Slackware Forums Alive Again! 190
HappySlacker writes "Looks like the forums from slackware.com that Patrick Volkerding (Slackware's daddy) had to take down because of massive trolling are fully active again after 2 years of hibernation as read-only at userlocal.com." Update: 01/21 19:23 GMT by T : Jeremy from LinuxQuestions.org points out the forums on that site, which is recommended on Slackware's links page.
Read only != Alive (Score:0, Insightful)
Just my $.02.
here come the trolls.. (Score:4, Insightful)
And wouldn't Slackware users just stumble upon it instead of anouncing it to hundreds of thousands of dorks on slashdot who will promptly go trolling there now (especially given that it is apparently newsworthy).
Uhhh.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Had the editors considered this they might have noticed that not only is Slashdot rife with trolls, but that these trolls would love to go take out a site that is obviously "vulnerable" to their actions. The forums may be read-only now, but if they become rw any time soon they may not last long because of poorly considered decisions like "let's post an open invitation to troll on the slashdot front page."
The thing is, I'm not saying this isn't newsworthy, but sometimes it isn't responsible to print things like this. Especially when you know you're likely to get a bad (bad for others) reaction from your audience.
Think before you approve, guys. Er, end maybe edit once in a while too?
Re:Uhhh.. (Score:2, Insightful)
A longtime multi-day reader, and longtime "metamoderator", It has been 6 months to a year since I've been invited to moderate. My suspicion is that it's because I often contribute a "commercial" viewpoint.
But Slashdot's approach of moderation seems to work well. I just worry about the man behind the curtain.
I really can't complain too loudly, because my voice can be heard. It's just not amplified by those who paid for the seats in congress.
Perhaps that's the answer to "trolls" ??
Re:Now maybe they can work on the store (Score:4, Insightful)
Shrug. (Score:5, Insightful)
This story is like the kindergarten example of the question of responsibility in journalism. Because of Time Magazine, millions of people now know of an excellent rifle to snipe with, a brilliant way to do it from inside the back of a car, and the ratio between sniping range and sniping accuracy. Arguably, anyone that reads Time Magazine or even just watches CNN is now about halfway toward being equipped to kill people from a distance with a sniper rifle. Why is this? Because our lives depended on knowing the exact type of rifle that the DC sniper was using, how much it cost, and where we could get one? Because the ratio between range and accuracy when firing a sniper rifle at a human skull had relevance to our daily lives? Because when we go to the doctor, we might want to have ourselves checked over with a sniper rifle to make sure that we don't have a life-threatening disease? No. It was none of these things. It was just sort of an interesting tidbit of information that some of us felt like knowing because we were curious.
People are bothered by what the
Re:Uhhh.. (Score:2, Insightful)
I wouldn't go shouting conspiracy theories yet. Selection for moderation is automated, and I doubt any slashdot editors would take the time to read your comments, let alone (1) remember who you are and make the connection between a specific viewpoint and you, and (2) actually removing you from the moderation queue because of it.
Yet it is still wierd that you haven't been invited, while I've moderated three times in the past month... bad karma?
All Praise Bob! (Score:3, Insightful)
And even the trolls were happy campers!
All Praise Bob! Hail Eris!
Re:Shrug. (Score:4, Insightful)
I think there's one key difference that you're missing here, though. Time magazine doesn't have a readerbase with a significant number of serial murderers subscribed to it. Additionally, becoming a sniper isn't much like trolling on the internet. One takes significant amounts of skill, time, and money -- the other just takes a fifteen year old who has decided that "Windoze XP is for fags and I'm going to be a hax0r and terr0r1z3 the intarweb now."
The thing I'm getting at is that Slashdot has a significant group of trolls, flamebaiters, crapflooders, and all the others in its readership and they are always looking for new ways and new places to get noticed for their trolling 'sk1llz'. The editors know this, and the front page story was worded in a way that practically begged these people to go wreak havoc.
If Time magazine knew it had a readerbase which consisted of a large group of gun-toting loonies then it would, indeed, be irresponsible to publish intimate details of murder by sniping. But even that falls short of the example. To make this example really correct Time magazine would need to print an article detailing areas which are deemed 'ripe' for a sniper to attack. I'm not saying they haven't done this, because I'm sure somebody (maybe them) has. I'm just saying that for your analogy that would have been the best way to really make a proper connection, I think.
At any rate... I realize that these days "journalism" and "responsibility" are not very akin, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be. And I think that on a website with a readerbase and editorship that at least feels it is above the common denominator some responsbility ought to be shown.
for your consideration... (Score:4, Insightful)
To the remarks of slackware alive, minority distro etc; slackware may not be the most widely used linux distro, but in my opinion, when all things are considered and stacked up, it's the best distro. Many will argue that different distro's are good for different applications, I fully agree, however, if only one could remain, it would have to be slackware. I'm not alone in this, I KNOW this becuase people tell me all the time it's true. Slackware users typically differ from other linux users in one distinct way...
redhat user: I tried slackware, it was ok, I also tried debian, phatlinux, mandrake and caldera.
slackware user: I installed slackware 5 years ago. debian seems cool and redhat made me angry to use so I gave it up after 3 hours. yeah, really just used slackware.
this is ranting... I'm tired.
download slackware. love it. or somthing
Re:Glad to see signs of life (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Why don't they use slashdots karma system (Score:3, Insightful)
Your're insane
Re:Now maybe they can work on the store (Score:1, Insightful)
Erm, no! Dependencies are still very much there -- not in the slightest a "thing of the past". They're just dealt with in a sane fashion.
Re:Shrug. (Score:3, Insightful)
Sure. OTOH, the info published in Time Magazine is available in just about any library in any postindustrial country in the world. What diff does it make if Time publishes it?
Re:Why don't they use slashdots karma system (Score:2, Insightful)