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Slashdot and SourceForge Sold, Now Under New Management (bizx.info)

kodiaktau writes with a link to today's announcement that DHI Group, Inc. (which you might know better as Dice, the company that bought Slashdot and sister site SourceForge in 2012) today announced that it completed the sale of its Slashdot and SourceForge businesses (together referred to as 'Slashdot Media') to BIZX, LLC in a transaction that closed on January 27, 2016. Financial terms were not disclosed. DHI first announced its plan to sell Slashdot Media in July 2015 as part of its strategy to focus on its core brands, as Slashdot Media no longer fits within the Company's core strategic initiatives. KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc. served as the Company's exclusive financial advisor for the transaction. (FOSS Force has a short article with some more info BIZX and the sale.)

175 of 1,310 comments (clear)

  1. Meet the new boss by tpjunkie · · Score: 5, Insightful

    same as the old boss

    1. Re: Meet the new boss by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      We won't get confirmation until we see this story in the front page again in a couple of days.

    2. Re: Meet the new boss by smittyoneeach · · Score: 2

      Speaking of confirmation, where is Netcraft with the obituary?

      --
      Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
    3. Re:Meet the new boss by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      same as the old boss

      I would like to take this opportunity to welcome our new editorial overlords.

    4. Re:Meet the new boss by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Well, for one, welcome our new overlords, and remind them as a trusted anonymous personality, I can be useful to them in their underground sugar mines.

    5. Re: Meet the new boss by Noah+Haders · · Score: 2

      no. when they want to bury it, they release it on friday afternoon. ive never heard anybody say that thurs is bad. is weds also bad, and tues and mon? which days are no longer bad?

    6. Re:Meet the new boss by penguinoid · · Score: 2

      same as the old boss

      It might take them more than a day to fix things up. Though I would like to hear what their plans for the site are.

      --
      Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
    7. Re:Meet the new boss by hambone142 · · Score: 2

      Oh no.

      Some more "managers" that will "improve" something and drive it in to the ground.

    8. Re:Meet the new boss by whipslash · · Score: 2

      You're right. It will take some time. We've owned the site less than 24 hours so we're not going to jump to any rash decisions. But first things first we're going to fix a lot of the broken stuff.

    9. Re:Meet the new boss by BronsCon · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Does this mean Unicode support? Or, to put it another way, you're going to rewrite from scratch because it's completely broken?

      --
      APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
    10. Re:Meet the new boss by serviscope_minor · · Score: 3, Informative

      Whatever you don't "fix" classic by removing it!

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    11. Re:Meet the new boss by AmiMoJo · · Score: 5, Interesting

      It only took Soylent News a few weeks to implement working Unicode support. Apparently the code supports it, but most characters are filtered to prevent trolling. Back in the early days people would do things like post long strings to widen the page, or use Unicode characters to reverse text flow direction and the like. I'm not exactly sure what Soylent did to prevent that but they seem to have it sorted out.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    12. Re:Meet the new boss by Rei · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yes please! Check out my sig, this has been a really annoying issue for quite some time. Also, please encode in UTF-8 if you can. UTF-16 is dangerous - namely because the vast majority of characters are only two bytes, but in rare cases they're four, so these cases usually slip past testing; often even libraries are broken in UTF-16, let alone individual programs, when it comes to 4-byte characters.

      Other things to keep in mind:

        * This is a site of nerds, so if someone posts a small chunk of code, it should display properly. Don't go all crazy on trying to "parse" and "prettify" posted text.

        * For your sake, don't make the site vulnerable to injection (aka, *never* just paste a string from a user into one used internally). This is, again, a site full of nerds; they'll notice. And the less scrupulous will take advantage of it. Don't write your own sanitization functions, use internal library functions - preferably parameter binding and the such. And don't forget that injection is not just about SQL, it can affect any user string inserted into another that subsequently goes through a parser - there's XML injection, HTML injection, BASH injection, and so forth.

      * If there's some coding project that you think would help the site but you don't have the resources to do it, turn to your readers. For example, if the site was being hit by spam bots in the comments or whatnot, I'm sure you could get more than a few volunteers who would contribute code if it means not having to read the spam.

      * People screw up, that's normal. If you accidentally post a duplicate, just take it off the front page. You don't have to delete the comments (you could even put it back on firehose), but just try to keep the front page duplicate free.

      * I'm not a big "oh, this site is inherently bad!" person, but a lot of people are, and they get angry when they see links to articles on certain sites (such as, for example, Forbes, due to their adblocker policy and malware history). Be aware of what sites are unpopular and try to avoid linking them, if you can. Most news is available from multiple outlets.

      If you do this sort of stuff, people here will be very happy :)

      --
      What the hells goin on in the engine room? Were there monkeys? Some terrifying space monkeys maybe got loose?
    13. Re: Meet the new boss by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Funny

      Don't worry. This is Slashdot. The dupe is due for about Sunday.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    14. Re: Meet the new boss by arth1 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Well, the new owner's main slogan is "We help Advertisers reach the right Consumer".

      They may have a harder time with that here, though. I doubt they will find a lot of capital C consumers here.

      So, over to something more interesting. There's talks of staff being shown the door. Any idea who, yet? Do they get to train replacements that will actually do the needful?

    15. Re:Meet the new boss by mvdwege · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yeah, but on the other hand it took SN only a few months to completely degrade into Breitbart-level rightwing kookery.

      Ok, ok, that's hyperbolic, but it's a lot worse than Slashdot. Here at least there is a sizable contingent of people still willing to challenge the reactionary rhetoric.

      --
      "I know I will be modded down for this": where's the option '-1, Asking for it'?
    16. Re:Meet the new boss by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      While true, I doubt Unicode support is to blame :-)

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  2. Take back Slashdot by H_Fisher · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I really, really hope this is good news. I miss the actual "News for nerds" ethos that brought me here, and I've waded through a lot of sponsored "posts" and clickbait to sift out the kernels of actual news that remain.

    New /. overlords? Get this site back to "News for nerds" and news that matters, and you'll keep me here.

    1. Re:Take back Slashdot by whipslash · · Score: 5, Informative

      We're going to do our best to keep/bring back that "news for nerds" ethos and hopefully keep you here.

    2. Re:Take back Slashdot by ChrisKnight · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Please, please, please... No more Bennett Haselton monologs!

      --
      -- This sig is only a test. If this were a real sig it would say something witty. --
    3. Re:Take back Slashdot by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't believe it. Is Slashdot going to stop those ridiculous paid links to forbes.com? What about the relentless left-wing social justice stories that blame nerds for everything wrong in the world? What about constant news-today-gone-tomorrow political stories that are general news, at best? I don't see any of those going away under any kind of new management. Irritating as fuck content has been around since the Jon Katz stories wouldn't stop appearing.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    4. Re:Take back Slashdot by Loconut1389 · · Score: 2

      I loved Slashdot in the early 2000's.. I ended up working at Dice after they bought slashdot. I thought that was cool though I'm not on that project so it doesn't exist to me- it's not even in our office.. I wish all of slashdot media (sourceforge) had prospered better under dice.

    5. Re:Take back Slashdot by whipslash · · Score: 5, Informative

      Noted.

    6. Re:Take back Slashdot by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3

      I just want to say that I've always liked you, whipslash. I like the cut of your jib.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    7. Re:Take back Slashdot by whipslash · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The deal closed less than 24 hours ago. We're going to look at all options in order to improve the experience. And, no, that doesn't mean we're going to roll out a crappy new interface without listening to user feedback. We want to make sure we get it right.

    8. Re:Take back Slashdot by whipslash · · Score: 3, Informative

      Just answering questions as I see them. We're not weighing our future decisions based on the anger level of the person who suggested them.

    9. Re:Take back Slashdot by whipslash · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Hopefully it'll prosper now. We have a good team in place and we're listening to you guys.

    10. Re:Take back Slashdot by lucm · · Score: 4, Informative

      What about the relentless left-wing social justice stories that blame nerds for everything wrong in the world?

      I would like to point out something. In many SJW situations the perpetrators enjoyed their 15 minutes of fame but later paid dearly.

      Examples:
      -Adria Richards (the PyCon Donglegate photo and tweet): after getting fired from Sendgrid during that incident she didn't find another job. Almost 3 years already.

