in reply to Re: Re: Build a grid with Perl, Part 1
in thread Build a grid with Perl, Part 1

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.

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Re: Re: Re: Re: Build a grid with Perl, Part 1
by dragonchild (Archbishop) on Feb 23, 2004 at 18:57 UTC
    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.

[reply]
      All valid points, I do want to add that:

      (1) Grid is a hype machine used by IBM to drive utility computing. I've been to the meetings at IBM, I know it. They change buzzwords every 2 years, this 2-year cycle is using the word "grid". Before this it was "self healing computing". (2) Aforementioned examples of advertising cool things are non-commercial in nature. (3) Developer works is a "hooray for me!" type of web site that folks write for. A lot of it is generated by IBM employees to hype their own products -- i.e. WebSphere, IBM Grid projects, etc. I think a lot of the other news here is generally given for help of the community, not for glory of IBM.

[reply]

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