I don't discount the impact that the /. community had on Bletchley Park's restoration, but that's not the issue here. You spent more time talking about historical effect than you did on the actual issue, which is Beta. Not only that, but you in no way answered my question. I don't find it unreasonable to ask for specifics on why the interface is bad. A critique that doesn't offer a solution isn't particularly useful. I'm sure you don't appreciate it when your customers ask you to make your product "less sucky" but it seems to be okay in this conversation. Apparently someone else does think I'm unreasonable, since I've been modded down (at least, that's how it appears, since I now have a score of 0 and usually I start with a 2. But that could be more of my lack of understanding on the moderation system here, which I really don't care much about anyway. I find the whole exercise to be highly amusing.)

I'm not picking on you per se. Your post was simply in the middle of a very large pack of complaints, the vast majority of which contain nothing but nebulous statements that something is bad, chest-thumping over how awesome the Slashdot community is, and outright threats of mass exodus if people don't get their way, none of which is helpful towards affecting positive change.

I'm sure someone else will be along shortly to mod me Flamebait again but that's okay; I can always use a good laugh.

Yes, that was flamebait. Good god the mods around here are stupid.

That wasn't even remotely helpful. Can you please cite specific examples of why the beta sucks? Are your reasons personal preference or is there technical merit?

I don't code and I don't study user interface design, so I'm not qualified to offer reasons why the beta is bad. I'm just a user. I've been using it for most of the day and everything has worked for me. I was tempted to say that I don't like the new layout except that I don't like change to begin with. But I kind of like it. So what's the problem?

You do realize that you proved *his* point, not yours, right? Being able to name a dozen programs that ended, out of THOUSANDS that were created, does not help your cause. Congratulations on you Pyrrhic victory.

The last position I interviewed for started with them headhunting me. The headhunter (who knew just enough of the tech to at least not sound like a rube) screened me over the phone. Then I had a phone interview with the manager. Then I had a phone interview with the lead tech (who told me he was going to recommend me). A week later they flew me out and I interviewed with another half a dozen people.

During the on-site interviews I started getting some of these idiotic questions. I finally just stopped the guy and said "Let me stop you there. You just flew me across the country and this is what you're asking me. Is this really what you want to go with? You headhunted me, I didn't come to you. Your techs already cleared me. So, really, what is it that you want to know? What's your concern in hiring me?"

He knocked off with the crap, we had a real conversation, and I left with a signed job offer.

So I said "Sometimes I'm a little too honest." He said "That doesn't sound like a flaw." And I said "I don't give a shit what you think."

They don't give a shit what we, the people, their boss, want. They're going to continue doing it anyway.

Yes, let's let the cops do their job. That includes GETTING A GOD-DAMNED WARRANT.

The rest of your commentary is so laughably idiotic that I hope no one wastes any time responding to it.

You were relevant right until you decided to bring religion into it.

He may have had his gun on him the entire time, but the notion that he would have had to pay again to get back in is idiotic. Have you not ever been to a theater? There's a mechanism in place, evidence, if you will, that proves that a legal transaction took place. See, you give them money, and they give you a receipt. Theater receipts are really cool because they even tell you which which movie, which screen, and which time you've paid for.

I have never met an actual person who holds this belief either, yet I've met, worked with and am friends with dozens of fathers who have been victims of it.

Wow. Really? When was the last time you saw someone user the word 'libertarian' without adding some colorful adjectives to it? Let alone how Slashdot's increasingly leftist audience routinely refers to Republicans...

Well, intentionally re-defining a commonly understood word to mean something completely opposite and then hiding behind a TOS and EULA is pretty scummy. I have no problem with them trying to make money. I do have a problem with it when the obfuscate how they're doing it. Hiding behind the TOS is them admitting that they know they're wrong and trying to trick people, otherwise they wouldn't be hiding. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask that they just be open and honest about how they're going to work.

  "By 'private' we mean we won't intentionally share your message with other individual members until the next ToS change, but the contents are still fair game for us and our advertisers."

Fine, but don't call it "private" because that's not even close to what the word means.