Interview: Ask Jon Katz Almost Anything

I have gotten a stack of e-mails lately requesting an interview with Jon Katz. And last Friday, after we got Jon up on the little stage in our LinuxWorld booth, where he engaged in a live two-hour dialog with over 100 Slashdot readers and other show attendees, I got the same request in person - over and over. Jon is, without doubt, the most hated Slashdot Author, but he is also the most-read, the most-discussed, and the most puzzling, at least according to the e-mail I get about him. It's time to stop guessing about Jon and why he writes what he does the way he does, and to simply ask him! One question per post, please. The question and moderation cutoff time is Wednesday noon, U.S. EST, at which time I'll forward 10-15 questions to Jon via e-mail. Answers will appear Friday.

A More Civil Net

Jon -- You seem like a fellow who might have some small amount of experience with the lack of civility which is rampant on the net. Given that, I have a two-part question:

a) Who do you suppose the main culprits are? Why do you suppose that certain forums (like /.) can be somewhat civil one day and full of trolls and flamers the next? Is it simply a matter of certain people skipping 4th grade classes for the day, the flood of newbies, a popularity thing or just the nature of the beast? This leads into the second part of my question...

b) Do you foresee a circumstance where the net will ever be a civil place without comprimising anonymity and free speach? Or is every net medium which tries to provide these things doomed to go the way of Usenet?

----

Re:A -real- question

This should really be reported to the admins. This is the same troll who has been posting the hot grits anonymous postings, for a while. Either that, or it's a dweeby friends.

Either way, it's -not- the Real Bruce, and it -is- one of the few people in the world I'd love to see getting a job cleaning Three Mile Island. From the inside of the reactor core. With a toothbrush. With only the hot grits they seem to love for company and protection.

I'm sure they're glowing with anticipation. Or does that come afterwards? :)

A -real- question

Enough of the trolling on here. I'll try and write a real question. *deep breath* here goes...

Libertarianism means a lot of different things to different people. Usually, it is meant purely in the context of a hypothetical "Big Government". However, recently, events have shown that duly elected Governments around the world can be dictated to and ordered around by "Big Corporations", who are accountable to no-one, including the market place.

Can you pin down, exactly, what your interpretation of Libertarianism is, and how it handles the whole power question, where you have Corporate Law, rather than Government Law?

Preaching to the choir

In the same vein, I would like to ask why you choose to air your articles on Slashdot. They are written from a non-technical point of view for a non-technical audience wholly unfamiliar with their subjects: Weblogs, the DVD controversy, the Linux revolution itself. Clearly, the Slashdot audience finds your articles insultingly simplistic. We are already familiar with these issues, often in more detail (technical and historical) than you, and by and large we are annoyed to have our opinions simplified and read back to us.

I have two questions. First, do you agree with me in seeing your posts as popular digests of our culture, intended for a lay audience? Second, if you do agree, why do you persist in using Slashdot as a forum?

I will be very interested to read your answers. Perhaps the basis of your friction with Slashdot is, after all, just a confusion about audiences. Thanks for having the courage to offer an interview. I hope it leads to some kind of dialog that clears up the Katz-Slashdot controversy.

Vovida, OS VoIP
Beer recipe: free! #Source
Cold pints: $2 #Product

Religion

You spend a lot of time bashing the religious beliefs of others, but never share your own. Some would argue that this is nobody elses business, but since you consistently choose to denigrate people of faith, I think I have the right to ask:

What are your religious beliefs?

Remember: none is just another belief :)

--

Am I Alone?

I think Jon does a great job as a writer.

My question: What motivates and interests you so much that you have such a great passion to write about geeks, nerds, techies, hackers, etc.?

I actually like Jon Katz' writing's. Am I the only one? Sure he may not be a "techie," but this is not a prerequisite for writing for a site like Slashdot. Jon is a journalist and writer. He's never made any claim to the contrary. As a matter of fact, he espouses the fact that he's not. He gives a certain insight into technical issues that many more techno-savy readers may not consider. Certainly, his writings are provocative and he often plays the "Devil's Advocate." This is what good writers do. The provoke the rest of us to thought. Perhaps in ways we had not previously considered. I think Jon catches an enormous amount of flack for being a good writer. Just because his views differ from yours or he may be taking a different approach toward a subject does not necessarily make them wrong.


