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Help Bandwidth Starved Slashdot at LinuxWorld

We've been working on getting to LinuxWorld in march. We've bartered banner ads for most of what we need to make the journey, but we've recently confirmed that we need to pay big bucks to get bandwidth on the show floor. If I can't read my email & post stories, I can't go, and that would be tragic since I haven't left the house in almost a month *grin*. We want 3 IPs and it looks like thats gonna cost like $1600 (apparently LWCE thinks we're going to be distributing porn from the show). If you can help, email Hemos. We'll gladly swap banner ads on Slashdot. If you just want to advertise on Slashdot, you should contact hemos about that too- Last week we averaged over 400,000 pages a day- We actually served 506,000 pages in one day. We've grown about 20% since the T3 was installed and since we pay bills by the mb/s, our bandwidth costs are gonna increase at the end of the month. So if you want your ad to be seen by thousands of geeks and help make sure we can post stories from LW, help flood Hemos's inbox. PBS Telethon mode off.Update: 02/01 01:37 by H :Thanks to everyone who wrote in-we've got it taken care of.

42 of 75 comments (clear)

  1. He wasn't asking for user donations by Jesse+Shrieve · · Score: 1

    He was looking for companies to sponsor the trip in trade for advertising.

  2. Cachedot. by HoserHead · · Score: 1

    Cachedot is the web-cache version of Slashdot. It's hosted on bbn, and is generally faster than slashdot because slashdot is generally swamped with traffic ;) It's available also from the left linksbar.

  3. Filtering ACs by cduffy · · Score: 1

    You _can_ filter ACs as it stands by setting your limit to 1.

  4. Membership Fees??? by gavinhall · · Score: 1

    Posted by korto:

    i just hope you don't listen to him rob. i know it's very beautifull, that "support" crap. butt do you want a community or do you want a bunch of clients?

  5. slashdot.ORG? by gavinhall · · Score: 1

    Posted by DonR:

    Most hospitals are very much in the red. Having worked for a hospitals accounting department, I have seen the books myself. It amazing that 90% of the hospitals are still around.

  6. Um.... by Erik+Hollensbe · · Score: 1



    Just a suggestion here... Is it too hard to make use of some of hte Linux tech that we talk about everyday, and IP Masq?

    I mean, if LinuxExpo/World/Con/Assembly whatever is about linux, why not take it even further by actually SHOWING the tech in action instead of just talking about it all the time?

    $1600 for 3 ethernet connections is pretty expensive, but so is all the routing equipment, wiring, etc that needs to go in there to provide those connections.

    IP masq so you can read your damn email, or go to a cyber cafe for christ's sake, I had a roomie who went up to canada for a week and managed his page and checked his email by going to the cafe across the street from where he was staying...

    I mean, this is a worst case, forgetting-the-fact that-you're-at-a-COMPUTER-BASED-EXPO,-dropped-your -laptop-outside-of-the-car-while-it-was- moving-and-some-hillbilly-trucker-ran-over-it,- and-American Express-didn't-come-to-save-the-day- like-they-do-in-the-commercials scenario.

    -Erik-

  7. cachedot better? by bluGill · · Score: 1

    If your charged by the megabyte, is cachedot involved with this? I personally only use that site (somewhat faster at times, and with a few more people it would be faster)

    Now granted there are problems with it, but I'm sure others would be willing to switch if it saved you money.

  8. Sour grapes by bluGill · · Score: 1

    Millions were made off the pet rock for a while too. The question is for how long. Now if you have a driect line to God, and you can convince him to give you market advice, keep buying Yahoo and the like until just before it runs out.

    I'm not saying that Yahoo is nessicarly a bad investment, just that past results are not indicidive of future success.

  9. Pay? by mholve · · Score: 1

    No.

  10. Electricity by mholve · · Score: 1

    Yeah, but how much is that hour or two of electricity costing you? ;>

  11. Cheeze with that wine? by mholve · · Score: 1

    "Waaaaaaah."

    'nuf said.

  12. No kidding... by mholve · · Score: 1

    What the hell? Cookies ain't gonna steal your soul. Get with the program already.

