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Journal Reality Master 101's Journal: The (Hopefully) Great Slashdot Whine-out 27

Journal by Reality Master 101

Perhaps you are aware of the The (Hopefully) Great Slashdot Blackout. I found it all a bit silly, but never let it be said that RM/101 is not willing to ante up with a better idea. And this is it:

The (Hopefully) Great Slashdot Whine-out.

Whining about trivial things by the ignorant is more dangerous than a gun in the hand of a child. Rho's inflation of the importance of comments reflects on the inability of Slashdot's "community" to understand that this is just a web site, with a service that you get for free.

For the record, my feelings on The (Hopefully) Great Slashdot Blackout rests firmly in the uninterested. I have almost zero opinion on the final outcome of the blackout. I love Slashdot, and will probably continue posting to support the site, but the details of the blackout are dull (to me).

Says rho, "In that case, Slashdot would be much better served by dumping the flaky and irritating overhead of a DB server and filling the pipe with a longer "Favorites" list--which, essentially, is what Slashdot is once you strip away the comments and comment posters." If rho thinks he can divine real significance from Malda's (factual) assertion that not as many people read comments as many think, he is sadly mistaken. Unfortunately, rho has an inflated sense of his worth, and has taken to whining because Malda doesn't stroke his ego like he wants.

This whining about being "underappreciated" is offensive. Thus, I propose a small revolt: The (Hopefully) Great Slashdot Whine-out.

T(H)GSW will be during the week of April 21 through April 27. Easy to remember, because it corresponds with the blackout (completely worthless information: the full moon in April falls on the 27th). During that time, I will be posting completely whine-free posts, and further will be smacking anyone down (through posts, of course) who whines about Slashdot. I will become Malda's idea of the ideal Slashdot reader. I will provide insightful content -- completely whine free.

During that week, I'd like to see if Malda sees Slashdot become a better place, or if it becomes the Hallowed Shrine of Whining, even more than it is now. I'd like for the more whiny posters to revisit their own self-importance and have a new outlook. And, I'd like for the "community" to really see what the true value of Slashdot is--not this inflated sense of "ownership" that they seem to have, but the fact that it's a free service that's fun to participate in, but is definitely not worth all this whininess.

This is where the (Hopefully) comes in. This is only meaningful if enough whiny posters agree to go along and participate. If there is only me (who never whines anyway) and a handful of others who cease whining during that week, it will be pretty meaningless. Barely a dent will be made, and rho and the rest of the "community" will never realize the incredible value from a whine-free Slashdot.

To spread the word, I'm changing my sig to link to this journal entry. If you would like to help, you can link to this journal from your own sig, or you can simply resolve to enter into a voluntary one-week whine-out. Pass the word. This will only work if a goodly number of comment posters participate.

To summarize, if you wish to participate, during the week of April 21 through April 27

  • Click through as many stories as possible to check for whining
  • Post as many comments as possible without whining (e.g., "They don't appreciate me", "It's not fair that the editors get unlimited mod points", "Why did I get moderated down", "Malda can't spell", "This story is redundant", "They only take PayPal", etc, etc, etc, etc)
  • Drop the hammer on anyone caught whining with a big fat "No whining this week!" post.

Here are some useful HTML links to this journal entry (short version is 86 characters, should fit in most sigs). You'll probably have to unfungle them after the lameness filter gets through with it:

Long version (117 chars): <P>--<BR>Join <A HREF="http://slashdot.org/~Reality+Master+101/journal/6131">The (Hopefully) Great Slashdot Whine-Out</A>

Short version (86 chars): <a href="http://slashdot.org/~Reality+Master+101/journal/6131">T(H)GSW</a> Apr 21-27

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

The (Hopefully) Great Slashdot Whine-out More

The (Hopefully) Great Slashdot Whine-out

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  • Reality Master commonly posts out of context quotes and then applies some cynical logic to them. His replies are just amicable enough to not be considered a troll. This journal entry is no different.

    Reality Master has not reviewed the facts, strange considering his username.

    • Reality Master has not reviewed the facts, strange considering his username.

      Reviewed what facts? Maybe you can explain to me what I'm missing.

      • Slashdot is selling the content we produce back to us. The more content we produce, the more we are charged.

        They cloak this behind the removal of banner ads. This is similar to paying $8.50 to watch a movie at the theater then being forced to sit through 20 minutes of advertizing before the movie starts. Or paying 32 cents for a stamp to send a letter and paying $150 for a box to recieve a letter, so that bulk mailers can get favorable rates.

