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Slashdot Turns 10 But You Get The Presents

October marks 10 friggin years of Slashdot, and nobody is more surprised about any of this than me. Throughout the month we'll be running a series of navel gazing meta news articles about our history, infrastructure and plans for the future. We're also going to give away 500 t-shirts and ThinkGeek gift certificates to people willing to organize and attend their own local Slashdot parties. One lucky winner will get a cool grand to blow at ThinkGeek! I'm going to attend "official" gatherings in Ann Arbor, MI on Oct 20 and in Palo Alto, CA on Oct 25. But you can read on for details about party organization and how you can win the grand prize. The idea is simple. Visit the Slashdot Anniversary Party Web Page. You can sign up to attend a party, or if there's nobody hosting near you, you can create your own. The details of your local parties are up to you- each has a corresponding discussion so you can work it out amongst yourselves. The Ann Arbor gathering will be at a bar because dammit I'm old and don't have time to go out for beers much these days. But you do whatever works for the folks in your area. Dorm Room. Bar. Gym. Wherever several Slashdot readers gather, we shall attempt to mail shirts until we run out.

To be eligible for schwag, you need to schedule your party by Oct 8 and sign up to attend a party by Oct 9- this will give us time to figure out where to send the shirts, and time to send them before you all start partying naked during the official party window of Oct 19-28.

As for the one thousand dollar ThinkGeek Gift Certificate grand prize, the winner will be the party attendee who submits the coolest thing for our "scrapbook". Videos. Pictures. Songs. Anything you can email. Something that proves that your party was the one we all wish we were at. The deadline for submissions will be Oct 28. We'll have an official submission email address posted later. This is all about creativity and coolness so good luck with that. The grand prize winner will be posted on Oct 31, the end of the month when we can all forget that any of this ever happened.

Oh, and happy birthday to us. Here's to wasting another decade, same as the first.

99 of 636 comments (clear)

  1. wow by Surt · · Score: 2, Informative

    It has been a long time.

    --
    "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
    1. Re:wow by Tetsujin · · Score: 3, Funny

      (Slashdot ID: 22457) It has been a long time. (Slashdot ID: 103070) I dunno, it doesn't seem that long...
      --
      Bow-ties are cool.
    2. Re:wow by El_Muerte_TDS · · Score: 2, Funny

      It's only a matter of time for a 4 digit member to pop up, quickly followed by a 3 digit member.

    3. Re:wow by CmdrTaco · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'll just cut this off now then.

      --
      Pants are still optional, but recommended for you.
    4. Re:wow by Megaweapon · · Score: 4, Funny

      OMG HAXX!

      --
      I'm sure "SlashdotMedia" will improve on all the wonders that Dice Holdings blessed us all with
    5. Re:wow by FuzzyDaddy · · Score: 5, Funny

      Nazi!

      --
      It's not wasting time, I'm educating myself.
    6. Re:wow by CmdrTaco · · Score: 5, Informative

      Actually, internally AC is 666.

      --
      Pants are still optional, but recommended for you.
    7. Re:wow by Dave+Walker · · Score: 2, Funny

      Agreed...

      I've had this 4 digit ID for a while now...

      Oh, wait, it'd be almost 10 years, I guess.

    8. Re:wow by rolfwind · · Score: 4, Funny

      I always knew Bill Gates posted here!

    9. Re:wow by Pope · · Score: 2

      I was just thinking the same thing! I still haven't installed Linux though. ;)

      --
      It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
    10. Re:wow by ximenes · · Score: 5, Funny

      You've stolen my bit!

    11. Re:wow by Surt · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Cool, I don't think i've ever had a slashdot editor comment in one of my threads before. I feel like my original post was even more of an accomplishment now. :-)
      http://slashdot.org/~Surt/journal/183407

      --
      "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
    12. Re:wow by sterwill · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Rob contributed the 1-digit spot, so I'll fill the 3-digit spot. I guess I could have registered a little earlier, but I didn't post much back then (and don't now).

    13. Re:wow by nicedream · · Score: 2, Funny

      Hi guys....just checking in and showing off my ID.

    14. Re:wow by xtracto · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Now that it is the best chance I will have to post this question "on topic" for this story, I have always wondered what was the name of the "infamous" slashdot ID that was auctioned on ebay?

      I feel so relieved that I did not discovered slashdot when I first heard about it (like 8 years ago when I was in the University, a friend of mine asked me [Norman, de la U. Baja California Sur...] "do you have an account in slashdot... it is the place where all the geeks discuss tech things") because I would have lost still more time than what I lose right now...

