Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda Resigns From Slashdot

After 14 years and over 15,000 stories posted, it's finally time for me to say Good-Bye to Slashdot. I created this place with my best friends in a run down house while still in college. Since then it has grown to be read by more than a million people, and has served Billions and Billions of Pages (yes, in my head I hear the voice). During my tenure I have done my best to keep Slashdot firmly grounded in its origins, but now it's time for someone else to come aboard and find the *future*. Personally I don't have any plans, but if you need to get ahold of me for any reason, you can find me as @cmdrtaco on twitter or Rob Malda on Google+. You could also update my mail address to be malda at cmdrtaco dot net. Hit the link below if you want to read some nostalgic saccharine crap that I need to get out of my system before I sign off for the last time.

It was the summer of '97 and I was a college kid working part time as a programmer at an ad agency. I wrote a simple CMS: practically my first perl program (I was so happy to not have to write in anything Microsoft!). I got an old DEC Alpha Multia in exchange for some freelance Java work. I stuffed it under my desk at work and registered the domain name in October. Jeff "Hemos" Bates chipped in on the registration fee. Within months we were serving thousands of people per day on a system that looked remarkably similar to the Slashdot you see today. It was simple: I just was sharing stories that I stumbled on with a small group of friends.

When I wrote the essay "Simple Solutions" a few months later, we doubled in traffic almost overnight. New hardware had to be purchased. Soon we exceeded the bandwidth capacity of our ISP and had to start co-locating. This meant banner ads. I barely made it through the end of college, working night and day on a site that was growing so fast, it was all I could do to keep up. We started making a little money and I eventually was able to quit my job and dedicate myself full-time to Slashdot. I barely graduated. Soon my friends followed me, eventually forming our company Blockstackers.

As my little hobby became a full blown business, it became clear that we needed help. The burden of running Sales and Marketing and HR it was to much for us. Slashdot was sold to Andover in '99. Since Slashdot was founded, my business card has read Blockstackers, Andover, Andover.net, VA Linux Systems, VA Software, OSDN, OSTG, SourceForge, and finally Geeknet. My title has changed several times: from my first card which read "Lies and Misinformation", until today when my title read "Editor-in-Chief of Slashdot.org". During that entire time, my job has been some version of the same thing: Make Slashdot Great. I always did my best, and I'd like to think that I got it right more often than not.

In the last 14 years, Slashdot has covered so many amazing events: The explosion of Linux. The rise of Google. The return of Apple. The Dot Com Bubble. The DMCA. 9/11. Wars. Elections. Numerous successful Shuttle Launches and one Disaster. Scientific Breakthroughs galore. Cool toys. Web2.0! Social Networking. Blogging! Podcasting! Micro-Blogging! The Lord of the Rings being filmed and an entire trilogy of new Star Wars. OMG Ponies!! So many moments that I could run this paragraph for hours with moments where we shared something important, meaningful, or just stupid. But the most important to me was my marriage proposal to Kathleen. Slashdot has posted Over 114,000 stories so far. And there will be many more to come. I just won't be the one picking them.

Slashdot has been read by kernel engineers and billionaires. By sys-admins and CEOs. By high school kids and government bureaucrats. But what brings so many of them together is that we are nerds. It never ceases to amaze me the similarities that I find between us all when I climb out of my dungeon and go meet readers. From the inside of some of the most wonderful places on earth, to conference halls with useless wireless connections, to cube farms, you guys always reminded me of why I started this thing in the first place. We share something important and unquantifiable.

The internet has changed dramatically since I started here, and that's part of my reason for leaving. For me, the Slashdot of today is fused to the Slashdot of the past. This makes it really hard to objectively consider the future of the site. While my corporate overlords and I haven't seen eye to eye on every decision in the last decade, I am certain that Jeff Drobick and the other executives at Geeknet will do their best. I am unquestionably confident in the abilities of the Slashdot editors and engineers- some of whom have been here just short of forever. They have proven themselves in the best and worst of conditions to be capable and dedicated.

