FortKnox's Journal: What Happened to JonKatz??

Anyone else notice the lack of Katz articles?

This review of MIIB seems to be his last article.

Anyone know the story, or should I start coming up with conspiracy theories? ;-)

Maybe...

[John Harrison]

he is really an elementary school kid and was sent to summer camp by his parents. A camp with no Commodore 64 to hook up to the internet.

I "banned" him long ago

[banky]

I was never a fan of his, so I removed his stories from my frontpage (as did many /.'ers, I assume). I might be that everyone thought he was a douche, and the only people replying to his stuff were trolls and people out to antagonize him..

Or maybe he's bored with the Internet now that it's not very cool anymore.

Forgot he existed

[Otter]

You know, I'd entirely forgotten that he existed. I blocked his stories years ago, but there still seemed to be some trickle through: either Katz stuff would be posted by another editor or Katz would post under a completely inappropriate topic and I'd say, "Wow, new Enlightenment news!" and click through.

Or Slashdot would grind to a halt and I'd wonder what's going on and check to see if a Katz story had been posted.

But since the server setup was improved, he hasn't caused any notable slowdowns and, honestly, I'd forgotten he existed. I think the Commodore computer in Afghanistan story was the last I'd heard of him.

I'd love to do the same for Michael but he just posts too much of the core content. I've blocked Censorship, Music and Patent stories to at least get rid of the most alarmist nonsense and to avoid the incestuous Michael / Jamie censoware preening.

Re:Forgot he existed

[gmhowell]

Ditto. I liked some early stuff, but the latest was just too out there. So I blocked him. A few weeks ago, I was wondering why I hadn't seen any of the 'slipped' articles, but had just assumed that they were being posted properly.

No great loss.

I'd also like to dump 'michael' stories, but many of them are good, important reads. Even being able to read the blurb without the editorializing would be an improvement.

Katz? Taco? Who?

[mirabilos]

I usually don't look from whom the article I read
is. I rather go by the topic, and title.

Re:Katz? Taco? Who?

[heliocentric]

Katz doesn't just post user submitted linkage, he writes his own views on topical items and that is the entire post.

Re:Katz? Taco? Who?

[mirabilos]

That isn't bad per se, is it?

Well, I've heard many people hate him, but I have
no objections against the person - at most the
content he provides.

Re:Katz? Taco? Who?

[heliocentric]

That isn't bad per se, is it?

IMHO, no. Like him or not he is practically the only content the editorial staff brings. I find it amazing a site with such little content (it just links to other stories... check out the top 5 sites of interest [these vary from person to person based on interest, but watch where you click through to and you'll find your top 5 in no time] and you'll wonder what the point of /. is anyway. I wish there was more original content. I feel the discussions and moderation system is screaming for that sort of content. That is why I feel the journals are so popular. Some say Michael's comments following user submissions are annoying, and that's for everyone to decide and fight about, I won't fuel that issue here, but I think most would feel ok if the user submitted link and breif description (preferably without even their possibly biased views on the subject) were posted one way and Michael then wrote his own feelings in sort of a story. I think every user has an opinion about things "gee, this is good" or "oh no, that's terrible" and I see the editors' jobs as being the users who start the conversations moving, putting forth their views and others chiming in with theirs. Wow, that went on for longer than I planned... I guess utiopias take a while to describe.

Well, I've heard many people hate him, but I have
no objections against the person - at most the
content he provides.

While I feel sometimes his views are kind of out there, other times I at least partly agree. I would find a site boring that just kept say the exact same things I was thinking, wouldn't you? I think we need to all keep our minds open to new ideas. To quote an editorial responce to a write-in (p 34) in the latest 2600 [2600.org] magazine:

That's what it's really all about - opening your mind to ideas. You can do this without agreeing with us, which is something so many of us seem to miss.

He's at the Kabul Field Office

[Keith Russell]

That kid from Afghanistan was having trouble playing MP3s on his C64, so Jon went over to help him out. You know how often those 1541 drives need to be recalibrated.

Dejavu

[glh]

Wow, that's funny. I was going to post the same thing in my journal yesterday..

I'm guessing maybe he found a real job, maybe as a movie critic or something :)

Heh

[Com2Kid]

Katz is actually a pretty nice guy, I remember him responding to e-mail I sent him about one of his Hellmouth articles (this is when he was able to have his e-mail address posted, before all the whiners took to spamming him), responded promptly and intelligently and thanked me for writing him a reply.

Anybody who takes time out of there day to reply to individual e-mailed comments on an article can't be /too/ bad. ^_^

Quite frankly with all the assholes around here on /. (err, if you don't like his stories, don't read them, if one slips though, nobody is /forcing/ you to read through the full text. . . .) bitching and insulting and posting "Story: Katz gets fucked in the ass by Taco, part 23 of 50" I can't blame him for leaving.

*BURP*

[BlackHat]

more beans?

BS I would guess no bucks to pay him.

Come back Katz...

[Dthoma]

...for we are lost without you.

;-)