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posted by janrinok on Saturday August 10 2019, @05:09PM   Printer-friendly
from the I-love-the-smell-of-burning-trolls-in-the-morning dept.

Things finally came to a head on slashdot last night, and now anonymous posts are banned. No more anonymous nazi ASCII art, no anonymous racism, and no APK. More in this journal entry [Ed's Comment: And lots of interesting comments too ...].

It's one way to combat anonymous hate speech and forum spam.

[Editor (JR) We've looked at the site but we cannot find an announcement that anonymous posts are actually banned; it might simply be a case that the software is not working correctly, although it would seem to be an unlikely cause. Does anyone in our community have any additional information to categorically prove or disprove that anonymous comments are disabled?

Furthermore, as there are many more comments in the journal entry than there are here, I would recommend making any new comments on BarbaraHudson's journal entry rather than splitting the discussion into two.]


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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by VanessaE on Saturday August 10 2019, @05:15PM (55 children)

    by VanessaE (3396) <vanessa.e.dannenberg@gmail.com> on Saturday August 10 2019, @05:15PM (#878345) Journal

    If you're logged-in, you can still tick "post anonymously" when making a post. However, you can't actually submit it ("You can't post to this page") if you do.

    • (Score: 4, Informative) by janrinok on Saturday August 10 2019, @05:30PM (4 children)

      by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Saturday August 10 2019, @05:30PM (#878349) Journal

      The ability to post comments is controlled by a tick box for each story or it can be enabled and disabled globally. It is still possible that a change to software has caused this box to default to No Postings or that the global option has been switched off. If it is the latter, then it might only be temporary (perhaps for the weekend when most spamming and site abuse takes place).

      Without a statement from those managing the site, we do not know the reason for the change in AC commenting policy. It could still be an error, it might be a short term measure to counter an attack that is on-going, or it might be a longer term change of policy.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @05:55PM (3 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @05:55PM (#878363)

        And yet the Unicode support and long posts taking up all the space haven't been fixed.

        • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Saturday August 10 2019, @06:53PM (2 children)

          by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Saturday August 10 2019, @06:53PM (#878397) Journal

          I assume you are referring to /.'s Unicode support or lack of it etc?

          I am not aware of any problems with our Unicode support - in fact the team put a lot of effort into making sure we could work with it.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @08:01PM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @08:01PM (#878427)

            Yes, as far as I know there have never been any problems with unicode here.

            • (Score: 3, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday August 10 2019, @10:07PM

              by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Saturday August 10 2019, @10:07PM (#878490) Homepage Journal

              Yeah, it was the first non-trivial thing I did after coming on staff, so somewhere between six months and a year in. We're still not entirely 100% (a few very minor bugs left) but we're close enough to mock the hell out of slashdot.

              --
              My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @05:30PM (8 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @05:30PM (#878351)

      I tried posting anonymously, and also got the same error: "You can't post to this page."

      I tried creating an account, but it requires a recaptcha. There are a hundred reasons I can't do recaptcha.

      • (Score: 2) by Aighearach on Sunday August 11 2019, @03:09AM (6 children)

        by Aighearach (2621) on Sunday August 11 2019, @03:09AM (#878663)

        Name 10, without repeating any.

        • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @04:02AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @04:02AM (#878682)

          Alan, Bert, Carol, Diane, Edgar, Frances, George, Harriet, Iris, Jenny.

        • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @04:13AM (3 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @04:13AM (#878690)

          1. Running javascript in the browser increases the attack surface of the browser by a ton. It is safer to refuse all javascript.

          2. Running Google's javascript is especially unsafe, because Google has a history of being evil.

          3. Google has admitted that their recaptcha javascript files do things like fingerprinting the browser, taking a screenshot of the page, and other privacy-violating activities

          4. Recaptcha is heavily obfuscated to prevent analysis of the security and privacy implications of the scripts. It goes way beyond just script compression.

