Of course, as anyone who has been around for awhile knows - email usually goes unanswered. Hell, as any subscriber knows, they don't even pay attention to their "email us if you see a problem with this story!" link.
And you don't have to be the world's greatest or most concerned editor. If you care about tech stuff and geek stuff, you'd at least be interested in weeding out the redundant stuff and advertising. And if they're understaffed, it's their own fault. They're not some little organization running out of some kid's basement anymore.
The thing is, I really hate being yet another "Slashdot is going downhill!" whiner, but they really seem to be. I've been around long enough to remember Slashdot before it was called Slashdot. Through Hellmouth and Jon Katz and when they started the interviews and started adding all these other subsections and colors and (OMFG - CSS compliance as of late!). And in all that time, Slashdot has fluctuated. The whole Andover thing. The whole OSDN thing. Michael getting married (WTF?) and Geeks in Space . . .
But in the last six months, it has gone from "sometimes lazy slashdot editor behavior" where they post a dupe or let a big typo slip by to the point where you can rarely go a day without multiples of the following happening - and I'm just talking about in the front-page section. I'm not talking about the GNAA type of stuff in the responses.
+ Duplicate from the same week, day or hours before. + Duplicate from the same or previous years. + Trip...er..licate . . . + Intentional slashvertisement. + Unwitting (or uncaring) slashvertisement ala **BeatlesBeatles, etc. Or worse - press relases. + Unwitting (or uncaring) contribution to trolls (ala CleverlyFunny and others) + Crap I've already seen on Drudgeerport. If Drudgereport is reporting it, it's sort of . . . done with. + Wierd slashvertisement sort of buddy system gratis thing where a particular site seems to get EVERY article they write featured on Slashdot. It's almost like one of the editors' girlfriends ran TheEscapist or PennyArcade or JoelonSoftware or something and they felt compelled to post a blurb on Slashdot about every single article out of support.
And sure, people could "just leave", but a lot of us have been here for seven or eight years and really don't want to have to do that. But man . . . it's almost like the Slashdot editors don't even care about Slashdot anymore. I find a lot of faults with Zonk, but at least he seems to TRY. It even seems as if the rest of the Slashdot elders just always decide to go fishing or take long naps for weeks at a time and stick Zonk and ScuttleMonkey with all the actual work and don't follow up to make sure their quality is up to par (or maybe even teach them what to do in the first place.... not that the old Slashdot editors seem to have a clue anymore what that should be either). . . .
Seriously, can you imagine a beowolf cluster of rat-brains applying various complex filtering techniques? Then you just have to figure some way to give them ESP so they can communicate off-network with each other to share new spam-info with each other.
I mean, either that or secretly plot how to take over the world.
And where is the blatant trolling and advertising with this one? I mean, it's by "anonymous" submitter!?! At least give us some **BeatlesBeatles or a little Pasqy or JoelOnSoftware or CleverlyFunny or something...!
What they should do is work with eGenisis and make A Tale in the Desert ten times cooler than it already is. Or at least, a variation on it (which this sounds like) with better graphics, less endless walking and less griefing. I'd play that. At least, until I got bored of it after a couple weeks.:)
In addition to posting blatant advertising for the BeatlesBeatles and Joel on Software and TheEscapist and other stuff in a very "Microsoft/TimeWarner future partnership ass-kissing networked" sort of way, they don't even have a problem accepting submissions and posting them from blatant trolls and rip-offs like the submitter of this article (see the following current headline on the site of the submitter of this article):
In short, the editors are such fucking incompetant idiots that they willingly and knowingly entertain the submissions of admitted plagiarists. On the other hand, it's a really great way to make sure that Slashdot is never taken seriously anywhere by anyone. Seriously, Slashdot editors (Malda, etc) -- get your shit together. Half the joy of even bothering to show up and check Slashdot out each day now isn't for the articles or discussions, but to see what careless, stupid, sell-out, dimwitted shit you guys will do next.
