Bonum Certa Men Certa

[Tongue in Cheek] Has Microsoft Taken Over Slashdot?

People complain about it, then get gagged

When we were all much younger, we took some basic lessons. I was once taught that when one person insists that you're excessively drunk, you might still be okay. When a second person tell you this, then it's time to head for bed. It's a metaphor.

“One of our readers described the problem as "slashvertisements".”Parables and all aside, too many people are beginning to raise concerns about Slashdot as a portal which revolves around geeks and open source news. I get E-mails about this from several people. The Web talks about this also. The last voice of complaint (just hours ago, as a matter of fact) comes from noooxml.org, which spotted something that other people spotted as well.

Sladshdot is filled with a great deal of 'fluff' nowadays (less technology, more of the rest), which is reminiscent of Digg's steep decline as a technology Web site. It is not easy to find a good explanation for this, but here are some experimental observations, courtesy of ours readers.

In recent week we raised concerns and passed on complaints about Slashdot's somewhat unhealthy news bias, which was reported by long-time subscribers. One of our readers described the problem as "slashvertisements". We covered more than a couple of examples fairly recently. You are encouraged to read these if you haven't because we strive to reduce repetition of arguments and recycle links/text instead.

Nothing seems to have changed since the last time. One reader of ours writes:




[reader: ]

I am currently more inclined to suspect abuse rather than bias [in Slashdot].

The abuse can stem from a system vulnerable to gaming, or it can occur as the result of an fifth-columnist on the inside, or a little of both.

The fact that the tags change or disappear is in and of itself a big issue and need not be mingled with other problems. If descriptors are to be relied upon for retrieval of topics, they have to be a little less ephemeral and not subject to radical, arbitrary change.

[/ reader]




This comes in response to a lot of positive 'air time' which Microsoft appears to be getting at the expense of reports about its abuses or success stories which favour Free software.

It is worth mentioning that Roblimo, the editor of Slashdot, visited Microsoft some time ago. He was invited, like many others whose site is critical of Microsoft.

"That would give you some before / after metrics," a reader of us says. He continues: "Yeah, he got really upset when I asked about the change in writing when he got back from the Gates compound. Whatever happened there appears to have taken a bit of the starch out of him."

So, that same reader, noticing a trend which we covered here before, went on and did a bit of experimental investigation. To quote it in full (parts of it go beyond the scope of topic, but are worth a read nonetheless):




[reader: ]

Ok, here's 'smoking gun' material:

Look at the caches which, at the time of this search, are from Feb 13:

http://www.google.com/search?q=vistafailure+OR+vistafailurelog

For some time, I had been planning to go over everything tagged 'vistafailure' or 'vistafailurelog' before the articles themselves somehow disappear or get 'misplaced'

There used to be many articles (dozens IIRC) with either tag. Now, March 7, there are none:

http://slashdot.org/tags/vistafailure

http://slashdot.org/tags/vistafailurelog

“There are few other conclusions other than someone with access to Slashdot has been fiddling the tags.”There are few other conclusions other than someone with access to Slashdot has been fiddling the tags. If more were known about Slashdot's tagging process, it would be possible to say more precisely how much it's being gamed from the outside and how much requires help from the inside.

Certainly Slashdot is being spammed lately. Laundering of the tags may be separate or part of it.

[...]

PS. I wrote that about at least 10 hours ago and lost focus before sending. During that time I started to cache articles as PDF for printing on Monday. I thought it would be a small number, but after 5 hours, I've wearied. There are as many, if not more, articles complaining about how Microsoft Vista sucks, than there were for XP or even XP SP2. As usual, these are coming from various windows oriented magazines.

[...]

Irregardless of what the group may call itself, it operates like a political movement or a cult. If you have eyes, you can see it. If you have ears, you can hear it. However, if neither are good enough, then the court provides you with the cult's own words about how it works: http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20071023002351958

Damage from Windows-only malware runs into the billions of dollars annually, just for the USA. The cult of Microsoft even causes great damage in terms of stifling competition and innovation. Add to that the damage the low quality design and development cause. From Windows you get late trains, delayed planes, power outages, misplaced contracts, the works. It's so bad in places that many tasks would be more efficient if they dropped not just Windows but computers.

[...]

It's perfectly legal for armed services, under the direction of their national government, to respond to threats to national sovereignty. Bill's got to be the biggest seen since the British. Though one could make a case that the militias have a stake in things and should respond in kind.

Osama is a problem and has caused damage. He also small potatoes compared to Bill, if one counts in dollars. Though as Windows heads into critical components or infrastructure, you start to be able to tally a body count as well. The east coast US power outage is attributable to Microsoft, so was the 5 hour airspace shutdown in California. California is the world's 7th largest economy. How much damage is done daily from just the Windows malware? When you start to get into the problems from other design defects, the figures go higher. At some point even a raw dollar value begins to cost lives because resources are then coming from things that increase safety, reduce risk, increase health, etc.

Or take a milder approach. Look at XP SP1 licensing.

http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/useterms/

Ask executives at 20 random businesses the following:



Then ask which systems they have on their desktops and in their server rooms. If they answer XP SP1 or later, or 2000 SP3 or later, then their policy is out of line with their practices.

Most interviewees stop answering after the first question above.

[...]

