I picked that I support the community, but that's a tad vague. I participate in several web forums (and am a moderator in one) and am on several mailing lists. I also submit bug reports whenever appropriate and encourage others to do the same. I've not coded for decades but I was good at tech support before I retired, so that's the route I take. Some of you reading this might not think that bug reports are much of a contribution, but consider this: if nobody bothered to report bugs, they'd never get fixed.

To enjoy fiction such as Dr Who or CSI you have to "suspend belief"

The expression you're looking for is "suspend disbelief." It means that you know that what's going on isn't real, but you go along with it anyway.

I take it, then, that you're not familiar with the term "creative accounting."

Really? How would you define it then?

Actually, it does. You use a new theory to predict what would happen if you conducted an experiment, then try the experiment and see if you get the results you expected. As an example, you can use Newtonian physics and Kepler's Laws to predict where the planet Mars will be in six months, then see how accurate your prediction was. You expect your theory to predict the past, because if it can't, it's wrong. The true test of a theory is how well it can predict things that haven't happened yet.

I bet you use a Mac, you are a vegan and you don't have a television. Is that about right?

Wrong on all three counts. I use Linux, I'm an omnivore and I watch fifteen to twenty hours of TV a week at home.

From what you write, it looks like the biggest bug in that software was the CISCO.

Gaming the system goes on in the private sector too. About fifteen years ago I was doing tech support for an ISP. One of the metrics used to judge each team of techs was the average wait time for callers. Then, somebody discovered that if you connected to whoever had been in the queue the longest and told them that somebody would be with them shortly, it reset the timer. This made their wait times look great, until management caught on and the offenders were fired for falsifying company records. Not something they'd want on their job history, but well deserved.

Your test scores, sir.

Actually, if you're a big enough tech company you don't even need to pay to get your stories on the front page here. All you need to do is submit it and have a bunch of market droids and beancounters with sock puppet accounts here vote it up. Add on the techs on your payroll who have real Slashdot accounts, and you've got a lot of astroturfing behind you. And, of course, there's always your satisfied customers (and if you don't have any you're not going to be a big tech company for very long) who are interested in learning more about what you've got, and their votes should be enough to push you over the top, without a penny spent.

Either that, or they'll learn to remember what age they gave and adjust the year accordingly. It's not a particularly effective filter, but it will slow down beginners and stop those who can't figure it out.

In one of the old Man From U.N.C.L..E. novels, (I don't remember which one.) the first letters of the chapter titles were an acrostic, calling the series' editor a cheapskate. My understanding is the book's author was less than impressed by how much he was going to be paid, but wasn't in a position to refuse, as he needed the money.

Remember, this isn't intended to validate my age, it's intended to test my honesty and make sure that I'm not an autobot. Another way they use is having "don't know" as a possible answer to a question where it's not (or shouldn't be) a reasonable response. As an example, you might be given a drop-down list of professions, where the last two are "none of the above" and "don't know." The first one is quite plausible, especially if you're retired, as I am, but how likely is it that you're not going to know what your profession is? Basically, any time I see the same question in two different forms on different pages I presume it's an honesty check.

And, your method of always adding exactly ten years to your age will work, but only if you remember to do it each time, and how many years you added. Not all minors are going to realize that there might be a second age test, making this both an age and an IQ test.

Anyone past 55 will be not only know too little about computers to get around the (certainly mandatory) block...

Back when I was 55, I was doing senior tech support for an ISP. That was about a decade ago. If/when I want some pr0n, I don't need any help in finding it, TYVM. You might want to rethink some of your stereotypes.

I'm subscribed to a service that lets me take on-line surveys for small amounts of cash. One of the things that they do to weed out bots, or people who aren't being honest might work here. On the first page, have you enter your age in years. Then, there's a "read and agree" page. After you've gone through that, you have to enter your date of birth. If that doesn't match your age, you're denied access. Most kids aren't going to remember what age they gave simply because they don't know that it's going to matter, especially if they just get what looks like a 404 response instead of being told they're not old enough.