Slashdot Charity Buyers Donate Over $10,000 To the EFF

The Slashdot 10 Year Anniversary Charity Auction for the EFF is at an end and the numbers are in. We are still waiting for payment on one of the six items, but the grand total for the auctions is $9186.83. The big surprise was the anonymous reader who bought the Swag Bag AND the Low UID: he decided to donate an extra $1200 beyond his bids! Thanks to Daniel Peacock (who bought Hemos's burnt copy of Watchmen) and Michael Ravnitzk who bought Triton, the case of the first x86 that ran Slashdot in Feb 1998. He then turned around and told us to shelve it, to try to sell it again later. Instead he got a box of shirts. We're still waiting for payment on the email address, but hopefully nobody would be so crappy that they would scam a charity auction. And lastly, we would like to give special thanks to the University of Advancing Technology (here's a Coral Cache link) who paid $3,550.00 for that hyperlink you just read past. They wanted to express their support for Slashdot and for the EFF, and I think both of us appreciate it. Thanks to everyone who bid on items and congratulations to the winners. And the rest of you - don't feel bad that you missed it. You can always make a donation later - the EFF does good work. Tell them Slashdot sent you.

Did low UID purchaser get a ## or ### ?

[xmas2003 (739875)]

Hats off to the dude who chipped in an extra $1,200 for the low UID ... and hopefully he got a two-digit (rather than three digit) UID for his extra $$$ ... ;-)

Re:

[jellomizer (103300)]

Eitherway I am going to discredit comments saying how you waisted your money by buying a Mac from anyone with a 2 or 3 didgit ID. Being they spent thousands of dollars on the ability to lie about being there before the rest of us.

yep, 3 digit uids have no cachet

[toby (759)]

3 digits never got me laid. But with a 2 digit... I'd be dating Natalie Portman AND Giselle Bundchen for sure, and I'd know what to do with both digits.

Re:

[kalirion (728907)]

Sorry to break it to you, but the TOS clearly states that if you use the uid for scoring purposes, Cowboy Neal must be involved.

Re:

[Propaganda13 (312548)]

That's because you just bought yours.

ORLY? (n/t)

[toby (759)]

n/t

Damn

[by Anonymous Coward]

I knew I should have bid more than $3500 for that goatse link.

Re:Damn

[OctoberSky (888619)]

You could have put in the meaning of life in that hyperlink, wouldn't matter, no one here reads the articles anyway.

Re:

[sootman (158191)]

Save your money. Maybe in 2017 they'll auction off an IMG tag.

Re:

[fyngyrz (762201)]

Maybe in 2017 they'll auction off an IMG tag.

Ha. Funny. I'll tell you what, though, I'd donate some money - hundreds of dollars at least - to a good cause of slashdot's choosing if they would permanently fix the moderation so that moderation isn't anonymous; everyone could see *exactly* who modded what up or down, your average moderator or a slashdot editor/authority. The "low UID" and so forth are essentially useless and require nothing of slashdot either; but they could actually earn a donation fro

Re:

[sootman (158191)]

Agreed. Other problems:
- Someone finds a sarcastic joke unfunny and it gets modded "troll" or "flamebait."
- 3 people think I'm funny and I get a nice "+5, Funny" but one person thinks I'm not that funny and hits me with a "-1, Overrated." What crap. The guidelines say "focus on promoting, not demoting" but I don't think anyone reads those. Everyone just wants to form Slashdot into what they want to see, not realizing that it's (everyone hold hands now) all our differences that make Slashdot great. I see ide

Re:Damn

[Mr. Freeman (933986)]

Once moderation becomes non-anonymous, you'll end up with mod wars. Person X mods down person Y, person Y takes it personally and mods down all of person X's comments. This results in person X retaliating, a fuckload of emails to slashdot with the subject "MOD ABUSE!!", and every single user on slashdot is forced to sift though the comments themselves so see which are good and got modded down due to pissing contests, and which are bad and got left at 1-2 because all the mod points were used by people throwing their shit at each other.

This wouldn't fix the system at all, it would make it worse than useless.

I'd support the EFF but ...

[tomstdenis (446163)]

[ ] I'm selfish and hate others
[ ] I like big monopolies
[X] I'm Canadian and not represented by the EFF in any which way shape or form
[ ] The EFF tried to kill my daddy
[ ] I'm paid by the EFF so donating to the EFF is like donating to myself
[ ] Hey look!

