I didn't imply that all high-rated comments were gems, just that gems tended to be high-rated. I can find a worthy +5 Insightful for every +5 Micro$oft SUX you can find. Open up your math book to the chapter on Venn diagrams for more info on this complicated subject.
You might have a valid argument when GNAA posts start getting blammed so that nobody can see them. But as long as people can still see the mess at a -1 threshold, I don't care. The moderation system is not about freedom to be heard, it's about allowing people to allow gems to float to the surface of the cesspool.
Oh, come off it already. Linus was playing in a minefield by using BitKeeper and trusting Larry McVoy. If Tridge didn't step on a landmine, someone else would have. Kudos for him for doing what he does best.
And like he foresaw, NeXT is now at the nexus of modern computing. I mean, everyone here has a NeXT machine, and when was the last time you saw a non-NeXT computer in an office?
You need a hit with the clue-by-four, sir, NeXT lives on in every OSX machine.
Maybe I read it wrong, but it sounds like the grandparent poster was talking about the overall interest-factor of the stories. On Slashdot, he finds two out of every five stories interesting to him, on Digg he finds one out of every twenty interesting to him.
So I assume that you are suggesting that since the stories the editors pick can be rejected, one of the rejected stories might be of interest to the GP and he'd miss it? Well, wouldn't the same thing happen on Digg if not enoguh people thought it was interesting in the first place? Seems to me he's noticed a great difference in the signal/noise ratio in respect to interesting visible stories, and it doesn't have much if anything to do with the way that the stories are chosen, but YMMV I suppose.
CmdrTaco, I like the Navy as much as anyone else, but I don't see how looking at sailors has anything to do with Slashdot or Digg. Oh, you meant "navel gazing". Well, some of us like to talk about the site, though, can we get a topic for it? Maybe? The icon could be a battleship.:D
So anyway, we finally have a story where Digg.com rants are not offtopic. Well, I'll fire the opening salvo: I've been to Digg, and their stories are much more current than Slashdot's (seemingly because of the way stories are posted), but the comment system is a steaming pile. There is no threading (seriously hard to follow conversations without threading). And, despite Slashdot's flawed moderation system, scanning article comments at +4 is usually a pleasant experience, and I can't find that kind of functionality on Digg as an anonymous reader.
I come to Slashdot for the comments. Not for the editor abuses, the typos, the political slant, the "last week" news, blah blah etc. I know I am not alone in this. It seems to me that Slashdot and Digg are both filling a different niche at the moment. I'd like to see Digg with a better commenting system and some form of user-moderation of posts: right now it resembles graffiti on the wall, not discussion.
Any Digg cheerleaders out there with some positive things to add about the comment system that I missed in my ignorance?
When some cheapskate downloads copyrighted MP3s from a P2P network, it's `copyright infringement', but when Sony uses GPL'd code it's `stealing', right?
No, it's still copyright infringment. Whew, glad I caught that, you almost made a big mistake.
Well, glad I could help. Do you have any other obvious questions you'd like answered? Maybe I could point out that not everyone who posts here on Slashdot has the same opinion, and it's a fallacy to assume so?
I don't defend the bad stuff on Slashdot, I just don't give a shit about it. When some twelve-year-old makes a BSOD joke, I ignore it. The moderation system here is not perfect, but it puts the signal to noise ratio at a level that I can decipher without a lot of work: that's the goddamn point in the first place. I'm not going to cry myself to sleep because a Clippy joke hit +5, or some engineer with a PhD only got +3 for his ten-page rebuttal of TFA.
Yes, you did take Linus's quote out of context, because you forgot the bit at the end. His rib at Slashdot was half-serious at best. Anyway, I'm sorry if I gave the impression that I cared what he thinks: I'm not a member of the starry-eyed Linux worship cabal. While I respect his accomplishments, I give his opinion of Slashdot about the same weight I do yours (hint: not much). That Bitkeeper nonsense soured personal respect.