          5. Recaptcha javascript is also loaded on pages that don't require filling out a recaptcha, to aid Google in tracking you. They claim it is to help distinguish users and bots, but they don't promise that it won't be used for privacy invasion. Many pages (that don't require filling out a recaptcha) fail to load correctly if you block recaptcha scripts from loading.

          6. Recaptcha's terms of service are unconscionable.

          7. Many times, the recaptchas are hard enough to be unsolvable. I believe they discriminate against: people who aren't signed in to a Google account, people who delete cookies regularly, people who sometimes block scripts, people with uncommon configurations (like most Linux distros), and people who use private browsing mode.

          8. Many times, the audio recaptchas are unsolvable.

          9. I often get an error message that says "Your computer is sending automated queries. Go away." (paraphrased) This makes it impossible to solve.

          10. Solving a recaptcha is unpaid labor. Thus, it constitutes a payment to Google, in the amount of however much I should have been paid to solve the recaptcha. I should not have to make this payment to receive a nominally free service. If a recaptcha is required, then the service should not be considered free (and they should allow an alternative form of payment. In many cases, I would happily send a micropayment to the site I'm trying to access, but not to Google.)

          11. Solving a recaptcha is a payment to Google in the amount of however much I should have been paid to solve the recaptcha. Google should not receive anything, because I feel morally obligated to boycott Google.

          12. Solving recaptchas helps Google develop AI technology that will make my life worse.

          • (Score: 3, Funny) by Pslytely Psycho on Sunday August 11 2019, @07:17AM

            by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Sunday August 11 2019, @07:17AM (#878742)

            He said 10.
            Damned overachiever.

            --
            Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
          • (Score: 2) by Chocolate on Sunday August 11 2019, @08:26AM (1 child)

            by Chocolate (8044) on Sunday August 11 2019, @08:26AM (#878770) Journal

            taking a screenshot of the page

            What the absolute fuck? Isn't this a violation of privacy?

            I have long suspected external javascripts do dodgy things and responded accordingly with my invisible tin foil hat on knowing I was being somewhat paranoid but this is ridiculous. Is there any proof of this?

            --
            Bit-choco-coin anyone?
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @08:24AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @08:24AM (#878769)

          * Using a VPN

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @07:31AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @07:31AM (#878746)

        Went there too just to tyr and second story up is:

        https://tech.slashdot.org/story/19/08/10/1954251/should-some-sites-be-liable-for-the-content-they-host [slashdot.org]

        Funny.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by SomeGuy on Saturday August 10 2019, @06:34PM (28 children)

      by SomeGuy (5632) on Saturday August 10 2019, @06:34PM (#878386)

      Even here, the logged-in "post anonymously" check isn't really anonymous under the hood. The post get associated with your account so you can't mod the post. If you are logged out then it only gets associated with your current IP address.

      • (Score: 5, Informative) by janrinok on Saturday August 10 2019, @06:45PM (27 children)

        by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Saturday August 10 2019, @06:45PM (#878392) Journal

        Not true - your IP is protected and discarded at the earliest opportunity. We cannot give anyone your IP address - we haven't got it. We use a hash, or in fact a couple of hashes - which cannot be 'unhashed' to give your IP again.

        • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @08:51PM (16 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @08:51PM (#878460)

          "A couple of hashes" so more than 1 algorithm and / or starting values, each feed the same IP address?

          Then "reversing" is quite possible, but space intensive, Example feed all IP addresses through the different versions save the results. Now you have the keys to reserve it. Look up each hash in the multiple list and look at the intersection. If the hash only maps 4 IPs to same value and you have 2 different ones, the odds are damn good for single match in the two lists. Add a third, guaranteed.

          Now since you also use machine hashes, hence you can not tell, if I am me, if i use different browsers and or different local machines. You can pin-point if 2 anonymous post are from the same person.

          It ffun livingon the bleeding edge of anonymous posting.

          • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday August 10 2019, @10:08PM (12 children)

            by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Saturday August 10 2019, @10:08PM (#878492) Homepage Journal

            Technically possible, practically impossible.

            --
            My rights don't end where your fear begins.
            • (Score: 3, Interesting) by qzm on Saturday August 10 2019, @10:20PM (11 children)

              by qzm (3260) on Saturday August 10 2019, @10:20PM (#878503)

              MD5 hashes can be calculated in a single FPGA at a rate of 4Gbps+, so around 125 million hashes/second.
              There are around 3.5 billion IP addresses to use (or a bit over 4 if you want to search all, including reserved ones)
              So, it wouldnt take many FPGAs to be able to search the ENTIRE space in a second, or around half a minute for one FPGA....

              Not saying single MD5 is enough, but double hashing, etc scale without too much trouble.

              Not really impossible it seems..

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @11:33PM

                by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @11:33PM (#878548)

                4G of addresses x 1024 bit hashes plus 15 bytes for readable ip. Makes a single table only 80 byte rows so 320GB per table, so 3 tables is a 1TB. Just saw some of 1TB SSD for $90.

                No need to dump the pictures.

                Cost here is time creating the tables to reverse the hashes.

                Tech has changed over years still remember 12kB memory and 5MB removable player.

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @11:36PM (2 children)

                by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @11:36PM (#878551)

                You are assuming you know everything they are doing. They may include salt or some other extra text that adds to the complexity. You'd have to look at the public code repository.

                • (Score: 3, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday August 11 2019, @12:35AM (1 child)

                  Us admins have access to the salt, so not really relevant. Mind you, we also have access to the servers so we could just turn logging on and match up the timestamps of posts to the access log. Using a hashed IP address was supposed to make it a nontrivial thing to find a person's IP address rather than seeing it at a glance. That and to annoy law enforcement. There really is no way to keep a determined admin from knowing anything they want to that's going on with their servers.

                  --
                  My rights don't end where your fear begins.
                  • (Score: 2) by jmorris on Sunday August 11 2019, @07:34AM

                    by jmorris (4844) on Sunday August 11 2019, @07:34AM (#878747)

                    Wouldn't annoy law enforcement long. If you can regenerate the hash to know the IP is the same it means you have the salting data. Four billion tries gets the IP, worst case. Brute forcing a 32bit value isn't hard now. But if Officer Friendly has a warrant they will get in anyway, best they get what they want and go instead of setting up camp and rooting around.

              • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday August 11 2019, @12:26AM (6 children)

                I don't have even a single FPGA, but your point is valid. I hadn't even thought of brute forcing them every single time you wanted to find one out. It really annoys me when something so inelegant turns out to be the best way to do a thing. Guess I'll be switching us over to scrypt or bcrypt or some such for the next update. Sigh.

                --
                My rights don't end where your fear begins.
                • (Score: 3, Informative) by el_oscuro on Sunday August 11 2019, @01:36AM (1 child)

                  by el_oscuro (1711) on Sunday August 11 2019, @01:36AM (#878622)

                  I wouldn't do that unless you want your server to melt. Bcrypt/scrypt are password hashes and are explicitly designed to be computationally expensive. The only time you want to use them is to validate a login and generate a session token.

                  Another idea: Just replace the last octlet of the IP with '.X' or something and hash that.

                  --
                  SoylentNews is Bacon! [nueskes.com]
                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @02:05AM

                  by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @02:05AM (#878633)

                  Coming up with a security solution is useless without knowing your threat model. What data do you want to protect with this? Who do you want to protect it from? For how long do you want that protection to last? What cost are you willing to pay for said protection? Etc. Seems like you want to protect the IP addresses from being bruted, but from whom and for how long? What server resource hit are you willing to make per post for that protection?

