CowboyNeal Speaks

After several years of reader requests, we finally cornered CowboyNeal long enough to do a Slashdot interview. Questions were posted last week. Today we brush aside the mask (or at least the hat) and get a glimpse of the real Jon Pater (aka CowboyNeal).

1) Karma?
by glowingspleen

Since you're probably the only one with real access to all the user records, you're the one to ask:

Who among us is the current Karma Whore King, and what is their score? Is there a maximum amount of karma one can earn?brAnd finally, is there a cutoff level where you auto-post at 3 or above?

CowboyNeal:

Wow, a question about karma, what I consider to be the most boring subject in all of Slashdot. I dunno who is the Karma Whore King, since we instituted a karma cap at 50, and all karma levels that are above 50 are living on borrowed time. Getting a karma above 20 allows one to post with a +1 bonus, and from there on there are no rewards.

I said that karma bores me, and I don't understand why people get all hung up over it. It's not like having a high karma is gonna get you discounts in stores. If you're really worried about karma, go donate money to charity or donate your time to some place that can use it. I guarantee the reward will be better than anything that Slashdot karma can get you.

2) Give us the ups and downs!
by Dino

What's the best thing that happened to you since Slashdot started? Conversly, what's the worst?

CowboyNeal:

Easily, the best part was when I got a real job out of it. I had done a few odds and ends for BSI and Slashdot before coming on full time, but getting a check on a regular basis is something I still am thankful for. The worst part is probably the sheer volume of email that I get to deal with on a daily basis. That's not to say that I dislike the people that email me, but it gets troublesome when one has an inbox that can take up to half a day daily to get squared away.

3) A User Info slashbox?
by update()

Like a lot of people, I bet, I frequently look at my user info page to see if there have been responses to my posts, and what moderations I have received. Would it be possible to provide a Slashbox with that information on the main page?

CowboyNeal:

This kind of thing could be implemented, but with our current setup it just wouldn't scale. It would need to add another query to viewing the home page, for each person that has it chosen. There might be a few tricks to implement this that could save some overhead, but if I were to make such a box, it definitely wouldn't happen until after Slashdot is running bender, the new development branch of Slashcode.

4) Slashdot
by emmons

How did you become tangled up in this Slashdot thing with that CmdrTaco guy? How did you guys meet?

CowboyNeal:

I met both Rob and Jeff when all of us where freshmen in college. Rob was in the same Health Dynamics (read, Phys. Ed.) class I was, and Jeff and I shared a lab bench in Chemistry Lab. The CS department at Hope wasn't that large, and most CS majors were aware of Chips & Dips, and would read it regularly. When I graduated, I was approached by Blockstackers, who owned Slashdot at the time, and offered a job. About two months later, Slashdot was acquired by Andover.Net (now OSDN) and my employment was transferred to them.

5) Yes!
by OlympicSponsor

I've been following CowboyNeal's career for years, reading everything he writes, watching all of his movies and eating all of his cooking. Now I finally have a chance to ask him the question that's been burning me up inside: What's Taco really like?

Seriously, can you give us a breakdown of how much time each editor spends actually reading the site they nominally run? Like, time spent clicking on user comments?

CowboyNeal:

Hrm, it sounds like you might have me confused with someone else. I've never made any movies or had a restaurant *grin*. Honestly, I don't know how much time an editor spends doing those tasks. I would assume it varies from person to person, but I don't share office space with hardly any of them, nor do any of them ever have to report to me.

I know from our internal discussion lists and channels, that all of us are constantly reading the site, but as for a detailed breakdown, I'd have no idea where to start.

6) The future
by yamla

What will you be doing in five years? In ten years? If you expect/hope to still be with Slashdot, what sort of changes do you see happening to Slashdot in that time?

And yes, I know 5 - 10 years is an eternity.

CowboyNeal:

5 - 10 years is an eternity! I don't even know what I'm doing two weeks from now!

I wish I knew. I was the kid in school who when asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, didn't have the slightest clue. When I finally discovered computers, I knew that I wanted to work with computers in some capacity for a living. When I think about how much technology has advanced since I first started using a computer, it's truly amazing how far we've come. I'm hoping that someday we can put all this patent/copyright/intellectual property BS behind us, and by that time someone will have discovered the secret to putting infinite bandwidth into everyone's homes and with all of these new resources at our disposal, someone will discover the new killer app for all of it, repeat ad infinitum. That's how the system works. I just hope to be there and be a part of the process somehow. I think it's especially interesting how the internet and all of what it entails has made it easier for people to communicate and become exposed to experiences and views they normally wouldn't, so any new advances will hopefully only improve that.

I don't think Slashdot will do anything like try to take over all forms of media or any sort of grand scheme like that because there's already organizations into that sort of thing. I do think, however, that if a new way of delivering content that replaces or augments the web comes about, that we will most likely be there.

