Slashdot Mirror


Wading Through Weblogs, One Idea at a Time

candot writes "Remember the recent slashdot story on NASA cancelling the moon hoax book? Wonder what other weblogs are saying about the subject? Launched today (in beta), the Waypath Project is an attempt to network the weblog community, connecting weblogs that share common themes, ideas, and topics. The Waypath Project's Related Weblog Navigation engine analyzes weblog entries to determine their core conceptual makeups, compares them with one another to find out how related they are, and presents you with its best guess as to what's related to your original input. This is done all automatically. Look for the disclaimers about varying quality you'd expect from an automated classification system, such as at Google News. You're encouraged to embed WP results in your weblog pages. Be the first on your block to try it out, today -- unless it gets slashdotted, then tomorrow. Resources are limited, so pace yourselves."

76 comments

  1. Beta? by thing12 · · Score: 1, Interesting
    Even though it doesn't feel slashdotted yet, searching for "NASA cancelling the moon hoax book" yields this lovely error messge. Way fun...
    An error has occurred. Please notify the system administrator. exception details: java.net.MalformedURLException: no protocol: NASA cancelling the moon hoax book java.net.MalformedURLException: no protocol: NASA cancelling the moon hoax book at java.net.URL.(URL.java:579) at java.net.URL.(URL.java:476) at java.net.URL.(URL.java:425) at com.thinktank23.waypoint.text.TextArtifact.(Unknow n Source) at com.thinktank23.waypoint.text.TextArtifact.(Unknow n Source) at com.thinktank23.waypoint.text.TextArtifact.getTran sientTextArtifact(Unknown Source) at com.thinktank23.waypoint.text.TextArtifact.getTran sientTextArtifact(Unknown Source) at com.thinktank23.waypoint.docsim.DocsimQuery.create Query(Unknown Source) at _rwn__jsp._jspService(_rwn__jsp.java:226) at com.caucho.jsp.JavaPage.service(JavaPage.java:74) at com.caucho.jsp.Page.subservice(Page.java:476) at com.caucho.server.http.FilterChainPage.doFilter(Fi lterChainPage.java:176) at com.caucho.server.http.Invocation.service(Invocati on.java:277) at com.caucho.server.http.CacheInvocation.service(Cac heInvocation.java:129) at com.caucho.server.http.HttpRequest.handleRequest(H ttpRequest.java:216) at com.caucho.server.http.HttpRequest.handleConnectio n(HttpRequest.java:158) at com.caucho.server.TcpConnection.run(TcpConnection. java:140) at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:536)
    1. Re:Beta? by Angry+White+Guy · · Score: 2

      Hmmm, Looks like M$ should write their own version in .NET.

      To hell with standards, we just want the data!

      --
      You think that I'm crazy, you should see this guy!
    2. Re:Beta? by twstdr00t · · Score: 2, Informative

      it would appear that you are supposed to enter a URL there....

      --

      ---------
      AlmostFreeLinux.com
    3. Re:Beta? by bmud · · Score: 1

      It spewed out the same error message to me. Except I read it. "MalformedURLException: no protocol" tips you off that all URL's need "http://" in front of them. Odd that the developers didn't think to catch this, but it's trivial none the less.

      Cheers

    4. Re:Beta? by thing12 · · Score: 2
      it would appear that you are supposed to enter a URL there....

      Hah! That's funny... reading the directions would have helped. Still, the lack of input checking and catching exceptions is funny.

  2. 'blogs' by EggplantMan · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It seems to me that blogs are a haven for angsty, mal-adjusted, teenage primadonnas. Is this an article directed at the ever growing teenage portion of the Slashdot audience? Really, who reads these things, they're a waste of time.

    --

    ?-|||-----x<*))))><
    1. Re:'blogs' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I use mine as an online work journal, as do many others. Many engineering jobs require a work journal, so I've kept up the habit by keeping mine online and accessible from anywhere. Here's one (a systems programmer) that has links to a lot of other mostly work-related journals.

    2. Re:'blogs' by garcia · · Score: 2

      to this day I still have yet to have read a "blog". In fact, I really haven't understood what they were until your post.

      I guess being 23 takes me out of the "teenage" bracket of understanding.

    3. Re:'blogs' by Sc00ter · · Score: 3
      I always seem to see stuff like this. People really either hate blogs or like them, there isn't much in between. I keep a blog but I usually don't use it to just bitch about life or whatever. I talk about projects I'm working on, stuff that's going on with my life in general. I have a friend that uses his to talk about his home improvements that I find interesting since I'm going to be searching for a house soon and it gives me ideas on what to look for and how hard it will be to fix things that are wrong.

