Slashdot Mirror
Ask Rob Malda
We last interviewed CmdrTaco, along with Hemos, in January 2000. Slashdot's 10th anniversary seems like a good time to put Rob back on the hot seat. He's older now and married, his former hobby site now has well over one million registered user IDs, and Linux has gone from "upstart" operating system to a normal part of the IT landscape. So ask away, one question per post. Expect to see answers to at least 10 of the highest-moderated questions next week. And if you miss your chance to participate in this interview, don't worry. We'll probably do another one with CmdrTaco sometime between 2014 and 2017.
CT: Also the clock is ticking if you want to sign up for a Slashdot 10-Year Anniversary party if you want a T-Shirt or a shot at the $1k ThinkGeek gift certificate.
I assume that through the ether you have met Kevin Rose, but do you two get along or is it pistols at dawn?
liqbase
Rob,
Q: How many of those one million registered user IDs are active?
Explanation: I have seen a fair number of folks that have defected to other platforms/communities to find resources or tools that Slashdot does not provide. I've continued to hang around as I appreciate what Slashdot has to offer, but are there any plans to change anything?
Oh, and congratulations on 10 years.
Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
Why Taco?
Ok, that was a little antagonistic, but in all seriousness, why do you allow the kind of unprofessional editing that Kdawson engages in?
I only go to buffets for the unlimited soft serve.
Have you thought about what you want to do when you decide to retire from the /. admin dept or will you continue to here until your fingers fall off?
Mr. Universe: "They can't stop the signal, Mal. They can never stop the signal."
Why did you turn off the new comment system? Come on! If there was one thing I wanted to ask you it was, "What the hell are you thinking?"
Did you not think we would complain about that abomination?
When will the over/underrated mods be mettamodded?
Thanks
Do the editors bet on which option will win in /. polls and are half of the votes for the CowboyNeal option actually by CowboyNeal repeatedly clicking his mouse. Inquiring minds want to know.
Joe Llywelyn Griffith Blakesley
[This post is in the public domain (copyright-free) unless otherwise stated]
If you were to redo Slashdot all over again, what would you change? I'm not just talking Slash, I'm talking the entire thing.
Colin Dean Go a year without DRM
Why has the number of technical articles dropped so much over the years? IOW - why are you trying to turn /. into Digg?
Wil Wheaton has written about meeting a famous author, I think it was Larry Niven, and being completely blown away that Niven was at least as jazzed about meeting Wil as vice versa.
I'm sure you've met lots of folks that us normal mortals only see on TV. Anyone in particular that you were really excited to meet who hyperventilated when they realized who you were?
Craig Steffen
http://www.craigsteffen.net
In the recent Wired interview, it was said that the interview was conducted over the phone, so my question is...
Does saying "OMG!" out loud make you as much of a dork as I think it does?
Considering the FAQ hasn't been updated in almost a year, could you explain exactly what tags do these days? At one time, it seemed to be a vote-based system, now I have no idea how tags show up on articles. Frankly, since I didn't understand it and my tags didn't seem to affect anything, I gave up on using the feature.
Could we get a definitive answer to how tags work?
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
Something I've been sort of curious about for ages:
Can you talk a little about how you experienced some of the dotcom insanity, specifically as it unfolded here at Slashdot? For a while, it seemed like Slashdot was about to become wunderkind central -- the sale to VA, the infamous ESR post about uber-wealth, etc. I'd be interested to hear about how that experience translated from your side of the ball.
Thanks. And nice site you got here.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
If you had to do it over again, what would you do differently?
Without getting into a flamewar over what is a highly controversial subject, slashdot runs on mysql, and you've been quoted as saying you would do it with postgres if you could do it all again. I'm just wondering, is that true, do you still feel that way and why?
Do you have any stores of annoyed sysadmins writing/phoning you and complaining that a link on Slashdot crushed their machines?
Alternatively, anyone whose exposure on slashdot boosted their popularity/traffic enough that they could retire/change jobs/make a major job change?
Craig Steffen
http://www.craigsteffen.net
Why do you look like such a psycho?
Seriously, Rob looks like he escaped from the nearest infirmary.
Time for a better hair cut, Rob.
(posted anonymously for obvious reasons)
Sincerely,
Kevin Rose
Related follow-up/Put another way: If you could go back and do one thing differently what would you do?
"It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance." - Thomas Sowell
What "Top-5" websites are in your daily/hourly must-read rotation? (Not counting RSS)
"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." ~Plato (427-347 BC)
Ever since GiS went away you've become a sort of man-behind-the curtain type persona, and we don't see much in the way of journal updates or news posts about Slashdot or you yoyrself much. One of the last things most of us knew about the "Real Rob Malda" was the article in Wired years ago regarding the Andover-cum-VALinux-cum-OSDN-cum-Death-keiretsu IPO.
Just what the hell do you do all day now, anyway?
Hilary Rosen's speech was about her love of money and her desire to roll around naked in a pile of money.
What do you actually do? If someone were to follow you to work every day for a month, what would they see you spend your time doing?
What kind of revenue does Slashdot make?
Other than Slashdot, what are the websites you most enjoy spending time on, and why?
