Upcoming Changes To 'Ask Slashdot' 230
We're pleased to announce that changes are coming to the Ask Slashdot section. Ask Slashdot is a place to get your technical questions answered, show off your big brain by helping others, debate products and practices, and occasionally talk directly to companies about their offerings. Over the years, we've posted more than 7700 questions, on everything from workplace relations to home networking to evading censorship from unfriendly regimes. Starting tomorrow, you'll see that some Ask Slashdot questions have their own sponsors; the sponsors don't pick the questions, but experts from each sponsor will stick around for the discussion. Next up: we're making it easier for you to submit questions. Our goal is to make Ask Slashdot your "go-to" place for answers to your pressing nerd questions. So please post your questions, put on your answering hats, and come along for the ride.
And I was worried (Score:5, Funny)
I feel silly for getting concerned when that pulse stuff started showing up in the sidebar. Clearly things are heading in a good direction :)
For the first question I’d like to know how my organization can best leverage Oracle’s EJB technology to obtain the rapid and simplified development of distributed, transactional, secure and portable applications that we are looking for in our growing business.
Re:And I was worried (Score:5, Funny)
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The hard ones require you to spend more time listening to people who use excessive buzzwords .. which isn't good for anyone ;p
Re:And I was worried (Score:5, Funny)
You'd best start synergizing as soon as possible or your cloud initiative will fail to leverage your business intelligence paradigm and we all know what happens then,
But, whatever you do, don't panic. Oracle professional services, in conjunction with the talent acquired in the Sun buyout, is standing by and ready to address your every business need.
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Blue-skying this kind of methodographical paradigmitricism is really how this agilified industry really stays one step ahead of the curve. I really think we should interoperlesce our independemutual idearification thought-shower processes to better extramanipulify our squazzoreadibility enfungusifierated lolipopsiclewafer technology.
Let me know what you think!
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I think that brainless MBA down the hallway from me just jizzed his pants because he read your post and thought those were actual buzzwords.
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I think that brainless MBA down the hallway from me just jizzed his pants because he read your post and thought those were actual buzzwords.
Is there a "Poe's Law" for business jargon?
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Let me know what you think!
Congratulations. You have just won the internet.
My question.... (Score:3, Funny)
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Sponsored by Kitchenaid.
StackOverflow competior? (Score:5, Interesting)
What's the deal with the sponsors? Are you saying Oracle (for example) is going to have some expert answer common Java questions in a slashvertisement/tech support type thing?
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Yes
Re:StackOverflow competior? (Score:5, Insightful)
No, this appears (on the surface) to be another gasp at squeezing revenue from "the slashdot".
While I don't blame them for wanting to be profitable, I can just site here and think of the high level exec meetings that had subjects like "We need to find creative ways to monetize our user base" and someone said "I know! lets take 'ask slashdot' and make it a revenue opportunity...".
I suspect there was internal resistance to it, but most of that probably faded with CdrTaco leaving.
Slashdot polls have been replaced with Splunk marketing surveys, Ask Slashdot is now a vendor sponsored forum...
I give it two years before slashdot is indistinguishable from the Yahoo! main page.
Typical corporate acquisition stuff. I suspect, based on some other clues, that Geeknet is suffering from decreased revenue pressures. I suspect that ThinkGeek sales have tanked, and no one knows why (and apparently no one realized that pushing cheap, low quality crap with clever marketing at twice the sane price is not a good long term sales strategy). Sourceforge has got to be operating at a loss, and has been hemorrhaging projects as mass defections over to github and others occur.
So I think there's probably a lot of corporate pressure to make slashdot start earning more to make up for shortfalls.
We'll see more of this, it was predictable. The user base will continue to fall off, and soon we'll be getting emails ala Facebook - "We haven't seen you in a while! Do you know what you've been missing!?! Come back and be an awesome geek! Derf derf..."