      -Jerelyn Luther (the shrieking bitch who screamed at a Yale teacher because he didn't agree with the "no offensive costume" policy of Yale): she closed all her online accounts, and her own mom removed her name from her company website...

      In those cases the aftermath is a lot worse for the SJW than for the people they "shamed".

      I strongly recommend Jon Ronson book about public shaming, it's fascinating.

      --
      lucm, indeed.
    11. Re:Take back Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Please fuck off. Slashdot is not Slashdot without the AC. There is no need for stupid reddit-ish "EDIT: Blahblahblah" bullshit. Say it right the first time your reply to your own post. Are you trolling?

    12. Re:Take back Slashdot by narcc · · Score: 5, Funny

      we're listening to you guys.

      Now I know Slashdot is in trouble...

    13. Re: Take back Slashdot by ShieldW0lf · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Please, cut back on the "everyone in your industry are chauvenists assholes and you owe us a place in your ranks" crap?

      We don't need shit and abuse in our leisure time, we get enough on the job.

      --
      -1 Uncomfortable Truth
    14. Re:Take back Slashdot by whipslash · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well alright then.

    15. Re:Take back Slashdot by sexconker · · Score: 2

      How about returning Slashdot to what it was supposed to be? Items posted to the firehose that get voted up enough make it to the front page, not things that are picked by "editors" or paid for by other sites.

    16. Re:Take back Slashdot by TWX · · Score: 5, Insightful

      We're going to do our best to keep/bring back that "news for nerds" ethos and hopefully keep you here.

      I do have one suggestion, since you appear to be participating... Please take care with the distinction between nerd stuff and fandom. The two have a lot of overlap, but at the moment fandom is seeing a popular resurgence that takes it far away from nerdy subjects. It can be fun, but part of the reason that Slashdot became successful in the first place was that it catered to a subculture rather than catering entirely to mainstream culture.

      There is a limit on the size that something can grow when it doesn't embrace mainstream culture, but entities that attempt to make that transition usually falter as they alienate their subculture userbase far faster than they attract mainstream participation. That may mean that Slashdot and other sites like it have an upper bound, but it's better than closing up shop.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    17. Re:Take back Slashdot by yoshi_mon · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Part of what I view what has happened with Slashdot, and it is not alone, is that forums are everywhere today. And not just forums but all sorts of different takes on the genre.

      I'm going to say some pretty obvious things but back when I 1st discovered the site there was no Facebook or some means of having a forum type discussion on every website. (I honestly don't remember when I 1st made this login but it was a long time ago now. Rob still had links to his favorite sites as part of the content.) So having not only having a forum that was dedicated to "News for Nerds" that also incorporated a system that tried, oh how it has tried over the years, to self moderate the comments was a pretty unique thing.

      And while /. still is somewhat unique in its moderation system there are so many options for people these days who want to express their viewpoint that it is tough to point to anything that /. might have as a strong draw. I say that also with the idea in mind that so many people prefer to live in their own echo chamber such that they are not often look for an educated discussion, rather just a way to be a part of their flavor of groupthink. (And /. has been guilty of that as well of course.)

      I don't envy you the challenge of keeping /. relevant and something that will not just be a money sink. It would take way more thought than I wish to do here this late at night. (I was hoping that this post would come earlier when the news broke on the web but cest la vie.) However I will say that I will be keeping a close eye on what the direction of the overall site. Especially things like G+ trying to force me to disclose personal information or any thing like that. The very moment I get a bad vibe from the site or the direction I think that it is going I'll add slashdot.org localhost to my hosts file and that will be that.

      Not trying to come across as combative but I felt the need to say as there has been a strong push by many corporations to monetize every part of their IP/data/etc. And I'm not looking for some promise of how exactly you will make /. something other than a money sink. That is for you to figure out...ethically.

      --

      Really, I know what I'm doing...Ohhhh, look at the shiny buttons!
    18. Re:Take back Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      My suggestion is to look at the posting history of people who make suggestions while logged in, so you'll see when they're nutters who need to be ignored. QED.

      AC's dont want to make a reputation for themselves, so they can be judged on their own merits.

    19. Re:Take back Slashdot by alvinrod · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'd disagree. The case for anonymous speech is well established and with Slashdot's default method of displaying comments, you won't see AC posts unless they've been moderated positively a few times. Also, there are plenty of people who don't want an account for whatever reason and the occasional inane troll (that is typically modded to -1 in a few minutes) isn't worth losing the random insightful AC post. You won't fix the problem either as the actual trolls will just create throwaway accounts.

      I can't say that allowing moderation and posting in the same article is a better idea either. There're enough articles that have become political and the people who have strong opinions on the positions they take shouldn't be allowed to mod in the same article. People get too emotionally involved and it will result in more bad moderation or abuse than potential good.

    20. Re:Take back Slashdot by schnell · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So here's some unsolicited advice (yay!):

      Websites that change owners frequently pretty much scream "potentially valuable asset that nobody has figured out how to make money on!" Because if they did actually make money, they wouldn't be getting sold. So Slashdot is a pretty obvious money sink, but it does have a desirable reading audience, many of whom are absurdly vocal about how they don't want to read ads, subscribe or otherwise do anything that would, you know, make the site profitable.

      My advice? Focus on content quality - Slashdot could easily post 3x the stories it does today, and have better QA - just by maybe hiring someone with some journalism credentials rather than making the people who write the back end server code pretend to be editors. Improve the quality and make it "must read" material that people are willing to pay for. And try encouraging some writers to create original content - not BS video interviews with talking heads from sponsors, but actual longform journalism. If Slashdot is actually a good enough read, you can monetize a subscription tier that echoes "Slate Plus," "ESPN Insider," etc.

      In Slashdot's "glory days," it didn't have a lot of competition. There was no Gawker/Gizmodo/iO9/whatever to read about the coolest Star Wars prequel rumors; people came to Slashdot for that. Even though there's a lot of competition now, Slashdot (barely) hangs on to a superior virtue: a better quality of commenters and a better moderation system than other "nerd" sites. Slashdot was never very well managed, even back in the "CmdrTaco/Hemos Glory Days." Inject some QA into the story vetting/writing process and you'll see a resurgence of readership.

      Let me continue to beat this dead horse: all that Slashdot really has going for it is a (minority) smart readership and a superior comment rating system. Explore and improve that. Gamify the f--k out of Karma. Do profiles on crazy frequent Slashdot contributors (not Bennett Hasleton) and let them have a real name and a voice. More badges, go back to numerical representations of karma, give higher upmods to really good contributors, whatever. Reward posters that get a lot of up- or down-mods because they're usually saying something interesting one way or another, even if they're being mod-bombed by ideologues. Reward longer posts. Finally introduce a "-1, Factually Incorrect" mod. This mod system is your real asset - pay some attention to it, which hasn't been done in many many years.

      Thank you for showing up to answer questions. Please continue to be engaged. Slashdot has always shown an astonishing lack of self-awareness! Why were there thousands of off-topic posts about how much Beta sucked and why? Because Slashdot's editors didn't even think through the idea that people have opinions of their product enough to introduce a way for people to have meta-discussions about Slashdot. When your readers/commenters are the "product" to your advertisers, how do you not give them a place to comment/vent/respond about Slashdot itself? In the 15+ years I have read this site, I don't remember a single post from "management" saying "how are we doing? comment here." That's just either willful disregard of feedback or idiocy. And seriously, the site itself gets sold, and the post about it is when somebody else submits a link? YOU DON'T THINK THAT'S SOMETHING YOU COULD HAVE ANNOUNCED YOURSELVES? I mean, WTF?

      Lastly, please just be open. What's working, what's not. I think people would be willing to turn off ad blockers or pay for Slashdot if someone in charge just said, "Hey, we lose money on this site. We need help. How are you willing to support us? Do you want to donate (a la Wikipedia) in exchange for having ads turned off? Would you be willing to subscribe? Can we do more ads if they follow a certain vetting process?"

      It's sad to admit this, but Slashdot has been my "home page" since at least 1999. I'd hate to see it go away, and I'd love to keep it alive and healthy, as long as it's worth keeping.