As part of my resignation, after this story appears I will lose the ability to post. For me, this is the most bitter pill to swallow. Posting stories has always been my favorite part of the job. I created Slashdot to share these stories with my friends from IRC and school. It was never 'work'. Now I will have to go cold turkey. I'm walking away from the soapbox I built. I wish I could continue to post stories forever, but those closest to me know that if I maintained the ability to post, I'd never move on. I'll continue to read Slashdot and hopefully my occasional story submissions will make the cut. My old mantra: News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters still holds true here today. Nobody does it better.

As for what's next, I really don't know. I don't have a job lined up. I have no plans. I'm gonna spend some time with my boys and my wife. Read some books that have been on my shelf forever. Maybe it's time to write a book of my own.

If you want to get ahold of me, my email is now malda at cmdrtaco dot net. Geeknet has graciously agreed to continue to forward malda at slashdot dot org forever, but you should still update your address books if you care. I'm available on twitter as @cmdrtaco and Google+. My homepage hasn't been updated in a decade, but it's still CmdrTaco.net. And since I'm going to have to find a job in a few months, I'm on LinkedIn as well.

Thanks to everyone who helped build Slashdot over the years: the list is far to long to fit in this textfield but you know who you are, and you all know that I've got your back in a knife fight. Lastly, thanks to every Slashdot reader for giving me your time all these years. I hope I've wasted it efficiently and enjoyably.

Pants are optional.

Comments

Thanks for all the Fish Wrapper

[chrisd]

In 1997, right after Chips n' Dips had faded away, to be replaced by the enigmatically named http:///..org, all of us free software nerds hung on its every story, comment and poll like it was carved on tablet and flung from a burning bush. A year later I had started at hardware maker VA Research and /. was falling down for lack of machinery, so we rummaged through our returns piles and sent Rob and Jeff some 2u servers to help out. That was for me the beginning of some of the most important friendships in my adult life.

Its hard to explain how important Slashdot was to all of us 10 years ago. Indeed, without it it would be hard to imagine HN, Reddit, Digg, Fark or any of a thousand lesser sites. The editorial perspective of Rob and the other editors of /. is what kept people coming back and for a long time that perspective was Rob's, then Rob and Jeff and a bunch of us (some, like Timothy and samzenpus, still around!), but then Jeff left, now Rob. In some way I see this as a passing of an era in free software.

Throughout, while some have left for those greener shores, slashdot abided even while buffeted by the markets and the de/evolving internet news world, and it has remained a default tab in my and many others' browsers.

I didn't mean this post to be about Slashdot though, but about my friend Rob. I'll only say that while the site will be the lessor for you leaving, I firmly believe that computer science will gain my. While this note reads like an epitaph or the last pages of a book, it is really no more than a thank you note from me and many I know to your for your decade+ of work on the site. So...

Thanks.

Re:Thanks for all the Fish Wrapper

[Seumas]

I still remember in the beginning of my career, when a colleague came over and showed me this website that he went to every day. A site that a short while later became Slashdot. A site that I read often and, eventually (though far too late to have a cool UID, damn it!) created an account on. It's strange that Slashdot has pretty much been part of my life for my entire career and that it has maintained its ready place in my regular "hangouts" after all this time. Even despite the complaints and failures, it has still had a pull that none of these other linkbaits from Digg after could manage.

Sometimes, I like to go back and read random headlines on Slashdot from years ago. Back when we even paid attention to the byline of a post. Back when people knew why Roblimo was Roblimo. So much has changed around us and this same group of strange geeks has been along for the ride. In this same time, I also ran my own project that started shortly after Slashdot and that I just finally shut off this past year. Experienced the same surprising scaling issues when this thing I did for kicks took off, like Slashdot did. It was a huge experience that consumed most of my life and I, too, experienced the delayed closure. The feeling that it was time to move on, but this nagging hesitance to do so. This feeling that it had been such a part of my life (as Slashdot has been Rob's) that I was almost obligated to continue it and maintain it. And yet, cutting the cord and stepping away has been such a breath of fresh air. Such a release. I can only imagine this must feel much the same way.