      But hey, 10 years is quite a lot, I would like to congratulate Rob and the team for what they have achieved here. I would also like to be interested if some of the people being here before could make sort of a summary about the interesting issues that happened *inside* discussions, as for example the fact that a guy like NewYorkCountryLawyer is in slashdot, or the Scientology issue or the Sony rootkit (those all the ones I know... but I am fairly new, I am *sure* there sould be more interesting thigns in the discussions of slashdot).

      --
      Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
    15. Re:wow by N1AK · · Score: 2, Funny

      Don't worry it's still your year number 10 ;)

    16. Re:wow by m0nkyman · · Score: 2, Funny

      Remember being mocked 'cause we were newbies that weren't even around for Chips & Dips...

      --
      ~ a low user id is no indication I have a clue what I'm talking about.
    17. Re:wow by phil+reed · · Score: 5, Funny

      Hi there!

      --

      ...phil
      "For a list of the ways which technology has failed to improve our quality of life, press 3."
    18. Re:wow by teknopurge · · Score: 4, Funny

      karma Whore....

      =)

      Congrats on a decade, and over $1 billion in lost fortune 500 productivity.

    19. Re:wow by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 5, Informative

      That would be mfh (56)

      I see nothing wrong with this and would consider it myself if something came along at the right time.

      http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=118075&cid=9980688

      --
      liqbase :: faster than paper
    20. Re:wow by tgd · · Score: 2, Funny

      Damn, I know I should've registered earlier.

      About time I lost a "who's is the smallest" contest...

    21. Re:wow by TheRaven64 · · Score: 4, Informative
      You can configure the date display format in your user preferences. If you are logged in when you look at an archived story, you will get the long format date if you have selected it.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    22. Re:wow by vertigo · · Score: 2, Funny

      Its nice and shiny :)

      Congrats to Taco, 10 years is a long time!

    23. Re:wow by caferace · · Score: 3, Funny

      And?

    24. Re:wow by Scrameustache · · Score: 2, Funny

      I'll just cut this off now then. Oh sure, brag, but in Bacon numbers, you're a... oh, wow, 3, not bad!
      --

      You can't take the sky from me...

    25. Re:wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Has it been ten years already? I really should get back to work!

    26. Re:wow by Roblimo · · Score: 2, Funny

      Same here. I probably just woke up an hour or two before you that morning. :)

      - Robin

    27. Re:wow by chuck · · Score: 2, Funny

      Damn.

    28. Re:wow by bwulf · · Score: 5, Funny

      Hello, hi.

      -bwulf

    29. Re:wow by hcdejong · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You must be new here.

    30. Re:wow by Eponymous+Bastard · · Score: 5, Informative

      Let's see,
      There was the whole voices from the hellmouth thing. A big deal actually, read up on it.
      CleverNickName's jokes in trekkie threads look really out of place until you figure out who he is. say, here. The first one I saw was a joke on how something was done on the Enterprise, he simply replied "in my day we did it this way..." and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why he was +5 funny. He also had an ask slashdot which redeemed him for a lot of people.
      Trolling, Karma Whoring, Metamoderation have a whole story that I won't get into. There was a troll who upon leaving /. posted a how-to on how to karma whore, which was an interesting read. I wish I could remember his name.
      Goatse. That's the reason why links now get the domain name appended.
      Slashdot got hacked once, because the production site had the same password as a less secure test site. That was an interesting discussion.
      CommanderTaco's wedding proposal (see the FAQ, favorite story). Achieving record number of posts.
      Database breaks upon reaching 2**31-1. Site goes back online without threading for a few days.

      This is only some I remember. There were other story-related cool stuff. Some interesting interviews as well.

      (I have a high UID because I always posted as AC, but I've been here for a long time)

    31. Re:wow by TigerNut · · Score: 5, Funny

      325 and beowulf was already taken?

      --

      Less is more.

    32. Re:wow by hobo+sapiens · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Very interesting.

      I guess AC doesn't want any friends. I never liked that guy much anyhow!

      --
      blah blah blah
    33. Re:wow by ink · · Score: 2, Informative
      --
      The wheel is turning, but the hamster is dead.
    34. Re:wow by Unxmaal · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I think I signed up about 10 minutes after the announcement of user IDs.

      --
      http://unxmaal.com
    35. Re:wow by singularity · · Score: 2, Interesting

      User #2031 here.