There's the law. Then there's the blind spot the world has in regarding Microsoft. [/ reader]




"You're not the only one being shilled at Slashdot," says another reader, whose status in the Free software community is very high. "After I posted a comment I've had two people moderate me down as a troll for it, when I comment on how in about 24h we see 3 articles unreasonably favourable to Microsoft on Slashdot," he adds.

The example and links which prove this are omitted here (there was also a screenshot enclosed) in order not to reveal the identity of the person, but the proof seems compelling enough to justify sharing. Also mind the past conversation here (see messages at the bottom) about known Microsoft Munchkins resorting to personal attacks in Slashdot discussions. Same story in USENET and possibly in Digg also, not to mention what is sometimes found in the ODF/OOXML debate.

All in all, it seems like Slashdot has sunk and fallen into similar hands. Maybe its editors are not even aware of this. It's recurring and recurring. It's just a pattern which is gradually becoming too hard to ignore. Slashdot's popularity, overall, seems to be declining quickly if traffic ranks are anything to go by, at least for sufficiently-large sites.

I have been reading Slashdot for as long as I can remember. My stories also reached the front page several times. Tonight, however, I say goodnight to Slashdot. It was nice knowing "news for geeks", but news for geeks it no longer covers.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Comparing U.E.F.I. to B.I.O.S. (Bloat and Insecurity to K.I.S.S.)
By Sami Tikkanen
New 'Slides' From Stallman Support (stallmansupport.org) Site
"In celebration of RMS's birthday, we've been playing a bit. We extracted some quotes from the various articles, comments, letters, writings, etc. and put them in the form of a slideshow in the home page."
Thailand: GNU/Linux Up to 6% of Desktops/Laptops, According to statCounter
Desktop Operating System Market Share Thailand
António Campinos is Still 'The Fucking President' (in His Own Words) After a Fake 'Election' in 2022 (He Bribed All the Voters to Keep His Seat)
António Campinos and the Administrative Council, whose delegates he clearly bribed with EPO budget in exchange for votes
Adrian von Bidder, homeworking & Debian unexplained deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Sainsbury’s Epic Downtime Seems to be Microsoft's Fault and Might Even Constitute a Data Breach (Legal Liability)
one of Britain's largest groceries (and beyond) chains
 
People Don't Just Kill Themselves (Same for Other Animals)
And recent reports about Boeing whistleblower John Barnett
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 18, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, March 18, 2024
Suicide Cluster Cover-up tactics & Debian exposed
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 19/03/2024: A Society That Lost Focus and Abandoning Social Control Media
Links for the day
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE: Plagiarism & Child labour in YH4F
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Linux Foundation Boasting About Being Connected to Bill Gates
Examples of boasting about the association
Alexandre Oliva's Article on Monstering Cults
"I'm told an earlier draft version of this post got published elsewhere. Please consider this IMHO improved version instead."
[Meme] 'Russian' Elections in Munich (Bavaria, Germany)
fake elections
Sainsbury's to Techrights: Yes, Our Web Site Broke Down, But We Cannot Say Which Part or Why
Windows TCO?
Plagiarism: Axel Beckert (ETH Zurich) & Debian Developer list hacking
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 18/03/2024: Putin Cements Power
Links for the day
Flashback 2003: Debian has always had a toxic culture
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
[Meme] You Know You're Winning the Argument When...
EPO management starts cursing at everybody (which is what's happening)
Catspaw With Attitude
The posts "they" complain about merely point out the facts about this harassment and doxing
'Clown Computing' Businesses Are Waning and the Same Will Happen to 'G.A.I.' Businesses (the 'Hey Hi' Fame)
decrease in "HEY HI" (AI) hype
Free Software Needs Watchdogs, Too
Gentle lapdogs prevent self-regulation and transparency
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE analogous to identity fraud
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 18/03/2024: LLM Inference and Can We Survive Technology?
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 17, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, March 17, 2024
Links 17/03/2024: Microsoft Windows Shoves Ads Into Third-Party Software, More Countries Explore TikTok Ban
Links for the day
Molly Russell suicide & Debian Frans Pop, Lucy Wayland, social media deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Our Plans for Spring
Later this year we turn 18 and a few months from now our IRC community turns 16
Open Invention Network (OIN) Fails to Explain If Linux is Safe From Microsoft's Software Patent Royalties (Charges)
Keith Bergelt has not replied to queries on this very important matter
RedHat.com, Brought to You by Microsoft Staff
This is totally normal, right?
USPTO Corruption: People Who Don't Use Microsoft Will Be Penalised ~$400 for Each Patent Filing
Not joking!
The Hobbyists of Mozilla, Where the CEO is a Bigger Liability Than All Liabilities Combined
the hobbyist in chief earns much more than colleagues, to say the least; the number quadrupled in a matter of years
Jim Zemlin Says Linux Foundation Should Combat Fraud Together With the Gates Foundation. Maybe They Should Start With Jim's Wife.
There's a class action lawsuit for securities fraud
Not About Linux at All!
nobody bothers with the site anymore; it's marketing, and now even Linux
Links 17/03/2024: Abuses Against Human Rights, Tesla Settlement (and Crash)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 16, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, March 16, 2024
Under Taliban, GNU/Linux Share Nearly Doubled in Afghanistan, Windows Sank From About 90% to 68.5%
Suffice to say, we're not meaning to imply Taliban is "good"
Debian aggression: woman asked about her profession
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 17/03/2024: Winter Can't Hurt Us Anymore and Playstation Plus
Links for the day