                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @06:40PM (2 children)

                  by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @06:40PM (#878930)

                  Also only use 1 hash routine with one salt. Once you have 2, no matter what they are, you have cut the effectiveness by at least 1/2, more like 1/4. For evey 1 new hash method used, you add the effectiveness of hiding the IP goes down by 1/2^(n-1) to 1/2^(n). So the next question is how affective is the hash method. Like 4 IP all map the same hash. it is why then just 2 different hash methods cause the complete lost of anonymity (mathematically).

                  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday August 12 2019, @02:38PM (1 child)

                    No, if both hash routines are known it is mathematically the same as one hash routine to brute force (additive for time though), assuming they use the same input (an IPv4 address).

                    --
                    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
                    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 13 2019, @05:47AM

                      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 13 2019, @05:47AM (#879508)

                      *and* iff they have the same output space (for high-entropy output, bitcount describes it well enough)

          • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Sunday August 11 2019, @07:47AM (2 children)

            by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Sunday August 11 2019, @07:47AM (#878753) Journal

            All very true but missing the point. We don't want to know your IP or who you really are. We don't care. We want to read interesting stories and take part in intelligent conversations. It doesn't always work out that way, but that is what this site is for.

            We only need the hashes so that the comments can be processed appropriately and so that we can help prevent the most frequent abuses of the site.

            • (Score: 1) by nsa on Sunday August 11 2019, @10:13PM (1 child)

              by nsa (206) on Sunday August 11 2019, @10:13PM (#878988)

              All very true but missing the point. We don't want to know your IP or who you really are. We don't care. We want to read interesting stories and take part in intelligent conversations. It doesn't always work out that way, but that is what this site is for.

              We only need the hashes so that the comments can be processed appropriately and so that we can help prevent the most frequent abuses of the site.

              Spin city. You don't want to know until you do (it falls into the category of 'most frequent abuses of the site'). I'd guess if you were more honest with yourself you'd lose the 'most frequent' qualifier because in fact what is most scary are the abuses that are infrequent, but related to negative outcomes of much greater magnitude.

              • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday August 12 2019, @02:43PM

                Nope. Frequency trumps scariness. Spam and moderation abuse are the only things we really use the hashes for. Neither of those require an actual IP, which any admin could get easily just by turning access logging on and greping for timestamps.

                --
                My rights don't end where your fear begins.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @09:50PM (3 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @09:50PM (#878482)

          TMB claimed he can use a rainbow table to unhash, and your system at least allows admins to track which AC is which. I see why the TOR users get so frustrated with "bad form key" errors which don't like TOR users.

          • (Score: 4, Touché) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday August 10 2019, @10:10PM (2 children)

            by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Saturday August 10 2019, @10:10PM (#878495) Homepage Journal

            I said it's technically possible with modern hardware not that either SN or I personally have the free drive space to do so (we don't). I'm not dumping my porn stash just to find out what ISP you use.

            --
            My rights don't end where your fear begins.
            • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @09:16AM (1 child)

              by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @09:16AM (#878793)

              I will take on for the team to provide the offsite storage to backup your porn stash.
              Except the horse porn. I was never into that.

        • (Score: 3, Interesting) by pipedwho on Saturday August 10 2019, @09:56PM

          by pipedwho (2032) on Saturday August 10 2019, @09:56PM (#878484)

          The problem with hashing a limited range of inputs is that given the full set of known variables (ie. algorithm, constants, salts, etc). A brute force matching attack is fairly trivial. With a possible search space of a maximum of 2^32 possibilities, a brute force attack won’t take very long at all. Even with a cpu intensive hash the attack time is at most 4 billion times the hash time divided by the cluster multiplier size. So unless soylent is spending multiple seconds on each hash, an attack would be quite fast.

          A solution would be to use a HSM (hardware security module) with a protected (ie. never exposed) hash key, to perform the calculation with an internal rate limit to slow down an oracle attack.

          A good practice mitigation would be to both time limit the hashes and use a random ephemeral salt that is discarded from secure memory after a reasonable time (eg. a day). This salt must not be saved or exposed. But, it obviously limits the ability to block an up mod to an AC post after that time, which is not a problem IMO, as it’s easy enough to just up mod from a different IP address if the poster really wants to.