      I just looked up the email Slashdot sent when I joined (yes, I tend to archive *all* mail. Make fun of me, but it comes in handy during situations like this!)

      3 September 1998.

      I think I had read a while before that, but only signed up for an ID a little while later. I was not, and am still not, a fan of having to sign up for web pages. Slashdot proved itself over that month or two, so they got my information.

      So in about eleven months, Slashdot only had a little over 2000 registered users. I am sure the growth was exponential after that.

      I sent in a bug report about two months after that, talking about the new thresholds (I think signed-in users started at 1, and AC comments were 0).

      Another bug was reported on 17 March 1999, talking about the new dynamic index.

      I am not sure when I ordered my Slashdot t-shirt, but I think it was the first that was offered.

      -User 2031, reporting in.

      --
      - (c) 2018 Hank Zimmerman
    36. Re:wow by Eponymous+Bastard · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yeah. Everything2 has his farewell post. I thought I recalled something more involved though. It's an interesting read, with some insight on moderation and other things. I dind't notice most of these changes because I was always AC and had no karma.


      I signed up for slashdot.org slightly over three years ago. Since that time I've seen it go from an obscure "news for nerds" website to being immensely popular with IT professionals. I was here before Linux was hyped. When Voices from the Hellmouth appeared on the front page, like most everybody else at the time, I was stunned into silence. Not only because this was the first time Katz had posted something that didn't stroke his ego, but also because it was a document that stood on its own. One could hear and feel the words because they were true; Like many on Slashdot I had gone through the now well-known geek/outcast stage during my schooling. Although by now it has been dragged through the media and featured so many times that many people's stomachs turn just mentioning it, but it was important at the time. It was definitely a turning point for the entire community. It was also the first time that Slashdot had featured an article of such far-reaching proportions. It was not Slashdot's daily bread and butter, which consisted mainly of short opinion pieces, a "ask the experts"-styled column and, of course, the daily links.

      Slashdot at the time, to me was an experiment which was always on the verge of exploding. The scores of posts from users, the quick corrections as the authors realized (once again) that they had posted too soon, the inevitable technical difficulties - through all of this it seemed that the thing that kept the site from melting down was the fact that one could login to Slashdot and see what other people had to say. Whether it was Microsoft's latest underhanded tactic or a cool hack of a random piece of hardware, Slashdot had it covered... and more importantly, had the opinions of other like-minded people for one to read.

      During all of that you had me. Like a fair number of other geeks, my job was boring and unchallenging. And like most people in tech support and web design, you get a lot of downtime too. One can only surf the web for so long before you've seen everything and been everywhere. Whatever the four-color glossies say, the interactive world out here is tiring, both mentally and physically. The natural solution, to me, was to lay on the refresh button of my browser and start posting to Slashdot. On practically every article that I could come up with an opinion on, I posted to. Some of them were fine works of literary art. Others were little more than OOG_THE_CAVEMAN posts, except without the capitalization.

      In the middle of all this commotion a seemingly unsolvable problem appeared: Slashdot was becoming more popular. Doesn't seem like much of a problem, really, until you realize one of the first laws of the internet: "In any large gathering, the majority of people are idiots". Like Usenet, a subculture rapidly formed whose only objective, it seemed, was to crash the system by overloading it with stupidity. We tried ignoring it. Then we denounced it. Finally, we moderated it.

      I probably narrowly missed being one of the "first 200" moderators. I'm glad I missed being selected because "Version 1.0" fared about as well as one could expect. Not only did it start on fire, but it also set a lot of other people on fire. Mass flaming ensued. A lot of normally well-tempered slashdotters suddenly had picked up their pitchfork and were threatening to lynch Rob. Oh, and the trolls? They were right there, continuing their stupid commentary and replying with silly comments... completely unaware that they had caused the Slashdot crew to silently segfault, and probably a lot of the readership in the process.

      "Version 2.0", implemented maybe two months later, was pressed into service because the popularity of Slashdot (and hence the number of stupid people) had reached a level which was overwhelming even the 200 mode

    37. Re:wow by el_munkie · · Score: 2, Informative

      I thought that that was Signal 9 or something.

    38. Re:wow by SuperQ · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Yea, The first 1k were gone the first day if my old-fart memory serves. I forget what time exactly Taco opened up the registration system. It happened to be when I was sleeping, cause I got 431 when I woke up that morning. (afternoon probably)

    39. Re:wow by SuperQ · · Score: 3, Funny

      Knara! You senile old gimp! ;)

    40. Re:wow by jridley · · Score: 2, Funny

      Haha! How often do you see "Who's got the smallest?" matches?

