Journal: Disagreement != Troll

After posting this comment, I've nearly given up on Slashdot being a reasonable community for discussion and thought.

A reasonable person cannot possibly look at Linux as a corporate alternative and call it free. It's not free, there are costs associated with it. There are costs with ANY system, and Linux is no different. In fact, Linux may have higher costs in some situations - it's the nature of the beast at this point in time. This is INDISPUTABLE.

Of course, there are other reasons to use Linux in your company - and in my opinion, those outweigh the potential costs.

Slashdot moderators, however, decide to mark my comments as Troll, while actual Flamebait and Troll posts beneath me are modded as Insightful. Stuff like, "You are completely fucking delusional." Great.

Is Slashdot an open discussion? Not when it comes to certain topics, such as Linux, Microsoft, RIAA, etc. It's a huge circle jerk, made possible by the moderation system.

Since I've been allowed to, I've meta-moderated at every chance. Many posts are correctly modded, but sometimes I find those gems where someone speaks his mind and says something unpopular. Those are always marked Troll or Flamebait. In the context of the discussion, it may be the only worthwhile comment. Or it might be the very reason for the subsequent discussion. Such comments are priceless - it is a shame that they are moderated in such a way.

Shame on those moderators and shame on Slashdot for perpetuating this downward spiral of free thought.