What a bunch of feral Slashdotters had to say when Blogger... got hacked recently

October 28, 2002 1:31 PM

What a bunch of feral Slashdotters had to say when Blogger... got hacked recently “I would put forth the theory that communication may have been one of the very shortcomings that channelled so many veteran Slashdotters into their chosen field of hunched backs, Help Desk apps that prevent human communication, and Barney Miller-school hair concepts” – John Kusch
posted by joeclark (33 comments total)

So he responds to stereotypes about bloggers with stereotypes about coders? Somebody must have touched a nerve.
posted by malphigian at 1:39 PM on October 28, 2002

Also discussed here. I guess this Kusch guy can't take a joke. Let the flamewars begin.
posted by hyperizer at 1:41 PM on October 28, 2002

A MetaFilter post about Slashdotters teasing Bloggers.

I'm getting a headache trying to figure out about whom I should make the first sarcastic comment.
posted by oissubke at 1:57 PM on October 28, 2002

That's the beauty of the internet, oissubke, you can do it all at once.

500,000 navel-gazers can't be utterly wrong

But they can seem utterly self absorbed and have a credibility problem. : )
posted by namespan at 2:07 PM on October 28, 2002

Having spent much of the past day deleting comments from both sides, I have nothing but contempt for the vast majority of the members of both groups.
posted by anildash at 2:19 PM on October 28, 2002

500,000 navel-gazers can't be utterly wrong

Funny how I can't tell if that statement is supposed to be about the bloggers or the slashdotters...and the only way I know it's not about MeFites is because there aren't 500,000 of us yet.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 2:37 PM on October 28, 2002

I did like the remark that said "hacking a blogging site is like littering in a dump". But there's a suitable comeback in a .sig I once saw on /. itself: "Having a lameness filter on Slashdot is like having a shit filter on your ass."
posted by George_Spiggott at 2:51 PM on October 28, 2002

Hey, I'm offended by the Barney Miller comment, Fish and Dietrich were cool.
posted by nyxxxx at 3:10 PM on October 28, 2002

anildash: Having spent much of the past day deleting comments from both sides, I have nothing but contempt for the vast majority of the members of both groups.

Perhaps the feeling is mutual? (btw, you're not a big fan of comments, are you?)
posted by oissubke at 3:11 PM on October 28, 2002

Yamano! Yamano rules!
posted by deadcowdan at 3:25 PM on October 28, 2002

Arg. blog IS a stupid word!!!!!!!!

It is by far the most annoying word on the 'net today. It sounds like a synonym for throwing up (retch, hurl, puke, vomit, blog). Whoever coined it had no sense of aesthetics whatsoever. What about something like "thoughtstream" or something?
posted by delmoi at 4:17 PM on October 28, 2002

thoughtstream... didn't they buy razorfish?
posted by mosch at 4:33 PM on October 28, 2002

So since I'm a weblogger and a /.er, does that mean I am making fun of myself?
posted by Argyle at 4:38 PM on October 28, 2002

OK, I'll bite.


We "feral" nerds invented and continue to run the internet, and make many other wonders of modern life possible - it's just a shame we also enable the existence of whiney, listen-to-me-but-don't-talk-back blogs. Mr Kusch and his ilk owe us a debt of gratitude - not schoolboy sneers at their technical superiors.

"Blee gay bloo atheist blar political blog pop culture" ? I couldn't have put it better myself.

Yes, salshDot sucks, but because of its slacker "editors", and not because of the subculture who post to it, who represent a remarkable conglomeration of technical knowledge.
If Mr Kusch could understand it, he'd understand.

Blog - yes it's crap word - but that's exactly why it's so suitable.


That's better.
posted by godidog at 5:00 PM on October 28, 2002

We "feral" nerds invented and continue to run the internet

Slashdotters invented and run the internet? Got any numbers for that? Most of the seriously competent network engineers I know (and I happen to know a lot of them) shudder at the mere mention of Slashdot.

The nerd who badly needs to get a life and the nerd who creates things of value are not even remotely the same person. And the typical quality of Slashdot postings are indicative of much more of the former than the latter. Yes, you do get bright, talented, knowledgeable people posting there. But they seem to be hugely in the minority.
posted by George_Spiggott at 5:18 PM on October 28, 2002

Most of the seriously competent network engineers I know (and I happen to know a lot of them) shudder at the mere mention of Slashdot.

[flame]

The internet wasn't built by seriously competent network engineers it was built by hacker-types that rejected the status quo and decided to build something better than what they had.

Not to degrade the profession, but anybody with a high school diploma can certify for a CCNA. There are only a few people that can create things like TCP, IP, FTP, HTTP, BGP, etc.

It was creative, strange hackers that built the internet while the seriously competent people were at IBM planning the next version of the mainframe.

It was two NoCal hippies that built Apple computer.

It was a wily kid from Seattle that bought DOS for $50,000 and sold it to IBM creating Microsoft.

It was a strange Finnish nerd that wrote linux on a 386.

Your beloved seriously competent people haven't done much except come in and try to keep the lights on. They would have a clue what do if they had to invent something new.

[/flame]
posted by Argyle at 7:14 PM on October 28, 2002

So your position is that the Internet was created by incompetents? Those NoCal hippies were not incompetent, and they weren't the kind of cretins that hang around on Slashdot flaming bloggers and having repetitive flamewars about the merits of platforms whose merits they don't begin to understand. Ditto for Linus Torvalds is both serious and incompetent. Bill Gates, well ... he too has better things do.

