Main Area and Open Discussion > Living Room

Ghacks looks at software giveaway sites

<< < (3/3)

IainB:
So not knowing their criteria, it makes it difficult to see if you need to visit the sites in question.  That's my concern.  Why use an aggregation site if it doesn't aggregate?
___________________________
-wraith808 (July 28, 2016, 05:14 PM)
--- End quote ---
Yes, eggsaggerly.
Thankyou for making that point.
From: http://www.openculture.com/2016/04/carl-sagan-presents-his-baloney-detection-kit-8-tools-for-skeptical-thinking.html
PDF: http://www.inf.fu-berlin.de/lehre/pmo/eng/Sagan-Baloney.pdf - "The Fine Art of Baloney Detection".

In one chapter of his book, “The Fine Art of Baloney Detection,” Sagan laid out his method, proposing what he called “A Baloney Detection Kit,” a set of intellectual tools that scientists use to separate wishful thinking from genuine probability. Sagan presents the contents of his kit as “tools for skeptical thinking,” which he defines as “the means to construct, and to understand, a reasoned argument and—especially important—to recognize a fallacious or fraudulent argument.” You can see his list of all eight tools, slightly abridged, below. These are all in Sagan’s words:

    Wherever possible there must be independent confirmation of the “facts.”
    Encourage substantive debate on the evidence by knowledgeable proponents of all points of view.
    Arguments from authority carry little weight — “authorities” have made mistakes in the past. They will do so again in the future. Perhaps a better way to say it is that in science there are no authorities; at most, there are experts.
    Spin more than one hypothesis. If there’s something to be explained, think of all the different ways in which it could be explained. Then think of tests by which you might systematically disprove each of the alternatives.
    Try not to get overly attached to a hypothesis just because it’s yours. It’s only a way station in the pursuit of knowledge. Ask yourself why you like the idea. Compare it fairly with the alternatives. See if you can find reasons for rejecting it. If you don’t, others will.
    If whatever it is you’re explaining has some measure, some numerical quantity attached to it, you’ll be much better able to discriminate among competing hypotheses. What is vague and qualitative is open to many explanations.
    If there’s a chain of argument, every link in the chain must work (including the premise) — not just most of them.
    Occam’s Razor. This convenient rule-of-thumb urges us when faced with two hypotheses that explain the data equally well to choose the simpler. Always ask whether the hypothesis can be, at least in principle, falsified…. You must be able to check assertions out. Inveterate skeptics must be given the chance to follow your reasoning, to duplicate your experiments and see if they get the same result.

--- End quote ---

Or, as per the motto of the Royal Society, London (which words they apparently no longer observe):
"Nullius in verba/verbo." Literally, "Take nobody's word for it; see for yourself"
--- End quote ---

MilesAhead:
So not knowing their criteria, it makes it difficult to see if you need to visit the sites in question.  That's my concern.  Why use an aggregation site if it doesn't aggregate?

-wraith808 (July 28, 2016, 05:14 PM)
--- End quote ---

I dunno' why that happens.  Same thing today.  It shows a date for BDJ of today with no bits.  But I go to the site and they claim there are free downloads every day.  Oh well, it seems useful to me.  Especially since at times the same program is offered on more than one giveaway site but the license or version may vary.  It would be cool if they specified both.  But it at least gives some overview.

If they charged me for reading it needless to say I would remove the bookmark.  :)

exjoburger:
I tend to look at Giveaway Radar first as an overview. Even though it is not always accurate about freebies on BitsDuJour. Previously I used to wait for BitsDuJour's daily email which was sometimes  delayed. The daily email gives the discounted or free prices at a glance. I'm not advertising it, as it could be considered spam by some :D.

Giveaway of the Day has definitely gone downhill - with some of the Giveaways being 3 to 6 month licenses only - after that "license" period the software expires. I prefer the old "no support, no expiry" freebies.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[*] Previous page