Best wishes ahead and all, but I have to say that in light of yesterday's news, maybe this could have been postponed another week to have come across a little less "whacky".

Re:Thanks for all the Fish Wrapper

[mosch]

Rob-

Thanks for Chips n' Dips, and Slashdot.  I hope you enjoy a little bit of respite while you discover what you want for the next step in your career.  You started out with a big, highly influential bang, and I'm glad you're getting a bit of rest now.

All the best,
- some asshole on the internet who you don't actually know, but who is glad you did what you did.

Re:Thanks for all the Fish Wrapper

[EricWright]

This post really takes me back those 14 years to grad school... like the parent, I found out about /. in the pre-user account days when another grad student in my office kept talking about the site. Again, like the parent, I didn't actually register early enough for a cool UID, but low-5 digits is close enough to old school for this story to bring a single tear to my eye.

Times, they are a changing, and I for one am not too sure I like where they are headed.

Bon voyage, Rob, and indeed, thanks for all the fish wrapper.

Re:Thanks for all the Fish Wrapper

[Stachybotris]

The first question my boss asked me after the technical portion of my interview concluded was 'Do you read Slashdot?'. To this day, I advise all of our new hires to keep up with it if they really want to have a clue about where the industry is headed.

Re:Thanks for all the Fish Wrapper

[nomadic]

"Having read some of those back magazine adverts, you could pay $65 for a disk cleanup tool, and find that someone has just sent you the command line program to format the disk."

So in other words it did remove the virus.

Re:Thanks for all the Fish Wrapper

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

I think I was here like "Uh, Clem" - "Before The Beginning". ;-)

Thanks Rob.

p.s.: You didn't mention "Duck Pins" in the farewell
p.p.s: I hear that the CEO job is open at Apple.

Simple

[airos4]

Thanks. Really. Make sure you have a towel going forwards.

Re:Simple

[wwphx]

Not that I'm leaving, but like most others here, Slashdot has been amazingly valuable to me. I was working at a police department when I Love You broke loose: I read about it here at 7am, went to our security/network guy, showed him the story, we went to our router and just pulled the incoming line. Saved our bacon, very minimal problems. Upstream, at the City, they got hammered. So definitely thanks! And it's always a good idea to know where your towel is, especially in our field: DHMO and expensive electronics usually don't mix very well.

My standing offer to take you to Apache Point Observatory stands if you ever get the hankering to see a 3.5 meter telescope up close and personal. Best of luck in your next job life!

Re:Simple

[Anubis350]

Dammit, typo on *that*?

should read "internet's just *not* going to be the same without Taco at the helm here!"

Hemos Says: "So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish"

[Hemos]

I left Geeknet aka all the other names Rob has typed already nearly exactly a year ago now, and had stopped really posting on Slashdot prior to that but the work, creation and launching of Slashdot remains one of the best things that has ever happened to me. Rob and I went to the same middle school, high school, college and had the joy of working together for well over a decade; I've been very lucky to have worked with him and the other friends we started with.

Rob and I became friends not actually because of being in the same school, though we knew each other that way. We because friends when we both had modems and got on the BBSes, and that desire to have a place to share news and stuff with friends was what I think Slashdot has done well with. Bringing together the people who have the love of technology in their blood. Rob is really really good at that, and working with him and the rest of the folks has been on honor and privilege.

We've had some good wedding times and some burnination times (Chris, I forgot about the cell phone. That makes me giggle.) And while I could go on and on, then I'll turn maudlin and no one wants that.

I started at Google just over a week ago now, and love what I'm doing -- and I think that's the most important lesson I learned from Slashdot. You won't always like what you are doing but if you working on something you love and with good people around you, that's worth a lot.

If you care to see me poke fun of Rob, you can find me on Twitter as (the imaginatively named) @hemos, or find me on Google Plus as Jeffrey Bates

Thanks for the fun, Rob. We done good.

Succession plan?

[grub]

Well Taco, I hope that you have a good succession plan in place as Steve Jobs does at Apple.