Win Slashdot? (12/05/05) - PyWiz
Some of the slashbots have started to take notice that all of our posts are blatantly plagiarized. They wonder out loud in their replies why we would do such a thing? Well for all you curious slashbots that wonder why we felt the need to beat the world's most famous News for Trolls website, your answer is here
Slashdot: News for Trolls. Stuff That Doesn't Matter.
Okay, first of all for all of your slashbots that are out of the loop, we (known on Slashdot as PlayfullyClever) are blatant plagiarists. Almost (and by almost I mean more than 90%) all of our posts are reposts found using the Anti-Slash Database Tool, which allows the user to search for high-modded posts on a particular topic. Basically when a new article comes out on Slashdot we skim the summary for key words and plug them into the database tool. When we find a relevant-looking (I say relevant-looking because we don't actually read the summary so sometimes our posts are a little off base) post, we simply copy paste it and post to Slashdot. The funny part about this is that almost all of our posts get rated 5, just as they were originally. It is especially amusing when we get a high rating in spite of the fact that someone spots our plagiarism and points it out in a reply, as happened here.
Why would we do this? Well, there are several reasons. First of all, we do it for kicks. As I said earlier, it is rather amusing how little new information is actually added in Slashdot discussions. Simply towing the party line will get you a 5 rating, even if, as happens in many cases with our reposting, the post is slightly or completely offtopic.
The second major reason is promoting our site. We have a link in our signature and of course when we submit articles we get hits from people clicking on our name. We've gotten over 500 unique hits in the past 3 days the site has been up, and considering the quality of site we have, that's some quality advertising.
Some of you might be thinking that we're selfish and that we're destroying what once used to be a respected discussion forum. Well, you're wrong. First of all, with all the FPs, Penisbirds, and GNAA trolls, our reposting is hardly degrading anything of worth. Second of all, the moderation system is build to handle just our type of cleverness (namely, playful) by allowing readers to mod us down if they don't find our comment interesting. Obviously, even though it is plagiarized, our comments still hold the interest of a large number of moderators. Of course there is the slight moral problem of representing someone elses work as our own, but I mean come on, this is the 21st century, get over it.
In conclusion, all you slashbots who whine about PlayfullyClever being a "blatant plagiarist": you're right. Now STFU. kthx, py
I don't even care anymore. Tax me on my paycheck. Then, tax me on my gas. Then tax me on the distance I travel on the roads that my gas tax was supposed to pay for in addition to my state and federal tax. I just don't give a flying fuck anymore. There aren't enough decades in a life to fight big brother. Roll over and take it in the ass. It hurts initially, but once you've gotten used to it, it's no big deal.
Some lame ass college / frat thing. I don't drink so I dont' really know. I just know it involves alcohol and jello and some movie was going to have that as the title and then they named it something else that wasn't as provocative and "dangerous".
I don't see what the big deal is. A five year old could so this. In fact, as a five year old 23 years ago - I *DID* do this.
I wanted one toy really bad and knew my mom wouldn't buy it for me, so I switched the price (it wasn't a barcode back then, of course) and convinced my mom to get it for me. It caused so many troubles for the people at the cash register that they eventually gave up trying to figure out why the price and item didn't match each other and felt bad for taking up so much of our time with their screwups that they just GAVE it to me and let us walk out.
Being a little kid kicks so much ass because nobody ever suspects what a criminal little fuck you are.
Nice. Joel and Fogcreek have yet another frontpage Slashdot advertisement, then a comment about Joel and Fogcreek's products gets moderated as "offtopic" in that very same article thread. What the fuck?! It's no more an "advertisement" than the other 500 Joel on Software articles posted to Slashdot.
And if it is your thing, give me a call and I'll cut you a deal.
Seriously though - not everything Joel writes is all that valuable or important or worthy of Slashdot frontpage real-estate. In fact, I've just gotten downright tired of articles by or about him or his thoughts. Maybe he's a nice guy and maybe he isn't. I don't know much about him beyond a few of his articles. I just know that there's a lot more content and many more voices out there that could be heard and shared with the bandwidth this guy gets on Slashdot and I'm getting Katz'd-out from it.
But let's not attack the guy on that level . . . Come on . . . In fact, it's not his fault Slashdot posts everything of, by, for or about him. You'd roll with it and use the opportunity too, if you had it. I blame the Slashdot staff, frankly.
