This is where I only give credit where is due. When it comes to web design if is not build from the ground up by you than credits is not due to you but to where you borrowed it from.
I do give a small credit for your redesign but to me is just not ethical. Thats why I stay a way from web design.

1 members found this post helpful.

It seemed relevant to respond to this thread as I may have a bit of a more bird's eye perspective than most people on some false publications surrounding Slackhappy International- and I'm glad someone asked, because I don't know who says what.

Slackhappy International is an ongoing fork in the Slackware Linux support community. It was created because Chris felt that the culture in many of the online support mediums for Slackware were hostile to newer users (and generally they are, unless that user has a background that would compliment their venture into linux).

It was founded in July of 2010, and met immediate resistance from core members of “The Slackware Team” and also administrators from other long-established Slackware-related projects, such as the GnomeSlackBuild developers.

This resistance came in the form of libelous and defamatory publications from Robby Workman from Slackware, Darren Austin from GnomeSlackbuilds, Matt Hayes of Slackadelic, and included baiting our members, then doctoring the logs of those interactions, and then publishing those edited logs to obfuscate the types of things being said and to generally make Slackhappy International look bad so that no one would use its services. As I'm sure some of you know, slackhappy.net is a spoof site owned by Darren Austin.

After it started to get out of hand, an ongoing publication on the Slackhappy website called 'The Wall of Shame' was a collection of ongoing logs of this harassment. When those established members of the Slackware community became aware of this, they started using proxies to spam and harass Chris and other members, and actually at one point began to 'impersonate' members of Chris' family and loved ones to try to further stain the project and 'bait' Chris into making a response. When that didn't work, Darren Austin and Frank Gingras (thumbs on freenode) began to impersonate Chris directly to generate false statements from Chris.

When that did not work they began writing letters to Chris' employers complaining of logs that they themselves created and doctored while attempting to blackmail Chris into shutting down Slackhappy International (this occured in November of 2010).

Their stalking of Chris actually became so severe that he had to leave the project's public outlets to someone else to manage while he has been networking with other slackware-related support providers to improve Slackhappy International's ability to provide a more sane learning environment for the users.

Since then, Darren Austin and Frank Gingras, have created a website slackhappy.net whose sole purpose is to mock and antagonize Chris (and the slackhappy project). Darren (Tadgy, on Freenode), has spent hundreds of hours typing into an empty IRC query directed towards various members of the Slackhappy Project under the mistaken belief that they are all Chris. He frequently makes declarations of 'love' towards Chris in his endless talking to himself.

After several C&D notices, Robby Workman eventually spent several weeks rewording his hate site directed towards Chris (also full of these edited logs) to attempt to obfuscate his liability in defaming Chris. There is currently a restraining order being sought against Robby Workman, and Darren Austin's actions are being looked into (though there is probably not much that can be done about Darren as he resides in the UK).

A longstanding misconception about these events is that because Chris does not get along well with the operators in ##slackware that the operators themselves are not irresponsible in the methods by which they have provided support. There is nothing malicious about the Slackhappy International projects, this is a false notion being spread by people who provide support that is being challenged by Slackhappy.

I'm glad someone asked, and you're welcome to find out what Slackhappy International -actually- does by thinking for yourself, and inquiring directly.

What Slackhappy is, is an attempt at consolidating and bettering support resources from all across the net into one single source of help, with a new attitude-- I want the elitism, the egos, and any other concepts that would get in the way of an operating systems' purpose (licensing hangups, DE favoritism, laziness, overspecialization, unreasonable expectations of newer users, et al) to be removed from that atmosphere. It may not be for everyone, but, it's extraordinarily friendly and quite genuine.

These Slackware contributors have gone to incredible efforts to keep Slackhappy International from coming to any fruition or meeting any purpose through the use of deceptive and dishonest protectionist retaliation.

I hold all of you to be much more intelligent than that, and I hope that you see it for what it is, as opposed to blindly believing whatever Robby Workman and the rest of these contributors desperately wish for you to believe. Had I or any other members decided to stoop to their level, I too could have doctored logs in flattering ways to Slackhappy and most unflattering ways to these established providers, but I have not done that out of ethical concerns-- if I respond with more of the same than I would be no better than they are.

“Who thinks for you?”

1 members found this post helpful.

By the way, thank you for the compliments on the theming-- alot of work goes into the appearance of the sites.

For the moment much of the site are purchased or free themes that have been tailored to needs for the site, but the rest is done by a graphic designer that helps out where he can, and in the past there have been designing contests where the winner's work will be incorporated into the site-- there are currently several new contests this year because last year's went so well.

I'm not a web designer nor could I be, I just am careful about quality. Or try to be. It is only getting better the longer it is around.

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I'm LOL'ing at the ridiculous and paranoid allegations in your post (which is to say almost every sentence). Clue: if you want people to believe that the logs posted were fake, then post real ones. If you want people to believe that sock-puppetry has happened, then post evidence (e.g. IP logs, or links to confessional blog entries).

However...

Can anyone confirm this? slackhappy.org is actually registered to Chris Punches, while slackhappy.net is registered via domainsbyproxy.com, whose tagline is "your identity is nobody's business but ours."

3 members found this post helpful.