When did I realise I was God? Well, I was praying and I suddenly realised I was talking to myself.
Your recent journal entry talks about Slashdot becoming very popular very quickly. But at some point later, you realize that transferring slashdot over to a commercial enterprise would make you actual money that you could live off of. We'd love to hear the story of that meeting/phone call/e-mail/whatever.
Craig Steffen
http://www.craigsteffen.net
What'd you vote to the current poll? What's YOUR favorite Slashdot "meme"?
I bet it's Soviet Russia. (In Soviet Russia, CmdrTaco bets on you!)
When were you most tempted to give up?
Dealing with a bunch of creative, resourceful, tenacious, stubborn, and sometimes outright hostile nerds, I'm sure there were MANY times when you were tempted to just give up on the whole thing. e.g. page-widening trolls; Church of Scientology; Microsoft source code, or even the release of slash code to the community and the barrage of insults.
I'm really glad you held on and persevered, but I'd like to know when you were most tempted to throw in the towel, and even more importantly, I'd like to hear the story around how you held on and kept things going.
And how will /. fend them off?
/. user, I really like the conversations here much better and find them to be of greater value than at digg. But Digg is more dynamic from a user standpoint, has more stories to choose from (though many are hyped, frivolous), and the conversations are getting slightly better with the tweaks they are applying to the site. I guess I'm really asking if /. is going to become more user oriented in the future or will find another path... or just stay the current course?
As a longtime
With the anneversary of Slashdot just celebrated and an entire decade having passed since you created the site, do you ever wonder what Slashdot will be like in another decade; specifically whether after twenty years you'll possess an active role?
I was thinking what with a family on the horizon plus a lot of other side projects you may bow out after a time; but then again it was kind of inevitable as there's a lot to life besides Slashdot. But nonetheless your insight over tenure is appreciated.
Anyway, thanks for this site Rob; the amount of laughs and great reads it has given in the four years I've browsed here is beyond measure and a lot of people here would agree that despite flaws this place is unique.
Do you regret your mass banning of moderators and other acts of temper against users?
This is another controversial subject, and the parent will probably be modded down, but it is a good question (when phrased properly): How do you feel about the political/whatever climate on slashdot and do you feel that all viewpoints are respected?
I always wondered why this site wants to act like it
does not get kickbacks for posting certain stories?
i guess you would no longer be considered cool and hip?
i am also guessing that and money is the most important things
driving this site now days.
good luck on your decline.
i come here to read what others say, not the stories/advertisments.
Can you give us any insight into the hardware/platform that slashdot runs on? How many servers does it use? What did you code it in? (a half drunk, coked-up deaf guy screaming HTML into a tin can on a string?) How much bandwidth does it use?
I know this is more than one question, but my MAIN question is just: "What does it take to run slashdot, hardware/software/bandwidth wise?"
NewslilySocial News. No lolcats allowed.
These are probably pretty cliche questions, but I am interested in the answers.
What is a normal day at slashdot like? How much time do you spend improving slashcode vs picking stories vs the normal computer admin tasks vs other stuff. How are the workload/responsibilities split up among the different staff members? How has this changes over the years?
I also remember back in the old days, the work you did with Enlightenment, as well as the animated short you made (Duckpins?). I was wondering if you get the chance to do much programing outside of slashcode, or what other hobbies you spend your free time doing now (besides being married).
What's your favorite drugs? Psilocybin, ecstasy, amphetamine, good old alcohol? If I had to guess, I'd say you were a big amphetamine user.
(-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
Mm, or more to the point.
What sites are you most proud of slashdotting?
Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities.
Aristotele
If you were in Soviet Russia, would a Beowulf cluster of Natalie Portmans and other insensitive clods as our 1337 new goatse overlords (confirmed by Netcraft as dying) have you naked and petrified with hot grits poured down Cowboy Neal's pants (profit!!!) ?
--- The American Way of Life is not a birthright. Hell, it's not even sustainable.
What did you do with your first million?
Do you like Steak N' Shake? Do you like Cheetos? Do you like Busch? Do you like MC Hammer? Do you like Packard Bell? Do you like Calamari? Do you like Old Navy? Do you like WWF? Do you like Gray's Anatomy? Do you like Hotels? Do you like Pearl Jam? Do you like Google? Do you like Ann Arbor? Do you like Holland? Do you like your wife? Do you like Cowboyneal? Do you like Urinals? Do you like Coffee? Do you like -1's?
Do you find it ironic when cmdrtaco.net gets /.'ed?
Or
What are your thoughts on the so-called 'slashdot effect?'
There are no loopholes. It's either legal or it's not.
A previous commentor (further up the page) asked how many IDs were active. I know that an old one of mine isn't, because I changed email addresses and then lost the password. Is there any way to retrieve an older ID that one has lost both the password and the email that the ID is registered to send lost passwords to?
-mcgrew (AKA sm62704)
What do you think the exact turning point was for Slashdot that got the ball rolling. Maybe it happened when it was Chips and Dips, but how did word get out to the professional engineers that told their friends and so on? Did you announce your creation on usenets, was there one loudmouth who advertised for you, do you have any idea how it came to be that this was a mecca for nerds online when it could have just as easily been ignored?