----------------

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." - Albert Einstein

Education?

What, if any, Universities/Colleges/Technical schools have you attended? What did you study?

The Bottom Line

Do you get paid to write for /.? If so, are you working freelance, or are you a member of And^H^H^HVA staff?

Community interest

It's a rare person indeed that draws such an intense response from the geeks and slashdotters amongst us - I'd like to know why you keep posting and commenting even though so many people are outwardly hostile towards you...

What draws you towards this community?

So how did it go with Linux ?

Jon, when you first appeared on Slashdot you were quickly engaged by readers who spotted that you weren't on Linux, BSD or anything like it. You couragously began to tell the story of the wave of support you recieved from the /. community with the standard newbie to Linux problems -- admitting that you found it difficult, but were trying hard.

So, how is the Linux experiment going ? Have you given up, or are you quietly playing with it for an hour or so a day, learning a little more ?

This is a genuine question, not a flame !

--

I get the impression...

that the deal is quid pro quo. Though he doesn't directly work for them, they promote each other, in an odd way. You must remember that virtually every Katz post generates traffic, even if the majority of readers hate him. This traffic inturn generates revenues for slashdot. Though I think promoting a hack like Katz might ultimately harm slashdot in the long run, that is another story.

Katz profits from his slashdot articles, because it promotes his name amongst the internet crowd. Also other sites and journalists may very well quote him because of his recognition. In addition, when it comes time to sell his books he can steer hundreds of slashdot jr.'s and newage types with his influence. Not only does this help pad out his otherwise nominal sales, but i'm convinced it sends a signal of sorts to his publisher. Unlike most other hacks, he has found a way to create a significant amount of sales and interest the first couple days the book hits the shelves using slashdot and other forums. This likely prompts the publisher to promote the book, and make it more visible...prompting more sales.

In short, Katz is a hack that appeals to kiddies and long hairs. As much as I despise him, i must give him some credit for figuring out a way to set himself apart from his kind.

Note to CmdrTaco.

Hi Rob,

I like your site a lot. I check it out on a daily basis and if time permitting, I usually involve myself in the discussions. When I noticed that you had an option to filter postings by users, I chose to filter Jon Katz for the obvious reasons.
Today, however, You and Roblimo decided to post stuff about Katz. Now I ask you why? Why are you posting a clip from his book? Why is Roblimo asking people to ask questions? Why isn't Katz posting it? Is it to give a different perspective? Or is it to force people who have Katz filtered to join in on the conversation? I'd really like to know your reasons. Please get back to me.

~~Kevlar

If you agree with this, then moderate up.

Anti-Katz

Katz,

I am a Christian. I am a geek. I am not alone. Though we ChristoGeeks (a new demograph I just coined which you may proceed to patronize) tend to be a quiet group here on Slashdot, I felt the need to voice this question.

You seemingly never fail to rail upon religion (more often than not, Christianity) in each of your posts here. I haven't read your book, but more than likely you will do it in there too. My question is... why? Obviously you are against relgion, and seem to view it as a form of mind control/censorship. Did you have a bad experience with Christianity as a young child? Do you think the vocal minority of Christians in the public eye are obnoxious? Or is this simply another way to pander to your audience, who at the time is mainly comprised of anti-Christian slashdot readers.

Thanks for your time. At least reading your articles lets me see just how far the extreme left-wingers would like to take things.

p.s. Before any Christian-brainwashed-sheep hating /.'ers moderate this down as flamebait, at least consider letting the minority speak.
----- if ($anyone_cares) {print "Just Another Perl Newbie"}

Generation Gap

How do you think you would view the tech-head community if you had grown up after the PC revolution? Say you'd had an apple ][ when you where 8. Do you think you'd be a geek? Would you still be astonished by geeks or would you take them for granted?
--Shoeboy

Do you actually read the followups?

I know you read your email, since you've used email as a basis for a number of your essays, and you actually have answered whenever I've emailed you directly. However, I'm pretty sure I've never seen you participate in a Slashdot discussion itself, whether it was one about your own stories, or any other.