Yes, I know about Over/Under-rated, but they aren't abused to the extent that you think they are. Usually regular moderation fixes it, all over/under do is get you under the M2 radar (but not under the Editor's radar). Like I said, I read the context of posts in M2, including how they were modded, and I don't usually see over/under bombs on normally modded posts (even Troll/Flamebait).
I'm sorry, you must have me confused with someone who gives a crap to begin with about your approval.
Listen, kiddo, you're the one trying to convince me (or now that I think of it, yourself) that this place sucks. For you to claim at the end that you "don't care" is what is known as a "dirty lie".
I'm not attached to the juvenile community here... I hardly ever see them, since I browse at +3. I see them when I moderate, since I mod at -1, but that's usually a bad thing for them, because I carry a big stick. Speaking of which, the very first story I ever read on Digg had a bunch of idiots calling something "gay", which sort of undermines any assertation that Slashdot-alternatives are any less juvenile than the original. At least on this site I can filter most of them out. Slashdot may be a polished turd, but Digg doesn't even have the fucking polish.
We'll all be at Digg while you continue to browse this fantastic HTML4 layout like it's 1999. Seeya.
I don't care about the damn la... geez, never mind, you're as dumb as a brick. You're leaving? Thank Christ. You were starting to piss me off. Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.
Right, you took Linus Torvalds' quote out of context, not mine. I apologize for assuming you could figure out what I was talking about. My quote, you simply ignored.
You point out that "Slashdot's comments are widely considered the weakest part of the site". I beleive I called it a worthless anecdote, not only because such a thing is subjective, but also because you presented it as a fact while citing squat.
You call it "broken", I call it flawed. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Usually it works. Since Digg doesn't have a better system, this is a weak argument to make. I'm not a fool, I can usually distinguish between the +5 Microsoft-hater posts and the +5 I Have Something Interesting to Say posts. I meta-mod when I can, always looking at context, and I don't see the rampant moderation abuses that people always bitch about. Very rarely will I find a post that was truly modded in an unfair way. Moderation is not perfect, but it's better than all posts being rated equally, I guarantee you that.
You're massaging the "Slashdot is slow" angle like it even matters to me, didn't you read where I said I'll usually let article stew for a couple days so that the comments are more fleshed out? I don't come here for breaking news, and I'm tired of having to beat this point into your thick skull.
I guess what you can't grasp is that my choice of website is not subject to your approval. I have my reasons, I've been kind enough to share them with you (even though you're a world-class dick), and that's all there is to it. I don't wonder why I visit Slashdot, I sure as shit know exactly why I am here, and it's not for the hot chicks or the cutting edge HTML.
Not everyone thinks like you. Get the fuck over it, get the fuck out, or just STFU until you can say something useful.
I tell you the reason why I like Slashdot in spite of its flaws, and you respond with a quote taken out of context, and several useless anecdotes, in what I'm assuming is an attempt to change my mind. As I said before, not everyone has the same wants/views as you. This is a hard lesson to learn. However, a few words:
I'm not here for the "broken" mod system or the karma whoring, I explicitly told you I was here for the interesting comments, in BOLD and I couldn't have made it any more clear without throwing a parade outside your house.
I see stupid +5 comments all the time. It's annoying. I deal with it. I usually read "new" stories at 0, and "old" stories at 3, sometimes dropping down to see the replies made to high-modded comments. I'm not an idiot, even though I see the BSOD and Clippy jokes all the time, there are still astute commenters who correct the posters of the tired Microsoft jokes, and I mod them up whenever I have points. It's easy to find mis-modded comments with no rebuttal, but it's even easier to find long threads where people argue back and forth, and that's usually a good way to see a story from multiple angles.