Presumably you've trained all your editors in the fine art of spelling mistakes, grammatical erros and story duplication. If so, the transition should be seamless.

Jokes aside, best of luck and thanks for /. ! :)

Re:Succession plan?

[grub]

sigh... "erros"... can I put my name in the hat?

Re:Succession plan?

[jd]

If you notice, they both resigned at the same time. AND they have never been photographed together. This proves CmdrTaco IS Steve Jobs!

Re:Succession plan?

[Alioth]

Looks like you are suffering from Muphry's Law. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muphry's_law

Re:Succession plan?

[sg3000]

Well Taco, I hope that you have a good succession plan in place as Steve Jobs does at Apple. Presumably you've trained all your editors in the fine art of spelling mistakes, grammatical erros and story duplication. If so, the transition should be seamless. Jokes aside, best of luck and thanks for /. ! :)

Rob, for old time's sake, please repost your resignation as a dupe in about a week :-)

Steve Jobs = Rob Malda?

[Danathar]

I knew it!

Good luck Steve..er...Rob...err..whoever you are actually!

Re:Steve Jobs = Rob Malda?

[Abstrackt]

I've certainly never seen them in the same room!

Re:Hemos Says: "So Long, and Thanks For All The Fi

[Anonymous Coward]

...what's up with all these Real Names on Google+? How am I ever going to find you guys? Sheesh.

Anyway, bon voyage CmdrTaco!

Re:Hemos Says: "So Long, and Thanks For All The Fi

[JustOK]

you must be new here.

Lose the Ability to post

[Danathar]

Personally I think that's lame. You are the founder of Slashdot. You should be able to keep that as a legacy cool power.

See You Rob, and thanks for the ride

[ja]

This is like the Internet going into retirement

Re:See You Rob, and thanks for the ride

[Hemos]

Thanks. And you all should know that it has been the readers that kept Rob and I going for as long as we did.

Re:See You Rob, and thanks for the ride

[ashpool7]

your faithful readers are now super concerned about the future without any founders direction!

Re:See You Rob, and thanks for the ride

[poena.dare]

Thanks. And you all should know that it has been the readers that kept Rob and I going for as long as we did.

Dupe. Overrated. Flamebait.

Now that I have your attention: love you guys.

Slashdot is one of the very few sites that has a robust discussion system. It kills me that otherwise decent technology news sites have primitive plain jane comment threads that retard the hell out of meaningful discussions.

While no system is perfect, I've been very satisfied with the way /. handles comments, weighting for friends and enemies, thresholds, and meta-moding. You guys did it right.

Also I must say /. has some kind of magic spell over it. Despite being bought and sold the powers that be seem to have left /. alone which is pretty damn unheard of in this age.

I'll never forget the time that CT handed me a ball-gag and said, "your submission powers slashdot!" :P

They called us geeks and nerds in school but we had the last laugh,,, after the bankers.

Now, anyone going to submit a "Most Embarrassing Taco Moments" article? I want to make more fun of the bastard before he gets out the door.

Re:See You Rob, and thanks for the ride

[Just Some Guy]

And you all should know that it has been the readers that kept Rob and I going for as long as we did.

You mean people actually read what we write? I always assumed I was one step away from standing on a box on a street corner.

Wait, what?

[Rysc]

After the news about Steve Jobs I really had to check and double-check the date on this. Not April 1st?

Okay, okay... I think I believe it.

CmdrTaco, thanks a lot. I've spent a ridiculous amount of my formative years reading slashdot. It got me into Linux, Geeks In Space specifically got me in to Debian. Without Slashdot I'd be half the man I am today, easily.

So long...

[rsidd]

I've been around for a while, reading though not posting often. For some of us your resignation ranks up there with Jobs' (but more unexpected and, one hopes, not for similar reasons). All the best in whatever you do. You must be in your mid-late thirties, and have an entire life ahead of you!

Thanks

[jimand]

Thanks Cmdr; you've created a lasting part of the internet. Will you be auctioning off your UID?