      Sure, there are ones that are just a bitch fest for people, and I've used mine to complain about crappy things at work (usually about the shitty security in the computer system I don't have any control over) but if you don't like them, don't read them..

    4. Re:'blogs' by nomadic · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Not at all. There are plenty of weblogs run by non-teenage angsty, maladjusted primadonnas.

      And does the name "blog" annoy the hell out of anyone else either? The only people I can picture using the term are annoying hipsters down at Starbucks trying to impress each other as they slam back frappucinos.

    5. Re:'blogs' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Consider yourself lucky! Blogs are usually put up by morons who are so self obsessed that they feel the need to report to the world about the melodrama of their life.

    6. Re:'blogs' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm not into other people's drama. I don't think that I have any drama in my life.

      Most people feel that they need to live in their own Soap...

      Geeks needing Soap. No thanks.

    7. Re:'blogs' by RobotWisdom · · Score: 2
      "It seems to me that blogs are a haven for angsty, mal-adjusted, teenage primadonnas."

      The original meaning of the term 'weblog' was a log of (my) web-reading/recommendations. I don't really approve its generalisation to include diaries.

    8. Re:'blogs' by reallocate · · Score: 2

      Thanks for reminding people. Like any publication, the value of a weblog is determined by its content.

      --
      -- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
    9. Re:'blogs' by Dark+Lord+Seth · · Score: 1

      The word annoys me senseless as well. Could you please share some URLs of (semi) serious weblogs btw?

    10. Re:'blogs' by Zach+Garner · · Score: 2

      ... I almost stepped in a big pile of blog a few days ago

    11. Re:'blogs' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Joe?

    12. Re:'blogs' by llamaboy487 · · Score: 1

      actually, the only reason i use blogs is i have one that i use as a developer's journal for my site... they're very useful for this. otherwise i'd never touch them.

      --


      ...nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
    13. Re:'blogs' by miratim · · Score: 1

      Generally, I've found a good amount of weblogs just to be a way to report what's going on in people's lives to a wider audience. Some are full of angst, but most are very straightforward, like The Fudge Report.

      --
      ~ The Fudge Report @ http://mywebpages.comcast.net/fudgereport/
    14. Re:'blogs' by nomadic · · Score: 1

      Try http://www.livejournal.com. Just full of them.

    15. Re:'blogs' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I run one for my own purposes, since maintaining a bunch of slightly different computer systems would be absolute chaos otherwise. When something strange pops up on a machine, you have to be able to go back to your logs to find out why you put it there in the first place.

      I'm humble enough to admit that my memory doesn't hold onto every detail that I'd like it to. Sometimes I need to sift through the logs to find out just why sendmail needs a certain option, and what happened the last time someone forgot it.

      The difference between me and most of the other people who maintain these things is that mine is private. It's written entirely for my own uses. The only other people who should ever see it are intruders to my systems, or someone who cleans up my estate after I'm dead.

      This is not a matter of being old, since I'm nearly the same age as you.

  3. It's written in Java? by SexyKellyOsbourne · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's proprietary, closed-source, dirt slow, written in Java, inaccurate, and prone to nasty debug screens.

    Take a look at slashdot, livejournal, and everything2 -- everything works like clockwork. I think the open source community could, and should, write better code for this.

  4. Wondering? by sczimme · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wonder what other weblogs are saying about the subject?

    Ummm... no. But thanks anyway.

    --
    I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
    1. Re:Wondering? by qwerpoiu · · Score: 1

      You neglected to include "Remember the recent slashdot story on NASA cancelling the moon hoax book?" in your comment. Like most Slashdotters, I'm too lazy to read the brief write-up, so at first your comment made no sense to me.

  5. Why can't Slashdot cache subject sites pages? by frank249 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Be the first on your block to try it out, today -- unless it gets slashdotted, then tomorrow. Resources are limited, so pace yourselves.

    Others have said it but here it is again. Slashdot is a great resource but many interesting sites become inaccessable due to their servers not being able to handle the load. Why can't Slashdot set up a cache of the interesting pages like google does?

    --

    Today's vices may be tomorrow's virtues.

  6. The focus of the different weblogs are different by akincisor · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ... for example slashdot is a news and discussion site rather than a genuine^H^H^H^H^H^H^H out an out weblog. It may not have been such when the site started, but a large number of slashdot subscribers look at this site as a source of nerd news, not trivia, and definitely not to peek into other peoples diaries.