"I only speak the truth"
Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
Have you ever regretted starting Slashdot, or invested so much of your time in to this site? Did any actions by your peers, by the community or by your colleagues, as a result of a story posted on Slashdot or related to one, made you ever regret your decision to start Slashdot.
Anyway, been here a guest since 1999, and a member for the last seven. Enjoyed being part of this community, every single day (or when its non-xenophobic).
Rapid Nirvana
... I mean, forget Cmdr Taco, I want to ask questions to this CowboyNeal guy instead :D
Hello! I'm a disaster waiting to happen!
That's my question. Please include pics.
Liberal/leftist? What are you smoking? The most prominent feature about slashdot politics is the disroportionately large number of libertarians, not liberals.
Would you publish a follow-up story on Junis?
I found Jon Katz's Message from Kabul truly mesmerizing.
Junis surely must have some interesting thoughts on the state of Afghanistan and his feelings towards the USA today. I'm also interested to know if he ever upgraded from that Commodore he was using to download movies - the one he hid from the Taliban in his chicken coop.
-Isaac
I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. For Entertainment Purposes Only.
If Google comes to you with a huge pile of cash and says "we want to add Slashdot to out stable of products," perhaps as some kind of competitor to Digg, would you a) be tempted but decline because this is, after all, your baby, b) talk to them a while, negotiate, but ultimately call it off, or c) buy that island you've always wanted and start your own country?
GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
Slashdot is successful by any measure. You've certainly pioneered many things we now take for granted. Many "slashdot killers" have been attempted and failed or found a different niche. What are the biggest threats to /. success today and going forward?
-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
Are you an alien, possibly Vulcan (choosing a name like 'Commander Taco' thinking, like Ford Perfect, it is normal), and how does your wife feel about the less-than frequent marital activities?
Where can I find the road out of dupetown and how do I get on it??
-Please browae at -1 to see all my future comments. Thnx.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
Do you still read Slashdot yourself regularly?
If so, what are your favorite and least favorite things about the community?
With a bang ("Goodbye- thanks for posting!") or a whimper ("0 replies", "0 replies", "0 replies",...) ???
How much do you love tacos?
Or is the threat of the goatse.cx simply too severe?
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Is if you secretly stuff the CmdrTaco ballot box option on the poll system from a Windows ME laptop. Silently grinning to yourself, "They'll never know it was me on THIS machine."
This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
Assuming that you might fire some unnamed editor, what are the job specs for his replacement? Pay? Bennies? Hours? Qualifications?
Did you write some kind of algorithm in the registration page to prevent your party from being a sausage fest?
My profile says that I've made 3650 comments to Slashdot over the years. That can't be right, since it would indicate that I've wasted far too much time. What a waste of effort...
What are the plans with the misses about having babytaco? Any names in mind? Can we pick the name by means of a poll?
What is your favourite OS? What would then be your Distro of choice? Wat do you actually run at home? Vi or Emacs?
We are the people our parents warned us about.
When will Slashdot stop posting unsubstantiated, or (sometimes) completely merit-free stories with a question mark at the end, as if that was some kind of excuse?
Chris
who of course reads such things anyway
There's a lot of us want an answer to that question.
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
Hey Rob, If you had $1,000 to blow on Thinkgeek stuff, what would you buy?
"hokey religions and taking a nap are no match for a stab in the head" -- Black Mage
Hi Rob,
What would you have done with your life had slashdot never taken off the way it did?
Nite_Hawk
When will Slashdot stop pretending it's a user moderated site?
With all the moderation abuse and infinite point exploits, a little moderation transparency would go a long way. What good is the friend/foe tag, if abusers can simply hide who they are, not to mention escape meta-moderation with the overated-tag exploit, even when a comment has not yet been rated?
Why are pants still optional, and how do you know me enough to recommend them?
(And for anyone that can't figure out the question, enable sigs and check one of CmdrTaco's posts.)
And whatever happened to Taco Hell? It's no longer purple.
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
My question is simple: Do you like the discussions that appear on Slashdot stories? Do you read them?
My question originates from the fact that, apparently, you've only commented 368 times. Considering that you've been here "since the beginning," that's not a lot of comments. Avid Slashdotters make about that many comments per year.
So why don't you participate more in the discussions? Do you not like Slashdot discussions? Or is it just because you prefer reading? Is it because you're too busy? (Aren't we all?) Is it because you worry that any comment you make will be unduly scrutinized, because of your peculiar status within this community? (Do you sometimes post under a different name?)
His moderation was moderated down, as redundant no less, but can we moderate down the abuser? Nope, the editor hides behind his infinite moderation points
Power corrupts, and infinite power corrupts infinately.
Do you run a Linux box as your primary desktop?
If so, which distro? If not, what do you run?
What was the biggest technical challenge that ever threatened the existence of /.? In other words, have you ever hit a problem/bug that left you sitting there thinking "Holy crap! WTF do I do know?"
Life is like a web application. Sometime you need cookies just to get by.
With all the noise Slashdot gets in the comments section, has disabling of anonymous posting ever been considered?
