As part of the discussion on this bill, can the GOP point to any of this secret science that has become EPA regulations? Or, is this another of those GOP fixes for a problem that doesn't exist (like votor fraud).
What are you talking about? Dice didn't have to adapt, just keep everything unchanged and take the coin.
Slashdot wasn't profitable, so exactly what choice does Dice have for their shareholders. It is either trying to make it profitable, by attracting new users (thus increasing advertising revenue) or shutting it down. Dice most certainly had to adapt. In business, if you don't adapt to the changing environment, well, you aren't in business long.
Now, whether this particular adaptation was the correct one, that's open for debate.
That would be fine, except Dice has stated its clear intention to eliminate classic mode. If classic mode weren't going away, most people wouldn't care.
Beta delenda est.
True, but they have also admitted they won't change over until what is broken in the new version is fixed. As such, it won't be the current beta, either.
While it is interesting to see the advances with graphene, if used to make super fast computers, isn't the "wiring" on the chip only a small part of the problem? Have they found a way to make the transistors and resistors and parts on the chip out of graphene? If not, wouldn't the speed improvements be nonexistent? It would seem that it would be like taking a super highway and bringing all the traffic down to one lane at the exits (or maybe a bridge in NJ).
Very much so and thanks for your contribution. DICE will not listen, but altslashdot.org will listen. The name is tentative but the goal is clear: community first.
Yeah, right, don't you mean community first until the community doesn't like something that owner/provider doesn't like?
If altslashdot.org users start posting porn, will that be acceptable? If they decide only whites or males should be allowed to post, will that be acceptable? The moment you post rules, you have dimminished community first, even if the community votes on them. Why? because future members of the community don't get a chance to vote on them, so really what you have is founders first, not community first.
We don't know that those predictions will come true. The fast majority of the F*ck Beta comments are coming from ACs. For all we know that could be a single individual or even a bot.
Slashdot has always had disgruntled people participate with it. But a lot of postings by an AC really are worthless to base anything on.
However, if slashdot dies because of this, it won't be because of Dice. It will be because like the dinosaurs, we couldn't adapt.
Really, I'm pretty sure the former residents of Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Fukushima would beg to differ and point out that the beta is nothing like nuclear power plant disaster.
Save your outrage for sometime in which it is appropriate. Shaking your fist here won't change the fact that Dice has effectively nuked slashdot.
I'm not outraged. While I see some issues with the beta, and have reported them, personally, I'm ambivalent to it. Basically with classic or beta, I can get the information I am looking for.
I think it's kind of like KDE 4, Gnome 3 or even Unity. People don't like change and they are quick to condemn it (although in fairness the developers of KDE 4.0 said it wasn't production ready). But for all of the hoopla over them, people sure seem to be using them. Change is inevitable and the whole "F*ck Beta" approach is juvenile and ultimately counter productive.
If it's going to die, the quicker they kill it, the less painful it is, as long as there's a Perens or an OkianWarrior, or whoever, to provide a substitute.
Why would a Perens or an OklanWarrior want to mess with this whiny group of people? All that can be surmised is that if they did do it but not do exactly what slashdotters want they will get flamed and runned into the ground, too.
I'd suspect the latter. And instead of a kill switch, wouldn't a switch forcibly enabling GPS tracking be more effective? Of course, misuse could be an issue.
I'm pretty sure they can do that now. The know exactly what cell tower I am hitting and they can even triangulate my location from multiple towers. It would seem that if your device were reported stolen to the cell company, they block the ESN from being used. Sure, they would have your phone, but other than the data that is on it, what could they get. And as for the data, if that is their goal, they will get it before you even have time to alert the phone company to kill the device.
We also need some insight into whether those robberies were for the mobile device, or whether they were somebody pulling a knife and saying 'gimme your shit', combined with the fact that cellphones are at least as common as wallets at this point.
Exactly! If I had any mod points left from downmodding the "F*ck the beta" posts, I would mod you up. Statistics are meaningless without context. Statistically 100% of people who have sex will die, doesn't mean people should quit have sex. Likewise, the theft of mobile devices where it isn't the primary target, doesn't mean that all mobile devices should have a kill switch. Besides, if the public felt this was a need, the manufacturers would include it (and many have). It doesn't require the government to make the decision.
