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CmdrTaco Looks Back on Fifteen Years of Slashdot

Posted by Unknown on from the hot-grits dept.

CmdrTaco sent in a link to his weblog post looking back on his experience running Slashdot for fifteen years: "For me the story of Slashdot is utterly inseparable from my own life. I built it while still in college: when normal people did their homework or had personal lives, I spent my evenings making icons in The Gimp, crafting perl in vim or writing a new story to share with my friends. I’ll never forget the nights spent tailing the access_log and celebrating a line from microsoft.com or mit.edu with friends like Jeff, Dave, Nate, and Kurt."

56 of 178 comments (clear)

  1. Yeah, welcome to the club, pal by crazyjj · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Over the last few years, my light hearted sarcasm was slowly replaced by bitterness. Somewhere along the line became unable to hide my feelings from my friends, family and finally even my co-workers.

    Yeah, that's called "aging" and it's pretty common. Generally speaking, your chronological age bears a proportional relationship to the percentage of time you spend bitching about shit. By the time you're collecting Social Security, it's pretty much 95% bitching (the other 5% consisting mostly of bragging about your retarded grandkids, who you think are geniuses for some reason).

    --
    What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
    1. Re:Yeah, welcome to the club, pal by ccguy · · Score: 2, Interesting

      By the time you're collecting Social Security, it's pretty much 95% bitching (the other 5% consisting mostly of bragging about your retarded grandkids, who you think are geniuses for some reason).

      The slashdot population will no doubt spend that 5% doing something else. Probably bitching to new programmers about how their language is crap because it was designed for retards, as opposed to the ones we used to have that really exercised the brain.

    2. Re:Yeah, welcome to the club, pal by JustOK · · Score: 3, Funny

      Back in my day we spelled it Cobol AND WE LIKED IT!

      --
      rewriting history since 2109
    3. Re:Yeah, welcome to the club, pal by Cid+Highwind · · Score: 5, Funny

      You kids today with your shift keys and CAPS LOCK. We had to spell it COBOL, because we were too poor to afford lower-case letters.

      --
      0 1 - just my two bits
    4. Re:Yeah, welcome to the club, pal by crazyjj · · Score: 2

      In my day it was spelled 0110001101101111011000100110111101101100.

      --
      What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
    5. Re:Yeah, welcome to the club, pal by mcgrew · · Score: 2

      Yeah, that's called "aging" and it's pretty common.

      Common, yes, but not universal. In six decades you've experienced a hell of a lot more pain (and joy) than someone a third of your age. Most people start falling apart when they hit 40 (I was lucky, I've been in pain since I was a teenager, I hurt a lot worse then). When you're old you have a lot more to bitch about and a lot less to be glad of. Plus you have these dumbass kids who you used to be who think they know everything like you used to think you did.

      But in Taco's case, he's not nearly old enough to be telling kids to get off his lawn or to be bitter and bitching. I'm actually a bit surprised. WTF does he have to be bitter about?

      --
      Free Martian Whores!
    6. Re:Yeah, welcome to the club, pal by Aighearach · · Score: 3, Insightful

      But in Taco's case, he's not nearly old enough to be telling kids to get off his lawn or to be bitter and bitching. I'm actually a bit surprised. WTF does he have to be bitter about?

      Because it isn't an age issue, it is a been-at-this-job-too-long issue.

  2. The Problem with Trading Hands by eldavojohn · · Score: 4, Interesting

    We found one that could: Selling Slashdot was the right decision at the time: we never could have survived the growth, and the lean years after the bubble burst. However, the long term consequences of the decision wouldn’t be clear for years.

    This is so obvious to me. It's like watching a band sign a big contract thinking it's the greatest thing to ever happen to them. Even with the latest move Slashdot editors think it's only a good thing. If you sell, you need to consider that you're selling your freedom, your control and your future. The bigger the company you're sold to, the most abstracted away from you all those things are. So consider all that and price it accordingly. I mean, now it'll probably go to the highest bidder ... what if a giant just wanted to buy Slashdot to shut it down because of the negative press it generates for them?