I'm happy that Digg is doing well, and they are working on a new system (they really need it, I just hopped over there and it looks like the old days of the AOLers that discovered Usenet), but until said system is unveiled and is proven to work well, I'm not remotely interested in it. The comments right now are inane and useless. So are Slashdot's, but I can filter out most of the idiots and see a nice comment that doesn't tell me how "GAAAAAAAY" something is. And no, I'm not going to go over there and help contribute, because I don't give a shit. I already enjoy Slashdot for what it's still worth.
The sooner that you understand that this site is full of people just like me, the sooner you'll figure out that your stupid crusade is targetting the wrong audience. Put a link in your sig with a short, non-wanking desc of what Digg is, and quit being a dick. That's my advice to you.
You're assuming that people come here for news. I'll let you in on a secret: a lot of us don't. We get our news elsewhere.
The reason people come here is for the bloody comments, and that's why subscribers continue to put up with the "editors", the dupes, the time delay, the left-wing slant, CmdrTaco's whining, and the atrocious color scheme. Digg doesn't have the volume of interesting comments that Slashdot does, and until that happens, you're not going to see a mass exodus.
I don't usually even read these stories as they "break", I let Slashdotters bitch about Sony/Microsoft/eggplants for a day or two and then come back and read what they have to say.
Newsflash: not everyone has the same views and/or wants as you do.
"A number of companies are using the source code against us, by selling or renting appliances, thus exploiting a loophole in the GPL. So in that regard, we have been fueling our competition, and we want to put an end to that."
Call me crazy, but since they can close the source, doesn't that mean they can release the source under a license that doesn't have this loophole? Barring that, they can roll their own. I guess maybe this is some kind of "magic loophole" that their lawyers are powerless to prevent.
"...they were reaping no benefit from using the GPL."
Free as in beer is cool and all that, but if one excuse for dumping GPL is that they aren't getting any benefits in the way of free code, I guess they weren't really drinking the Kool-aid in the first place, eh?
Right on. Is there some kind of unofficial contest to see who can pull off a lousier Slashdot interview than William Shatner? If so, please announce the finalists already, and let us vote on the "winner" in a poll (I'm thinking mc chris), so we can get back to meaningful interviews again.
This is really disappointing, I don't play WoW but I was enthralled by some of the questions and points raised in the original topic by the posters here that DO play (especially the thread on the economy, as I play FFXI). I read the entire thing at +3. These answers are a kick in the teeth.
A movie or game can have
"F" bombs every third word, blood, violence, death, horror, and destruction and it will receive a mediocre rating of PG-13 or M.
That's a total fabrication. No such movie would ever be rated PG-13. The MMPA's guidelines:
PG-13 -- Parents Strongly Cautioned -- Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. Signifies that the film rated may be inappropriate for pre-teens. Parents should be especially careful about letting their younger children attend. Rough or persistent violence is absent; sexually-oriented nudity is generally absent; some scenes of drug use may be seen; some use of one of the harsher sexually-derived words may be heard.
Compare to R-rated films:
R Restricted -- Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian (age varies in some jurisdictions). Signifies that the rating board has concluded that the film rated may contain some adult material. Parents are urged to learn more about the film before taking their children to see it. An R may be assigned due to, among other things, a film's use of language, theme, violence, sensuality, or its portrayal of drug use. Theater owners and film critics are advised as to why the R rating was assigned; parents are therefore urged to contact their local theatres to learn why the rating board chose the R rating.
Well, a lot of us here have. Your UID is too high for you to remember, I think (but maybe you lurked here a really long time before registering, like I did), but Slashdot used to store our passwords in plain text. And Murphy's Law being what it is, Slashdot got rooted, and everyone's logins were laid bare to the hacker (who was fortunately of the benevolent sort). It even happened once before that, two year earlier in 1998.
Well, while it's true the end result is the same (he loses his job), the distinction is still important. Being fired and being "forced" to resign (tangent: forced how?) are not the same thing. If he refused to resign, for instance, and THEN was fired, that would be something else entirely, no?