  13. I don't have a clue. by mholve · · Score: 1
    Let's face it you've got no interest in keeping this 'community' together do you? Your just stroking your ego.

    Touche' - good point.

    If you look at the bottom of articles, you'll see your threshold. By default it's 0 (zero) meaning that you'll see all posts. If you raise your threshold by 1 (one) you will no longer see AC (Anonymous Coward) posts, which get a rating of 0.

  14. Simple by mholve · · Score: 1

    Know the sites you visit.

  15. Clue? by mholve · · Score: 1
    Personally, I'm tired of the entire Slashdot mentality...

    "Oh no! We have to actually PAY for something!"

    Go out into the real world and get out of mom's house and get a fucking clue already. Not everything in life is free - as a matter of fact, most things are not. People out here in the real world have bills to pay and mouthes to feed.

    If you're whining about $75 to get in, then don't go. If you can't afford an Ethernet connection to read your Email, too bad - stay home, you have no place in a business conference.

    Jesus H. Christ. Enough is enough already.

  16. Red Sweaters by mholve · · Score: 1
    Oh no, some site knows that I prefer red over blue.

    Waaaaah.

    Here's a clue. Go get junkbuster and selectively enable and disable the sites that you accept cookies from.

    Fuckin' A.

  17. Why shouldn't you pay money for LinuxWorld???? by mholve · · Score: 1

    What the fuck? It's a business conference. They don't want the place filled with freeloading, living at home with mommy script kiddies... It's a place to conduct business. Business involves money whether it's Open Source or not.

  18. Your the man by mholve · · Score: 1
    I think you need the quiet time, somewhere on an empty mountain top, lest the cookie boogie men get you...

    The point is to go look at Junkbuster. You can filter who you want to accept cookies from. It's not rocket science.

    If you're that worried, go use someone elses computer or stay off the Internet. What's the big deal?

  19. Revenue Ideas by Fastolfe · · Score: 1
    Some of these have been discussed in past articles, but I never saw any "real" interest besides user comments so I'll address some of what I can remember here:
    • Slashdot portal - A "portal for nerds: sites that matter" type of site would be sweet and could generate LOTS more advertising revenue.
    • Slashdot e-mail addresses - A simple e-mail forwarding service (or even something optionally web-based if you've got the bandwidth) in exchange for a donation would be nice. You could even let people register them under one or more various subdomains (email@contributor.slashdot.org, email@i.support.slashdot.org, email@slashdot.org).
    • Slashdot home page redirection - Like the e-mail forwarding above, redirect things like http://username.home.slashdot.org to a URL of the user's choice, or even something like http://contributors.slashdot.org/username. Both of these (email/web page) should be very light on the bandwidth and server load.
    Anybody have some ideas I missed? The email address/home page redirection could be done very easily and would certainly give people incentive to donate. With a URL/email like those above, people KNOW you've contributed to slashdot, which is definitely a good first impression.
  20. Risks? by Fastolfe · · Score: 1

    Perhaps you can point me to a web page then? I've done an extensive amount of research into the "risks" attributed to cookies and the common myths and misconceptions. I have an extensive background in HTTP, TCP/IP and the web in general, so I know precisely what cookies can and can not do.

    I also subscribe to BugTraq, where security issues (even relating to cookies, rare as they are) crop up and solutions devised. Patches are usually released within hours or days and are applied on my system regularly.

    The ONLY conceivable risk cookies present is the ability for "evil" banner advertisement sites to use them to track your viewing habits among the few clients they have that you visit. Now, I'm not going to debate the ethical issues here, but it's sufficient to say that's the only bit of information they will be able to gleam.

    Further, some browsers support *selective* enabling of cookies. Lynx does it, and IE has the concept of "zones" where you can list trusted sites (where cookies may or may not be enabled).

    I always have cookies enabled. I haven't had anybody come knocking at my door after days of stalking me by way of my browser's cookies. No one has used cookies to break into my PC and steal my credit card number. As far as becoming a "statistic" and offering my browsing habits to advertising companies, I'd rather see 10 computer/tech-related advertisements than 10 advertisements of mixed content. Of course, I'd rather not see ads at all, but in this case, the cookies are doing me a service (unsolicited as it is). I only give my e-mail address out to reputable companies, so I don't get much spam. I haven't received any increase in either postal mail or e-mail since the invention of cookies.

