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Thread: What made you go WTF today?

  1. #2491
    bomb is slang for awesome. can't tell if its a bad translation, or if the french have a similar phrase.

    this link says its a play off of Je suis la bombe, which is a positive saying.
    "In a field where an overlooked bug could cost millions, you want people who will speak their minds, even if they’re sometimes obnoxious about it."

  2. #2492
    Let sleeping tigers lie Khendraja'aro's Avatar
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    So, the XBMC on Raspberry Pi is running without hickups and I'm in the process of ripping my DVDs/Blurays to a NAS. I've got a bit of a collection, several Disney movies, the Marvel stuff, Bourne but also movies like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Inception, the Bourne movies, Dracula (the Coppola version) or Pan's Labyrinth.

    So, what did my mother ask for when I presented her the choices available?

    Twilight.

    I may now have to commit seppuku.
    When the stars threw down their spears
    And watered heaven with their tears:
    Did he smile his work to see?
    Did he who made the lamb make thee?

  3. #2493
    April fools.
    Good one, whoever did it.
    Carthāgō dēlenda est

  4. #2494
    We shall never know!
    . . .

  5. #2495
    Let sleeping tigers lie Khendraja'aro's Avatar
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    The fuck?
    When the stars threw down their spears
    And watered heaven with their tears:
    Did he smile his work to see?
    Did he who made the lamb make thee?

  6. #2496
    Activity list sorta spoils it, but this is fun. Honestly may be a positive step for discussion around here...
    "In a field where an overlooked bug could cost millions, you want people who will speak their minds, even if they’re sometimes obnoxious about it."

  7. #2497


    The signatures don't really fir either.
    "Wer Visionen hat, sollte zum Arzt gehen." - Helmut Schmidt

  8. #2498
    I have to admit, you guys got me. I was about to flip out that someone was posting under my name.

  9. #2499
    I was wondering what in the hell was going on.

    Edit: Did the prank break the sigs?

  10. #2500
    Someone turned off the activity list shortly after I mentioned it...I thought this place went dead for the day. Dammit
    "In a field where an overlooked bug could cost millions, you want people who will speak their minds, even if they’re sometimes obnoxious about it."

  11. #2501
    I am me, but who is everyone else?

  12. #2502
    Let sleeping tigers lie Khendraja'aro's Avatar
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    So, back to the WTFs.

    I found a nice article about a topic I will teach in ~2 weeks in a journal for chemistry teachers. My school does not subscribe to this particlular journal, but, have no fear, Wiley provides online access to the articles for this journal. I'd just have to pay a fee for a 24h access to this article (doesn't really make any sense to impose a time-limit, I'm not quite sure which moronic MBA had this particularly bright idea). But they even say themselves that you can simply download the PDF (which makes the time restriction even more idiotic).

    Okay, added the article to my cart, proceed to checkout... 40€! FOURTY frickin' Euros! For 6 pages!

    Okay, maybe this is a high-price journal? Nope. Subscription costs 90€ a year, with 4 issues per year, each issue containing ~6 articles. Which, if you pardon this naive calculation, makes for an average of 3.75€ per article.

    I could understand a markup of, say, 100% because I don't subscribe and only want a single article. I could even accept 10€.

    But this is a markup of 1000%. And also consider: This journal is not peer-reviewed (it consists of instructions for lessons) and the authors don't get paid.

    The answer by Wiley up-to-date:
    Thank you for your feedback. The option to purchase articles on a pay-per-view basis is intended for those who are unable to access the information through their institution's current subscription and who may only require access to the article on a one-off basis. During the 24 hour access period you are free to download, print & save the article for your personal use at a later date. For those with an interest in the journal, rather than one specific article, we would of course recommend subscribing, as it will provide access in a more cost-effective manner.
    Do you notice which part of my complaint they chose to address?
    When the stars threw down their spears
    And watered heaven with their tears:
    Did he smile his work to see?
    Did he who made the lamb make thee?

  13. #2503
    Same problem in poli sci. It's ridiculous, but nothing can really be done about it.
    Hope is the denial of reality

  14. #2504
    It's a sales tactic. There's a lot of data that says that by sticking a retarded price on one of your offerings when there's a comparable replacement also being offered, makes people more willing to buy the non-retardedly priced option over not buying anything. It doesn't just get people to choose it over the stupid priced option, but to choose it over not buying anything. It's a psychological trick that makes the reasonably priced thing appear to be a better deal than it'd appear if there was no stupidly priced thing next to it.

    In other words, they priced it that way because they don't want to sell you the article, they want to sell you the subscription, and they expect more people to just get the subscription than to get nothing at all.

  15. #2505
    The thing is, how many individuals do you know who get journal subscriptions? I don't know a single person. If you need an article and don't have access to it, you either try to get a friend to get it for you or you simply don't use it (if you're desperate, you can try emailing the author). This kind of tactic can only work in industries where people earn real money (i.e. not in education/academia).
    Hope is the denial of reality

  16. #2506
    Let sleeping tigers lie Khendraja'aro's Avatar
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    And that's what I did - I simply got the article in question by finding an institution which had a subscription. They could've earned some money from me, but this way they got nothing.
    Quote Originally Posted by Wraith View Post
    It's a sales tactic. There's a lot of data that says that by sticking a retarded price on one of your offerings when there's a comparable replacement also being offered, makes people more willing to buy the non-retardedly priced option over not buying anything. It doesn't just get people to choose it over the stupid priced option, but to choose it over not buying anything. It's a psychological trick that makes the reasonably priced thing appear to be a better deal than it'd appear if there was no stupidly priced thing next to it.