          Anything less is security by obscurity.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @03:07AM (3 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @03:07AM (#878662)

          How long is that hash stored?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @08:29AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @08:29AM (#878772)

          I am so proud of you lot.

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @08:48PM (9 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @08:48PM (#878457)

      Weirdly, I've seen an anonymous comment after the ban went into effect: https://entertainment.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=14544108&cid=59072652 [slashdot.org]. If it's not possible even for logged-in users to post anonymously, it's odd that someone still seems capable of anonymous posting. It's almost certainly a bot, because I've seen similar gibberish in other articles -- often with a link to an old (now disabled) goatse URL. The bot seemed to not be subject to the lameness filter because it was able to post the n-word after Slashdot had banned it with the lameness filter.

      It seems very odd that at least one anonymous comment has been posted after the ban took effect. An editor-run bot could presumably evade all restrictions on commenting. A long time ago in Slashdot's history, Rob Malda wrote code to populate stories with "first post" comments to discourage other users from similarly attempting to get first post. The comments would later be removed once other comments had been posted. I have no idea why the editors would be running a bot to post gibberish comments, but it's odd that anonymous posting doesn't seem to entirely be gone.

      • (Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday August 10 2019, @09:02PM (3 children)

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Saturday August 10 2019, @09:02PM (#878466) Journal

        I noticed that one too [soylentnews.org]. It's the only one I found from "Researchers Show How Europe's Data Protection Laws Can Dox People" onwards. Whatever it means for SD, it's not good.

        --
        [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @10:23PM (4 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @10:23PM (#878504)

        Are they actually AC though rather than somebody that's registered and posted anonymously? Most likely those are throwaway accounts.

        • (Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Sunday August 11 2019, @12:27AM (2 children)

          by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Sunday August 11 2019, @12:27AM (#878581)

          Doesn't work, just tried it. That particular comment does appear to be a legit AC, further up the page there's an AC that seems to be a registered account called Anonymous Coward.

          --
          Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
          • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Sunday August 11 2019, @05:45AM (1 child)

            by maxwell demon (1608) on Sunday August 11 2019, @05:45AM (#878718) Journal

            But did it already not work at the time that post was created? Maybe originally it was only logged-out posting that was blocked, then spammers/trolls started to use the post anon checkbox, then that got blocked, too.

            --
            The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
            • (Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Sunday August 11 2019, @06:07AM

              by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Sunday August 11 2019, @06:07AM (#878721)

              Unfortunately I can't say. I never actually tried it until shortly after the story first broke, and then again when I saw this comment. Both times were signed in and the first attempt was about fifteen minutes after the story first posted so it appears that it was universal at least from that time on.

              --
              Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @08:35AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @08:35AM (#878775)

          Okay, I'll pay that.
          Register an account just to make one AC post.
          You rock :)

    • (Score: 2) by Chocolate on Monday August 12 2019, @02:24AM

      by Chocolate (8044) on Monday August 12 2019, @02:24AM (#879028) Journal

      "You can't post to this page"—Why not?

      This probably means you're reading from behind a web proxy that allows connections from any host. This functionality has been abused. Comments can't be posted from this address until the proxy is better secured. Please notify your Proxy Admin.
      ,

      https://slashdot.org/faq [slashdot.org]

      --
      Bit-choco-coin anyone?
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 21 2019, @10:48PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 21 2019, @10:48PM (#883342)

      From back in the Minetest 0.3-early 0.4 days. ;-)

      Was sorry to hear about the losses in the community in the years since.

  • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Saturday August 10 2019, @05:29PM (10 children)

    by fustakrakich (6150) on Saturday August 10 2019, @05:29PM (#878348) Journal

    This is the path of least resistance.

