Washington State LUG to Hold "Nerd Auction"

elrous0 writes "As part of a PR stunt, a Washington Linux user group is holding a "Nerd Auction" and appealing to local sororities to exchange dates and makeover advice for their computer skills and homework assistance. 'The problem is that we're all still nerds. Let's face it, guys. If anyone's going to bid on us, we'll need some spicing up,' writes Washington State Linux Users Group president Ben Ford on the group's website. 'And who better to help with that than sorority girls who like nothing better than a makeover?' So far there has been no comment on how a Linux user group is going to help sorority girls with their Windows machines."

How to help...

[psychicsword (1036852)]

So far there has been no comment on how a Linux user group is going to help sorority girls with their Windows machines.

Isn't it obvious, by installing linux.

Re:How to help...

[IdleTime (561841)]

Like, only if your brain isn't like a sorority girl, like!

Re:How to help...

[snowgirl (978879)]

I'm thinking about attending, I could maybe find a cute guy who knows a lot about computers, and have him, er... root my box?

Re:How to help...

[Enigma Deadsouls (700792)]

Before I go about rooting your box, I'd like to know more about you. Let me finger you first.

Re:How to help...

[snowgirl (978879)]

No, I have port knocking setup, so if you don't know how to get me to respond, I don't have to worry about being rooted.

Re:How to help...

[IdleTime (561841)]

Careful now!
Someone may leave behind a rootkit and you'll need a doctor...
Btw, do you come with a spam blocker?

Re:How to help...

[snowgirl (978879)]

Ick! Well, fortunately, I'm rootkit free as of now, and I don't do anything that would put me at risk for being infected.

And while I don't come with a spam blocker, I do have a fairly strict spam filter. And if any spam comes in with any person information, I don't just put it in the bit bucket, but rather, I make sure that it's securely deleted.

Re:How to help...

[happyemoticon (543015)]

Yeah, and the superior stability of Linux means her computer will never get infected with adware, viruses, or even slow down on boot time. In fact, it'll never have any problems short of a hard drive crash, motherboard failure, or power supply failure. What good is that? You'll never get to see her again.

Re:How to help...

[fuzzix (700457)]

Yeah, and the superior stability of Linux means her computer will never get infected with adware, viruses, or even slow down on boot time. In fact, it'll never have any problems short of a hard drive crash, motherboard failure, or power supply failure. What good is that? You'll never get to see her again.

This is why you make sure her sshd is available from outside... ;)

"Your research paper DISAPPEARED?! That's awful... Two months of work, you say? I'll be right over!"

Re:How to help...

[Mr. Underbridge (666784)]

What good is that? You'll never get to see her again.

Like you didn't give yourself a shell account with superuser access. Come on. You'll be able to make that thing stop working at will!

That and you'll install software to remotely control her webcam anyway. You'll definitely be seeing her...

Pfft! Amateur.

[Penguinisto (415985)]

Get root on the machine, then type this:

# echo "10 17 * * 5 root (ifconfig eth0 down ; ifconfig eth1 down ; wall "Your computer is broken, please call $NERD at $PHONE immediately")" > /etc/crontab

...guaranteed you'll have at least one babe calling you once a week, ne? And be sure to set your frickin' variables before you type that.

(I swear, it's like the mere mention of meeting a chick turns off the whole BOFH part of the brain with you people...)

/P

Re:How to help...

[happyemoticon (543015)]

I just looked it up. Pretty funny. I'll quote it for anyone equally uninformed:

An engineer was crossing a road one day, when a frog called out to him and said, "If you kiss me, I'll turn into a beautiful princess." He bent over, picked up the frog and put it in his pocket. The frog spoke up again and said, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful princess, I will stay with you for one week." The engineer took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it and returned it to the pocket. The frog then cried out, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a princess, I'll stay with you for one week and do ANYTHING you want." Again, the engineer took the frog out, smiled at it and put it back into his pocket. Finally, the frog asked,

"What is the matter? I've told you I'm a beautiful princess, and that I'll stay with you for one week and do anything you want. Why won't you kiss me?" The engineer said, "Look, I'm an engineer. I don't have time for a girlfriend, but a talking frog, now that's cool."

Re:How to help...

[eln (21727)]

That's exactly what will happen. The geeks install linux, and the sorority girls kick the geeks in the nuts for ruining their computers. In this way, everyone wins. The sorority girls get to tell their professors they can't do their homework because their computers are toasted, thereby giving them more free time to attempt to get impregnated by the football team, and the geeks get more contact from a human female than they have ever gotten or will ever get again.

This is the very definition of "win-win".

One good reason for windows

[Anonymous Custard (587661)]

If there's one good reason to support windows, it's to help sorority girls upload their pajama party photos to your^H^H^H^H their flickr account.