  2. One has to ask... by Cleon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So when was the first "First Post" post?

    The first "all your base are belong to us?"

    The first "in Soviet Russia" joke?

    The first time someone imagined a Beowulf cluster?

    Ah, ten years of Slashdot cliches. Here's to ten more, you crazy nerds. :)

    --
    Gifts for Geeks - Stuff that really matters!
    1. Re:One has to ask... by Joe+Mucchiello · · Score: 2, Informative

      Noob! How could you ignore Natalie Portman and Petrification? Where was the tagging beta then?

    2. Re:One has to ask... by Billosaur · · Score: 4, Funny

      I for one welcome our cliché-generating overlords...

      --
      GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
    3. Re:One has to ask... by hackstraw · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Ah, ten years of Slashdot cliches. Here's to ten more, you crazy nerds. :)

      Although my UID is not single digits or anything. I was a slahdotter before slashdot. If you know what chip-n-dips is, then you are an older geek like me.

      Bonus points if you know what omphaloskepsis means.

      10 years? Where has the time gone?

    4. Re:One has to ask... by wizardforce · · Score: 4, Funny

      you forgot about insensitive clod, you insensitive clod.

      --
      Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
    5. Re:One has to ask... by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 2, Interesting
      So when was the first "First Post" post?

      I can't be certain, of course, but I believe that I wrote the first "you must be new here" post, and I've been regretting it ever since.

    6. Re:One has to ask... by AmaDaden · · Score: 3, Informative

      If you really want to know start checking from here.
      http://slashdot.org/index.pl?issue=19971231
      I was board one day and figured out just how far back I could get /. to go. I just want to know where the other few months went. Lost in an upgrade I guess.

    7. Re:One has to ask... by CmdrTaco · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Yeah we lost like 3-4 months worth of stories... like 300-400 of them iirc. Back then I never really considered that we'd still be here a decade later and actually CARE about them ;)

      --
      Pants are still optional, but recommended for you.
    8. Re:One has to ask... by Lord+Apathy · · Score: 2, Interesting

      And what is even sadder is I probably have those 3 to 4 months of stories stuffed into some netscape cache, on some drives cramed in my infinite shit pile of left over computer parts.

      --

      Supporting World Peace Through Nuclear Pacification

    9. Re:One has to ask... by jamie · · Score: 3, Informative

      We'd totally love that. If you'd serious about trying, write a /. journal about it and see if there's interest. If there is, email us (email me directly if you want).

      I imagine we could help by e.g. providing a dump of what story sid's and comment cid's pre-2000 we do have...

  3. I for one.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ....congratulate /. on making me an anonymous coward for 10 years.

  4. Happy Birthday! by Corporate+Troll · · Score: 4, Funny

    Damn, have I been wasting my time that long? ;-) Any parties going up in Europe?

  5. Re:party like it's 1997! by CriX · · Score: 2, Funny

    Frist psot!! Grits for everyone! I'd like to see someone more talented than myself integrate every Slashdot meme into a single sentence if possible, to commemorate the depths of our collective dorkiness. :)

    --
    Moderation: +1 pwnage
  6. Er by Joe+Jay+Bee · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Slashdot" and "parties". Two words I never expected to see anywhere near each other.

    1. Re:Er by TimeForGuinness · · Score: 4, Funny

      ...yeah, I will definitely have my Mom clean up the basement and purchase a few more bags of cheetos and bottles of mountain dew for the partay.

  7. Holy sh*t by Drakin020 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Holy sh*t you mean the internet has been active for 10 years?

    Seriously though good job /.

    --
    The greatest revenge in life is massive success.
  8. And to think, I woke up today and didn't feel old by Skyshadow · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Back in 1997 I first logged onto Slashdot from my office at SGI's Chippewa Falls location (better known as 'Cray'). Back then we didn't even need to log in -- you just entered your username when you posted.

    Ten years since I've been an intern. And, in certain respects, I'm still sitting here this morning doing that same sort of stuff. That's... depressing. I need to go open a bicycle shop or something.

    --
    Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
  9. here we go again by circletimessquare · · Score: 4, Funny

    this story is obviously a dupe

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  10. obligatory by osoroco · · Score: 5, Interesting
    1. Re:obligatory by JackMeyhoff · · Score: 2, Informative

      RedHat chooses Gnome!!!! Boooooo

      --
      http://www.rense.com/general79/wdx1.htm
    2. Re:obligatory by mce · · Score: 2, Funny

      Did you notice that the poll question actually childishly asks people to read the editorial before voting? Boy, have we grown up since then...

