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We have seen this before.

There is a vibrant, thriving CGM site. (CGM == community generated media).

An entity with money buys the site.

Things stay the same for a while. Invariably, the owning entity wants feature, UI, and usability changes made to their new property.

These changes aren't being made to serve the interests of the existing community.

Here's what happens.

Either, the community dissolves entirely, and something wonderful disappears and dies.

Or, the community mostly moves to a new site, which rallies around what people liked about the old site.

Here is a very specific example. There is a site called "Audiworld". It ran, for a very long time, a funny and antiquated forum software called "KAWF". Audiworld was the top destination on the English speaking internet for Audi enthusiasts. Absolutely excellent technical information about the cars, and many off-topic forums developed to serve the die-hard user community the site had.

Audiworld was bought by InternetBrands and converted to vBulletin. This was against the wishes and strong feedback from most of the cornerstone members of the community.

IB persisted and did the conversion.

Within a week or so, "Quattroworld" showed up as a competitor, and nearly ALL of the technical experts and cornerstone members dumped Audiworld and moved to Quattroworld.

Quattoworld simply chose to keep running the previous forum software.

Compare the two sites now:

The "converted" forum:
http://forums.audiworld.com/fo...

The rebellion forum:
http://forums.quattroworld.com...

Look at the information density in the topic listing on the KAWF based forum (the second one). The design is text heavy, information dense, not filled with ads and distractions.

It works on any device; it works on browsers from 10 years ago.

Now look at the vBulletin based forum.

Look at the quality of questions in the vBulletin form.

See any answers?

No, you don't.

Communities are the life of sites like slashdot. You piss off your community at your peril.

We are not interested in suffering so that you can expand your audience. We don't want an expanded audience. The people who should be here are here. The people who haven't found out about here yet will find out, and when they find it, they won't mind the design of the site.

How many other web forums does John Carmack post in? How many other forums get occasional visits from Linux developers? Where else do you see the occasional Microsoft and Apple employee talking about things candidly and without bashing each other?

Stack Exchange has excellent technical content and lots of very bright posters -- but it isn't a social community like this one.

When Classic is retired, and its inevitable replacement has lower information density and makes reading and participating more cumbersome, this community will leave.

Hopefully, it will go somewhere else that runs a fork of the classic code, and life will go on for us, the contributors.

But if not, then it will die entirely. The web will be a worse place; and I will consider myself worse off for the loss.

Your community doesn't need a site redesign. We haven't asked for it. We don't want it. So you're not doing it for us.

If you're not serving us, you've outlived your usefulness.

The internet routes around defects. You'd do well to remember that.

Audi's really known for their pickup trucks, too?

Whodathunkit, apparently Audi are playing around with the idea of building a pickup:
http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2011/08/audi-q7-pickup-truck-is-real-new-spy-photos.html

I think he meant cars in general, Audi has been making extensive use of aluminium in their cars for years, as have Rolls Royce, Aston Martin, Jaguar, ... Rover built an aluminium Landrover in 1948, and the American Motors Corporation did the same with their little M422 jeep back in the 50s. This is hardly news except perhaps because somebody has plucked up the courage to make a (**Grunt**) 'muscle' SUV out of Aluminium with the intention of selling it to the US public.

http://www.aluminiumleader.com/en/around/transport/cars
http://www.drivers.com/article/245/
http://www.audiworld.com/news/02/aluminum/content1.shtml

Trials are good, and I love them.

Stopping a crime in progress before they cause irreparable damage can be more important than prosecuting them after the fact though.

Particularly if there's a good chance they can get away scott free.

The only role I see for extra judicial action AT ALL is to plug gaps that the legal system leaves uncovered, but shouldn't.

Stopping a crime in progress under the guise of the law typically does not entail cutting off someone's testicles with a bowie knife. In fact, doing this will make you a criminal - and I'm really glad that our system of justice does this. I don't want you making vigilante decisions about how to dole out justice...ever. "Extra judicial action" is just as wrong as any other crime. In this country, we live under a system of laws. You are not above those laws. Gaps in the legal system are no excuse for someone like you to go cutting on people. There is a system for fixing gaps in the law. Violate the rule of law by becoming a violent criminal will make you a participant in the criminal justice system...and you will deserve it as much as any other criminal.