But hey - at least they haven't given him his own editor/posting account yet like they did with Katz.
You should talk to the guy elsewhere in this article thread who wonders why you should be into the geek culture to be a good software engineer. Your comment is EXACTLY why. I want someone with a passion who cares about what they're doing beyond just a paycheck and respect at the job when they're writing software or debugging it. I want someone who really cares about the whole process and the outcome and not someone who would rather half-ass it so they can make happy-hour with the other frat boys before all the hot chicks show up for jello shots.
Because those kind of people create crappy, uninspired software. The last thing I want to hear from a coworker is "Man, I don't even OWN a computer. When I go home, it's all about watching the football game and rock climbing!".
You should have more of a passion for the field than a driver-through cashier at McDonald's has for theirs.
Joel. Joel. Joel. Joel on Software. Joel. Software. On Software. Joel on. Joel. Joel. Joel on Software. On Software. Joel on Software. Joel on Software. Joel. Joel. Software. Joel on. Software. Joel. Joel. Joel. Joel. Joel. Joel on Software. Joel. Software. On Software. Joel on. Joel. Joel. Joel on Software.
WE GET THE POINT, SLASHDOT EDITORS. YOU LOVE JOEL. ENOUGH ALREADY.
Go ahead and mod me down. I'd rather see more of those "women are unfairly treated in the game world and science" than more of this guy's blog crap on here. Has he topped Katz yet?
Slashdot Mirror
Who?
I googled but just found some random 55 year old chick who seemed to have done a bunch of random movies that nobody probably cares about.
Of course, as anyone who has been around for awhile knows - email usually goes unanswered. Hell, as any subscriber knows, they don't even pay attention to their "email us if you see a problem with this story!" link.
And you don't have to be the world's greatest or most concerned editor. If you care about tech stuff and geek stuff, you'd at least be interested in weeding out the redundant stuff and advertising. And if they're understaffed, it's their own fault. They're not some little organization running out of some kid's basement anymore.
I'm pretty sure a company that doesn't make money is like a species that doesnt reproduce... dead.
:)
Or, one might suggest, a Slashdotter?
Son of a bitch -- I meant PEARL Harbor.
OH NO! It's PERL HARBOR all over again!
The thing is, I really hate being yet another "Slashdot is going downhill!" whiner, but they really seem to be. I've been around long enough to remember Slashdot before it was called Slashdot. Through Hellmouth and Jon Katz and when they started the interviews and started adding all these other subsections and colors and (OMFG - CSS compliance as of late!). And in all that time, Slashdot has fluctuated. The whole Andover thing. The whole OSDN thing. Michael getting married (WTF?) and Geeks in Space . . .
But in the last six months, it has gone from "sometimes lazy slashdot editor behavior" where they post a dupe or let a big typo slip by to the point where you can rarely go a day without multiples of the following happening - and I'm just talking about in the front-page section. I'm not talking about the GNAA type of stuff in the responses.
+ Duplicate from the same week, day or hours before.
+ Duplicate from the same or previous years.
+ Trip...er..licate . . .
+ Intentional slashvertisement.
+ Unwitting (or uncaring) slashvertisement ala **BeatlesBeatles, etc. Or worse - press relases.
+ Unwitting (or uncaring) contribution to trolls (ala CleverlyFunny and others)
+ Crap I've already seen on Drudgeerport. If Drudgereport is reporting it, it's sort of . . . done with.
+ Wierd slashvertisement sort of buddy system gratis thing where a particular site seems to get EVERY article they write featured on Slashdot. It's almost like one of the editors' girlfriends ran TheEscapist or PennyArcade or JoelonSoftware or something and they felt compelled to post a blurb on Slashdot about every single article out of support.
And sure, people could "just leave", but a lot of us have been here for seven or eight years and really don't want to have to do that. But man . . . it's almost like the Slashdot editors don't even care about Slashdot anymore. I find a lot of faults with Zonk, but at least he seems to TRY. It even seems as if the rest of the Slashdot elders just always decide to go fishing or take long naps for weeks at a time and stick Zonk and ScuttleMonkey with all the actual work and don't follow up to make sure their quality is up to par (or maybe even teach them what to do in the first place.... not that the old Slashdot editors seem to have a clue anymore what that should be either). . . .
