I used to be happy when I got moderator points it seemed like a rare and special occasion, now I literally get 5-10 points a day. It seems the goal is to prevent me from posting, by keeping me moderating. I actually like moderating, it gives me a chance to do something that I feel rarely happens on /. Reading entire threads, it gives the chance to steer the conversation in a positive direction.

Yet I feel that some of the moderator tags are used in ways that I don't find optimal. The troll tag is among the most misused tags out there. People seem to moderate anyone that they disagree with as trolls, and in other cases of clear trolling; trying to chase people away from slash-dot, attempting to create off topic replies, and especially outright rudeness troll is rarely applied.

Overrated is often misused, in the same way as troll, however by more intelligent moderators, in meta moderation people will much more realty agree that a comment is overrated than it is a troll.

On the other hand I feel that off-topic is wildly underused. Feel that the amount of side conversation in most topics is a good thing. I've read many a thread that has gone off on a tangent never to come back to the topic of conversation.

I want a punk moderation option, this would be for when one of the elitist high schoolers who prowl slash-dot is action up. These kids are a major distraction. It's not them at all but the know it all attitude that many of them bring with them. A long timer will make a joke, and one of these kids who jump in with out lurking for a wile, will correct them, and not only will they correct an obvious joke, but they will do it rudely.

I want a misinformation, and a wrong tag. I often see people slanting information to suit their dues (that's the american way.) But I want a tag for when this gets completely out of hand, I want a Bullshit tag. I think that this would be much more clear than the current catch all troll tags.

I want the underrated tag to go away, it's unnecessary, just moderate it up another way.

I overwhelmingly use positive moderations, mostly insightful, I like the insightful tag, anyone can bring in information, we live after-all in the information age. But thought is a virtue that I see lacking in the modern world, especially on the internet.

One thing that bothers me most of all is when people post ultra nationalistic messages. These usually come along when someone offers any specific information that is tied to a location. Some one usually complains about slash-dot being north american centric. This is an obvious troll, we are all centric to the location where we live. This is a case of Trolls trying to stop conversations by making anti american statements, derailing the conversation.

The feeling of anonymity offered by online communities causes temptations for people who lack empowerment in their personal lives to act out aggressively in an environment where they feel that they will suffer no consequences.

I want an end to anonymous posting. The goal is to promote conversation, which is impossible with ac posters, I like to see lively collegial debate. Posting ac is, I feel, equivalent to interjecting into a conversation and then running away. Slash-dot works because we are all accountable for our actions, thoughts, and errors, AC posting fractures the community.

Above all we need to remember that this is a community, we need to all be good citizens.

1 |-|473 \/\/I-I 3|\| |`0|_k5 |_|53 1337, 1`5 50 4|\|0|/1|\|6

I don't get the point of leet speak, I see people using it all the time, here and on newsgroups, It seems that the most common use on news groups is to obfuscate the content of the post, definitely not a good thing to do here. on newsgroups however some of these folks just take it way to far. I see posts that are either named so cryptically that it is impassable to identify the content, worse yet they fail to express the common courtesy of posting an info file, instead relying on a bot in an irc channel to dole out the name of their posts.

Irc is a dirt little back ally of the internet that I just won't go down. Not only is it a fractured format where one can be kicked for using the wrong client, but I've found the level of discourse to be at a sub par level. Not to mention the fact that you run across so many script kiddies who are too 1337 for their own good.

I guess I might be a fan of chat-rooms, I was from the ages of 12-15 (yes I was one of those early to mid 90's script kiddies, But I'm proud to have grown out of it.) but I much prefer to meet people in person. Just open up, talk to strangers, they might be freaked out at first but will get over it when they realize how nice it is to experience interpersonal communication. I don't particularly like talking on the phone, the vast majority of my conversations are arranging to meet in person.

I do however particularly like newsgroups, they have a slower pace where people are able to think about their response and formulate an intelligent reply.

--end rant--

I've recently gotten a powermac g5 and am very happy with it, I especially like the processor scheduling, all my programs remain quite responsive under heavy cpu loads. The built in spell checking is a very nice feature. The trick is not to compare prices with pc's but with other 64-bit unix workstations, in that class the g5 is a steal. As a long time NextStep and Window Maker user the interface is kind of familiar, although I wish I could move the scroll bars to the left side where they should be.

Incase you can't tell I'm kind of board, As usual I have thursday off and don't have much to do

I have made a stretegic decision to get drunk, I started at around four, and am going to progress until I'm quite drunk. I'm trying to fininsh up my beer surpllus before spring preak. Maby I'll turn it into a weekend bender.

arrgh, try to post something quick, just a little bit to say, and my dammed ' get changed to ?. Preview Preview Preview.

I think it would be cool to change them daily, but we're up to three just today, usally they change every few days, can't we spread the love around a little bit?

I seem to have gained a lot of freaks lateley, this is due to a troll suggesting that people should add me to their enemy list due to my frequentley poor spelling.

I however refuse to be intimidated from posting here, and will continue to post what I, and most people moderateing feel are good comments. I will not be chased away from a comunity that I've taken part in for years.

I don't hold the fact that these trolls feel it's more important to chase away good posters against them. They lack the ability to form their own thoughts, and derive satisfaction from generating frustration in others. I will fight back against them the best way I know how, by making good comments that add to the discussion.

I have been trolled, we all have lost.

I've noticed that not many people write in these things. I'm just kind of board, sitting here waiting for 13 minutes for the simpsons to come on. Listining to muddy waters, hearing the people out on the street below yell at each other.

I in a nice apartment with a big window looking out onto a busy street; I have a nice view of the sky line of the small city I live in. The only complaint that I really have is that there are a lot of bars near me (6 in sight) and on weekend earley mornings I get woken up by all the local ass holes screaming at each other.

One night a few days ago, I looked out my window and saw a homeless man (a local who always whears a cowboy hat (and often beats on the news paper boxes)) being beaten suvereley by a passer by. People stood and watched, no one seemed to want to help him.

He was pounding his head into the side walk. It was pretty obvious that he ment to kill him. The homeless man tried to run away but was chased down, and the beating continued. Still no one tried to help the man. after about 30 seconds of this I called 911. Several police cars showed up, but aparentley the guy got away.

I haven't seen the homeless man since the night of the beating. I can only hope that he has moved on to another part of town. I don't know if I should be happy or concerned, he was obnouxious.

As I said before I have a nice apartment. The only way that I am able to afford this place is that it is in a very bad neiborhood. One of those urban renewal places. It seems that the renewal is about 20% done. My building was the first part of this initive, and there is another about to be finished kitty corner to it. The new buildings are live/work, and are very cool. But the rest of the neiborhood is total shit. I have been propositioned by hookers and drug dealers, several times.

The seedyest bar in town is right across the street from me. This place is so rough that I won't step foot in the place. I'm a pretty big and tough guy, (6'5 heavy build, full beard, scrubby looking, with a CWP and a 38) I won't step into that place. Ambulances come several times a day and drag out another bloody victom of a beating. There are perminant blood stains on the sidewalk outside.

Next door to my building is a porn shop/theatre. Nearley every time I go out to go grocery shoping I'll see someone go in, only to find them coming out when I return upwards of an hour and a half later. They always have a guilty look on their face.