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Another LinuxWorld Resignation
Monday, May 16 2005 @ 02:00 PM EDT

Martin Brown, formerly at LinuxWorld explains his reasons for resigning on his blog. I believe it's worth noting, because we have all for a long time wondered about all the anti-Linux content in LinuxWorld, and now he gives us the explanation. It's good to know that the editors of the online LinuxWorld were not the ones doing it, and the stench in the air from it should not follow them. Here's the deal on content, as he explains it:

We have no control over the website; even the new one, which went live recently, is completely out of our control. Many people don’t understand how this can be the case - even with the recent issues, many assume we have full and absolute control over content on the website. This simply wasn’t the case. Instead the LinuxWorld.com website is an automatic amalgam of articles and posts from across Sys-Con that may, or may not, be Linux related. Our only direct way into providing content for our site was through our also recently enabled blogs (http://mc.linuxworld.com). We have no control over the articles automatically added and syndicated on the site. The first time we see them is the first time you see them. Yes, it’s odd. No, we didn’t like it. Yes, I’ve said that before.

Editors with no control. That's a new concept in journalism. So Sys-Con is blazing new trails in more than one way. Well. It's all downhill. But in more than one way. There is a great deal more, which you can read on his blog.

Now we know the rest of the story.

  


Another LinuxWorld Resignation | 370 comments | Create New Account
Comments belong to whoever posts them. Please notify us of inappropriate comments.
Off Topic Here
Authored by: Kosh Nanarek on Monday, May 16 2005 @ 02:15 PM EDT


---
"And so, it begins."

[ Reply to This | # ]

Corrections here please
Authored by: ankylosaurus on Monday, May 16 2005 @ 02:28 PM EDT
If any are needed.

And it helps if your correction title identifies the typo, rather than leaving
it as just 'Corrections here please'.

For example, the subject might be:

'mitsake' -> 'mistake'

---
The Dinosaur with a Club at the End of its Tail

[ Reply to This | # ]

Where will they go?
Authored by: Stumbles on Monday, May 16 2005 @ 02:34 PM EDT
I wonder if any of those editors who have left Sys-con would want
to do some work for Groklaw?

---
You can tune a piano but you can't tune a fish.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Another LinuxWorld Resignation
Authored by: blacklight on Monday, May 16 2005 @ 02:46 PM EDT
Editors with zero editorial control - Who would have believed it? And yet the
truth often dwarfs any fiction. Captain Fuad Kircaali is running some ship of
the damned.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Another LinuxWorld Resignation
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, May 16 2005 @ 02:46 PM EDT
I for one would do what ever I can to help these (so far 4?) editors that have
quit Sys-Con were they to start up their own magazine. While I have a good idea
of the kind of monies and time and devotion that takes, I believe it would be
worth while to have editors and reporters that have displayed their integrity
and belief in jounalistic ethics reporting on FOSS. Whether or not the articles
or information is critical or fawning over FOSS, you can at least be sure that
they will have done their research and that it is an honest article based on the
facts available. Which is all you could/can ever ask of them.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Interesting, but not surprising
Authored by: pooky on Monday, May 16 2005 @ 03:06 PM EDT
I'm not at all surprised to find out the website has no editorial oversight.
Makes you wonder if MOG is really "gone" from Linux Business News now
that all of the complaining editors have in fact quit.

-pooky

---
Many Bothans died to bring us this information.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Editors with no control - not new
Authored by: SpaceLifeForm on Monday, May 16 2005 @ 03:44 PM EDT
Actually, it unfortunately has been happening for much too long now in the TV and Print media.

Bill Moyers just recently (yesterday, 2005-005-15) spoke out about the problem with the 'media' these days.

More cove rage of this media story by the media!

This should be a clarion call for those in the media to wake up, pay attention, and start reporting the real news. When the mainstream press starts reporting on the SCO vs IBM lawsuit, we will be making progress.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Another LinuxWorld Resignation
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, May 16 2005 @ 03:56 PM EDT
Just today, I got an email invite to take Java Developers Journal from Sys-Con.
I declined, noting the recent PJ article and the lack of ethics shown by its
publication, as the reasons.