Sorry if I'm coming across as too cynical here, I'm not against companies earning money. What frustrates my is the overall cluelessness of executives that think the proper path to profitability it to turn this (once great) site into McSlashdot.
Re:StackOverflow competior? (Score:5, Interesting)
Sorry to reply to myself, but I'm a big believer in not bitching about a problem without offering a solution.
Slashdot corporate overlords, if you're browsing these posts for reactions to the change, here's a suggestion: consider the metafilter business model.
Put a slashdot poll up and ask the users if they'd be willing to pay $5 per year to get rid of all the ads, and eliminate 90% of the trolls (most trolls aren't willing to pay to troll).
Make karma mean something - those with excellent or above karma get a discounted (or free) rate. Same way we can turn off Ads now.
I know that I, for one, would jump at the chance to help fund slashdot, and to help make it great again.
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They already give certain members an option to disable ads. For people who have the choice there is a small box in the upper right-hand section of Slashdot that says:
Ads Disabled [*]
Thanks again for helping make Slashdot great!
I don't know if it's based on excellent karma, an achievement (days read in a row), low uid or something else.
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I think it's karma.
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I would not mind the adds if.. (Score:3)
Ads are not a terrible thing. Sometimes they are even of value. I always look at the ads in Circuit Cellar magazine, CycleWorld, Motorcyclist, Rider, and other magazines that I read.
The key to have ads that people do not want to block.
No animation or sound and keep them relatively small and I will read them.
If they blink or move then ad blocker goes into full force.
Slashdot actually has a really good community but a tough one to force ads on. The problem would be getting people to white list Slashdot.
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Put a slashdot poll up and ask the users if they'd be willing to pay $5 per year to get rid of all the ads, and eliminate 90% of the trolls (most trolls aren't willing to pay to troll).
Pay to get adfree or pay to post? Slashdot already has subscriptions for the former, so I assume you mean the latter. The main effect would be that you get a lot less comments of any type. Even though the S/N ratio might improve the useful comments/article ratio would likely go way down. And even more groupthink of the only people interested enough to pay. And without the comments, all the readers go away too because it's not exactly stunning as a news aggregator, it's a very mixed and incomplete mix.
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I've been in similar situations and I think you're almost spot on, except for this:
There's clearly no significant ongoing investment in Slashdot, they wouldn't have the budget for a redesign. It looks more like they are slashing the budget, not increasing it. That may be the reason why CmdrTaco left, by choice or otherwise. I would expect Slashdot to stay almost identical to how it is now from a technology perspecti
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Are you saying Oracle (for example) is going to have some expert answer common Java questions in a slashvertisement/tech support type thing?
This -does- have the feel of something which came out of a 'monetize' brainstorming session. The description reads just as badly... it sounds like Soulskill is reading off of marketing's talking-points.
So HOW exactly does this benefit Slashdot users? Or is there one at all? :-/
HOW are sponsor representatives represented in discussion? Are their comments automatic +5, and totally immune to moderation?
This doesn't need explanation, apparently.
I've been on Slashdot.org for about 14 years, and seen it s
Interesting (Score:5, Insightful)
I've been here for a long time. It used to be that I would very rarely if ever read comments submitted by other Slashdotters as I was far more interested in TFA. But as time has gone on I find I am more interested in what others here have to say. Everybody has the same news stories now and it is the insights and comments from the people in this community that are the real value.
Not certain how you're planning to define "sponsors", but if you're planning to accept money from people who would like to mine this community for information I would caution you to tread carefully. You may be trying this on the wrong group of people...
Hope it boots!
Re:Interesting (Score:5, Insightful)
My experience tells me /. IS the community.
The consensus on /. is what the tech industry is going to do, like it or not. We are the ones who are driving out DRM, slowly. We are the ones who made sure SCO failed. We predicted Microsoft 's decline in dominance unless they stop acting like assholes.
We predict and drive the tech sector, /. is the helm and our excellent but not completely flawless mod system keeps the GNAA from driving.