It's already there you moron. If you would read the posts instead of posting crap, you would know that you can turn the beta off by going to classic mode at the bottom of the screen.
Don't forget to boycott Slashdot entirely for the week of the 10th thru the 17th!
Even if people did, the extra traffic generated by the I hate the Beta fanatics this week has shot their analytics through the roof. Maybe they are hoping all the haters will boycott next week. With reduced traffic, it would make it much easier to roll out the beta.
If the IT Director could do all that the rest of the board wouldn't understand a thing he said. An IT Directors job is to translate technical concerns into the Management Moron spoken in the adminisphere so the rest of the board can make informed decisions without knowing what the hell they're doing.
Welcome to Management One on One
No, an IT Director is there to ensure that the effectiveness of the organization's mission is maximized through the use of information technology. To accomplish that, he/she must do what you said, but that is not the role of the IT Director. (BTW, if this were for corporation, instead of government, the role would be to maximze shareholder value through the use of information technology).
I would counter that this is reallly a problem with government IT contracts. In many government entities, at least the ones I've worked with, new projects are assigned to contractors/consultants and the existing staff handles maintenance. Often, the winning bidders don't even have the proper skill set and the contract includes training their employees. This practice started heavily after tightening budgets. Outsourcing was seen as a way to cut costs and in the short term it does, but not over the life of the project. The problem with this approach is that it leads to bloat and feature creep. The more the consultatnts can get you to expand your project, the more they make. Often, they tend to underbid the contract and overprice modifications, of which there are always many (if management new exactly what they wanted, they probably wouldn't need the contractors).
Prior to this, government entities had their own programming staff that was familiar with the business, the culture and what needed to be done. If a project failed, there were employees under your direct control that you could hold accountable. If the internal budget for the project was $X and it was now about to go over that, then there was some explaining to do. Employees worked to keep on budget and on time, because they, too, had their necks on the line.
For entities that still use their own internal staff, they tend to have less grandious projects, but they tend to finish on time and under budget, or at least closer to those two goals.
There is a myth that fewer employees means a more efficient and less costly entity. The reality is different. The myth is only true if the organization were over staffed and under performing to begin with, which is a management problem, not a worker problem.
The most common reason given for outsouricng is cost savings. But, outsourcing has shown, time and time again, that it is more costly in the long run. Contractors are paid more for the job than employees and the firm has a profit figured in. (Look at Snowden, he was paid double of what the equivelant network engineer that was a government employee was paid, plus the pay of his supervisors and the profit to the shareholders).
The second most common reason is that the existing staff doesn't have the skills needed. But again, history shows us that if the skills in question are really needed now, they will be needed in the future, too. Again, this is a management issue dealing with training, not a lack of worker skills. Besides, all of these skilless employees are going to need to somehow get the skills to maintain the software once it is turned over by the consultants.
Finally, the third reason is budget constraints. That is valid, however, only to the point that the projects are held to their actual budget. Since all of these projects that are outsourced tend to go way over budget and still have to be paid for because they are written as cost plus, claiming budget constraints is disengenous.
Managers do like contractors, because it gives them somebody external to blame for their own internal failures. It is a lot easier to fire a contractor than it is the person sitting in the cubicle for the past ten years.
In the end, if you want to reign in spending on a project (whether IT or otherwise), bringing it in house is shown to be the most economical way. OTOH, all of those mega consulting firms that lobby congress, don't let that message get out.
But anyway, I'm not making the same mistake twice. I bet the Slashdot beta will be a fucking smash. No, not with the current crowd crowd of users, but with the Bitcoin loving, Justin Bieber listening crowd. Dice will make bank, I'm sure of it. Now, if only there was a way to cash in on this knowledge...
Heraclitus said that "The only thing that is constant is change." Slashdot isn't immune to that, so people have the choice to embrace the change and help make it better or to fight it and be left on the sidelines.