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Free Ride is Over
Authored by: NicholasDonovan on Monday, May 16 2005 @ 04:28 PM EDT
The era of 'write-and-run' journalism is nearing an end. After the last 10-15
years of having the large technology companies tell them what to write, the
so-called 'IT Media' is learning that the free ride is over.

The illogical debris of pumping products before they are actually released is
hopefully also going to end. If you remember all the stories back in late 1999
of how Windows2000 was going to kill open source and you had reporters signing
its praises before it was even released. The same thing is happening now with
Microsoft's next OS (longhorn).

Also interesting is the fact that the IT Media and the want-to-be 'IT Analysts'
are working together in many cases. They 'Enderle Group' is a great example.
He's a reporter (Editorialist is a more accurate term) and an 'IT Analyst'.

Gartner is another great example. They are owned in majority by a company called
'Silver Lake Partners'. Care to guess who are huge stake holders in Silver Lake
Partners? Bill Gates is one those people.

Let's talk history. Softbank is a technical support company (they did/do a lot
of support for Microsoft). Guess what company they owned before they sold it?
ZD-Net.

ZD-Net was then sold to C-Net who derives a lot of their dollars from
advertisements from a certain Redmond based software company.

The ride is over. The pseudo-intellectuals in the IT Media have relied on the
public being 'stupified' by 'Microsoft Magic'. Those days are over. The public
has gotten a lot more wise and tech-savvy.

Yes the days of the so-called 'IT Media' are over. Just like the days of
want-to-be 'IT Analysts' whose majors were in French Literature proclaiming
themselves to be operating systems experts by proxy when they can't even write
hello.c

Cheers,

Nick



---
Not an Attorney.
Views expressed are my personal opinions and not necessarily those of my
employer or its affiliates.

[ Reply to This | # ]

  • hello.c - Authored by: josmith42 on Tuesday, May 17 2005 @ 09:58 AM EDT
    • backslash - Authored by: josmith42 on Tuesday, May 17 2005 @ 10:02 AM EDT
    • hello.c - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, May 17 2005 @ 11:09 PM EDT
  • My bated breath... - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, May 17 2005 @ 01:12 PM EDT
Another LinuxWorld Resignation
Authored by: eggplant37 on Monday, May 16 2005 @ 04:57 PM EDT
Wow... so I was right all along, there were *NO* editors approving content
there. An automated system that pulls content from several different resources,
no one to decide which content goes where, no one getting paid. Sure, that
makes for a *REALLY GOOD* news website.

I personally hope Kircaali loses everything and has to shut SYS-CON down. It
took him way too long to publish a real apology and understand why he had to do
it. That, my friends, is the mark of a serious journalist/publisher... NOT.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Sys-con... A ship without a captain?
Authored by: HockeyPuck on Monday, May 16 2005 @ 05:07 PM EDT
Is this a ship without a captain? Are they 'wondering' the media seas looking
for treasure? Could there be too many captains, each pointing in a different
direction? What ever the reason it seems that Sys-con is not a smooth operation.
I think they were recieving 'windfall' profits because certain stories were
generating revenue (which is why certain editors were being paid).

I have no idea what happened or what drove them to do what they do. But one
thing is clear, they are lost without clear barings. They have lost a lot of
respect, readers and that will hurt their advertising revenue. I find it funny
in a way that Microsft always had Ads where Linux and Open Source stories are.
Now those Ads are a joke and notice of a failing syndication (maybe even the
reason for their slow, but steady decline into media hell).