Do you actually read the feedback that gets posted as replies?

Girls and Jon Katz

We know how hemos, CmdrTaco, and Roblimo feel about geek girls, but we haven't ever heard a related story from JonKatz. Given your traditional stance against all the western social problems one would think you'd have a few interesting things to say.

Why doesn't Katz participate in the /. Community?

For being central to such a vocal part of the community, do you actually read, write, and communicate with the community? Do you use a nom de plume, and for what reasons?

It *seems* as if you can relate to us, but do you actually, as it were, live in the trenches? There's the JonKatz I see as an author, journalist, etc, but there's also the JonKatz I'd be interested in seeing as the person, with opinions, viewpoints, and responses that aren't so thought out or calculated, edited, refined, etc.

JonKatz raw, so to speak.


-AS

All the criticism

Let me preface by saying that I actually like a lot of what you write. I think you're wrong sometimes, but such are the dangers of discourse. Does all of the criticism heaped on you by the /. comminity ever get to you? Does it make you want to take you writings elsewhere? Does it change the way you approach writing? Greg

How much begging/money?

I've got Katz-icles filtered out in my user pages, yet I notice that there is a book review AND interview on my front page. My question is:

How high up the VA Linux management hierarchy did you have to call to get the Slasdot crew to violate their few remaining shreds of integrity and force you once again down our throats?
--
Java banners:
Bad for users because Java kills Netscape

Pro-Complication

I'm somewhere between an agnostic and an athiest. I don't know whether there is a god, many gods or no gods, but the whole idea seems pretty far-fetched to me. However I don't think too much about god / gods because there aren't too many "supernatural" events in my life that get me wondering about them. I believe in science because it's a pretty decent set of rules to live by. It's convenient to think that gravity exists because every time I've let go of something it has dropped.

However nearly every day I'm assaulted by organized religion. The most recent annoyance was the Super Bowl. Religious players seemed to think that "God" wanted one team to win, and were intent on thanking "Him" for every point. (Strangely however nobody was evidently angry with "Him" for their team losing -- maybe they just accept he wanted the other team to win).

Organized religion, and religious doctrine in particular has been given as a reason for a lot of brutality in history. It has also been the way monarchs maintained power, and that a class system was maintained.

To answer the questions in the original post:

Why am I an athiest?

Because it is the easier and simpler belief.

How much study have I done on the subject of atheism

None whatsoever. However, unlike organised religious study, athiesm doesn't require any study.

How do I know there isn't a god

I don't, but I know I've never seen anything that would make me think there might be.

How much of my belief system comes from my parents

Admittedly a lot. My dad didn't believe in any gods, and although my mom is now back to her Catholic religion she wasn't practicing when I was younger.

Why do you want to be right so badly?

I don't really care, whether there is or isn't a god the laws of physics are not likely to spontaneously turn off. Life will go on as normal. Maybe when I die I'll find out there was a god and I'll go to heaven/hell/purgatory, but I'm not going to live my life differently on the off chance that happens. I guess the main reason I want to be right is the Wizard Of Oz type of thing. It would be sort-of disappointing to see the current nice self-consistent world be ruined by the extra metaphysical baggage of a god.

I think the big misunderstanding comes from the belief that being an athiest is simply another set of religious beliefs like being a catholic. I think that's completely wrong.

The athiest takes the world as what it appears to be. A sum of what our senses and sensors tell us is there. A person who believes in gods adds to that world view yet another "item", a god.

I see no reason to use the more complicated world system. I don't believe in gods, however I'm not going to shove my views in people's faces and constantly decry "there are probably no such things as gods!". As long as other people don't shove their views in my face I don't really care what they believe.

Unfortunately most religious beliefs seem to require the believer to spend time in worship or in prayer. They also seem to encourage people to follow leaders and to spread the belief system. These are things that athiests and agnostics don't have. This last difference is the reason you see Christians, Muslims and Jews involved in religious wars but you rarely see an army of athiests trying to kill all the people who believe in gods.