Just like everything else in the tech sector /. will be subject to the judgment of /. It will either work well or the consensus will stop it. I hope it works well, I want the folks who run the joint to make a few bucks, but if it doesn't there will be no choice but to stop or fail.
Yes, I think /. has a lot in common with Anonymous only less coordinated, a mass of individuals working separately toward the same goals motivated by the rational consensus reached here.
Re:Interesting (Score:4, Insightful)
You drive the tech sector? The same idiots who said the iPhone and iPad would fail?
They will. We have just not gotten to that point yet. :-P
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And I am wondering whether this change to Ask Slashdot goes far enough. If the comments here are that good, perhaps a wiki format with restrictions on who can make edits would be better?
Many of the sorts of things I ask search engines often return hits from Slashdot. On a few occasions I've found my own comments in which I asked the same thing I searched! For instance, I'd still like a mechless car radio that can play Ogg Vorbis files from an SD card or USB stick. And which has Radio Data System, and
DIGG exodus: Now in Slasdot Flavour (Score:4, Interesting)
What I worry about is how much manipulation these sponsors will demand.
About a year ago, Digg.com did the same and re worked the site.
The sponsors started to control content and people noticed.
Within 4 months, most users left for another site.
Now, Digg is a shadow of its former self and is spammed regularly.
Comments are few and hollow a-la "I agree" or "me too".
Content is still controlled to this day.
IOW: Digg is now a Web 2.0 billboard.
I don't want a repeat.
Re:DIGG exodus: Now in Slasdot Flavour (Score:5, Insightful)
This is what I'm worried about as well. Slashdot is indeed the community. If the community decides as a whole that there's more marketing than it cares for, the people who make up the community will leave. Who is left? The marketers. And there's no recovering from that.
Now, here are two ways that I can see it work: clearly identify the "experts (and make no mistake, those experts will be PR-monkeys), and let us set our preferences whether we want to see the responses from the "experts". I strongly suspect that part of the deal with the sponsors is that we can't specifically downrate those experts, and they might not even be marked as a special account. Be warned that this might be the downfall of Slashdot - Digg is indeed a very good warning that people don't take kindly to have marketers try to spam genuine conversations.
What? (Score:2)
Sponsors? What the heck? I come to slashdot to get answers not marketing BS. Now you are going to give some company "authority?" I guess I can say goodbye to getting answers on slashdot. This is not a fricken help site, why are you trying to change that? I come here to be informed about Stuff that matters not whatever marketing wants to shove down my throat. We already have a lot of non-nerdy types here, so what you want to do is water that down and become more common denominator? I guess I'll be
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Sponsors? What the heck? I come to slashdot to get answers not marketing BS. Now you are going to give some company "authority?" I guess I can say goodbye to getting answers on slashdot.
I was thinking much the same thing... The only way to do this "right", I think, would be to allow the "expert" to be introduced (who/what/where) and then allow them to answer questions (where relevant) with the best responses possible -- something as helpful as you might find from an excellent daily /. discussion contributor. However, the moment that the person starts plugging their company or product where it's not completely appropriate, expect shit to blow up, and people will be pissed. And then they w
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The "sponsors" we see won't be engineers or experts. Those guys are already here, posting because it's their passion.
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I come to slashdot to get answers not marketing BS. Now you are going to give some company "authority?"
I think an importantent distinguishing difference here will be that the "experts" the sponsor is providing have no special powers over the conversation. The sponsor will not be able to censor what the average slashdot user has to say. I believe that the average slashdot reader will not be fooled by a companies marketing BS, which will in the end force the sponsor to actaully engage in a serious manner with our readers lest they themselves be made a fool of.
Think of it this way: When a company sponsor's a q
Re: Distinguishing difference here (Score:5, Interesting)
Okay, time to cash in some of my karma.