I don't use Firefox, so I couldn't tell you what it's lacking. I use a mix of the mouse/keyboard, as I find keyboard shortcuts that are faster than mousing.
You can say that the author of the article didn't cover your browser in the most friendly way, but in my opinion he left out some significant negatives as well. Maybe you should be thanking him for that.
Why? I don't have an agenda. I'm all for a fair, no-holds-barred comparison. If Opera is lacking in a particular area, by all means get it heard, so that they can fix it or make changes as necessary.
Firefox has benefitted greatly from Opera's browser innovations, it can work in both directions, imo.
Slashdot Mirror
I have an anti-AC sig, too, although mine just implies that ACs are stupid. Can I get in on this one?
I didn't imply that all high-rated comments were gems, just that gems tended to be high-rated. I can find a worthy +5 Insightful for every +5 Micro$oft SUX you can find. Open up your math book to the chapter on Venn diagrams for more info on this complicated subject.
You might have a valid argument when GNAA posts start getting blammed so that nobody can see them. But as long as people can still see the mess at a -1 threshold, I don't care. The moderation system is not about freedom to be heard, it's about allowing people to allow gems to float to the surface of the cesspool.
Larry McVoy got a bunch of cheap advertising for his software, then he threw a hissy fit when someone tried to interoperate with it. He's a twit.
Oh, come off it already. Linus was playing in a minefield by using BitKeeper and trusting Larry McVoy. If Tridge didn't step on a landmine, someone else would have. Kudos for him for doing what he does best.
Maybe I read it wrong, but it sounds like the grandparent poster was talking about the overall interest-factor of the stories. On Slashdot, he finds two out of every five stories interesting to him, on Digg he finds one out of every twenty interesting to him.
So I assume that you are suggesting that since the stories the editors pick can be rejected, one of the rejected stories might be of interest to the GP and he'd miss it? Well, wouldn't the same thing happen on Digg if not enoguh people thought it was interesting in the first place? Seems to me he's noticed a great difference in the signal/noise ratio in respect to interesting visible stories, and it doesn't have much if anything to do with the way that the stories are chosen, but YMMV I suppose.
CmdrTaco, I like the Navy as much as anyone else, but I don't see how looking at sailors has anything to do with Slashdot or Digg. Oh, you meant "navel gazing". Well, some of us like to talk about the site, though, can we get a topic for it? Maybe? The icon could be a battleship. :D
So anyway, we finally have a story where Digg.com rants are not offtopic. Well, I'll fire the opening salvo: I've been to Digg, and their stories are much more current than Slashdot's (seemingly because of the way stories are posted), but the comment system is a steaming pile. There is no threading (seriously hard to follow conversations without threading). And, despite Slashdot's flawed moderation system, scanning article comments at +4 is usually a pleasant experience, and I can't find that kind of functionality on Digg as an anonymous reader.
I come to Slashdot for the comments. Not for the editor abuses, the typos, the political slant, the "last week" news, blah blah etc. I know I am not alone in this. It seems to me that Slashdot and Digg are both filling a different niche at the moment. I'd like to see Digg with a better commenting system and some form of user-moderation of posts: right now it resembles graffiti on the wall, not discussion.
Any Digg cheerleaders out there with some positive things to add about the comment system that I missed in my ignorance?
Well, glad I could help. Do you have any other obvious questions you'd like answered? Maybe I could point out that not everyone who posts here on Slashdot has the same opinion, and it's a fallacy to assume so?
I don't defend the bad stuff on Slashdot, I just don't give a shit about it. When some twelve-year-old makes a BSOD joke, I ignore it. The moderation system here is not perfect, but it puts the signal to noise ratio at a level that I can decipher without a lot of work: that's the goddamn point in the first place. I'm not going to cry myself to sleep because a Clippy joke hit +5, or some engineer with a PhD only got +3 for his ten-page rebuttal of TFA.
