Most Votes
- When will AGI be achieved? Posted on April 24th, 2025 | 13971 votes
Most Comments
- When will AGI be achieved? Posted on April 24th, 2025 | 49 comments
Favorite Poll Choice?
If you would know the value of money, go try to borrow some. -- Ben Franklin
Don't complain... (Score:5, Funny)
This whole thing is wildly inaccurate. (Score:5, Funny)
and/or you're CowboyNeal.
Re:This whole thing is wildly inaccurate. (Score:2, Funny)
I dunno, I use them to kill time at work, and my boss seems to think that's important.
What a killjoy. Maybe she's the insane one.
Feel free to suggest poll ideas... (Score:2)
Does Taco really live as he learn? I'm almost certain I've seen ComboyNeal as an option once or twice before this poll.
Re:Feel free to suggest poll ideas... (Score:3, Funny)
I really shouldn't rush to conclusions like that. After all, the times I saw it as an option it might very well have been in a different context. It's not like the 'CowboyNeal' option means the same thing in every poll or something. Gosh, what was I thinking?
CowboyNeal (Score:5, Funny)
OR...
Can I write in "CowboyNeal"?
Bell Curve? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Bell Curve? (Score:3, Interesting)
This was my first thought too, but it was not so bell-like when I voted.
My theory is that this is really a test to see how much of an out-of-the-box thinker you are. If you voted for the same option (i.e. the 4th CBN vs. the 3rd CBN) as everyone else did, then you're not that original. If you voted for the one with the lease number of selections, then your brain works subtly more differently than the majority of readers.
This is, in my opinion, an example of a nonstandard psychological examination. And I wouldn't be surprised that there's something like this used by real psychologists or psychiatrists to learn subtly about a person's mind.
Re:Bell Curve? (Score:5, Insightful)
No, it's a test to see who's paying attention. Cowboy Neal is always the last option in any poll. Therefore, voting for anything other than the last option is not a vote for the real Cowboy Neal, but for an imposter!
Beware! The aliens are trying to deceive us! This is simply a test to see if anyone would notice if they substituted a green, tentacled, one-eyed, drooling monster in place of Cowboy Neal.
DO NOT BE FOOLED! SAVE COWBOY NEAL!
Folgers? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Bell Curve? (Score:5, Funny)
not "random" (Score:3, Interesting)
CowboyNeal? (Score:3, Funny)
"But, isn't that the least bit confusing? You can't tell who you're talking to!"
"Not at all... CowboyNeal, please step forward"
(One of the weird looking alien creatures steps forward)
"See?"
who the hell is cowboy neal???? (Score:4, Funny)
New poll (Score:5, Funny)
( ) A twit
( ) A very skilled troll
( ) A clueless newbie
( ) Soon to appear in their own Darwin Award
( ) CowboyNeal
Re:New poll (Score:3, Funny)
No, no, no. It's:
( ) None of the above
( ) All of the above
... in that order.
Re:His UID is around 140K (Score:3, Funny)
Not that it matters, slashdot has sucked since user 203.
Re:USSR Elections (Score:2, Funny)
So, will the real CowboyNeal... (Score:2, Funny)
So, will the real CowboyNeal please stand up?
And put one of those fingers on each hand up?
And be proud to be outta your mind and outta control and one more time, loud as you can, how does it go?
Re:So, will the real CowboyNeal... (Score:2)
Hmm. (Score:5, Funny)
Er.
Guess I'm the only one, then.
Re:Hmm. (Score:5, Funny)
Missing Poll Options? (Score:2, Funny)
Ugh... (Score:2, Funny)
random user interaction (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:random user interaction (Score:2)
Re:random user interaction (Score:5, Informative)
Right - isn't that exactly what we're seeing?
There are only a few ways to answer this poll besides choosing one at random, and we all know nothing's random:
This is actually the most interesting Slashdot poll I've ever seen... that's not saying much, of course. Sure it's easy to come up with an explanation *after* you've seen the results, but still, the numbers make a lot of sense.
So why did i choose the one before last? (Score:3, Funny)
Maybe i lack drive - i was going to go for the last option but i gave up at the last minute
Maybe i'm dislexic and confused the last two options - i really meant to choose "Cowboy Neal" instead of "Cowboy Neal"
Maybe i have extra-sensorial perception - i felt that Cowboy Neal really wanted me to choose the one before last.
