There's actually decent points in here, however, I do disagree with the conclusion at the end:
Every re-tweet is, in it's own way, spreading a little lie or a little twist of the truth.
I don't believe that is necessarily true. I believe there is an objective truth and that it is shareable. It's why I tend to downplay the importance of 'timing' in releases of Interesting Information. I consider the information itself to be more important than the circumstances behind it. (Who released it, When it was released, Why they released it, How it was released.)
Shrug. I dunno, it seems to offer greater User Control than it did before. I was actually looking at a game earlier today and noticed that new bar of options. (Halcyon 6. Looks interesting and the reviews were Pretty Good. I'd wager it was a Kickstarter game due to about 50% of the reviews being from Steam Key Users instead of purchases off Steam directly. The 'negative' review said that after 25 hours playing the game he was done playing it forever. ... I'd call that Worth It? Anyway...)
Waiiiit a minute... a post on Techdirt that has a flawed premise? ... Yep. Geigner. :P (Not all of yours are like this, but the posts here that have a flawed premise are more likely to be yours. Or, at the very least, a very Subjective premise.)
So yeah. This isn't about 'silencing' reviewers. It's about making sure that you know where the review is coming from. Sure, the fact that each page resets to the default 'Only Steam Purchases' setting is a little odd, but in most cases I only care that there are reviews, period. If there's a bunch of negative reviews, then I'm likely to check 'All' to see if it changes.
Basically, on the list of things that Steam does that are actually Not Good, this is... pretty far down the list. If this somehow convinced you to not use Steam, I'll be amazed. (Note that the others here who don't use Steam for purchasing have said they didn't prior, either.)
The DNC is not part of the government. It is not in charge of any critical infrastructure. It is not privy to classified information. It does not provide any products or services critical to the US, or anyone in it.
Replace all those 'is' and 'does' with 'should'...
I really hope that 'is' and 'does' apply to this case, but being pessimistic when it comes to politics, I'm pretty sure 'should' is the correct verb. :(
I'm curious, was production lined up before the Kickstarter was launched?
The main problem I see with things that I back is production issues; Things like the box they'd planned to use turns out to not be large enough or sturdy enough... Or a test run coming back wrong and needing to be fixed...
So for these bags, you said you had the prototype, and you got it through the normal production line that you'd use for the successful campaign? Or did you prototype it youselves?
There was an incident two weeks ago at a mall near me where someone thought that something being dropped on the floor was gunfire so it spooked them, and next thing you know the mall's evacuated and shut down for the day, over *absolutely nothing*. Well done. Well done.
Oh and people got arrested for going up to police and asking to assist them with whatever's going on.
Thankfully I don't think anyone got trampled in this incident.
Bitrate is a measure of transfer speed for data over the internet. It's also a measure of quality for a audio/visual pieces; (roughly) how many bits are processed per second. A lower quality file has a lower bitrate, and a lower filesize.
It's only 'throttling' if you think that the video bitrate also means the transfer bitrate, which it doesn't. A 600kbps bitrate file can be sent faster than 600kbps...
The rhetoric for ‘net neutrality’ has always been about user empowerment.
Strike One! Net Neutrality has always been about not obstructing user choice.
But the FCC wound up writing a hard-line rule that seems to completely ban broadband providers from adjusting video quality even if users want that.
Strike Two! Because broadband providers are not video providers. The way this relates to Net Neutrality is that a broadband provider is not supposed to know anything about what sort of data is being sent, nor are they supposed to treat certain data as 'special'. (Outside of load balancing and network infrastructure issues.)
It means consumers won’t get the kind of master interface that can manage quality across all video platforms — which, in turn, would make ordinary users comfortable experimenting with multiple video platforms.
Strike Three! Why would anyone expect you to manage quality across different platforms? That's why they're different platforms. Some will give you more (or better) options than others, that's the nature of competition.
-A more secure system is better than a less secure system.
-A system without a backdoor is more secure than a system with a backdoor.
-Therefore, systems without backdoors are better than systems with backdoors.
I believe the opposition argues against one or more of these three points, but all three of them are self-evident.
(You can prove all of them through induction if necessary.)
Oh, there is one exception to the first point. A perfectly secure system is worthless. (A perfectly secure system simply doesn't allow any access, ever.) However, just because we can never have a perfectly secure system does not mean we should accept a less secure system when offered.