How does one "fork" a community?
And where exactly is the "hostility" you talk of? I've seen many stupid threads getting helpful and polite answers - even undeserved, IMHO.

3 members found this post helpful.

I second this. This is the official Slackware support forum. If there were threads here where people met with hostility just for being inexperienced, then I'm positive that the moderators would have stepped in.

6 members found this post helpful.

I can't confirm anything, but I get the same 403 errors in slackhappy.net that I get in gnomeslackbuild.org The only way I can visit those websites is via google cache or translate. Something in the coding is similar.

gnomeslackbuild.org is coming up just fine for me.

For most people too. People suggested in their mailing list it has something to do with ISP proxies. The fact is that I, among a few others, can't access it directly.

As a relatively new member to the greater Slackware community, I don't believe a word you typed. thumbs, r.workman, dugan and others are always insanely helpful even to dumb newbie questions (that I tend to ask alot).

You come off as a very elaborate troll with an amount of free time that I envy!

7 members found this post helpful.

I've been a Slackware user for 15+ years with around 10 of those using Slackware as my MAIN operating system for the home. On the whole, whether on IRC, these forums, or other areas, I have found most Slackware users helpful and friendly. I don't consider the occasional teasing and jokes as "hostile." The core group and contributors I have found to be very helpful over the years. Sure, there are a few that get a bit cranky when you ask a silly question or two. There are and where a few asshats on occasion, but those are easily ignored. As for Mathezula's tirade above: “Who thinks for me?” I do. After reading the slackhappy site, posts here, and elsewhere, I conclude that slackhappy is a another crank site the type of which litters the internet with marginal to bad advice and also appears to attempt to "cash in" on the work of others.

I have consulted on networking, computers, software and GNU/Linux, built my own and others' computers, even making a few $$ in the process. Slackware can be a bit much for some users transitioning from Windows or Mac OS to wrap there heads around. As such, I usually fire up distrowatch to look for appropriate Live CDs for them to try out. Often Ubuntu, Mint etc are sufficient for them. I am always pleased when they take the next step to Slackware.

In the unlikely event that the "slackhappy" team is legitimate, I wish them well. "Market forces" will determine their success or failure. However, they may want to consider the competition: http://www.slackware.com/support/

6 members found this post helpful.

Utter rot. I'm a relative newcomer to Slackware, I started Slacking in 2004. I've found this forum and ##slackware to be excellent places to help me trouble-shoot my system. The Slackware developers and Mr. Volkerding help users in this forum. In the event of a really off colour joke/comment the moderating team will step in. Hostile? I don't see evidence of your claims.

7 members found this post helpful.

I'm glad you took the opportunity to speak about your credentials and overwhelming experience but I don't think that slackware is a bit much for newly transitioning users coming over from Windows-- I think that's the excuse used to make newer users feel small and incompetent for having not read gross amounts of documentation just to accomplish simple tasks.

My firm belief is that Slackware is excellent as an educational tool- and I'm sure that quite a bit of reading is necessary to get oriented with it in a meaningful way but that would have absolutely nothing to do with the manner in which those people are received. In short, I think the days of someone being referred to another distro simply because they're 'not getting it' fast enough or don't want to immerse their lives in mostly unnecessary documentation are over (or should be). Other linux communities in established distros are taking off because this mentality is largely being abandoned in broader support communities (in my actually humble opinion).

I also could be more idealistic about that aim than would be reasonable. Time will definitely tell. In the meantime the atmosphere created by Slackhappy to users seeking support is complimentary and supplementary to existing non-irc resources. As for the other business, all of those behaviors mentioned are, have been, and will be inconsequential to any attempts to provide resources to the users. If these attempts are ignored, they'll eventually expose themselves (re: Robert Workman, Darren Austin, Matt Hayes). It is my impression that they do not intend to stop these kinds of shenanigans, that other projects have been brought down by this kind of thing, and that if gutted out will be a little more obvious after some time. I hope I worded that correctly.

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OMG - now I know what the term "trolling" really means. Why do you bother with this fictional tirade that fools noone? As anyone here knows the Slackware community is one of the most trustworthy, reliable and decent available - it makes me wonder just what benefit you or cpunches, ( I sense a sock puppet here so you are likely one and the same), get through any of this.

The community members you discredit here and the things you report are so obviously false that anyone with even a passing familiarity will know to be erroneous. Please, find something else to do and maybe even get a life. Now there's an idea!

As I mentioned earlier, I have been a member of the #slackware community on IRC and know all too well of chris punches contributions to the channel. At the time noone really picked on him, (you), so I don't know why this "get my own back" mentality has come about. Please find another community to troll and stop spreading falsifications about Slackware and it's members. To be honest I don't know why you bother even doing this - are you in some way trying to cause some distrust in an established community - and if so why?

Please get back to 4chan where you can continue with your fantasies. This is not IRC - this is the Slackware support forum so kindly troll somewhere else.

5 members found this post helpful.

Also, I feel it's worth mentioning that Slackhappy International in no way aims to take away from the legitimacy of this forum-- I think the attitudes here are great and I don't feel like they reflect what Slackhappy was intended to relieve. There won't and likely won't ever be a Slackhappy Support Forum. No one is against 'Slackware' or 'Slackware users' or 'Slackware operators' except where necessary to improve and/or maintain these communities.

0 members found this post helpful.