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Robin "Roblimo" Miller, a Long-Time Voice of the Linux Community, Has Passed Away (wikipedia.org)
Reader rootmon writes: Our thoughts/prayers are with the family and friends of long time open source writer/journalist Robin "Roblimo" Miller who passed away this morning. Robin "Roblimo" Miller (born October 30, 1952) served as the Editor-in-Chief of Open Source Technology Group, the company which owned Slashdot, SourceForge.net, Freshmeat, Linux.com, NewsForge, and ThinkGeek between 2000 to 2008. Miller formerly owned Robin's Limousine, a small limo company based in Elkridge, Maryland, the origin of his online nickname. Miller is best known for his involvement with Slashdot, where he was not only the corporate editorial overseer but also Interview Editor.
As a freelancer, Miller wrote for a number of print and online publications including Time.com, Baltimore City Paper, American Medical News, Innkeeping World, Machine Design, The Baltimore Sun, and Rewired.com. Miller is the author of three books: The Online Rules of Successful Companies, Point -- Click Linux!, and Point -- Click OpenOffice.org, all published by Prentice Hall. His most recent ventures revolved around Internet-delivered video, including video software "tours" and tutorials on Linux.com and his recent "side" venture, Internet Video Promotion, Inc. Miller has been a judge for the Lulu Blooker Prize and is on the online advisory board of the Online Journalism Review of the Annenberg Center for Communication at the University of Southern California. (Biographical Info Quoted in Part from Wikipedia) Further reading: Linux Journal: RIP Robin "Roblimo" Miller.
Remembering Miller, ZDNet journalist S. Vaughan-Nichols wrote, "He was funny, bright, quick with a quip, caring, and wise. I, and many others who had the pleasure of knowing him, will miss him enormously." Paul Jones, Clinical Professor at the School of Information & Library Science, and Director of ibiblio.org, wrote, "Robin taught me many things, besides the immense gift of his friendship, including 'the way to make money on the internet is to take on more than you spend.' Both funny and accurate in context and very much true to roblimo." Writer and engineer Emmett Initiative said, "He was my editor, which means he was my best friend and worst enemy. He was a kind and thoughtful man that made every writer around him at least 300% better. I already miss him."
As a freelancer, Miller wrote for a number of print and online publications including Time.com, Baltimore City Paper, American Medical News, Innkeeping World, Machine Design, The Baltimore Sun, and Rewired.com. Miller is the author of three books: The Online Rules of Successful Companies, Point -- Click Linux!, and Point -- Click OpenOffice.org, all published by Prentice Hall. His most recent ventures revolved around Internet-delivered video, including video software "tours" and tutorials on Linux.com and his recent "side" venture, Internet Video Promotion, Inc. Miller has been a judge for the Lulu Blooker Prize and is on the online advisory board of the Online Journalism Review of the Annenberg Center for Communication at the University of Southern California. (Biographical Info Quoted in Part from Wikipedia) Further reading: Linux Journal: RIP Robin "Roblimo" Miller.
Remembering Miller, ZDNet journalist S. Vaughan-Nichols wrote, "He was funny, bright, quick with a quip, caring, and wise. I, and many others who had the pleasure of knowing him, will miss him enormously." Paul Jones, Clinical Professor at the School of Information & Library Science, and Director of ibiblio.org, wrote, "Robin taught me many things, besides the immense gift of his friendship, including 'the way to make money on the internet is to take on more than you spend.' Both funny and accurate in context and very much true to roblimo." Writer and engineer Emmett Initiative said, "He was my editor, which means he was my best friend and worst enemy. He was a kind and thoughtful man that made every writer around him at least 300% better. I already miss him."
I for one, fondly remember the early days of Slashdot, where a single story could completely DDOS a website, creating the Slashdot Effect.
In his honor, I'm going to pour hot grits down Natlie Portman's pants.
Who's with me? :)
(just joking, Miss Portman; please don't send the Mossad after me)
RIP, RobLimo. :(
Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
People like Roblimo and CmdrTaco put a ton of hard work and enegry into building Slashdot into what it once was. They obviously cared about their work beyond simply turning a profit. Please honor their work by keeping your promises to rebuild and improve Slashdot. You've made a lot of promises and users are sincerely hoping you'll finally start to keep them.
RIP Roblimo
It's sad to hear that a former editor from when I started reading this site has passed away. I remember what Slashdot was then, and those are fond memories.
Met him around 2002-2003 timeframe when we both worked at OSDN. He was a bright and funny guy.
RIP Roblimo.. and thanks for all the /.
..don't panic
One day we will all pass away and those left behind will grieve but at his age it is an even more sad occurrence.
I wish his family and friends strength and thank Robin for all the good he did.
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
Rest in Peace, and my condolences to friends and family.
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
: weeps : Please watch over the open source community and help us grow and strengthen spiritually the way you did in the living world Roblime. Many pleasant memories and positive energy is going out to the family and friends.
The voices in my head don't like you
I remember the days when I saw that handle all the time on /.org. Thank you Roblimo!
Oddly enough, I don't recall seeing a picture of him until now.