        The best advertisement on slashdot is good posts. Linux recieves the lion's share of benefit from good posts. Let the linux vendors continue to support Slashdot for the users for free.

        Slashdot turned me on to Linux. My school's each now have Linux file/print servers. Slashdot directly caused the generation of $4700 for VA Linux from me. Slashdot itself is a Linux advertisement. Let the beneficiaries of that advertiment pay for slashdot.

        Don't bite the hand that feeds you. That is what we will stop posting for. You may attemt to prove otherwise, as is your right. But that just makes you a fool. Since you seem to be intelligent, you must be doing this because you are a troll.

        • Slashdot is selling the content we produce back to us. The more content we produce, the more we are charged.

          This is where you go wrong. Assuming you come to Slashdot for the conversation (not everyone does), you are already getting back more through the provided service of the conversation than you are putting in. Otherwise, you wouldn't do it all.

          The service is being primarily paid for by advertising. Personally, I don't mind ads, so I doubt I will become a subscriber. Be that as it may, Slashdot offers you an option to disable the ads in exchange for the fee. The point is that you are either paying for it through your attention to the ads, or you are paying for it through your own pocket. You are already paying a usage fee no matter what.

          Put it this way: If you pay for a Usenet service, do they have an obligation to cut your rates if you post a lot, since you are help supporting Usenet and thus their service? I would say no -- they are just providing you a feed into the service.

          This is similar to paying $8.50 to watch a movie at the theater then being forced to sit through 20 minutes of advertizing before the movie starts.

          No. The cost of a movie is $8.50 + your attention to the ads. No where does it say that the $8.50 buys no trailers.

          The best advertisement on slashdot is good posts. Linux recieves the lion's share of benefit from good posts. Let the linux vendors continue to support Slashdot for the users for free. [...] Let the beneficiaries of that advertiment pay for slashdot.

          So everyone ELSE should pay for YOUR entertainment? In any case, they already are supporting Slashdot -- through advertising.

          But it's very arguable how much influence Slashdot really has Linux-wise. I would say Usenet probably has far more influence. Slashdot's actual Linux content is not that much of a proportion to the other "news for nerds".

          Don't bite the hand that feeds you.

          Let me get this straight: Malda et al busts their ass setting up this site, providing you a service FOR FREE, and somehow they are "biting the hand that feeds them" because they won't eat the cost? Because they have ads on the site? Because they won't go door to door begging Linux companies for money?

          You may attemt to prove otherwise, as is your right. But that just makes you a fool. Since you seem to be intelligent, you must be doing this because you are a troll.

          No, I'm doing this because the "blackout" is silly and ungrateful. Personally, I like Slashdot and hope Malda and crew make a hell of a lot of money. I get far more out of Slashdot than I put in, and I don't feel the need to whine that I'm unappreciated. Frankly, I don't give a crap if Malda appreciates me or not (although, I'm pretty sure he does). If Slashdot gives me back more than I put in, then I continue coming here. If they don't, I won't. I don't feel this sense of entitlement just because I post here.

          It's similar to the old argument about the owners of a company getting rich "off the backs" of the employees. Is that fair? DAMN RIGHT IT'S FAIR. The employees get a paycheck, that's their reward for working at the company. The owners get the big rewards because they took the risks of starting the company, and without them the company wouldn't exist.

          Maybe YOU should stop biting the hand that is feeding YOU, and start realizing that you are, in fact, getting fed. For free.

          • Slashdot is lucky their moderators, meta moderators and comment posters do not try this:

            AOL volunteers, called "community leaders," perform such services for the company as moderating on-line discussions, reporting violations of Internet rules, answering questions from Internet users and overseeing other volunteers. According to published reports, in the early days of the Internet, people from all walks of life voluntarily contributed their services to advance and expand what at the time was a new, untested communications medium. One of the plaintiffs in the New York case told a reporter that he was initially motivated to volunteer with AOL because of the "sense of community" that existed on the Internet and his desire to help other people, a spirit he said AOL seemed to embrace. However, the same plaintiff stated that he lost interest in "volunteering" as AOL grew and became more profit-oriented.