1. Who are you "PerlJedi (2406408) who works for Slashdot" and what is your expertise since you are a brand new hire?
2. I am noticing the quotes on "Expert". Either the people really will be experts, or else they'll be Astroturfing "Experts" in quotes. That is, unless your grammar just sux and you put gratuitous quotes which then accidentally totally flipped your meaning.
3. I bet no one cross-referenced which of these ... "Experts" are currently also Slashdot users - I bet new ones in that ominous 2400000 range. As users they get Mod points? Who will be watching what they do with those?
4. Companies don't care about "being made a fool of" with the top 25% if the Astroturfing raises sales with the newer 75% userbase. Sure, some companies will provide a legit expert, but we're watching like a hawk. Slashdot has seen our comments on editorial quality. We've made fools of you for years. Not like it really helped. (Probably some, far from enough.)
Bonus: Since y'all want to make changes, get a grip and allow editing of posts. Do like other forums do and tag it "this post was modified ...". Then we won't get 7 bad entries harping on spelling that totally derails the conversation. Put a time limit on it like 72 hours.
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1. Who are you "PerlJedi (2406408) who works for Slashdot" and what is your expertise since you are a brand new hire?
You are right, I haven't worked here very long. I am just a software engineer fortunate enough to have landed what I think of as my dream job. I have been a slashdot reader for much, much longer than I have worked here though. I created this account after I started here to use as my "official" slashdot account.
I love slashdot. I love being a geek. I am fortunate enough to work for a website that I enjoy, and I am hoping to use my position here to keep slashdot as a great website for geeks and geek culture.
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The problem I have with the "experts" is that they are generally contract based marketing spokespersons, whose main purpose is to deliver a crafted message to their targeted audience - a one way street. The problem with the "Experts" is that they don't have managerial status, don't sit in on the important meetings, and are just a part of the marketing arm.
I think what he is trying to get at here is that if Slashdot is going to allow sponsored Ask Slashdot articles, Slashdot needs to take this serio
Re:What? (Score:5, Insightful)
The point is not the censoring, the point is the signal-to-noise ratio. And the ratio WILL drop once marketers and PR people join the conversation.
I find the evolution of the latest PR-flak kinda interesting: first he completely side-stepped the fact that he was being paid for his posts. He was the definition of an astroturfer. Now he's coming out officially, and contributing to discussions outside his PR mandate. I'm curious to see how he will continue to evolve. I have a strong suspicion that he might be a good indicator of the future of discussions:
* PR always posts first, because they're paid to do so
* PR is always on message, and posts more than any other single user (again, because they get paid for it)
* PR will drive the discussion because of the two previous points.
Whether that's good or bad is still to be seen. But I definitely think that the experts need to be uniquely identified, and we need to have the ability to ignore them.
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It could be interresting; have sponsors from competing companies discuss with a healthy dose or /. "error correction" and see how it turns out.
About as much fun as an Apple fanboy arguing with a Microsoft fanboy.
Serious Questions (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Serious Questions (Score:5, Informative)
The sponsor will not be given any special treatment with regards to comment score and moderation. The "expert" the sponsor will be providing to take part in the conversation will have an account which is "badged", meaning that it will be visually apparent when the a comment was posted by the sponsor. Beyond the visual treatment that will make clear which comments are made by a representative of the sponsor, they will have no special power. They will not be able to hide comments they don't like, or highlight those they do.
We want to offer a sponsor the chance to have a serious conversation with our audience, but we are not going to be giving them a soap box to stand on. If they want to engage with our audience, they will need to understand that means taking the good with the bad.
Re:Serious Questions (Score:5, Insightful)
The sponsor will not be given any special treatment with regards to comment score and moderation. The "expert" the sponsor will be providing to take part in the conversation will have an account which is "badged", meaning that it will be visually apparent when the a comment was posted by the sponsor.
So essentially the sponsor's representative can be modded up or down in the same way as anyone else? I can't see that going down well in companies without a sense of humour.
