Attack of the Blog!

Every industry has its nasty side, and in the software business it seems like the blogosphere is where our ugly smackdowns take place. There are some pretty ugly sites out there that do nothing other than spread unfounded gossip. And it spreads like viral wildfire, sparking rumors and message board flame wars. Why some Troll would go out of their way to be nasty for no reason is beyond my comprehension.

Hypertext is an absolutely bizarre medium for communication. It exists nowhere and everywhere at once, and can be altered at any time with no trace left behind. For some reason, because our words are not verbally spoken or written in ink on paper, we place less value on them. Additionally, the impersonal medium of computers, the level of separation between human beings that exists when you are only criticizing abstract, faceless people in cyberspace, makes it easier for us to say nasty things to one another with little thought of the consequences.

I do not buy into the idea that words have less meaning or significance merely because they exist only online. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, even if it’s an unfavorable opinion. But the wide accessibility of the Internet combined with the general gullibility of the human race means that if you’re going to say something about someone else online, it’s that much more important that what you’re saying is accurate. “Flame War” is an appropriate term for the ugly battles that take place online. You can respond quickly and in the heat of your emotions, before you take time to verify facts or find out if what you’ve read is just a rumor. Lies, distortions, and inaccuracies spread with lightning speed, doing nothing but cause negativity and possibly even the destruction of undeserving individuals and organizations.

Think before you type. Every post you make, every comment you offer, is something you’re contributing to your cyberspace karma. And if someone does flame you, do what we’re doing at work in response to our attacker: Don’t feed the Trolls. People who go out of their way to be nasty to others are unhappy and have something broken within themselves, but they don’t want to fix it so they lash out at others. Attention in any form– including telling them to shut up– is a reward.

The Center for Internet Addiction . . .

has a website . . .

. . . with an online quiz you can take to see if you spend too much time online . . .

Irony processors overloaded.

Gamers can be pretty brutal. The chat channels open on games, whether it’s Warcraft or Uno, are chock full of more insults, trash talk, and braggadocio than Charles Barkley ever dished out in his entire career. This makes life for n00bs pretty difficult. Betray the slightest weakness or vulnerability, and your fellow gamers will strike. They must be robots to show that kind of acumen.

One poor kid from France learned the hard way that asking strangers for advice on a quest doesn’t pay off. All I can say is that while this kid was dumb enough to ask gamers for benevolent assistance twice, at least he wasn’t stupid enough to publish the name of his characters. This is a real post on the forums for a popular PC game. Unedited, unaltered, and unintentionally hilarious:

——-

Hi,
It’s my second post on this forum, I’m currently doing the quest in 314’s mind with a friend, we explored his mind but couldn’t find the boss.(explored 2 times)
We asked in the channel what we must do, and 3 people said that we needed “buttsecks”, but after they log out or go kill some monsters and didn’t explain more, we’re both french and playing on Shulgoth because the ambiance is quite horrible on Sydonai, with almost no one wanting to party, insults everywhere …
I tried to search on this forum but only found 2 topics with this word, one was for a game of “the person after me” or something like that and the second was about Murmur being the oops i’m gonna spoil something, and that was reminding this guy of “buttsecks” so maybe this thing exist and is quite hard to achieve/obtain.
I googled it to but only found stupid cats pictures.
My friend think that “buttsecks” is only available for subscribers, but if you need it to finish the game I think he’s wrong, because even free players can finish the multiplayer mode, I think it’s stupid if you need to pay for “buttsecks” in order to finish the game.

So any of you know how to have “buttsecks” ?
Or maybe it’s a prerequisted quest or a boss to kill ?

——-

Roborecruits are under construction.

Beware the DOOM!

I just made my first use of Amazon.com’s MP3 sales system to purchase the Hellgate: London Soundtrack. Which, incidentally, makes a fantastic workplace listen. A nice mix of industrial and orchestral, it packs more intensity than the Halo 3 soundtrack, with fun little riffs that hearken back to Blade Runner. Unlike music with lyrics or really highly structured melodies, it isn’t as intrusive when you need mental bandwith to be supported, not distracted.

I paid ninety-nine cents per track for the thirteen-song album. I could have paid $8.99. But I didn’t, because downloading the entire album also requires downloading a little application from Amazon that plays it so innocent you can’t help but be suspicious. It’s billed as a facilitator that helps you download entire albums at a discount instead of one at a time, which requires multiple clicks. Selling whole albums in one go, even at a discount, is a very smart move. Most albums put out there tend to have only one or two songs that a listener really loves. The rest of the songs are just filler. Having to purchase one at a time reminds users that they are spending money with every click, and they’ll be less likely to buy every song if they’re not really sure they want it. Offer the whole album at a discount, and suddenly the whole enchilada looks more appealing. A user who might otherwise spend a dollar or two on their favorite song only just spent ten times that amount to get a package deal. It’s a very old marketing trick, one that applies particularly well to online purchases.

Enter the Amazon MP3 Downloader. You can buy the albums they offer, but there’s a catch: you must download this bit of software and install it on your computer. It’s available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. But they sure don’t tell you much about what’s buried in the code. It’s not necessary to use an application to download a bundle of MP3 files. So why does it need to be on your machine? Why would Amazon bother to design a piece of software that, strictly speaking, isn’t actually needed? The answer is that it’s probably going to watch what you do and report back to Amazon. Beauty has become the Beast. Amazon’s compilation of customer ratings is one of the most helpful and powerful tools in online shopping. But if they’ve taken it beyond voluntary participation, that’s a problem.

Now, it’s nice to see that Amazon is offering Linux users an option. But here’s the bigger question: what kind of Linux user is going to install something that tells you virtually nothing about how intrusive it might be on your system. Linux users are who they are because they like to control what is on their system and keep it nice and tidy. Amazon is sorely mistaken if they think control freaks of that degree will install a potential spyware application on their machine for a few paltry dollars in savings. Here’s all it tells users about what it does:

• It automatically adds your music downloads to iTunes or Windows Media Player
• It takes just a few clicks and less than 30 seconds to install

Sweet and easy, right? A little too sweet and easy. Part of the beauty of Amazon is its brilliant use of user-generated content to help shoppers find what they need. I’m happy to log in, leave reviews, and put stars next to things I own. Because it only exists within the Amazon-owned account. That account isn’t tied to my machine or my identity. It doesn’t keep track of anything that I don’t voluntarily surrender, and I can see exactly what I’ve given them. But I have no way to know what the Amazon MP3 Downloader does once it’s in my system.

Amazon seems to be hoping people won’t think about this. They tell you “It is required for album purchases, and makes downloading songs fast and easy.” The average user, they hope, will simply say, “Fast and easy . . . and I save a few dollars per album. Okay!” And then they’ve traded access to their machine for a few pennies. Even if the information collected by Amazon through such an application was used for purely benevolent purposes– enhancing their recommendations based on what MP3 buyers already own, for example– that doesn’t change the fact that they’d be doing it without your permission.

My suspicion may be without foundation. But right now the Terms and Conditions on this little baby don’t breathe a word about protecting you. Until Amazon puts something on their website clearly articulating that the application does not take a look around and see what’s on your computer or track what you do, I will not trust this application. Until then, I’ll happily part with $3.88 in order to preserve my privacy.