    As for the hoax, the less discussion on the subject the better. It cannot be conclusivey proved that it was a hoax, and those who believe it was one will not listen to reason.

  7. Combining with E2? by Psychic+Burrito · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I always thought that combining the setup of Everything2 and a massive amout of blogs would create something great. This is a step in this direction. Is there anybody else agreeing that combining E2 with Waypath would make the best reference source ever?

    1. Re:Combining with E2? by Qender · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yeah, we would end up with the most sarcastic dictionary in the world.

  8. Re:Why can't Slashdot cache subject sites pages? by thing12 · · Score: 2
    Others have said it but here it is again. Slashdot is a great resource but many interesting sites become inaccessable due to their servers not being able to handle the load. Why can't Slashdot set up a cache of the interesting pages like google does?

    Because that would involve them either manually downloading and saving the cached copy or actually spending time to write code to automatically download and cache a copy of everything that's linked. If you want the feature, submit the patch to slashcode. Then it might eventually end up on slashdot.

    But in this case it wouldn't help at all since it's more of an application than a web site. All the pages are dynamic... it's like trying to cache Google.

  9. Take a look at memigo by costas · · Score: 3, Interesting

    [This is a plug]

    Memigo spots memes and interesting news ahead of weblogs, including Slashdot, instead of relying on trailing metrics like blogs. How? it monitors how users rate individual articles and creates personalised recommendations for each user (yep, kinda like Amazon).

    The sites and articles are also inserted into a web of trust, so when a new article/meme shows up, it inherits the trusts of its author and recommenders. The point is to be a leading indicator of interest and sniff out interesting news first...

    To be fair, memigo parses a few blogs too (that tend to make news, rather than follow them, such as /.); but really it can use anything as a trust metric.

    Try it, you will be pleasantly suprised --yes, you need a login for the personal recommendations, but there is no requirement for any personal info, including any sort of e-mail address...

  10. What...the...HELL!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Jesus Christ, what the hell is this!? First an article abour a compost bin, then something about the three residents of Idaho being able to get more porn, and now some shit about WEBLOGS!? Yeah, I can definitely see why something about the changing of the name of OpenBeOS isn't as important as rotting garbage...

  11. About the Waypath Project by mattsmigs · · Score: 3, Interesting

    For those who can't be bothered to go and read it/for when it gets Slashdotted:

    What is it?

    The Waypath Project is an attempt to network the weblog community, connecting weblogs that share common themes, ideas, and topics.

    How does it work?

    The Waypath Project's Related Weblog Navigation engine analyzes weblog entries to determine their core conceptual makeups, compares them with one another to find out how related they are, and presents you with its best guess as to what's related to your original input. This is done all automatically, using available technology.

    Where does the data come from?

    WP makes use of public weblog update lists, which it crawls several times each day. We use a custom spider to grab changed files from individual weblogs. We make our best effort to grab new weblog entries the same day their posted, depending on resource availability. Learn more about data selection here.

    Why does quality vary?

    What the Waypath Project is doing is not trivial. Sometimes Waypath results are amazingly on target, sometimes you can kind of see the thread that relates weblog entries, sometimes you're left scratching your head. We're constantly working to make results better, as time allows.

    Why isn't WP open source?

    The core of WP is based on a proprietary, commerical technology that Think Tank 23 has generously donated to this project. However, the tools developed by the Waypath Project will be released into the open source community as time allows.

    Who funds WP?

    You do, along with others. Check out the donors page for more info.

    Why is this site so spartan?

    This site is run by two guys in their spare time (a couple of hours each week, if we're lucky). Most of that time is spent massaging and enhancing the spider. Ater that, we spend as much time as we can making the results better. You can help by donating, so we can spend more time on everything, including adding more info to the site, if that's your thing.

  12. Re:Why can't Slashdot cache subject sites pages? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No problem.

    http://216.239.53.100/search?q=cache:fHxHiYDn3eQ C: www.google.com/+google&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 :-P

    (posting anonymously for the obvious reasons)

  13. Re:Why can't Slashdot cache subject sites pages? by Trollificus · · Score: 0

    I think it has more to do with copyright violations than anything else.
    The majority of sites posted here have ad banners, so naturally, they like it when people visit their site. Whether or not it gets slashdotted is irrelevant. If even the first few thousand people get through, that's change in the webmaster's pocket.
    By caching the pages they link to, they not only steal the webmaster's content for profit(no doubt the cached pages will be ON slashdot, and thus have slashdot banners), but they will also be depriving the webmaster of revenue.
    I don't think the guys at Slashdot could handle that many lawsuits at once.