The Central Bank of Russia considers Bitcoin as a form of 'money substitute'
That is an insult. Regular money can be made "at will" by banks and the fact that it is only handed to society for usury ("interest") and some real-value things (like houses) as security, makes it drain any society at no cost to the banks themselves. The funny thing is that all banks can create money, but private persons are criminals when they do exactly the same.
Bitcoins do not come with built-in usury and cannot be made infinitely. Bitcoins do not have built-in discrimination about who can abuse who. Bitcoins are more than a money substitute: Bitcoins make sense. Our current money system does not.
Money is whatever people use to pay for the exchange of goods and services. In prison, cigarettes are money. When the Europeans first set foot in North America, they gave the natives various trinkets in exchange for goods. The Dutch purchased the island of Manhattan for about $24US worth of beads. Money is whatever people say is money.
The more you tighten your grip, the more the Slashdot community will fall through your fingers.
(BTW, we are a community and not "a audience".)
By definition, you are an audience. Even the banner for slashdot states that it is news for nerds. So, not only are you an audience, you are a targeted audience. A community is a group that holds common values. If you want to propose that slashdot viewers are a community, what are the common values that bind all of the viewers?
The introduction of Beta is like a nuclear power plant disaster where the site is currently a ghost town with no real discussion anymore but lamenting souls crying out the pain.
Really, I'm pretty sure the former residents of Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Fukushima would beg to differ and point out that the beta is nothing like nuclear power plant disaster.
Re:Timothy confirms Slashdot Classic will be gone.
on
Russia Bans Bitcoin
·
· Score: 1
If you feel so strongly about this, why do you hide behind the anonymous coward?
Slashdot Mirror
As part of the discussion on this bill, can the GOP point to any of this secret science that has become EPA regulations? Or, is this another of those GOP fixes for a problem that doesn't exist (like votor fraud).
What are you talking about? Dice didn't have to adapt, just keep everything unchanged and take the coin.
Slashdot wasn't profitable, so exactly what choice does Dice have for their shareholders. It is either trying to make it profitable, by attracting new users (thus increasing advertising revenue) or shutting it down. Dice most certainly had to adapt. In business, if you don't adapt to the changing environment, well, you aren't in business long.
Now, whether this particular adaptation was the correct one, that's open for debate.
That would be fine, except Dice has stated its clear intention to eliminate classic mode. If classic mode weren't going away, most people wouldn't care.
Beta delenda est.
True, but they have also admitted they won't change over until what is broken in the new version is fixed. As such, it won't be the current beta, either.
While it is interesting to see the advances with graphene, if used to make super fast computers, isn't the "wiring" on the chip only a small part of the problem? Have they found a way to make the transistors and resistors and parts on the chip out of graphene? If not, wouldn't the speed improvements be nonexistent? It would seem that it would be like taking a super highway and bringing all the traffic down to one lane at the exits (or maybe a bridge in NJ).
Very much so and thanks for your contribution. DICE will not listen, but altslashdot.org will listen. The name is tentative but the goal is clear: community first.
Yeah, right, don't you mean community first until the community doesn't like something that owner/provider doesn't like?
If altslashdot.org users start posting porn, will that be acceptable? If they decide only whites or males should be allowed to post, will that be acceptable? The moment you post rules, you have dimminished community first, even if the community votes on them. Why? because future members of the community don't get a chance to vote on them, so really what you have is founders first, not community first.
We don't know that those predictions will come true. The fast majority of the F*ck Beta comments are coming from ACs. For all we know that could be a single individual or even a bot.
Slashdot has always had disgruntled people participate with it. But a lot of postings by an AC really are worthless to base anything on.
However, if slashdot dies because of this, it won't be because of Dice. It will be because like the dinosaurs, we couldn't adapt.
That drivel "we are not an audience" keeps getting repeated. Yes, you are an audience.
If you get your news from CBS or the BBC, are you a community or a user or member? Hardly, you are an audience, plain and simple.
Then how come, if you get news from slashdot, you are not an audience?
Really, I'm pretty sure the former residents of Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Fukushima would beg to differ and point out that the beta is nothing like nuclear power plant disaster.