Re:One good reason for windows

[Frosty Piss (770223)]

If there's one good reason to support windows, it's to help sorority girls upload their pajama party photos

Why? Is there a problem with the photos I took through the second story window from a ladder? I know they're only 6 mega pixels and the lighting is a bit uneven, but I thought they looked kind of "arty"...

NOT Washington State LUG.

[Frosty Piss (770223)]

This is not the Washington State LUG, it's the Washington State University LUG

not what its called

[Mr 44 (180750)]

True, except that no-one calles WSU "Washington State". It's referred to most commonly as "Wazzu [wikipedia.org]" or sometimes W.S.U.

Re:

[treeves (963993)]

It's quite common around here to hear people say "I live in Washington State". AFAIK this is the only state where this is said, and I suppose it distinguishes between it and Washington D.C.
I went to WSU, but I live in Oregon now. A similar problem we face locally is when you say Vancouver and you mean Canada, you have to say Vancouver BC, otherwise Vancouver, WA is assumed.

Re:NOT Washington State LUG.

[treeves (963993)]

Bottom line is, "Penn State" is obviously the school, while "Washington State" is ambiguous.

Re:NOT Washington State LUG.

[BootNinja (743040)]

Maby if the context was football I would have understood, but outside of a context typically associated with college it becomes confusing.

You mean, like a sorority?

Optimistic

[spleen_blender (949762)]

The sorority girls probably aren't going to bite. They know they can get nerds like us to work on their computer and homework assignments and have to give nothing in return. They just have to be... girls. This is sort of like people boycotting gasoline... it just won't work. They can hold out indefinitely since they have other sources of income (read: non-nerds sexing them up) where as we will sit there demanding cheaper gas (read: any sexing up).

Re:Optimistic

[Stringer Bell (989985)]

Confidence is sexy, according to my wife and most of her girlfriends. Be nervous, introspective, self-conscious, and "girls don't like nerds" becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Re:Optimistic

[bladesjester (774793)]

Confidence is indeed sexy. However, you don't have to be self-conscious to be introspective. It's actually a positive way to gauge where you are and where you want to be. The only thing is that you can't do it all the time, and you can't let it make you constantly second guess yourself.

I'm rather confident, and am also introspective. I also generally have no real lack of companionship when I want it.

Re:Optimistic

[Chuckstar (799005)]

"I also generally have no real lack of companionship when I want it."

Your cat doesn't count. ;)

Re:

[Surt (22457)]

You're thinking of dogs, cat's aren't like that.

Re:Optimistic

[ksheff (2406)]

Cats seek your companionship when they want to be fed.

Re:Optimistic

[Stringer Bell (989985)]

You honestly don't know the difference between confident and cocky? Humility is part of confidence, but it's the opposite of cockiness.

As I've been saying before

[Moraelin (679338)]

As I've been saying before, the situation is pretty skewed for both genders.

- About half the guys in a high school or university want the top 10 super-models. Move a bit lower and about 90% of the guys want the top 10% girls. Some might eventually get realistic enough to settle for a bit less, but only grudgingly.

- About the same applies to the girls. Half the girls want the top 10 jocks. Some 90% of the girls want the top 10% most desirable guys.

Interestingly enough, according to a recent study, girls seem to be a bit more realistic as to who they can actually get. Guys will tend to aim above what they can get.

Basically anyone who says that someone can get laid anytime she wishes and by anyone she wishes because she's a girl, probably is doing the same daydreaming: thinking about those top 10 most popular girls in the whole damn college. Noone thinks of the shy, flat, nerdy girl in the back row when they make such generalization. That's her problem in a nutshell: to 90% of the guys she's just short of invisible, or little more than a piece of decor.

To put it even more bluntly, half the western culture (of both genders) is generally more about getting a status symbol than someone they actually plan to get along with. It's the same as getting, say, the sportiest BMW you can afford: it's typically not as much because you actually need something that expensive and that much of a gas guzzler, but just to show everyone that you can afford what most others can't. Same here: girlfriends and boyfriends get chosen as status symbols more than anything else.

And same as almost noone wants the lower half of the guys, if they have a choice, noone wants the lower half of the girls either. Note that I'm not talking about the butt-ugly gang of either sex. Just being _average_, already isn't much of a status symbol.

So my take of what's going to happen is basically:

1. They _will_ find a bunch of girls noone else wants, willing to give it a try. Then they'll get to go, "eeew" as they discover that they didn't get some smooth and highly desirable jock. (Who just happened to be single and limited in nerdiness to knowing how to install Windows.)

2. The guys, conversely, will drool at the thought, right until they find out who they got to meet. And that it's not the horny super-model with huge tits, that they thought they _deserve_ for being so smart and for knowing all that command line stuff. Cue the mandatory "eew" from the guys too.

Nice try, but probably no banana.