And none of the above created or do much to maintain the internet. Vint Cerf, for example, is both serious and competent. And I don't know what on Earth your point is supposed to be.

The people who "create and maintain the internet" are not the slashtwats who hang around sneering at bloggers. The people who create and maintain the internet, if I may run the risk of characterising them, are usually (with the exception of abuses like spam) endlessly fascinated with and delighted with the uses to which their work can be put.
posted by George_Spiggott at 7:26 PM on October 28, 2002

Make that "ditto for Linus Torvalds, who is both serious and competent". Typed a little fast there.
posted by George_Spiggott at 7:27 PM on October 28, 2002

I didn't say incompetent, you did.

Woz, Jobs, and Torvalds were all wasting time on BBSes and the net in various geek communities that were way outside the realm of the 'serious' information technology bastions of the day. Think IBM, AT&T, DEC.

Vint Cerf's ideas were strange and revolutionary when he suggested them. Same with Bob Metcalf and ethernet. Or have you forgotten IBM's vaunted token ring system already?

The people who will bring more innovation are that rabble on slashdot. It's not going to come from 'serious' people in big corporations who don't have time to read comments. It's going to come from the people with imagination.
posted by Argyle at 9:44 PM on October 28, 2002

I didn't say anything about corporations, you did.

It takes a serious and competent network engineer to create and maintain the internet, because that task consists of serious network engineering which you must be competent to do. Whereas any fool can post to Slashdot and cheer about hacking blogger.
posted by George_Spiggott at 9:48 PM on October 28, 2002

Fight! Fight! Fight!
posted by untuckedshirts at 10:26 PM on October 28, 2002

Nerd Fight! Nerd Fight!
(Much different, visualize hysterical rolling girly slaps, etc...)
posted by HTuttle at 10:43 PM on October 28, 2002

I have a blog and I'm not a real technical wiz over here...I don't have a Linux penguin on my bumper and I don't so much as have my pc overclocked...maybe I'm biased, but I think it's pretty obvious that some of the /. comments in question were a little on the dismissive (and outright idiotic) side (the 12 user comment for example). There's a big difference between being bright and being a smug asshole, which, clearly, a LOT of Slashdotters (and bloggers, god knows) are. Personally, I started my blog because I wanted to have a place I could post all the interesting stuff I find on the internet for my friends and family and along the way, I've met some interesting people who's thinking is along the same lines because of it. Screw what some /. jackass - whether he's a tech genius or a garden-variety jerkoff who thinks he's 1337 'cause he doesn't use Windows - thinks of it. Anyhow, any time you have a site with as many folks as there are on Slashdot posting you're going to get your share of bullshit comments - if there's one thing you can bank on, it's that. Live and let live.
posted by Jimmy Olsen at 2:03 AM on October 29, 2002

Yes, there are competent people and idiots posting on slashdot, and the moderation scheme and editors are inadequate to make it easy to seperate them(*).

But I took Mr Kusch's attack to be one on all of us "feral" nerds; slashdot posters or not; competent or not; network engineers or everquest-obsessed; Vi or Emacs; "Inch-Thick, Light-Sensitive, 1982-Ass Sysop Glasses" or fashionable gay atheists.


(*) Then again, they banned me, so they must be doing something right...
posted by godidog at 2:13 AM on October 29, 2002

Slashdot is still up? That site is sooooo last year.
posted by CrazyJub at 4:33 AM on October 29, 2002

I have a blog and I'm not a real technical wiz over here...I don't have a Linux penguin on my bumper and I don't so much as have my pc overclocked...

I stopped reading here.
posted by holloway at 9:25 PM on October 29, 2002

I read that thread. Every time they slagged on bloggers, it was obvious they were talking about all those other bloggers, not me. I'm sure that was obvious to everyone else too, right?
posted by kindall at 11:25 PM on October 29, 2002

Read this, then, holloway, you should get off your high horse and quit being such a dick - or were you one of the assanine closed-minded Slashdotters in question? Probably the case. Go wank yourself to your C++ manual or Star Trek tapes or whatever and keep telling yourself how much better you are than anyone else. That'll get you laid and make you some friends, maybe :)
posted by Jimmy Olsen at 7:29 PM on October 30, 2002

You were all picked last at kickball, weren't you? I was too. You get over it.

Eventually.
posted by owillis at 10:39 PM on October 30, 2002

Jimmy Olsen's pore speling, inadequate punctuation, inability to appreciate humour and train-of-thought ramblings make it clear: he's a Slashdot editor !

No wonder he hates Slashdotters.
posted by godidog at 3:13 AM on October 31, 2002

Ooooh, excuse me. I never said I hated Slashdotters, I said I hated elitest assholes, basically. That'd be you, puncuation cop.
posted by Jimmy Olsen at 9:48 AM on November 1, 2002

And yeah, I know I spelled punctuation wrong, it was a typo. You go ahead and throw a party and pat yourself on the back for being such a genius, though, godidog :)
posted by Jimmy Olsen at 9:51 AM on November 1, 2002

Jimmy, you're a fool who fights with carefully rehersed arguments against cliches you invent. You are also unaware that you're effectively fighting against yourself. Congratulations, you win.
posted by holloway at 7:46 PM on November 1, 2002