Maybe i'm overstressed - my hand just trembled too much when i was choosing the option so i missed the one i wanted.
Maybe i am too technologicaly minded - i just coded and used a true random number generator to choose it.
The last one (Score:2, Funny)
Re:The last one (Score:4, Funny)
So I picked (1), thinking that he would be in the opposite position this time.
Re:The last one (Score:3, Funny)
Vizzini: I'm afraid so. I can't compete with you physically, and you're no match for my brains.
Man in black: You're that smart?
Vizzini: Let me put it this way: Have you ever heard or Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?
Man in black: Yes.
Vizzini: Morons!
Man in black: Really! In that case, I challenge you to a battle of wits.
Vizzini: For the princess? To the death? I accept!
Man in black: Good, then pour the wine. [Vizzini pours the wine] Inhale this but do not touch.
Vizzini: [taking a vial from the man in black] I smell nothing.
Man in black: What you do not smell is Iocaine powder. It is odorless, tasteless, and dissolves instantly in liquid and is among the more deadly poisons known to man.
Vizzini: [shrugs with laughter] Hmmm.
Man in black: [turning his back, and adding the poison to one of the goblets] Alright, where is the poison? The battle of wits has begun. It ends when you decide and we both drink - and find out who is right, and who is dead.
Vizzini: But it's so simple. All I have to do is divine it from what I know of you. Are you the sort of man who would put the poison into his own goblet or his enemies? Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I am not a great fool so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you...But you must have known I was not a great fool; you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
Man in black: You've made your decision then?
Vizzini: [happily] Not remotely! Because Iocaine comes from Australia. As everyone knows, Australia is entirely peopled with criminals. And criminals are used to having people not trust them, as you are not trusted by me. So, I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.
Man in black: Truly, you have a dizzying intellect.
Vizzini: Wait 'till I get going!!
Man in black: Australia.
Vizzini: Yes! Australia! And you must have suspected I would have known the powder's origin,so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
Man in black: You're just stalling now.
Vizzini: You'd like to think that, wouldn't you! You've beaten my giant, which means you're exceptionally strong...so you could have put the poison in your own goblet trusting on your strength to save you, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But, you've also bested my Spaniard, which means you must have studied...and in studying you must have learned that man is mortal so you would have put the poison as far from yourself as possible, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me!
Man in black: You're trying to trick me into giving away something. It won't work.
Vizzini: It has worked! You've given everything away! I know where the poison is!
Man in black: Then make your choice.
Vizzini: I will, and I choose...[pointing behind the man in black] What in the world can that be?
Man in black: [turning around, while Vizzini switches goblets] What?! Where?! I don't see anything.
Vizzini: Oh, well, I...I could have sworn I saw something. No matter. [Vizzini laughs]
Man in black: What's so funny?
Vizzini: I...I'll tell you in a minute. First, lets drink, me from my glass and you from yours.
[They both drink]
Man in black: You guessed wrong.
Vizzini: You only think I guessed wrong! That's what's so funny! I switched glasses when your back was turned! Ha ha, you fool!! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia; and only slightly less well known is this: Never go in against a Sicilian, when death is on the line!
[Vizzini continues to laugh hysterically. Suddenly, he stops and falls right over. The Man in black removes the blindfold from the princess]
Buttercup: Who are you?
Man in black: I'm no one to be trifled with. That is all you'll ever need know.
Buttercup: And to think, all that time it was your cup that was poisoned.
Man in black: They were both poisoned. I spent the last few years building up immunity to iocaine powder.
[The scene switches back to Humperdinck and his men]
Time to retire the CowboyNeal option (Score:2, Insightful)
Psych 101 (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Psych 101 (Score:2)
CowboyNeal: MonkeyBoy, I am your father.
MonkeyBoy: Nooooo!!!!
Finally... (Score:3, Funny)
i've seen a poll like this somewhere before... (Score:5, Funny)
That was a sad joke (Score:4, Insightful)
However, somehow the media seems to have convinced the population that the only real candidates are from the demopublicans, and the rest are joke entries. While the truth is the opposite.
The only appropriate response (Score:2)
Right?
I know why they made this poll (Score:3, Funny)
It was my answer.