Save your outrage for sometime in which it is appropriate. Shaking your fist here won't change the fact that Dice has effectively nuked slashdot.
I'm not outraged. While I see some issues with the beta, and have reported them, personally, I'm ambivalent to it. Basically with classic or beta, I can get the information I am looking for.
I think it's kind of like KDE 4, Gnome 3 or even Unity. People don't like change and they are quick to condemn it (although in fairness the developers of KDE 4.0 said it wasn't production ready). But for all of the hoopla over them, people sure seem to be using them. Change is inevitable and the whole "F*ck Beta" approach is juvenile and ultimately counter productive.
FTFY
> When the Europeans first set foot in North America, they gave the natives smallpox
> infected blankets in exchange for land.
No, they didn't give them that in exchange for the land. The land cost $24. The smallpox and the like was for free.
If it's going to die, the quicker they kill it, the less painful it is, as long as there's a Perens or an OkianWarrior, or whoever, to provide a substitute.
Why would a Perens or an OklanWarrior want to mess with this whiny group of people? All that can be surmised is that if they did do it but not do exactly what slashdotters want they will get flamed and runned into the ground, too.
I'd suspect the latter. And instead of a kill switch, wouldn't a switch forcibly enabling GPS tracking be more effective? Of course, misuse could be an issue.
I'm pretty sure they can do that now. The know exactly what cell tower I am hitting and they can even triangulate my location from multiple towers. It would seem that if your device were reported stolen to the cell company, they block the ESN from being used. Sure, they would have your phone, but other than the data that is on it, what could they get. And as for the data, if that is their goal, they will get it before you even have time to alert the phone company to kill the device.
We also need some insight into whether those robberies were for the mobile device, or whether they were somebody pulling a knife and saying 'gimme your shit', combined with the fact that cellphones are at least as common as wallets at this point.
Exactly! If I had any mod points left from downmodding the "F*ck the beta" posts, I would mod you up. Statistics are meaningless without context. Statistically 100% of people who have sex will die, doesn't mean people should quit have sex. Likewise, the theft of mobile devices where it isn't the primary target, doesn't mean that all mobile devices should have a kill switch. Besides, if the public felt this was a need, the manufacturers would include it (and many have). It doesn't require the government to make the decision.
It's already there you moron. If you would read the posts instead of posting crap, you would know that you can turn the beta off by going to classic mode at the bottom of the screen.
Don't forget to boycott Slashdot entirely for the week of the 10th thru the 17th!
Even if people did, the extra traffic generated by the I hate the Beta fanatics this week has shot their analytics through the roof. Maybe they are hoping all the haters will boycott next week. With reduced traffic, it would make it much easier to roll out the beta.
If the IT Director could do all that the rest of the board wouldn't understand a thing he said. An IT Directors job is to translate technical concerns into the Management Moron spoken in the adminisphere so the rest of the board can make informed decisions without knowing what the hell they're doing.
Welcome to Management One on One
No, an IT Director is there to ensure that the effectiveness of the organization's mission is maximized through the use of information technology. To accomplish that, he/she must do what you said, but that is not the role of the IT Director. (BTW, if this were for corporation, instead of government, the role would be to maximze shareholder value through the use of information technology).
I would counter that this is reallly a problem with government IT contracts. In many government entities, at least the ones I've worked with, new projects are assigned to contractors/consultants and the existing staff handles maintenance. Often, the winning bidders don't even have the proper skill set and the contract includes training their employees. This practice started heavily after tightening budgets. Outsourcing was seen as a way to cut costs and in the short term it does, but not over the life of the project. The problem with this approach is that it leads to bloat and feature creep. The more the consultatnts can get you to expand your project, the more they make. Often, they tend to underbid the contract and overprice modifications, of which there are always many (if management new exactly what they wanted, they probably wouldn't need the contractors).
Prior to this, government entities had their own programming staff that was familiar with the business, the culture and what needed to be done. If a project failed, there were employees under your direct control that you could hold accountable. If the internal budget for the project was $X and it was now about to go over that, then there was some explaining to do. Employees worked to keep on budget and on time, because they, too, had their necks on the line.