    --

    "People should be allowed to keep midgets as pets."
    - Gov. Jesse Ventura

  14. Sounds like a grim idea by melonman · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If an infinite number of bloggers write an infinite number of postings, and a search engine cross-references them all, does this give us anything more than Word Salad? If the site wasn't broken I'm curious enough to try it, but I'm sceptical. Most blogs are (possibly) interesting if you know the people: otherwise, they are about as thrilling as someone else's holiday snaps. And the most used category is going to be me me me...

    Also, newsy weblogs such as /. end up being cross-referenced anyway, because sooner or later someone posts a 'hey have you seen what they are saying on...' message.

    --
    Virtually serving coffee
  15. Yes by fredopalus · · Score: 0

    I do remember. Those were the good old days.

    --
    Jonahweb.com has stuff.
  16. This is not Beta, try alpha by linuxislandsucks · · Score: 1

    Only thing is it doesn;t work.. hmm MS Beta release?

    --
    Don't Tread on OpenSource
  17. Re:Why can't Slashdot cache subject sites pages? by frank249 · · Score: 2

    Because that would involve them either manually downloading and saving the cached copy or actually spending time to write code to automatically download and cache a copy of everything that's linked.

    Maybe Slashdot should invest $40 and buy a copy of Black Widow site mirroring tool? Maybe it is a legal thing but google has a cache of many sites including ones taken down.

    --

    Today's vices may be tomorrow's virtues.

  18. Re:Screenshot by RebelTycoon · · Score: 1

    Nothing like the sight of pink in the morning...

  19. Just stop now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    the Waypath Project is an attempt to network the weblog community, connecting weblogs that share common themes, ideas, and topics.

    They're called "Web rings". You might remember them.

    Asides from that, who the hell cares what some kid in Tacoma thinks about the NASA book? Or, for that matter, who the hell cares what a kid in Tacoma thinks about anything? No one.

    WBELOGS == TEH GEYEST! Just stop.

  20. How to obtain site mirroring tool by Joe+Enduser · · Score: 1

    wget http://www.softbytelabs.com/download/trial.exe

    oh wait...

  21. ok? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Which must include you as well, look you posted here!

  22. Link weblogs ,eh? by Raul654 · · Score: 4, Funny

    So sally breaks up with don, whose weblog indicates he's now really hot for janet, could care less about Don but really like Barry, who donkey punched Jane, who is best friend with Sally. Hrm... makes it so much clearer now

    --


    To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
    --E.C. Stanton
  23. Re:Screenshot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Dear lin-ux@blueyonder.co.uk

    Posting a mirror of the receiver on your ISP's webspace is moronic and asking for it. Therefore, lin-ux@blueyonder.co.uk I feel it is my duty to provide a link to abuse@blueyonder.co.uk for all the people who are in a far more evil mood than I am, and feel like trying to get your account closed. I hope you have a Cable Modem, as that would be funnier still.

    lin-ux@blueyonder.co.uk , you are a silly fucktard.

  24. Re:Why can't Slashdot cache subject sites pages? by Glytch · · Score: 2

    Others have answered it but here it is again.

  25. But does it actually work? by Flamesplash · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So just as a test I plopped the URL http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20021107. html from the /. story Could Eolas End Microsoft's Browser Dominance? into the search field on the Waypath Project page and well all it ended up giving me was a bunch of Microsoft related hits, nothing to really do with the specifics of the article itself. Maybe the word "Microsoft" is too prevalent and therefor overweighted?

    --
    "Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door." - Emily Dickinson
  26. Blogdex: more better, less beta by EnlightenmentFan · · Score: 3, Informative

    If you want to know what weblogs are saying about the Nasa moon hoax story then I recommend you get psycholog^H^H^H^H put a bookmark on good old Blogdex. Fine format, good leads to web stories both nerdy and not. You want links (and related weblogs) for the text of the UN Resolution on Iraq, the hockey dad suing to get his son named MVP, or a simple tool to give you the size and text of any web page? They're on Blogdex today.

    --
    Making trouble today for a better tomorrow...
  27. I suppose by mao+che+minh · · Score: 5, Interesting
    that this would generally be a good idea, except for the fact that there are already thriving weblog communities that: A. Are nice to look at (or in the least, have an efficient design and layout), B. Have a working search engine in operation, C. Are not built on dog slow, closed projects.

    Slow news day, huh /. ?

  28. Confuse it by gleather · · Score: 2, Funny

    Be the first on your block to program your weblog to automatically generate amusing nonsense when polled by a blog hog.