    --
    La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
    • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @05:48PM (9 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @05:48PM (#878360)

      And nothing of value was lost. It used to be a great site years ago, but between the bullying, long ass posts that don't get collapsed and abusive moderation by militant libertarians, the site is barely worth noting. Interesting discussion is few and far between.

      • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @06:02PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @06:02PM (#878366)

        'Militant' Libertarians? They're about the least aggressive group out there. Just in the last week, there's one political group that's A) had a leading politician publicly dox his opponent's donors, B) held 24 hour protests outside their opponents' houses, and C) silenced and banned their enemies for reporting on their own death threats.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @11:40PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @11:40PM (#878554)

          If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, don't fuck with the Girl Scouts. They mean business.

          • (Score: 2, Funny) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday August 11 2019, @12:17AM

            by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Sunday August 11 2019, @12:17AM (#878576) Homepage

            They get you with the cookies. After a few hits of Thin Mint, they own you for life. Fred Durst references girl scout cookies in his song "Nookie," which was a song about him being blackmailed by the girl scouts after they fed him cookies and then secretly recorded him sucking another man's dick while high on cookie intoxication.

      • (Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @08:31PM (4 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @08:31PM (#878450)

        Rather than militant libertarians, the site seems to have been flooded by militant authoritarians. The sheer number of people defending practices like mass surveillance, the TSA, the drug war, etc. was staggering.

        • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @10:17PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @10:17PM (#878499)

          Most people sold out. It's hard to get a job in tech without forfeiting a lot of those early values that were shared online. They've been replaced with the new sjw values that businesses seem to embrace.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @08:37AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @08:37AM (#878776)

          defending practices like mass surveillance

          What is the alternative?
          We have a bunch of black people running around looting houses, attacking people on the street, harming people. What do you do? Other than surveillance I meant.
          So far they have been captured on CCTV but not clearly enough to identify them.

          • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @09:02AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @09:02AM (#878789)

            What is the alternative?

            Doing literally nothing is better than violating people's liberties en masse. Freedom is more important than safety.

        • (Score: 2) by epitaxial on Sunday August 11 2019, @09:00PM

          by epitaxial (3165) on Sunday August 11 2019, @09:00PM (#878976)

          Can you find me examples of this?

      • (Score: 2) by Nuke on Sunday August 11 2019, @12:13PM

        by Nuke (3162) on Sunday August 11 2019, @12:13PM (#878824)

        I didn't mind the racist and Nazi posts, I can cope, but I did mind the fact that most of them were pages in length and then re-posted and re-posted. It was a struggle to find the on-topic posts. Preventing repeated posts would have done the trick (eg a script to check for >10% repeat). I also got tired of the flame battle that was going on among a small group centred on APK.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @05:46PM (7 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @05:46PM (#878359)

    That's why I took my talent to SN. Be grateful now.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @06:02PM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @06:02PM (#878367)

      Just what we needed, another megalomaniac!

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @06:05PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @06:05PM (#878369)

        n. A form of insane delusion the subjects of which imagine themselves to be very great, exalted, or powerful personages; the delusion of grandeur.

        Can a megalomaniac be fully anonymous?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @08:00AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @08:00AM (#878762)

      From the story I was promised glorious nazi ASCII art, racist rants and APK. You are letting us all down ...

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @08:39AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @08:39AM (#878778)

        I think APK retired?
        Something about HOSTS files not being sufficient anymore and something about a pi hole being better?

    • (Score: 2) by Nuke on Sunday August 11 2019, @12:15PM

      by Nuke (3162) on Sunday August 11 2019, @12:15PM (#878825)

      That's why I took my talent to SN. Be grateful now.

      So here ^^^^ is APK already?

  • (Score: 5, Touché) by srobert on Saturday August 10 2019, @05:49PM (11 children)

    by srobert (4803) on Saturday August 10 2019, @05:49PM (#878361)

    Slashdot still exists?

    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Saturday August 10 2019, @07:49PM (6 children)

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Saturday August 10 2019, @07:49PM (#878423)

      I haven't looked at it in years... but I think it's still there, kind of like broadcast TV.

