So pissed. Soooo pissed.

Contrary to what people have said Bitcoin has all the same government protection any other property does. This could be the DHS looking into the billion dollar attacks on gox as a form of terrorism/cyberthreat. They've just cut off the most likely way for the attackers to cash out.

Not really a fair comparison. You don't have a choice about skin color. Beliefs are a choice. You can't make valid judgements about someone based upon their genetics. You CAN potentially make valid judgments about someone based upon their choices.

For example. I would characterize myself as white and so would pretty much anyone else in this country. I had no choice in that. I do have a choice about whether or not to join the KKK. It may well be that I would choose to do so out of pride for my heritage rather than out of hatred of radical religious views. There are members of that organization who do terrible things. Is it reasonable to judge me for their actions? To some extent, yes it is. Because even though I would not have chosen to do those terrible things I would have chosen to associate myself with those who do. Beyond that, people who make the same choice patterns often have tendencies toward the same results.

Organized religion with any sort of divinely dictated code of right and wrong is historically among the most evil and atrocious groups ever to exist. It includes all of the KKK for instance. If someone chooses to join this group or associate with it there are certainly valid judgements one can draw from that choice.

Not to keep

A suburb of the United States... one of the poorer ones.

I went with "god" it's always the best password!

" Free advertising that gets more people to pirate your game is actually not good."

Or bad. Since someone pirating your game costs you nothing.

"Or is the thinking here that someone will say to their friends, "hey, I downloaded this game for free and it's awesome. But you should go pay for it"?"

Seems an unlikely conversation. Someone saying to their friends, "hey, check out this awesome game." Followed by their friends telling their own friends, "Have you played blahblah, it's amazing!" Of course, it only works if you game is actually either awesome or amazing. Some of these people will make Youtube videos reviewing the game. Strategy videos, etc. Fan art. Mods.

If on opening release nobody bought a game I made and a million people pirated it. I'd call it a resounding success. That kind of attention WILL turn in to sales at some point. Even the people who pirated the game may end up buying a copy later down the road. Contrary to media cartel propaganda pirates aren't all just about something for nothing. There are no shortage of us who simply enjoy having our cake and eating it to. Pirating content we enjoy if it is produced by people with archaic mindsets and business methods that oppose the maximum utilization of modern digital technology and sharing rather than embrace it.

It's the same bit of nonsense repeated over and over again. The conversion rate is a meaningless statistic. There is no reason to think even one pirated copy represents a copy that would ever have been purchased. They do all represent free advertising though.

And a game that is too shitty to buy might still be good enough to download and try for free.

All true.

The magical never dimming and never failing LED is a myth or maybe a theoretical concept. Real ones fail and dim.

These are strange and unintuitive comparisons. How many libraries of congress would that power?

It's odd how anyone else saying they want to reinvent the network just goes in one ear and out the other but when this guy says it I suddenly pay attention.

"Normal folks with a modicum of work ethics do not resent slash and burn techniques if they are aimed at the right target."

Slash and burn techniques aren't normally aimed at the useless. They are normally aimed at those who have been around long enough to have earned disproportionate salaries. These people have passed up better paying positions and have stuck around through the challenges that come with the hard times. They've chosen not to walk away when the opportunity arose and to help to build something. The salaries they are earning aren't a reflection of what they are doing today but payment for services already rendered.

They have been loyal to the company when greed dictated they could do otherwise. The company now owes them loyalty in turn. If the company doesn't honor that debt why would anyone be willing to give loyalty to the company when something potentially better comes along? Slash and burn them now because they will slash and burn you later.

"Keeping non-performers, letting them accumulate seniority"

There is plenty of opportunity to identify and slash non-performers BEFORE they ever get anywhere near seniority and the tempting to cut fat paycheck.

"There is no "tenure" at technology companies, and very few tech workers have any delusional expectations about lifetime employment."

Only because the thinking above is pretty rampant in tech. Everyone is constantly shifting positions. By the time someone knows the lay of the land they are 5mins away from going out the door either voluntarily or not.

The industry pushes this. Things like token raises of a few percent a year. Salary adjustments for positions that only get applied to new hires. Ridiculous advancement treadmills while new hires with great resume building and interviewing skills bypass them completely. It all amounts to a company constantly bearing the expense of training new staff and while constantly watching the people with a clue walk out the door.