This isn't a Cosmopolitan poll, but it should be. ;)

You copped an LJBF ("Let's just be friends") move. What you really mean is:
1) I'm not attracted to you or I don't see any relationship possibilities --
        ever and I'm offering this as a 'consolation prize' because I don't want
        to hurt your feelings.
2) We're not dating now, but I expect you to hold on with romantic longing...
        a) to boost my ego (for whatever reason)
        b) because I want to go date other men, but I want someone to fall
                      back on if it doesn't work out.
        c) while I figure out what I really want (and NONE OF THE OTHER ANSWERS APPLY -- be honest)
3) I hate you and I'm sadisitic enough to want to keep you around long
          enough with no fear of actually having sex while I describe to you in
          intimate detail all the other men I'm dating.
4) Other

One source has noted that CmdrTaco IS in fact having an affair -- with a "$$$$$exyGirl"! Now, CmdrTaco has not at this time, re-added $$$$$exyGal to his friends list, so we are not altogether certain if this rumour is true or not. But we're going to publish it anyway, because this is Slashdot Tabloid Journalism at it's finest. :-P

Neither CmdrTaco nor his wife Sarcasta could be reached for comment at this time. Sources close to the Slashdot couple said "Fsck off, asshat!" Whatever that means. :)

Ok. Now I particularly would like to hear from the LADIES out there, because women are so wise in these matters. Seriously.

Okay, it's 11:00p.m. and I can't sleep. I'd ask people I know IRL, but I called them all and they said they all said "ROB, I'M TRYING TO SLEEP. GOODNIGHT!" or some such similiar thing. Since Slashdot NEVER sleeps, ummm...here's my poll. But I can't believe I'm asking this on Slashdot. But I need to get this off my chest.

Can you fall in love with someone you don't want to fall in love with? Someone you'd never want to fall in love with? Are these even different questions?

A) Yes.

B) Yes, But I have NO IDEA WTF you're talking about.

C) No, you can only fall in love with someone you want to fall in love with.

D) WTF??? Are you CRAZY? Why are you asking for relationship advice on Slashdot?

E) Surak must be on acid if he thinks Slashdot users can give good relationship advice.

F) Surak is in LOVE? Huh? How did this happen! Dammit all, I was hoping I could have his sexy Vulcan body all to myself!

That trolls have now decided that my journal is a playground for their little scavenger hunt. I have nothing against this, but *please* note that the last few JEs (including this one) have been 'Friends and Friends of Friends only'. This is to reduce troll posts. Therefore, if you can't post in one of those, try the earlier JEs, which are open to anyone. Also note that FaFoF only JEs do NOT allow anonymous posting, so you're not likely to get your #2 by posting in a *recent* JE. Just thought I'd help you guys out a bit in the name of sportsmanship and all that.

Anyone notice the new sidebar yet? Notice what it does *not* contain? There is no longer a link to Taco's homepage.

I wonder if the lack of this link and/or the redesign of the sidebar has anything to do with recent criticism from various users including myself that Taco & Co. still views Slashdot as their own personal blog? And is this an indication of more changes to come? Speculation and responses from Slashdot editors are both welcome. :)

UPDATE: Taco speaks about the new sidebar! Notice that he doesn't answer my question, though, except for some snide remark about ACs pissing all over the new guys work calling it gay and stuff. I personally like the new sidebar and don't think its gay at all. I think the changes are important and Taco's entry supports some of my reasoning as to why I think that the changes are importnat. But I still wanna know what about the removal of Taco's homepage from the sidebar, and he deliberately left that out of his journal entry.

I'm rather bored with feeding the trolls. Not bored, actually, just sick of it. They can post whatever they want, whatever, I'm just going to ignore them. I don't care anymore. Whatever. Some people have better things to do with their time on this system and would rather engage in useful, constructive conversation than play childish games. The last thing I'm gonna say to the morons who keep trolling me: grow the fuck up and get a life.

I saw a guy who looked a LOT like CmdrTaco last night at a local Ram's Horn restaurant. First off, I should say that I'm from Royal Oak, Michigan (but this Ram's Horn is in another Detroit suburb called Livonia), and if you read Taco's journal you'll see that he makes occasional trips to the Detroit area to go to conferences or to do stuff see Star Wars prequels at the Star Southfield (which was the only theatre in Michigan carrying the digital version of Episodes I and II), so this is *entirely* possible.

There were these three guys sitting at the table discussing Star Trek warp field theory, and the conversation drifted between that and Star Wars and religion and Web sites and whatever it was they were reading (I can't seem to recall the words on the front but it was a bright green book with yellow letters in one of the so-called "Celtic" fonts which looked vaguely like the little book that comes with a PC game, so maybe that's what it was). I'm thinking: These guys MUST be Slashdotters.

I noticed them because I was sitting at the booth doing tarot card readings, and one of the guys who was vaguely Asian or Pacific Islander looking started telling the other two what I was doing.

I tried to say something to them about the warp discussion they were having, but they seemed to be ignoring me. The Pacific Islander-looking guy looked really familiar to me for some reason. Maybe I saw him at a con once. I dunno.

