Breid asks: "This year has definitely been a career nightmare for IT pros. Our own company has seen our staff trimmed to near nothing and frankly, the workload is beginning to stretch people to the breaking point. With performance reviews coming up I want to make some statements to upper management concerning personnel and compensation. You can find plenty of salary surveys, but I haven't seen statements regarding the size of staff involved. And IMHO, workers on a 5 person staff supporting 200 need some compensation adjustment vs a 20 person staff supporting the same user base. At this point (for all of you still employed), what's the IT worker to workstation ratio look like? Or is anyone aware of any statistical data compiled about this?"

iChuckles asks: "Is there a way to make electronic data admissible in court? Can electronic data be used as an alibi? I want to keep an electronic journal, on my work, that is date and time stamped. This journal could be used to prove I came up with an idea on a certain date based upon an entry. Is there a database, or method of recording this data, in electronic form, that will stand up in court? Is there a database that once a record is entered with an accompanying time and date stamp, cannot be altered?"

Strog writes "We are securing our administrative network and one thing we decided to implement is allowing only known MAC addresses get an address from the DHCP server. The techs aren't very Unix-centric so we would prefer to keep them out of the server directly. A web-based admin tool is what we are looking for. I've used webmin for a while but it likes to give each host a nice little icon which wouldn't be so good once we get all ~750 machines entered. Dixie looks good too but leaves a few too many options for techs to look at. I'm in the process of hacking webmin into what I need but wondered if anyone out there has some good options to offer. What we really need is boxes for hostname, MAC address and apply button and a list of current entries and a delete button." This was recently asked on a mailing list, but so far, no answers have been given. Might someone here have experience with such software that they would like to share?

Dandre asks: "We have come across a need for a very small and robust USB master to portably read data off a USB device. It should have significant memory (>256M), but ideally needs to be robust to vibrations (such as running). Our initial searches have found that no WinCE like-handhelds are USB masters (except one that is a master in the cradle, which is unacceptable). We have software what does this for a Win32 laptop PC, but most laptops fail the portability and size tests. Ideally, we would want a solution that allows us to easily port this code -- so WinCE initially seemed like a good idea, but the reality of the WinCE situation makes us, well, wince."

lnxslak asks: "I was asked today to research a viable DVD burning solution. I thought this would be a simple task, little did I know of the horrors waiting me just around the corner. There are 5 different DVD writing standards. DVD-RAM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW. After coming to terms with this I figured I'd just get a drive that does them all. Is there a drive out there that does this, and (hopefully) more ? Have you guys had any experiences positive/negative with various brands? C-Net reviews are great, but I'd like some comments from people that actually know how to use a computer."

GeekTek asks: "As we all know, prices for co-location have plummeted since the height of the dot.com era. We've been shopping around and found a solution that works for us. We have a small setup of about a dozen Debian boxen, a few Windows servers and we run our own name servers (BIND 8.x). Most of our domain names are managed through our OpenSRS account. My concern is switching all of our server's IP addresses. I can not have any down time and I want to minimize the number of trips to the current co-lo (it's >2 hours away). What is the best way to do it? What experiences can you share in similar situations?"

ChrisGoodwin asks: "Why do geeks support MPAA and RIAA? Here on Slashdot, the talk is all about how evil the film and record companies are. But when the next Star Wars or Matrix or Lord of the Rings comes out, it's all about camping out to get tickets. According to RIAA's web site, member companies distribute 90% of the legitimate sound recordings in the United States; chances are, if you've ever bought music, you've given them money. (Take a look at their list of members.) Heck, most of the film companies own, are owned by, or share a corporate parent with a record company, and many of us get our internet access from part of the MPAA/RIAA conglomerate. So why is it? Why do we continue to buy their product? Why are we giving them money so that they can harass us? Why hasn't there been a call for a boycott of the record and film industries?" This is in the FAQ, but this is certainly a discussion worth having. With the pervasiveness of media in our society, for some it is not as easy as "boycott" or "no boycott", and it may be unfair to the artists we like for us to do so, and as Big Media diversifies, a boycott on movies and music may still not be enough. So do you feel a boycott of mass media will help matters, or would such be counter-productive in some way?