    --
    My work here is dung.
    1. Re:The Problem with Trading Hands by crazyjj · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Slashdot editors publicly claim they think it's only a good thing

      FTFY

      --
      What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
    2. Re:The Problem with Trading Hands by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's the most depressing article ever on Slashdot. It makes it sound like Slashdot is dying.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    3. Re:The Problem with Trading Hands by CubicleZombie · · Score: 3, Informative

      However, the long term consequences of the decision wouldn’t be clear for years.

      Consequences like the MTV "Jersey Shore" banner ad on this article.

      --
      :wq
    4. Re:The Problem with Trading Hands by Onymous+Hero · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's the most depressing article ever on Slashdot. It makes it sound like Slashdot is dying.

      Let's not jump to conclusions - after all, Netcraft hasn't confirmed anything yet...

    5. Re:The Problem with Trading Hands by AnotherShep · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Is Netcraft here to confirm it?

    6. Re:The Problem with Trading Hands by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It has been for years, you should have been here in the beginning.

      The biggest problem is that the fight against the trolls and shills was lost. I have watched really good insighful posts get modded to oblivion because it said anything negative about Android, even when it was 100% true and offered a solution. Same for Microsoft Shills and shill mods. The Moderator system seems to be really easy to game, and it's really really easy to make an autoposter that reposts the +5 comments to the dupes to get into the moderation pool. Read at -1 and look at the insane amount of spam that get's on the site.

      Although slashdot could get worse, Gawker Media could buy Slashdot and install their crap-tastic commenting system.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    7. Re:The Problem with Trading Hands by korgitser · · Score: 5, Insightful

      what if a giant just wanted to buy Slashdot to shut it down because of the negative press it generates for them?

      Easy.. we'll make our own slashdot, with blackjack and hookers. On second thought, scrap the /.

      --
      FCKGW 09F9 42
    8. Re:The Problem with Trading Hands by Saxerman · · Score: 2

      The internet is a big place. And the competitive advantage held by the early Slashdot was the community. Certainly a 'nerd news' feed was also relatively nice and novel, but all that can be easily duplicated elsewhere. And it was. But for perhaps the first decade Slashdot was around, it felt like a quasi-niche group of smart kids. But too much of a good thing becomes... some other kind of thing. More and more people arrived and started to comment. Some of the old timers left. Eternal September had come to Slashdot.

      I still read here regularly. I even comment occasionally. But I no longer think of this place as the nerd-cool water cooler chat room. Things change. After the meta newsfeed there was the meta-meta news feeds. The meta cubed and squared stuff is coming. The real challenge will be the same one Slashdot faced. How do you attract the positive community you want, while exuding those you don't want... without making the rest feel excluded?

      --

      A steaming cup of soykaf would be real wiz right now.

    9. Re:The Problem with Trading Hands by Soulskill · · Score: 2

      I have no choice but to browse at -1. Even though I tell the system to browse at 1, I see everything.

      Is this on the mobile version of the page? That's a known bug that should be addressed by the new mobile site, which is available at http://mbeta.slashdot.org/. If not, can you provide details about your browser version and OS version, and perhaps a screenshot of what you're seeing? The comment slider is currently working as expect for me on all my browsers. If you'd like to do so privately, feel free to email soulskill@slashdot.org (or feedback@slashdot.org where the engineers will see it as well).

    10. Re:The Problem with Trading Hands by thereitis · · Score: 2

      Good question. One thought I had was to treat moderation as a separate layer from the comments themselves. Support competing moderation systems and let readers choose the moderation system they prefer - least popular options get retired, most popular options can be improved on. Unfortunately that 'dilutes' the readers over several systems but with Slashdot's large readership it might be feasible.

