npsimons's Journal: So long and thanks for all the fish

There's a trick to the Graceful Exit. It begins with the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage, a relationship is over -- and to let go. It means leaving what's over without denying its validity or its past importance in our lives. It involves a sense of future, a belief that every exit line is an entry, that we are moving on, rather than out. The trick of retiring well may be the trick of living well. It's hard to recognize that life isn't a holding action, but a process. It's hard to learn that we don't leave the best parts of ourselves behind, back in the dugout or the office. We own what we learned back there. The experiences and the growth are grafted onto our lives. And when we exit, we can take ourselves along -- quite gracefully. -- Ellen Goodman

I probably shouldn't be indulging in such egotistical pastimes as writing what amounts to a "Dear John" letter to slashdot, but I had a few loose ends to tie up, so here goes.

To PopeRatzo: sorry I didn't get back to you earlier, and now that journal discussion is closed. Maybe I am seeing it through rose-colored glasses, but it seems that the number of submissions (and how many make it on the front page) from different firehoses (such as apple vs linux) leads me to believe slashdot is being inundated by Apple fanboys. It's too much for a Linux fan who remembers the heady early days of slashdot to take. In any case, I'm looking to move on to more Linux-y sites.

To everyone in general: I've seen far to many interesting articles in the firehose never go anywhere, only to be drowned out by Apple press releases. People here no longer seem to appreciate or even care about Freedom, and many who booed Microsoft now cheer Apple for the exact same practices. Even those who booed Microsoft now say "install Windows, it's what everyone knows and uses."

Gah. There's more, but I've made this too long already; check my first (and last submission), my comments, and my blog if you are curious; I'm going to try switching to other sources for tech news, and put more time into the blog and website. If nothing else, that should be a more worthwhile endeavor than shouting down the fanboys.

say it ain't so

[PopeRatzo]

Aw, come on. It's not that bad. There is great comfort in fiddling while Rome burns.

Everything is always turning into something else. When you have the opportunity, however small, to affect that turning, you should do what you can.

As long as you are here, there is certainty that Slashdot won't become just a board discussing Apple marketing material.

And you are not alone.

Will you stay if I sing the theme song to Against All Odds?

Re:

[npsimons]

I have to admit, what makes slashdot hard to leave are the community and the comments generated thereby. I can't help feeling, though, that constant reloading of the front page and flame wars are not the ideal way to spend my time.

Thanks to your replies, I have reconsidered a complete exodus. I think I may still post journal entries and submissions (I''ve been too lazy to setup comments on my blog), but I am going to try to not read the front page for a week and see how that goes. Maybe I'll keep modding th

Re:

[Profane MuthaFucka]

This is Rome?