      --
      "95% of all Slashdot .sig quotes are incorrect or completely fabricated." -Benjamin Franklin
    21. Re:Take back Slashdot by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Could you get feedback from us "veterans" that have been reading /. for the past, say, 15 years?

      i.e. Some of the things I'd like to see fixed:

      - Unicode support
      - Fix the broken "lameness filter" -- You can't even post a reasonable length of code with it, nor provide a list of bullet points with short sentences.
      - No more StartsWithAShill and other trolls
      - Allow older accounts who have good standing being able to post faster. The 4 minute time-out is archaic compared to reddit

    22. Re:Take back Slashdot by sumdumass · · Score: 4, Insightful

      ACs also don't want to be mass down moderated just because someone had to be the adult in the room and state the obvious or wanted to play devil's advocate in order to explore different ends of a position.

      If that annoys you, I suggest you get over it else face a boring echo chamber.

    23. Re:Take back Slashdot by AuMatar · · Score: 4, Informative

      No, it was never supposed to be that way. Firehose itself is pretty new, an attempt to turn slashdot into Digg. Get rid of it, and only put up highly technical articles like in the actual good old days,

      --
      I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
    24. Re: Take back Slashdot by epyT-R · · Score: 2

      +1 Politically Incorrect Truth

    25. Re:Take back Slashdot by epyT-R · · Score: 2

      You meant progress and social justice or 'progress' and 'social justice'?

    26. Re:Take back Slashdot by gangien · · Score: 4, Funny

      You guys should hire Jon Katz.

    27. Re:Take back Slashdot by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No more "APK" posts, ban that spam-laden prick and put in a filter to stop him from polluting this site like he's done for the last several years.

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    28. Re: Take back Slashdot by hambone142 · · Score: 2

      Harumph!

      I wholeheartedly agree.

      (Celebrate diversity, not your diversity, MINE!!)

    29. Re:Take back Slashdot by DerekLyons · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I say that also with the idea in mind that so many people prefer to live in their own echo chamber such that they are not often look for an educated discussion, rather just a way to be a part of their flavor of groupthink. (And /. has been guilty of that as well of course.)

      I was about to say... Part of the reason I'm not on /. so much anymore is that it has become an echo chamber and intolerant of those who don't follow the herd and think according to the groupthink.

      It's neither beta.slashdot nor Dice that killed Slashdot, it's that it failed to remain relevant and increasingly become hostile. As more and more places offered forums or mailing lists or even blog comments... people left Slashdot because "news for nerds" had become "cultism for nerds".

    30. Re:Take back Slashdot by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Since you seem to actually be reading these responses....

      markdown. HTML was the latest and greatest we had when Slashdot came out. Let people write in markdown, restructured text, bbcode, html, latex.... Nikola and iPython can do it.

      Unicode support. It's 2016. For the love of god, Unicode support.

      How about a completely redone-HTML5 skeleton and have a design competition for who can theme it the best. CSS has come pretty far since 2001.

    31. Re:Take back Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I exclusively post AC. I get modded everything from -1 Troll to +5 Insightful to +5 Interesting.

      AC posting encourages discourse and thoughtful expression unrestrained by social taboos. Elimination of AC's deprives the community of uncomfortable truths, criticism of dogma, and edgy satire.

      Socrates was forced to drink poison hemlock in retribution for "sophistry" and making people look foolish. I hold many unpopular opinions that would result in ostracism if vocalized publicly. Some of these opinions are unpopular because they are wrong, and some of them are unpopular because they aren't. Posting anonymously allows me to argue them on their merits and have my beliefs shaped by the persuasiveness of the responses I receive.

      Without this "sounding board" of anonymous speech the opinions which were both wrong and unpopular would have nowhere to go except to fester inside corrupting the integrity of my judgement. In many cases, I will deliberately take an extreme position that I don't believe just to play the devil's advocate and provoke a discussion I believe is worth having.

      Slashdot is where I come to measure the quality of my thoughts, and to learn to more effective persuasion. The readership is more intelligent than the average Reddit user, and as a consequence: the moderation system offers me a somewhat unique way to numerically gauge an argument on it's unbiased merits.

      For all these reasons: Slashdot comments section is a valuable institution providing freedom of speech on the internet and the marketplace of ideas as a whole.

    32. Re:Take back Slashdot by dgatwood · · Score: 4, Informative

      BBCode should also probably be on that list as an input option, ideally with a nice button-based interface for people who don't want to have to mess with typing markup while they write comments. And that interface should be mobile-friendly. If you've ever tried to post from an iPhone even once, you've probably developed a solid hatred for any sort of markup-based posting. The keyboard just doesn't work well for that. But there are ways to make at least semi-usable UIs for mobile devices.

      Speaking of Safari/WebKit, somebody needs to actually try to use this website on Safari on OS X, and fix everything that doesn't work... like the Options button (and, for that matter, most of the overlay views, if memory serves).

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    33. Re:Take back Slashdot by Z00L00K · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I can agree on the Unicode support, but also see a problem with it since it opens up for spammers in Korean, Japanese and a kiloton of other languages as well as using unicode versions of lookalike characters that would make a word readable but hard to catch in spam filters.

      But it may be good to at least review which Unicode characters that may be let through so that we may get a few fresh ones.

      --
      If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
    34. Re:Take back Slashdot by Z00L00K · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It's like removing the salt and spices from the food you eat.

      You need some level of obnoxious people to keep things alive. If everything is just banana smoothies and teletubbies all day long you would get bored pretty quickly.

      --
      If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
    35. Re:Take back Slashdot by Z00L00K · · Score: 3, Funny

      No, you mix it up with NSA - the only agency that really listens to you.

      Slashdot isn't the government though.

      --
      If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
    36. Re:Take back Slashdot by mjwx · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The deal closed less than 24 hours ago. We're going to look at all options in order to improve the experience. And, no, that doesn't mean we're going to roll out a crappy new interface without listening to user feedback. We want to make sure we get it right.

      Hi Whiplash,

      First off, thank you for starting out by engaging the community but as you undoubtedly know we're a cynical, suspicious, curmudgeony lot...

      Well let me put it this way, many of us would like some kind of idea as to what Bizx's long term plans for /. and SourceForge are. Presumably a sum of money exchanged hands for these sites and brands and it is not unreasonable for Bizx to expect to make that money back by some means.

      The promises of listening to the community and doing right are all good and well... but as I said we're a cynical and curmudgeony lot so we're quick to go into "we've heard all this before" mode. Also that Bizx is a marketing company, knowing their motivations and desired outcomes would help allay many of our suspicions.

      BTW, FWIW I hope for the best (experience sadly, has taught me to expect the worst). Also feature request: may we have an option to have an automatic translation of US customary measurements into Metric.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    37. Re:Take back Slashdot by mcrbids · · Score: 2

      Wish I had mod points! So, I'll agree, blah blah.

      It seems absurd to have lameness filters that seem to specifically target code on a site that caters to the coder types! And the 4 minute limit is just silly. Back when it was still publicly shown, I had karma out the yin yang. I'm sure I still do, even though it's no longer displayed in any form that I can tell.

      Slashdot trumps Reddit for quality of articles, Reddit bests Slashdot for UI and comment participation, though posting on Reddit has become such a land mine I don't bother unless I'm on a very small/exclusive subreddit)

      --
      I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
    38. Re:Take back Slashdot by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 2

      Well, we also want the f-word banned. And the c-word, the b-word, several s-words, and for some reason a z-word (but only if you pronounce that as zed-word).

      --
      If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
    39. Re:Take back Slashdot by istartedi · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Gamify the f--k out of Karma.

      We've both been around long enough to remember numerical Karma, I think. I know I remember building up a fairly high number, and then "spending" it with some silly trolls just for grins and giggles. Have you thought through the whole idea of gamifying it?

      Anyway, I don't actively block ads on Slashdot--they're just collateral damage of script blocking. The script blocking is just there to avoid security and/or poor page performance issues. If the new owners can actually find a way to make me view ads without killing the site, they wouldn't just be fixing Slashdot--they'd be demonstrating a model that could fix the web in general.

      Yes, that's a tall order and I'm skeptical. I don't know if it's the ad networks or the advertisers, or what; but the state of the art in ads is for them to be annoying as hell to end-users. You'd have to go back to regular old non-animated GIFs served from the same domain in order for me to view ads, and I think that's a tough sell to advertisers, or ad-networks, or anybody that's built a web site in the past 15 years.

