Slashdot Mirror
Slashdot During War?
Seen Dairen writes "How would Slashdot function during a war or comparable crisis? Would it help people distribute critical information? Would it help people keep in touch with their friends and enemies? Would it help to prevent a war? So far it seems no person in extreme need has submitted to Slashdot, but if they do, how would we respond?"
If war hits Slashdot should just continue to function normally. Sometimes in war it's convenient to spread mis- and dis-information to the enemy, something Slashdot has proven itself good at.
That, and get Jon Katz to write a few essays to bore the enemy into submission.
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Someone you trust is one of us.
...and/or flame amongst yourselves. Anyone else noticed this trend?
"All I do is eat and poop!" -- Bean
Slashdot During War?
I can't believe how many people fell for this April Fool's joke.
I read /. in Bosnia regularly. Seems just the thing to remind me what home was and what was important beyond the minefields. It also kept me up to date on what the IT industry was up to.
DanH
Cav Pilot's Reference Page
Cav Pilot's Reference Page
UNIX - Not just for Vestal Virgins anymore
News for Nerds. Stuff that matters.
During a war, slashdot would bitch about how hard it is to get RAM through trade embargoes.
They would use cryptography, and get arrested. And their user base would bitch about it.
They'd talk about GPS, and how it's used for missle tracking.
In short, it would help the war effort exactly not one iota, and still waste the time of our geeks overseas.
But you knew that, right?
/. would more than likely report which Linux distro is running on US Military hardware.
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Wooden armaments to battle your imaginary foes!
"If we get involved in a nuclear war, would the electromagnetic pulses from exploding bombs damage my videotapes?"
"...no person in extreme need has submitted to Slashdot, but if they do, how would we respond?"
:(
Pop quiz, hotshots:
HHHHEEEEELLLLLLLPPPPPPP MMMMMMMEEEEEEE!!!!!!!
ESR just broke into my house. He's naked, covered in jelly and holding a gun along with a copy of ESR's Love Tips
What will you do?
"Study your math, kids. Key to the universe." -The Archangel Gabriel
I built the first site for the North Korean famine (www.northkorea.org) over some years with a past Newsweek editor in Japan. I've had some time to think about how to converge people on sites and solve problems.
Actually since the Kobe quake I've thought about how to make systems that could help focus responses to a web thread and help people solve problems. Slashdot might be better than nothing, though it lacks an editor who can continually digest and udpate info to provide a quick to consult page. On the web people tend to surf away and away from a given site, so while Slashdot is great for gathering a mass of people, you still are going to need a link at the top to someone's page. That someone will have to be a superhuman or have a lot of helpers to manage the information flood and remain of interest.
It seems there are a number of interesting components that could be useful in this case if they are not built monolithically, I'm thinking of sourceforge and open directory type collaborative services like dmoz.org.
There are a lot of other problems though, and one big one which it seems the people here might have a chance at solving, which is the political angle. It's everyone's business when there is a war, and lots of people may not want some information to be posted. There is also disinformation and the danger of getting people hurt.
In the North Korea project, we had a bank account closed in the U.S. and I kept my name off the board since I was worried about being able to travel. But the biggest reason and perhaps the only reason why it succeeded (we raised a quarter million dollars in food, medicine, clothing, and other items) is that it was masterminded by an ace journalist named Bernie Krisher who felt something had to be done, did it, documented it, and demonstrated integrity to people through the site. He pulled his contacts and he risked his life (just because he is elderly.. and still more active and energetic when it counts than most twenty-year olds) one of the trips he ended up hospitalized there. The story got out through the site's news items, essays, photo and video reports, faxes from the government of North Korea, and info about newspaper appearances around the world which were also very important.
I thought of using the web in the Kobe quake to help organize volunteers to assemble needed materials, but the fact is one manic person can do more than a CGI program. If you can somehow gather twenty manic networking people and filter everyone's energy through that you got something big. I say this because in the Kobe quake my own contribution was just to mirror a site on the beleaguered system that was still up in Kobe, and to direct people to a fantastic frequently updated site that everyone from student to megacorporation looked when it was the most important.
Where was the site? Standord University. A student there had the objectivity of five thousand miles and some incredible energy because before other companies took up the slack, and while the government was paralyzed, this guy was probably the most important communications channel.
You also will need to consider how to get people in and out. More information could be had from Eastern European linux people who have plenty of experience in this area. Even in a highly industrialized area you are likely to discover problems getting people physically in and out of the area. And the groups which can move freely may be highly politicized themselves. I think you will have a lot more luck if you try to be extremely focussed and selective about what you are trying to do and what you say you can do. In the end though if someone depends on your website, your ass is going to be on the line! Literally!
by FPTroll (kissmy@trollbutt.com)on Sunday April 01, @07:03 CST (#5)
(User #987765 Info)
First shot! Ow dammit, that was my foot!
Germanys past Performance... (Score:2 Funny)
by Gazundheit (sneeze@germanyr0x0rs.com)on Sunday April 01, @07:30 CST (#22)
(User #666666 Info)
Didn't Germany do rather well in the last big war?
Help!!! (Score:-1 Flamebait)
by unknown_soldier (unknown@soldieroffortune.com)on Sunday April 01, @07:45 CST (#37)
(User #425112 Info)
Help! Help! The guys with the anti-personnel flamethrowers are here!
Imagine ... (Score:4 Insightful)
by PortmanFan (biggestfan@Ilovenatalieportman.com)on Sunday April 01, @07:41 CST (#44)
(User #133755 Info)
We could really end this war if every guy had their own beowolf cluster of cloned Natalie Portmans who would serve them fresh, hot grits for breakfast.
More likely The Powers That Be would continue posting articles on why The Enemy was going to lose because they were not using The One True OS. Jon Katz would post articles on how the use of guns on the battlefield was leading to a crackdown on geeks in US schools. And the trolls would keep on trolling. Possibly in another language if the war was lost.