Yes I know that he or she is posting as AC, but this so beautifully encapsulates where the 'beta' is headed that it really deserves to be seen.

The original slashdot users and discussion format simply don't fit into the 'passive content consumer' business model of dice, and no amount of posting 'fuck beta', or boycotting, or whining to Timothy or any of the other editors is going to change that.

Zero!!

They've basically written off slashdot as worthless and are now in desperation mode trying to minimize their losses, and if that means turning slashdot into a Justin Beiber Fan page on Facebook then that is what they will do. The original slashdot "audience" is worthless to them and they don't give a damn if we are unhappy and threaten to go elsewhere.

The slashdot that we used to know and love is gone, and the only thing left for us is to direct our energies towards either the altslashdot initiative or respectfully ask Mr. Perens to re-ressurect technocrat.net.

If my girlfriend wants me to buy a loaf of bread on the way home from work, she can either text/email with a message "please buy bread" or she could send me a video of herself doing an interpretative dance of sewing seeds of wheat, reaping the seeds when they grow, grinding them up (or something), adding water and probably other stuff like yeast (how does one dance that?), kneading it into a lump of something, firing up an oven, putting the lump into the oven, taking it out and cutting it into slices,and then 'dance' it being delivered to the store I drive past on my way home so I know to drop in and buy it.

I seriously don't now how to finish this post. I'm just... stunned.

Zero!!

They've basically written off slashdot as worthless and are now in desperation mode trying to minimize their losses, and if that means turning slashdot into a Justin Beiber Fan page on Facebook then that is what they will do. The original slashdot "audience" is worthless to them and they don't give a damn if we are unhappy and threaten to go elsewhere.

The slashdot that we used to know and love is gone, and the only thing left for us is to direct our energies towards either the altslashdot initiative or respectfully ask Mr. Perens to re-ressurect technocrat.net.

Sorry but... actually it doesn't.

Most of it has just seen the beta site for the first time, and feels a bit sick at the moment.

It depends on how you count it. The number of different 'versions' of distro? 1 or 2
The number of different 'installations' of that distro? Many, many more.

Which seems to be exactly what happened to the nugget lady mentioned in the second post. (Go and actually listen to the call) She paid for nuggets, then McDonalds told her they didn't have them but refused to refund the money. The refusal to refund the money seems to be the reason the lady called 911, and sure seems like theft to me.

Is this a 911 call? Maybe not. But as some people have already said, even when reporting minor thefts they were instructed to call 911.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImyK29QLs_A#t=1m21s

Yes, you're correct, Apple too.
I considered mentioning Apple as well, but since they don't seem to be doing it quite as aggressively (given that they relented with expose and restored it in ML) I decided not to risk raising the ire of the fan-bois.
Actually, I was unaware of the Android issues, but I guess it doesn't surprise me.
But yes, it seems to be becoming industry wide. I think that one day history books will refer to "The Great Dumbing-Down" in the same way that they currently refer to "The Great Depression".

It looks like they have been afflicted with the same "our way or the highway" disease that is ruining Gnome and Windows.