Troll Tracking

Troll tracking has started to become more accurate - the latest research shows Internet trolls can be identified to nearest 690 meters or close to 100 meters (or approximately 1 building in other words)

IP Address of Doom?
In situations where person lives in rural areas (like in Aussie outback or on a Texas Ranch), it's pretty obvious who is posting those inflammatory remarks on Embarcadero newsgroups or constantly uploading to those web-based file-sharing sites.

This reminds me of the radar dome feature in Red Alert...

Now only if they could add geolocation with advertising  into Embarcadero's Delphi/C++ Builder or even DBArtisan, it's going to be really fun...


:) 

Help wanted - many flames available

From:
https://forums.embarcadero.com/thread.jspa?threadID=32101

Quoted:
--------------------------
While I read these news groups daily, I very rarely post. However, tonight I feel like sharing my two cents just so I can say I informed Embarcadero that I won't be giving them any more of my money and why.

First, like a lot of people I go back to the Turbo Pascal 3.0 days and on thru Turbo Delphi 2007. While I did skip a few Delphi versions, 8, 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010; I did purchase all the TP from 3.0 thru TP 6, Borland Pascal and so on. I also dabbled in the Turbo Prolog, Turbo C, Borland C++ and other Borland business products.

So why haven't I upgraded/bought versions 2009 and 2010. Well, the price! RAD Studio is just too expensive. I know it is supposed to be enterprise; however, I've been an independant contracter more since 2000 then I have been a full time employee (where the business paid the freight).

This isn't because I necessarily want to be independant; there just aren't Delphi jobs out there. Do a national search on dice.com with the keyword "delphi". I did it last week and there were 20 jobs. This is compared to more then 3200 Java and 1600 PHP jobs.

Delphi contracts are becoming even harder to find. With 20+ years in the pascal business, I have found myself forced into other languages.

How is this Embarcadero 's fault/responsibility? Well,the software development market place has changed, and Delphi has not changed with it. Two points of frustration for me are web and mobile.

Embarcadero does not have a delphi dynamic scripting solution like ruby, python, php and perl. So many businesses today don't want desktop apps, they want web sites built with popular languages and open source frameworks. If you look at those Java and PHP jobs, they are overwelmingly web stuff; from simple to complex. I have worked with webbroker, websnap, intraweb and delphi prysm. All but delphi prysm are non starters with shared hosting. As for Prysm, if I have to learn a slightly new language and a huge API, I might as well use the free tools for C# or just learn c#. For even more job oppertunities I should choose java/php.

This post is already way too verbose, but the mobile market is much the same.

Face it, when Delphi 1.0 was released, it was, without question, the best solution for destktop and c/s applications. Embarcadero doesn't have a compelling reason for me to shell out anymore money.

What do I want? Release an open source delphi language interpreter specifically designed for the web server. Use that brain trust to create a superior solution. Sell the ide and tooling but push all the shared hosts to support it on windows and linux. Many businesses start with shared hosting and then move up.

Create the language for mobile operating systems. If android can run c++, it can, then a delphi variant can be written for it. Again, sel the ide and tooling but give away the compiler/base editor. Flood the market with a free, easy and powerful solution.

Anyway, feel free to flame away. I made the mistake of posting so I deserve what I get.
--------------------------

A drum, a drum, a troll doth come...

(Borrowing from Macbeth)

All hail Tom*, highly respected person,
All hail John*, highly respected person,
All hail troll, thou shalt be king thereafter!

[* not their real names]

Synopsis
There are parallels in Macbeth, and modern-day trolls:

- Both of them are tragic figures, Macbeth being fictional character, while a troll is more modern-day.

- Macbeth won many battles, a troll goes around trying hard to convince his boss, his customers, the management, nearly everyone, that Delphi is the right decision.

- Macbeth is praised for his bravery and fighting prowess, so doth trolls who fight the management that Delphi is worth it, then get betrayed by everyone.

- Macbeth is made king, trolls usually run their own companies and are their own bosses.

Tragedy of Character
When a troll doth arriveth to ye town-hall newsgroups, he immediately faces insults from everyone, those who know him, distance away from him. Those who want to do business with (the troll), would not give him any. when the troll tries to ask for forgiveness, people would point him to older posts, and tell him to (get lost). (See: Simon Kissel's, Frank de Groot's postings)

Tragedy of Moral Order
What happens when things fail? What happens when failure is an option? There are three things that can happen:

a) Either Borland and TeamB makes amends, or apologize (which never happens, even today - the same old people are there)

b) The troll apologize and make amends, but since the troll has to pay money to those offended, and to those horrible people (the vendors), there is lot of bad blood.

c) The third option, is nobody is forgiven. Borland neither forgive, and the troll, seeing that nobody budges or makes amends, harden-up, and forget the whole Delphi-thing.

Whatever it is, I have not those trolls around the newsgroups, and by the way, since there are no Delphi jobs, maybe they easily switched to Java/PHP/C#/whatever which makes them money.