Whoops.
feeling creative? (Score:3, Interesting)
Oh well, at least with current trends, we'll get a new poll in three days or something
Re:feeling creative? (Score:5, Funny)
A WEB COLONY (slashdot!)
LACE BOY NOW (don't ask)
BALCONY WOE (review of JonKatz musical)
BACON, LYE, OW! (that's been my experience as well)
BEAN COW LOY (popular chinese beef dish)
CABLE NOW, YO. (gave up on DSL)
NEW COLA BOY (No classic here, bub!)
CONWAY LOEB (code name!)
WAYNE COBOL (Double code name!)
LEAN COWBOY (uhm, not)
YAWL BEN COO (thanks Cleetus!)
Interesting to see which one will win. (Score:2)
My bets :
choices (1), (4), (5) will outvote (2),(3),(6) and (7), (8)
Why? people like "middles" (4,5) and number (1).
wait... (Score:2)
Re:Interesting to see which one will win. (Score:4, Insightful)
But... But... (Score:2)
Almost looked like a hack job! (Score:3, Funny)
either that or CowboyNeal needs a vote of confidence
Similar to a microsoft 'preferred operating system poll'...
When given the choice.. (Score:2)
Parallel to Candidate Registration in "real" polls (Score:2, Informative)
There are plenty of comments making reference to real elections where voters feel that there are no distinct choices have been posted already. But that got me thinking...
Candidates often camp out, or have proxys camp out, for days or weeks ahead of time at county clerks' offices to make sure that they are the first on on the ballot list for general elections. The thought being that the first name on the list has some preference for undedided voters. Some candidates wait for the last minute to submit their election petition so that they can be the last on the ballot.
I find it interesting that this
Hey man! (Score:2)
This is so stupid, it's the most brilliant poll ever...
Re:Parallel to Candidate Registration in "real" po (Score:2)
cowboyneal (Score:2, Funny)
Man, retire the lame joke already! (Score:4, Insightful)
Pick a new joke. Maybe an M$ or RMS reference.
LV
Joke's last hurrah! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Joke's last hurrah! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Joke's last hurrah! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Man, retire the lame joke already! (Score:3, Interesting)
I think this poll is rigged. (Score:3, Funny)
But when there's only one right answer anyways.....
-Restil
Only vote for the bottom CowboyNeal (Score:5, Funny)
Steve
Re:Only vote for the bottom CowboyNeal (Score:5, Funny)
Free your mind man, free your mind.
Re:Only vote for the bottom CowboyNeal (Score:3, Funny)
Remember: if you pick a CowboyNeal option that's not the bottom one, The Terrorists Will Have Won.
Cowboyneal? (Score:5, Interesting)
Always the last one... (Score:2)
What's with geeks today!
Re:Always the last one... (Score:3, Interesting)
Fnord.
How this poll is useful. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:How this poll is useful. (Score:2, Insightful)
uniformity? (Score:3, Interesting)
Funny thing about people
Positioning (Score:2)
WTF? (Score:2)
How can CowboyNeal #7 be losing so badly? Doesn't anyone believe in luck? I mean, I was hoping maybe a lousy AYBABTU T-shirt or something. What a bunch of lousy, lazy, sink-to-the-bottom turds you CowboyNeal #8s are. Don't even get me started on CowboyNeal #0s. Bastards!
I feel like I'm in Being John Malkovitch (Score:3, Funny)
Coyboy neil cowboy neil cowboy neil cowboy neil. Cowboy neil cowboy neil cowboy neil cowboy.
Neil cowboy neil.
Cowboy neil Cowboy Neil Cowboy [perlmonks.org] Neil cowboy, neil cowboy neil. Cowboy neil cowboy neil cowboy neil cowboy neil cowboy neil.
Cowboy Neil! [beer.com]
Distro not normal (Score:2)
Options. (Score:2)
Malkovich (Score:3, Funny)
-Malkovitch
The significance? (Score:2)
Naturally, people select the ends and the very middle so as to maximize their privacy.
