" I thought MAPs was used to block spam via DNS queries to their blacklist. SafeSurf makes it sound like their web site is being blocked? It makes no sense!"
Nope, it doesn't make sense. There are a lot of readers who, like you, are confused about this whenever we post a MAPS story.
MAPS's blacklist is ostensibly a list of IPs from which spam originates. But more and more, it is a list of websites and Class C's from which no spam comes, but which are either considered "spam-friendly" or are owned by companies which are considered "spam-friendly."
These IPs are put on the list because MAPS knows that there are still ISPs like TeleGlobe which will censor whatever MAPS tells them to censor. TeleGlobe uses the RBL to block not just mail being sent on port 25, but all traffic. And TeleGlobe is a backbone so this has a huge effect. Essentially this means MAPS can point at any website they want and wipe it off the internet for millions of people. And the purpose of putting SafeSurf (and other websites) on the RBL was to get them censored so that MAPS could throw its weight around to further its goals.
Sounds like you agree with those goals -- but I'm hoping, like me, you disagree with the means used to achieve them.
"Remember folks - internet service is provided to you by a provider that sets the rules - don't like it? Go elsewhere or if no alternative exists, deal with it."
Millions of people are having their internet access censored, by a backbone provider which promises that it does not censor. Many of them have no options for alternative providers, so their only recourse is, as you say, to "deal with it."
Re:Quit your whining and use the marketplace
on
Pot Calls Kettle Censor
·
· Score: 3, Informative
"...why doesn't SafeSurf simply take their business elsewhere? Quit using TeleGlobe's service..."
You missed the point. TeleGlobe is a backbone provider, they deliver the primary or in many cases the only internet access for millions of users (mostly in Europe I believe).
SafeSurf has nothing to do with TeleGlobe, does not pay them, isn't a customer of theirs, they just have a website that TeleGlobe censors. There's no "business" to take elsewhere.
Re:Avantslash - a plug
on
Slashdot Updates
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
AvantSlash apparently crawls the site in a very unfriendly manner and its server (or the public one that we know about anyway got itself IP-banned for that. We tolerate robots as long as they're nice, gentle robots.
We're always interested in making our site more readable on different platforms. There's some good criticisms in the above comment. We need the suggestions to be more specific if we're going to address the issue.
Better yet, send us patches -- this code is
open-source
you know. Normally, we'd take a look at how popular those pages are, decide where it goes on our priority list, and when we get to it we'll get to it. But if someone sends us well-commented patches and explains why they're an improvement so even our mostly-non-Palm-using little brains can understand, this'll get bumped a lot higher on our priority list.
Re:Why do not all links have the brackets?
on
Slashdot Updates
·
· Score: 1
"However, I've seen a number of sigs on/.... that do NOT show the brackets. Why not?"
Because I've been busy and haven't gotten around to running the addDomainTags() code on all existing signatures and then adding them back into the system. Users who haven't changed their sigs have gotten grandfathered in, for now. It's a temporary reprieve, we'll get around to them eventually:)
Re:OSDN is serious about this bar...
on
Slashdot Updates
·
· Score: 1
"Every time I click on the X I get logged out..."
A few people got caught when I had to restart the servers... the page you get when that happens looks like a logout page. Sorry about that. Shouldn't happen again, assuming you are (again) correctly logged in.
1100 people have already successfully turned it off so I assume that code is working, but if you still have problems, please file a SourceForge bug report.
Thanks.
Oh, I see. Yes, the site goes static when our DB cores or gets hung up or whatever, and at those times, you'll get only static pages. Most people will see the most obvious symptom as getting the (not-logged-in) homepage. Though you can get other.shtml pages as well if you click on them.
That's not a programming bug, that's us riding the bleeding edge of MySQL. It's happened less and less since we went to Banjo in August.
Re:Transactions, foreign keys
on
MySQL 4.0 Released
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I'm not sure what you mean about Bender "dropping the login"... we did rework the cookie system a fair bit for Fry (Slash 2.1/2.2) so I'm guessing that bug is long-fixed.