    I think YOU need to forget what the mass media has been hyping and do a little real research yourself as to what cookies are *really* capable of.

    That, or point me to a URL or take some of your precious time to explain to me what it is you're so frightened about. Convince me that cookies are evil.

  21. Well.. by Fastolfe · · Score: 1

    Maybe he *was* saying Slashdot should become a business (a la Yahoo), which I don't necessarily agree with, but Rob could still apply common business models to the way he runs Slashdot to make it easier/cheaper for him.

  22. NAT by mattdm · · Score: 1
    IP Masq sounds like a good option.

    --

  23. Malda--LEVERAGE LEVERAGE LEVERAGE by Effugas · · Score: 1

    Rob,

    Do some polls. Slashdot is more trusted than ZDNet, News.com, or any other "pretenders to the throne".

    Want some money?

    Do a few polls saying basically "We need to show who we are so we can charge more for our ads."

    You'll find out that Slashdotters control more money than the entire reading audiences of most of the news sites out there.

    Then you take those #'s, go to a *real* ad agency, offer them a cut, and let them hawk your ass like it was a Hollywood Actress turned Call Girl.

    Have a nice day :-)


    Once you pull the pin, Mr. Grenade is no longer your friend.

  24. ...And bloody rich by Binary+Boy · · Score: 1

    You don't really believe that this site could maintain its scope, spirit, and userbase while trying to implement a biz model like Yahoo! do you?

    This site is by and for an audience segment which prides itself on being by and for the community, there is nothing wrong with appealing to that spirit for support... some people see the value SlashDot presents as more than how much money Rob makes from it.

    Not to say there isnt room to make money here, but I dont think it will be in the tradition of the few over-hyped IPOs that have actually suceeded until now.

  25. slashdot.ORG? by Rendus · · Score: 1

    Slashdot.org was registered before the ads started. Some dorks already own slashdot.com, slashdot.net, hell even slashdot.cx has been grabbed... So at this point it's not really possible for Rob to get slashdot.com (hell, I'd pay the $70 for two years for him if it were possible to get the domain)...

  26. Email forwarding? by A+well+known+coward · · Score: 1

    Whatever happened to that idea of setting-up an email forwarding service, so that whoever wants to can get their own custom @slashdot.org address in exchange for a $50 bucks donation? Last time I heard that, most people involved in the discussion were pretty much in favor.

    Later.

  27. Use mirrors ala freshmeat by Nicolas+MONNET · · Score: 1

    Problem: the kind of content on this site is tough to distribute. But that could be done.
    I can provide a mirror in France if you want.

  28. No porn?!?!?! by KimBoolina · · Score: 1


    What do you mean, you AREN'T going to distribute porn? What the heck fun is that? And here I thought of you as some kind of geek college guy, but obviously you are just a poser.


    I mean, if money is a problem, it sure seems like porn is the answer. Right? This could bring a whole new meaning to the phrase "They got slashdotted."


    Prude.


    pfffffftttttttttt


    -- KimBoo, being a badddd girl.....

    --
    "You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm." -- Collette
  29. Learn to run a business by Cassius · · Score: 1

    Cash flow is an issue for any business. If you need it, get a loan, or get a revenue model. The ".org" in the url is a misnomer and you know it. I think canvasing "users" for "donations" to run your business is a fairly inept way to run this site.

    Bite the bullet - hire a business person who knows how to generate some revenue. That's why Amazon and Yahoo are where they are today.

  30. ...And bloody rich by Cassius · · Score: 1

    If you prefer poverty, stay on your present course.

  31. Who pays dividends? by Cassius · · Score: 1

    Have you bought a stock in the last twenty years? Dividends? This isn't GM we're talking about.

  32. Pay? Yes by dria · · Score: 1
    Six months ago this place was alive and growing... THE place to be. Now it festering with kiddies who, though they benefit from their use of Slashdot, contribute in a way that is less valueable to other members.