  3. AC the whole time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've been here since the start, but I've never wanted or felt I needed to create an account.
    In an age where we'll soon see sites require a facebook login for access (Or worse yet, a "like") despite all the "Natalie Portman, naked and petrified" and "Hot grits" and page widening trolls, thanks for keeping anonymous access an option.

    AC- Anonymous before "Anonymous"

    1. Re:AC the whole time by FatAlb3rt · · Score: 5, Funny

      Seriously - why are you still showing your face around here?! I've seen some of the stuff you've written. Most of it foul, disgusting, or just downright stoopid.

    2. Re:AC the whole time by afidel · · Score: 3, Funny

      I would have done the same had it not been for John Katz, the day they added the option to block authors for registered users was the day I signed up.

      --
      There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
  4. Thank you! by farrellj · · Score: 5, Interesting

    For spending that time to create this community. I've had many years of enjoyment from your work!

    From an early admirer...

    Farrell

    --
    CAN-CON 2019 - Ottawa's only book oriented Science Fiction Convention! October 18-20, Sheraton Hotel, Ottawa, Canada h
    1. Re:Thank you! by Drey · · Score: 2

      * Pours out some of his 0x28 ounce *

  5. A good read by willie3204 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And one that any person who reads slashdot daily should take in.
    Being slashdotted still means something to the people that were around when it happened daily...

    --
    The answer to all your problems
    1. Re:A good read by Nocturnal+Deviant · · Score: 3, Interesting

      yeah. wow....thinking about this has made me nostalgic and slightly depressed.

      --
      -Noc
  6. Interesting navel gazing by damn_registrars · · Score: 3, Interesting

    At least he recognizes that the site was in decline when it was sold. Some might criticize him for not doubling down and putting himself back in to it, but he made his choice.

    Welcome to the new slashdot - facebook news for conservatives.

    --
    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
    1. Re:Interesting navel gazing by CanHasDIY · · Score: 4, Interesting

      At least he recognizes that the site was in decline when it was sold. Some might criticize him for not doubling down and putting himself back in to it, but he made his choice. Welcome to the new slashdot - facebook news for conservatives.

      Yea, I've been seeing that strawman pop up here pretty much daily for the last decade: "Oh, there's a bunch of posters with whom I disagree, Slashdot is falling apart, becoming a haven for the [insert group you don't like]!

      The behavior would be astonishing, if I weren't as well versed in human nature.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    2. Re:Interesting navel gazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The behavior would be astonishing, if I weren't as well versed in human nature.

      Indeed. I first noticed this syndrome with MUDs back in the day. Imms would come or go; changes to gameplay would be made, and players would inevitably pine for the golden days that never really were.

      Imagine my shock when I found out this applied to every facet of life.

    3. Re:Interesting navel gazing by Microlith · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Go ahead, don't just make claims like that. Back them up with actual links. I want you to show me a consistent, frequent pattern of what you have just stated.

      Don't even try to tell me this site isn't dedicated to facebook news for conservatives.

      No, you have to show that this is the case. You have yet to do so.

    4. Re:Interesting navel gazing by Jawnn · · Score: 2

      Yea, I've been seeing that strawman pop up here pretty much daily for the last decade: "Oh, there's a bunch of posters with whom I disagree, Slashdot is falling apart, becoming a haven for the [insert group you don't like]!

      If you think that's all it is, you have not been paying attention. Informed, well-reasoned disagreements are part of what made /. what it is, or was perhaps. Sadly, those have been largely supplanted by ill-informed and logically flawed disagreements. So yeah, even though it's to be expected as more and more of the retards find their way here, it is still lamentable. Wading through the dross, to get to something interesting/insightful/informative, grows more wearisome with each passing week, it seems.

    5. Re:Interesting navel gazing by CanHasDIY · · Score: 2

      Go ahead, don't just make claims like that. Back them up with actual links. I want you to show me a consistent, frequent pattern of what you have just stated.

      Don't even try to tell me this site isn't dedicated to facebook news for conservatives.

