Doing My Share to Tackle Online Slop and SPAM
Trying my best to 'fix' the Web
Related (5 days ago): Social Control Media Relies on Advertisers, So It'll Always Be Hostile Towards Free Software
Everyone deserves a chance to explain. Everyone also deserves a second chance, except in some unusual circumstances. The latest 2 articles in linuxiac.com are real [1, 2] (the third from the top is not), but the damage is already done. Bobby (of "linuxiac") got 'addicted'. He started experimenting with LLM slop. I'm not looking for excuses, as I am reasonably certain and spent a long time researching this matter. What I am instead looking for are assurances, so I wrote to the editor:
Dear Bobby,We praised and linked to many of your articles for several years.
Lately, however, we noticed that some were LLM slop, either fully or partially. We've thus ceased linking to them.
Can the site return to a non-slop policy?
If he gets back to me, I will update this article.
He and The Register worry me as they don't inspire confidence. The Register publishes many fake 'articles' that are sponsored by companies (the disclosures are at the very bottom; they can also taint other articles as they create financial strings and subtle blind loyalty from the publisher).
The inferred financial dependence is assuring an implicit bias, a shackle of sorts.
The Register's editor was also contacted by me moments ago. I want him to explain why it's a firehose of pro-Microsoft material:
Dear Chris,We worry somewhat, seeing that instead of hiring more "Liams" you are hiring more Microsoft boosters. Is there an explanation for this?
Br,
I also shared with him details of my lawsuit against the serial strangler from Microsoft. Microsoft is an advertiser/sponsor of the site. So I don't expect The Register to write anything about this. Maybe these folks can prove me wrong.
Microsoft very well knows why it's paying many publishers, including The Register. It "pays back". Something like this isn't a mere theory but a simple fact (even confirmed by leaks from Microsoft). Sometimes silence and censorship (or self-censorship) are the payback. This isn't a new issue and it's already well documented in plenty of literature, even predating the Web. █