You should check out Republic Wireless. Their entire shtick is trying to do everything over WiFi they possibly can, while still retaining Cellular signal in case you aren't near a WiFi.
No caps or anything, the only 'downside' is that the phone pesters you to connect to any open WiFi in the area because it really really wants to offload data usage to WiFi instead of cell towers. Although I guess the other downside is a limited choice of phones, the Moto X is pretty good.
(It does calls and text over WiFi. Text over WiFi, afaik, is relatively rare...)
I wonder what the original story was that made it so the councilman didn't want to interact with the journalist?
He's still out of line for trying to say she couldn't even use his name, but still, he might have a legit reason for not returning her calls if she's twisted his words in the past.
The dev is being pretty clear here, I think. He's not so much saying 'Don't buy this as a gift', as 'Don't buy this as a gift just because it's an exploration game.'
His tone comes off more as trying to be helpful and informative, the tone someone would take when saying 'Please don't buy children pets for Christmas'. Not because they want none of it to be sold, but because you should be informed about the decision.
The key part is the place the dev is quoting the things he's been told. Someone who 'likes exploration games' is more likely to pick up the EA, go 'bleh' and put it back. Whereas if they were to wait longer for the game to be more finished, would be more likely to enjoy and recommend the game to others.
(Also, does Steam give discounts on EA games? i.e. they're sold for $20 but when released, it's $40? If this is true, then this makes a lot more business-sense.)
On the post: Media, Politics & The Death Of Intellectual Honesty
Re: It's the internet, ya know?
I don't believe that is necessarily true. I believe there is an objective truth and that it is shareable. It's why I tend to downplay the importance of 'timing' in releases of Interesting Information. I consider the information itself to be more important than the circumstances behind it. (Who released it, When it was released, Why they released it, How it was released.)
On the post: Steam Looks To Suppress Game Reviews From Anyone Who Didn't Buy The Game From Them
User Control
Waiiiit a minute... a post on Techdirt that has a flawed premise? ... Yep. Geigner. :P (Not all of yours are like this, but the posts here that have a flawed premise are more likely to be yours. Or, at the very least, a very Subjective premise.)
So yeah. This isn't about 'silencing' reviewers. It's about making sure that you know where the review is coming from. Sure, the fact that each page resets to the default 'Only Steam Purchases' setting is a little odd, but in most cases I only care that there are reviews, period. If there's a bunch of negative reviews, then I'm likely to check 'All' to see if it changes.
Basically, on the list of things that Steam does that are actually Not Good, this is... pretty far down the list. If this somehow convinced you to not use Steam, I'll be amazed. (Note that the others here who don't use Steam for purchasing have said they didn't prior, either.)
On the post: Pressure Mounts to Punish Russia For Hacking Without Evidence And Before Investigations Are Concluded
Re:
Replace all those 'is' and 'does' with 'should'...
I really hope that 'is' and 'does' apply to this case, but being pessimistic when it comes to politics, I'm pretty sure 'should' is the correct verb. :(
On the post: Techdirt Podcast Episode 89: Inside A Really Good Kickstarter Campaign
Production Issues
The main problem I see with things that I back is production issues; Things like the box they'd planned to use turns out to not be large enough or sturdy enough... Or a test run coming back wrong and needing to be fixed...
So for these bags, you said you had the prototype, and you got it through the normal production line that you'd use for the successful campaign? Or did you prototype it youselves?
On the post: Techdirt Podcast Episode 87: An Interview With Kim Dotcom's Lawyer
Re:
On the post: What It Looks Like When The Terrorists Win: The JFK Stampede Over Fans Cheering For Usain Bolt
'Gunfire'
Oh and people got arrested for going up to police and asking to assist them with whatever's going on.
Thankfully I don't think anyone got trampled in this incident.
On the post: Netflix Settles Throttling 'Controversy' By Letting Mobile Users Throttle Themselves (Or Not)
Re: Can't imagine where the confusion comes from.
Bitrate is a measure of transfer speed for data over the internet. It's also a measure of quality for a audio/visual pieces; (roughly) how many bits are processed per second. A lower quality file has a lower bitrate, and a lower filesize.
It's only 'throttling' if you think that the video bitrate also means the transfer bitrate, which it doesn't. A 600kbps bitrate file can be sent faster than 600kbps...
