I don't think I bothered to use it more than once or twice after writing the review; usually, I have at least a little lingering curiousity about things I've just reviewed. But I didn't want to put up with its bizarre, stunted interface any longer--the thing just collected dust until I got around to FedEx-ing it back to 3Com.
Like I told Steven, the author of the piece, I couldn't see why this guy at TUCOWS was so shocked, simply shocked that this could happen. (Contrary to his identification of me, I'm not a senior anything around here:)
It's a risk in any kind of review journalism--but one I think is also mostly bogus. Do concert reviewers or film critics slant their opinions because they get free tickets? What about auto writers, who don't have to pay for the cars they test drive? No. Annoying is annoying, whether or not you paid for it. Plus, if you've spent more than a month reviewing software for a publication, you quickly find yourself deluged in review copies of stuff--most of which is utter dreck.
Goods or services that aren't mass-produced--for instance, a dining experience in a restaurant--are another issue. In these cases, you try to make sure you're just another customer to the vendor in question (i.e., show up at the restaurant unannounced and anonymously, then pay your own way).
I was worried at first that putting "Usenet" in the headline would scare the readers off. Apparently not.
I haven't gotten through all the messages, but there's a lot of fascinating comments here. I see that many of y'all have a "problem? what problem?!" response to the prospect of a smaller newsgroup population. As one of the users I quoted wrote, "Just personally, I'd like to see Usenet traffic down to levels it was at a few years ago.... coming home from vacation and finding 5,000 newsgroup articles is really irritating."
Slashdot Mirror
Since wiredog was so kind as to mention my employer: here's the review I did a few weeks ago. Comments welcome...
(I wrote the "no great communicator" piece)
I don't think I bothered to use it more than once or twice after writing the review; usually, I have at least a little lingering curiousity about things I've just reviewed. But I didn't want to put up with its bizarre, stunted interface any longer--the thing just collected dust until I got around to FedEx-ing it back to 3Com.
Rob Pegoraro, Consumer Technology Editor
Like I told Steven, the author of the piece, I couldn't see why this guy at TUCOWS was so shocked, simply shocked that this could happen. (Contrary to his identification of me, I'm not a senior anything around here :)
It's a risk in any kind of review journalism--but one I think is also mostly bogus. Do concert reviewers or film critics slant their opinions because they get free tickets? What about auto writers, who don't have to pay for the cars they test drive? No. Annoying is annoying, whether or not you paid for it. Plus, if you've spent more than a month reviewing software for a publication, you quickly find yourself deluged in review copies of stuff--most of which is utter dreck.
Goods or services that aren't mass-produced--for instance, a dining experience in a restaurant--are another issue. In these cases, you try to make sure you're just another customer to the vendor in question (i.e., show up at the restaurant unannounced and anonymously, then pay your own way).
Rob Pegoraro, Consumer Technology Editor
Re: "Fast forward is *occasionally* worth reading"
:)
Now that's a quote to put on the resume. I think...
(Actually, I'm just bitter that John jumped into this thread before me. Don't you have work to do here?
Rob Pegoraro, Consumer Technology Editor
I was worried at first that putting "Usenet" in the headline would scare the readers off. Apparently not.
I haven't gotten through all the messages, but there's a lot of fascinating comments here. I see that many of y'all have a "problem? what problem?!" response to the prospect of a smaller newsgroup population. As one of the users I quoted wrote, "Just personally, I'd like to see Usenet traffic down to levels it was at a few years ago.... coming home from vacation and finding 5,000 newsgroup articles is really irritating."
Rob Pegoraro, Consumer Technology Editor