This is probably the best question I've been asked, because it was easily the toughest for me to answer. My job now is primarily the day-to-day maintenance of Slashdot, which means that I'm not usually concerned with looking to the future, but rather just making sure that our current system runs smoothly. In short, I'm not a leader but a follower.

7) What was your fav poll abuse?
by chabotc

What poll in which you were an 'option', did you find most amusing/entertaining?

What was the most depressing?

CowboyNeal:

The first few times I was a poll option I thought it was funny, but I have become rather immune to it now. Now it's to the point where I'm surprised when I am not an option. As for trying to pick out particular polls that amused or depressed me, I can't really remember any.

8) tell us the truth
by segmond

How often have you posted anonymously? do you have a pseudo handle? Have you ever trolled? Are you getting bored with slashdot? What is the biggest screw up that you did to the site that we never found out? Have you ever used "super moderating power" to mod down posts attacking slashdot editors...? What is your favorite pizza topping and sandwich?

CowboyNeal:

Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope.

That should bring me up to the "screw up" question, so I will now relate a story that showcases my stupidity. One day I was working on Slashdot's database, and cleaning up a lot of old database entries, when I suddenly realized I'd forgotten a "WHERE" clause in one of the SQL statements.

Unfortunately, this was after the statement had already run, and the blocks table was completely wiped out. If you know anything about Slashcode, you know that blocks holds everything from color schemes, to the slashboxes, the HTML that gives the site its look and feel, to all the headlines that go into the slashboxes on the right side of the homepage. Of course, this brought the site to a halt until we could restore from backup. I was able to berate myself before anyone else could, though, so anyone in the know about my mistake was fairly forgiving.

As for "super moderating power", I know I could go into the database and moderate like crazy, but my ethics won't allow me to do so. Also, I don't usually read comments attached to stories. I have banned IP addresses from which people have been hammering on the site with scripts at the rate of several requests a second, but I don't actively moderate any stories.

I don't know if I have a favorite pizza topping. I used to work at a pizza place when I was in high school, and learned to like almost every pizza topping there is, even anchovies.

My favorite sandwich is easily a veggie submarine. I'm not a vegetarian, but I find myself ordering veggie subs more than any other sandwich.

9) Anime
by spudwiser

Seeing as in most Geeks in Space episodes Anime quotes and quips spew forth from you, I think we the listeners (and deranged readers) should see exactly how your background in anime developed.

CowboyNeal:

Well, this answer is pretty boring. One day in college my friend and I decided we should watch some anime, because we had heard it was cool. So we took a week, and rented a movie or two per night, starting with Ghost In The Shell, then moving on to Akira, Fist Of The North Star, and Vampire Hunter D. I think those are the anime titles everyone starts with, because they're available at almost any Blockbuster.

But yeah, we discovered we liked it, and I just started watching more anime. I warned that this answer was boring.

10) Stories
by Fervent

Why don't you yourself ever post any stories, Cowboy Neal?

CowboyNeal:

Oh, but I do. On the rare occasion that we get to record an episode of Geeks In Space I'll post the announcement in the radio section. Sometimes a story falls through the cracks and I'll pick it up, also, but that happens much less often lately. Rob and Jeff like to say that the surefire way to not get a story posted is to email it directly to them instead of using the submissions bin, but if you want to absolutely sure your story doesn't get posted to the site, email me it to me instead. *grin*

Comments

Never posts...

[Skyshadow]

Does anyone else find it just a little odd that these guys would put all this effort into creating the Grand Queen Mother of all geek discussion forums and then never post?

I think I've only seen 1-2 posts from any editor of Slashdot (not counting Katz), and that was waaay back in the day.

----

Re:Never posts...

[JWhitlock]

No. When I first started, it was suprising. I haven't done a full study of the life-cycle of a slashdotter (post-cap), but I'll throw up my notes:

