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What Happened to Slashdot?
Are you interested in the CIA or Fossil rising from the grave? How about the Orbiter around Mars? I like the article about Bottlenecks in PCs Built for Gaming. CNN wrote an article called Is Slashdot the future of media? The subtitle says: The most popular site for the tech cognoscenti is created entirely by its users and readers. News for Nerds is created by its users and readers? You mean the posts are screened by people who have abandoned their roots and allowed the filthiest language on the planet. Others have created cute little jargon like puh-lease. I suppose that's the reason people have flocked to Digg.com. Readers get to vote on news items. Now that's a site where "created entirely by its users and readers" really exists. CNN needs to ask around. Slashdot is old news, CNN. If you don't know the meaning of tech cognoscenti then it means a connoisseur or some expert who has the ability to appreciate a field. It an also means people who have a more extensive and refined understanding of some area. Puh-lease. You have to be joking. Try Slashdot as the meeting place of readers with little understanding of much except defamation of others. Flame baitSome of the Internet's best vocabulary and mores or customs originated at the old Slashdot. People still use them and that's a serious contribution that one has to respect and admire. I suppose people will classify this article as "flame bait". Puh-lease. I really wonder what happened to Slashdot and I know others that ask the same question. We had a post here that asked if we knew of another site similar to Slashdot that carried Linux news. The reader also mentioned that he doesn't see anything about Linux any more. Call this flame bait if you wish. I still wonder what happened to the news organization that used to make a difference. Maybe we'll get some comments from our readers who have an answer. The Slashdot EffectI recall times when my articles got slashdotted (a verb contributed to the English language like Googled). You would see several hundred thousand hits. Now one is lucky to see a few thousand. Either the Linux readers have been overwhelmed by the Microsoft web site killers or the articles just don't interest the Free Software Crowd. You should look at the comparison of Slashdot to Digg. You can find an Alexa chart comparing the two sites at this hyperlink. Notice how Digg came out of nowhere to challenge Slashdot. Digg is rated the 439th most trafficed web site on the Internet. Slashdot is ranked 265. What Really Happened?Who really knows? If you go to post a submission at Slashdot under the Linux section, the topics are old, old - like in Caldera. As the Righteous Brothers once sang, "You've Lost that Loving Feeling, now it's gone, gone, gone." I would change the next line to, nothing here, move on. |
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Comments (22)
Excuse me
I understand your appreciation of the site. I'm a financial contributor to Slashdot and have supported them for some time. This story appear on digg.com. http://digg.com/linux_unix/What_Happened_to_Slashdot_
Of course, other points of view exist which differ from yours. Personally, I don't consider what I wrote as a rant or based on emotion.
The question I asked is what happened. At one time, Slashdot lived off of Linux news. VALinux purchased Slashdot for that reason. So, I asked succinctly what happened to the Linux news.
I didn't complain. I didn't down play their good qualities. I even acknowledge them for the rich culture the brought to the community.
The article also questioned whether they were 100% the creation of the users and readers.
I have contribed to a number of Linux news sites. That's my only interest.
totally agree
I never go there anymore.
I think the editors leave something to be desired and I personally think that they are controlled somewhat by their sponsers.
so if you say anything bad about their sponsers (like the truth) you get called a troll, flamebait etc.
the comments there are just not quality comments either - maybe they are just too popular I don't know but it definitely isn't what it use to be.
I personally hate their rating system - you should actually rate the story not the comments.
anyway my two cents worth - I mostly come here now and groklaw - I find that the comments are more intelligent and you can actually discuss the topic - also tend to stick to the facts and the truth - not marketing 101.
We have a lot of comments about this story on digg. Many people felt the same way about Slashdot and some slashdotters invaded digg with condescending remarks.
It says a lot about some readers.
I didn't have a problem with Slashdot like a lot of people. My issue was that it thrived initially on GNU and Linux, a Linux company purchased it and they have dropped Linux off their radar.
I also had a major problem with the CNN article.
Still, I understand your problem and respect you for sharing your point of view.
Digg community imploding in widespread revolt
Quoting:one of the hex codes for decoding HD-DVDs was posted online, on the popular site Digg. That story was removed from the community-driven news site. All hell proceeded to break loose, with nearly every popular story on the site being about the takedown, the reprisals, and a general massive flame war. See picture.http://www.secondpagemedia.com/confundo/index.php?showtopic=...
and a 'brave' answer from the founder of Digg here : http://blog.digg.com/?p=74
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/...
(off-topic) : what happened with Tom Adelstein ? i do not notice him here anymore lately.....?
h
Tom did some good work here. I suspect that his passion and subsequent frustration with the way things are, as opposed to how they should be, in the Linux community lead to a certain amount of job burnout. That's something that a many of us can relate to. I'm glad to see he's still in the fight.
Tom had bigger plans than LXer was ready for at the time. That didn't work out, and sadly (I say so because Tom put a lot of effort in LXer, and I'm grateful he did) we were 'forked' from then. Gladly, Don was found willing to take over the job of EiC, which led us to where we are today.
Lol, I think everything worked out for the best.
I remember 'some of us' gave you a heck of a rough time at first. I know we're all sorry about that. Truth is that everyone has a different style of management, and we needed to get past that. Your style has proven to be just what this forum and the site needed :D
The primary detail of which being a large tolerance for topic drift. What was this discussion about again?
What do you guys think of the Digg story?
I think these are ridiculous times we live in, and it's way too easy to create un-Constitutional laws, and way too hard to overturn them, and people are just plain chicken and run for cover even when no one is after them. Shame shame shame. Land of the what? Home of the who? Sheesh, not even close.
I think this thread has zero to do with Tom's story.
i thought Tom's quote : "Notice how Digg came out of nowhere to challenge Slashdot" was 'someway of a connection' between those stories....that's all...sorry if i interpreted that wrong ....
there is none...that's why i preceded my question about Tom with : >(off-topic)< ;-P
Getting?
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Just for you to know: Just last week I finally got a slashdot account. Here are some of the reasons why I did so:
1.) On slashdot, you hardly get double posts. On lxer it seems some news items are deliberately getting re-posted after one or two days. Might seem neat, but I find that boring. 2.) The news junkie I am, my interests go a wee bit further than Linux related news only. Imho slashdot is a wee bit more diverse than lxer for instance. I tend to like that. 3.) slashdot's commenting system works quite nicely. Of course, >90% of all the comments are not worthwile reading, but that also applies to lxer (to a lesser degree though, I admit). 4.) Are we getting monotheistic now? Would you believe it, I even read MAINSTREAM news on a daily basis. I believe in diversity and the opportunity to hear both sides of a story. Makes it easier to see and prove errors in stories, as well. 5.) Vocabulary here, vocabulary there, l33t5p34krz don't care much I guess. 6.) Flaming is everywhere, nothing specific to slashdot I'd say. 7.) Dissing people is dangerous, particularly when the reader cannot verify the truth behind the statements himself easily and the author denies to elaborate.
Sorry Tom, but imho that rant of yours was unnecessary. Slashdot's still a nice website to regularly visit. True, "hierarchical" editorial control has its weaknesses, but it's got some advantages, as well. lxer is good, but "the best news site in the know universe" it is not. I hope you realise that. (the same is true for slashdot, off course). Just let the reader decide and abstain from dissing like this, you'd only damage your own reputation.
Regards, Dominik