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Journal BarbaraHudson's Journal: Victims of technological change - why haters gotta hate. 54

Journal by BarbaraHudson

Curiosity works for a lot of us. We're willing to turn aside from the tools that work for us for a bit, even build up some technical debt in our area of expertise, to explore some new technology that might in the long run prove beneficial, or at least interesting (and if you're a curious person, poking around stuff that's interesting is FUN).

And yet, we probably all have areas where we're a bit of an iconoclast. And technology is littered with people who just refused to accept change, and became irrelevant. We don't code everything in assembler, or c, or c++. Even I use java (gasp) on occasion. But what happens when the computing environment becomes so user-centric (a GOOD THING) that people are free to choose what works for them without having to seek the advice of self-anointed gurus whose advice is no longer relevant?

We should ask ourselves why "haters gotta hate"

Sometimes those "gurus" fail to move on, becoming more shrill with every passing year. It's a personal thing for them - they cling to what used to work because that's all they have. They become trollish, haters, because if they're forced to realize that their life's work is now worthless, what will they have left? What WILL they do? They know in the back of their mind that they're too far behind to catch up, so this fear drives them to become even more rigid in their views.

Which brings us to Alexander P Kowolski, the HOSTS file troll.

Here's a guy who posts up to 100 anonymous responses a day, going through my posting history to crap-flood every discussion. I think this response sums up the problem pretty well, at least from my perspective:

Well, since you FINALLY asked how you are absurd:

1st definition of absurd from google: Ab-surd: (of a person or a person's behavior or actions) foolish; unreasonable.

Going through every post I make in every thread, posting multiple responses (up to 100 posts a day) attacking me based on my gender (including in a thread about sexual harassment) - I think that most people would qualify your behaviour as both foolish and unreasonable.

Getting all bent out of shape when someone exposes your bullying tactics and then tells other people how to do the same to you - both your original bullying and your response when you get it thrown right back at you are foolish, unreasonable, and just plain childish.

Saying I'm stalking you when it's obvious you're the one doing the stalking - foolish, unreasonable, and more than a bit delusional. Oh, and your paranoia is showing.

Thinking that attacking me because I'm transsexual is going to get you anywhere on a tech site, when tech attracts a higher-than-average number of people in the LGBT community, as well as sympathizers, is foolish. Continuing it day after day when it doesn't work is not just unreasonable, it's stupid and/or insane.

Clinging to arguments for your HOSTS file that are completely orthogonal to today's reality, and that obviously the vast majority don't care about and don't need because they have found better ways to solve their own problems, is foolish on it's face and unreasonable to those looking on, who use their computers just fine without your "solution."

Going on about how "taking estrogen is rotting your brain", that "you're crazy to have cut your balls off" (btw - I'm not a surgeon, and I don't pretend to be one on the innnertubes), when I'm following expert medical advice that has a proven track record of success, well, that's both foolish and ridiculous.

The problem isn't your hosts file - it's your behaviour, which certainly is absurd, and probably disturbed as well.

That leads to another question - why? What is it about me in particular that sets you off worse than anyone else? Is it me, or do you have a problem with women in general (I seem to recall some attacks you made on other women who have challenged you that would indicate that this may be the case)? Do you think that men are superior to women, and that anyone who willingly "trades in" to become a woman is stupid because you have a low opinion of women?

And that, of course, brings us back on-topic - the "science has a sexual assault problem". You don't seem to be capable of the introspection necessary to realize how absurd your behaviour is. How many other women have you felt it's your right to attack, and still continue years later, about their sex, gender, or sexual identity, just because you disagreed with their opinion on a technical issue of absolutely no import to anyone but you?

He has time and again failed to realize that people who use alternatives that work for them, such as adblock, don't give a damn about his stupid hosts file and the supposed benefits. It's THEIR computer, and they're free to use what works for them - and it's NOT going to be his HOSTS file. And crap-flooding discussions with challenges to enter some useless "pissing contest" of the benefits of one over the other is irrelevant to pretty much everyone except him. So why do it? Perhaps because he is so psychologically invested in his world view that any alternative is just too scary.

So why "feed the troll" by posting a journal entry about him?

That's a valid question, for sure. But if you see him as a victim of technological change instead of just a troll, it might help put some of the other "wars" on slashdot into perspective. We get comfortable with our niche, change happens, and we have to, once again, learn a whole new slew of technologies. The prospect can be daunting, sometimes it's just a feeling of "oh heck, here we go again, change for the sake of change yadda yadda yadda ...", and it's easier to say "I'm just going to stick with what works" ... until one day we wake up and realize we're in danger of becoming totally irrelevant.

It can happen to any of us. Did it happen to APK? Or was he always like this? I don't know, and I don't really care. Either way, the lessons to be learned are the same. Haters gotta hate, because if you take that away from them, they have nothing to fall back on. They are more to be pitied, same as many of the opponents of same-sex marriage, now that they can't bolster their own sense of self-worth by hating gays and lesbians, are feeling a bit lost.

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Victims of technological change - why haters gotta hate. More

Victims of technological change - why haters gotta hate.

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    • Oh wow. At the bottom, he's saying I'm you? Or you're me? Two years after I stopped using a computer? He must really have some sort of obsession over me to keep it on for that long. Failure to keep up with the times can really damage a soul.

  • Interesting insight. Would explain much of the anti-Apple, anti-Microsoft around here and elsewhere on teh webz.

    Regarding apk, didn't someone do some searches and judging by his reputation ca. 2000 determine that he was a nut even then?

    • Thanks. We've had a section of the population who, beyond a certain point, can't adapt to change. When change was slower and people didn't live as long, this didn't cause too many problems, since the overall amount of change they'd encounter in a lifetime was small.

      Today? They're lost. They can't even use a flip phone without getting into trouble (I kid you not). They've lived at the same address for 3 decades and don't know much of the surrounding neighborhood. Mp3? USB key? Computer? Inaccessib

  • Wow, I had no idea what a nutcase this APK guy was. I kind of thought it was all just some grand in-joke - that posting his hosts nonsense in every entirely-unrelated thread was a goofy game for him.

    Ah well Barb, you keep being you! <3

    • Thanks for the support. He was doing the same thing 2-1/2 years ago when I dropped off slashdot because of problems with my retinas that made it impossible for me to use a computer on a regular basis until recently. If he were near me, I'd either invite him over to help him get over his evident transphobia, or get a restraining order. Or more likely, first one, then the other ...
  • Everyone knows the real APK edited his hosts file a long time ago to redirect slashdot.org to localhost, so he wouldn't have to read comments from people stating that his hosts method was not the greatest solution to the world's problems in the history of the world.
    • +5 funny :-) I'm still waiting for him to respond to my challenge of how to use a hosts file to avoid ever seeing his posts in threads. But what would slashdot be if it weren't for the trolls, the crappy betas, the flame wars, and everything else? Something for everyone.
      • What is the argument in favor of the AC posts claiming to be APK actually being him? I have often wondered if it was just someone copying his style (which is not hard to copy) for laughs. I suspect that like so many other former slashdot regulars, APK packed up his bags and left.

        Or, he actually did use his hosts file to block slashdot :)

        • The new attacks are a stylistic match for the old ones, even though they incorporate the new material, after a 2-1/2 year gap. When I left, he was still confused as to exactly what my gender status/situation was. Now he's not.

          He's also included one or two little things from our previous encounters that even I had forgotten about, but that in retrospect ... someone would have had to go through pretty much every post of our previous entanglements. Not too likely.

          But now that he knows he can't get a rise

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