Yes, you did take Linus's quote out of context, because you forgot the bit at the end. His rib at Slashdot was half-serious at best. Anyway, I'm sorry if I gave the impression that I cared what he thinks: I'm not a member of the starry-eyed Linux worship cabal. While I respect his accomplishments, I give his opinion of Slashdot about the same weight I do yours (hint: not much). That Bitkeeper nonsense soured personal respect.
Yes, I know about Over/Under-rated, but they aren't abused to the extent that you think they are. Usually regular moderation fixes it, all over/under do is get you under the M2 radar (but not under the Editor's radar). Like I said, I read the context of posts in M2, including how they were modded, and I don't usually see over/under bombs on normally modded posts (even Troll/Flamebait).
I'm sorry, you must have me confused with someone who gives a crap to begin with about your approval.
Listen, kiddo, you're the one trying to convince me (or now that I think of it, yourself) that this place sucks. For you to claim at the end that you "don't care" is what is known as a "dirty lie".
I'm not attached to the juvenile community here... I hardly ever see them, since I browse at +3. I see them when I moderate, since I mod at -1, but that's usually a bad thing for them, because I carry a big stick. Speaking of which, the very first story I ever read on Digg had a bunch of idiots calling something "gay", which sort of undermines any assertation that Slashdot-alternatives are any less juvenile than the original. At least on this site I can filter most of them out. Slashdot may be a polished turd, but Digg doesn't even have the fucking polish.
We'll all be at Digg while you continue to browse this fantastic HTML4 layout like it's 1999. Seeya.
I don't care about the damn la... geez, never mind, you're as dumb as a brick. You're leaving? Thank Christ. You were starting to piss me off. Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.
Right, you took Linus Torvalds' quote out of context, not mine. I apologize for assuming you could figure out what I was talking about. My quote, you simply ignored.
You point out that "Slashdot's comments are widely considered the weakest part of the site". I beleive I called it a worthless anecdote, not only because such a thing is subjective, but also because you presented it as a fact while citing squat.
You call it "broken", I call it flawed. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Usually it works. Since Digg doesn't have a better system, this is a weak argument to make. I'm not a fool, I can usually distinguish between the +5 Microsoft-hater posts and the +5 I Have Something Interesting to Say posts. I meta-mod when I can, always looking at context, and I don't see the rampant moderation abuses that people always bitch about. Very rarely will I find a post that was truly modded in an unfair way. Moderation is not perfect, but it's better than all posts being rated equally, I guarantee you that.
You're massaging the "Slashdot is slow" angle like it even matters to me, didn't you read where I said I'll usually let article stew for a couple days so that the comments are more fleshed out? I don't come here for breaking news, and I'm tired of having to beat this point into your thick skull.
I guess what you can't grasp is that my choice of website is not subject to your approval. I have my reasons, I've been kind enough to share them with you (even though you're a world-class dick), and that's all there is to it. I don't wonder why I visit Slashdot, I sure as shit know exactly why I am here, and it's not for the hot chicks or the cutting edge HTML.
Not everyone thinks like you. Get the fuck over it, get the fuck out, or just STFU until you can say something useful.
I tell you the reason why I like Slashdot in spite of its flaws, and you respond with a quote taken out of context, and several useless anecdotes, in what I'm assuming is an attempt to change my mind. As I said before, not everyone has the same wants/views as you. This is a hard lesson to learn. However, a few words:
I'm not here for the "broken" mod system or the karma whoring, I explicitly told you I was here for the interesting comments, in BOLD and I couldn't have made it any more clear without throwing a parade outside your house.
I see stupid +5 comments all the time. It's annoying. I deal with it. I usually read "new" stories at 0, and "old" stories at 3, sometimes dropping down to see the replies made to high-modded comments. I'm not an idiot, even though I see the BSOD and Clippy jokes all the time, there are still astute commenters who correct the posters of the tired Microsoft jokes, and I mod them up whenever I have points. It's easy to find mis-modded comments with no rebuttal, but it's even easier to find long threads where people argue back and forth, and that's usually a good way to see a story from multiple angles.