However,

[ ] I've started an equivalent EFF in Canada
[ ] I Joined the equivalent EFF in Canada
[X] I Bought an EFF hat at Defcon
[X] I Lost said hat at Toorcon the same year
[X] I Bought another hat off their website
[ ] I Regret dealing with the EFF

Re:

[leoxx (992)]

Online Rights Canada [onlinerights.ca], sponsored by the EFF

Re:

[dextromulous (627459)]

Adding some of my own experiences... [ ] I'm selfish and hate others
[ ] I like big monopolies
[X] I'm Canadian and not represented by the EFF in any which way shape or form
[ ] The EFF tried to kill my daddy
[ ] I'm paid by the EFF so donating to the EFF is like donating to myself
[ ] Hey look!

However,

[ ] I've started an equivalent EFF in Canada
[ ] I Joined the equivalent EFF in Canada
[ ] I Bought an EFF hat at Defcon
[ ] I Lost said hat at Toorcon the same year
[ ] I Bought another hat off their we

Re:I'd support the EFF but ...

[ntk (974)]

Hey, speaking as the EFF's International Coordinator, I protest! We sponsor Online Rights Canada [onlinerights.ca],and don't you recall Sam Bulte (ex-MP) ranting about "EFF members" ruining her day [boingboing.net]?

Re:

[tearmeapart (674637)]

...and I have it on good authority* that a Canadian also bought the email address, which was paid for today. Since Canadians appear to be the only people winning these auctions, I guess Canadians care more about what happens in the US more than Americans do.

* I am assuming I do not have multiple personalities that lie to each other.

(I realize that my statement of "Canadians care more" will be marked as flamebait, but prove me wrong, d*mnit!)

did I read that right?

[mcmonkey (96054)]

Did UAT just pay to be slashdotted? Did they factor in the cost of the melting server into their bid?

Re:did I read that right?

[backbyter (896397)]

Psst. (There'll be another auction to remove the link from /.)

Re:

[everphilski (877346)]

some people enjoy pain so much, they have to pay for it.
"please sir, may I have some more?"

Re:

[moderatorrater (1095745)]

I just wonder if it was more or less than the usual price for a slashvertisement ;) j/k j/k

Nice of UAT

[moore.dustin (942289)]

When I attended the school a couple years back they had a great relationship with the EFF. It is nice to see the school investing in the industry while showing that it is finally moving away from the game design program that consumed much of the schools resources while I attended. I have heard good things about UAT as of late and I hope this only continues that great new trend.

too little ?

[unity100 (970058)]

come on. we have many million dollar people hanging out in here. why only $10k ? rats in pockets ?

Re:

[moderatorrater (1095745)]

Those funds might not be liquid necessarily (I wouldn't sell any stock in my company for slashdot swag, no offense), and also, they may have better things to do with their time/money?

Re:too little ?

[everphilski (877346)]

Precisely. I have no more than $2000 in the bank at any point in time, my money is in my 401k, roth IRA, kids college funds, overfunded life insurance, home, etc. I do allright but I couldn't cough up more than a few hundred bucks at a time unless it was an emergency ... the secret to being financially secure is not working for money, but making your money work for you.

you dont

[unity100 (970058)]

go poor by donating to something very important in your life either

you lack vision

[unity100 (970058)]

internet is changing the world to the extent that in 50 years, the people who will be in charge of their countries by then will have grown up together, playing same games, doing same stuff on the internet at nights. which will totally eliminate interracial, international enmity, differences, and eventually uncooperativeness and ultimately wars. which will be a major step towards the utopia.

additionally, in local and general sense, the internet is what is making all people to get informed about anything h

Congratulations University of Advanced Technology.

[etedronai (35656)]

... You just paid to have your web site brought to it's knees.

UAT

[orkysoft (93727)]

Funny, the story talks about the University of Advanced Technology, but the website calls it the University of Advancing Technology.

It's almost right, which is pretty good, by Slashdot editing standards ;-)

Re:

[Anne_Nonymous (313852)]

The Electronic Frontier Foundation should start their own school so they could call it EFF-U.

This might be useful during congressional testimony.

A view from a cynical bastard.