      This is not quite the same as gamifying Karma, but I think if they borrowed the "gold" concept from reddit and kept their hands off the moderation and Karma systems they might have something. You know how that works? Users buy "gold" for other users. Getting gold unlocks some site features, the money goes to reddit. There is a thing that tells you how much server time the gold purchase has provided.

      I'm not sure how much of reddit is funded by gold, but it's probably a big chunk. I've gotten it once--it's way harder to get than a +5 comment, at least for me; but then I don't intentionally try to play to that crowd just for Internet points...

      --
      For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
    40. Re:Take back Slashdot by Hussman32 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I agree more should be given, but at least let you keep the points when you do get them (right now you lose them in three days, which always feels like two days). If I'm in a rush I wouldn't use the mod points as well as if I had time to think about them.

      --
      "Who are you?" "No one of consequence." "I must know." "Get used to disappointment."
    41. Re:Take back Slashdot by BronsCon · · Score: 2

      lameness filter would catch the excessive unicode

      --
      APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
    42. Re:Take back Slashdot by tlhIngan · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Websites that change owners frequently pretty much scream "potentially valuable asset that nobody has figured out how to make money on!" Because if they did actually make money, they wouldn't be getting sold. So Slashdot is a pretty obvious money sink, but it does have a desirable reading audience, many of whom are absurdly vocal about how they don't want to read ads, subscribe or otherwise do anything that would, you know, make the site profitable.

      I think that's the vocal minority.

      First, - ads. There's a lot of ads (regular ads, not the sponsored articles) and most of them are quite irrelevant, motion and browser-slow crap. Find some tasteful self-hosted manually-screened ads appropriate to the audience, and only have one, or two tops on a page.

      Second - subscriptions. Offer subscriptions and promote the benefits. One of the biggest ones is subscribers get HTTPS access (!). Given the current environment, sell that - let people subscribe for HTTPS. Naturally get rid of the ads (you're buying privacy!) but hey, now you have a value-add that many people would find valuable. People don't care for early access to stories - they want real features. HTTPS is one of those.

      If you're an SEO company, you should know exactly your audience to optimize for them. If they did their research, they should know what the audience wants.

    43. Re:Take back Slashdot by Mal-2 · · Score: 4, Informative

      And no more paywalled source articles we can't read, please. Sorry StartsWithABang, it's not personal, but you write for a publication that doesn't want us ad-blocking types as readers.

      --
      How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
    44. Re:Take back Slashdot by Trepidity · · Score: 2

      Rather than responding directly to this suggestion, I'd like to go to the archives and quote an Anonymous Coward from 2001:

      I hate jon katz
      he is so fats
      he sucks on dicks
      and shits on cats

    45. Re:Take back Slashdot by rastos1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If slashdot would not mangle characters such as pound, euro, quotes, copyright sign and few others, then it would be more than enough for me.

    46. Re:Take back Slashdot by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      I don't mind Bennett's posts. They are a good opportunity to vent some anger and frustration, and occasionally write something witty.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    47. Re:Take back Slashdot by dave420 · · Score: 2

      Seeing as there is more than one "gallon", you have to be more specific. As soon as you define which gallon you are referring to, Google gets it perfectly correct.

    48. Re:Take back Slashdot by jellomizer · · Score: 2
      • - Unicode support: We can put in a few more codes. But lets not get crazy here. We wouldn't want to really mess things up too much. The problem with some more modern sites is they get messy allowing people to be too creative in what characters they use. Slashdot is more of read the text. Not make it fanciful. A few extra characters say for mathematics could be useful though.
      • - Fix the broken "lameness filter": This is Slashdot not Stack Exchange. posting long code will not help explain your point. While I don't think I have ever ran across problems with a billeted list.
      • - No more StartsWithAShill and other trolls: Trolling has always been a problem on Slashdot and it is hard to fix. Part of the problem is this is suppose to be an area to express your free ideas and a community govern moderating system. This means sometimes controversial ideas or unpopular ones will be labeled as trolls, just because the moderator disagrees with it. But it isn't deleted.
      • - Allow older accounts...: Ohh you used a free web site longer then someone else. Go pat yourself on the back, and bask in your mountains of participation trophies.
      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    49. Re:Take back Slashdot by jcr · · Score: 2

      So, does that mean an end to the SJW bullshit we've been seeing lately?

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    50. Re:Take back Slashdot by goarilla · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I agree, we need the liberty to post AC so "con-conformist"/contraversial ideas or uncomfortable issues can get attention.
      I sometimes post AC myself on a topic I want to know more about to incite knowledgeable people to inform me for example.
      Maybe we should only allow anonymous posts from real accounts, so the drive-by AC's and lazy trolls can't abuse it.
      Like an anonymous "idea box" in an office. It's sort of anonymous but only from the people who are employees.

    51. Re:Take back Slashdot by tehcyder · · Score: 3

      Please fuck off. Slashdot is not Slashdot without the AC.

      Says the AC...

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    52. Re:Take back Slashdot by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Funny

      I truly loved his articles.

      Ok, that's overstating it. I loved it when he wrote an article. The content was negligible but you could count on really awesome comments.

      One could say his articles were like the dud auditions on American Idle. You don't watch it for the crappy performance but for the vitriolic comments.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    53. Re:Take back Slashdot by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I always found it hilarious how he never took on board any of the comments. People would give him useful hints like "it's too long", "this is rambling drivel" or "you have no idea what you are talking about, you fucking idiot" and he'd just ignore them and post the same shit the next week. I assumed it was some kind of parody, or maybe he was going for a kind of "most hated man on the internet" clickbait.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    54. Re:Take back Slashdot by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      And no more paywalled source articles we can't read, please. Sorry StartsWithABang, it's not personal,

      ...but your articles are shit and you are shit. Wait, maybe it is personal. Because his articles are shit. They are never the best article on any subject.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    55. Re:Take back Slashdot by SadButResolved · · Score: 2

      Most of schnell's post above are good ideas.

      Paid Subscribers getting +1 karma on all posts. There will not be many at first, perhaps gift some subscriptions to posters that have a clear head, and valuable insite.

      Gather up all ideas and come up with a polling system with the ones you like best. I'm sure we would all be very happy to discuss the changes in advance with the polling results.

      There is no reason this site couldn't be a hybrid reviewer of smart items on wiki, amazon (bb-8 toys), maker mag, or things like that. Mostly its all just comments, but the posts are in some cases, very insightful, even if they are not factual. This would help monetize the site without ticking everyone off, if you sprinkle some of these in with clear labeling.

      Promote less mainstream/fanboi and more cutting edge, once it goes mainstream may of us have lost interest in it already, and the fanboi's come out.

      Add a second karma like ranking: "Not factual", "no cited reference included", "reference not factual". This ranking should be next too and not replace the karma ranking.

      Remember to gather up the useful suggestions and let the community have some participation/voting/dialog on what you intend as changes. The Warcry "Remember the Beta!" or "F--- the Beta", is not the results you want.. Heed the advice, many of your site users can have 10x the experience of you or your coworkers, in just about every topic.

      GL.

    56. Re:Take back Slashdot by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      Part of the reason I'm not on /. so much anymore is that it has become an echo chamber and intolerant of those who don't follow the herd and think according to the groupthink.

      For a while I felt like that too, but I realized that actually it's not nearly as homogeneous as people think. When it was really bad it was because the ant-feminist SJWs were mass downvoting anyone posting contrary opinions. Eventually people saw what has happening and started meta-moderating them to death, and now saying something contrary to the MRA narrative isn't a guaranteed -1 flamebait any more.

      It can take a while, but Slashdot usually self-corrects these things. It would be nice if the moderation system was a bit faster to self-correct, but don't give up on it.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    57. Re:Take back Slashdot by Trailer+Trash · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There is a limit on the size that something can grow when it doesn't embrace mainstream culture, but entities that attempt to make that transition usually falter as they alienate their subculture userbase far faster than they attract mainstream participation. That may mean that Slashdot and other sites like it have an upper bound, but it's better than closing up shop.

      That's exactly right. It's the Unix philosophy: do one thing and do it right.

      I think it's useful to know that a lot of us around here have been here for literally decades at this point. It's hard to believe. I'm a mid-5-digit-uid guy and I've been here since 1998 or 1999. But the site has almost been around for 20 years now. We've grown up here. I was around 30 when I signed up, I'm almost 48 now.

