wondering if this is a full time job for you, and if so how many hours you work. The reason I ask is because if there is not enough time to get through everything, why not open up some responsibilities to us Slashdot users. It should be fairly simple to have a staging area where soon to be posted stories will appear...nobody will be able to make comments, but if it was a dupe, they could mark it as such and post a link to the dupe.
A simple thing to implement like this would not only help solve one of the most complained about problems on Slashdot, but would be a nice gesture to us readers who go to the trouble of trying to help you do your job correctly by posting the link to the dupe for you, often within the first few posts of a dupe.
No kidding. Taco, since I know you're reading this...
If it hasn't become obvious, there is a vocal minority on Slashdot that is growing by the day who have been continually pointing out that Digg is a valuable tool in combination with Slashdot. It seems a natural evolution of Slashdot to incorporate a Digg like system.
Think of it as a sandbox for users, where they get to "create their own Slashdot" within yours. You could still have your normal stories on the front page, but Slashdot users could opt to see stories from the Digg style option as well, and comment on them.
The two are a natural fit. Slashdot has a massive community that lead to decent (in the scope of things) content being posted in large numbers but not the most current story selection. Digg has the story selection is top, but user comments tend to be...um...how to put this nicely...."disappointing".
"Make a 'new products' category to stick all those 'This is cool, but it sounds like Logitech paid for the ad' stories. Similar for new services. "
While I like your suggestion, and think it is a necessity here at Slashdot just because we have so many stories on that stuff that we need a new category...I don't think it solves the slashvertisement problem.
It is fairly obvious when something is just a plain regurgitated press release. That wouldn't change if it was in a new section. Unfortunately, with things not yet released, it is hard to NOT sound like just a press release. Unfortunately, what often happens in this age of instantaneous input from billions of people, our minds are looking for a downside. And unless one is presented to us we don't view it as "genuine". Thus, the only way to be genuine would appear to be falty or imperfect in some way, and to have that be pointed out by an editor.
Wow...I need to lay off the early morning/. posting.
"But if the link is good, why NOT share it with the audience? I believe my first priority is to the readers here. If they would enjoy a link, why should the fact that it came from a user with a negative repution make me not choose the link?"
Well, in the case of Roland, the article already exists at a different source, which he then links to in his blog where he writes copy that you don't even like. For a lot of us, the beef comes from the fact that even though he is blatantly stealing links the link to his blog is posted rather than the link to the actual article. Why not take the financial incentive out of it?
It could be as mentioning his name and his site, but not providing an html link. Link to the original article instead.
"If you find yourself needing a 6 buttoned, a 4-way roller equipped, tilt sensor loaded, dual laser surface scanning, custom weighted hand cooling mouse then you are taking it too seriously."
No offense....I mean, I get your point....but at what point do you say you take it too seriously. Everybody is passionate and competitive in something, even if it isn't something you consider worthy of being passionate and competitive about.
I mean, why buy a Ferrari when your Schwinn works just fine? THe answer: To compensate for something small and inferior.
'Everyone loses games, especially in FPS games, no one wins consistently 100% of the time."
So let me pose the question that a lot of us are thinking of while we blanch in disgust of this blatent attempt to use celebrity to sell a product (one of the most pathetic ideas I've ever seen).
"Why should I even care who he is let alone whether he's a winner or a loser. Why should that affect my mouse purchasing decision?"
" A sensitivity toggle would be immeasurably useful for sniping."
No kidding. I play Battlefield 2 and Desert Combat as lot and while I have an optical mouse, it doesn't have as high a resolution as these new mice. When I have my sensitivity set way up high, and then go snipe, I can't move the cursor as precisely. This kind of setting would be very useful, and I can even see it being useful with vehicles or vehicle mounted guns.
Parent is incorrect. The advertisement tag is for the Netflix ad. The article itself, while most likely a press release spoon fed to them by the company, is not a paid for advertisement. If it was paid for, they are required by law to say so. Of course.....that's just if they're paid in cold hard cash. God knows how many infinite ways they have of masking that up. And I should know, I'm in advertising...*shudders*.
First, I have to say there are serious trust issues if you have to hack your son's account. If he EVER finds out (and I hope he does) that you did so, not only will he lose all trust in you, but he will just be more careful about people finding out the next time he buys drugs.
Which leads me to my next point. You demonize MySpace, which is simply a communication tool. If he doesn't get his hookup on MySpace, he'll get it through AIM, Friendster, cellphone, etc. So you are correct, it is not the website that it is the problem.