Anyway, good luck with that bowie knife. There's a great publication that you might want to check out, BTW.

God, what a mess. I much prefer something simple, like the older audi dash: http://www.audiworld.com/tech/pics/elec163_BT_call_1.jpg Even better, it's backlit with red at night to cut down on the eye glare.

On this kind of economy we have right now, pathetic losers like you have just one use: become fat live targets for the 70 bullets on my AK47's holder. [etc, snip]

I find your ideas interesting and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

There is a lot of discussion going on over here in these offtopic political forums. As usual you have two sides bickering and fighting over non-sense.

This is great. Combine biodiesel in cars that use less than 3 liters per 100km (3 liters per 100km = 78.4048614 miles per gallon) and you are using an incredibly small amount of fuel that does not come from the Middle East.

Perhaps driving cars does have a future, even if the gas guzzlers are out.

New Audi car gets about 79 mpg.

The difference between cracking software and unlocking a cell phone is that the software inside the phone has an option for unlocking. The key is having the code and entering it. If the cell companies don't like it then they should require the manufacturers to remove that functionality from their products. The fact of the matter is that no company will want to do that since the same phone can be used on many networks with the same QA'd software. Now when I sign that contract with the cell company, they say that I will keep my contract for X amount of months. If I break it, then I pay for termination fee. Whether I choose to unlock the phone prior to or after that point is not the right of the company to dictate. I didn't license the phone from them nor did I lease it. I bought a physical appliance that is in my possession. Where I go from there after fulfilling the termination free requirements of my contract is my business. If the cell companies don't like it, then they need to stop subsidizing phones at low prices, lease phones that the consumer never truely owns, or come up with a pricing model and service quality level that will keep customers. Using the law to prevent me from doing something with a piece of equipment that I own is not their right once they have sold it to me.

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Bored? Enjoy the Laughs. (best forum on the 'net)

I would hope it's smaller than A4. A laptop larger than that would be awfully hard to transport, unless it came with an engine...

</american>

It is a non-issue to realize that most of the modern day losses in productivity come from distracted workers using the internet for personal pleasure rather than company projects. This distraction effort splits the focus of the individual and causes a decrease in the finite amount of cognitive processing ability given to any one task. Marijuana on the other hand results in modification of the reward pathway system in the brain. So there is an actually psychochemical difference in the brain which leads to addiction. Between the two, marijuana actually modifies the brain negatively while email only distracts. I really wish these people had taken the time to realize this before putting out a sensationalist piece of work.

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Wow... just Wow

This entire RSS-everything is getting old very quickly. I find it to be much more work to have RSS than just going to the sites that I want to visit. I wonder if slashdot can interview the RSS creators and ask them how they feel about this.

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Divini Rae Gallery (Not safe for work--no nudity)

Volkswagen, literally "people's car," has been producing vehicles in Germany since its original founder, Adolf Hitler, brainstormed their first concept. Their niche was once to build a car that the everyday Aryan could afford, and to bring strength by empowering their people to commute cheaply and effectively where they needed to go. Today, Volkswagen is much more, representing an entry-level German nameplate for automobile owners to get the trademarks set by every German automobile: great styling, great handling, and prohibitively expensive repairs.

Their product repertoire includes several historical namesakes from previous generations, as well as modern day contenders in the 21st century automobile market. The New Beetle and the Jetta are Volkswagen's entry level vehicles for German beginners. Moving up the chain brings you the Passat and the Golf, for European luxury in midsize prices. At the top of the chain brings the near-luxury Touareg (German for "SUV") and Phaeton (German for "German Luxury"). What Volkswagen wants you to forget, however, is their rich lineage which spawned today's vehicles.

Founded in 1932 by the famed Nazi leader, his first project was to design a vehicle which would aid in building the strength of the fascist state. The car would be built to mimic the symbolic ideals of the cult-like ruling Nazi party. The Beetle, it was to be called, would be Volkswagen's first foray into enabling the Nazi leaders to commute to battle meetings to coordinate the death of the Allies. Throughout the War of Europe and subsequently World War II, Volkswagen earned the Nazi regime heavy profits due to its rapid expansion and slave labor. This, in turn, allowed Volkswagen to expand plants to newly-acquired German territory in Russia, as well as Czechoslovakia.