Has Netcraft confirmed this?
Too soon?
RIP Roblimo
Fully licensed blockchain psychiatrist
As a tribute to the days of early Slashdot I suggest we post this article to the site no less than 4 times over the next 8 days. It's not what Roblimo would have wanted but it's probably what he would have done.
Rest in peace.
Rob was what you might call a real mensch. Smart and a real sweetheart. I knew him personally, tho' not exceptionally well.
We shared close mutual friends, some going back more than 30 years.
RIP, Rob. Thank you.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Look at all the low UIDs who never post anymore, coming out with remembrance and farewell for Roblimo.
Thanks for all the fish.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Roblimo was a special guest on this Slashdot Geeks in Space audio episode.
It's people like him and places like this one that welcomed me when I first found my way onto the Internet. They taught me what to value, and how to behave. I will forever be grateful for that, even if I don't come around that often anymore. Cheers, and godspeed.
I met Rob at a Linux conference in Atlanta around 1998-99...
We started talking and he was extremely excited and explaining about Slashdot's amazing rise.
He kept saying... "I'm "Phat" and sticky.. I'm Phat and sticky!!"
The "Phat" was the cool factor...and the sticky was how people just seemed to hang around on Slashdot all day. Obviously, it really helped Slashdot's value and worth.
Rob also showed me a picture of his lovely wife and told me how glad he was to be with her.
I left that conversation with a big smile on my face and hoped we would meet again soon.
Great job Rob!!
Rob's humor and contributions to linux advocacy will be missed. His early presence on Slashdot made it my go-to news site for many years.
My condolences to his family. Thanks for sharing him with us for all these years.
He was funny, brilliant, and smart.
Heâ(TM)s going to be missed, and it hurts, even though if you knew him youâ(TM)ve surely had heard about his failing health. I thought Mr. RobLimo had found the right place to slowly retire while being in good care. But then, this.
Wherever you go, hope you become /bin/smartassd, the best daemon there could be.
I always remember him as one of the better and less offensive submitter / editors.
Looks like he last posted in 2016 here
Sure its taken out of context (he was talking about linux audio editing) but i think its a nice optimistic quote to have as your last post.
As a potential lottery winner, I totally support tax cuts for the wealthy
...and I wish it was something different. Brings back a lot of memories of this site back in the day. RIP Rob.
WWJD -- What Would Jimi Do?
(Smash amp, burn guitar, take home the groupies)
Rest well, Roblimo.
A big part of early /. success.
"It's tough to be bilingual when you get hit in the head."
I don't mind being considered an ass. After a whole bunch of years working on Slashdot, my skin is thicker than the armor on M1 Abrams.
There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
nobody has updated his Wikipedia page to report his death and it's even the primary article link!
. . . nobody has the heart to do it . . . posting that would break anyone's heart.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Robin was friendly and helpful and took his work as a journalist seriously. His work had worldwide impact, a fact that wasn't always appreciated. Robin and I corresponded often online, and I had the pleasure to meet him in person several times, and to be introduced to his charming wife once. Goodbye, Robin!
Bruce Perens.
I haven't viewed Slashdot in some time and happened to pass through and see this news.
Roblimo will be missed. Thanks for all the work you did to further the community here and around open source.
The more you know, the less you understand.
He was one of the reasons I read Slashdot, My prayers are with you and your family.
RIP,
harryk
think before you write, it'll save me moderator points.
They confirmed it.
Save Maine's economy: write stuff down. All comments are exclusively my own, not my employer.
Logging in today reminds me how old friends drift apart and eventually only get together for weddings and funerals. We prefer weddings. I didn't know Rob but he was certainly left his mark here, and best wishes to his family and those who knew him.
Squash
A lot of us (I was one) were part of the Slashdot community early on, but preferred to post w/o an account - I didn't get one until /. made changes that required an ID (which kind of miffed me, really), even though I'd been an active poster for years as an AC who put my actual name and sometimes email address in my sig... /. into the front page of the Internet for those actually building it. It's sad to hear of his passing - RIP to a friend I never actually met. /. is the quality of those posting and participating in those days - It wasn't unusual to have several big-name folks like ESR or Russ Nelson mixing it up with anyone in credible discussions/arguments. It seems the ill-advised "update" several years ago was largely responsible for raising the pain threshold enough that many great users just stopped dropping by...
Slashdot was once THE place to find out what was new on the net (I'm old enough to remember when that was NCSA's What's New page, or the UMN Gopher server), and Rob was a huge part of shaping
P.S.: I think the one thing I really miss about the decline of
"The future's good and the present is nothing to sneeze at." - Roblimo's last
Many of us also came from Usenet, where lurking for a while before posting was considered correct etiquette.
sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
Oh yeah?
HSJ$$*&#^!#+++ATH0
NO CARRIER
Wow - 137 UID. I remember rushing to sign up again after the database reset. /. was always the first site I would try on a new computer/browser/kindle/shoe-phone to see how it would render that critical stream of news for nerds.
My thanks to the legacy of Roblimo.
How's life in the hypocrite lane?