Journal Journal: Frustrated - Slashdot has betrayed me
According to Slashdot, my IP address has had several bad posts and therefore I cannot post again. To them, I am a bad egg.
I understand the administration's reasoning for implementing a control mechanism to prevent malicious users, but I am no such user. Any one taking a look at my posts should see that I did not troll/flame/harass. My posts were either late (and therefore not seen/moderated) or attacked maliciously.
The attack came from one of my posts that received a +5 interesting, which was then intentionally destroyed to a "0, Redundant." I simply asked a question and was kindly answered. There are those, however, who feel that questions with answers should be attacked thoroughly. They led a campaign (by posting replies and modding) to destroy my post.
I accept that some readers have different opinions -- I certainly do not pretend to be perfect or always correct. But this recent episode has left my karma "terrible." And while the faqs say that Karma isn't important, it does prevent long-time readers from contributing back to Slashdot. Yes, I have been reading Slashdot for the past three years. Only recently have I broken down to create an account. I was hoping to add my two cents on issues that I have personal knowledge of. But I have bad Karma and cannot post. The only way to change this is to post something informative/insightful. Catch-22 anyone? And yes, I did read Heller's book. This "feature" of their system is, in my opinion, a short-sighted error.
Alas, I will have a new IP address in a minute and another account the following minute so I may have preferences. No more, however, will I post on this cannibal moderation system. It is flawed: honesty is punished and inquiries are discouraged.
There should be a new moderation topic called "inquisitive" or the sort. Readers should be rewarded for acknowledging their shortcomings and asking good questions. After all, good questions are the reason why many of us have jobs in the IT world. We solving problems and creating solutions. Questions are the fundamental tools of any leader and IT guy. So why are they excluded from Slashdot? I do not know.
But I am excluded, and I have plenty of good questions to ask. Slashdot should worry about alienating average readers like me. I am, after all, yet another Joe.
I understand the administration's reasoning for implementing a control mechanism to prevent malicious users, but I am no such user. Any one taking a look at my posts should see that I did not troll/flame/harass. My posts were either late (and therefore not seen/moderated) or attacked maliciously.
The attack came from one of my posts that received a +5 interesting, which was then intentionally destroyed to a "0, Redundant." I simply asked a question and was kindly answered. There are those, however, who feel that questions with answers should be attacked thoroughly. They led a campaign (by posting replies and modding) to destroy my post.
I accept that some readers have different opinions -- I certainly do not pretend to be perfect or always correct. But this recent episode has left my karma "terrible." And while the faqs say that Karma isn't important, it does prevent long-time readers from contributing back to Slashdot. Yes, I have been reading Slashdot for the past three years. Only recently have I broken down to create an account. I was hoping to add my two cents on issues that I have personal knowledge of. But I have bad Karma and cannot post. The only way to change this is to post something informative/insightful. Catch-22 anyone? And yes, I did read Heller's book. This "feature" of their system is, in my opinion, a short-sighted error.
Alas, I will have a new IP address in a minute and another account the following minute so I may have preferences. No more, however, will I post on this cannibal moderation system. It is flawed: honesty is punished and inquiries are discouraged.
There should be a new moderation topic called "inquisitive" or the sort. Readers should be rewarded for acknowledging their shortcomings and asking good questions. After all, good questions are the reason why many of us have jobs in the IT world. We solving problems and creating solutions. Questions are the fundamental tools of any leader and IT guy. So why are they excluded from Slashdot? I do not know.
But I am excluded, and I have plenty of good questions to ask. Slashdot should worry about alienating average readers like me. I am, after all, yet another Joe.