Both groups will eventually settle on something more realistic, but if we're talking university LUGs and sororities, not yet. Well, not for most of them.

(And before anyone accuses me of being sexist, note that I've talked about both genders.)

Re:As I've been saying before

[drsmithy (35869)]

- About half the guys in a high school or university want the top 10 super-models. Move a bit lower and about 90% of the guys want the top 10% girls. Some might eventually get realistic enough to settle for a bit less, but only grudgingly.

- About the same applies to the girls. Half the girls want the top 10 jocks. Some 90% of the girls want the top 10% most desirable guys.

Interestingly enough, according to a recent study, girls seem to be a bit more realistic as to who they can actually get. Guys will tend to aim above what they can get.

Do you have a source for that ? I'd be interested to read it, because - along with your conclusion - the result certainly seems arse-about-face to me.

On a related note, I also recall some study done recently (on a university campus, maybe ?), basically on how successful the "Wanna fuck" pickup line works on males vs females (obviously they werent quite that crude, but it sums up the objective). From memory, the "success rate" of males vs females was something like 20% vs 80% (ie: 80% of women received a positive answer to their attempt, only 20% of men did - certainly the difference was dramatic). Further, of the men who declined, the reason was almost always due to some form of outside restriction on their ability to say agree (spouse/significant other, unavailable at the requested time, inappropriate relationship, etc) rather than not being interested in the sex. For women, the reasons were basically reversed - most said no because they weren't interested.

Certainly, the idea that men are more selective than women goes against everything I've ever read about (and experienced, but that's anecdotal) so I'd be interested to read your source for suggesting otherwise.

Basically anyone who says that someone can get laid anytime she wishes and by anyone she wishes because she's a girl, probably is doing the same daydreaming: thinking about those top 10 most popular girls in the whole damn college. Noone thinks of the shy, flat, nerdy girl in the back row when they make such generalization. That's her problem in a nutshell: to 90% of the guys she's just short of invisible, or little more than a piece of decor.

Actually, no, I'm thinking about the ~50% of average women out there, plus the ~25% of "more desirable" women.

Re:As I've been saying before

[RMH101 (636144)]

From memory, the "success rate" of males vs females was something like 20% vs 80% (ie: 80% of women received a positive answer to their attempt, only 20% of men did

Can you guys just do without me for a couple of minutes? Got to go and ask five women in the office something...

Re:As I've been saying before

[pcgabe (712924)]

noone wants the lower half of the girls

What are you talking about? The lower half is my favorite part of a girl!

Re:As I've been saying before

[Ajehals (947354)]

That ugly, nerdy girl just needs to let her hair down, shake her head, take of her glasses and change her clothes, then it will become clear that she is in fact the most beautiful person there and also has personality.

Its true, I saw it in some movies.

Re:

[by Anonymous Coward]

I let SO MANY great guys slip into any convenient orifice

Fixed that for you.

Protection

[SuperBanana (662181)]

So far there has been no comment on how a Linux user group is going to help sorority girls with their Windows machines

Lots of protection.

Mustn't RTFA...

[Otter (3800)]

I submitted this yesterday [slashdot.org], but apparently a working link [yahoo.com] to the story is considered bad form.

I thought LUG stood for...

[who's got my nicknam (841366)]

Lesbian Until Graduation. That makes the headline of this article even more interesting!

Geek = Nerd?

[krgallagher (743575)]

I have seen this reported in a couple of places in the last two days, and every time it makes my skin crawl. The reporters are all happy to make a joke out of it, and the LUG is too, so maybe I should not get upset. Still, I am proud to be a geek, but I do not consider myself a nerd. The quote that gets me in this article is "The idea is to trade their computer skills to sorority girls in exchange for a makeover and, possibly, a date."

I can see a number of problems with this.

• Just because I use Linux does not mean I can't get a date.
• Using Linux might make me a geek, but it does not make me a nerd.
• Why does the reporter assume the LUG members have the ulterior motive of getting laid?

OK, I'll admit that most men have the ulterior motive of trying to get laid. Still, the tone of every report I have read is, "Look what the nerds will go through in an attempt to get laid." They are propagating a stereotype and no one seems to care.

Re:Geek = Nerd?

[Hatta (162192)]

Why does the reporter assume the LUG members have the ulterior motive of getting laid?

Because they're male.

Our name is stereotype

[by Anonymous Coward]

Binky: Gee Ben, what are we gonna do tonight?

Ben: The same thing we do every night Binky: reinforce offensive gender role stereotypes!

Binky: NARF!