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
be promoted above commander?
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Many readers seem to have a lot of animosity over certain editors, both in history and present day.
Years ago, it was JohnKatz and what we considered his pointless inflamatory articles that were rewritten 5 times yet all 5 said the same thing.
Nowadays, it's people like Zonk and his complete lack of editing, posting the most slanted version of an article or a version which gets the summary completely wrong.
My question is how to do deal with these complaints? Do you deal with these complaints in any way with more than the filters in preferences that allows you to block articles by a certain editor?
"All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"
What is the purpose for the "Overrated" and "Underrated" mods? They are exempt from metamoderation, and as such are an open invitation for abuse by moderators looking to bury opinions with which they disagree.
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
First, thanks for a great site. I read something about "20 hour days" keeping the site afloat, and I believe it was required. For those of us who enjoy it daily (along with Dwight Silverman's column) it can be a real lifeline, especially when work is ultra-boring.
Just a few questions:
1. You oversaw the "internet revolution." Beyond Al Gore inventing it, beyond the dot-com hype, beyond the spam and the sockpuppets, what do you think is the future of networked communication? Is it the cloud OS and social networking, or are we rounding another bend?
2. You've mentioned liking Postgres DBs. What other underrated hardware and software do you enjoy and employ on a regular basis?
3. What emergent technologies do you watch?
4. In the Wired interview, you mention a balance between wise crowd tendencies and dumb crowd tendencies:
"When you're building a system like this you're balancing the wisdom of the crowds versus the tyranny of the mob. Sometimes a crowd is really smart, but some things don't work so well by committee. Crowds work when you have a tightly knit group of people with similar interests, but when you have a loosely knit community you get 'Man Gets Hit in Crotch With Football.'"
What have you learned is the balance of this duality? For all of its attempts to be crowd-wisdom propelled, Slashdot does lean on the theory of exceptional individuals, because it has picked editors to filter what makes it to the front page, which cuts down on the "site-rhymes-with-bigg" tendency to put rosy garbage on the front page. Are you satisfied with the balance of your responses to whatever psychological fulcrum keeps a crowd wise and not mobbish?
5. What if any fiction authors do you enjoy?
6. I'm a technical writer, and am curious what you think about the current state of software and hardware documentation. Is it getting better? What are its common failings? Does anyone read it? Will single-sourcing (documentation that appears in print, online help, web sites, flash cards and text messages but uses the same text) change documentation's effectiveness radically?
7. In the CNET article, you talk about Slashdot as a community.
"But to some of our readers, it's a community that's here to discuss issues that are relevant to this community. There is a lot of value. The bulk of our content comes from other people. There are 6,000 or 7,000 comments on a busy day that other people write and just a dozen stories of just a paragraph or two that we actually generate, that are ours."
As you started out in BBSs, you probably had a prexisting idea of this being important to a resource on technology. Why do you think this is?
8. In the same interview, you talk about the ability of low-tech websites to take on big roles:
"I think that it really comes down to the content. If you have content people want, they will tolerate a system that is inferior. Now our system is solid, but back in the day, it wasn't. Look at eBay: That system is the most hodgepodge and clumsy user interface that you will ever find. People use it because it was first and it worked."
In the world of advertising, people call this branding. What do you think Slashdot's brand represents, and is it something IT workers will always have in common?
9. In the Network Administrator interview, you compare Slashdot to bulletin board systems favorably.
"Strangely not that far. It's all just a matter of scale. At some level it's all identical."
You mean in twenty years, not much has changed except the technology? I'd like to hear more on this if you find it compelling.
10.
technical writing / development
I will have a sig when the market demands it.
Since Calvin College is far superior to Hope College in every respect (academics, sports, etc.), do you think that Slashdot would have taken off faster if run from the second floor of North Hall?
If you don't want crime to pay, let the government run it.
Slashdot has good debates on various politcal topics ranging from law to internet policy nearly every day. Bright people can make a difference if logic and pressure are applied in the right areas. There are obstacles to every "revolution", but it has to start somewhere and many countries have bad policies in the works. Debating online only goes so far, perhaps there is a way to evolve through the plight of the community. Have you ever considered leveraging the community to make a REAL difference?
Are moderators who were involved in The Post still perma-banned from moderation? If so, why?
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
I check out your site on a daily basis during my lunchtime. While I must say that I have a degree in finance, I have more than a passing interest in science and technology. You site is filled with lots of interesting articles, with some of the latest scientific research, that keeps me up to date. So, for that, I must express my thanks.
I do apologize; The question I have is multi-part however, I think you will easily see that all parts are heavily interrelated.
The question that I extend to you is:
As an average-Joe who developed a website (like millions of other people have), who the fuck are you and what makes people (like the parent) think you are some sort of god, with infinite wisdom, that people would be caused to hyperventilate upon meeting you? I mean, it's not like I've heard of you anywhere else, other than on this site. Should I care who you are? Should anyone? Don't you wish you could wipe dorks, like the parent, off the face of the Earth.
Please note, this is not a troll. I seriously would like an answer.