  11. Minimum requirements for Slashdot party? by eln · · Score: 5, Funny

    What are the minimum requirements for an event to be called a "Slashdot Party" and thus eligible for those fabulous prizes? Because I've been getting loaded by myself and posting drivel on Slashdot for years. If that's not good enough to qualify as a Slashdot Party, I can put on some house music next time.

    In order to stay closer to the "spirit" of Slashdot, I can buy the same beer two events in a row and then shout "dup!" at myself. Then, I can complain bitterly about the quality of the beer, and how I used to buy much better beer 10 years ago before I sold out and got all "corporate". I'll hang a big banner that says "2007: The Year of Linux on the Desktop" and shout "Windows Sucks!" at passersby. Finally, I'll pour hot grits down my pants and pass out on the keyboard mumbling sweet nothings about what I'd do to a petrified Natalie Portman.

    The last thing I should do, if I want to keep the event true to the Slashdot spirit, is to invite others to attend. So, I think my party will be the most "authentic" Slashdot party of them all. Where's my t-shirt?

    1. Re:Minimum requirements for Slashdot party? by ThirdPrize · · Score: 2, Funny

      Is that free as in beer or free as in ... err .. beer?

      --
      I have excellent Karma and I am not afraid to Troll it.
  12. On soviet Slashdot by techpawn · · Score: 3, Funny

    Editors give presents to you? ...wait

    --
    Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what your country did to you
  13. TOP TEN PROBLEMS WITH THIS by alan_dershowitz · · Score: 5, Funny

    10. Leaving parents basement. The light! The light!
    9. People only like me on Slashdot because they cannot smell me on slashdot
    8. People will probably bring laptops, and I run Windows Vista
    7. People will realize I am not a) an astrophysicist nor b) a hot female astrophysicist
    6. While I can get away with visiting Slashdot at work, people will actually notice I am not working if I go to this.
    5. Actual, retributive karma likely if my "foes" met me in person
    4. I don't remember my password
    3. ???
    2. profit!

    and finally
    1. I don't actually want to be associated with any of you in real life (I keed, I keed!)

  14. Re:wait by Anonymous+Monkey · · Score: 4, Funny

    Before slashdot we would all carve posts on the branches of an over grown shrub. Thus the first post would be inscribed on the trunk, and later posts would be written on branches or leaves. The down side was a survey would last for a very long time before it would be replaced(see the red woods of California). Also you had to go to the bush or tree to read posts, and reply. If it was a popular topic, like how waterfalls could make rainbows, or the wheel, you would often need to climb for quite a long time to post anything. And often times on your accent you could climb the wrong direction and end up making your comment on the wrong branch. Then your leaf or stick would be broken off of the shrub or tree and burnt, because you were off topic. The modern lumberjack and tree surgeon are decedents of the first attempt at moderation. This also is where the term 'flame war' came from. People would climb trees and cut off all branches with some ones posts and burn them.

    --
    We are the Borg...
  15. Re:Historical Exhibit? by brunascle · · Score: 3, Informative

    Jan 13th, 1998, the oldest index archive.org has

  16. Chips and Dips by linebackn · · Score: 4, Informative

    Actually, before it was Slashdot, it was "Chips And Dips", a section on Rob Malda's Personal site.

    For a while archive.org had an archive of a Chips and Dips page, but it mysteriously disappeared. The files I retrieved are here: http://toastytech.com/files/chipsndips.html

    I wasn't there myself at the beginning, I discovered Slashdot one of the first times C-Net News.com linked to it - and then I just stupidly hung around without signing up for ages until there was some article I wanted to comment on (probably something anti-IE)

    BTW, anyone got the original Chips & Dips logo graphic? Archive.org never did have that.

  17. party time? think again. by UnCivil+Liberty · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Who wants to go to a party with no girls?

    --
    Distributed proteome folding @ WorldCommunityGrid.org
    Team Slashdot - Members:#1 Run Time:#1 Points:#1 Results:#1
  18. Re:Happy Birthday! by somersault · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's in the memes.. the glorious memes! And the dupes! It's all in the memes! And the dupes! I think it's also in the memes!

