Slashdot Mirror
Meet Slashdot 'Super Submitter' Esther Schindler (Video)
Her bio says, "Esther Schindler has been writing about computers – with a particular focus on software development and open source – since the early 1990s. You’ve seen Esther’s byline in prominent IT publications, such as CIO.com, IT World, and IEEE Spectrum. She's written dozens of analyst reports for Evans Data about software development trends. Her name is on the cover of about a dozen books, including most recently The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Twitter Marketing. Esther is editor of a site for software developers, these days, while still freelancing occasionally for IT World (most recently The developer's guide to future car technology) and she writes a blog about project management." She submits her own work to Slashdot, and submits work for other writers, too. She may or may not be the most successful Slashdot submitter of all time, based on the percentage of her submissions that show up on the front page, but she is absolutely in the top 10. In this interview, she shares some of her secrets. Maybe Esther's thoughts will help you submit more successfully. (So will reading the Slashdot FAQ.)
You’ve seen Esther’s byline in prominent IT publications, such as CIO.com, IT World, and IEEE Spectrum. She's written dozens of analyst reports for Evans Data about software development trends. Her name is on the cover of about a dozen books, including most recently ...
With those creds she needs a bump from shlashdot? Sounds like Dice has got a piece of the new book sales.
What is your secret Esther?
Robert Plant hasn't aged well
Yes, she's hot. She has more science fiction books than you do.
Print is dead
Her list.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
If anyone is a "super submitter" it must be this guy, I think he is the submitter of about one third the submissions I click on.
A squid eating dough in a polyethylene bag is fast and bulbous, got me?
If you really are picking quality articles for submissions, keep it up. Everyone has a joke about the quality of articles here, but this site only works when people put the time in to these things.
From the video (thanks /. for not making another 5 hour video), this was pretty funny: /. summaries at least"
Q: "Do you read
A: "no I just skim it"
Do you? That would be hot - but I have about 1000, mostly in hardback (I'd have many more, but I keep having to move cross-country). Judging by your UID, you've been collecting for as long as I have, so I could believe it.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
If she's really looking for stuff to post she can help these guys answer a few queries.
As a fairly longtime reader and someone who has always kind of looked askance at frequent submitters, I'd like to take my head out of my ass and say thank you.
She may or may not be the most successful Slashdot submitter of all time, based on the percentage of her submissions that show up on the front page, but she is absolutely in the top 10.
If you don't have the data to determine if she is or if she is not the most successful submitter of all time, then I am skeptical you have the data to know she is in the top 10. There could be 1 person ahead of her on that list, but it's impossible there could be 10?
I know this is off topic and petty, but in a way, not so much. A common lament on /. is the poor state of writing on digital technologies, software, and development. To have such weak writing in a submission about a writer, it's a little sad.
With all of those scats, there are no significant others vying for her time, as the scats would drive away all suitors.
It's really very straight forward - simply submit whatever the current top story on /. is at the moment! Given the frequency of same-day dupes we've been seeing, you're bound to get a lot of your stories through...
...who promotes the flooding of social venues like Twitter with spam.
Hmmm.
...I have submitted more posts than anybody on this site!
so I'll just wait and read the story when timothy dupes it later this week
do not read this line twice.
You slipped up Esther. You were holding a cat, and the guy doing the interview mentioned that you have a houseful of cats. The secret is out - the cats do it all, and you just take credit for all their work. FAKE!! You're just as fake as my wife!
Good interview, actually. Now I'm curious, I want to poke around, and see what you've submitted in the past. (now you've done it - I've learned something! You can click on a person's profile, click "submissions", and right there, Slashdot tells you everything that person has submitted! Who'da thunk it!) Generally, I don't even bother to read who submitted a story, I just jump in when something appeals to me and/or I think I have something to add.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Slashdot just died.
so the video reveals Schindler's list ?
So, a shilling spammer then?
Thanks for the warning. Maybe you could investigate a few more of these professional arseholes who's actions work to destroy the utility of the ideal of free and public information flow?
TIA.
What part of "a well regulated militia" do you not understand?
The cats let me think I'm in charge. It's part of their charm.
I'll let you look at all the submissions that were turned down. See weren't they all worthy? Huh?!
I lost count somewhere around 700 but that was just the paperbacks, and doesn't count the hardbacks. Fortunately for my book budget I am also a frequent visitor to my local library, and every so often I do cull the herd... which is how I keep some of the collections under control. (I also have 400+ cookbooks. And I review a lot on Amazon.)