Pinky: Gee, Brain, what are we going to do tonight?
Brain: The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world!
This is my favorite post of the week. Awesome.
Seriously, can you imagine a beowolf cluster of rat-brains applying various complex filtering techniques? Then you just have to figure some way to give them ESP so they can communicate off-network with each other to share new spam-info with each other.
I mean, either that or secretly plot how to take over the world.
And where is the blatant trolling and advertising with this one? I mean, it's by "anonymous" submitter!?! At least give us some **BeatlesBeatles or a little Pasqy or JoelOnSoftware or CleverlyFunny or something...!
Did the mods even READ my post? Read the post. Look at the submitter of the article. Click on the submitter's name/link. Duh.
What they should do is work with eGenisis and make A Tale in the Desert ten times cooler than it already is. Or at least, a variation on it (which this sounds like) with better graphics, less endless walking and less griefing. I'd play that. At least, until I got bored of it after a couple weeks. :)
In addition to posting blatant advertising for the BeatlesBeatles and Joel on Software and TheEscapist and other stuff in a very "Microsoft/TimeWarner future partnership ass-kissing networked" sort of way, they don't even have a problem accepting submissions and posting them from blatant trolls and rip-offs like the submitter of this article (see the following current headline on the site of the submitter of this article):
In short, the editors are such fucking incompetant idiots that they willingly and knowingly entertain the submissions of admitted plagiarists. On the other hand, it's a really great way to make sure that Slashdot is never taken seriously anywhere by anyone. Seriously, Slashdot editors (Malda, etc) -- get your shit together. Half the joy of even bothering to show up and check Slashdot out each day now isn't for the articles or discussions, but to see what careless, stupid, sell-out, dimwitted shit you guys will do next.
Win Slashdot? (12/05/05) - PyWiz
Some of the slashbots have started to take notice that all of our posts are blatantly plagiarized. They wonder out loud in their replies why we would do such a thing? Well for all you curious slashbots that wonder why we felt the need to beat the world's most famous News for Trolls website, your answer is here
Slashdot: News for Trolls. Stuff That Doesn't Matter.
Okay, first of all for all of your slashbots that are out of the loop, we (known on Slashdot as PlayfullyClever) are blatant plagiarists. Almost (and by almost I mean more than 90%) all of our posts are reposts found using the Anti-Slash Database Tool, which allows the user to search for high-modded posts on a particular topic. Basically when a new article comes out on Slashdot we skim the summary for key words and plug them into the database tool. When we find a relevant-looking (I say relevant-looking because we don't actually read the summary so sometimes our posts are a little off base) post, we simply copy paste it and post to Slashdot. The funny part about this is that almost all of our posts get rated 5, just as they were originally. It is especially amusing when we get a high rating in spite of the fact that someone spots our plagiarism and points it out in a reply, as happened here.
Why would we do this? Well, there are several reasons. First of all, we do it for kicks. As I said earlier, it is rather amusing how little new information is actually added in Slashdot discussions. Simply towing the party line will get you a 5 rating, even if, as happens in many cases with our reposting, the post is slightly or completely offtopic.
The second major reason is promoting our site. We have a link in our signature and of course when we submit articles we get hits from people clicking on our name. We've gotten over 500 unique hits in the past 3 days the site has been up, and considering the quality of site we have, that's some quality advertising.
Some of you might be thinking that we're selfish and that we're destroying what once used to be a respected discussion forum. Well, you're wrong. First of all, with all the FPs, Penisbirds, and GNAA trolls, our reposting is hardly degrading anything of worth. Second of all, the moderation system is build to handle just our type of cleverness (namely, playful) by allowing readers to mod us down if they don't find our comment interesting. Obviously, even though it is plagiarized, our comments still hold the interest of a large number of moderators. Of course there is the slight moral problem of representing someone elses work as our own, but I mean come on, this is the 21st century, get over it.