On the post: Netflix Settles Throttling 'Controversy' By Letting Mobile Users Throttle Themselves (Or Not)
Baseball?
Strike One!
Net Neutrality has always been about not obstructing user choice.
Strike Two!
Because broadband providers are not video providers. The way this relates to Net Neutrality is that a broadband provider is not supposed to know anything about what sort of data is being sent, nor are they supposed to treat certain data as 'special'. (Outside of load balancing and network infrastructure issues.)
Strike Three!
Why would anyone expect you to manage quality across different platforms? That's why they're different platforms. Some will give you more (or better) options than others, that's the nature of competition.
YOU'RE OUT!!
On the post: Techdirt Podcast Episode 67: The Great Encryption Debate: Should There Be Back Doors?
Simple
-A more secure system is better than a less secure system.
-A system without a backdoor is more secure than a system with a backdoor.
-Therefore, systems without backdoors are better than systems with backdoors.
I believe the opposition argues against one or more of these three points, but all three of them are self-evident.
(You can prove all of them through induction if necessary.)
Oh, there is one exception to the first point. A perfectly secure system is worthless. (A perfectly secure system simply doesn't allow any access, ever.) However, just because we can never have a perfectly secure system does not mean we should accept a less secure system when offered.
On the post: Game Cracking Group Predicts The End Of Cracking Because Of Better DRM
Hmm
That's what it sounds like to me, and I hope that's what it is. :)
On the post: FBI Director Says 'Smart People' At Office Supply Companies Can Help Limit Terrorists' Access To Pen And Paper
Oh thank god
Nope, working just fine.
Nice.
On the post: Techdirt Podcast Episode 53: Why Intermediary Liability Is The Most Important Question Online
Name Suggestion
On the post: Techdirt Podcast Episode 36: In Defense Of Copying
Counterpoint?
(I don't buy it myself, but it would be the first thing a devil's advocate would bring up.)
On the post: Alleged Dallas Buyers Club Pirates To Be Asked For Employment, Income And Health Details
Re:
On the post: Uber Having A Tough Week Overseas: France And South Korea Crack Down
Wait a second...
So you can't drive a friend to work and have him pay you for gas? Seriously? That... seems unenforceable?
On the post: The Cartoonist Has No Idea How Fair Use Works
Re: Re: Chinese
Assuming he's not referring to all people of Chinese descent, but instead to people that are citizens of China.
It's not racism when you're directing it at a national stereotype, instead of an ethnic stereotype. By the literal definition of racism, anyway.
On the post: Verizon Shows Just How Competitive The Wireless Industry Really Is By Simply Refusing To Compete On Price
Re:
Their entire shtick is trying to do everything over WiFi they possibly can, while still retaining Cellular signal in case you aren't near a WiFi.
No caps or anything, the only 'downside' is that the phone pesters you to connect to any open WiFi in the area because it really really wants to offload data usage to WiFi instead of cell towers. Although I guess the other downside is a limited choice of phones, the Moto X is pretty good.
(It does calls and text over WiFi. Text over WiFi, afaik, is relatively rare...)
On the post: Maryland Politician Says Local Paper Can't Use His Name Without Permission
Odd...
He's still out of line for trying to say she couldn't even use his name, but still, he might have a legit reason for not returning her calls if she's twisted his words in the past.
On the post: Game Developer Deploys Interesting Sales Strategy By Telling Fans Not To Buy His Game As A Gift For Others
Re: Guys, read it again...
His tone comes off more as trying to be helpful and informative, the tone someone would take when saying 'Please don't buy children pets for Christmas'. Not because they want none of it to be sold, but because you should be informed about the decision.
The key part is the place the dev is quoting the things he's been told. Someone who 'likes exploration games' is more likely to pick up the EA, go 'bleh' and put it back. Whereas if they were to wait longer for the game to be more finished, would be more likely to enjoy and recommend the game to others.
(Also, does Steam give discounts on EA games? i.e. they're sold for $20 but when released, it's $40? If this is true, then this makes a lot more business-sense.)
On the post: Game Developer Deploys Interesting Sales Strategy By Telling Fans Not To Buy His Game As A Gift For Others
Re: Dogpile!!!!!!!!
</obligatory movie reference>
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