Thanks,
F. Miglietta
Imagine computers and/or internet don't exist. Or, better, get back 100 years, and choose your occupation. Where'd you go? Still something technical? Or something completely different? Or are you one of those "if computers don't exist, I must invent them" guys?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
When did you stop caring if the articles had any relation to the truth? When did you decide that it was more important to have a funny "from the XXX department" line than bothering to spellcheck? When did you give up reading Slashdot?
OK, this isn't exactly on the level of JFK assassination or moon landing hoax conspiracies, but nonetheless a lot of us want to know: what really happened to Michael Sims? He was the editor we loved to hate and one day he was just gone.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
If you did not propose to Katherine via Slashdot, How would you have done it?
Also, which super model is the best in bed? (Obviously, that happened before you were married. wink wink nod nod)
I prefer Flambe as apposed flamebait.
It would help if you could, you know, point out some of his bad editing?
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Slightly more seriously, what's the point of an "Ask Rob Malda" article? He answers all the questions (or at least mine) he gets via e-mail anyway.
There are a significant number of libertarians... I'd say there's a larger percentage of libertarians here than in a typical meatspace community. Similarly, there is a significantly higher percentage of communists/socialists (which, as an economic system, can mesh with social libertarianism). Social conservatism is, likewise, pretty under-represented here. Those are just the facts, I'm not trying to extrapolate a reason for any of them.
That said, the editors seem to be decidedly leftist in their story selection as well as their commentary in the story's blurb (that line or two at the end that the editors add, not the quotation submitted with the story). That sets the tone for discussion and the moderation seems to follow it. Conservative comments have a 20% chance of an up-mod if they're really insightful (compared to the ever-present Ben Franklin quote which always makes +5 insightful), a 50% chance of a down-mod (most often flamebait or troll (ie, -1, I disagree)) and a 30% chance of being ignored. There is actually a group of people on Slashdot who are (were? the central user's journal hasn't been updated in a year) conspiring to up-mod insightful conservative posts in an effort to counter the group-think that tends to come from that "-1, I disagree" moderation. We've also seen dozens of examples of moderation abuses by editors (the worst offender probably being Michael) if people get too far out of line with how they want the comments to unfold. As such, I have an account I use specifically for inflammatory (to the editor's view) posts and make frequent use of the "post anonymously" button anyway. I've probably posted twice as many anonymous posts as I have posts tagged to my main account rather than risk the backlash of bitchslap.pl, moderators going through my non-archived posting history to down-mod everything in retribution because their emo-balance was upset by one of my posts, etc.
Believe it or not (said to Slashdot as a whole, not you personally), society needs those people who are more staid and traditional to keep us all grounded just as much as they need those who constantly push us to evolve. If evolution (of the societal kind) were totally unchecked, we would constantly be experiencing the exuberance and crashes of the dotcom era, only it would be much more widespread. Can you imagine how fast we'd collapse if every time someone had a new idea, everyone jumped on the bandwagon and nobody warned to see if the bridge was out ahead?
What was your favorite /. meme? (i.e. how did you vote in the last poll?)
What was your most hated /. meme? why?
Hey! Rob Malda!
My name is Dennace Whitely. You may have heard of me before; they like to call me Golden Dennace. I'm a popular rock singer and successful businessman.
My question is, do you use LINUX?
Just curious.
Ya know... if anyone's wondering.
How much money do subscribers pay?
Why do you still allow him to submit articles? Every time he posts one the SlashCrowd does nothing but jump in the thread and bash the guy for using /. for personal gain. People have even made scripts to block the guy from their /. experience. He even has his own tag: OhNoItsRoland.
The people have spoken, and yet he's still here.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
What's been the biggest joy of the whole Slashdot experience, and what's been the biggest suckage?
You've probably followed more news stories and trends over the past decade than just about anyone else.
Based on that, what are your predictions for the next 10 years?
Some technology is obviously going to die a quick and painful death. Some of that technology will be good and some deservedly bad. What's going to catch on? What has staying power? Google has been a golden child the last few years, will that continue? Are there any big turnarounds coming? Who's got good stuff in the pipeline? Don't you dare tell me 2008 is the year of Linux (and I know you won't) - we've both been hearing that marketing crap for the past 10 years.
----- obSig
What part of "one question per post" did you not understand? :P
There are certainly some interesting questions there, but there's no way the editors will choose all of them.
Was slashdot ever intended to be a source of income? What caused it to become such?
Have you given any thought to what slashdot might look like far, far down the road? I recently had to make continuation plans for a community machine I maintain, and it occurred to me that it's possible that the machine will be running similar software decades from now. The only thing that would force me to replace the box would be the Unix time_t rollover in 2038, so I made plans to move to a 64-bit kernel now, which put my planning horizon far past 2038.
One of the things that box does is pull slashdot's RSS feed. What do you think slashdot will look like in 2038? Do you think that slashdot will still be running a LAMP stack then? And finally, what disaster continuation plans are in place for slashdot?
-- thalakan
What websites do you go to most often that aren't slashdot?
I personally am a fan of ArsTechnica. What it lacks in sheer number of stories compared to Digg or in the discussion element of Slashdot, it makes up for with (imo) very well written, informative articles.