      No, you have to show that this is the case. You have yet to do so.

      For example, by typing "facebook" into /.'s built in search bar; doing so, you will find precisely 2 facebook stories from this week; 2 / 3 != 1 per day.

      For last week, 5, except 3 of the 5 aren't actually about facebook directly - 2 / 7 != 1 per day, either.

      Sadly, disproving the aforementioned theory probably took far less time than damn_registrars spent positing it.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    6. Re:Interesting navel gazing by CanHasDIY · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yea, I've been seeing that strawman pop up here pretty much daily for the last decade: "Oh, there's a bunch of posters with whom I disagree, Slashdot is falling apart, becoming a haven for the [insert group you don't like]!

      If you think that's all it is, you have not been paying attention. Informed, well-reasoned disagreements are part of what made /. what it is, or was perhaps. Sadly, those have been largely supplanted by ill-informed and logically flawed disagreements. So yeah, even though it's to be expected as more and more of the retards find their way here, it is still lamentable. Wading through the dross, to get to something interesting/insightful/informative, grows more wearisome with each passing week, it seems.

      Again, I've heard this argument many, many times over the past decade of following Slashdot, and not a soul, yourself included, has been able to provide any evidence whatsoever of any deviation from the norm.

      If you honestly believe "ill-informed and logically flawed disagreements" are a new concept to Slashdot (or even humanity in general), I propose that perhaps you are the one who hasn't been paying enough attention.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    7. Re:Interesting navel gazing by CanHasDIY · · Score: 2

      For example, by typing "facebook" into /.'s built in search bar

      That was your first mistake, you assumed that for some reason the search bar on slashdot would work. That thing hasn't worked right since ... well possibly ever. It misses far more than it gets right.

      I'm not the one making outrageous claims and failing to back said claims with evidence. Don't like the source I cite? Provide your own or STFU (or get seen as the nonsensical troll you're currently coming off as).

      Sadly, disproving the aforementioned theory probably took far less time than damn_registrars spent positing it.

      Although it appears you don't understand the concept of a theory, either. Please hand in your geek card on your way out the door.

      It appears you don't know the difference between literary and scientific definition.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    8. Re:Interesting navel gazing by strikethree · · Score: 4, Insightful

      We just had a chance to ask Steve Wozniak, the actual person, any questions we wanted. And he responded. Here. We have articles about the Mars rovers and actual scientists who are working on them respond. We have some highly intelligent debate that illuminate issues deeply.

      Yes, there is a lot of crap and the gems seem fewer and fewer... but you are absolutely correct. He/she/it needs to provide proof for their claims.

      --
      "Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
  7. Thanks for creating a legend by abhi2012 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Thanks for creating slashdot, a place where I feel the most comfortable to read nerd news. Its clean, simple and is definitely by a team who understands the concept of a technology blog. Its really sad to leave something one has created and nurtured for so many years but I suppose that's the fact of quite a few products in the market now.

  8. Screenshots? by RevWaldo · · Score: 2

    So how about some screenshots of how the site looked back in the day?

    .

    --
    Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
    1. Re:Screenshots? by armanox · · Score: 3, Informative

      Never forget OMG Ponies!

      --
      I'm starting to think GNU is the problem with "GNU/Linux" these days.
    2. Re:Screenshots? by Cid+Highwind · · Score: 2

      Who needs screenshots when we can use the wayback machine to party like it's 1999

      --
      0 1 - just my two bits
  9. first grammatical error? by loshwomp · · Score: 2

    It kills me to point this out, but his first "sentence" isn't even a sentence:

    For me the story of Slashdot utterly inseparable from my own life.