Most of the errors that bring Slashdot down are because we're really pushing the boundary of MySQL and have been for a while. In the last few weeks the cutting edge has caught up with us so it should be more stable now. Which means of course it's time to go to 4.0 because it wouldn't be Slashdot unless something breaks twice a day.
Re:Transactions, foreign keys
on
MySQL 4.0 Released
·
· Score: 3, Informative
"I haven't looked at the slashdot code recently, but there were a dozen and a half different methods behind the database functions that could have been optimized to better utilize MySQL."
We welcome specific suggestions and criticisms. Please
submit a Slash bug report
and let us know which methods you're talking about. Thanks!
Actually it's our "Security" topic icon, and yeah it's new, thanks for noticing. We're not upgrading everything, but you'll see a bit of new stuff showing up.
We've only been wanting to add a "security" topic for about TWO YEARS so it's nice to finally have one...
We prefer you
submit bugs to SourceForge,
since the unorthodox method you used here does not always get our attention. Nevertheless: fixed (line 3887 of Slash/DB/MySQL.pm).
Seriously, thanks to all of you... it's great to see positive, supportive comments from readers. You're the reason we all do this. I'm glad we could help disseminate news, but the more important thing to me is keeping the discussions going. There's something heartening about online forums: IRC, Usenet, sites like Slashdot. If you haven't taken a moment to go read through the comments from Tuesday and Wednesday, you should. The only good thing that's come from these horrible events has been the outpouring of strength, compassion, and wisdom. Not just to react to the news or be overcome by images on TV, but to talk about it, think about it, deal with it, not just be jerked around by the midbrain. I feel like I'm serving coffee in the café with the most interesting and thought-provoking remarks being shared around the tables, and it's a privilege.
Slashdot's database was hosed from sometime around 7 AM EDT until a few minutes ago (roughly 3:40 PM EDT). We believe the problem is fixed so it won't happen again. Keep your fingers crossed for us:)
There were 13 comments on this story ("Bush [Administration] Stops Microsoft Breakup") and 1 on another story that we suspect may have had their metadata mixed up somehow. I believe some of them were actually (intended to be?) posted to other stories and they wound up here instead. They were definitely replies to other comments and we had to make them at the "root level." But I believe the rest of their metadata was correct: user id, subject, points, etc.
If anyone who posted one of these comments or otherwise knows for a fact that our metadata is wrong -- at worst we might show them posted by the wrong user, that would be bad -- please email me and I will correct things as best I can.
Sorry about this, but our first reaction is to try to save comments when at all possible in the case of DB corruption, and we all figured it would be better to leave them up, possibly with wrong metadata, than to delete them.
(Please note, discussion of Slashdot downtime is pretty clearly offtopic, so don't be surprised if you reply to this and get modded down as such. Feel free to mod me down. Hm, maybe we need a user-created discussion about our downtime so there's someplace it won't be offtopic...)
"My ongoing complaint about the YRO articles is that whatever is currently being proposed is always ridiculed in favor of something else. Government regulation? Schools and libraries should set policies. Schools and libraries restricting access? It should be up to parents. Parents take responsibility? How dare they!"
If you'd followed what I've written, you'd know that I stand 100% for parents to make decisions about their own kids, rather than the government. I opine mostly about censorware, so I assume that's what this was directed at. I don't support parents who
block ideas from their kids.
But I stand up, over and over, for parents' rights to make decisions about their own kids -- not anyone else's kids.
And I'm totally in favor of schools and libraries setting sensible policies which are enforced by human beings (not robots). Schools should be free to put a stop to wasteful use of computer resources, but they shouldn't think that installing censorware is a quick fix. Libraries should be free to put a stop to any behavior that interferes with other patrons' ability to use the community's resources, but again, censorware is not a quick fix. And in both cases, censorware usually violates the First Amendment: our government, whether acting as the federal legislature, state legislatures, school boards or library boards, is not allowed to "abridge the freedom of speech or of the press."
"In this case, I would be extremely reluctant to join a workplace that monitored my computer usage. But unlike the hypocritical, dishonest bigots who edit Slashdot..."