fingal asks: "I've recently started working for a company who has decided that viral marketing is The Way Forwards. I've got mixed feelings about this. As the sysadmin who has to deal with the aftermath of hosting our own stuff and dealing with the inevitable congestion associated with the (rapidly increasing) size of attachments that are routinely moved about, it just winds me up. On the other hand - I very much enjoy checking out what people are up to (except when they email it to me and I'm on a dial-up...), but I don't think that I've ever actually bought anything as a result. What does everyone think about about this (either from the viewpoint of a consumer, provider or infrastructure engineer)?" Here is a better definition of the term "viral marketing". What are your thoughts on this subject?

justzisguy asks: "During the third week in November I purchased 'Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers' tickets for the opening show at a local theatre. The kiosk I was using said 18 Dec. 12:00 AM as the time of the showing. I decided to purchase four, which came out to be a very reasonable $5.50 (US) each. I found out today that my tickets are actually for the noon showing (12:00 PM) even though the tickets are printed as a midnight showing, caused by a glitch in the computers. I have a final that conflicts with me seeing it at noon, so it is essentially midnight or nothing. I went to discuss the matter with management and they referred me to their 'no refunds or exchanges' policy and showed me a sign which has now been posted on the kiosk that explains that 12:00 PM tickets are really for 12:00 AM. I really don't want to purchase four new tickets at an additional $3.25 each. So here's my question: What is the theatre's obligation to honor these tickets?" While I'm sure the submittor would appreciate suggestions on how he can get the theater in question to live up to its obligations, there is a larger issue at stake here you should think about. What should one do when they find themselves in this situation with other commercial entities?

swm asks: "My father-in-law runs Windows/XP on a low-end machine. He gets internet access through MSN over a 56K dialup. This worked OK for many months. Two or 3 weeks ago, MSN presented him with an auto-upgrade, and he clicked OK, and the system has been virtually unusable ever since. I booted the machine to see what it does. First, it thinks he is on a LAN (he isn't) and presents a window telling him it can't connect to the internet and he should disable his firewall. I dismiss that window. A few seconds later another window pops up and tries to dial out. I can cancel and close the dial-out window, but it just comes back in about 15 seconds and starts dialing out again. No matter how many times I cancel and close the dial-out window, it just keeps coming back. I reboot the machine and let it dial out. It connects to MSN. I click the 'Offline' button, but it doesn't drop carrier. I shut down the machine and it still doesn't drop carrier. Finally I pull the power cord out of the wall socket and it drops carrier. I've checked msn.com and Googled around a bit, and I can't find any mention of problems like this. Does anyone have any idea what is going on?" Have any MSN users experienced this problem? What have you done in your attempts to solve it?

battlemage asks: "According to this Article [heise.de; Google translation - pretty unreadable], a german court decided on 9/19/02 that the common confirmation E-Mails sent to new subscribers of newsletters could be considered unsolicited e-mail, aka SPAM, if they are sent to somebody who did not actually subscribe. According to German laws, this could actually mean fines for the site running the newsletter. They said it was the site owners obligation to prove that somebody actually requested such e-mail. The question is, how would that be possible without e-mail and without cost-intensive Passport/ID/CreditCard-Checks? I do work on a website in my free-time, and we would probably like to offer newsletters in the future, but I'm now unsure how we could do that." Mailing list and newsletter admins in other countries might do well to keep an eye on this in case such laws migrate to their area.

EelBait asks: "I get a lot of spam selling Human Growth Hormone (HGH). Supposedly this stuff builds muscles, make one lose weight, enlarges various external organs and glands, etc., etc. Does anyone really know any good articles about this? Is it dangerous? The fact that it's being sold through spam is enough to give me pause, but I want to know if there are any legitimate uses for this stuff."