[ Reply to This | # ]

Is Microsoft paying owners of Linux sites to put in anti-Linux FUD?
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, May 16 2005 @ 07:13 PM EDT
I can see a pattern of anti-Linux put into supposedly
Linux sites. Linuxworld is one example, Linuxinsider is
another. The explanation of how this anti-Linux FUD given
by Martin Brown is interesting in that it would also
explain the activities of many other similar so called
Linux sites. I do not believe that the owners put the
anti-Linux FUD simply to attract hits. I think it is more
likely that Microsoft is paying them to put in the FUD.
Microsoft hired a so called Linux expert for their
anti-Linux drive, I wonder if his real job is to try to
infiltrate and undermine Linux websites with paid FUD. He
certainly doesn't seem to have done much else to justify
his salary.

[ Reply to This | # ]

More SYS-CON stats from Netcraft.
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, May 16 2005 @ 08:11 PM EDT

LinuxWorld was their top ranking publication - 43811, It seems as if it may be on the way out.

Just look at the ranking for LinuxBusinessWeek - 95821.

developer.sys-con.com - 1475073 :)

And you must look at some of the others.

Netcraft 2 pages

I've just checked Groklaw - It is evening now - 1830.

Netcraft Groklaw ranking

And just for the fun off it - MOG looks lonely at ClientServernews - 479182

Netcraft Clientservernews ranking

Please note they do go up and down a little over time period, but not by very much.

Brian S.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Yet Another LinuxWorld Resignation...
Authored by: 1N8 M4L1C3 on Monday, May 16 2005 @ 08:52 PM EDT
Hmmmm...

The public/consummer have a right to resign from LinuxWorld too... ...with our
wallets!

The fastest means to denounce this published tyranny is a collective
denunciation of it's subscription.

I resigned my subscription from LinuxWorld a couple years back, over their
questionable professional ethics involved with the running of Microsoft's
"Get the facts" series.

Here was a "professional" journal, purportedly supporting our F/OSS
community, while concurrently bleeding it dry vis-a-vis this campaign of
misinformation.

Shake your heads people... ...you are the customer...
...and the customer is ALWAYS right!

m.

---
On the 7th day, Linus saw that which he created and it was good... ...on the
8th day SCO litigated.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Through all this acrimony, we should still feel sorry for SCO - and keep smiling!
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, May 16 2005 @ 09:39 PM EDT

The worst thing Ms O'Gara's article has done is throw a cloud of bitterness over
this board. While it's natural to feel angry about what she did, IMHO it's
important to remember what the spirit of this board is about.

It's about the law and ethics - and having a bit of fun at the expense of SCO.

I don't say that to be particluary nasty to SCO - at the beginning I reckon they
had a good solid business plan. Threaten to sue IBM and everyone else in sight,
get bought out by IBM, retire to a nice tropical beach somewhere.

Then, in some large part because of Groklaw, the wheels fell off. Big time.

And to me, the most enjoyment I get out of this board is watching them (via the
court docs, reports and comments) trying to dig themselves out of the hole.

And watching the Nazgul subject their case(s) to the death of a thousand cuts!

Isn't it time we gave MOG the attention she now deserves (none) and get back to
the lighter side of watching the entertainment that the Nazgul thus provide us
with?

[ Reply to This | # ]

OT: FSF answer to Wallace complaint imminent?
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, May 16 2005 @ 10:57 PM EDT
Docket 3 = Summons, dated 28 April

This allows 20 days to reply, not including the day of service

If date of service = 28 April, then answer due = 18 May
If date of service = 29 April, then answer due = 19 May
If date of service = 30 April, then answer due = 20 May
etc.

(I don't see any indication of the date of service in the record, but I may have
missed it)

[ Reply to This | # ]

Another LinuxWorld Resignation
Authored by: bventer on Tuesday, May 17 2005 @ 03:41 AM EDT
Why not contact IDG? SYS-CON is using their name under agreement...

---
...

[ Reply to This | # ]

LinuxWorld OFF THE AIR
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, May 17 2005 @ 04:15 AM EDT
I have not been paying attention recently. So I decided to go to the LinuxWorld web site to check out the article. I tried through three browsers, and here is what I get:

Problem occurred
Oopsie. An error occurred while processing your request.