      Slashdot is seeing the same trend as everywhere else where most younger kids are going somewhere else and this is a fairly consistent bunch of older guys. The point is that if you lose us there's unlikely to be anyone waiting in the wings to take our place.

      The Dice years - as they'll be known historically - sucked. We don't care about SJW stories. I mean, seriously, a bunch of 50 year old guys just don't give a fuck about that shit. Excuse my French.

      Let's have news for nerds. We've done it before. We saved Hotmail, we spammed Alan Ralsky in real life, we had fun.

      Let's get back there.

    58. Re:Take back Slashdot by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 2

      Slashdot, a North American website, can't even display French and Spanish - the official languages of NAFTA.

      Metal heads can't type in the name of their fave band because of the umlaut, Mathematics nerds can't use greek letters in formulas and linguistic nerds would benefit from IPA.

      At the very least, white-list certain character ranges and combos.

    59. Re:Take back Slashdot by houghi · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I would like to see a difference in anonymous because of not logging in and anonymous who has otherwise an excelent karma, but doe not want to reveal himself because of reasons (e.g. to give info they are not allowed to give).

      They should get a +1 by default and any +1 does not reflect on their karma, but any -1 would. That way you have the ability of posting anonymous, still not be at the bottom and no sillpostings just saying 'n*gg*rs' or 'frist post' as that would harm their karma.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    60. Re:Take back Slashdot by shawn2772 · · Score: 2

      Also feature request: may we have an option to have an automatic translation of US customary measurements into Metric.

      Even Google can't get that right. Try typing in "1 gallon in litres" and see what it gives you. I get 4.54609, and someone in the US gets 3.78541, and anywhere else in the world I have no idea.

      That is Google getting it impressively right, assuming you live in a region where the imperial gallon is used.

      Try typing "1 US gallon in liters" or "1 imperial gallon in liters" (or "litres" if you have that oddly-specific dyslexia common in British Commonwealth countries).

    61. Re:Take back Slashdot by Forgefather · · Score: 2

      How about as a bonus to subscribers mod points expire in more time? Unless I am willing to dump 15 mod points into a single discussion then I am rarely able to spend them all. It makes the process feel a little pointless. How bout a subscriber's mod points take a week or so to expire instead of a few days? That would be a value add for me.

      I would NOT however give mod points based on subscriber status as that violates the principal that mod points should be distributed to the people who occupy the middle ground so as to encourage a more moderate discussion, and I am NOT advocating that the mod points should exceed the current 5-15 distribution. Armed with 15 mod points I can almost shape the entire discussion thread as is. If someone was able to accrue a large pile of points I shudder to think of the damage.

      Having extra time on mod points would enable people to pay for convenience and time. It is something that I would spend money on if it were an option.

      --
      "There are lies, there are damn lies, and there are statistics"
    62. Re:Take back Slashdot by JazzLad · · Score: 2

      Finally introduce a "-1, Factually Incorrect" mod.

      I would love to see this coupled with signing mods - but only in the case of this mod. If I am expert enough in a field to call someone out as "Factually Incorrect" I should be willing to identify myself (but only for that mod and initially there should be a notification asking 'are you sure?' giving mods that don't pay enough attention to change their mind). Oh, and an 'undo mod' within 20 seconds of modding would be great! No more 'posting to undo accidental mod' posts.

      --
      "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." - Every fascist, ever
    63. Re: Take back Slashdot by WoOS · · Score: 2

      And maybe we (yes, we!) can cut back on uselessly exagerated, ridiculing strawmen to derise a non-agreed opinion. Just because other people's posts seem to be completely stupid doesn't mean they require hateful responses. One could just ignore them.
      I at least promise to do so. As a new year's eve resolution. Of next year.

      Why did I post this? Because although I remember some news stories on women in tech (which I might have agreed with or not), I can't remember any story implying "everyone in your industry are chauvenists assholes and you owe us a place in your ranks". Let's stay at the facts.

    64. Re:Take back Slashdot by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 2

      +1, Awesome.

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    65. Re:Take back Slashdot by DerekLyons · · Score: 2

      It's not a guaranteed -1 flamebait anymore, no. But it's still not likely to be heard unless the reader is browsing a +1 or +2 (essentially reading the unmoderated posts).

      But it's not just Gamergate and feminism. (The latter is still likely to be moderated down. /. really is a He-man Woman Haters Club most days.) It's politics (conservatives, even if not of the flaming nutjob variety), and philosophy (don't dare question FOSS), and cults of personality (don't even think about not gushing about Musk), and... so many other things. Etc.. etc...

      Meta-moderation, over the long run, hasn't really made things better - because the inmates are running the asylum either way.

    66. Re:Take back Slashdot by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 2

      I'd pay just to get the comment limit ("You have exceeded the maximum number ...") and the rate limiter both go away.

    67. Re:Take back Slashdot by Reziac · · Score: 2

      Fixed! Thanks.

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
  3. BIZX is destroying Slashdot!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Man, things sure were a lot better back when Dice owned this place.

    1. Re:BIZX is destroying Slashdot!!! by Darinbob · · Score: 5, Funny

      Feels like it was only yesterday. Such is nostalgia.

    2. Re:BIZX is destroying Slashdot!!! by penguinoid · · Score: 5, Funny

      Back in my day, people would wait more than a day before pining for the old days. They sure don't make nostalgia like they used to.

      --
      Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
    3. Re:BIZX is destroying Slashdot!!! by grcumb · · Score: 4, Funny

      I for one welcome our new BIZX overlords! Wait, WTF is a BIZX anyhow?

      It's what you IZX after I make you eat my SHIZX, BIZX.

      Fo-SHIZX my DIZX, BIZX.

      --
      Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
    4. Re:BIZX is destroying Slashdot!!! by Chmarr · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Bizx LLC is an advertising and marketing company. So... I don't really hold out much hope of improvement.

    5. Re:BIZX is destroying Slashdot!!! by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      I dunno, this could be the great experiment that saves internet advertising. If they can succeed on Slashdot, they can succeed anywhere.

      How about this. Instead of banner ads and sponsored stories that get blocked by many people anyway, let's have some real contact with the people offering these services. Not just the usual Slashdot video interviews that are basically ads, I mean get them to write a short intro for their product and why it's worth using (with a lameness filter for buzzwords) and then answer questions in the usual way. If their product is actually any good it could work out really well for them.

      Of course, most people who buy banner ads and paid stories are trying to sell you shit, so for them it would suck...

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  4. Serious question by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The announcement implies there are 30 (thirty) people working at SlashDot. Given the poorly edited article summaries and near-daily front page dups, what do these thirty people actually DO?

    1. Re:Serious question by jandrese · · Score: 5, Funny

      Presumably they're working hard on not supporting Unicode.

      --

      I read the internet for the articles.
    2. Re:Serious question by MightyYar · · Score: 5, Funny

      Cold-calling people for ads?

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    3. Re:Serious question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Browsing Reddit for stories.

    4. Re:Serious question by whipslash · · Score: 2

      SlashDot and SourceForge were both part of the transaction. SourceForge has a much larger staff.

    5. Re:Serious question by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yes, a soupçon of Unicode support would be a boon to those of us who wish to drop in the occasional pretentious foreign phrase, name-drop our visit to Düsseldorf or Tromsø, or bring up El Niño for the umpteenth time.

    6. Re:Serious question by Garybaldy · · Score: 2

      WOW. You have got the lowest number i have seen so far. Most impressive.

    7. Re:Serious question by dgatwood · · Score: 4, Informative

      Because right now, you have to write ñ as ñ instead of just hitting option-n followed by n.

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    8. Re:Serious question by Kobun · · Score: 2

      SourceForge has a much larger staff.

      If ever there was a situation to aggressively reduce headcount, this seems like it.

    9. Re:Serious question by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 2

      I don't need to see representations of shit in the text of comments on Slashdot.

      You really are new around here.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  5. Re:Must be desperate to buy noted malware host SF by whipslash · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Our first order of business is to get rid of any malware and deceptive advertisements. Check out the plans here: http://fossforce.com/2016/01/s...

  6. Better financial models? by shanen · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well, my main reaction is "What? Again?" Been following slashdot off and on for some years, and mostly impressed by the LOST potential. Could do so much better, but obviously the financial models don't work that way.