Anyhow, I know this is probably going to upset people but it's not meant to do that -- it's just that I get so tired of having organized religion in my face so much I sometimes have to vent. I apologize for it being a rambling post, but I won't apologize for my beliefs.

Jon

(sorry for all the idiots, I'd hope you've gotten use to it by now, but stupidity and immaturity can sometimes be difficult to ignore)

Two questions:
1) As a techno-author where do you think we're headed with this whole Internet thing? Give me 20 years down the road, society, commerce, privacy, entertainment, just pick an area and tell me what you think.

2) Given that a number of people here seem to think that they could do your job better than you with no hands, no eyes, and a pen with no ink, what does it take to get where you are? i.e. Where should aspiring writers (in this genre) start, where does the path begin (or where did it for you) and what are the right turns to take?

Thanks, now stop using the phrase "geeks, programmers, and nerds" so much, it gets annoying. I prefer the term "typer" but since I made it up last week not many people are using it...

You, and the Community

Hey Rob. I know this is more than one questions - please pick whichever you believe is most relevant.

Mr Katz,
Rob Malda fairly correctly describes you as the most hated author on Slashdot. Whilst many of us seem to feel that you're simply looking at the issues you're writing about from an overblow point of view, seeing 'technical milestones of incredibly important significance', some of the posters on Slashdot have a particular peeve. Namely your qualifications.
Slashdot.org is a very technical forum - many of the posters on here simply read it because they feel it best sums up technical events in the Real World. However, your expertise seems to be rudimentary, at best. Linux, the prodigal child of the Slashdot community, proved to be quite a problem, as you struggled with it for quite a while, even writing articles about the difficulties you had. Many of us felt that you wrote those articles so you become more accepted by the crowd, and to show that you aren't just a Windows techie. Now, after quite an intro, here're the questions:

• What makes you so uniquely qualified to talk about the vital socio-technological issues that many of us are interested about? You seem to have little experience with high-tech environments or in-depth hardware/software knowledge, so most of us would have viewed you as a 'luser' type of layman only a few years ago.
• Do you feel that your fame and notoriety stems mostly from the 'Hellmouth' article series, as many of us claim? After Hellmouth, your contributions to the community have been marginal at best, or so many claim. Your answer?
• What do you feel about the seeming need of the puritan US society to censor and restrict access to everything they deem dirty, whilst crying 'But what about the children?'.. i.e. why is US Society as a whole so much in the grip of the Conservative religious right? Can we, a fairly enlightened community when it comes to freedom, do anything about it?
• I understand your association and sympathy for the 'outcasts' of society - especially those bullied in school for being different, etc. However, you seem to have the need to incessantly call everybody who is different a 'Geek'. Don't you feel that your uniform classification in fact plays into the hands of those who would like to see people categorised, ideally at an early age through mandatory psychological tests, determining potential 'problem students', then isolating and brainwashing them?
• You use the claim of 'Open Source' very casually, in fact asking for contributions for an 'Open Source' book at various stages. Do you understand that the fundamental values behind OS are that of sharing credit and fame? Will you be crediting every single idea as well as every single quotation you use in that book? Quoting sources when using ideas is mandatory for University essays - not doing so can result in a grade of zero, or worse. How open source will your work really be?
• Finally - your short essay about flaming on the net and about not taking responsibility seemed to be the reaction to an email that struck a raw nerve. Certain, you are probably inundated with flames every day. However, don't you think that by setting yourself up in the limelight (Yes, 1 million people read Slashdot every day), thus attracting attention to yourself, you have only yourself to blame? The more famous you become, the more negative attention you will receive. The plaintive tone about ad hominem attacks was unwarrented - you want the fame, you got it. My final question refers to whether you believe that people are treating you unfairly. Are they?

Thanks, and apologies for the length and number of questions. Just pick one. :-)

Alex T-B

One single question:

Why?

Qualifications?

I'll probably be checking off the little "don't want to read any more of this author" stuff for Mr. Katz in the near future, just because I value my bandwidth.

Having said that, here's my question: You've said yourself that you are not a technical person. What makes you think that you can speak for those of us who are?

(That isn't necessarily a flame, although I realize it sounds hostile. I'm merely curious and asking for qualifications.)

Will you adapt to Slashdot?

