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.
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
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
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.
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
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?
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.
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?
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).
Mm, or more to the point.
What sites are you most proud of slashdotting?
Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities.
Aristotele
That's my question. Please include pics.
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.
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
Do you still read Slashdot yourself regularly?
If so, what are your favorite and least favorite things about the community?
How much do you love tacos?
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
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?)
I think the bigger question is why these (and other) editors love to link to blogs aggregating other blogs posting about articles talking about news, rather than just the original news reports.
I get them every two weeks or so now. I didn't get them at all, even though I had excellent karma, until I metamoderated a few times.
I got my Linux laptop at System76.
Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
For the newbies among us, allow me to explain all the parts. This post is the culmination of 11 Slashdot memes which are, in order:
1. Russian reversal - in Soviet Russa joke - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_reversal#Russian_reversal
2. Beowulf cluster Slashdot meme - "Imagine a Beowulf cluster of..." self referential joke - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slashdot#Culture
3. Natalie Portman obsession Slashdot meme - originally arose due to widespread attraction of Slashdot posters to Natalie Portman - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slashdot#Culture
4. Insensitive clod Slashdot meme - joke originating from a Calvin and Hobbes strip dated February 14, 1986 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slashdot#Culture
5. 1337 = LEET = elite internet meme - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leet
6. Goatse internet meme - a widespread shock image - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goatse
7. "I, for one, welcome our new (insert descriptive here) overlords" internet meme - originally arose due to the widespread popularity of the Simpsons episode "Deep Space Homer" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culturally_significant_phrases_from_The_Simpsons#Influences_on_language
8. "Netcraft confirms, (insert target of joke here; was originally BSD) is dying" Slashdot meme - one of the original Slashdot troll posts - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slashdot#Culture
9. Naked / petrified / hot grits poured down the pants Slashdot meme - a reference to an unusual true story about the cruel and unusual punishment of a southern U.S. woman to her unfaithful significant other - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slashdot#Culture
10. Cowboy Neal Slashdot meme - a reference to Jonathan Pater's nickname which is featured prominently, especially on Slashdot polls - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slashdot#Culture
11. ??? Profit!!! internet meme - a reference to a joke in a South Park episode - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underpants_Gnomes#The_Gnomes
You're right, I wouldn't steal a car. But if it were possible, I sure as hell would download one!
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.)
The people have spoken, and yet he's still here.
Nah, I bet most posters couldn't care less. Don't mistake a noisy 5% for the whole. I wonder if that's a seed for a question?
Mr. Taco: You have access to stats, such as number of pageviews, active posters, and so forth. This lets you objectively measure a lot of things that we can't see. What do you think are some misconceptions that we have about slashdot? Maybe we're really still mostly IE users? Is 'videogames' the most read section? Perhaps the tech and science articles that everybody seems to clamor for are really the least read?