    Say.... What if you could buy a $10 charity share to implement a new feature or support a server for the next year? If enough people chip in, then the feature gets funded or the server keeps running. If not, maybe you'll see something else you want to support--or they can rewrite the project until it is persuasive enough to get the donors. I think most people are basically nice folks, and if you make it easier to do nice things, then they will do so.

    Point to the opposite extreme. Microsoft has terrible service, but their financial model works great. Ditto a number of other highly offensive but profitable companies, usually distinguished by their mediocre software and services. Slashdot (and open source) could do better?

    --
    Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
  7. Open to Questions by whipslash · · Score: 5, Informative

    Logan Abbott from BIZX here. Happy to answer any questions.

    1. Re:Open to Questions by 110010001000 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Here is a question: are you planning on posting more Ghostkillah stories that link to TMZ? Because that is totally the Slashdot audience.

    2. Re:Open to Questions by whipslash · · Score: 4, Informative

      No

    3. Re:Open to Questions by Nethemas+the+Great · · Score: 2

      How do you folks plan to monetize us this time? Dice seemed to pride themselves in making us feel like a jilted lover. Are we in for more of the same? Or can you offer us reason for new hope?

      --
      Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once ... with negative results.
    4. Re:Open to Questions by 110010001000 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Darn.

    5. Re:Open to Questions by whipslash · · Score: 5, Informative

      The deal just closed less than 24 hours ago, so there are no immediate plans other than to try and gauge the community and make sure what we do is inline with the original Slashdot spirit. Our company is profitable, so we have no reason to resort to desperate deceptive or underhanded methods in order to make money. Our focus is making sure this community has the support it needs.

    6. Re:Open to Questions by shri · · Score: 5, Funny

      You paid money for Slashdot and could not work out a lower user id than 4433507 as a part of the sale?!??!

      I'd go for 666 if you were you. :)

    7. Re:Open to Questions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Logan, thanks for introducing yourself to me and answering my questions posted as AC in the SpaceX article. I've been around here since around 1999, so I've seen things change a lot over time. I have some suggestions to make, and I'd be interested to hear what you and the other editors have to say.

      * Bring back a focus on Linux and FOSS. While I enjoy other topics, too, this is a sister site to SourceForge and FOSS is in Slashdot's DNA. Slsahdot used to have lots of sections (Ask Slashdot, Apple, BSD, YRO, Science, etc...) and some of the stories now posted to the front page could go into those sections. There were stories whenever new versions of the Linux kernel, FreeBSD distributions, and some software packages. Those were good and placed a greater emphasis on FOSS. Renewing a focus on YRO would be great, too, because those rights are under attack now more than ever.

      * There used to be a good amount of original content on Slashdot, things like interviews, book reviews, articles written by Jon Katz. I understand that it may not be worth paying someone to write original content, but why not solicit it from users? I'd love to see more of an emphasis on Ask Slashdot and interviews.

      * There were also follow-ups on stories that had been posted recently, and they were grouped together into a single article. This was called Slashback. As I recall, that was posted weekly. I'd love to see that come back.

      * Please eliminate the restrictions that only allow users posting at -1 to post twice a day. Yes, they're trolls, but they'd also post in journals and converse with other users in their journals. I think there's more AC trolling because of those restrictions (I'm guilty of this), more mod points and effort wasted, and perhaps less interaction between logged-in users. While they're trolls, they were also responsible for much of the culture and humor of this site (e.g., ALL YOUR BASE, IN SOVIET RUSSIA, Natalie Portman and hot grits, can you imagine a Beowulf cluster of, etc...) and were entertaining. It's part of what made the site fun for a lot of people, and I think you'd bring more people here if you relaxed some of the restrictions.

      * I'd love to see the current code powering Slashdot to be released as FOSS. One of the great things about Slashdot was Slashcode. It also brought in some community involvement as people could suggest and implement improvements to the site. While this was probably quite a small percentage of users, some contributed and others ran Slash on their own sites. It was also a great gesture that a site about FOSS also released its own code as FOSS.

      * Editors were generally unwilling to link to paywalled sites or sites that did sketchy things. The NY Times was the one exception to this. I'd like to see less things on sketchy sites and those with obnoxious ads (Forbes). If people like Ethan want people to read their content, I'd rather they submit the content as stories on Slashdot rather than linking to Forbes, which has served malware ads while demanding people turn off their ad blockers.

    8. Re:Open to Questions by Bite+The+Pillow · · Score: 5, Funny

      Where the hell did Beta go? Everyone here seemed on board and then whoosh, nothing. Like a giant vacuum where no one can hear you compliment the web 3.0 interface. It's a wasted opportunity.

    9. Re:Open to Questions by lgw · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Where the hell did Beta go? Everyone here seemed on board and then whoosh, nothing. Like a giant vacuum where no one can hear you compliment the web 3.0 interface. It's a wasted opportunity.

      That ... that goes beyond the pale, even for Slashdot trolling. You might as well be reading out load from the Necronomicon.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    10. Re:Open to Questions by Krishnoid · · Score: 2

      How did your parents pick the name 'Logan'?

      Well, you did say *any* questions.

    11. Re:Open to Questions by whipslash · · Score: 4, Funny

      I wish I would have met you before we signed the contract. ;)

    12. Re:Open to Questions by whipslash · · Score: 5, Informative

      Get rid of the deceptive ad practices and unwanted bundled offers. Improve the feature set. More here: http://fossforce.com/2016/01/s...

    13. Re:Open to Questions by whipslash · · Score: 2

      My pop's favorite movie was "Logan's Run" - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt00...

    14. Re:Open to Questions by troutman · · Score: 4

      I like that plan. I wish you well. Remember always that you are now a steward of a couple of big pieces of internet history and lore.

    15. Re:Open to Questions by whipslash · · Score: 2

      It's been less than 24 hours since the deal closed. We're looking at all our options but priority #1 is listening to feedback, hence this story.

    16. Re:Open to Questions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Man your 30th birthday is going to SUCK!

    17. Re:Open to Questions by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 2

      Some paywalled sites allow direct linking to articles. These should be exempt from the nuke-from-orbit order.

    18. Re:Open to Questions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Uhh.. paraphrasing Donald Trump might not be the best of ideas.

    19. Re:Open to Questions by penguinoid · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Can we save the cynicism for when they actually do something bad?

      --
      Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
    20. Re:Open to Questions by grcumb · · Score: 2

      My pop's favorite movie was "Logan's Run" - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt00...

      I know I speak for everyone here in the Slashdot family when I say, "Sorry to hear that."

      :-)

      --
      Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
    21. Re:Open to Questions by Kobun · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Hello Whipslash, thank you for taking the time to answer questions here.

      I've seen this comment by you a few times and I wanted to add my two cents. Hopefully this is as good a place as any to add them.

      SourceForge damaged themselves to an incredible degree in my eyes by their various deceptive practices. The tone-deaf (and obviously fake) customer care team responses about dealing with the malware, coupled with the lack of follow-up to any of their promises about the matter, was particularly insulting. That being said, SourceForge is not dead to me.

      However, individual projects are. The people behind some of the more popular software projects hosted at SourceForge were all too happy to jump onboard with malware bullshit and to spin and spin to try and justify their decision. FileZilla and PDFCreator come to mind immediately, and I'm sure I could think of another half-dozen if I went back through the software I use day-to-day and consider my history on that item's function.

      My recommendation (which I hope you will consider, but not necessarily follow) would be to hunt these projects down, decapitate them, and actively solicit a functional replacement (sponsor the fork!). I will NEVER use FileZilla again. I will NEVER use PDFCreator again. I may remove the DNS blackhole that currently keeps my organization safe from SourceForge's current shitpile, but the project folks who were happy to compromise themselves can burn in hell forever.

      Without quality software, there will never be any reason to again visit SourceForge, with or without malware smeared all over its pages.

      Thanks again for stopping in. You've got a hell of an uphill battle with SourceForge, I wish you the best of luck.