    --
    Idiot.
  29. Unified weblog by GoRK · · Score: 3, Informative

    What, no mention of Blogdex, the Media Diffusion Index? It's several years old, and is pretty good at picking current trends.

    ~GoRK

  30. Re:Why can't Slashdot cache subject sites pages? by thing12 · · Score: 2
    By caching the pages they link to, they not only steal the webmaster's content for profit(no doubt the cached pages will be ON slashdot, and thus have slashdot banners), but they will also be depriving the webmaster of revenue. I don't think the guys at Slashdot could handle that many lawsuits at once.

    I think they could set up a cache.slashdot.org server and have it fetch copies of all the links right before the story is posted. Then put a [cached] link for each one in the 'Related Links' section to the right of the story header. Of course they couldn't have banners on top, that would be violating copyright. But a simple google style cache of every link in the story would be a useful add-on to slashcode.

  31. Re:Why can't Slashdot cache subject sites pages? by mocktor · · Score: 1

    Why can't Slashdot set up a cache of the interesting pages

    in this case because most of the pages on waypath are dynamically generated - a lot of the sites /. links to are. It couldn't work unless someone grabbed a copy of the code (and data) and setup their own waypath machine in the osdn cage

  32. heheh, they are feeling it... by yuri82 · · Score: 1

    "We're being slashdotted. If things are a little slow, that's why. Hey, at least you made it this far. "

    Someone warned them :P

    --
    Who is this Karma guy and why is he bad ??
  33. Re:The focus of the different weblogs are differen by JabberWokky · · Score: 3, Funny
    Funny, I come to Slashdot to read the juicy details of Kathleen Fent's life.

    --
    Evan

    --
    "$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
  34. Re:The focus of the different weblogs are differen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Really? I'm here for CmdrTaco.

  35. The Weblog MetaData Initiative by HealYourChurchWebSit · · Score: 4, Informative



    I like sites like this ... but isn't their already an effort to define and tie blogging communities via the The Weblog MetaData Initiative?

    I mean, Waypath is at one level convenient, but no more so than well established weblog communities such as
    blo.gs, the Eaton WebPortal and blogs4God. Moreover, when it comes to gleaning headline news via a blog, I would suspect the real weapon of cohice would be our personal aggregators such as Amphetadesk and HotSheet?

    Which is where the WMDI comes in. It helps me identify sites via xml-ish mechanisms such as the Dublin Core Initiative ... which is why I would think someone who's blogging their brains out for the hottest headlines might not be better served by the WMDI.

    Then again, your mileage may vary.

    --
    --- have you healed your church website?
  36. Re:Why can't Slashdot cache subject sites pages? by frank249 · · Score: 2

    That reply in the FAQ is 2 years old. Lots has changed since then. Storage is cheaper and Slashcode has been updated. There must be a way around the cache problem even if it was just selective to those who volunteer a link to their own small sites. I wonder if Slashdot has ever been threatened with a lawsuit for causing a denial of service attack?

    And how is this off topic if it was brought up in the subject header? Dang.

    --

    Today's vices may be tomorrow's virtues.

  37. Offtopic, unattributed plagiarism--mod parent down by EnlightenmentFan · · Score: 1

    This list of 10 Linux problems is pure cut-and-paste of an article by Adam Wiggins. (The witty title is, however, Anonymous Coward's own contribution.)

    --
    Making trouble today for a better tomorrow...
  38. See also Blogdex by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This looks similar to Blogdex at the MIT Media Lab.

    Anyone who is interested should look at both of them.

  39. Sounds like daypop by ryochiji · · Score: 1

    It sounds an aweful lot like Daypop... But then, I can't seem to access daypop either. Hm.

  40. Blogdex by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    on the topic of big computers searching through weblogs, there is also blogdex which lists what news has been making the most noize.

  41. BlogStreet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    What about BlogStreet. http://www.blogstreet.com/ They had introduced this concept called Blog Neighborhoods months back and seem to be doing a much better job at finding related weblogs. I also like their weblogs search engine, now that daypop has been down since forever.

  42. Tangent by endquotedotcom · · Score: 2, Informative

    I'm a day late, but I was away from computing yesterday. I run another project called Tangnet, that is sort of a similar idea, but (at this point) makes no attempt to link blog postings by idea, but focuses more on common traits between the authors of blogs. It's new but growing.

  43. Last Post! by alpg · · Score: 1

    Why do mathematicians insist on using words that already have another
    meaning? "It is the complex case that is easier to deal with." "If it
    doesn't happen at a corner, but at an edge, it nonetheless happens at a
    corner."

    - this post brought to you by the Automated Last Post Generator...