    --
    which is totally what she said
  19. Re:Parties... by xtracto · · Score: 2, Insightful

    - Will that involve a Halo3 multiplayer setup?
    - Real Doll giveaways
    - Coke, Beer, Pizza, and cookies?


    Halo? Coke? what world are you living in uh?

    Mountain dew, D&D ... and I suppose that by real dolls you mean real *plastic* dolls dont you ?

    please hand your geek card at exit...

    --
    Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
  20. Re:party like it's 1997! by GospelHead821 · · Score: 3, Funny

    In Soviet Russia, a Beowulf cluster of our grit-covered Natalie Portman overlords, to whom all your base belong, welcomes you.

    --
    Virtue finds and chooses the mean.
    Aristotle, Ethica Nichomachea
  21. Re:will there be bonuses? by jamie · · Score: 3, Funny

    If you manage to organize a party in Soviet Russia, we'll send you two Slashdot Cruisers...

  22. Re:This month? by jamie · · Score: 4, Interesting

    PS- does anybody remember the "suckdot" parody suck.com did? The Penguin with the scimitar was hilarious.

    Porn for Nerds. Stuff that splatters.

  23. Reply to parent by lorenlal · · Score: 5, Funny

    What about the first karma whore?

  24. The Birthday Song! by Chas · · Score: 3, Funny

    Happy Birthday To You!
    Happy Birthday To You!
    Happy Birthday Dear Slashdot! (*HOT GRITS AND GOATSE!*)
    Happy Birthday To You!

    =)

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
  25. Re:Women by winkydink · · Score: 4, Funny

    Think five nines.

    --

    "I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey

  26. Re:party like it's 1997! by David_W · · Score: 3, Funny

    In Soviet Russia, a Beowulf cluster of our grit-covered Natalie Portman overlords, to whom all your base belong, welcomes you.

    Bah... you must be new here. I'm sure you missed at least one.

  27. Re:party like it's 1997! by skuzzlebutt · · Score: 4, Funny

    1. In Soviet Russia, a Beowulf cluster of our grit-covered Natalie Portman overlords, to whom all your base belong, welcomes you.

    2. Cowboyneal blows kdawson while jon katz films

    3. Profit!!!

    --
    My debut novel AMITY now available: http://jeremydbrooks.c
  28. Old Timer by Aaron+M.+Renn · · Score: 4, Funny

    I see that I am registered use 539. I was surfing the site before registration was required. I must be getting old if this site is a decade old

  29. The History of the World, as seen through /. by Dan+Hayes · · Score: 5, Funny


    2.5 million B.C.: OOG the Open Source Caveman develops the axe and releases it under the GPL. The axe quickly gains popularity as a means of crushing moderators' heads.

    100,000 B.C.: Man domesticates the AIBO.

    10,000 B.C.: Civilization begins when early farmers first learn to cultivate hot grits.

    3000 B.C.: Sumerians develop a primitive cuneiform perl script.

    2920 B.C.: A legendary flood sweeps Slashdot, filling up a Borland / Inprise story with hundreds of offtopic posts.

    1750 B.C.: Hammurabi, a Mesopotamian king, codifies the first EULA.

    490 B.C.: Greek city-states unite to defeat the Persians. ESR triumphantly proclaims that the Greeks "get it".

    399 B.C.: Socrates is convicted of impiety. Despite the efforts of freesocrates.com, he is forced to kill himself by drinking hemlock.

    336 B.C.: Fat-Time Charlie becomes King of Macedonia and conquers Persia.

    4 B.C.: Following the Star (as in hot young actress) of Bethelem, wise men travel from far away to troll for baby Jesus.

    A.D. 476: The Roman Empire BSODs.

    A.D. 610: The Glorious MEEPT!! founds Islam after receiving a revelation from God. Following his disappearance from Slashdot in 632, a succession dispute results in the emergence of two troll factions: the Pythonni and the Perliites.

    A.D. 800: Charlemagne conquers nearly all of Germany, only to be acquired by andover.net.

    A.D. 874: Linus the Red discovers Iceland.
    A.D. 1000: The epic of the Beowulf Cluster is written down. It is the first English epic poem.

    A.D. 1095: Pope Bruce II calls for a crusade against the Turks when it is revealed they are violating the GPL. Later investigation reveals that Pope Bruce II had not yet contacted the Turks before calling for the crusade.

    A.D. 1215: Bowing to pressure to open-source the British government, King John signs the Magna Carta, limiting the British monarchy's power. ESR triumphantly proclaims that the British monarchy "gets it".