We want to offer a sponsor the chance to have a serious conversation with our audience, but we are not going to be giving them a soap box to stand on. If they want to engage with our audience, they will need to understand that means taking the good with the bad.
Any takers so far? I imagine with the myriad of publicity options available today many companies are not going to want to get involved in a direct, uncensored discussion with a fairly informed audience like /.. I'd be inclined to admire any that do, especially if they can actually talk some sense, but I can't see many relishing a challenge like that.
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That is not a bad thing.
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That is not a bad thing.
Oh, I agree. I'm suggesting that not many sponsors will be willing to submit themselves on even terms to the vox populii.
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Thanks for confirming the badge issue. Now - can we set sponsored users to sit at -6, just like we can control how many points our friends, foes, freaks, fans get?
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Can we have a contest for what the 'badge' looks like?
Please?
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The actual badge will likely be something like the slashdot icon that appears with my user name (though it will clearly be the sponsor's logo, not slashdot's. As that by itself would be easily overlooked, we will also have a different color for the header above their comments.
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I don't know. InsightIn140Bytes is getting pretty good mods with his Pro-MS, anti-Google position.
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Considering the dollars that companies spend lobbying the government, being more in touch with people beforehand couldn't hurt either.
How to hide all Ask Slashdot posts (Score:2)
I was ready to hide all Ask Slashdot posts anyway because they provide very little value (mostly because the questions are not that interesting to me). Now I'm more motivated to do that...
Go to Options -> Exclusions and you can hide all Ask Slashdot posts.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Everything changes but... (Score:2)
I really miss Taco.... Who thought this was a good idea?
R.I.P. CmdrTaco (Score:5, Insightful)
He saw the writing on the wall and got out while the getting was good
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By the way, did you know that you can post and read these discussions from Taco Bell? Head down to your local Taco Bell restaurant for wild December deals and more.
Does this mean the Apple turfers will be labeled? (Score:5, Funny)
They weren't hard to identify anyways, but an official label on those accounts would help.
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In checking your other posts, I realize when you said "Apple turfers" you may have meant "anti Apple turfers", not "Apple astroturfers".
If that's the case, sorry I let you have both barrels because you mispoke or I misunderstood.
Still, group labeling of accounts is pretty offensive. You can block any user. /. conversations as much as I did in the nineties, so I've only had to block on a few occasions.
I guess I don't participate in
Ok, got a question (Score:2)
I'm looking for a good ad-blocker, one that specifically filters technology advertising on message board sites. Difficulty: Must work with Chrome, IE 9 and Opera.
Any suggestions?
Clarification: Any suggestions that do not involve switching my OS.
Copy-Paste Google News Headlines (Score:2)
Best Part - Experts Exchange killer? (Score:3)
"you'll see that some Ask Slashdot questions have their own sponsors; the sponsors don't pick the questions, but experts from each sponsor will stick around for the discussion"
So, this could become a free version of Experts Exchange? I don't know if this is a good thing or not. If the quality of answers is high, specifically if the sponsors are tech companies, then this is good for users. However, Experts Exchange is pay for a reason, and that's to ensure very high quality. So if the quality is low, this will just become the geek version of Yahoo Answers.
I think Slashdot should possibly test an alternate Karma system just for answers. Just because someone is +5 Funny doesn't make them an expert.
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In case you weren't aware of this, "Funny" moderation points do not actually increase one's karma. If a post has a mix of Insightful/Informative/Funny, only the non-Funny points actually count towards building karma. That's why, when I have points, I only give "Funny" points to ACs, and don't bother giving them anything else unless I think their post really deserves special attention. I'm much more willing to give a mildly insightful post an upmod if they have an account and therefore benefit from the ka
Part of Slashcode? (Score:2)
Uh-oh (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm Skeptical Of The Usefulness (Score:4, Interesting)
I've been reading slashdot for over a decade. I haven't once gotten a post published. I've posted good and relevant stories only to see them reject without an explanation ( hint to admins: this really pisses people off and makes it harder to get volunteers ).