Anyway, one of the guys looked a LOT like CmdrTaco. I thought he might be kinda tallish for Taco, but Taco is kinda tallish anyway isn't he? Anyhow, I compared recent pictures I found from doing a google image search and this guy had more hair than Taco, so I knew it couldn't be him.

Anyhow, if anyone knows these guys or is these guys, Hi! I'm the guy with tarot cards. :)

Still working on that op-ed piece, but I'm struggling with it now. Maybe I should just break it up or something.

I just got interviewed by Ted Bridis, staff writer for the Associated Press! He said he saw my post on /.. I think he was probably referring to this one (which was +5 Interesting, but got modded all the way down to 1, mostly due to overrated mods. Ahem.) Here's his e-mail:

RE: Saw ur post to /. re RIAA

From:
"Ted Bridis" (email deleted) (The Associated Press)

To:
"'Surak" (email deleted)

Date:
Today 18:15:01

Well, we could do this e-mail.

Is (deleted) your name or an alias? (Sorry, we have to ask).

Will the RIAA's announcement today affect your use, in any way, of any of
the p2p networks? Do you offer any copyright material for uploading? Will
you, b/c of this, disable uploading or uninstall your software?

Any other thoughts on the RIAA's strategy?

Ted Bridis, staff writer
The Associated Press
2021 K St., NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20006
(phone numbers deleted)
http://bridis.net/contact

I deleted his e-mail and mine so we don't get spammed. :)

Anyway, here's my response to his questions:

On Wednesday 25 June 2003 18:15, you wrote:
> Well, we could do this e-mail.
>
> Is (deleted) your name or an alias? (Sorry, we have to ask).

Real name. I would prefer if you not use my real name in the story as it
would be detrimental to my employment situation.

> Will the RIAA's announcement today affect your use, in any way, of any of
> the p2p networks? Do you offer any copyright material for uploading? Will
> you, b/c of this, disable uploading or uninstall your software?

> Any other thoughts on the RIAA's strategy?

No, it's not likely that I'll change my use of P2P networks. For me, it's an
act of civil disobedience. Let's face it. Large distributed networks like
the Internet have changed the face of intellectual property. Music and
movies will continue to be shared whether or not they sue a few people. It's
like speeding. You can't catch everyone. The media companies should focus
on changing their business model.

Look at Apple's new iTunes service. Despite being minimally DRM-enabled, it's
still possible to share the music on P2P services. I think Apple knew that.
Sell songs for $0.99 instead of making me buy the whole album, especially if
your'e going to market a bunch of one-hit wonders to me. You know that 80s
song, "Come on Eilieen" by Dexy's Midnight Runners. How many people even
KNOW who Dexy's Midnight Runners are? How many people know what other work
they've done? Virtually no one. But the tune was remade in 1997 and it's
success as a top hit proves that the song had popularity, but the band
didn't. That's one of the biggest reasons why P2P networks exist. People
want what they want. Give it to them instead force-feeding stuff down their
throats.

And that's another thing. The RIAA is monopoly. It's a trust. They know
that people will buy the music *they* want to promote from a profitability
standpoint (one-hit wonders and boy bands that naively gave away all their
rights). But peer-to-peer networks change the game. It puts the listener in
control. They can pick what they like and what they don't and they don't
have to have it shoved down their throats.

Most people I know who use P2P use it to try music out, and then they do, as
in my case, go out and buy it. What we don't buy is due to the RIAA's price
gouging and poor marketing tactics. I don't know anyone who has a Dexy's
Midnight Runners album. But I know lots of people who have "Come on Eileen"
in their MP3 collection. These people wouldn't have bought the album for
$10, $15, or $20, because the rest of their stuff sucks. No revenue lost
really.

Let's see if it makes it to a "real" news story. :)
Did I sound like a babbling idiot? Do you think he'll use it? Does it even matter? :) C'mon be honest!

UPDATE: I think that this is the story. It looks like I didn't make it in guys. I suppose the guy thought I was real whack job or something. Either that or he just ran out of space. :) I dunno. He never e-mailed me back or anything...

I'm working on an op-ed piece about many of the events of this past week or so on /., but in the meantime, I found this interesting little piece of speculation about $$$$$exyGal. (Yeah, yeah, I know. Some of you don't want to hear about $$$$$exyGal anymore, but I think it's interesting as part of the People Watch thing.) And the AC is right. If she was watching Manimal, chances are that she's about 30. I already figured that based on earlier comments, but if she just turned 30, like I did almost a year ago, that would explain the existentialist thoughts, because I'll admit to having some of the same ones when I turned 30.

The thing I learned -- and $$$$exy, if you're reading this (I doubt it after how mean I've been to you :) listen up -- age is just a number. Relax, loosen up, have fun, you're never too old for anything. (Cliche, I know, but there's a reason it's cliche, it's the truth.)