An email has been sent alerting this potential problem.

Thank you for your patience.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Hmm
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, May 17 2005 @ 05:25 AM EDT
I specifically read a Dee-Ann article about how Linux sux compared to Windows
quite recently, it smelled like a paid article.
She is among the resigned.
So, I don't quite buy that they had no control over the stuff they themselves
wrote.
However, it might be true that the worst stuff was coming from outside.
But, to me Maureen seemed like an insider as well. As a plain reader i couldn't
make her apart from the staff.

[ Reply to This | # ]

My Reply To John Dvorak's blog: RE: MoGate
Authored by: SirFozzie on Tuesday, May 17 2005 @ 06:51 AM EDT
(hopefully this will get posted in the next 24 hours, his is modeerated)

Mr. Dvorak:

I think you're missing out on some things that fuel some folks at Groklaw and
elsewhere to believe that Maureen O'Gara is working, if not QUITE hand in hand
with SCO, then towards a common ground.

Earlier in the trial, SCO attempted to introduce some information into evidence
that was disallowed because it was privileged. That information has since been
redacted from transcripts and sealed. (Once again, privileged information)

None of the observers who have reported on the hearing saw Mrs O'Gara attend
that hearing, yet she wrote a fluff piece about this "damning bit of
evidence that IBM is so desperately trying to keep sealed". That
information could have only come from SCO.

Then, in the recent quarterly earnings report open call for SCO, their CEO, Darl
McBride blustered that "You don't know everything there is to know about PJ
and Groklaw, and we'll be putting that out when we get to the bottom of
it."

My memory may be failing, but I believe that he also mentioned that he had hired
private investigators to learn everything about PJ that they could.

A mere matter of weeks, comes this stalking piece (I'm sorry, I can't come up
with a better term for this piece of garbage) from Maureen O'Gara, which
violates several ethical standards for journalists.

How badly?

Here's a Co-Chair on an ethics comittee for journalists (yes, considering recent
events in the major media, I'm as surprised as you :))

I agree with you. That piece by O'Gara definitely is outside the norms of good
journalism. It's bullying, insulting and harassing, and I, for one, really don't
get the point of it. That's not to say that other journalists are sometimes
guilty of those sins, but that still doesn't make it good journalism.

So I don't think you did the wrong thing in using you First Amendment rights to
call for O'Gara's ouster or reprimand or whatever. The SPJ Code of Ethics says
ethical journalists should "expose unethical practices of journalists and
the news media" and "abide by the same high standards to which they
hold others."

Fred Brown

Co-chair, SPJ Ethics Committee

(end email)

Now.. for the DDoS "attack".. well there are other things that were
going on at the time, that were working, so I don't think if there was an
attack, it was very successful. I know several people were doing a batch wget of
the site to make sure they couldn't claim that no "attack article" of
the sort had ever happened.

And before you pin it on Linux "enthusiasts", I ask you to remember
the virus that was supposedly "Written by OSS Extremists to DDoS SCO off
the net." that SCO and others made hay out of for weeks. When it turned out
that it was NOTHING of the sort, it was a smoke screen for a spambot/zombie
virus created by Eastern European mobsters... the silence was palpable. Not even
a grudging "Ok, we were wrong".

Boycotts of publisher and advertisers aren't "Bad" or
"illegal" either. It's one way to vote with your pocketbook.

Does it surprise you that the whole Senior Editorial Staff of the magazine whose
online branch published it resigned, because the publisher A) Decided to run it
over their objections and B) Saw there "was nothing wrong with the
article" despite O'Gara even mentioning IN THE ARTICLE that she wasn't sure
she had the right person?

I hope you'll take a 2nd look at the issue, and realize you're barking up the
wrong tree.