Nerds and Smarts

[bziman (223162)]

As a Linux user for well over a decade, I'm periodically tempted to drop by the local LUG, but every time I do, I find myself annoyed at the, well, nerdiness of the people there. I mean, sure, I know fourteen programming languages, I was a software engineer for a decade, and I'm working on a PhD in Computer Science (after already having studied Physics and Linguistics), but I just don't fit in to "Nerd" culture. This is because when I'm not doing something useful with Computer Science, traveling around the world, or I'm at the gym, or playing the piano, or sitting court-side at an NBA game or at any number of other social events. Your sorority girls are happy to have a smart guy who can fix their computer — but they're going to go for the ones who can function in society before they go to the fat, bespectacled, social outcasts that seem to congregate at LUGs.

-brian

Re:Nerds and Smarts

[SparkleMotion88 (1013083)]

Oh yeah? Well I worked as a software architect for 30 years while being a full-time professor in math and African history. I know 37 programming languages and 12 natural languages. When I'm not busy being intellectually awesome I like to go rock climbing, practice ninjitsu, wrestle bears, make 100 ft tall bronze sculptures, and play oustide linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs. So I don't think I'm a nerd either -- I'm entirely too awesome. I don't need to offer to fix a woman's computer in order to spend time with her. I usually just walk around and they are attracted to my awesomeness as if it had its own gravity.

I also think people who join LUGs are pathetic losers who probably couldn't attract a desperate woman *or* successfully wrestle even a small bear. I'm way better than them, and I'm glad to see that there are other folks out there who are just like me (only slightly less awesome).

Are they no female nerds?

[destinyland (578448)]

Maybe the female college students are already smart enough to fix their own computers, and don't need a big strong man-brain to show them how. For that matter, aren't there any female nerds who'd like also to be appreciated for the technical skills? Can they auction themselves off to the highest bidder too? This story is demeaning to women and to geeks.

Oblig. Simpsons..

[sayfawa (1099071)]

Administrator: How can we get these nerds to socialize better so that more girls will take CS?

Nerd: Well, you could maybe stop calling us nerds?

Administrator: Dweeb, wonk, spaz -- it's all good.

Meh..boxes

[Liquidrage (640463)]

"So far there has been no comment on how a Linux user group is going to help sorority girls with their Windows machines"

Meh, if you've seen one box you've seen them all.
When you're really break it down they're all nothing but I/O devices. Sure, some might have a few more bugs then others. And sure, some are more easy to get into then others. But at the end of the day a box is a box.
Oh, and beer never hurts.

Re:Meh..boxes

[Chelloveck (14643)]

Meh, if you've seen one box you've seen them all. When you're really break it down they're all nothing but I/O devices. Sure, some might have a few more bugs then others. And sure, some are more easy to get into then others. But at the end of the day a box is a box.

Wait. Are we talking about the computers or the girls here?

Some Answers

[lgbr (700550)]

To clarify on some details: We are the Linux Users Group at Washington State University, in Pullman, Washington. Enrollment in general in Computer Science has been down for the past few years. This has more greatly affected female enrollment, than anything else, where the number of females in WSU's Computer Science department is somewhere below 10%. What I'd like to make clear is that this event is not being put on to get geeks laid. Rather, it is to make the rest of campus aware that we exist, and are human. Our president, Ben Ford, and a female member came up with the idea to run this event. We hadn't planned for it to be much more than a fund raiser. But when the Associated Press ran a story on this yesterday, things started to blow up. Since then, our president has been shipped off to news studios. I've been on TV twice, and can hardly keep my phone from going off long enough for me to be interviewed. At the time of this writing, three sororities are in full participation for the event. The support has been so huge, that instead of a small fund-raiser like we were intending, the goal now is to raise enough money for a female scholarship in Computer Science.

LUG and Windows?

[Samurai Cat! (15315)]

"So far there has been no comment on how a Linux user group is going to help sorority girls with their Windows machines."

These guys will just lower their standards and deal with the Windows stuff.

Just like the sorority girls will be lowering their standards by going out on dates with these guys.

It's a win-win!

Makeovers

[Ilan Volow (539597)]

These sorority girls really know their makeovers. Once LUG members have been given advice on mascara, making their boobs look bigger, and looking good in a belly shirt no man will be able to resist them!

Re:

[Hatta (162192)]

Seriously, sororities are about conformity and groupthink, and being a nerd ([i]especially[/i] a Linux-using nerd) is about fighting that.

I think anyone who has read /. for any length of time knows that is not true.

Re:Getting a kick, etc...

[burntpenguin (1162727)]

I've been to PLENTY of WSU LUG meetings and I choose to remain anonymous for now. It's sick. Ben Ford comes up with this idea "in the shower." Does anyone want to know what he *does* in the shower? I'll just say it has to do with sorority girls and barn yard animals. The sad part here is, girls and computers always come first in his life. I hardly see why this is making the news. He is over $6,500 in past child support, continues NOT to pay it, yet has time for dating sorority girls but not time for his own kids. There's a reason why there aren't many females in the wsu LUG. Any girl who sees these guys should run away, and FAST.