[iknownuttin (1099999)]

I looked at the links and I didn't see any accounting of the money: how much received, how it was spent, how much for administration (a perfectly legitimate cost - BUT [see below]), etc....

I don't mean to make accusations, but where's the money going. I didn't see anything on the links.

Are the administrators buying Mercedes Benz's with their "pay"?

Just asking.

P.S. I have plenty of karma - don't be shy about modding me down. I'm using my karma for good - I think.

Re:

[WhatAmIDoingHere (742870)]

If you found a Benz for under $10k let me know.

Re:A view from a cynical bastard.

[toleraen (831634)]

Are the administrators buying a Kia Spectra with their "pay"?

There ya go. Remember, it's only $10k.

Re:A view from a cynical bastard.

[StinkiePhish (891084)]

For what it's worth, the EFF achieved 4 out of 5 stars for "financial efficiency and capacity" by Charity Navigator (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charity_Navigator). Even though they are a bunch of lawyers, they are a bunch of lawyers on our side. And frankly, when I donate to them, I don't care if they are buying themselves Benz's. They produce good results.

Re:

[StinkiePhish (891084)]

EFF has four of five stars according to Charity Navigator for "financial efficiency and capacity." Here's a direct link: http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/search.summary/orgid/7576.htm [charitynavigator.org] (My apologies for not including this in my first post.)

$10,000

[niceone (992278)]

How many minutes of lawyer time does that buy?

Re:

[The-Bus (138060)]

Well, if you're hiring Lionel Hutz, the question is, how many sandwiches does that buy? I hear he works on three sandwiches a day. Also, he might live in your car.

Re:

[kalirion (728907)]

Alas, not anymore. R.I.P.

Re:

[networkBoy (774728)]

In my experience about 600.
(at least at the billing rate that the lawyer who handled my gripe site C&D letter analysis charges).

-nB

AC's are good now?

[owlstead (636356)]

And what point is there in being an AC with a low /. ID? I'm confused. Ah, I got it, they don't say which ID, so it's an anonymous ID!

Re:

[Hymer (856453)]

I'm not even sure there is any lower UID than the one for AC which obviously must be 0...

Re:

[Zashi (992673)]

ACs have UIDs of 666.

The EFF thanks you

[btempleton (149110)]

On behalf of the E.F.F. I would like to thank the crew at /. for doing this, and all the bidders for showing your geek cred and generousity to bring things up to this level. Our hardworking staff of technologists and lawyers will do great work with this money as we stand up to the NSA, AT&T, the RIAA and many other players trying to take away your rights. You can look at the long list of things we're doing at the www.eff.org web site, as well as past history. That we do all that with our modest staff continues to amaze me, and I'm inside.

Re:

[milgr (726027)]

Perhaps they should have paid for some advanced technology to handle the slashdot effect.

Re:

[el americano (799629)]

Yeah, that terrorism connection was a bridge too far.

Re:

[Nushio (951488)]

41? I would have payed an extra $1200 just to have UID 42.

Re:Anonomous Reader = netelder

[SpeedyDX (1014595)]

They might have requested anonymity so people don't ridicule themabout paying for the low UID. Well, actually, it doesn't matter why they requested anonymity. The fact of the matter is that they did. It's a little rude to point out their account when they explicitly wanted to keep it hidden.

With all the concern about the right to remain anonymous on /., I don't see why you would purposely go out of your way to lift that veil off of someone else.

But hey, your curiousity is sated. What do you care. Mod me troll, mod me whatever you like. I think it was irresponsible and inconsiderate to do that.

Re:

[hansamurai (907719)]

Looks like he jumped from 655766 to 41, a pretty nice jump if you ask me, especially for a good cause.

Google Cache of a post of his [64.233.167.104]

Regular Slashdot link (not sure if this will ever be updated to say 41) [slashdot.org]

Re:

[jdavidb (449077)]

I wondered a bit about how the transplant would work, too. I would've wanted to work with the slashdot folks a little slower and see if I could persuade them to do things right. Maybe I could write the SQL for them, or something. :) But it sounds like this guy had so few comments he may not have felt it was worth it.

I for one think it's really cool, and I was one of the first bidders on the auction, and if I'd won I wouldn't have been anonymous about it. I would've bragged not just about the low UID,

Re:

[CJ145 (1110297)]

AC's UID is 666.