            The plaintiffs in the suit are claiming that they worked as "community leaders" for AOL an average of 40 hours per week for more than three years, providing services that allegedly were essential to what AOL was selling to the public. The FLSA requires that people providing such "essential" services to a business entity, with the entity's knowledge and consent, must be paid at least the minimum wage and overtime as applicable. Presumably AOL will take the position that its community leaders are and have always been strictly volunteers and have no legal entitlement to compensation for their voluntary services.

            Catherine Reab (aka "Terendil") says she was logging up to 40 hours a week in Ultima Online, one of the Web's most popular online role-playing games, where druids and dragons wander the lands of Britannia looking for adventure. But Reab, 46, wasn't actually playing the game -- instead, she was volunteering as a community leader, answering questions and offering guidance to the game's many newbies. It was, she claims, basically a full-time job.

            She had spent nearly two years working her way through Ultima Online's counselor program until she made it to the top position of regional lead counselor, managing a team of 90. As one of the 14 top "volunteers" in the program, she received a monthly $500 "thank you" and a free Ultima account

            But those days are over. Now Reab is suing Origin Systems, the creator of the Ultima Online game, and its publisher, Electronic Arts, claiming that Ultima exploited its volunteers, using free help to run what was essentially an extensive customer service program. Along with two other former counselors, she filed a class-action suit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Colorado asking for compensation for her time. As her lawyer, James Schmehl, puts it, "This is not about people who are real volunteers, it's about people who are employees, but are called volunteers."

            Slashdot would not survive. Better to keep it free because to introduce any money into the transaction, automaticly puts slashdot in a position where they have to abide by labor laws. The only way for slashdot to avoid this is to have volenteer moderators on a free site. The moment slashdot.org turns into slashdot.com, they live under the threat of class action litigation.

            • Re:Don't bother (Score:3, Insightful)

              by blur00 ( 465185 )
              If the moderators, meta-moderators, etc etc, tried it, they'd be smacked down. This isn't your job. You don't spend a work-week moderating. You read stories, you post comments, you read other people's comments. That's called leisure activity. In no way are you doing something that constitutes payment or wages, especially since you do it for free already.

              Get a clue, and stop being an idiot.
            • I heard about this. The voulenteers only hope of prevailing is if there's any contractual support or agreement that they would provide a specific level of support. Otherwise:

              Presumably AOL will take the position that its community leaders are and have always been strictly volunteers and have no legal entitlement to compensation for their voluntary services.

              And they'd be right. Without any agreement on what degree of "essential service" will be provided, there's no case. Someone who can simply walk away or who doesn't have specific predefined expectations (e.g. Be Online and Helpful for at least 10 hours a week) can be more or less considered to be doing something of their own volition.

              Similarly, you (and I) post on /. discussions, providing content-full, humorout and/or opinionated context to the news of the day. That's something I enjoy, and I do of my own free will. It's a community. There are certain infrastructural costs to the community, and I'm happy to underwrite those costs with either my eyeballs (lookin' at ads) or my wallet.

              Just because I'm part of what makes the community nice doesn't mean I should get a bonus or a free ride. I use the community more heavly than the average visitor, and while that is a large part of what makes slashdot special, it also means I use the community heavily and run up the cost of making the place possible.

              The more you play, the more you pay.

          • Re:Don't bother (Score:1, Troll)

            by Hemos ( 2 )
            Hear Hear. I can't say that better myself.

          • Okay, I agree with you, but I feel there are some issues that need addressing to be complete.

            The argument is simple: Slashdot is free, so don't complain. While that's essentially true, it's not as easy as that. Look at it another way:

            Slashdot (ne Chips N Dips) was a site. No one really cared about it, so it was very low maintenance. Then people started reading it, so it became work. Then so many people began reading it that is became a job. A full-time, living breathing job, It became an animal that required a staff, bandwidth and machines. All these things cost money, so when ads ceased to be enough, subscriptions were asked for.

            Still with me? Good.

            But how about this? You know all those users who crush the machines and suck all the bandwidth? What if they stopped? What then? No one would subscribe. No one would advertise. It would stumble back down to an idle hobby.

            Think about that -- saying that that users owe to the site is as backward as saying that the site owes to the users. It's not mutually exclusive. They exist because of each other, and if you take one away they both go. It's symbiosis in a way.



            That having been said, nothing is going to change the fact that the site costs money to run. Even though you are 'contributing' by posting comments and submitting stories, that, too takes bandwidth and system time and has to come from somewhere. In the process of making things better you are making things worse, and it will always be that way.