Trolling and Evil
One thing for sure in Borland's - is - nobody hears your complaints, any bug-fixes just means more money paid for annual maintenance (now called SA), newer versions which means more money. When will good version of Delphi come? - maybe when you get screwed and have no more money left :)


Survival
This is not about rebellion or hate, it's about basic survival. Suppose you're working on a Delphi project, and things start to screw-up, be it, the stupid Unicode issue (before Delphi 2009/2010 came out), or some memory leak error caused by faulty VCL code, or some DEP error (caused by faulty VCL code) or deadlines not being met. Fair enough, Delphi 2010 came out and you need to "upgrade". Will you be given a free upgrade, since Borland/CodeGear released buggy software? nope, just pay up the money. Same goes for Delphi third-party vendors, who changed their business model to subscriptions.

Suppose the boss takes US$50,000 loan, then US$100,000 loan later, and every day, gets scared he cannot pay off the loan, and every year, be it, something happens and he has to pay more and more money to get fixes, updates. What happens if software fails, or not enough customers? Many of those who insult the trolls don't see this.

Who will help the Boss, who get such big loan and then company fail, maybe the boss is well-respected Delphi developer?

What happens if not enough money to buy second or third license for Delphi? then it results to no jobs.


Conclusions
If there was comfort, it would be trolls were trying to say something to Borland/CodeGear/Embarcadero and then everyone screwed the troll. They say, don't feed the trolls, but did anyone hear what the troll said? (and nobody could lift a finger to help that troll financially too).

Hotel California moment: Delphi Haven

Your reviewer was amused over DelphiHaven's Small thought post.

Why does the off-topic newsgroup still exist?

It's also called borland.spank.the.trolls.really.hard, borland.character.assassination
and borland.unforgiven

borland.spank.the.trolls.really.hard newsgroup
Let me explain this one. Suppose there's a troll on the newsgroup, who criticizes about Delphi, so what happens, TeamB redirects post to off-topic newsgroup for further newsgroup spanking. There, since there are no moderation rules, you can see all manner of insults, racial slurs, personal attacks, the true colors of Delphi developers.

borland.character.assassination newsgroup
Many years ago, when Frank de Groot complained about Delphi, his posts were redirected to borland.off-topic and there he complained being called Troll, insulted, and lost all his business..., to add insult to injury, now everyone can Google Frank the troll de Groot. Did TeamB ever cancelled those messages? nope, it stays on there, and archived on Google Newsgroups, and other newsgroup archives. If there was one way lose all business, this would be the perfect way to lose all Delphi business.

Same thing what happened to Simon Kissel (person who did Cross-Kylix) and got insulted by TeamB, and you can still read it. It's amazing any insults to former Borland staff and TeamB gets canceled, while insults to Simon Kissel do not get canceled.

borland.character.unforgiven newsgroup
Since Google Newsgroups (formerly Deja), HREF (formerly Tarmaraka) and others pick-up Borland's newsgroup feed, you get those notable troll reminders, such as reminding Frank de Groot, Simon Kissel (et al) they are not welcome anymore.

If there was change at Embarcadero (formerly DevCo, CodeGear) it would be to drop that newsgroup, get rid of those blow-hards, (Let's not even talk about Delphi.Jobs newsgroups...).

Even at Embarcardero's competitors - Quest Corp, Sybase, I never seen such nonsense at their community sites.

DelphiHater never post at Borland, DevCo, CodeGear, Embarcadero's newsgroup any more. DelphiHater uses Google search. Since most questions are already answered, there is little to look for...

Maybe some kind words for DelphiHaven, the newsgroups are like Hotel California, the Delphi developers seems friendly, nice, but deep down, they are just prisoners to the Dominatrix Delphi, and you can check out anytime you want... but you can never leave.

Maybe when DelphiHaven's developer realizes Delphi can't feed him or his family, or maybe get him that job promotion he so badly wanted (jobs? what jobs?), or respect his blog wanted, it could be haven, or it could be hell...

:)

Fan Mail: New ideas for name-calling.

Your reviewer had long winded argument with someone who don't know how to respect criticism.

Here are some new ideas for Delphi developers to call "trolls":

Why not call your management "trolls"?
Since the pointy-hair boss walks from left to right, waiting for your work to be done. Since Delphi compiles so fast, then why is work so slow? Maybe it's the boss fault, for not buying nice 3rd party-add-ons, or requiring to use older versions of Delphi. Then every time Delphi developers ask for raises, it's until AFTER the project is finished and all the money is collected. Do you feel someone breathing down your neck when the project is not done correctly?...

Why not call the third-party vendors "trolls"?
They operate a nice troll booth to collect tolls. It seems each component is sold separately by different vendors, and in order to get good working application, you need to cross many bridges? It seems every year prices keep increasing and every year a new upgrade? How much toll does a vendor collect in a year?

Why not call the HR or Payroll trolls?
Since they "need" to know about you, like how many times you were late or how many times you spent dazed on the forums, newsgroups, rather than getting things done? Why not call them deep-trolls instead, since they seem to know nothing about Delphi. Alas, if you do, you might find yourself out of job, but wait, are there not plenty of Delphi jobs?

Why not call the QA testers trolls?
Since they find nearly every damn bug and report it down. Umm, you know, like the people who write a long list of issues on the Borland newsgroups and then demand support? then they get frustrated, and notably, get called trolls.

Why not call the Graphics designer or C++ developer trolls?
Since they are paid more than Delphi Developers and amazingly, seem to use 1 application and get things done without additional costs required.

You can see the "amazing wisdom" about Delphi Developers are, one moment, they teach how good about Delphi is, and later, start this name-calling and discrediting other people.