Just Some Guy's Journal: I Am Not This Serious. Seriously.

I think I may have to take a break from Slashdot.

Why? Is is because it's eating into my work? Nah - I have plenty of long compiles that allow me to waste a few minutes here and there. Is it because I'm actually building a "Freaks" list? No way! The fact that some people find my honest opinions too insulting to bear is kind of amusing.

No, it's because I've started Acting My Age and becoming way, way too serious.

I am not at all like my Slashdot persona. I mean, my opinions and beliefs are the same - I've never once misrepresented those - but my personality is completely different. I'm a nice guy who likes to laugh, enjoy life, and have fun. I'm almost never this intense or serious in day-to-day life, but put me in front of a comment box and I go uber-professional and detail-oriented. Those are OK traits, sure, and it's nice to know that I'm capable of logical and serious discussion, but that's still not who I am.

I even get along brilliantly with people I disagree with. Although I'm a very staunch conservative, one of my long-time good friends is a deliberately homeless tree-hugger (I mean it - literally!) who's typically into paganism, environmentalism, socialism, and a lot of other isms that I don't really want any part of. We get along great, though, and although we disagree on pretty much everything we always have a fun time in the process. Not here, though. Oh, no. For some reason, I seem to lose the ability to parse gentle sarcasm when I come here and just have to respond in a pedantically exact manner.

So, why is that? I kind of blame Slashdot itself, and its "coverage" of the 2004 elections in particular. Despite our differences, we used to all pretty much get along before then. Now our little green corner of the 'net is hyper-politicized and angry, and you can't ask for a recommendation of a nice IDE drive without being lectured about the evils of magnetoresistive manufacturers and their harm to the third-world environment.

I'll make you a promise: if you promise to lighten up and begin enjoying the humor inherent in a population of nearly a million crotchety geeks from across the world, I'll do the same. In fact, as a token of good faith, I'll be the first to try. On the other hand, if I can't pull it off, then I'm out of here. Seriously. I enjoy life too much to be sucked down into a swirling pit of Seriousness and Thoughtful Deliberation.

Let's have fun again, shall we? Wish me luck.

Amen!

[EmagGeek]

I have to give that a big "me too!" I would challenge you to find a single "discussion" in which there is NOT a comment bashing the US, Bush, or Capitalism. Ever since the 2004 elections, Slashdot has become yet another wasteland of venting liberals who can't stay on topic nor have a mature discussion about anything. Furthermore, I know that there has been a mass conservative exodus from slashdot, and that the effect of the liberal majority on /. is to censor the opinions and views of conservatives through

The Cube

[nkh]

Is it a joke? You can't be serious... I tried to escape once or twice but it's impossible! You always come back, trapped in this web site. It's like the Cube: you don't know why you're here and where you came from, BUT YOU CAN'T ESCAPE! One day, you'll have nothing to do... and your brain won't be satisfied until you've checked one or two stories!

It's too late my friend, too late...