Silly Rabbit, somethings should only be posted anonymously!
xxx
Where did you get your handle from (or what does it mean if anything)?
You've been doing Slashdot for a while, so congratulations for that. But have you had any ideas you've wanted to experiment with or work on if it weren't for Slashdot? Perhaps another type of website or maybe just some fun type of application, or something not computer or tech related at all.
Thanks.
Yeah, it was Larry Niven.
I wrote about it in my blog, thusly:
Around 1987 or 1988, I saw Larry Niven at a convention. I was officially there to be the Star Trek guy, but I didn't have to go on stage for a few hours, and rather than sit in some suite with the rest of the Star Trek people who didn't want to get too close to the masses, I grabbed my backpack and wandered around the convention as nerdy fanboy number 42.
I bought a ton of crap in the dealer's room (mostly FASA sourcebooks, and some bootleg anime videos IIRC) and on my way down a hallway toward the gaming room, I saw this guy who was dressed in a Space Shuttle flight suit (blue) sitting behind a table that had some books on it.
Holy shit, it was Larry Niven.
I walked up to him and the conversation went something like this:
Me: OMG YOU'RE LARRY NIVEN!
Him: OMG YOU'RE WESLEY ON STAR TREK!
Both: CAN I HAVE YOUR AUTOGRAPH!
Both: YOU WANT MY AUTOGRAPH?!
Both: YES!
Me: I don't have a pen.
Him: It's okay, I have several.
He pulled a pen out of the shoulder pen-holding pocket thing on his blue Space Shuttle flight suit. I was so out-nerded, it wasn't even funny. I tried to counter-attack by producing my own copy of Ringworld that I had in my backpack, because I carried it with me everywhere in those days, just in case, you know, I felt like reading it. (I am not exaggerating at all. I loved -- and continue to love -- that book that much. For reals.)
\o/ Meta humour.
What roles do the editors take in the moderation process? What parts of the moderation process have generated the most controversy?
You are reading a copy of my copyrighted post.
...hmmm, not mine ! The only story I ever submitted was about the very first winterover at Dome C, on the high Antarctic Plateau. Since I was rith there in the middle of Antarctica at the time, I didn't want to have to deal with a crashed server 10000 miles away through a shitty satlink, so I submitted the story with coral links. It made front page news on slashdot... and the log hardly even registered a blimp ! To this day I have no idea how many people read it, and I wizened up and put advertisement on the page only 6 months later !!!
Non-Linux Penguins ?
I was impressed after reading your insightful post, and wanted to mark you as a friend. How disappointing that the Slashdot systems are broken due to you having to post anonyomously. The groupthink and power abuses of the very few editors really needs to be balanced, because it's breaking everything.
I think this is the first time I've ever seen such an obvious sock puppet from an editor before.
It's pretty sad that you're posting AC KDawson, but what's worse is that you actually think we won't know it's you.
This is the first "Ask a person" article that I have seen on Slashdot in some time. It was always one of my favorite segments of Slashdot and it just kind of disappeared several years ago. Why hasn't more effort been put into these segments recently? It's not like there haven't been tons of high-profile geeks in the news just begging to be "Asked by Slashdot". I would love to see more of these segments return - and this one is a great start.
Along those lines, "Do you think the uniformity of opinion* encouraged by the modding system on Slashdot is a good thing or a bad thing? It seems to reward ideas that most readers agree with. Is that what you want?"
* Try, for example, asserting that Steve Ballmer might perhaps not be the antichrist or that the latest iproduct might be overrated, or that Google isn't the better than puppies and get modded to -1 troll in 30 seconds.
As I posted elsewhere already, slashdot has been falling from an interesting news site to this speculative non-stories yellow journalism in the time I have been here (and as you can see from my UID, it's been too long). I really wonder why is that? is it because the "old" slashdot does not "sell" as well as this new one?, if that is the reason, then I would really prefer the old non famous slashdot than this new one...
Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
You said when Slashdot started you were blown away to see in the server logs visits from people at influential institutions, including Microsoft.
Have you ever thought about doing a Slashdot equivalent of Wikipedia Scanner?
One wonders just how much astroturfing goes on in Slashdot w.r.t. both products and politics.
Because you proposed to your wife on Slashdot, did she force you to consummate in an IRC chat room?
If I knew the wedgies I gave you back in 6th grade would have resulted in this . . . I might have taken a moments pause.
I've noticed that there are some truly excellent posts on slashdot (anything from funny to insightful) but they are few and far between. Even when browsing at +5 level. Unfortunately, oft-repeated facts and opinions on popular slashdot topics overshadow them greatly (I'm talking about the thousandth post on how IP infringment != theft, itunes != DRM, etc.). In short, the typical highly popular argument that is sure to be modded up again and again. While many of those are indeed informative the first time, they quickly get boring.
Another flaw I've noticed is that earlier posts are much more likely to get modded up and be read than later ones, which isn't a good thing.
Have you noticed those issues and, in general, what ideas do you have on improving the slashdot moderation system?
Since this has pretty much been your baby for the last 10 years, what are your own personal favourite moments watching Slashdot grow up?