An anonymous reader asks: "Is there any escape from California? I'm a very experienced software engineer (7+ years) with a MSEE and lots of great work experience. Even in this market, jobs in CA are easy to grab if I want them. Trouble is, I don't want to live here anymore. Six figures in Northern CA gets mostly pissed away on a mortgage for a house that isn't worth half that anywhere else, and I'm pretty much just waiting for the earthquake to hit and wipe it out. I'd love to move to the midwest, but decent software jobs seem to not exist. I'm more than willing to take a huge paycut to get a job there, but where to even start looking?"

baldass_newbie asks: "Ben Stein wrote an editorial titled, 'How to Ruin American Enterprise'. To me, technological innovation is a big outward sign of a successful economy. Sometimes it appears like the U.S. is losing its edge in technology. Well, I was wondering what the Slashdot community at large thinks is wrong (or right) with the U.S. and technological innovation?" The article deals less with technology and more with the society on which said innovation is based, and the problems that may bring it down around our collective ears. Give the article a read, and share your thoughts on whether or not you think it's an accurate assessment on the current and future situation of America's technological advantage.

zapyon asks: "I have been asked for help with selecting a joystick for a 6 y/o boy, but I am no player. The hardware tests I found (or rather the models tested) seemed to be targeted on more or less grown-up players of 3d shooters and the like. So I would like to forward the request for help to you slashdotters: Any joysticks you can recommend for a kid? Perhaps simple, but robust models with a smaller 'stick' but large buttons? Perhaps less than 2 dozen special buttons? I remember this 'Competition Pro' joystick I used with my Atari ST ages ago: 2 large red buttons, very robust design. Anything like this today? State-of-the-art top models are certainly too expensive, too. Hope anyone can help, it's going to be a Christmas present for the boy. He is playing on a Windows XP (personal) with kids' games, but the mouse is not the right device to play these games." This brings me to the topic of controllers suitable for 8-10 year olds for the current crop of consoles. I don't think I've seen a console that has been released in the last 2-3 years that has controllers which are suitable for such small hands. Is there anyone marketing such, and if so, where can one find them?

Konstantinos asks: "So far, I have worked as an IT manager in various projects, but I am fed up with someone else getting all the money out of my work. So, I want to do something on my own. Obviously, I don't want to take on the big guys as I will not have the resources or the time to be antagonistic, and I have to go after something totally different. I have made a small market research, but I don't want to risk my hard-earned money on something that is destined to flop. I had some ideas about niche markets that IT hasn't really touched, like agriculture. In your opinion, which are the most promising markets, for a one/two person startup company to try and tackle? I know that there is a risk in everything, and I understand that the IT business is under a global crisis, but I also know that there are some markets (esp. niche markets) that haven't had a significant hit in revenue due to the crisis. I would like to try and hit those markets. I am not afraid of work and I know that I can do the job and do it well, if only I find what it is! Thanks for any help."

A wisely anonymous reader writes "Following my company's Christmas party on Friday, I found myself the proud recipient of... a bobble head doll of the company CEO! Needless to say I was PISSED. They didn't even comp. parking at the site of the party, let alone a bonus. yeah, yeah, times are tough. I should be happy just to have a job. but getting a damn doll of the guy who made 65 million last year just makes me angry. So... What did you get from your Company for Christmas?"

hypertex asks: "Remember those cardboard tubes you used to look through and see all patterns the crystals produced? I've been looking for a kaleidoscope (for my 3-yr old) and no brick and mortar retailer seems to carry them. Even finding an knowledgeable employee was difficult. Walmart, Toys R Us, Kay Bee, Discovery and Disney stores are just a few to 'just say no' or 'it's too low tech' How can something so simple fade into obscurity? What else is gone?" What are some of the toys that have such a universal appeal that they should never be removed from the shelves? What toys surprised you when they fell into obscurity and what items have shocked you by their ability to stay on the shelves?

scales asks: "We currently use the Dispatcher component of IBM's WebSphere Edge Server as a load balancer on some Red Hat boxes where I work, and the boss has asked me to look into OSS alternatives. I've already been pointed at Linux Virtual Server and Ultra Monkey, and I was wondering if any readers have had any experience with these packages, or had any opinions they could offer about other products." Ask Slashdot last visited a similar topic way back in 1999, so I think it might be time for an update.

Coward Anonymously Before Me asks: "This is more of a tech/hack question, but recently my highpoint controller forgot my disks were in a raid array. All the Disks still function, and have ZERO problems, aside from being not identified as still in RAID-0. All the data should still be there, but remains unaccessible to me, thus the question how and where would this kind of information be stored? On chip? MBR? and can the data be recovered without 3rd party interaction via free/open source toolkits? or even purchased software?"