I'm not convinced The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Twitter Marketing. has any content.
The cats let me think I'm in charge. It's part of their charm.
Dogs have people, cats have staff.
'The tyrant will always find pretext for his tyranny.' - Aesop's Fables
I remember Esther back from the days of OS/2.
This person's claim to fame is being a complete idiot, and that's a good thing? Wow, we used to lionize people like DMR and Stroustrup!
I don't think so much about what interests me. I consider what might interest you.
I looked through a few of your submissions. With a few, you have the germ of something that might work. But you just blurt out the "fact" of the link, like "CNN says bigfoot was found," and that fits into my "weather report" description. Oh, yeah? How nice for them. Instead, tell me what you found and why it matters to me. Why should I care? Why is this amusing or relevant or useful to know?
Do not compromise the integrity of your submissions to pursue the filthy lucre of "success". This is just a ploy to stifle your creative spontaneity by actually suggesting you think first. Clearly, if that were applied to all the content here, this would just be another, run-of-the-mill, tech news site. Yawn. (Really, I think the editors just want less work to do.)
So...um...we're writing articles about the submitters of articles now? Is this metanews?
Actually, the book tells people to have human conversations. Not to create the kind of awful "branded" Twitter streams we both abhor. I advise people to do the same thing I do on slashdot: Tell other people about things they'll find useful and cool.
Which does not make me a marketing expert. It makes me a communication expert.
Its the intent that makes it spam. The attempt at "human conversations" just makes it more insidious, ensuring that I'll have to read 70% further into the exchange before I realize that important aspects are getting marginalized or stilted because a participant was determined to insinuate sales propaganda.
Perhaps you could write a book on how to more effectively filter this stuff out?
Thanks for taking the time to answer Esther. I'll definitely take your pointers next time I try and submit something.
Filter it out? Just don't follow them...?
There are companies/"brands" I follow because I find their info cool or useful or they make me say, "How 'bout that!" Sometimes that's the case even when I have no interest in their product... in the same way that I can admire the Budweiser Clydesdales even if I'd never drink their beer. (I am a beer snob.) And there are companies whose stuff I like even though their Twitter feeds are lame. For example, I'm thinking of one quilting fabric company whose Twitter feed is nothing but dumb self-serving ads, and comparing it in my head to another quilting fabric company that regularly shares groovy quilt designs (made with their fabric of course), and asks Facebook fans which fabric they ought to feature in a print magazine ad, and so on.
But if you discover that what they say/publish is not-so-cleverly-concealed propaganda, nothing says you have to follow them.
I'm happy to help. :-)
Its not all about 'me' and personal preference... its about communities avoiding unethical business practices that undermine trust in a society. Commercial propaganda / subtle astroturfing permeating all our discussions would be just such a form of corruption, and I believe it already has helped undermine trust. People end up increasingly discouraged and cynical as all sorts of discourse become repurposed for somebody else's monetary gain (and possibly your's, too, sonny... if you ever get past the advancing front of economic disparity); We become increasingly burdened to un-follow and regroup until we just switch off, or resign ourselves to pastimes and relationships based on the inherently commercial or trivial.
All of those examples you gave are just extensions of branded promotions, at least from my perspective. There is little difference sharing info and feelings about Clydesdales in a Budweiser forum or quilt designs at a fabric manufacturer from any of the other modes of promoting consumerism... the emotional manipulation of (would be) consumers for money or power is the underlying cause for the exercise. I'll qualify this by saying there are businesses that operate at- or near the hobby level whose socializing doesn't fit into the above characterization because its sincere and less about their bottom line (if at all).
But I doubt those people need your advice in the first place--they are already "there". The salesmen and relentless self-promoters would do us a favor by keeping their "conversations" branded and obvious so we can better trust those with whom we would like to converse.
You are always welcome back to the community anytime Esther.
YOU ROCK !!!
Ok. Wasn't going to respond to anything, but when I saw your "beer snob" statement....
(So, what types / brands of beer do you prefer?)
I have been reading your words since the early 90's, particularly OS/2-related articles. (I supported OS/2 from 2.0 through Warp at work, and am still a fan.) I always enjoyed the subject matter you wrote about, and just wanted to thank you for all the years of your efforts. Glad to see that you're still at it!
How kind of you to say so!
Beer-wise: I am more of an ale fan than lagers, with particular fondness for IPAs and porters. But my attention is on good craft brews rather than a specific type. Or good craft anything; I appreciate good made-by-hand workmanship in any endeavor.
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