Now my final point is one you're going to hate...but you need to realize that different people have different views on pot, and while he is just a kid and should probably not be using it, what he should be doing is forming his own opinion on things.
Rather than just ineffectively try to stop him from doing the drugs (which, short of tossing him into solitary you don't be able to do), try educating him. And not just that "this is why pot is bad for you" garbage. Why not expose him to both sides of the coin, the studies that point in both directions (it is hardly unanimous that pot is bad) and let him eventually make his own decision on whether it is bad for you or not. Now, thats not to say he's allowed to use it or not. You are his parents, and he lives by your rules. But the kid should certainly be allowed to form his own opinion even if it differs from yours.
Ad agencies are not scrambling to figure out how to beat Google. They are figuring out how to USE Google to their advantage. The companies who are scrambling to beat Google are those that distribute advertising and media. Ad agencies just make the ads that go into these mediums.
While this would be great for FPS's where you typically only need your left hand on the keyboard, I can't imagine it being comfortable or easy to type with both hands on this as your right hand would have to cut across at a fairly odd angle to be able to properly use the keyboard.
So now that this is over, when will these players be getting back the $60 they forked over for the game initially? I mean, you purchase the game and pay the monthly fee, shouldn't there be some sort of guarantee that you can keep playing the game as long as you want?
What's that? There isn't?
I swear, there should be a law that if a MMORPG closes its servers, they open the source to the playerbase so people can create and host their own servers off of it.
I'm so sick of paying for a game that may not exist in the future. Its the same reason why I'd never sign up for a subscription music service.
Actually the story did interest me. And I'd like to see more stories like it continue to be written. Unfortunately if the writers of the site who wrote it don't get paid, they'll stop writing.
People like Roland are parasites of the internet, leeching off the efforts of others and preventing them from being compensated for their work.
Your point about why the post was informative is valid, however the rest of your post is nothing but flamebait. You make no case for your argument other than "I'm on crack for having morals and a sense of fairness" and you somehow see this as pathetic.
I'm all for getting great content, and people like Roland are directly opposed to that by the method of which they make their living.
As to your point about quit whining because it won't change anything...well, that is entirely possible. However I can be absolutely certain that it won't change anything if I just keep quiet about it.
No kidding. Companies are getting pretty damned addicted to the subscription model, but what they don't get is that I can only afford so many subscriptions at a time, and at that point I will hold off on buying other products until my income increases.
Subscription services will always miss out on the impulse buyer, which is a very key player in the entertainment industry. Subscriptions require thinking about your budget.
Additionally, $7/mo is way too much. I mean, seriously, everybody thinks they can just charge an expensive subscription and people will pay it. I'd pay maybe $1-2/mo for this service, at MOST. And thats if I liked the music and wanted to listen to it on my cellphone. Which I don't.
IANAL but if you intentionally left it slightly open so that he could "plausably deny" having downloaded certain content on his computer, wouldn't he be in even deeper shit if he was found to have done that intentionally to cover his ass?
How is this informative? So what if he's been abusing the system for that long. It just means he has a long history of not linking directly to the site and instead linking to his blog, thus stealing revenue from the original site.
This guy is scum and the fact that Slashdot editors continue to post his stuff says a lot about how they view their readers.
So like hell we'll simmer down, cuz I'm sure that's just what the editors and Roland would want.
Not only has it come, but it has been ushered in in part due to society's increasing necessity to have access to their technology at all times. Hence bluetooth for drivers. This is just another step forward in that trend. Eventually we will have implants, mark my words. Why? Because there will always be someone who wants to take that extra step and there will always be a company ready to cash in on that demand.
Slashdot Mirror
Or at least have a much better chance of getting laid than most slashdotters.
But if you imagined it...wouldn't that cause it to stop working?
Samir is a troll who claims to work for a video game company. Used to be Sega...then it was Nintendo...always in a high position. Of course, this is complete crap, and people have investigated and contacted the companies to confirm that no, he has never been employed there.
While his ideas may be somewhat interesting, his words have zero credibility and are often just complete fabrication.
Does anybody know what causes that time stretching? Is there any way to intentionally induce it?
Ssshhhh, I think my boss reads /. and I don't want him getting any ideas.
A simple thing to implement like this would not only help solve one of the most complained about problems on Slashdot, but would be a nice gesture to us readers who go to the trouble of trying to help you do your job correctly by posting the link to the dupe for you, often within the first few posts of a dupe.
If it hasn't become obvious, there is a vocal minority on Slashdot that is growing by the day who have been continually pointing out that Digg is a valuable tool in combination with Slashdot. It seems a natural evolution of Slashdot to incorporate a Digg like system.