In conclusion, all you slashbots who whine about PlayfullyClever being a "blatant plagiarist": you're right. Now STFU. kthx, py
I don't even care anymore. Tax me on my paycheck. Then, tax me on my gas. Then tax me on the distance I travel on the roads that my gas tax was supposed to pay for in addition to my state and federal tax. I just don't give a flying fuck anymore. There aren't enough decades in a life to fight big brother. Roll over and take it in the ass. It hurts initially, but once you've gotten used to it, it's no big deal.
Some lame ass college / frat thing. I don't drink so I dont' really know. I just know it involves alcohol and jello and some movie was going to have that as the title and then they named it something else that wasn't as provocative and "dangerous".
I don't see what the big deal is. A five year old could so this. In fact, as a five year old 23 years ago - I *DID* do this.
I wanted one toy really bad and knew my mom wouldn't buy it for me, so I switched the price (it wasn't a barcode back then, of course) and convinced my mom to get it for me. It caused so many troubles for the people at the cash register that they eventually gave up trying to figure out why the price and item didn't match each other and felt bad for taking up so much of our time with their screwups that they just GAVE it to me and let us walk out.
Being a little kid kicks so much ass because nobody ever suspects what a criminal little fuck you are.
Nice. Joel and Fogcreek have yet another frontpage Slashdot advertisement, then a comment about Joel and Fogcreek's products gets moderated as "offtopic" in that very same article thread. What the fuck?! It's no more an "advertisement" than the other 500 Joel on Software articles posted to Slashdot.
Why does software have to be "inspired," it just has to function.
That comment kind of speaks for itself.
I'll tell you waht I'm jealous about -- I'm jealous of that sweet UID you have. Bastard.
Why would I bother going to JoelOnSoftware anymore when Slashdot is practically his site's RSS feed?
And if it is your thing, give me a call and I'll cut you a deal.
Seriously though - not everything Joel writes is all that valuable or important or worthy of Slashdot frontpage real-estate. In fact, I've just gotten downright tired of articles by or about him or his thoughts. Maybe he's a nice guy and maybe he isn't. I don't know much about him beyond a few of his articles. I just know that there's a lot more content and many more voices out there that could be heard and shared with the bandwidth this guy gets on Slashdot and I'm getting Katz'd-out from it.
But let's not attack the guy on that level . . . Come on . . . In fact, it's not his fault Slashdot posts everything of, by, for or about him. You'd roll with it and use the opportunity too, if you had it. I blame the Slashdot staff, frankly.
But hey - at least they haven't given him his own editor/posting account yet like they did with Katz.
Then the devil said "there are 10 kinds of supernatural beings. Those who understand binary and those who do not."
You should talk to the guy elsewhere in this article thread who wonders why you should be into the geek culture to be a good software engineer. Your comment is EXACTLY why. I want someone with a passion who cares about what they're doing beyond just a paycheck and respect at the job when they're writing software or debugging it. I want someone who really cares about the whole process and the outcome and not someone who would rather half-ass it so they can make happy-hour with the other frat boys before all the hot chicks show up for jello shots.
You must be new here. That has been Joel's modus operandi for months now. If he farts and writes about the delectible smell, it winds up on Slashdot.
Because those kind of people create crappy, uninspired software. The last thing I want to hear from a coworker is "Man, I don't even OWN a computer. When I go home, it's all about watching the football game and rock climbing!".
You should have more of a passion for the field than a driver-through cashier at McDonald's has for theirs.
Joel. Joel. Joel. Joel on Software. Joel. Software. On Software. Joel on. Joel. Joel. Joel on Software. On Software. Joel on Software. Joel on Software. Joel. Joel. Software. Joel on. Software. Joel. Joel. Joel. Joel. Joel. Joel on Software. Joel. Software. On Software. Joel on. Joel. Joel. Joel on Software.
WE GET THE POINT, SLASHDOT EDITORS. YOU LOVE JOEL. ENOUGH ALREADY.
Go ahead and mod me down. I'd rather see more of those "women are unfairly treated in the game world and science" than more of this guy's blog crap on here. Has he topped Katz yet?