Please note that your proposal, OMG Ponies, and your creation of your automated blog-to-article conversion tool (codename KDawson) are not acceptably creative enough answers.
If I knew the wedgies I gave you back in 6th grade would have resulted in this . . . I might have taken a moments pause.
I just want to know, I know Rob's wife has an account on slashdot. My question is, does she still reads it? and what is her POV about you being a "high profile" geek? and what is her opinion about slashdot?
Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
Ok, what's the real story behind the Slashdot PT Cruiser?
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
You borrowed your Net Handle from the old management article's throwaway suggestion.
If someone was so inclined, would you like to be involved in relations with a Commander Taco restaurant?
(Taco Bell meets Slashdot with Linux Terminals and cheap food...)
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
>Any thoughts about passing on "your baby" to other coders?
don't worry man it's gonna be aaaawwwwwwwwwwright!
Any chance you're going to publish some recent (anonymous) statistics on Slashdot users (e.g. percent OS/browser usage, how many total visits, etc.)?
10 years worth of comments, at thousands a day, seems like it could be a potential treasure trove of data for geeks if not academics. What do you think about a possible mechanism for people to be able to have access to it beyond the amount that subscribers have?
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
Why are you such a fucking piece of shit, eh Malda?
"Our uptime your downtime" -- true in so many ways: slashdot effect, wasted time at work/in class...sigh
How often do you post comments on Slashdot? I guess I mean: do you post under sockpuppet accounts?
For reference, you might be able to dig up some public filings from the dot com days..
:P
For example: http://www.secinfo.com/dsvRx.52xn.htm
I remember back in the day, circa '00, I remember seeing Malda's salary publicly stated as about $90K... I'm not sure which is more frightening, that I remember such minutiae instead the Taylor series for e^x or that I still read slashdot.
A witty saying proves you are wittier than the next guy.
10 years is a long, long time... How much would you say time has affected your personal feelings and drives related to slashdot content?
The Universe is shrinking all around my head.
than two years.
/. take these days?
Rob,
How much of your life does
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Where "this" is defined as the 10 year hoopla. A bid to make us all feel old? ;) An idea pushed by the marketing/sales folks?
:)
I don't mean to imply anything sinister by the question, it just seems that the number of times the earth orbited the sun is not a thing we geeks usually care about unless we are doing a solar system simulation or the like.
p.s. thanks.
Yo Taco! What's up with you "glamor Shot" photo in CPU Magazine?
My wife doesn't listen to me either...
You know what made me come back to Slashdot some 6 or 7 years ago? It was you. Your basic, down to earth, humorous personality devoid of all the diva tantrums or plain moronity that plague so many in our delightful world. I found your proposal to Kathleen just amazing, and I found it even more amazing that you personally wrote back, thanking me for my congratulation wishes on your wedding. You're a good person, Rob.
Now for my question: Why are you not running for president in 2008?
taco4prez!
...if no one else asked it yet. (I got this one from someone else, kudos to whoever it was) You've been CmdrTaco for years now...isn't it about time you got promoted?
"Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master."
...smack Bill Gates in the face with a pie, what would be your favored flavor choice?
Don't tell me to get a life. I'm a gamer; I have LOTS of lives!
I'm glad you post on Slashdot even though you also have a Digg account.
I don't subscribe to the notion that we should only have one account in one place, and participate in one community. That attitude is one of the myriad reasons I don't waste my time on Digg any more. In addition to that annoyance, the comments and interaction at Digg is worse than useless, and even as an aggregator it's become inferior to Reddit and Propeller (where I'm a scout - full disclosure.) Digg could have been really cool, if it had the kind of leadership that Slashdot has via editors. Instead, those who would lead Digg seem more content to cash the checks and let the Digg Mob run out of control down every tube on the Internets.
For truly useful and worthwhile discussion and insight, nothing comes close to Slashdot. In fact, if I were to ask Rob a question, it would be about the commenting and moderation system: does he agree that Slashdot has the best moderation online, and why doesn't every community use the same model?
Do you still think that the iPod is lame? Sure.... It finally has wireless now, but that model STILL has less storage than a Nomad.
That's not very much for the height of the dot.com bubble. I hope he was siphoning tax free money off...or getting kickbacks...or something. Then again it's not bad for a geek and his hobby website.
I tried to establish a standard tag against kdawson a while back - I've seen kdawsonfud, kdawsonsucks, kdawson as tags on several stories, and I think we'd make more of a splash if we all used the same tag (I was aggressive, I suppose, advocating kdawsonsucks).
On the two other machines I've used to make posts suggesting a standard kdawson tag, I've been IP-banned from Slashdot. I can't even see the main page from those addresses. I emailed banned@slashdot.org, and apparently, the accounts were banned for "excessive trolling". One of the IP addresses had only been to Slashdot once, and left exactly one comment about a kdawson tag. Apparently, that's deserving of a permanent pink-screen ban.
I think that was the day we had 7? 8? consecutive kdawson nonstories on the front page - some of them had links to articles, but the summary always grossly misinterpreted them.