1. Larval stage: After reading several references to Slashdot, or being pointed to it by a regular Slashdotter, the Larvae is exposed for the first time. Interesting - News for Nerds (I guess I'm a nerd), Stuff that matters (what's all this irrelevant Linux/BSD stuff?). Maybe he/she bookmarks it the first time, maybe some other time.
2. First Post: The first post is probably an AC post. The person isn't sure yet, if they want to be a poster, what nick they want, what to do it their nick is taken, etc. Soon, they realize that their serious posts will never be seen if they don't post.
3. First Mod Up: It's quite magical. Someone thought what you said was worth more people seeing! For a few weeks, you debate in your own mind whether it is better to be modded or to get a responce.
4. Karma Whore: You are below the magic karma number, and you have to get up there. You learn the tricks. Phrases that the moderators like. Few or no spelling mistakes in the first paragraph. Lots of links. To the point, or long enough to look important. Very fast post, so the moderators see it first. You may even strike your first gold - a score of 5. You brown-bag lunch, so you can hunt for new stories during the lunch break. You submit any story remotely related to Linux or Microsoft. You are a whore, and you can't stop.
5. Karma Kapped: Soon, your whoring pays off. You get the +1, and soon all your posts have that much more visibility. Your skills pay off, and the final sprint to 50 takes no time at all. Then, you are there. Where next?
6. Slashdot Journeyman: The quest has been for karma - what now? Maybe more story submittals, but now you search for stories you found yourself, never ones from the AP wire or ZDNet (someone else has already done it). You grimace when a submitter did a terrible job on the story. You experiment as a troll, first as AC, then maybe with your prime account. You may start other accounts, if you still feel like whoring, or trying on another persona. You post when you feel passionate about a subject, or have something funny to say, or are just bored. You bitch about the editors, or trolls, or how it was "back in my day".
7. Slashdot Master: You may still post, you may not. You read Slashdot to get up on the news. You are now an old man in the slashdot world, maybe a battle-scarred vetern, or a drunken merchant, or a mercenary. People look up to your User ID, but you brush it aside. You know many posters by their style, and laugh when Shoeboy or Urban Existentialist are up to their old tricks, but don't respond anymore.

I'm at the Karma Kapped stage right now, so I'm guessing at the upper levels. The editors are busy keeping this baby running, and look on posting as something the community does. If they did post, we'd complain they were posting more than they were reading submittals, and we'd probably be right. Posting is fun, but I imagine it gets old after a few years.

Feel free to tear up my analysis, add stages, whatever. I did it while eating my left-over chinese, during the lunch break...

Re:Never posts...

[Matthew Weigel]

That path seems to presuppose that the person didn't already use Linux or BSD, and that being a Karma Whore and hence getting to Karma Kapped is a necessary step. It ain't; I've never seen the high end of 30 karma, and I never tried to get past 10 (all I ever wanted was to be able to be lose karma, to stupid posts or metamoderation, without going negative).

It ignores the first moderation down; the poster will be indignant, that some stupid moderator lacked the intelligence to see the poster's comment for all its glory. Eventually, the poster gets used to the fact that the quality of the moderators is proportional to the quality of the posters, and that the worst moderators are almost as bad as the worst posters.

It also ignores the progression of a moderator, who is necessarily a poster as well:

1. The poster gets moderator access the first time. This is frequently a magical experience, and each moderation up or down gets a lot of consideration.
2. The poster gets complacent about moderator access; moderation becomes as much a spur of the moment response in annoyance or agreement with another poster, as a well-reasoned consideration of the value of posts relative to what has been posted.
3. As a result, the moderator loses karma to metamoderation: this is frequently a nasty surprise, since your karma goes down without any kind of notice. The poster begins to wonder 'what did I moderate wrong?' and begins to constantly second-guess moderation.
4. The poster realizes that the quality of the meta-moderators are also proportional to the quality of the posters, and so the quality of the meta-moderation can only be marginally better than the quality of the posts.
5. The poster decides to stop moderating, because to moderate is to lay your Karma bare before the idiots of Slashdot in an untraceable way.
6. The poster goes back to moderation, finally realizing that gaining or losing Slashdot Karma is largely irrelevant to life, and that good moderation helps to improve the quality of Slashdot -- that is, the better the posters moderated up, the better quality of the moderators and meta-moderators, and hence the better quality of the entire system.

Most evasive interview yet!

[aidoneus]

At the risk of bucking /. dogma, here I go. I didn't expect any Nobel Prize material from the insights in this interview, but seriously, CowboyNeil dodged the first few questions faster than an MPAA lawyer in an indictment. So of us really would like to know if the /. editors every really read the site, but instead we get a, "I don't know how the spend their time" response. Who is the next interview subject, a ball of lint?

Maybe we could interview JonKatz next. When I've emailed, he's always had something to say (doesn't he always?).

I need lunch.

Back in Black

[datajosh]

So, if CowboyNeal picks up stories that fall through the cracks, does that make him the Lewis Black of Slashdot?

Ummmm

[OlympicSponsor]

"I know from our internal discussion lists and channels, that all of us are constantly reading the site, but as for a detailed breakdown, I'd have no idea where to start."

"...I don't usually read comments attached to stories."

No comment necessary, I think.
--
Non-meta-modded "Overrated" mods are killing Slashdot

Re:chips & dips

[Hemos]

It was the progenitor of Slashdot, and was hosted on Rob's personal website at Hope College. It no longer exists.

Man, here I am with 5 moderator points...

[Saint Aardvark]

And not one of the options is "CowboyNeal".