Have you given thought to adapting your writings to the feedback that slashdot is implicitly giving you? In other words, have you thought about writing your editorials with the explicit purpose of doing nothing but starting a discussion on some topic? Not pretending to be knowledgable, or to hold some particular view as good/bad, or asserting questionable "facts", or with any sense of righteous indignation, etc, etc. Would you simplify your writings to this level and be something slashdot might appreciate more?

Now I'm going to ramble to explain my question....

I think what many people object to about your writings on /. is that it appears that you simply are a reader of slashdot yourself, and that maybe once a week, you sit down and write an editorial that was inspired by having read a slashdot article of particular interest. For instance, with all the DeCSS stuff here on slashdot, it was very predictable that you were going to write an editorial about the MPAA and DeCSS, and that your comments were going to be a Katz summary of what had already been said on Slashdot.

This annoys many because a)it gives you a greater voice than anyone else on slashdot and b)most feel you don't qualify for the position of slashdot summarizer because you're not a technical person (not that there's anything wrong with that!)

a) is the main point here, so let me go on - you don't research stories like a normal journalist. You write your impression and your opinion. There are times in many a slashdotter's life when they wish they could write up their opinion and submit it to slashdot, and get it automatically posted as a top-level article. But they can't. You can. Therefore, though in reality you're little more than an over-eager slashdot reader, you have this inside track that allows you to vent your views and get it published.

But, you're not informative, nor particularly insightful (ie you don't seem to offer anything more than that other slashdot reader who got worked up, wrote up an opinion piece, and submitted it to slashdot). You stir up trouble, which is probably the point. After all, I, unlike many outspoken slashdotters, enjoy you're articles - because of the discussion they provoke (and I don't mean the trolls!). Some of the best discussion are definitely provoked by your articles.

However, your article itself is of limited value in terms of insight offered, wit, or new facts uncovered. Your value is in soliciting the great varieties of opinions that exist in the /. community to come out and play. Yet, the way you write indicates you view your articles as having a grander place on slashdot than simply this. This gives offense and makes you a target of trolling, more so than you would be.

So, are you willing to change for the sake of the slashdot community?

Why here?

Ok, this may seem like a flame, but what the hell. Most of what you submit seems to me at least to be pretty much the same sort of stuff that gets printed in something like Newsweek, or perhaps even something a little more savvy, like Hotwired. I used to read your column regularly on Hotwired, and there it generally "fit". However, most of what you submit just doesn't seem to fit on /.. Most of what is posted here is factual stuff (or at least purports to be) and is written in the fairly straightforward, hackerish way. Most of what you submit is more of the editorial type, and quite frankly, seems to succumb to the "molehills to mountains" style of writing that is so rampant in the general press. So what encouraged you to come here instead of writing for a more traditional magazine (online or otherwise)?

Truth or Parody

I'm trying to keep this from sounding like a flame but still ask what I mean here. I should note that I haven't read a lot of Katz. However the few times I have your opinion seems so simple and stark it would seem your almost parodying opinions that you don't believe in. I wonder sometimes if you really believe all the things you write, or if the intent is more to promote discussion?

Your writing and it's effects.

I am quite interested how your writings can engender so much animosity and hatred about topics which are not the kind which the messenger should be killed over. Why do you think your writing has this effect?

I wonder....

Obviously almost everyone here seems to have a negative opinion of you. I have to say, I haven't read any of your stuff...I only cruise Slashdot for news now and then, so I couldn't speculate as to why this hatred is so abound. What I'm wondering though is, why do *you* think people dislike you so much? Do you have any idea, or do the comments just float by you, or go unread? Do any of the comments hit "home", and you find yourself saying, "Gee, maybe this guy is right"? Just wondering. Because I'm certain if I had such a large base of people who disliked me, I'd be at least minorly concerned and trying to figure out what all the fuss was about.

Honest question

One of the biggest and most valid criticisms you (regularly) receive on /. is directed to your writing style. Specifically, you write _long_ articles with _long_ (occasionally run-on) sentences containing questionable grammar. Given that you're a professional (paid!) journalist, do you feel that this affects how seriously your readers take your writing?