  10. Summary of the last 15 years by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    BSD is dying
    this
    'nuff said
    correlation != causation
    epic fail
    IANAL, but
    ftw!
    1. something something, 2. ???, 3. profit
    RTFA
    wtf?
    I see what you did there
    cool story, bro
    Star Trek
    That word does not mean what you think it means
    Battlestar Galactica
    It's a trap
    Natalie Portman
    This is the year of Linux. --posted from my iPhone 4S
    your wrong
    loose
    lowest common denominator
    lol lol looooool
    i wRiTe LiKe tHiS cuZ iM a T00L. epic!
    prolly
    dunno
    I think Microsoft (and now here's an unnecessarily long sentence inside a parenthesis to make you forget about the main sentence) sucks.
    blame Micro$oft
    Apple fanbois
    Microsoft fanbois
    in 3, 2, 1...
    sarcasm tag
    Nothing of value was lost
    Bwahahaha
    troll
    +1
    mod parent up
    Slashdot members have little to no social skills
    your mom's basement
    Free as in beer. (Free as in prune juice for typical slashdot users)
    Duke Nukem Forever
    Bill Gates borg
    Developers! Developers! Developers!
    iPad/iPod killer. Lame.
    Al Gore invented the internets
    640k is all you'll ever need
    Tomato and DD-WRT because I'm el33t haxor
    you must be new here
    All you base are belong to us
    FUD
    you typical American elitist
    You insensitive clod
    goatse
    Imagine a beowulf cluster
    good luck with that
    I, for one, welcome our new overlords
    netcraft confirms it
    you + point = over your head. whooosh
    tl;dr
    My smug superiority usually prevents me from responding to an AC, but here goes
    I am a know-it-all in my high horse
    first post
    citation?
    fixed that for you
    that's what she said
    Orwellian 1984
    RMS
    thank you, captain obvious
    Sports? Girls? Sex? This is slashdot hahaha (Score:5, Insightful)
    Get off my lawn
    what does this have to do with news for nerds?
    Slashvertisement
    dupe
    slashdot has gone downhill recently im outta here

    LAME FILTER -- IGNORE BELOW
    A number of languages have been designed for the purpose of replacing application-specific scripting languages by being embeddable in application programs. The application programmer (working in C or another systems language) includes "hooks" where the scripting language can control the application. These languages may be technically equivalent to an application-specific extension language but when an application embeds a "common" language, the user gets the advantage of being able to transfer skills from application to application. JavaScript began as and primarily still is a language for scripting inside web browsers; however, the standardization of the language as ECMAScript has made it popular as a general purpose embeddable language. In particular, the Mozilla implementation SpiderMonkey is embedded in several environments such as the Yahoo! Widget Engine. Other applications embedding ECMAScript implementations include the Adobe products Adobe Flash (ActionScript) and Adobe Acrobat (for scripting PDF files).

    1. Re:Summary of the last 15 years by GlennC · · Score: 2

      Hot Grits!
      What brand of crack are you smoking?
      In Korea, only old people post lists of memes.
      In Soviet Russia, memes list YOU!

      --
      Go on, citizen, stamp the vote card. R or D, your choice.
    2. Re:Summary of the last 15 years by Daniel+Dvorkin · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "I'll probably get modded down for this, but ..." (comment goes to +5 immediately)

      --
      The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
    3. Re:Summary of the last 15 years by AragornSonOfArathorn · · Score: 2

      I see what you did there. For great justice!

      --
      sudo eat my shorts
    4. Re:Summary of the last 15 years by stevencbrown · · Score: 2

      If you can arrange this into a "We didn't start the fire" type song, then I believe you'll have written the best ever slashdot post.

  11. When's the dupe? by Chiller · · Score: 5, Funny

    If history is any indication, we'll see a dupe of this tomorrow. Probably posted by CmdrTaco himself!

  12. Thanks for All The Fish by Phoenix666 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    CmdrTaco, a /. account was the first one I created on the Web proper when i returned from China. I lost that 4 digit userID then due to economic & geographic dislocations, to my ongoing regret now. But in the ensuing years I came to feel like you were a brother I had never met. When you left Slashdot, it felt like a death in the family.