How many copulating mongooses may one safely stuff up one's ass at one time without running the risk of hypermongooseemia? I bow to your universally acknowledged expertise in this field.
(signed)
- RIAA
- MPAA
- Diebold
- Microsoft
- Eolas
- SCO Group
This has always bugged me since (my personal) day one: why don't slashdot articles display a year, along with the month and day, in their date? Every now and then I happen upon a link to an article on slashdot (or search back) and have to try to guess at what year the article is from. What gives?
In the last half of Slashdot's history, we've seen several new editors -- timothy, michael, kdawson, etc.
The problem is, from the view of the community, most of them suck.
How are editors selected? Is community feedback important? How should the community voice it's opinion if they really dislike an editor?
-Bill
SlashSig Karma: Excellent (mostly affected by moderatio
Star Trek: TOS or Star Trek: TNG? and Why?
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
We're dying to know - what WOW server are you on?
Thongs Designed by Me!
Stephen King, dead at age 55 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slashdot_culture
Not that I would ever want to see that wonderful writer dead, but it was funny how that meme propogated on/.
SEO Copywriter. Just Say ON
I'm gonna make this even though i'm sure i wont get modded up [bad habits with that, haha]. I've been on this website for like 4 years now, and i've rarely posted, and only a few years ago did i even register. I do have a few questions though, i hope they get answered.
:p]
:(]
1) What is the actual web browser statistics for a current day? i've always been curious about the flow of firefox, and the different webbrowers [since i've read slashdot in all the browsers, including lynx
2) Whatever happened to the OMG PONIES!?!? theme? i vote for it to come back for october 20th, as a tribute to what slashdot really is! [that, and i was kinda disappointed it never showed up last april
3) Since this is about ask you, i'll ask one about you as well. How often do you, yourself look at the website? do you read the comments also? Sometimes i wonder if you post under a pseudonym just so people dont automatically mod you +5 if you interacted in the comments.
Anyway, congratulations on 10 years, i'm really glad i get to be part of it, this website has become one of my very favorite.
visitor from www.slashdot.jp
As a Slashdot user since 2001 or so, there's plenty of questions I could ask.
But here's one:
When are you going to show the article that you are replying to?
Should take an hour to fix, if you spend an hour on Slashdot, every 5 years or so.
What are your regrets in Slashdot?
Slashdot = Sarcasm
Being in the movie business you should rescue the rights and try to get it made. The part of Louis Wu is yours!
http://michaelsmith.id.au
I suppose the limit on 200 people in a person's friends list (and the limit of no more than 50 messages in a message list) was done to keep the hardware from buckling under the load. Are there any plans to redo the software to make the site still perform acceptably, but also allow greater user customization? For example, I'd love the ability to change the comment scores based on individual friend modifiers.
"The most sensible request of government we make is not, "Do something!" But "Quit it!"
I like how you let the post sit at +5 all weekend so the people who want to make sure your loser ass gets fired stop paying attention, then you come in and mod it down sunday night so no one will have to answer the question.
You're a pathetic fucking loser dawson.
I only go to buffets for the unlimited soft serve.
"I like how you let the post sit at +5 all weekend so the people who want to make sure your loser ass gets fired stop paying attention, then you come in and mod it down sunday night so no one will have to answer the question.
You're a pathetic fucking loser dawson."
You're still a pathetic fucking loser dawson. Keep censoring people because you hate that they're right, while pretending you're anti censorship.
I only go to buffets for the unlimited soft serve.
The political climate for /. is Left/Liberal. At times it has been fun. I had an exchange a while back with someone who commented on a phrase I used: "...ax murderers, child molesters, conservatives..."
The responder said, "...but you repeat yourself..." I had another response and it was laugh out loud funny.
It's not funny now. Look at the development of the Tasered Student episode at UF. It's at a John Kerry speech so the first responses are glaringly obvious - The Creep got what he deserved. Then, the responses change as it is realized that it was a frickin' STEWDUNT what got tasered.
"Well, we can't blame the Suits, or the Fakyoolity...I Know!...Let's blame the Cops!!!" The Party Line is disseminated and everyone gets on board. Classic Leftist Cant.
Look at the scores/valuations of non party line comments. No, all viewpoints are not respected. I at least try to give a reasoned argument but it's not worth it now. Why bother?
CW
What are your favorite Tacos?? Have you ever been to Mexico and tried the real stuff??
Don't you want to do something else? Being stuck in basically a 'hobby' job for 10 years would drive me nuts. Aren't you itching to get onto something new? I'm guessing /. won't last forever, so what's next? Have you planned anything??
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
"I like how you let the post sit at +5 all weekend so the people who want to make sure your loser ass gets fired stop paying attention, then you come in and mod it down sunday night so no one will have to answer the question.
You're a pathetic fucking loser dawson."
You're still a pathetic fucking loser dawson. Keep censoring people because you hate that they're right, while pretending you're anti censorship."
Modding it down doesn't make it less true you cunt.
I only go to buffets for the unlimited soft serve.
/. travels at light-speed; by our 20th anniversary, we'll be Digg! My brain's melting...
That's worse than being assimilated by the Borg; at least the Borg are cool.
This is not a signature.