      --
      🌻🌻 [google.com]
      • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday August 10 2019, @10:17PM (4 children)

        by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Saturday August 10 2019, @10:17PM (#878498) Homepage Journal

        I skim the headlines on the crapper. Seems fitting.

        --
        My rights don't end where your fear begins.
        • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @08:42AM (3 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @08:42AM (#878780)

          It's worth reading the slashdot RSS to pick up on some good things they have in their news feed. Pipedot is my RSS of choice. What do you use?

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @03:41PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @03:41PM (#878875)

            For me I personally skim hackernews. The feed is a bit more furious and usually not political.

          • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday August 12 2019, @02:48PM

            The browser on my phone. Not as lightweight in code or network transfer but significantly lighter weight in ounces.

            --
            My rights don't end where your fear begins.
          • (Score: 2) by iWantToKeepAnon on Monday August 12 2019, @07:51PM

            by iWantToKeepAnon (686) on Monday August 12 2019, @07:51PM (#879348) Homepage Journal
            zenbi? Is that you?!
            --
            "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." -- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @01:04AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @01:04AM (#878599)

        You are so superior to us commoners.

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @02:39AM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @02:39AM (#878650)

      I go to slashdot to see what soylentnews will post in a few days (slashdot posts stories only a day or two after ars tecknica so it's close enough) - soylentnews wants $$$ for what they do so maybe I'll add $5 to this effort someday

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Sunday August 11 2019, @06:09AM (2 children)

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Sunday August 11 2019, @06:09AM (#878722) Journal

        We beat them to the "Epstein and tech" story by several days. Too bad they ran their Epstein story on the day he snuffed it, that was good timing.

        You can find plenty of examples of stories that appeared here before Slashdot. But they will usually get to them faster because they post stories with as little as 30 minute spacing, whereas we target 100 minutes on weekdays, or 140 minutes on weekends (roughly).

        Mystery solved, you can stop bringing it up every time like it's a gotcha.

        --
        [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
        • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @08:44AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @08:44AM (#878781)

          I don't come here, or anywhere else really, for recent news. I come here for interesting news.

  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @05:59PM (14 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @05:59PM (#878365)

    When I do check Slashdot after getting annoyed by the level of conservative/libertarian circle-jerk on Soylentnews I am always shocked to find the same shit but amped up to 13. I'm not exactly sure how they break past the highest level of 10, but they dooooo!

    • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @06:12PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @06:12PM (#878375)

      annoyed by the level of conservative/libertarian circle-jerk on Soylentnews

      Perhaps because you are part of the ctrl-left circle-jerk here?

    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday August 10 2019, @07:53PM (11 children)

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Saturday August 10 2019, @07:53PM (#878424)

      conservative/libertarian circle-jerk

      Those who lack the power to do, post online about what they wish would be...

      Also, to the Russian Troll farms out there: no matter how many times you repeat it, you're not changing anyone's mind about it. Only intensive indoctrination from early childhood keeps Fox news fed with viewer/believers, the rest of us quietly throw up in our mouths and shake our heads in shame that that crap is broadcast for the world to see.

      --
      🌻🌻 [google.com]
      • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @08:31PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @08:31PM (#878449)

        Russian Troll farms out there: no matter how many times you repeat it, you're not changing anyone's mind about it. Only intensive indoctrination from early childhood keeps Fox news fed with viewer/believers, the rest of us quietly throw up in our mouths and shake our heads in shame that that crap is broadcast for the world to see.

        I don't know who is crazy enough to believe Fox News anymore. They have become more insane than pravda.ru There are more reliable information on even Russia Today, and that's some biased shit. Anyway russian trolls don't need to do much trolling, they just fluff the cons a bit about Clinton or Global Warming and they have a meltdown.