    22. Re:Open to Questions by Z00L00K · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Some details to consider:
      1. Promote the Firehose more ( http://slashdot.org/recent ) - it seems that too few people don't realize that they can vote for stories that they have.
      2. Improved spam filtering so that links to stories on questionable sites doesn't have to appear at all. Also comment spam like this APK spam that has started to appear lately should at least be slowed. (Moderation option "Spam" that can be used without mod point loss should be possible for comments that have some spam characteristics, and if a number of moderators tag it as Spam it probably is.)
      3. There's no guide to what the color coding means in the Firehose.

      --
      If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
    23. Re:Open to Questions by shri · · Score: 2

      +1 for having a sense of humor. :)

    24. Re:Open to Questions by KGIII · · Score: 3

      Also, we're going to need a picture of you, you personally. It must be naked and you should be wearing nothing but batter for steak fried chicken. Oh, and party hat. The party hat is not optional, it is something you just have to do if you want to fit in here. Don't worry, we've all done it - you'll be a better person for it.

      This part is optional, but is preferred. It would be ideal if you could pose for that picture in a setting that is interesting. Most of us really like pictures from inside police parking lots. So, if you could get that picture from inside a police parking lot - you'd not have to worry about longevity of your account. You would be, I assure you, an immediate legend.

      I guess, if you really want to fit in, then you could try doing us all a huge favor and riding a flaming motorcycle (this is why the party hat is essential, you might live in an area with helmet laws and we'd not want you to be hurt) on your way to take this picture? It might be a bit too much to ask and I'd hate to be presumptuous but if you can get the whole thing on video then we'd be so much more likely to accept you as one of us.

      You do want to be one of us, right? I mean, come on, everybody wants to be accepted. Myself? Oh, it was slightly worse in my day. In my day, we had to do all of the above but we had to use hot grits. Let me tell you, that'll leave a mark! Everyone was so happy when I showed up at the parking lot to take the picture that they immediately threw a party for me.

      (You might not want to talk to us. Oh, it looks like a good idea on paper, as so many things do, but the reality is just a wee bit different but we do appreciate the effort you're making. I also figure that you need to be broken in properly. They don't call me Mr. Lubricator for nothing. Wait, it might have been Mr. Lucubrater... No, it definitely wasn't that last one... Ah well... But they called me something, damn it! Legend? Legendary? Oh, wait, I remember - they called "Asshole" and I told them that they were mistaken. It's "Mr. Asshole." Thank you very much!)

      (I did mention, in a prior post, that you'll adjust.)

      (I think I mentioned verbosity, as well.)

      (Oh, if you take any of the above either personal or wrong - you will not do well here. There's either a madness to my method or a method to my madness. It's a matter of perspective, I guess.)

      (Oh, they tell me that I'm sane. They also tell me that that's not how you use a stethoscope, that'll be $50, and get the hell out of my office. I seem to recall a little something about office supplies and being called a monster - also something about that not actually being humanly possible? I was dreadfully drunk at the time.)

      (If you have not smiled, at least once while reading this, means that I have failed at my task. In all seriousness, welcome.)

      (And if you've not yet run away screaming, you'll be fine. However, please be aware that this is a test. It might be a test of the Emergency Broadcast System but it is still a test.)

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    25. Re:Open to Questions by Wolfrider · · Score: 2

      --Good on ya, thanks :-)

      --
      .
      == WolfriderV6 == I'm willing to admit that *I just might* be wrong... Are you??
  8. The layoff part can't be true by damn_registrars · · Score: 4, Funny

    There is no remaining evidence of anyone working at slashdot to layoff...

    --
    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
  9. Re:Possibly Good? by Xtifr · · Score: 5, Funny

    [...]and we can get some editors who actually read the site?

    And destroy a tradition that dates back to when the site was independent, and run for love not money? Blasphemy!

  10. From their website by dreamchaser · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "As a leading digital media company, we publish hundreds of popular web sites and provide advertising solutions for multiple industries such as travel & tourism, telecommunications, personal finance, credit, business products and more."

    I'm not sure if that is good or bad, but I think we can probably expect more ads.

    1. Re:From their website by whipslash · · Score: 2

      We're going to focus on doing a few things better rather than trying to do a lot of things poorly just to make ends meet from a business perspective.

    2. Re:From their website by ksheff · · Score: 4, Funny

      but less articles that are just shills for dice.com. Maybe there will be a "travel & tourism" series for nerds who venture outside of their mom's basement.

      --
      the good ground has been paved over by suicidal maniacs
  11. NEW OVERLORDS by DuncanE · · Score: 4, Funny

    I for one welcome our new BIZX overlords... oh man I feel so lame ;-p

  12. Attention new management by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Can you please weed out the bullshiat "you are all cows" homophobic rant posts that have been defiling this once great site for far too long?

    1. Re:Attention new management by 110010001000 · · Score: 5, Funny

      They could block him with a custom HOSTS file.

  13. Along with new management, great new changes! by Krishnoid · · Score: 4, Funny

    I hear they'll redo the site to update it with a more modern look. I think they'll set up a site with test modifications, and call it 'Slashdot Bis' while collecting feedback, which they expect will be nearly universally positive.

  14. About BIZX by Brama · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Existing sites from BIZX are sites such as MyVoipProvider.com and 123Business.com. Just.. look at those two and draw your own conclusions.

    1. Re:About BIZX by 110010001000 · · Score: 2

      We prefer the term "SEO", not scammers!

    2. Re:About BIZX by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 4, Funny

      "It looks like I went back in a time tunnel to 1998. "

      As opposed to how joyously Slashdotters receive the smallest change to that 1998 style.

  15. Re:Must be desperate to buy noted malware host SF by Sarten-X · · Score: 3, Interesting

    How about getting rid of non-functioning "Disable Advertising" buttons?

    --
    You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
  16. Offshore by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Funny

    This probably means all us commenters are going to have to train our Chinese replacements.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
    1. Re:Offshore by Pseudonymous+Powers · · Score: 3, Funny

      Legacy Slashdotter: Okay, Chuan-Li, this is a story about a personnel change in the production team for a prequel to the Star Trek reboot, so you're going to need to say something snarky about U.S. labor law, but phrase it in terms of the plot of episode three of season four of TNG.

      Chuan-Li: I... want a raise.

  17. Re:so long by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2

    Where's the cows guy when you really need him?

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  18. Re:Must be desperate to buy noted malware host SF by whipslash · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yeah we noticed those. We'll get them fixed.

  19. Re:so long by lucm · · Score: 2

    Where's the cows guy when you really need him?

    How can you be sure it's a guy? Are you saying that women can't be cows?

    #cowsgate

    --
    lucm, indeed.
  20. Re:Possibly Good? by whipslash · · Score: 4, Funny

    Waht?

  21. Re:so long by flopsquad · · Score: 2

    Where's the cows guy when you really need him?

    How can you be sure it's a guy? Are you saying that women can't be cows?

    #cowsgate

    Moo.

    Brought to you by the "C" in LGBPTTQQIIAA+C.

    --
    Nothing posted to /. has ever been legal advice, including this.
  22. Re:How does this work? by whipslash · · Score: 2

    Believe it or not, usually you can just start the process by emailing them or messaging them on LinkedIn.

  23. Re:two wishes by whipslash · · Score: 2

    Saved these suggestions as well. Thank you.

  24. Re:Must be desperate to buy noted malware host SF by gl4ss · · Score: 2

    while you're at it make them work for mobile and more importantly: get rid of the ads provider that is trying to install apk's when visited from asia. it's those half screen ads on the mobile site, every now often there's some advert or another that jumps the page to some page that links to an apk trying to get an install.

    this kind of ads got served at least to thailand not too long ago.

    --
    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  25. Re:Must be desperate to buy noted malware host SF by whipslash · · Score: 2

    Comin' right up.

  26. That's exactly what Slashdot should NOT do! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Holy fuck. The last thing Slashdot needs is to become another censoring shithole like Reddit or HN. If those sites have taught us anything it's that it's preferable to have real, true, open discussion, even if that means putting up with a few so-called "troll" comments every now and then.

    If you want dumb, inane, watered-down discussion, then they the fuck don't you just go to Reddit and stay there?

    Slashdot has a great opportunity to reinvent itself as a tech/science/math-focused site with an emphasis on unhindered discussion. The censorship you propose doesn't help with achieving that goal. In fact, what you're proposing will destroy Slashdot faster than anyone could ever imagine.

