in reply to Build a grid with Perl, Part 1

Off topic. I apologize in advance...but this concerns me. This node is already considered, else I would consider it for deletion as SPAM.

I have been noticing an inordinate amount of posts by Anonymous monks referencing IBM DeveloperWorks posts in the last several weeks. I am begining to think it is the authors of these articles who are posting -- which -- in all cases, the poster should just register. If you are just logging in to PerlMonks to say "hey I have another article on DeveloperWorks", by all means, register so we can know who you are -- or at least mention that you wrote the article. I don't take kindly to spamming by those who are too afraid to register.

I apologize if I'm wrong here and some anonymonk found something cool, but I'd bet money this one works for IBM DeveloperWorks and/or wrote the article. How many IBM grid articles have been posted here by anonymonks? What? 5? That's 4 too many.

Also, this site requires registration...very bad form for an article contributed for "good will of the community" as it were. I suspect ulterior motives. Many of the previous articles were only loosely related to Perl, if at all...I think someone thinks they are smart for finding an easy site to SPAM.

Do we have to automate this? 

consider_post('spam?') if (($poster == "AnonymousMonk") and ($article=
+~/ibm.com/) && ($article=~/grid/));

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Re: Re: Build a grid with Perl, Part 1
by jryan (Vicar) on Feb 23, 2004 at 18:01 UTC

    I think you're being ridiculous. What exactly are you scared of? That IBM wants to push Perl, and the community will get swallowed by a corporate giant? That certainly isn't going to happen; IBM uses Java for pretty much everything except for bioinformics and grid stuff. That's the reason you see so many Grid-related IBM perl articles. Since people here tend to post a link to almost every article on the internet that even slightly mentions Perl here, you get a bunch of links to this stuff.

    I certainly don't see this as a problem. IBM developer works is a reputable site, and they sometimes have some interesting stuff. Its at least nothing to flip out about. I'm personally much more annoyed at seeing people constantly post links to use.perl.org articles everyday. Don't they realize that most of this site's readership also reads use.perl.org on a regular basis? If we have any kind of annoucments auto-reap filter, I think that any node in this section even mentioning use.perl.org should be reaped as a duplicate.

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      I would not have a problem if the author had registered. This is anonymous SPAM -- essentially *advertising*. If this was a registered user, and it was clear the user posted many non-developerworks articles, I would have zero problem with this.

      Developerworks can be cool sometimes, but it's also an IBM PR machine.

      I've seen this kind of thing on many of my favorite web sites (even registering and then advertising using the first post), so I'm a little touchy. House painters on mountain biking boards, things like that :)

      I'll go easier on 'em next time, but this goes on a lot.

[reply]
        Your complaint about registration on DeveloperWorks could be viewed by the AnonyMonk(s) posting these informational articles in the same way. "Why should I have to register on your site just to let you know about cool information?" It cuts both ways.

        Furthermore, membership in the PM club has nothing to do with how many topics you post on. There are monks, both registered and not, who only post on very specific topics. In fact, they're known for only posting on those topics. Elian, for example, tends to confine his posts specifically to the design of Perl6. I don't think he has ever written a CGI script. Does that make him less of a monk?

        Additionally, tilly (one of the more respected monks) was forced to post anonymously for over a year, due to outside considerations. Yet, when he posted as AnonyMonk, did that make his posts any less valuable?

        Finally, it is targeted advertising. So what?!? How does this differ from Abigail-II's posts advertising the latest release of Perl 5.8.x? Or posts advertising various modules by "reviewing" them?

        Grid computing using Perl is an amazing advancement of the current knowledgebase. Yes, people have been doing it for a while. But, to have, publicly and freely accessible, a blueprint of how to do it - that's gold! I personally couldn't care less where it came from, who wrote it, how I found out about it, or even if it has a ton of spelling and gramatical errors (which it does). The knowledge is the important part.

        ------
        We are the carpenters and bricklayers of the Information Age.

        Please remember that I'm crufty and crochety. All opinions are purely mine and all code is untested, unless otherwise specified.

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Re: Re: Build a grid with Perl, Part 1
by ysth (Canon) on Feb 23, 2004 at 18:53 UTC
    I don't think the concept of SPAM quite applies to posting on a public forum. FWIW, I considered it because it was placed as an news announcement but not phrased as such. It would be more reasonable as a meditation (but it's lacking the detail I would like to see--especially given the registration requirement). If it had originally been a meditation, I would have just ignored it (and it may have even languished unapproved forever).

    It surprises me that news doesn't seem to require approval.

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