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Slashdot Updates

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the it's-been-awhile dept.

It's been a long time since I posted an update about Slashdot but a few recent changes warrant me doing it. You should see the OSDN Navbar atop the page now. I don't like it any more then many of you, so if you log in, there is an option to disable it. (Click the 'X', or look in Preferences:Misc) A few more notes follow including the lowdown on subscriptions, formkey bugs, and AC filters.

The formkey bug that was wreaking havoc all weekend was fixed. It was a mistake in seeding rand that was causing a small percentage of users to have problems posting. It wasn't a conspiracy designed to thwart anyone, just you. Man it was a pain in the ass. But it was squashed on Sunday (thank god).

Anonymous Coward filtering is now in place. It's not exactly finished, but it'll do for now. Essentially there is now a user preference that sets all AC posts to -1. This has been a very common user request for some time, so turn it on if you like. It's currently off by default. It's only a baby step: eventually there will be more fine-tuned controls for anonymous posts, as well as comment types. For Example: I'd personally like to assign a -2 penalty on any comment rated 'funny' because most of them frankly just aren't funny at all. But humor is far too subjective to say that the moderation is unfair. Anyway, now everyone can decide for themselves. That should happen in the next few weeks.

Last up, I'm gonna talk a little about advertisements and subscriptions. Slashdot continues to grow: our traffic has increased by like 10% in the last few months, and simply selling the banner ads you see on top of each page isn't going to be enough to keep us afloat if we keep growing. And selling banner ads in 2001 is an awful lot harder then it was in 1999.

The change will be a different ad size on the article page. Currently we have the standard banner size on top of all pages, but soon the article pages will instead have those huge square things that you see on CNet or ZD. I know this will be unpopular with many people, myself included, but when we make the switch, we will also have some sort of subscription system where you can pay a fee to disable them honestly. (No I don't know how much yet!)

Just to shut down the conspiracy theorists, nobody is forcing us to make these changes: The navbar. The new ad formats. The subscription system. I could just say 'No' to changes like these. But Slashdot is now four years old ... and I want it to still be here four years from now. I hope you can understand the expensive reality associated with making this site happen every day for a quarter of a million readers.

Now flame me if you feel it necessary. Get it out of your system.

7 of 1,057 comments (clear)

  1. Re:How much? by david614 · · Score: 3, Redundant

    Yeah. I presume that you have looked at ars technica's approach to subscriptions so that you can make this work.

    You owe your readers early information on subscriptions. Otherwise, add busting software will make nonsense of your switch to ads plus subscriptions.

    Last thing.

    Those big mid-page ads on CNET are why I don't go there anymore.

    You better have a good explanation for why you think that slashdot folks are willing to tolerate them.

    D

    --
    ELITISM: It's always lonely at the top. Uninvited company is rarely welcome.
  2. Re:How much? by cloudmaster · · Score: 1, Redundant

    sites with big middle-of-the-page ads get images blocked by squid and perl. Slashdot's ads are explicitly allowed right now, but if they get big and/or obtrusive, they will be blocked as well. As they are, I leave them in (and even click them sometimes) in order to support the dot.

  3. Flame! by Mofo_abc123 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    OMFG 0S0 L4M3, J00 LLAMA!

    Fewf, thats out of my system ;) seriously though given the state of things now, I'm glad that you guys are taking measures so that this site will be around for a while, keep up the good work

  4. Why the OSDN banner? by wdr1 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Thanks for the update, CmdrTaco!

    I really don't mean this in any sort of negative tone, but why add the OSDN banner if you didn't have to, and you didn't like it either?

    Just curious,
    -Bill

    --
    SlashSig Karma: Excellent (mostly affected by moderatio
  5. Re:How much? by Hacker+Cracker · · Score: 1, Redundant

    How much will it cost to de-advertize? How about nothing?

    If you use Opera that is. Simply press the 'G' key and viola! No ads!

    Ahhhhhhhhh...

    -- Shamus

    I Hate Ads!
    This space for rent! EZ terms!

  6. Re:OSDN Bar by BryanHughes · · Score: 0, Redundant

    So, you are saying that the bar sucks? Yeah I agree... that bar sucks.

  7. Re:Some contradiction here? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Redundant
    "The only people posting interesting comments to the articles are trolls such as..."

    Re:Jeff Probst checking in... (Score:-1, Troll)
    by Jeff Probst on Tuesday October 16, @07:43PM (#2439248)

    With a tr0ll for all of you. This one was basically my first attempt at trolling as opposed to karma whoring.

    Click here biznatch!

    Not bad (I think) considering I wrote it on the fly in a ten minute break between work.

    --
    first probst bitches