        • (Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday August 11 2019, @12:21AM

          by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Sunday August 11 2019, @12:21AM (#878578) Homepage

          Believe Fox News "anymore?" Back in 2003 they had Geraldo Rivera, the most interesting man in the world, telling us all how we must blow up Iraq while standing in front of a green screen with a desert/US tank background superimposed behind him. Now we have the same exact shit except that it's Anderson Cooper and the network is CNN.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @11:34PM (8 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @11:34PM (#878549)

        Also, to the Russian Troll farms out there: no matter how many times you repeat it, you're not changing anyone's mind about it.

        Then what the fuck was the last three years about Russians handing the election to Trump all about?

        (Getting my anonymous cowardism in while I still can)

        • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday August 11 2019, @01:56AM (7 children)

          You're confused. The Democrats handed it to Trump not the Russians. All they had to do was run someone who could actually beat him. You'd think they would have figured that out for this go round but no.

          --
          My rights don't end where your fear begins.
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @02:51AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @02:51AM (#878657)

            Everyone that's sane knows that already. My question was just rhetorical.

          • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Pslytely Psycho on Sunday August 11 2019, @07:05AM (1 child)

            by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Sunday August 11 2019, @07:05AM (#878740)

            Funny, I know this opinion doesn't fit either 'sides' viewpoint, but I felt after the election that the media elected Trump, not the Russians, not the Comey investigation statement or the leaked e-mails, but the media. All of the media, CNN, MSNBC, FOX, AP, etc.
            All of them covered Trump 10 times more than Hillary. Trump was a fucking genius. He didn't try for the popular vote, but campaigned for the EC, he raised so much controversy at his rally's that the news whores were rushing to put it on the air first. Evey rally was covered because Trump made damn sure it was covered.
            He was colorful, obnoxious, but god damn it, he was interesting, even if you hated him or the message.
            Yeah, the Dems as usual shot themselves in the foot, but the media put Trump front and center for the entire election season. He still manipulates the media and they lap it up. Look at any news service any day. They all lead with Trump did, Trump said, Trump tweeted, Trump farted...on and on. He has the media tied around his little finger and they don't even know it.
            For all his bitching about the media, he knows that manipulating it is his greatest strength. Even if the Dems ran Jesus Christ himself I doubt they would beat Trump unless the economy goes into free-fall before the election. Even now, I can barely name three of the D's running, Biden (ugh), Warren (maybe), and Mayor Pete however you spell or pronounce his name. For the most part they are unmemorable, and dull. Because they limited who carried the debates, well, I saw little of it (oh, yeah, Sanders, but seriously, would he survive a presidency?), so I feel it's gonna be a repeat.
            The media is Trumps arch-nemisis and his best ally.

            Just my opinion, a pawn at the side of the chessboard, observing, laughing, and watching his popcorn stocks rise.....(;

            --
            Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
          • (Score: 2) by srobert on Sunday August 11 2019, @04:36PM (3 children)

            by srobert (4803) on Sunday August 11 2019, @04:36PM (#878891)

            "All they had to do was run someone who could actually beat him."

            Who did you have in mind?

            • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday August 12 2019, @02:16AM (1 child)

              by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday August 12 2019, @02:16AM (#879026) Journal

              Maybe Sanders?

              --
              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
              • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday August 12 2019, @02:58PM

                Colonel Sanders could beat Bernie Sanders. The easiest way to lose an election in the US (outside the large west coast urban centers) is to use the word "socialist" in any capacity except negation when describing yourself.

                --
                My rights don't end where your fear begins.
            • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday August 12 2019, @02:55PM

              Dunno. I don't pay enough attention to politics be able to point out a charismatic, moderate (relative to the American people not to the party) Democrat. Nobody on stage this go-round though. Maybe a governor from a usually red state.

              --
              My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 2) by weilawei on Sunday August 11 2019, @06:45AM

      by weilawei (109) on Sunday August 11 2019, @06:45AM (#878734)

      I'm not exactly sure how they break past the highest level of 10,

       

      Years and years of practice.

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