So, is this News for Nerds, (Score:2)
CowboyNeal Anagrams (Score:5, Interesting)
COY OWL BANE
BALONEY COW
ABLY CEO NOW
LOONY WEB AC
BLOWY OCEAN
ONLY BE WACO
WAYNE COBOL
Two special awards go to
1) The spookiest:
A WEB COLONY
2) and perhaps the least applicable:
LEAN COWBOY
Microsoft caught rigging Slashdot poll. (Score:3, Funny)
Some people. Feh.
k.
why last is better... (Score:2)
Hence, it only makes sense to pick the last one again.
The interesting part of this poll (Score:2)
In contrast with almost all of the comments I usually read, I've always liked the CowboyNeal option because it gives you an idea about the general seriousness of what folks select, and can thus be used as an 'error' factor. If people feel strongly about an answer they won't dick around with choosing CowboyNeal.
I used to write software for a company that did computer based, psychological testing and there's quite a few similarities with that and polls. I learned that before a test is used in the real world, it's quality is measured very carefully (this takes years!). It turns out that the order of answers can definitely influence the quality of a test. (they usually try to avoid using tests that are susceptible to things like this)
It's amazing though how many questions in the tests actually measured something entirely different than you would expect at first sight.
A little while back CNN ran some poll that went something like:
The US will capture Osama Bin Laden:
a) Never
b) In 1 - 2 weeks
c) In 3 weeks to 3 months
This one baffled me at first,- how is this a poll? I mean, how the hell are you and I supposed to give a credible answer to that one? We certainly can't (unless you are OBL and are reading this) so this poll must be measuring something else, like the confidence of the masses in the US military. Or something. Anyways, I'm programming Operating Systems right now, I no longer try to understands these weird folks screwing with my brain.
All about the powers of 2 (Score:2)
How curious that 2^1 = 2 is not.
Well, it's finally time to... (Score:2)
Start rant.
I was able to tolerate the annoyance of having a CowboyNeal option on every poll, but I really preferred "huh?" instead.
This is just plain stupid, and after all the CowboyNeal options in other polls, not even funny.
End rant.
What the hell is going on! (Score:2)
I know you're not supposed to complain... (Score:5, Insightful)
How can you have left out CowboyNeal? I thought that was the most obvious one. Althought I admit I didn't get every option (what the hell is a CowboyNeal, anyone?), I found the omission of CowboyNeal to be rather glaring. Especially since you included CowboyNeal instead. Surely CowboyNeal is a better answer than CowboyNeal?
But what do I matter, I picked the wimpout CowboyNeal option.
Anyway, for a blatant karma whoring, here's the poll options explained:
Re:I know you're not supposed to complain... (Score:2)
This a reference to cowboyneal. I looks like Cowbowneal, so it must be him.
At a meta level this a reference to the
Accuracy (Score:3, Interesting)
Interesting... (Score:2, Interesting)
New poll idea (Score:5, Funny)
And this is what he looks like: (Score:3, Funny)
That's the original, anyway!
Baz
CowboyNeal at the WhiteHouse (Score:3, Funny)
Now, that is interesting. What would happen if the hundreds of thousands of US-based Slashdotters were to elect the next President of the Unites States and had to fill up this form:
( ) Ray Publican
( ) Dee Mocrat
( ) Some Nader Guy
( ) Cowboy Neal
CowboyNeal, President! CowboyNeal, President!
Re:I like (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I like (Score:2, Funny)
Re:I like (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:I like (Score:2)
Explanation (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I like (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:I like (Score:2)
The last poll option should be the leading result. Being naive we would guess that all options would be selected equally. However, most often when CowboyNeal is an option, it is listed as the final option. People who vote this way anyway, might be casting their vote for "CowboyNeal as the final option in a list" With their votes there and the rest of us confuzed and kinda equally distributed, it would make sense to be the leading answer.
This talk of normal distribution is crazy though. Things are normally distributed around something. You can't be normally distributed around random CowboyNeal choices unless their is a tendancy for people to choose in the middle of a pack of numbers. IF we did get a normal distribution, that would be really interesting, but we're not.
Re: yeah, anyone else notice... (Score:2)
Re: yeah, anyone else notice... (Score:2, Informative)
Of course, anyone tries to do anything useful with the numbers from a poll like this is clinically insane. Or CowboyNeal. Or me.
Re:Slashdot Bias (Score:2)
-1: Troll
Re:Control for other polls? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Its true! I always pick the least Favorite! (Score:3, Funny)