I'm happy that Digg is doing well, and they are working on a new system (they really need it, I just hopped over there and it looks like the old days of the AOLers that discovered Usenet), but until said system is unveiled and is proven to work well, I'm not remotely interested in it. The comments right now are inane and useless. So are Slashdot's, but I can filter out most of the idiots and see a nice comment that doesn't tell me how "GAAAAAAAY" something is. And no, I'm not going to go over there and help contribute, because I don't give a shit. I already enjoy Slashdot for what it's still worth.
The sooner that you understand that this site is full of people just like me, the sooner you'll figure out that your stupid crusade is targetting the wrong audience. Put a link in your sig with a short, non-wanking desc of what Digg is, and quit being a dick. That's my advice to you.
You're assuming that people come here for news. I'll let you in on a secret: a lot of us don't. We get our news elsewhere.
The reason people come here is for the bloody comments, and that's why subscribers continue to put up with the "editors", the dupes, the time delay, the left-wing slant, CmdrTaco's whining, and the atrocious color scheme. Digg doesn't have the volume of interesting comments that Slashdot does, and until that happens, you're not going to see a mass exodus.
I don't usually even read these stories as they "break", I let Slashdotters bitch about Sony/Microsoft/eggplants for a day or two and then come back and read what they have to say.
Newsflash: not everyone has the same views and/or wants as you do.
Yes, it is a dupe. Had 800+ comments.
Well, even a broken clock is still right twice a day.
I call him "Dartboard Dvorak", because sometimes the planets align on a full moon and one of his wild throws grazes the bullseye.
Right on. Is there some kind of unofficial contest to see who can pull off a lousier Slashdot interview than William Shatner? If so, please announce the finalists already, and let us vote on the "winner" in a poll (I'm thinking mc chris), so we can get back to meaningful interviews again.
This is really disappointing, I don't play WoW but I was enthralled by some of the questions and points raised in the original topic by the posters here that DO play (especially the thread on the economy, as I play FFXI). I read the entire thing at +3. These answers are a kick in the teeth.
PG-13 -- Parents Strongly Cautioned -- Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. Signifies that the film rated may be inappropriate for pre-teens. Parents should be especially careful about letting their younger children attend. Rough or persistent violence is absent; sexually-oriented nudity is generally absent; some scenes of drug use may be seen; some use of one of the harsher sexually-derived words may be heard.
Compare to R-rated films:
R Restricted -- Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian (age varies in some jurisdictions). Signifies that the rating board has concluded that the film rated may contain some adult material. Parents are urged to learn more about the film before taking their children to see it. An R may be assigned due to, among other things, a film's use of language, theme, violence, sensuality, or its portrayal of drug use. Theater owners and film critics are advised as to why the R rating was assigned; parents are therefore urged to contact their local theatres to learn why the rating board chose the R rating.
-1, Parent Poster Making Stuff Up.
Well, a lot of us here have. Your UID is too high for you to remember, I think (but maybe you lurked here a really long time before registering, like I did), but Slashdot used to store our passwords in plain text. And Murphy's Law being what it is, Slashdot got rooted, and everyone's logins were laid bare to the hacker (who was fortunately of the benevolent sort). It even happened once before that, two year earlier in 1998.
Good times, eh?
Grandfather Clause? Did you mean Statute of Limitations?
Well, while it's true the end result is the same (he loses his job), the distinction is still important. Being fired and being "forced" to resign (tangent: forced how?) are not the same thing. If he refused to resign, for instance, and THEN was fired, that would be something else entirely, no?
I don't use Firefox, so I couldn't tell you what it's lacking. I use a mix of the mouse/keyboard, as I find keyboard shortcuts that are faster than mousing.
Firefox has benefitted greatly from Opera's browser innovations, it can work in both directions, imo.