Think of it as a sandbox for users, where they get to "create their own Slashdot" within yours. You could still have your normal stories on the front page, but Slashdot users could opt to see stories from the Digg style option as well, and comment on them.
The two are a natural fit. Slashdot has a massive community that lead to decent (in the scope of things) content being posted in large numbers but not the most current story selection. Digg has the story selection is top, but user comments tend to be...um...how to put this nicely...."disappointing".
While I like your suggestion, and think it is a necessity here at Slashdot just because we have so many stories on that stuff that we need a new category...I don't think it solves the slashvertisement problem.
It is fairly obvious when something is just a plain regurgitated press release. That wouldn't change if it was in a new section. Unfortunately, with things not yet released, it is hard to NOT sound like just a press release. Unfortunately, what often happens in this age of instantaneous input from billions of people, our minds are looking for a downside. And unless one is presented to us we don't view it as "genuine". Thus, the only way to be genuine would appear to be falty or imperfect in some way, and to have that be pointed out by an editor.
Wow...I need to lay off the early morning /. posting.
Well, in the case of Roland, the article already exists at a different source, which he then links to in his blog where he writes copy that you don't even like. For a lot of us, the beef comes from the fact that even though he is blatantly stealing links the link to his blog is posted rather than the link to the actual article. Why not take the financial incentive out of it?
It could be as mentioning his name and his site, but not providing an html link. Link to the original article instead.
No offense....I mean, I get your point....but at what point do you say you take it too seriously. Everybody is passionate and competitive in something, even if it isn't something you consider worthy of being passionate and competitive about.
I mean, why buy a Ferrari when your Schwinn works just fine? THe answer: To compensate for something small and inferior.
So let me pose the question that a lot of us are thinking of while we blanch in disgust of this blatent attempt to use celebrity to sell a product (one of the most pathetic ideas I've ever seen).
"Why should I even care who he is let alone whether he's a winner or a loser. Why should that affect my mouse purchasing decision?"
The answer? Well, I'm sure you already know that.
No kidding. I play Battlefield 2 and Desert Combat as lot and while I have an optical mouse, it doesn't have as high a resolution as these new mice. When I have my sensitivity set way up high, and then go snipe, I can't move the cursor as precisely. This kind of setting would be very useful, and I can even see it being useful with vehicles or vehicle mounted guns.
Which leads me to my next point. You demonize MySpace, which is simply a communication tool. If he doesn't get his hookup on MySpace, he'll get it through AIM, Friendster, cellphone, etc. So you are correct, it is not the website that it is the problem.
Now my final point is one you're going to hate...but you need to realize that different people have different views on pot, and while he is just a kid and should probably not be using it, what he should be doing is forming his own opinion on things.
Rather than just ineffectively try to stop him from doing the drugs (which, short of tossing him into solitary you don't be able to do), try educating him. And not just that "this is why pot is bad for you" garbage. Why not expose him to both sides of the coin, the studies that point in both directions (it is hardly unanimous that pot is bad) and let him eventually make his own decision on whether it is bad for you or not. Now, thats not to say he's allowed to use it or not. You are his parents, and he lives by your rules. But the kid should certainly be allowed to form his own opinion even if it differs from yours.
Just wanted to clarify.
What's that? There isn't?
I swear, there should be a law that if a MMORPG closes its servers, they open the source to the playerbase so people can create and host their own servers off of it.
I'm so sick of paying for a game that may not exist in the future. Its the same reason why I'd never sign up for a subscription music service.
People like Roland are parasites of the internet, leeching off the efforts of others and preventing them from being compensated for their work.
Your point about why the post was informative is valid, however the rest of your post is nothing but flamebait. You make no case for your argument other than "I'm on crack for having morals and a sense of fairness" and you somehow see this as pathetic.
I'm all for getting great content, and people like Roland are directly opposed to that by the method of which they make their living.
As to your point about quit whining because it won't change anything...well, that is entirely possible. However I can be absolutely certain that it won't change anything if I just keep quiet about it.
Subscription services will always miss out on the impulse buyer, which is a very key player in the entertainment industry. Subscriptions require thinking about your budget.
Additionally, $7/mo is way too much. I mean, seriously, everybody thinks they can just charge an expensive subscription and people will pay it. I'd pay maybe $1-2/mo for this service, at MOST. And thats if I liked the music and wanted to listen to it on my cellphone. Which I don't.
This guy is scum and the fact that Slashdot editors continue to post his stuff says a lot about how they view their readers.
So like hell we'll simmer down, cuz I'm sure that's just what the editors and Roland would want.