Thanks for everything

[deblau]

I could write a long rambling ode, but I think I'll just say thanks for the last 14 years. You did good.

Thank you

[Sabathius]

Thanks for creating one of the best Websites on the Internet, in my opinion. Others may talk trash, but this is a Website I've visited consistently since around 2000-1. Best of luck in all that you do, my friend.

Thank You, CmdrTaco

[kilo_foxtrot84]

Mr. Malda, thank you for all that you've done for us. I wish you nothing but the best. -KF

I have some difficulty understanding this

[gzipped_tar]

Car analogy please?

Re:I have some difficulty understanding this

[virg_mattes]

Imagine getting into your car, and driving away, and not coming back.

It's like that. Mr. Malda, you'll be sorely missed. Thanks for all of your efforts. You've made this site a place where geeks of all stripe can find a good story and a good troll.

Virg

Re:I have some difficulty understanding this

[Asic Eng]

Car analogy please?

Uhm .. he built a car himself out of junk parts. It took years and needed lots of maintenance but it could fly and swim. He sold the invention to a huge multi-national. Now he bought a new Toyota.

It's all about getting older and letting go. Where once the eternal junkyard was a theoretical concept, now you wonder whether you should trade in or do one more road trip across the country.

Re:Hemos Says: "So Long, and Thanks For All The Fi

[jank1887]

uid 2, huh? I bet you just missed the first first post, too.

OMG..

[Dynamoo]

You created something that has given a lot of people a lot of pleasure. Thanks! And always remember... OMG Ponies!

So long and thanks for the OMG PONIES!!!

[TimeForGuinness]

Somehow this has hit me harder than Jobs stepping down. I've been coming to Slashdot for the news/commentary for about 13+ years...and still plan to do so.

Man, it's weird, I've never met Rob or corresponded with him...but it feels like I'm losing a good friend or family member. The internet can be weird sometimes.

Godspeed Taco!

Re:So long and thanks for the OMG PONIES!!!

[Bob the Super Hamste]

I think that sums it up for me as well. Wish I had created an account when I started reading, though.

So I am not the only one who has that regret.

Re:So long and thanks for the OMG PONIES!!!

[Zembar]

I'm going to have to add "making a site that doesn't post what the preview shows" instead of what I actually wrote.

Oh well, at least it's does its job consi

Re:Given that...

[Anrego]

I know I shouldn't be feeding the trolls..

But truth is, for all I've griped about the "new" slashdot (and then the "new" one after that) ... and the dubious submissions... I still find myself active here quite frequently.

Slashdot isn't perfect.. but it's still a damn good thing.

Re:Hemos Says: "So Long, and Thanks For All The Fi

[chrisd]

For the record: I really thought that champagne cooler was empty.

I knew it!

[elrous0]

I always thought it suspicious that I never saw Taco and Steve Jobs in the same room. Now I finally know for sure that they're the same person!

Thanks for giving us this forum Taco/Steve. But I still hate iOS.

Today ...

[nosfucious]

Today a little piece of my inner nerd just died.

Please don't let me wake up and suddely find that I'm a responsible 40 year old IT professional/business person. I'll be repeating that as I stumble home drunkenly tonight.

Thanks

[fons]

Slashdot has always been a beakon of good taste on the Internet.

It helps me stay grounded to the truly important stuff that matters in a chaotic world of information overload.

It helped me be confident about my own opinions.

Thanks
Peter Van Hende
'Trendwatcher' for Belagcom

New Poll!

[NoseSocks]

New Poll!
When you saw the news that CmdrTaco was resigning your first thought was:

1) So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish: 99.99%
2) Some other option
3) Yet another option
4) A fourth option
5) CowboyNeal

Seriously, I think the collective all thought option 1 at the same time.
We all are individuals.
-NS

Re:Given that...

[Seumas]

We need to continue our strengths. Being a platform where old guys can bitch about kids these days.

Re:Hemos Says: "So Long, and Thanks For All The Fi

[c]

I think it's fair to say that the average uid in the comments on this post will be the lowest in the last few years... possibly the last decade.