This comment was not deleted. When we converted from Slash 1.0 to 2.2, we had to run an import script to go over all our old.shtml files and pull their comments into our database. It must have missed this one. Probably, it missed more than one.
Figuring out why, and going back to figure out what other comments we might have missed, is one of our priorities for this coming week.
To the trolls who started this meme, if you are interested in getting these problems fixed rather than just raising a fuss, the next time you find something like this, please submit a SourceForge bug. Thanks. Meanwhile, extended discussion of Slashdot's bugs on a story that's not about testing the Slash code is offtopic and should be moderated as such.
"What happened to the 'Ask FCC Chief Technologist David J. Farber' interview questions (http://slashdot.org/interviews/01/01/22/1349237.s html) posted on Jan. 22nd?"
As Robin wrote in March, "Dave Farber agreed to a Slashdot interview back in January. I sent the questions but he never returned the answers despite several resendings and requests. Other than that, he seems like a decent guy."
Our comment/archive/search system is being worked on -- we're still fixing bugs for the 2.2 code transition -- but you can find that comment here if you'd like to verify:
google cached copy
Bell Atlantic cannot refuse service, period. The telco's like to think they're god, but mention the FCC or the FTC and filing a complaint, and they'll shut up and process your order.
Slashdot Mirror
Nope, it doesn't make sense. There are a lot of readers who, like you, are confused about this whenever we post a MAPS story.
MAPS's blacklist is ostensibly a list of IPs from which spam originates. But more and more, it is a list of websites and Class C's from which no spam comes, but which are either considered "spam-friendly" or are owned by companies which are considered "spam-friendly."
These IPs are put on the list because MAPS knows that there are still ISPs like TeleGlobe which will censor whatever MAPS tells them to censor. TeleGlobe uses the RBL to block not just mail being sent on port 25, but all traffic. And TeleGlobe is a backbone so this has a huge effect. Essentially this means MAPS can point at any website they want and wipe it off the internet for millions of people. And the purpose of putting SafeSurf (and other websites) on the RBL was to get them censored so that MAPS could throw its weight around to further its goals.
Sounds like you agree with those goals -- but I'm hoping, like me, you disagree with the means used to achieve them.
Millions of people are having their internet access censored, by a backbone provider which promises that it does not censor. Many of them have no options for alternative providers, so their only recourse is, as you say, to "deal with it."
You missed the point. TeleGlobe is a backbone provider, they deliver the primary or in many cases the only internet access for millions of users (mostly in Europe I believe).
SafeSurf has nothing to do with TeleGlobe, does not pay them, isn't a customer of theirs, they just have a website that TeleGlobe censors. There's no "business" to take elsewhere.
We're always interested in making our site more readable on different platforms. There's some good criticisms in the above comment. We need the suggestions to be more specific if we're going to address the issue.
Better yet, send us patches -- this code is open-source you know. Normally, we'd take a look at how popular those pages are, decide where it goes on our priority list, and when we get to it we'll get to it. But if someone sends us well-commented patches and explains why they're an improvement so even our mostly-non-Palm-using little brains can understand, this'll get bumped a lot higher on our priority list.
Because I've been busy and haven't gotten around to running the addDomainTags() code on all existing signatures and then adding them back into the system. Users who haven't changed their sigs have gotten grandfathered in, for now. It's a temporary reprieve, we'll get around to them eventually :)
A few people got caught when I had to restart the servers... the page you get when that happens looks like a logout page. Sorry about that. Shouldn't happen again, assuming you are (again) correctly logged in.
1100 people have already successfully turned it off so I assume that code is working, but if you still have problems, please file a SourceForge bug report. Thanks.
That's not a programming bug, that's us riding the bleeding edge of MySQL. It's happened less and less since we went to Banjo in August.
Most of the errors that bring Slashdot down are because we're really pushing the boundary of MySQL and have been for a while. In the last few weeks the cutting edge has caught up with us so it should be more stable now. Which means of course it's time to go to 4.0 because it wouldn't be Slashdot unless something breaks twice a day.