    Ah...elitism is always so refreshing. Are you trying to say that Slashdot has become a victim of it's own success?

    - dria

  33. hmmmmmm by joedoe · · Score: 1

    Man, it would be hard to act any more pompous...but then again, why are you spending your precious time reading my message??

    joedoe

  34. Looked into alternatives? by Robotech_Master · · Score: 1

    If all you want is to read email and post stories, do you really need direct floor access? I would think that a dialin with a 33.6 modem would be sufficient for that.

    Is having three IPs for a couple of days really worth $1600? The big businesses who will be attending can afford to eat that cost...you can't. Heck, if you're so dead set on spending $1600, get a new laptop (and join the Windows Refund Day people :) with a cellular modem--at least you'll still have it after the convention is over.

    --
    Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
  35. non-FUD: Yahoo a Good Investment? by Robotech_Master · · Score: 1

    Decide for yourself. Follow the criteria given for evaluating investments, in the Motley Fool's 13 Steps to Investing Foolishly. Apply them to Yahoo and see how well it stands for yourself.

    --
    Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
  36. Sour grapes by Robotech_Master · · Score: 1

    Hey, I never said whether I agreed or not that Yahoo was or wasn't a good investment. I haven't taken the time to apply those criteria; I don't know whether it is or not. Sure, lots of people have made money on it...but what goes up must come down, sooner or later.

    People need to make informed decisions about where to invest and how--not just guess based on past performance. Look at the numbers--all the numbers--and read analysts' reports, and make sure you know what you're doing. Otherwise, you might as well go to a casino and put the whole thing on the roulette wheel--you're doing the same thing by playing in the stock market, and the stock market usually doesn't give you free booze while you're doing it.

    --
    Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
  37. Boycot LW by pwb · · Score: 1

    I think people are missing the point. Why should slashdot have to pay $1600 for IP's . How many people would have even heard of LinuxWorld if they didn't read about it on Slashdot? (better poll question than the one today)

    Basically I have heard enough complaints about the LW conference that I think all linux people should boycot the whole damn thing.

    PS. Malda what the hell do you want 3 IP's for? Get one and then do IP masq. for the rest.

  38. Get real! I am real. by pwb · · Score: 1

    I would not know Linux World exists if it haddn't been posted to /. Further I visit /. 4 times more often than I visit any other site on the web, including my own.

    Granted I don't need slashdot, but since it is here, it is almost my exclusive link to the linux world. And I find /. more valuble than Linux world.

    The linux community is very different from any other business community in existance. LW is making prohibatively high access fees to this conference. $1600 for 3 IP addresses? How is that even vaguely related to the cost of the service?

  39. uh oh, he used the P word!!! by phred · · Score: 1

    tweet! BAD GEEK, NO JOLT.

    I sure hope /. is never a p--, a p----, a p------,
    portal. Sheesh. It's even hard to say that.


    phred@sunlight.portland.or.us

    -------

    --
    Bill Gates Is My Evil Twin.
  40. Sour grapes by Sowbug · · Score: 1

    just that past results are not indicidive of future success

    Huh? Actually, past results most certainly are indicative of future success. Anyone who believes that dumb, cover-your-ass, nihilistic attorney-speak mutual fund tag-line to the contrary is by definition going to pick investments at random.

    Market leaders tend to remain market leaders, which is why Yahoo is so highly priced today -- it's the best bet for continuing success as an Internet medium. The day Yahoo goes away is the day the stock collapses. Yahoo ain't going away.

  41. Honestly - Why are 3 IP's needed? by Chris+Pimlott · · Score: 1

    I think if you're going to ask people to donate a hefty sum like 1600 dollars they are at least entitled to know why you need 3 IP's. Why not just 1, or why not another option like cellular modem? You could do an aweful lot with $1600, is there a specific reason 3 IPs are needed instead of another option?

  42. It's called IP MASQ by Chris+Pimlott · · Score: 1

    Given the often Linuxcentric nature of this site, I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt they know what IP Masq is. I'd like to know though why that isn't an option they'd consider.