Taco's Post About Shopping?

[Iskender]

Does anyone have a link to the post about CmdrTaco buying underwear? In one of these nostalgic Slashdot discussions someone linked an ancient post where he said he had bought some pairs of underwear, meaning he now had a "full set" that would enable him to go a week without doing laundry.

It was such an excellent example of how Slashdot started out as a personal blog, not to mention funny. Many thanks if someone can unearth it (yes, I've tried all kinds of Googling.)

Re:Taco's Post About Shopping?

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

Heh who knew we'd go from discussions about a week's worth of underwear to bunching our panties over smartphone OS's!

Oh no!

[AntEater]

"The internet has changed dramatically since I started here, and that's part of my reason for leaving..."

I hope that doesn't mean that we're going to see some radical change in direction here. That reads like the money holders want to take the site in a direction that CmdrTaco isn't interested in. Hopefully I'm just being pessimistic.

I've been on since the late 90's myself and I've really enjoyed this site over the years in spite of the spelling and grammar issues. I hope it continues on even without Mr. Malda's influence.

Now watch as the low UIDs to take over the discussion on this post.

Re:Oh no!

[JasterBobaMereel]

davidu (18) Wins ....!

Re:Oh no!

[davidu]

Really the only thing you can be reasonably certain about with a UID pissing contest is that you'll pretty much inevitably lose. :-)

If it were a competition that mattered, I feel like I could compete. :-)

First Jobs, now this?

[gig]

Next you will be telling me that HP is getting out of the PC business.

Best of luck

[raph]

As you can see from my uid, I've been with you since almost the beginning. At times I've been frustrated with the quality of the posts, especially the pseudoscience garbage, but /. has always been one of my go-to places, and always enough interesting content to make it worthwhile to visit. Plus, the format of the site, especially the moderation system, has proved to have enduring worth, even with all the other changes going on. I wish you the best of success in whatever you choose to do next.

Re:Best of luck

[Vintermann]

You are the originator of Advogato, right? Raph Levien?

I think that the original moderation system on slashdot, and your efforts with Advogato, are among the best experiments that have been done with social media. So much of what has come after has just been better marketed, not better in any fundamental way. In particular, for quality of discussion concerns, the reddit/digg model of moderation is markedly inferior to slashdot's. But it has disappointed me that the fundamental insight of slashdot's insight (use of sortition to get more fair outcomes) and yours (robust metrics for trust) has not been extended upon.

Part of me wishes that Malda really wanted to, but was prevented by his evil corporate overlords, so that he maybe gets an opportunity for it now, haha. But whatever he decides to do, I'll be grateful for what he's done - and for what you've done, since you were one of the few who actually took a scientific approach to such issues.

Re:Best of luck

[raph]

Yep, that's me. And thanks a bunch for the recognition. I think there's more life in those concepts, and we'll probably see them continue to evolve, but it's taking way more time than any of us imagined in those heady, fast-moving days.

Re:Hmm...

[felipekk]

Already did:

"CEO of the most important technology company announces retirement"

Don't be a stranger.

[rjh]

It's been a hell of a ride, friend. Thanks for sharing it with us.

(Loyal reader since Chips and Dips.)

Re:Hemos Says: "So Long, and Thanks For All The Fi

[whoop]

And to think I waited a few days before registering an account here. "Damn, yet another site wants me to register a name/password?" If only I had known then how much this UID would help me get the girls...

cmdrtaco.net is down

[pcjunky]

Looks like you slashdotted yourself!

Thanks for everything Rob

[fineous fingers]

Rob/Taco, I've been a longtime reader for about 10 years and I usually check to see whats going on once or twice a day. It really has been a "stuff that matters" web site for me. Thanks for everything. fingers...

We who are about to post salute you!

[EvilNutSack]

But seriously, thank you very much for everything that you have done and the community that has grown out of it.

All things must change

[MrDoh!]

The hot grits are now cold.
Natalie Portman is now 'legal'
Goatse man is able to sit down comfortably without losing the chair.

The world has changed in this time, that's for sure.