For entities that still use their own internal staff, they tend to have less grandious projects, but they tend to finish on time and under budget, or at least closer to those two goals.
There is a myth that fewer employees means a more efficient and less costly entity. The reality is different. The myth is only true if the organization were over staffed and under performing to begin with, which is a management problem, not a worker problem.
The most common reason given for outsouricng is cost savings. But, outsourcing has shown, time and time again, that it is more costly in the long run. Contractors are paid more for the job than employees and the firm has a profit figured in. (Look at Snowden, he was paid double of what the equivelant network engineer that was a government employee was paid, plus the pay of his supervisors and the profit to the shareholders).
The second most common reason is that the existing staff doesn't have the skills needed. But again, history shows us that if the skills in question are really needed now, they will be needed in the future, too. Again, this is a management issue dealing with training, not a lack of worker skills. Besides, all of these skilless employees are going to need to somehow get the skills to maintain the software once it is turned over by the consultants.
Finally, the third reason is budget constraints. That is valid, however, only to the point that the projects are held to their actual budget. Since all of these projects that are outsourced tend to go way over budget and still have to be paid for because they are written as cost plus, claiming budget constraints is disengenous.
Managers do like contractors, because it gives them somebody external to blame for their own internal failures. It is a lot easier to fire a contractor than it is the person sitting in the cubicle for the past ten years.
In the end, if you want to reign in spending on a project (whether IT or otherwise), bringing it in house is shown to be the most economical way. OTOH, all of those mega consulting firms that lobby congress, don't let that message get out.
But anyway, I'm not making the same mistake twice. I bet the Slashdot beta will be a fucking smash. No, not with the current crowd crowd of users, but with the Bitcoin loving, Justin Bieber listening crowd. Dice will make bank, I'm sure of it. Now, if only there was a way to cash in on this knowledge...
Heraclitus said that "The only thing that is constant is change." Slashdot isn't immune to that, so people have the choice to embrace the change and help make it better or to fight it and be left on the sidelines.
The Central Bank of Russia considers Bitcoin as a form of 'money substitute'
That is an insult. Regular money can be made "at will" by banks and the fact that it is only handed to society for usury ("interest") and some real-value things (like houses) as security, makes it drain any society at no cost to the banks themselves. The funny thing is that all banks can create money, but private persons are criminals when they do exactly the same.
Bitcoins do not come with built-in usury and cannot be made infinitely. Bitcoins do not have built-in discrimination about who can abuse who. Bitcoins are more than a money substitute: Bitcoins make sense. Our current money system does not.
Money is whatever people use to pay for the exchange of goods and services. In prison, cigarettes are money. When the Europeans first set foot in North America, they gave the natives various trinkets in exchange for goods. The Dutch purchased the island of Manhattan for about $24US worth of beads. Money is whatever people say is money.
The more you tighten your grip, the more the Slashdot community will fall through your fingers.
(BTW, we are a community and not "a audience".)
By definition, you are an audience. Even the banner for slashdot states that it is news for nerds. So, not only are you an audience, you are a targeted audience. A community is a group that holds common values. If you want to propose that slashdot viewers are a community, what are the common values that bind all of the viewers?
The introduction of Beta is like a nuclear power plant disaster where the site is currently a ghost town with no real discussion anymore but lamenting souls crying out the pain.
Really, I'm pretty sure the former residents of Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Fukushima would beg to differ and point out that the beta is nothing like nuclear power plant disaster.
If you feel so strongly about this, why do you hide behind the anonymous coward?
Yeah I got points and I'm going to dump them all on posts like this. To hell with you Dice bastards voting everything down.
Smart. Encourage Dice to get rid of the Karma and point system. That will benefit everyone.
I like you sig, however, I would be remiss to say that PL/1 helped put my kids through school, so I question whether it was a total loss.
Too bad you posted as an AC, I would have modded you up. I have a policy, though, to only mod up people who are not ACs.
Did you ever think that maybe that's why it is a beta?