    A.D. 1348: The ILOVEYOU virus kills over half the population of Europe. (The other half was not using Outlook.)

    A.D. 1420: Johann Gutenberg invents the printing press. He is immediately sued by monks claiming that the technology will promote the copying of hand-transcribed books, thus violating the church's intellectual property.

    A.D. 1429: Natalie Portman of Arc gathers an army of Slashdot trolls to do battle with the moderators. She is eventually tried as a heretic and stoned (as in petrified).

    A.D. 1478: The Catholic Church partners with doubleclick.net to launch the Spanish Inquisition.

    A.D. 1492: Christopher Columbus arrives in what he believes to be "India", but which RMS informs him is actually "GNU/India".

    A.D. 1508-12: Michaelengelo attempts to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling with ASCII art, only to have his plan thwarted by the "Lameness Filter."

    A.D. 1517: Martin Luther nails his 95 Theses to the church door and is promptly moderated down to (-1, Flamebait).

    A.D. 1553: "Bloody" Mary ascends the throne of England and begins an infamous crusade against Protestants. ESR eats his words. A.D. 1588: The "IF I EVER MEET YOU, I WILL KICK YOUR ASS" guy meets the Spanish Armada.

    A.D. 1603: Tokugawa Ieyasu unites the feuding pancake-eating ninjas of Japan.

    A.D. 1611: Mattel adds Galileo Galilei to its CyberPatrol block list for proposing that the Earth revolves around the sun.

    A.D. 1688: In the so-called "Glorious Revolution", King James II is bloodlessly forced out of power and flees to France. ESR again triumphantly proclaims that the British monarchy "gets it".

    A.D. 1692: Anti-GIF hysteria in the New World comes to a head in the infamous "Salem GIF Trials", in which 20 alleged GIFs are burned at the stake. Later investigation reveals that mayn of the supposed GIFs were actually PNGs.

    A.D. 1769: James Watt patents the one-click steam engine.

    A.D. 1776: Trolls, angered by CmdrTaco's passage of the Moderation Act, rebel. After a several-year

  30. More professional editing? by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Slashdot Turns 10 But You Get The Presents"

    The only present most of us want from Slashdot is more care in posting stories.

  31. Suggestion: Reposting stories from 10 years ago by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I think the editors should post stories from 10 years ago, just to remember the times.

    Opinions, anyone?

    1. Re:Suggestion: Reposting stories from 10 years ago by 808140 · · Score: 2, Informative

      There were no "modded up" comments, as there was no mod system back then.

    2. Re:Suggestion: Reposting stories from 10 years ago by skis · · Score: 5, Funny

      You mean they don't do that already?

  32. Re:Historical Exhibit? by martyb · · Score: 2, Informative

    Jan 11, 1998 (Article #421) from trying links on that page to older articles.

  33. NATALIE PORTMAN IS NAKED by inKubus · · Score: 2, Informative

    In the little prequel thingy to Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited

    --
    Cool! Amazing Toys.
  34. Re:Historical Exhibit? by Nazlfrag · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I like the bit at the bottom before the comments,

    If you don't have anything worthwhile to say, don't say it. If people continue to abuse this feature, I will have to remove it.

    Quite an ingenious solution he came up with. Glad he didn't just remove it instead.

  35. Re:Happy Birthday! by sYkSh0n3 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    /. as a homepage? your a brave man. I tried it once. But every time i hopped online "real quick" to check the price of rice in china or whatever, i ended up spending 2 hours on /. and never looking up whatever the hell i got on for. So google is my homepage, and i have no shortcuts to slashdot anywhere.

    but, alas, here i am...

  36. So close... by Cadre · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I feel your pain. Just 1051 users between me and the hollowed ground of 4-digitdom.

    It'd be cool if /. added a table that listed blocks of ids, their user name and last time they'd logged in or posted. I can't imagine that too many of the 1051 users between me and 9999 are actually still active.

    --
    All editorial writers ever do is come down from the hill after the battle is over and shoot the wounded.
    1. Re:So close... by Pathwalker · · Score: 4, Funny

      It could always be worse...

  37. re: 3000 B.C. Sumerians... by saudadelinux · · Score: 3, Funny

    3000 B.C.: Sumerians develop a primitive cuneiform perl script. Interesting. It might have been more readable back then. *me ducks tomatoes*
    --
    I didn't think the house band in Hell would play this badly.
  38. Re:And to think, I woke up today and didn't feel o by mce · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Hey, after 10 years I finally get the meet the man standing just in front me in the line of uids... Pleased to meet you... :-) I was slowly getting convinced that by now I was about the only one still standing in that range. Sort of a lonely "last of the real slashdotians" feeling. :-)

  39. Yeah. But who has the highest karma? by Colin+Smith · · Score: 2, Funny

    Who won? Who won?