(and this comment is NO WAY going to make the filter surely)

No wifi

[Brannon]

Less impact than SJ's announcement. Lame.

Re:I Was a Victim of a Series of Accidents ...

[afidel]

Don't feel bad about the high UID, many of us that have been here since the beginning didn't sign up for an account right away. Heck if it hadn't been for John Katz (and more to the point the ability to block his "articles") I might still be posting as AC.

Re:Aaah, fun early days

[inflex]

My biggest regret was not timing things 'just right' to get ID 123321 :(

I see you were in very early :)

I had more direct dealings with Patrick of FM than anyone here in /.

Oh yes and back then LinuxJournal was genuinely very useful every edition :)

Re:Hemos Says: "So Long, and Thanks For All The Fi

[ch0rlt0n]

I think it's fair to say that the average uid in the comments on this post will be the lowest in the last few years... possibly the last decade.

Talking of which...

Hey Rob, if you're not using it any longer, can I have your user ID? Mine is pathetic.

Fairewell

[Eugene]

Thank you so much for creating the best experience on the internet... when /. effect was what everyone feared and loved...

Re:Hemos Says: "So Long, and Thanks For All The Fi

[mister_playboy]

Couldn't be bothered to RTFA even for this story, eh? :)

He's just losing the ability to post stories as an editor, he says he'll still do some story submissions and post like a normal user.

What's up with the timing?

[suso]

Steve Jobs came back to Apple officially in September 1997.
Slashdot was founded in Septemer 1997.
Steve Jobs quits in August 2011.
Rob Malda quits in August 2011.

Re:What's up with the timing?

[LordEd]

That's how restraining orders work.

Re:Hemos Says: "So Long, and Thanks For All The Fi

[jabberw0k]

Are there Slashdot Achievements for "Creating a post with the highest/lowest average commenting UID" ...?

Re:I Was a Victim of a Series of Accidents ...

[Rogerborg]

Holy Carp, well reminded. It's been years since I've read any [url=http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/29/technology/afghan-e-mail-seen-as-too-geek-to-be-true.html?src=pm]Katz vomit[/url]. I almost - almost - feel nostalgic for his deluded ramblings.

MyCleanUnderwear.com

[Heed00]

Bah, it's MyCleanUnderwear.com -- at least get it right.

Re:Given that...

[alexo]

But truth is, for all I've griped about the "new" slashdot (and then the "new" one after that) ... and the dubious submissions... I still find myself active here quite frequently.

Slashdot isn't perfect.. but it's still a damn good thing.

I'm on /. every day but I have to admit that nowadays it is not because of the way the site is run but in spite of it.

Compared to a decade ago, the front page looks more like a yellow tabloid than a serious tech site. Slashvertisements, titles and summaries chosen for shock value rather than informative content, clueless submitters, incompetent editors.

It's like a good thought provoking series turning into a Brazilian soap opera.

Thankfully, the discussions are still worth it.

Re:Last one out.... turn off the lights.

[Hemos]

Nope, CBN left a few years ago. Samzenpus and Timothy are still around tho'!

Re:Hemos Says: "So Long, and Thanks For All The Fi

[c]

> If only I had known then how much this UID would help me get the girls...

Tell me about it. 4 digits just gets me porn stars. I want those cheerleaders, dammit!

Well that was unexpected.

[KingKurly]

Thanks Rob. I'll keep it brief, it's all been said. This came as a bit of a surprise, but I guess everything must end at one point or another.

So long!

Re:Hemos Says: "So Long, and Thanks For All The Fi

[DrgnDancer]

Look on the bright side, at 5 digits I'm stuck with my wife (just kidding honey).

Re:Hemos Says: "So Long, and Thanks For All The Fi

[Mr Z]

Indeed! I've been coming to this site since 1997 or 1998, back when the RC5 encryption challenge was going on. I was introduced to Slashdot by someone I who was on the team I was on. He asked me "Is /. down?" My response was, more or less, "Huh?" He decompressed his question for me, and in doing so, introduced me to a site that I'd quickly become hooked to. To this day, it's in my top three sites to visit daily: Slashdot, FARK and LWN.

