bfg9000's Journal: Slashdot Mods (or Editors) Abusing Their Power -- AGAIN

In response to this post, which says "Apple only seems to be stepping in where a competitor's product is languishing on the Mac platform", I remembered the now "beleaguered" Watson, and asked about it by penning the (apparently) extremely inflammatory and offensive "And Watson?"

Originally modded up to +4, Insightful, I was later NAILED relentlessly until I had dropped completely out of sight, with this as my new Moderation Summary:

    20% Flamebait
    30% Funny
    30% Overrated

I was completely baffled by this abuse of mod points. How is my post

    a)flamebait,
    b)funny, or
    c)overrated?

Meanwhile (back at the ranch), an Anonymous Coward gave an uncorroborated report that Watson was actually ripped off Apple! Funny there were no lawsuits, knowing how very litigious Apple Legal is... and even funnier nobody else ever heard this theory before, especially since Slashdot has had articles about the Watson / Sherlock thing in the past.

Needless to say, the AC's Apple-worship was modded up to +5, Insightful despite his lack of any proof whatsoever.

Interestingly enough, his Moderation Summary looks like this:

    40% Informative
    20% Insightful
    20% Interesting

Two people asked him for a shred of evidence, but the AC never responded to our requests. I guess it's hard to come up with facts when you're full of sh**. This AC should get a job at the Revisionist History Channel. The cynics are correct: Post something everybody WANTS to be true, and they will reward you for it. The truth is irrelevant. The mods make up their own truth, like everybody else.

Looking at this thread, I'd be forced to assume that Slashdot is now owned and operated by Apple Computer Corp. The moderation is not indicative of a functioning and fair system, and is certainly not looking at overtly pro-Apple propaganda with a skeptical eye; rather, the burden of proof is reversed (a la "WMDs? I don't have to prove it. You prove that they AREN'T there. If we can't find them, it's because we haven't looked hard enough.") You would think that if mod points are distributed equally among the Slashdot faithful, there would be an even distribution of points among both Mac zealots, Linux lovers, and (the more than 50% of the Slashdot readership) Windows users. This does not seem to be the case. Open ANY article which deals with Apple products. Read it at +3, +4, or +5. You will see that a good 70 or 80% of the posts at these levels are blatant advertisements for Apple, even when the article deals with Apple suing somebody, stealing someone's idea, or shutting down a fan website. They make me sick, they read so much like Ad Copy. Being an Apple user myself, I KNOW when people are lying about Apple's performance, and quite often, THEY ARE. I see many many +5 posts which are complete and absolute BS. The claims made are not even CLOSE to being accurate or true. My God, what bad moderation we have here, and it's all going to bite Apple on the ass when the newbies go out and buy an iMac after hearing that it's the fastest computer in the world and will run CounterStrike just fine.

I don't have a problem with Apple themselves; they're a multinational corporation, and they screw people over. I know that. I accept that. So does Exxon, but I still buy gas. People have died so I can have cheap gas and plastic products. I'm cool with that. My underwear was made with slave labour. Thanks, they're comfy. My coffee isn't fair trade coffee, and I basically don't give a damn. BECAUSE nobody goes around claiming that Exxon or the Coffee Cartels are saints. Apple fans do. They can't accept the truth, so they LIE. It's the LYING that irritates me, because it suckers the newbs into making decisions based on bad information. It's DISHONEST. Lying is a crime against reality, because it's reality that you are attacking. I have NO respect for any Apple Zealot. NONE. I hope you all get cancer. Maybe a brush with death will wake you up.

So here's a few links for you if you like to research things before you make a decision.

Here's the entire thread and a few interesting links.

And Here's an Open Letter from the Watson Creator which kinda backs up my point. And here's the Watson FAQ, which deals with this issue directly.

From the FAQ:

Many users have contacted Karelia, congratulating us on Apple "buying out" Watson. However, Karelia Software was not involved in any aspect of Sherlock 3, other than serving as ... shall we say ... inspiration. While Apple recently recognized Watson as 2002's "Most Innovative Mac OS X Product" -- and we appreciate the recognition -- the company didn't hesitate to make use of Watson's specific innovations for its next OS release, without any concessions to Karelia.

This brings to mind the famous quote about Sinatra: It's Frank's world, we just live in it...

Slashdot is apparently Apple's site, we just post in it.