            I have no problem with the ads (yet) because I trust "the boys" enough to think that they're being honest about the needs of the site: it costs money to run it and they occasionally want to eat and sleep in a house so, in order to work on the site full-time, they need to get paid too. Will I buy a subscription? Honestly, I don't think so, because I feel that the "no ads" type of subscription metaphor is sort of flawed; but I'm not going to complain about it either because economics is economics and you have to pay the bills somehow.

        • No whining this week!
        • Slashdot is selling the content we produce back to us.

          To my knowledge, Slashdot has never sold me any of my comments yet. I could be mistaken, though. I don't follow my bank statements as thouroughly as I should.

  • I will be posting completely whine-free posts, and further will be smacking anyone down (through posts, of course) who whines about Slashdot. I will become Malda's idea of the ideal Slashdot reader. I will provide insightful content -- completely whine free.

    I bet you will be moded down as "offtopic" :-)

    I liked your parody, I needed a laugh, thanks!

  • But not true parody. I did laugh, however, so the humor worked.

    I've now seen two rehashes of my crappy prose. Please, people, try harder. Parody isn't a word-swapped MadLib's knockoff--it's harder than that.

    (and of all the verbiage to parody, to labor after mine is a terrible waste of your time...)

    But... I did giggle like a school girl a few times, so I suppose you won.

    • But not true parody. I did laugh, however, so the humor worked.

      Actually, I intended it as satire, not parody, although you could say I used a parodical form of expression.

      But... I did giggle like a school girl a few times, so I suppose you won.

      The only way I can win is for you to say, "I now see the folly of my ways, and resolve to stop whining about not being appreciated by Slashdot." :)

      • The only way I can win is for you to say, "I now see the folly of my ways, and resolve to stop whining about not being appreciated by Slashdot." :)

        Not a chance--you see, I have taken upon myself, as a life-mission, to make Slashdot particularly painful for you to slog through every day. I have determined that the best method is by whining incessantly about pointless things.

        I have coded up a short, 10K line program in ADA to facilitate my whining by prioritizing which topics to whine on to maximize your pain and suffering. Enjoy!

  • If there's one thing I hate, it's cut-and-paste parodies.

    - A.P.
  • I am more than a little tired of this crap and plan to do exactly nothing that I have not always done during the great ClusterFuck out.

    /. is great and I value what I get here. Your reasoning is sound on this point.

    I post, and provide content, but also consume a lot of content. The balance is in my favor clearly.

    The ads are well done for the most part and respect older hardware. What more can they do?

  • What the hell is the problem with the ads? They are not that intrusive, its not like they jump out at you, and even if they did, you could always close the window or scroll the page past them. I will never understand why people here don't understand that running a site like this costs money. If the ads make Slashdot the $$$ they need to keep the site up, that is great. But unfortunately, most of the posters here don't understand this very simple concept. They will all learn only if they start signing the front of people's paychecks.

    So the point is folks, calm down, it is not the end of the world that Slashdot has ads, please-- grow up.

  • Not only do I support the blackout, I suggest it be extended indefinitely! That week is going to be one of the best /. weeks ever! All the fucking whiny ass losers who have worked themselves into a froth and who are going to "stick it to the man" for a week will be absent. I bet the signal/noise ratio will be up a measurable amount. I'll have to keep an eye on alterslash's s/n meter.

    Someday, only the highly educated and experienced will post on /. They will post thoughtful prose, devoid of ego and fury. CmdrTaco, et al will continue to make a decent living doing what they enjoy. And the world will be a better place (sing it with me) for you, and me...

    As satire, it's decent. As a point to be made, it's excellent. I think I'm changing my sig.
  • "...inflation of the importance of comments..."

    "... will probably continue posting to support the site..."

    So are the comments important or not? I agree that the S/N ratio could be a lot better, but Slashdot without the comments wouldn't really be Slashdot, would it?

  • Nice try Rob. You almost had me.
  • . . . just so long as you don't talk about Weevils [slashdot.org], either.
  • Your post is clear proof that RHO is right. I feel pity for you, behind your monitor you sit with a smug look on your face. You are probably proud of your "satire", but look in the mirror. You are what you detest, and while you try to act like you are pleased with that fact, it obviously tears you apart inside. An attack on SlashDot is an attack on your very persona, because your actions on SlashDot validate you. They make you feel proud of yourself, like you are a part of the community. You fit in perfectly I'd say.

    Too bad SlashDot isn't nearly as great as it could be. But that's surely no fault of yours, right?

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