I'm skeptical of how useful "ask slashdot" is for that reason. I never bothered to try it out. Why should I take the time to type out a worthy technical question if I don't even know if it will be published?
The interface takes some getting used to, but I have found the current best place for technical questions is stackoverlow.com.
It is like Usenet, but without the cranky people with no lives looking to slam people.
I've learned a lot there.
Re:I'm Skeptical Of The Usefulness (Score:4, Interesting)
BTW http://meta.superuser.com/ [superuser.com] has a similar interface to stackoverflow and is very helpful too.
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Their weakness is in making it quick/easy for newbs to figure out who/what they are and how to use the sites. I discovered them by Googling on tech questions I had.
I didn't know all of those things.
Thanks for much for the information.
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It's always fun to see your stories rejected, only to have one of the editors post it under their name 2 days later.
Or waiting more than a week with your question pending, by which time, the answers will be rather moot usually.
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Exactly !!
or seeing something completely off topic and frivolous get posted when something completely on topic and interesting of yours gets rejected.
It wouldn't be so bad if you got a one line explanation. I wouldn't get so mad if I knew why.
Re:I for one welcome this change with open hands (Score:4, Interesting)
So this is slashdot bowing to its corporate overlords, then? How long have you been working to slip that one through, eh?
Re:I for one welcome this change with open hands (Score:5, Insightful)
My upcoming sarcastic comments aside, I actually kinda agree. Most (not all but most) ask slashdot questions have been along the lines of "I can't use google or afford a consultant, please do my job for me". This might bring some interesting discussion... as long as the "sponsors" are labeled and the questions don't become obvious marketting.
Re:I for one welcome this change with open hands (Score:4, Funny)
Re:I for one welcome this change with open hands (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, and does anyone know where I can get cheap replica handbags?
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China?
http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/designer-replica-handbags.html [alibaba.com]
http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/quality-replica-handbags.html [alibaba.com]
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I want to ask slashdot what kind of clothes I should wear.
Sorry, there is no expert on slashdot for these type of questions!
Re:I for one welcome this change with open hands (Score:5, Funny)
I have a Nike T-shirt (St Louis Cardinals logo on it). Paid seventy five cents for it at a garage sale five years ago.
Anyone who pays full price for fashion is no nerd. In fact, if you care about fashion at all you probably aren't a nerd. If you just want to meet women, ask women what to wear.
This advice comes from personal experience. After my divorce I couldn't get as much as a dinner date for 3 years, until one night in a bar a woman suggested I cut my beard into a goatee. So I did an informal survey of women 18 to eighty seven, and seventeen of eighteen respondants said "goatee" (the eighteenth was standing next to her boyfriend, who was wearing a full beard).
The dry spell ended almost immediately. I guess women don't like the RMS look.
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Nike, eh? I know a guy who posts on here who can get it cheaper. Like, way cheaper.
Re:I for one welcome this change with open hands (Score:5, Funny)
"Dear Slashdot readers, Why does Linux suck so much?"
(sponsored by Microsoft).
Re:Here's my major question: (Score:5, Funny)
When are you guys going to fix the extremely broken, gamed, and unworking moderation system?
You got modded down. Looks like the moderation system works to me!
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Astroturfing doesn't mean what you think it means. A discussion with identified corporate sponsors certainly doesn't fit the definition.
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I fail to see how trying to link everything back to MS and Facebook makes for "more interesting discussions".
Re:I for one welcome this change with open hands (Score:5, Insightful)
I work for a public relations company that deals with large clients (can't say who) and I welcome this change. It should bring more interesting discussions to Slashdot. Those "omg astroturfer" guys heads are going to implode. :)
The questions is if we'll see more experts or more sales staff. I've seen some attempts at this before and the results have sounded more like a sales pitch than anything resembling a real discussion of pros and cons. Then again, many of the questions have been utterly lame in the past so I don't expect it to get much worse than it is. It's been on my "maybe" list of categories to block before, if it does then it's a checkbox away from being gone anyway.