[ Reply to This | # ]

OFF TOPIC - strange sightings
Authored by: fettler on Tuesday, May 17 2005 @ 06:55 AM EDT
I have just seen a young lady driving a Mercedes Coupe past my office door with
the engaging private registration plate V8 SCO. Ante bellum, I would have been
wondering idly whether she was named Susan Osbaldeston, or Sheila Oliver, but
now she will have no idea of the pitying glance that followed her.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Another LinuxWorld Resignation
Authored by: belzecue on Tuesday, May 17 2005 @ 07:39 AM EDT
In mid-life, Dvorak said:

"I can tell you that my mere mentioning of any of this will result in
incredibly hateful attempted postings on this forum and on my moderated
blog."

In kindergarten, Dvorak said:

"I bet if I say this to Lucy she'll go crazy and kick me in the shins.
Watch. 'Hey, Lucy! You is ugly and stupid!... OWWWWWW!... hehe, see, I was
right."

Sigh.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Sys-con is down
Authored by: pooky on Tuesday, May 17 2005 @ 10:02 AM EDT
Anyone know why Sys-con is offline? There is a generic maintenance message being
displayed for all their sites (9am EST)

-pooky

---
Many Bothans died to bring us this information.

[ Reply to This | # ]

  • Sys-con is down... - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, May 17 2005 @ 10:29 AM EDT
  • Sys-con is down - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, May 17 2005 @ 10:48 AM EDT
    • Heh. - Authored by: Jude on Tuesday, May 17 2005 @ 12:06 PM EDT
  • Online again - Authored by: ak on Tuesday, May 17 2005 @ 10:50 AM EDT
Another LinuxWorld Resignation
Authored by: KagatoLNX on Tuesday, May 17 2005 @ 10:15 AM EDT
For "news sites" like the Sys-Con one, thinks like Google ranking are
critical to your market views (which is critical to your profits).

I know that Google weights based on the prevalence of lots of links (both from
you and to you), amount of content, and how frequently content changes.

This make me wonder if the Sys-Con sites do all of this unrelated
cross-syndication and linking just to boost their Google signature.

I wonder how Google would feel about that...

I'm certain they could audit their database to make sure that Sys-Con sites
weren't getting an undue boost in rating.

As for preventing it in the future, it makes me think about clever string
processing to pull out sentences and paragraphs, a database of their hashes, and
an algorithm to divide any credit from them between sites containing duplicate
content or to weight the credit toward sites that are linked to from the
duplication (likely the source, to prevent penalizing good duplication). But I
digress...

[ Reply to This | # ]

Editors now like radio DJ's?
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, May 17 2005 @ 11:26 AM EDT
Are editors now simply there to make sure the machines are running, not unlike
the Disk Jockey that plays no records, takes no request and just reads off
what's
put in fron of this face?

So who the heck IS REALLY in control of content at LinuxWorld?

[ Reply to This | # ]

While on the topic of pop culture references...
Authored by: IRJustman on Tuesday, May 17 2005 @ 12:31 PM EDT
Since we're on that thread, if one of the threads talks about the kind of
critter that Chewbacca is, don't you mean "wookiee", not
"wookie"?

--Ian, who is ambivalent of watching any of the first three episodes of Star
Wars since Lucas doesn't seem to be done (or at least, satisfied) with the
second three. And yes, I've seen the first three when they first came out.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Unpaid? Why were they there in the first place?
Authored by: stevenj on Tuesday, May 17 2005 @ 01:19 PM EDT
Did this strike anyone else as odd?
Finally - and this was a bigger issue for some editors - nobody at the editorial level, or anybody who wrote articles for the print magazine - got paid.

I can understand doing something you love (e.g. writing) for free, but why do it to subsidize a company that is selling ads off your unpaid efforts? Why not just publish on your own blog/site/etc.? What kind of outfit was this?

(Of course, maybe I shouldn't talk, being someone who not only doesn't get paid, but often actually pays, to publish articles in scientific journals that profit commercial publishers.)

[ Reply to This | # ]

Interview with Turner and LeBlanc
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 18 2005 @ 08:21 AM EDT
Over at LQRadio. Available in .ogg, .mp3, and on BitTorrent as well. Interview

[ Reply to This | # ]
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