    We know they've really been keeping score.

    --
    Deleted
  40. Guide to Slashdot Interviews by dmccarty · · Score: 2, Funny
    Disclaimer: I don't post much anymore, but I thought I'd drag out this old gem for one last laugh. Back in the day when /. ran interviews more frequently it seemed to sum up everything neatly. I got an email from Taco saying it should go in the /. hall of fame, but we never did get around to setting that up... (Mods, do your thing please. *fingers crossed*)

    Dear /. Reader,

    Last week we selected [famous name] as an authority in [field] to answer some of your best and brightest questions. We've included [his/her] responses below:

    [the I-think-you-are-cool-and-would-like-to-be-like-you question]
    1. How did you choose [field] and how can I get more involved in [field].

    [famous name] Well, I really started by [...at this point, [famous name] begins to launch into a short autobiography. The reply to this first question will take up about as much space as the other 9 combined.]

    [the multi-part question]
    2. I think you are really cool. What are you feelings on [topic]?

    • and how it relates to telescopes
    • and how it relates to earth
      • with regard to North America
      • with regard to Asia
      • specifically, India and Pakistan

    and how it relates to groundhogs

    [famous name] Phew! That sure is a lot to answer. Well I guess you could sum it up neatly by saying that, yes, I do like it all.

    [the I-also-like-[other-topic]-do-you-think-it's-relate d-to-your-[field] question]
    3. I really like your work and am also interested in the whole Napster-Metallica-MP3 debate. How do you think it relates to your scientific [field]?

    [famous name] Well, I, well, uh... [at this point, [famous name] is thinking, "Where in the world did that question come from? Oh well, I'll try to be polite and answer it] I really think that, uh, music should be, uh, heard--yeah, heard!--and I think that, uh, well, Napster provides a service of hearing.

    [the really-in-depth question]
    4. Dear [famous name],
    I have tracked your research into biogenetical ESP CIO medicare research with great interested and wondered if you could clarify a minor point for me: in your estimation, are the EIO levels in a controlled AF/BF reaction substantially higher than the CF/DF state because of genetic-electro-magnetic lunar levels or is it mostly from O2 radiation WRT our helial position?

    [famous name] [Recognizes a quality question from a member of [field] and tries to formulate a scientific answer] Well, I believe my research has conclusively show that CD/DF states can be generated from the O2 +7/~3KE100 states of the T1000 with ISA/PCI/FBI catalysts [...launches into such arcane detail that no one outside of his research area has any clue what he's talking about.]

    [the Score:5, Funny question]
    5. What do you think of Natalie Portman eating hot grits in a Boewulf cluster?

    [famous name] Uh, well, I'm not really sure what you mean. Wasn't Natilie Portman that actress in Star Wars or something? [[famous name] is now wondering what he's got himself into, and who exactly are these Slashdot people...]

    [the your-work-sucks-I-scoff-at-you question]
    6. Hey [famous name's first name], I seen you on CNBC and I gotta tell ya, I don't think it's gonna work. I mean, whose to say that you even gradated from MIT in the 1st place? Are we supose to believe that stuff? If ur so smart, how come you haven't figured it out yet?????!!!!!

    [famous name] Well I believe we can make this work. I realize we've spent $80 million in research already, but if you look at the data I think you'll see that our work has some definite promise here. The possibilities for science are almost endless!
    .
    .
    .
    [more questions. [famous name]'s answers are g

    --
    Have fun: Join D.N.A. (National Dyslexics Association)
  41. From the original site by sr180 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The site in its very early days had the following threat for the comment posting system:

    If you don't have anything worthwhile to say, don't say it. If people continue to abuse this feature, I will have to remove it.

    What I want to know, is does that threat still apply?

    --
    In Soviet Russia the insensitive clod is YOU!
  42. Re:So, who is User 0? by Psykechan · · Score: 2, Funny

    Does posting in a thread visited by the great CmdrTaco get you more karma? ...

    Hi Mom!

  43. Re:party like it's 1997! by Juba · · Score: 3, Funny

    Bah... you must be new here. I'm sure you missed at least one.

    Of course he missed one, you insensitive clod !