How many of the rest of us "old timers" remember when/who introduced them to Slashdot? Or their first brush with Goatse? Or the introduction of moderation, then meta-moderation? Or the first time you saw "*BSD is dying" and felt the urge to check out the numbers on Altavista? (Remember Altavista?)

I imagine my UID would be lower if I had registered right away. I don't remember how long I put it off. But, at least I ended up with a prime number. :-)

Re:Hemos Says: "So Long, and Thanks For All The Fi

[mcmonkey]

Tell me about it, brother.

At 5 digits (just), I'm stuck with your wife, too!

Slashdot is Dying

[fak3r]

It is official. Netcraft now confirms: Slashdot is dying

One more crippling bombshell hit the already beleaguered Slashdot community when CmdrTaco confirmed that he is resigning from Slashdot, now that Slashdot market share has dropped yet again, now down to less than a fraction of 1 percent of all geek news outlets. Coming on the heels of a recent Netcraft survey which plainly states that Slashdot has lost more market share, this news serves to reinforce what we've known all along. Slashdot is collapsing in complete disarray, as fittingly exemplified by failing dead last in the recent Sys Admin comprehensive geek news reading test.

You don't need to be the Amazing Kreskin to predict Slashdot's future. The hand writing is on the wall: Slashdot faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for Slashdot because Slashdot is dying. Things are looking very bad for Slashdot. As many of us are already aware, Slashdot continues to lose market share. Red ink flows like a river of blood.

Slashdot YRO is the most endangered of them all, having lost 93% of its core contributors. The sudden and unpleasant departures of long time Slashdot contributors only serve to underscore the point more clearly. There can no longer be any doubt: Slashdot is dying.

Let's keep to the facts and look at the numbers.

Slashdot leader CmdrTaco states that there are 7000 users of Slashdot. How many users of Ask Slashdot stories are there? Let's see. The number of Ask Slashdot stories versus Slashdot posts is roughly in ratio of 5 to 1. Therefore there are about 7000/5 = 1400 Ask Slashdot stories users. Slashdot book reviews (or, 'Slashvertisements') are about half of the volume of Ask Slashdot stories. Therefore there are about 700 Slashvertisments. A recent article put Slashdot Security posts at about 80 percent of the Slashdot market. Therefore there are (7000+1400+700)*4 = 36400 Slashdot users. This is consistent with the number of Slashdot posts.

Due to the troubles of OSNews, abysmal sales and so on, OSNews went out of business and was taken over by Digg, another troubled geek news site. Now Digg is also dead, its corpse turned over to yet another charnel house.

All major surveys show that Slashdot has steadily declined in market share. Slashdot is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If Slashdot is to survive at all it will be among geek news dilettante dabblers. Slashdot continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, Slashdot is dead.

Fact: Slashdot is dying

Re:Hemos Says: "So Long, and Thanks For All The Fi

[tburkhol]

Heh. I only signed up so I could put JonKatz on ignore.

A model for well moderated discourse

[iyntsiannaistnyi]

Slashdot has been a significant part of the formation of my identity in terms of interest, exploring diverse issues, and exposure to technologies that I wouldn't otherwise have encountered. I thank you, Rob, for everything you've done to create and cultivate this community.

I've been thinking more about Slashdot recently because of my involvement in "Nym-Wars". In at least one place Slashdot was cited as a stellar example of the civility and quality that can be fostered in a community that functions primarily pseudonymously, but also allows anonymity (two things I very much are about). The moderation system in place here is complex (I myself still find it a little confusing) but there is no question that it works. Slashdot is one of the few places where I consider the comments on an article as much (often more) worth reading as the article itself. Obviously my appreciation for this applies to the whole Slashdot community, but I am posting this specifically in recognition of CmdrTaco's influence in shaping the community.

Rob, may everything else you do in the years to come be as interesting and fruitful as your work here! Community and communication are essential, amazing things, and I'm sure your contributions to the world at large are far from over.