Check out CmdrTaco's latest journal entry. That e-mail's gotta be one of the funniest things I've read, but the last line of Taco's entry is priceless: "Anyway, I just can't stop giggling about this. The grammatical errors, the typos, the silly metaphors, the misguided understanding of Slashdot, and all of this is wrapped up with a guy who can't figure out how to log in. Up to the last clause of sentence "and all of this is wrapped up with..." um, I wonder if this sounds like anyone we know? ;)

The purpose of this journal is keep people updated on Slashdot gossip. But what are YOU interested in? I've posted various topics:

A) Troll Watch: wondering about the sometimes very annoying, sometimes intelligently funny world of /. trolls
B) People Watch: gossip about various slashdot personalities.
C) Slashdot changes and policies
D) My struggles with a various trolls.
E) $$$$exyGal -- need I say more? (BTW-$$$$exyGal's journal this week is fascinating, at least to me. Go read it.

What do YOU guys want to see? Let me know!

Remember Jamie's comment about the changes to Slashdot?

I just realized something. Why do we see so many people 'altruistically' posting 'karma-free' article cut-and-paste for supposedly Slashdotted sites?

Yep! That's right. Jamie said it. If your posts get modded up, then this also increases your 10 AC/day limit. I'll bet this *includes* stuff you posted, while logged into an account, but you posted it AC. After all, these posts are still associated with your IP address, and still affect whether or not your IP gets banned, why not the other way around -- affect whether or not you can post anonymously?

Okay, let's look at the code:

# New check (July 2002): there is a max number of posts per 24-hour

# period, either based on IPID for anonymous users, or on UID for
# logged-in users. Logged-in users get a max number of posts that
# is related to their karma. The comments_perday_bykarma var
# controls it (that var is turned into a hashref in MySQL.pm when
# the vars table is read in, whose keys we loop over to find the
# appropriate level).
  if ($user->{is_anon} && constants->{comments_perday_anon}) {
                        my $num_comm_posted = slashdb->getNumCommPostedAnonByIPID(
                        $user->{ipid}, 24);
                        if ($num_comm_posted >= constants->{comments_perday_anon}) {
                                    $$error_message = getError('comments post limit daily', {
                                            limit => constants->{comments_perday_anon}
              });
                        $form_success = 0;
                          return;
}

I guess it depends on what that getNumCommPostedAnonByIPID() function returns. Jamie says that comments moderated up affect the ratio, I guess it would have to happen there? Or not? I confess, I'm not real familiar with the slash code.

Okay, a totally k-rad thing happened to me last night. Someone e-mailed me off my web site. And it was cool. I found a few friends from my BBS days over at clarkonline.net. Totally awesome. Remembering things like pop tarts and pizza (these are inside jokes -- just mentioning them will send a small collection of people in fits and giggles ;). Okay, the only thing I'm wondering is, RA -- did you find me through Slashdot? :-P

Several changes have been made rather unannounced recently.

1. There is a limit of 10 AC posts per IP address per day. (Unconfirmed)
2. A Funny moderation no longer earns you karma. Taco's words: "Note that being moderated Funny doesn't help your karma. You have to be smart, not just a smart-ass." (Confirmed)
3. Comments moderated down twice lose karma bonus. The second major reason is more social. The karma bonus is designed to accelerate the moderation system. The bonus is given to trusted users who have a history of positive contribution. Essentially, the karma bonus lets the user moderate their own comment, nudging it from Score:1 to 2. Normal moderation has the balance of meta moderation, but since the karma bonus is not subject to normal M2, we decided 2 moderators could counteract the bonus. (Confirmed)

The last one I understand, but the first two...well...the problems I have are:

1. Taco said that this would *never* happen, but it has. This was done specifically to censor ACs.

2. I don't have a problem with this per se, it makes sense to me, *but* -- you still LOSE karma if your "Funny" post gets modded DOWN after it gets modded up, but you don't GAIN karma if your post gets modded up as +1 Funny. This may ultimately cut down on the number 'funny' posts, eliminating half the reason I read Slashdot.

Update: #1 is now confirmed by two independent sources. See the thread below.

Update: Taco has now spoken on what I believe to be his reasons for #1. Perhaps he saw this journal entry and decided to comment? He doesn't admit it anyway, but interestingly enough, he does say "Ya know a very common problem on Slashdot is users who use multiple accounts and multiple AC posts to inflate the size of their viewpoint. We've seen discussions with a dozen user accounts participating, and many AC posts, but all coming from two or three IPs. Certainly these could be proxy servers or corporate firewalls, but I've seen discussions where it was quite obvious that a dozen "Personalities" involved in a discussion were actually the same person."

Notice that the number of dupes has been down? This is because of the subscriber system of course. Dupes HAVE been posted, but usually some subscriber is seeing in them in time to report them to daddypants@slashdot.org so that regular users never see them. I've been one of the people e-mailing in, and, to Taco's credit almost immediately after I send the mail, the dupe gets removed. Whether this means that he's removing the dupes directly because of my mails or not isn't clear. There could be a THOUSAND people jumping on him with DUPE, I just don't know. :)

There's been two, maybe three in the past two days.

Of course, they're ALWAYS posted by Taco. No one else ever posts a dupe, just Taco. ;)