After the crumbling of the Nazi party, and effectively the entire German social structure in 1945, Volkswagen was left without its founder and entire management structure. Influenced by the opportunity of quick expansion, wealthy British entrepreneur Richard Branson, Sr. invested hundreds of millions of dollars into the plants to retool them for postwar production throughout Europe. Volkswagen was then reborn to make models that would carry its rich heritage to nations left unaffected by its founder.

Throughout the 1950's, 60's and 70's, the world went through major changes as a global economy started trickling into every nation.

Asking Jeeves what he's worth gives a top answer of " ...ain't worth crap "

it's the 90CS Quattro Sport, 5 speed. The car itself weights just shy of 3500 lbs, and then there's occupants. I'm still amazed at how agile it is with all that weight being pulled around by a 2.8L engine. The AudiWorld page for my particular car says 19mpg city, 24mpg highway but I can get closer to 30 in the city if I manage to not do craziness around town. I tend to shift at lower RPM's, I catch some flak for it but I go to the gas pump half as much as they do.

Everyone that's driven this car is very surprised because it doesn't look like much but it can handle the rice boys fine. If it's in anything except clear conditions, don't even try. You've never lived till you spin all 4 wheels on gravel or ice while it gets grip. I can't imagine what putting a supercharger on there will do. I've had the car for over 2 years and I still get goosebumps from the performance.

There's always this guy... this was a nice piece of work.

This was already posted on AWOT (best internet news source in teh world) four days ago. That being said, am I the only one that thinks that this sounds like a good way to make money (just providing the ATM service of course, not the criminal part)?

or

http://matrix.ugo.com/zionswitchboard/messageview. cfm?catid=39&threadid=8247

http://forums.audiworld.com/other/msgs/1119188.pht ml

or

http://matrix.ugo.com/zionswitchboard/messageview. cfm?catid=39&threadid=8247

http://forums.audiworld.com/other/msgs/1119188.pht ml

located here... http://forums.audiworld.com/other/msgs/1119188.pht ml

It depends on the car manufacturer and dealer. The local Audi dealership here in Thousand Oaks, CA (USA) don't mind if you swap out the muffler, change the intake, chip the engine, change the suspension, etc. Parts not affected by the change will still be covered by the warrenty.

Shlybluz is right though. You don't want your car adjusted by somebody who doesn't know what they are doing. Most manufacturer seem to have a performance division.... Toyota - TRD. Mazda - Mazdaspeed. Honda - Mugen. Nissan - Nismo. Ford - SVT. Buy from the manufacturer. Usually the parts are well thought out and usable as a daily driver.

To answer what cars seem tinkerable. I was thinking of getting an Audi A4 1.8t and found Audi World to be good resource. (but I've ordered the Mazda RX-8 instead. Doesn't look very tinkerable but we'll see what Mazdaspeed comes up with)

I was almost willing to trade a little ugliness (Honda Insight) for some great gas mileage, but then I saw the car live at the dealership and decided it was really way too ugly for only getting 56/58 MPG.

The magic number European car makers have been aiming for is 3liter/100 km which is just over 70 Miles per galon. And there are some cars that will do this and not look quite as ugly:
Audi A2 1.2 TDI and VW Lupo as well as some little Citroen vehicle I can't find at the moment.
Bottom line:
1. these cars use Diesel to achieve this great mileage. U.S. diesel is too dirty (too much sulfur) to use in these cars.
2. There is no demand for these cars in the U.S. Please buy a Ford Excursion like all the rest of us brave citizens.
sorry.

Actually AudiWorld.

Power generation is dirty however you slice it (unless you use solar or hydro or some other "free" energy).

Even with those methods, I've heard arguments that with today's efficiencies, the environmental impact of huge solar array fields and massive wind generation sites would be very bad as well.

Seems like we either need to greatly improve solar panel technology, or come up with a new energy generation method.

I'm for the cool stuff like a new 2007 matter/antimatter Audi TT Coupe Quattro.

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In a hundred-mile march,

If you want to compare specialty cars, there are two Audis which spring to mind:

• RS4: Think Subaru Legacy with 380hp.
• Sport Quattro: This was Audi's 22B 16 years ago. BTW, Audi started the 4WD turbo rally car phenomenon 20 years ago.