Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
User Journal

Journal FortKnox's Journal: T(H)GSB 2: this time IRL??? 17

Journal by FortKnox
If you are 'relatively new', you may not know the abbreviation. It stands for 'The (Hopefully) Great Slashdot Blackout.' A user (rho IIRC) convinced a bunch of people not to post to slashdot for an entire week to dispute the moderation system (IIRC). It failed miserably (at least to our knowledge).

Now pirates... I mean... P2P'ers are planning a boycott to dispute the attacks on stealing... I mean P2P software. The P2P Unite Movement Site.

I dunno about you, but I'm TOTALLY going out to see like 3 movies, rent and buy 5 or so videos, and pickup a whole slew of CDs to make up for the 3-10 people in Cincinnati that will actually follow this movement. Kinda like eating the second helping of beef when you aren't hungry just to spite vegetarians....

Now that I think more deeply, even if the are successful at slightly dropping prices of stores, it wouldn't be noticed by people like the RIAA or MPAA. Think about it. If "CD Store X" gets less sales that week, most likely it won't be noticed because it'll be masked by the monthly sales... but even if a good manager sees the weekly drop, he's not really going to slow down supplies for his store (not for a one week drop). So the suppliers see no slowdown and the RIAA sees business as usual. If they really wanted to make a difference, they'd have to boycott at least a good month... the best scenario would be start a boycott and don't stop until changes are made. But you can't do that, cause there aren't enough people that use P2P software that are willing to give the stuff up (hell, they are willing to use illegal measures to get the stuff... how are they gonna drop it cold turkey??).

Its just like T(H)GSB... most of slashdot's users don't comment. Those that do comment, only 5% or so even care about the moderation system. Of those people only 35% or so would be willing to boycott slashdot for a week. Meaning, comments were down less than like 1%... not even noticable.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

T(H)GSB 2: this time IRL??? More

T(H)GSB 2: this time IRL???

Comments Filter:
  • It's easier to abuse the moderation system than to try and resist posting to Slashdot. Just toy with it for fun.

    My last +5 comment was a total load of crap and was completely and totally devoid of any accurate content. That wasted 4 points, removing them from the system. As if that weren't bad enough, it made my signature more visible. This guy [slashdot.org] bit on it, and by the time the self-flagellation was done, he had lost 8 karma points. An AC in the thread took a -1 hit, so my signature alone has taken almost 2 e
    • Yeah, that sig is quite a good one. Honestly, I just unchecked the "Willing to moderate" button, and have been just peachy since. No worries about mod points. No obnoxious M2 messages daily.
      My thoughts? Its Taco's site... let him moderate it.
    • But Abortion is killing and won't smeone thing of the children?! Oh, and you forgot Poland, you Moran.
      HTH. (Hand To HAnd is my favorite abortion techinique!)
    • I have had a much harder time baiting people with pretend positions since I read Mother Night-- but then again maybe you believe them all. And this is slashdot-- so it can't be taken too seriously.
  • If you want to show that they can't take your purchases for granted, why not try rolling boycotts?

    Boycott store A for two months, store B for two months, etc. Surely then someone would see the corresponding peaks and troughs higher up the distribution chain?

    However, the question still remains: would they care? To be effective, any protest most carry the weight of numbers, not least because with the numbers comes the publicity.

    To be honest, I don't think that any sort of anti-RIAA or anti-MPAA will carry
    • would they care? To be effective, any protest most carry the weight of numbers, not least because with the numbers comes the publicity.

      That was the point I really poorly made. Not enough people care, and the boycott isn't long enough anyway.
      • would they care?

        The better question is would they see the correlation or would they ignore it? Or, perhaps, closer to home, would those who plan to boycott have constituted enough sales in the months prior for the boycott to be noticeable.
  • The biggest argument in my mind that pirating does not hurt the industry is how much money they keep making. This kind of action, if supported by enough people, would only generate numbers that support the industries' position that piracy is harmful.

    Me I rarely go to the movies because they are by and large over-priced and of poor quality. But they are still raking in the billions so apparently my opinion doesn't matter a whole lot.

    I haven't bout a CD in years- literally. They cost like 21 bucks now.
    • It is interesting to note that the (supposed) downturn in the music industry in Australia corresponds with a similar downturn in the number of new releases put out by the major labels. ie, Less choice ==> Less sales. Who'da thunk?

      (There was a study released recently which supported this wild idea with some interesting figures. I'll see if I can dig it up again.)
    • But what boycotts do work - for anything - ever? Usually it just generates publicity and helps the boycotted.

      Erm... you ever heard of a little place called Montgomery, Alabama? Yea... kind of changed the course of American History that one there did....
      • Well - I do think it could be argued that the civil rights movement in the south was much more than a boycott. But point taken.
        • The boycott is what really got MLK Jr. off the ground and into the papers. Arguably, it's what really started things rolling down south. It certainly wasn't THE movement, but it was an undeniably critical part of it.
  • I always thought their collection was pretty "safe" and didn't do to much but their used selection was pretty nice.

    There were also two places down near U of C that I remember being pretty good hole-in-the-wall places. Shake It, etc.
  • Let me get this right...

    These guys are suggesting that P2P users should not buy legitimate products, or go the the cinema for a week in order to "send a message" to the entertainment industry? Ummm, most people using P2P networks to illegaly download software/music/movies/etc tend to do so because they don't want to spend money in the first place.

    I'd like to see the research that shows that most P2P users actually do buy the products they like! Do these same users only download products they like? Just be
  • Most of them are pirates because they're too damn poor to do any of that anyway- so what will losing sales to them hurt if they never buy anything anyway? To paraphrase Deep Thought- just who will THAT inconvience?
  • one not covered by the mpaa. chances are it's probably good, and you won't be supporting the mpaa

Slashdot Top Deals

It's a naive, domestic operating system without any breeding, but I think you'll be amused by its presumption.

Close