    I don't say that to be maudlin, but to mean your time at Slashdot was not just a chapter in your life and its, but in the lives of many. May we all do so well in life.

    --
    Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
  13. Ah by JustOK · · Score: 2

    I'll never forgot...

    Ah, typos. Way to really summarize the ./ experience.

    --
    rewriting history since 2109
  14. WTF. by MRe_nl · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "Before it was the famous nerd hub, Slashdot was simply my homepage. When I left, I was denied the right to continue to post on the page that I still called home".

    Why?

    --
    "Kill 'em all and let Root sort 'em out"
  15. Re:lol slashdot by tqk · · Score: 3, Interesting

    what a dump.
    reddit has destroyed you. please unplug your last server.

    This is the phenomenon I wonder about. So many ACs moan about how bad /. is for whatever reason, yet they're still here. Why? Haters just gotta hate? Do you enjoy figuratively stirring entrails? You've nothing better to do than subject yourself to what you clearly see no need for?

    That's just sad. That's a self-abusive personality. No, your character flaws have no effect on me, btw.

    --
    "Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit ..." -- Pink Floyd.
  16. Long time User (see UID of three digits) Agrees by dbarron · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm sad to see the changes...and I will agree that SlashDot is not what it was. I've been considering frequenting it less. I seldom post, but I do read a lot of articles (and quite often commentary).
    Course, I'm not what I was 15 years ago either :)

    1. Re:Long time User (see UID of three digits) Agrees by sconeu · · Score: 2

      Yeah, sure. That's what *EVERYONE* says... "I only read Slashdot for the articles..."

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
    2. Re:Long time User (see UID of three digits) Agrees by aussersterne · · Score: 2

      Agreed. My first Slashdot account was in the high four digits, not as old school as yourself, but I've been reading for a while. My current Slashdot account is newer still.

      But back in the day, Slashdot was THE place online for a generation of people (young and old, but the overlap of a particular community and a particular time period) that saw computing, technology, and the Internet come of age and that were deeply interested in and involved with these things at all levels.

      I wonder if maybe some of the Slashdot decline is due to the diversification and growth of its users. For a moment in history (the '90s, basically, tapering off in the early '00s) humankind underwent a massive technological transformation. Because mainstream society was behind the curve despite its best efforts to grok what was going on, the technology community needed its own meeting place for discussion, news, announcements, and so on.

      But once the transformation was complete and we had become "a network society," I wonder if the community, too, diversified in its interests. When I started reading Slashdot I was part salesman and part network admin, talking smaller organizations that didn't know what a network was (much less what it was for) into letting me build them one. Because these things were once at a significant premium, there was a market for people like me that weren't working at the enterprise level or in R&D who had connections and could get their hands on tons and tons of cast-off tech junk and cobble it together into working systems at affordable costs, often so idiosyncratic as a result that we had to be the ones that administered them.

      In the '90s my two-car garage was packed to the gills with network equipment, cabling, racks and racks of spare parts, and stacks of computing systems in mid-recycle (there was a time when I specialized in taking off-lease desktops in quantity and helping to recycle them as parallel clusters for funds-starved research projects at local state universities). I was a salesman, an architect, a technician, a plumber/electrician, a software engineer, and a scientific computing specialist all rolled into one.

      Today, I own a Mac, and iPhone, and an iPad. The only "parts" I have in my entire house amount to a currently unused external hard drive and a box of cables, none of which are particularly specialist in nature (some USB, some firewire, some HDMI, a few RCA audio, etc.) The only occasion I have to solder things is when a household item is broken and I feel like getting out the screwdriver, VOM, and soldering iron. If I do any "development" at all, it's just some basic HTML, PHP, and JS on my homepage. It must be 10 years since I touched C, 15 since I touched ASM (last batch was Motorola 6809 in an embedded system, I think).

