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LWN in Trouble

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the o-negative-cash-needed-stat dept.

DanDan writes: "It seems that Linux Weekly News may be on the rocks. Tucows has cut support and they have lost their Senior Editor. It would be sad to see them go." Anybody who has bright ideas or cash burning a hole in your pocket should check out their discussion list.

9 of 193 comments (clear)

  1. Open Source Community not immune by Kruemelmo · · Score: 1, Insightful

    This shows again that the Open Source community is not immune against the current economic situation. It is really sad to see more and more of the sponts in the net vanish. Although they weren't even trying to make money out of it, they suffer, too.

    I really hope lwn will go on with their good work!

    1. Re:Open Source Community not immune by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      They are gone _because_ they weren't trying to make money out of it. Don't you see the recurring pattern? Companies not making money (or organizations without generous sponsors) die.

    2. Re:Open Source Community not immune by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's a fact, not an opinion. But since you ask...

      Yes, I think it is good that those organizations that people do not choose to support with their wallets are weeded out. If they didn't ask for money in the first place and financial pressures catch up, perhaps they should have planned. If they plan but nobody wants what they are selling, they shouldn't be around anyway.

      If you really are providing a valuable community service then the community supports you with donations, or sponsors support you to gain the goodwill of the community. Where you live those services are only around because they are wanted - you can be sure that even in your little Lotus Land there have been some organizations that have not survived for this simple reason.

  2. Remember when... by Nijika · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...these types of pages could support themselves with four guys and a rackspace co-lo? I don't see why they can't again. I don't understand why they need the backing of Tucows to survive. If they've changed so much that they need the backing of a dot bomb to continue, maybe they should start fresh.

    --
    Luck favors the prepared, darling.
  3. LWN and /. by FortKnox · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Question: since this is a news site, just like LWN, how much profit does /. make?
    Enough to survive the Economy? Do the advertisements really pay for the bandwidth (I can imagine the /.'s bandwidth is gonna cost tons!).

    How long until /. needs to make adjustments to keep afloat of the falling economy?
    Are the editors reading the comments on how to survive and taking notes, just in case?

    This isn't a troll, just compairing LWN to /.

    --
    Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
  4. LWN deserves to live by The+Pim · · Score: 5, Insightful
    LWN is in the narrow category of truly worthwhile things. Good selection of topics, nice organization and length, lucid writing, thoughtful opinions, attention to detail, good taste, and deep knowledge of, and clear passion for, the subject. These qualities are attributable to the awesome people involved; they are not commodity parts. LWN is not replaceable.

    They indicate that the problem is funding the staff, not hosting the site. If new sponsorship can't be found, I think we need to find out how much effort the staff can affort to spend on a volunteer basis, and then look for ways to spread out their talents. See if we can find a way for the community to provide some of the raw material, legwork, and editing, with Liz and Jon providing coaching and putting the pieces together.

    For starters, there is a great quantity of raw material in the comments on slashdot. A lot of the high-rated posts are really good stuff, even if they're not polished. Many of them could be turned into stories with some revision, fact-checking, and proofing. Perhaps slashdot or a parallel system could even provide the infrastructure for doing revisions of high-quality comments.

    I don't have the time or imagination to come up with a full solution now, but I really think there is some promise along these lines.

    --

    The evaluation of an action as 'practical' . . . depends on what it is that one wishes to practice.
  5. LWN has a discussion list? by BillyGoatThree · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "their Senior Editor" is kind of a dumb way to put it. Hammel wrote one section of their site, a site with only 4-5 people behind the scenes.

    Also, for a site that is driven by eyeballs, they sure don't try to attract viewers very hard. I never knew they had a discussion list or forum or whatever it is. Maybe some advertising of their features to drive up the ad revenue.

    For instance, I've always trusted LWN to cover in a fair and evenhanded manner the Crisis Of The Week that is reported at Slashdot. They could push themselves as BBC to Slashdot's "Channel 4 Action News Team, Film At 11".

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    324006
  6. Volunteer work by Per+Abrahamsen · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think the point was that it used to be that these kind of news sites could be run by enthusiasts as a not too expensive (except in time) hobby.

    If the professional Linux news sites fail, hopefully amateurs will step in to fill the void. Unless something changed so this is no longer possible.

  7. Maybe I am ignorant: by SomeOtherGuy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    But why must the model work like this:

    A. Website starts with little or no funding. Is wildly popular. Attracts a large crowd. Website operates as a hobby for the people that run it.

    B. Company buys website and puts big dollars into site. Pays everyone involved a salary.

    C. Money runs out....website dies.

    Why can't a site go from Grassroots, Sugar Daddy, back to Grassroots?

    --
    (+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.