We welcome specific suggestions and criticisms. Please submit a Slash bug report and let us know which methods you're talking about. Thanks!
We've only been wanting to add a "security" topic for about TWO YEARS so it's nice to finally have one...
We prefer you submit bugs to SourceForge, since the unorthodox method you used here does not always get our attention. Nevertheless: fixed (line 3887 of Slash/DB/MySQL.pm).
Well, I'm glad someone appreciates it.
Seriously, thanks to all of you... it's great to see positive, supportive comments from readers. You're the reason we all do this. I'm glad we could help disseminate news, but the more important thing to me is keeping the discussions going. There's something heartening about online forums: IRC, Usenet, sites like Slashdot. If you haven't taken a moment to go read through the comments from Tuesday and Wednesday, you should. The only good thing that's come from these horrible events has been the outpouring of strength, compassion, and wisdom. Not just to react to the news or be overcome by images on TV, but to talk about it, think about it, deal with it, not just be jerked around by the midbrain. I feel like I'm serving coffee in the café with the most interesting and thought-provoking remarks being shared around the tables, and it's a privilege.
Where have YOU been??
There were 13 comments on this story ("Bush [Administration] Stops Microsoft Breakup") and 1 on another story that we suspect may have had their metadata mixed up somehow. I believe some of them were actually (intended to be?) posted to other stories and they wound up here instead. They were definitely replies to other comments and we had to make them at the "root level." But I believe the rest of their metadata was correct: user id, subject, points, etc.
If anyone who posted one of these comments or otherwise knows for a fact that our metadata is wrong -- at worst we might show them posted by the wrong user, that would be bad -- please email me and I will correct things as best I can.
Sorry about this, but our first reaction is to try to save comments when at all possible in the case of DB corruption, and we all figured it would be better to leave them up, possibly with wrong metadata, than to delete them.
These are the 14 comments: 2259183 2259165 2259166 2259170 2259171 2259174 2259175 2259178 2259181 2259182 2259185 2259186 2259188 2259191
(Please note, discussion of Slashdot downtime is pretty clearly offtopic, so don't be surprised if you reply to this and get modded down as such. Feel free to mod me down. Hm, maybe we need a user-created discussion about our downtime so there's someplace it won't be offtopic...)
If you'd followed what I've written, you'd know that I stand 100% for parents to make decisions about their own kids, rather than the government. I opine mostly about censorware, so I assume that's what this was directed at. I don't support parents who block ideas from their kids. But I stand up, over and over, for parents' rights to make decisions about their own kids -- not anyone else's kids.
And I'm totally in favor of schools and libraries setting sensible policies which are enforced by human beings (not robots). Schools should be free to put a stop to wasteful use of computer resources, but they shouldn't think that installing censorware is a quick fix. Libraries should be free to put a stop to any behavior that interferes with other patrons' ability to use the community's resources, but again, censorware is not a quick fix. And in both cases, censorware usually violates the First Amendment: our government, whether acting as the federal legislature, state legislatures, school boards or library boards, is not allowed to "abridge the freedom of speech or of the press."
Awwwww. We love you too.
Figuring out why, and going back to figure out what other comments we might have missed, is one of our priorities for this coming week.
To the trolls who started this meme, if you are interested in getting these problems fixed rather than just raising a fuss, the next time you find something like this, please submit a SourceForge bug. Thanks. Meanwhile, extended discussion of Slashdot's bugs on a story that's not about testing the Slash code is offtopic and should be moderated as such.
As Robin wrote in March, "Dave Farber agreed to a Slashdot interview back in January. I sent the questions but he never returned the answers despite several resendings and requests. Other than that, he seems like a decent guy."
Our comment/archive/search system is being worked on -- we're still fixing bugs for the 2.2 code transition -- but you can find that comment here if you'd like to verify: google cached copy
Bell Atlantic cannot refuse service, period. The telco's like to think they're god, but mention the FCC or the FTC and filing a complaint, and they'll shut up and process your order.