      From hardcore techie I've transitioned into working as an editor and an lecturer in mass media. I garden and keep goldfish. I guess you could say that I grew up, but the market also has a hand in this—computing and technology became commodities; coding and deployment became nigh-on unskilled labor. Few research projects need more computing power than they have in the principal investigator's iPhone, and more often than not there is now off-the-shelf software for Windows or Mac to do almost anything they want to do, now firmly established in channels.

      Former tech industry friends have followed the same paths. People from the local computer club that used to load up their entire van with junk every Saturday to get together and solder, breadboard, and code for 12 hours now spend Saturdays on football, or on the yardwork, and are perfectly happy with a DVR, an XBox, and a couple of laptops and smartphones in the house.

      Slashdot is in decline in a way, but it's because the sorts of territory that Slashdot used to cover are in decline. There's just not much to talk about. Enthusiasm for hacking the latest console or iPhone is not nearly as intense, widespread, or filled with unlimited possibilities as was hacking on Linux and evo

      --
      STOP . AMERICA . NOW
  17. Slashdot's doing well, the internet at large isn't by concealment · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This was interesting reading. Bittersweet, because there's always doubt over a sale. No matter what anyone says, if you created it, it's yours and you have a moral right to it. In the hands of commerce however, others control it, and use facts/figures to justify actions based on knowledge from the past.

    I think it makes sense instead for Slashdot to think of the future. There is always going to be room for a site that covers geek topics, and no one does it like Slashdot. It's a potent mix of technology, culture and politics that has always been at the forefront of changes in the technology field. If anything, it's time for Slashdot's "owners" (the community is the real owner) to re-invest in updating the site, and to stay the course. Don't try to make it into Facebook, because Slashdot and its appeal are fundamentally different.

    What's dying is the internet as it has become in successive iterations: post-1996, post-2002, and whatever came after that. AOL wrecked the internet and died, Myspace died, Facebook is failing because the power users are leaving, since the site has become basically a work-day time-waster for cube slaves. The branching of the internet audience into niches is the real story here, not the attempt of a few people (even Wikipedia) to control what everyone is thinking.

    If I had one suggestion, it would be to cover more of the underground. People are living outside the grid, even if from within the grid, in more ways and more interesting ways than ever before.

  18. Re:about facebook directly by CanHasDIY · · Score: 2

    Naw, I think it's about the indirect "Facebook Placement" that's starting to creep in that is bugging people. Let's try a few titles:

    Well, IMO, those people are kinda dumb.

    Facebook is a 'big fish' when it comes to many, many internet related issues, so of course they get mentioned. Complaining about facebook's presence in internet-related articles is akin to bitching about the press mentioning GM or Ford in automotive related stories, or Apple when talking about smartphones - they're the big dogs; of course they're going to be in focus. It in no way is any sort of indication of a "pro-[insert company here]" slant or preference, it's a matter of economics.

    --
    An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  19. The coolest thing about Slashdot by rez_rat · · Score: 2

    Is that from the beginning, I always considered it to be a place to go to experience discussions that I just could not have with my "real" circle of friends and peers. It made me feel like I "belonged" somewhere. Thank you CmdrTaco. I agree with a fellow poster, an excellent read.

    S-

  20. Re:Personally don't care what CmdrTaco thinks by Pav · · Score: 2

    It's the switch between dominance of creative contributors/producers thinning to mostly passive consumer masses - something always dies in that translation even though it IS more profitable. A large porportion of creatives generate a living atmosphere. It's like being at a party with a few musicians and guitars being passed around - alive, something that hangs on the air and has breath... a feeling of "something special is happening here". Then there are parties with successful carreer people and the $15,000 sound system... the artist frozen in plastic on the CD tray. Even a live gig isn't quite alive. Sure, the artist can bounce off the crowd, but I know the kind of company the artist will keep when they're off the clock.

    The only places I've had this feeling recently online is Diaspora - ironically panned here yesterday for not being "popular" enough, and crusty old IRC where I've recently started interacting with projects I'm making small contributions to.