    So-called "trolls" are a good thing. They're a sign of vibrant, vigorous discussion. That's why we see so few of them at Reddit or HN: those sites have the blandest circle-jerk discussion the world has ever seen!

    1. Re: That's exactly what Slashdot should NOT do! by Cylix · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It is a terrible trend of new age media to down vote dissenting views. Only group think supported here!

      --
      "You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." -- Yogi Berra
    2. Re: That's exactly what Slashdot should NOT do! by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It is a terrible trend of new age media to down vote dissenting views. Only group think supported here!

      I'd be happy if moderators learned the difference between sarcasm, humor, making valid point and actual troll / flamebait and didn't get their undies inappropriately bunched. [ Note: I'm not holding my breath. ]

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    3. Re: That's exactly what Slashdot should NOT do! by pz · · Score: 2

      And it didn't used to happen as much at Slashdot, but it has started happening more and more, recently.

      Back in the day (pre-DICE), you would get good, opposing views on a subject, when warranted. These days, it's hard to say anything that goes against the flow without getting voted down.

      As an example, I have, repeatedly, criticized the Bennet Hasselton dren that gets posted here, not because everyone else is, but because BH's writing is short-sighted, naive, and not worth my time to read. I'm happy that he seems to have faded away. What is so annoying about BH's posts? They usually start out with a mildly interesting idea, are long enough that they should be well-reasoned, but, about halfway through, one realizes that his writing reflects a college freshman level intellectual capacity. No more, please, thankyouverymuch.

      However, I found mysefl starting to join the bandwagon for StartsWithABang just because everyone else was bashing his posts. I found the posts to be often mildly interesting, sometimes informative. I dislike the straight-line pipe he has to publishing on Slashdot, and the linkage to Forbes, which seems to swamp any potential discussion of the value of his posts. That's the groupthink in action, and, personally, I dislike it in me and in others.

      The original premise of Slashdot was that individuals would moderate, and meta-moderate, honestly and, for the most part, accurately, reflecting an objective view rather than a subjective one. I call on the new owners to help us return to that model.

      --

      Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
  27. Re:The moderation system needs massive changes. by sumdumass · · Score: 2

    We also need a wtf and stupid mod.

    Don't reveal moderators name or anything. Just limit their ability to mod the same poster to a couple times per mod session and make meta moderation a priority again.

  28. Hire some new coders... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Seasoned C++ dev here and would love to work remote for you writing new code. Attend conferences, etc.

    Reader every single day of my life since 1999, always posting anon but I do have a 4-5 digit UID iirc.

    Surely you have heard of what the Soylent News guys are doing... I could never remember to keep going there but I did like what they were doing and I think you should offer to join forces with them. They had sane demands.

    Wish you got back to the hacker/code-monkey feel with extensive coverage of open source conferences and a more relaxed editorial tone. The sarcasm and non-pc tones especially shaped the feel that I enjoyed.

    Keep politics out of here *except* all the privacy issues as well as NSA and government surveillance stuff which should be *increased* in volume. Examples....
            * John Kerry doing X/Y/Z -> NO
            * Senate passing a bill to backdoor encryption -> YES
            * Trump insults $MINORITY -> NO
            * Russian hackers infiltrate $COUNTRY's telcom and ISPs -> YES
            * Hillary takes a poop -> NO

    Help expose people to new things they've never heard of instead of just repeating the already-trending buzzwords. For instance when everyone else talks about a new Arduino board (could care less), perhaps you could mention something more obscure and hacker-ish such as ZigBee or whatever. If my non-tech-savy friend knows all the issues, please don't cover it here. Only new stuff without repeating it.

    Important, please assume the average reader is a daily one and not an every-other-day reader. That means *NOT REPEATING CONTENT*. I want to stress that I do my best to hit this site every day unless I'm literally ill, and then I'll use the [prev] buttons to catch up on my own. I think most people I've ever met who also use slashdot are the same. It seems the site now thinks we are 2 to 3 day consumers and it just regurgitates news for a few days as if I wasn't here to spot that same stuff yesterday or the day before.

    If anything, let me tell you that your presence in the comments section is a good thing. We all seem to revolt quite obviously when something is bad. The previous owners seemed "distant" and blind and deaf to all the complaining. I understand ignoring some small grassroots troll group but when literally 90% of the comments are supporting the same complaint, LISTEN.

    Another thing, we are more of a "get-off-my-lawn" type than most readers. Do not ever force anything upon me. You have no clue what us programmers do. I had coded some nice parsing scripts to layout slashdot in a console quite cleanly and wish there was a richer api to fetch the content as if I wasn't even on the website. Imagine offering up the whole site's backend API without requiring a registration id and throttle/rate limit instead? Boy, I'd code up so many cool embedded viewers inside all my favorite apps.... Provide the content and let me re-craft my own digestion of that similar to RSS readers but enhanced.

    That's enough for now. So far by just being here you seem to have a better chance than absent-dice. Cheers.

  29. Openness and Honesty by penguinoid · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'd recommend some amount of openness and honesty. If in doubt, consider what happened when Dice tried to stifle the story on what they were doing to Sourceforge, and then tried to stifle that they'd stifled the story. While everyone here has been happy to hear from you, if they get the idea that you won't follow through with what you said or want something to quietly go away, they can get viscous. I think nerds place a much higher value on honest and efficient communication.

    --
    Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
  30. Re:The moderation system needs massive changes. by Shompol · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Second of all, there should be no concept of a downmod.

    Without downmod SlashDot will become a dumpster diving experience. I find the StackExchange system interesting, where each downmod costs you a little karma. I am not advocating it, as there is probably more trolls than modders on this site at any given time. On the other hand, the downmodding of unpopular opinions is vicious.

  31. Classic works great for mobile by raymorris · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't like the "mobile" site introduced by Dice either.

    As you may know, down at the bottom of the page is a link to use the "classic" interface. That's always worked great on all my mobile devices, even old tiny ones, and it works great on a desktop too.

    I check Slashdot a couple times per day, mostly on my phone. The good old-fashioned simple html of Classic works fine imho.

    1. Re:Classic works great for mobile by BronsCon · · Score: 2

      THIS! SO MUCH THIS! Keep the mobile site a I'm sure some people absolutely love it but, for the love of all that is holy, DO NOT forward me from www.slashdot.org to m.slashdot.org, I know which domain I entered and that is the one I want to see.

      --
      APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
  32. Re:The WHO! by sycodon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They also announced the focus will move from technology to Japanese Girl Bands.

    3B Junior Rocks!

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  33. Re:Possibly Good? by Cylix · · Score: 4, Funny

    The old ones have awakened!

    The end is nigh!

    --
    "You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." -- Yogi Berra
  34. But seriously.... by unitron · · Score: 3

    ....how about on the stories that are not yet "official" but are available to logged in users (grey title bar instead of green), let them comment, if they wish, and then if the story makes it to the official front page, just move it there, comments and all, instead of re-posting it and losing those comments in the process.

    --

    I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.

  35. Re:no more trolls? by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Not linking to click-bait isn't anti-free speech. The article *still* exists.

    I just don't want to see /. cluttered up with spam.

  36. Re:Must be desperate to buy noted malware host SF by phantomfive · · Score: 2

    Our first order of business is to get rid of any malware and deceptive advertisements.

    I will respond happily to that by not blocking ads on Slashdot.
    Might I also suggest fixing the subscription system?

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  37. Welcome by bestweasel · · Score: 2

    Please can we have stories written in clear English with unfamiliar terms defined and links to primary sources (but no paywalls).

    And please stop saying "synergies".

  38. Corporate speak by qbast · · Score: 2

    " Slashdot Media no longer fits within the Company's core strategic initiatives"
    Are you going to leverage synergies as well?

  39. Greek letters... by Ecuador · · Score: 2

    And greek letters, we can't even write like "micro-" properly.

    --
    Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
  40. How about restart SourceForge from the ground... by Parker+Lewis · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ... and make it as a GitHub competitor? GitHub is good, but far from perfect.

  41. The company's core strategic initiatives by NotDrWho · · Score: 4, Funny

    Apparently a bunch of nerds discussing tech and saying whatever the fuck they want didn't turn out to be the easy cash machine they expected it to be.

    --
    SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
  42. > 900 comments by NotInHere · · Score: 5, Funny

    They should sell slashdot more often.

  43. Should be good... by edibobb · · Score: 2