    In other words, they priced it that way because they don't want to sell you the article, they want to sell you the subscription, and they expect more people to just get the subscription than to get nothing at all.
    A subscription doesn't really help me, though, when I need to access to a non-current article in the archives.
    When the stars threw down their spears
    And watered heaven with their tears:
    Did he smile his work to see?
    Did he who made the lamb make thee?

  17. #2507
    Doesn't your school have a librarian to access journals and other resources needed for teaching?

  18. #2508
    Quote Originally Posted by Khendraja'aro View Post
    A subscription doesn't really help me, though, when I need to access to a non-current article in the archives.
    <Sales pitch>But a subscription does help you. When you sign up for our subscription services, not only do you gain access to all of our current articles, but also to our complete archive of out of print articles. For an additional fee, we'll even mail you a digital copy on dvd or cd for you to browse at your leisure. Remember, if you have any additional concerns, to please contact one of our speciality service representatives, who will be happy to assist you with your request. So would you like to sign up for our subscription services? One year costs $14.95, but if you sign up for two years of service now, I can save you about 25% off your subscription total.</Sales Pitch>
    . . .

  19. #2509
    Quote Originally Posted by GGT View Post
    Doesn't your school have a librarian to access journals and other resources needed for teaching?
    Presumably his school's librarian isn't going to buy a subscription to some journal just because one teacher needs one article from it...Or do you think librarians waive a wand and get stuff for free?
    Hope is the denial of reality

  20. #2510
    I assumed his 'institution' qualifies for discounted prices for all sorts of subscriptions. Including one-time access to archived material. Some obscure journals are bundled with common ones, but only 'institutions' get the bulk-rates, and only librarians know the maze.

    Khen found another 'institution' with a subscription....and I wondered why his didn't.

  21. #2511
    Because his didn't subscribe and that one did...
    Hope is the denial of reality

  22. #2512
    Right. So one 'institution' had a librarian that waived a magic wand to get free stuff, but his didn't. Got it.

  23. #2513
    Let sleeping tigers lie Khendraja'aro's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GGT View Post
    Right. So one 'institution' had a librarian that waived a magic wand to get free stuff, but his didn't. Got it.
    Because that institution is a university and has a slightly larger budget than my school.
    When the stars threw down their spears
    And watered heaven with their tears:
    Did he smile his work to see?
    Did he who made the lamb make thee?

  24. #2514
    Does it boil down to budgets, levels of academia, or political placements?

    It's hard to figure out when the US and Germany have differences in all of the above.

  25. #2515
    Senior Member Flixy's Avatar
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    It probably boils down to the fact a high school has a few teachers who may need one or two articles a year, while a university has a few thousand people who regularly need access to multiple articles... Why would you possibly expect them to have the same subscriptions?

  26. #2516
    And their business model boils down to selling subscriptions to universities.

    If they had $90 per subscription or $5 per article then a lot of universities might cancel their subscriptions and consider getting just the articles they need. They'd need to sell a lot of articles to make up any lost subscriptions. Their model basically says that for just over the price of just 2 articles you can get an annual subscription.
    Quote Originally Posted by Ominous Gamer View Post
    ℬeing upset is understandable, but be upset at yourself for poor planning, not at the world by acting like a spoiled bitch during an interview.

  27. #2517
    Quote Originally Posted by RandBlade View Post
    And their business model boils down to selling subscriptions to universities.

    If they had $90 per subscription or $5 per article then a lot of universities might cancel their subscriptions and consider getting just the articles they need. They'd need to sell a lot of articles to make up any lost subscriptions. Their model basically says that for just over the price of just 2 articles you can get an annual subscription.
    That's not really how university subscriptions work, that's how personal subscriptions work. Institutions are far more complex in how the pricing is set - mostly you buy large chunks of journal families at a huge upfront cost.

  28. #2518
    It's like getting a cable subscription. To get a few journals that you want, you have to subscribe to dozens of journals that no one cares about.
    Hope is the denial of reality

  29. #2519
    Quote Originally Posted by wiggin View Post
    That's not really how university subscriptions work, that's how personal subscriptions work. Institutions are far more complex in how the pricing is set - mostly you buy large chunks of journal families at a huge upfront cost.
    I understand that but key remains to be in the subscription business. Not to be selling per-article with a subscription optional.

    Heck if they're in a package it makes it even more important to be 'valuable' per article. By rating each article at $40 each (even if they never sell one) then the package the uni buys collectively has $000s worth of articles. "For the low price of just $500 per year our package of high quality journals has over $10,000 worth of premium education articles".

    They're charging 40 as they're simply not trying to sell direct articles.
    Quote Originally Posted by Ominous Gamer View Post
    ℬeing upset is understandable, but be upset at yourself for poor planning, not at the world by acting like a spoiled bitch during an interview.

  30. #2520
    Oh I agree the goal is to push for subscriptions but the fact of the matter is that since so many journals are bundled, institutions still have to get most subscriptions irrespective of individual article pricing. Frankly I think the high article prices are aimed at industry and not individuals. They generally don't have much institution access but have need for specific articles and the money to pay for it.

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