Re:I for one welcome this change with open hands (Score:5, Insightful)
For good example, see this story [slashdot.org] about MS open source programmers asking Slashdot's opinions on how to improve their Python IDE. It's full of hate, stupid comments and crap.
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As for your fist statement; that may well be true on Slashdot as it can get way more rowdy than I have seen in other forums.
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Why is asking here different from asking on IRC or the Python forums? At least here, the people who don't agree with the party line can air their comments.
Either he should be asking questions on a public forum or he shouldn't. Once he made the decision to go to the public forums, he is perfectly entitled to ask on Slashdot as much as on the Python forums. And I guess he'd get the vitriol on either of them.
Re:I for one welcome this change with open hands (Score:5, Interesting)
The questions is if we'll see more experts or more sales staff.
Most experts in IT fields already know to hang around StackOverflow for helping others, and getting help as well. The sales staff have been poking at everything from Slashdot to Faceschmuck to Digg for years, never getting quite as well established. So, which group is on the lookout for new fora? Which company recently bought /. and what is their goal?
Not that I see this necessarily as a bad thing. For precedent, see the vendor forums on Geekhack.org. Very productive for both the consumer and the vendor, so long as it is properly labeled.
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That will be my reply if I feel like trolling. Actually it wont, but I imagine a lot of posts along those lines.
Modding the expert down will also happen more often than not.
"You must be new here" will make a great comeback.
It'll be fun until it's cancelled.
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I work in a business <i>x</i> and I need to do <i>y</i> what open source <i>/cheap</i> tools are available to me?
I see product <i>x</i> is in violation of the GPL. How can I make these evil evil people pay?
My boss declared <i>A policy I do not like</i> how can I fight him to the bitter end and not end fired (the bitter end)?
Why is life difficult and who should I vote for to make
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Is it true that the refreshing taste of Coca Cola is a great thirst-quencher on a hot day?
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We know one of those clients is Microsoft; no need to be coy. We've been having interesting discussions for a while now; this appears to be "slashvertisement" which few here who are not being paid to direct the discussion would support. This is supposed to be an intelligent community-driven news site.
Slashdot editors: if you need to do a funding drive a la Wikipedia, you will find strong community support. You should be doing everything you can to promote that sense of shared community, and find ways to rew
Re:I for one welcome this change with open hands (Score:4, Informative)
I'm glad you at least copped to the fact that you're a PR monkey who takes orders from MS. Makes your posts on Google and MS topics no more valuable, but at least it now comes with the equivalent of a "Sponsored by MS" tag.
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Wait, how is this different than the failure that was vendors.slashdot.org [archive.org] back in 2006/2007?
Surely I'm not the only one who remembers when they invited Intel, AMD, Microsoft, and I forget who else to participate in tech discussions, and it turned into a total flop? I can't find the original Slashdot story talking about it (pulled down?), but I think it was somewhere around here [slashdot.org].
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So the moral of the story, the story being Pearl Harbour, is don't trust FedEx?
Re:December 7, 1941 (Score:5, Funny)
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It was 70 years ago today that Japan, without declaring war prior, attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
I'm sorry, we can't accept that answer. Please state your question in the form of a question.
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The last time we declared war was World War II. How many bombs have we dropped since then?
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To be fair, the US didn't declare war against Japan before trying to prevent supplies of oil and steel from reaching your shores or supporting mercenaries in China against the Japanese invasion there. Anyone who thought the Japanese would just sit around without going to war over that wasn't paying much attention.
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well, the network expert can tell you that your workplace relations problems are cause by the lack of a quality crossbar in the switching fabric. For 10000$ he can sell you a switch with a crossbar in the fabric that can handle your n^2 communications link that are the source of your workplace relation problems.