I think that was his point... That they should fire some of those 35 employees to save money.
It would seem to be prudent to first figure out what those employees bring to the bottom line. Slashing the workforce only saves money if the the same output can be achieved with fewer people. Maybe 34 of those 35 employees market slashdot to various entities for advertising. If they are covering their cost then cutting them cuts revenues, unless there is enough slack to be picked up by others. Of course, if the others do pick up the slack for those cut, then they don't have the time to go after new clients.
The labor force of a company is rarely the problem. They don't make managerial decisions. If change is needed, it needs to start at the top. The same is true with cost savings. With the pay disparity between rank and file workers and management, cutting one manager position is the equivalent of cutting several rank and file workers. And, is more just as the managers are the ones who made the decision that screwed things up.
Yes, you are, or at least most people viewing slashdot are. Some people are contributors, those who post the articles, but the vast majority are viewers, even if they post comments.
If slashdot is serving up media to its viewers, the viewers of that media would be consumers, just like at the theater. However, being a consumer has an implicit financial aspect and people view slashdot without paying for it. As such, we aren't consumers but instead we are simply viewers and viewers of a media production are called the audience.
Slashdot refines it even further. The media being presented is news and the target audience for that news is nerds. Some may say that we can't be an audience because we can interact by leaving posts and the like. But, there is nothing inherent in being an audience that prohibits interaction. Just because on the Price is Right some people get to participate in the show directly, doesn't mean those watching in the studio aren't the audience. Likewise, writing a letter to the editor in the local paper, does not change one's relationship with the paper. You don't suddenly become a freelance reporter. You can right a letter to the editor every day and you would not be considered a contributor in that realm, but you would still be a subscriber (viewers of slashdot are not subscribers, because that implies something you ordered, being delivered to you).
So, like it or not, the viewers of slashdot are an audience, some of them targeted and others not, but all are still the audience for the production called slashdot.
Yes, you are, or at least most people viewing slashdot are (some are contributors). If slashdot is serving up media to its viewers, the viewers of that media would be consumers, just like at the theater. However, being a consumer has an implicit financial aspect and people view slashdot without paying for it. As such, we aren't consumers but instead we are simply viewers and viewers of a media production are called the audience.
Slashdot refines it even further. The media being presented is news and the target audience for that news is nerds. Some may say that we can't be an audience because we can interact by leaving posts and the like. But, there is nothing inherent in being an audience that prohibits interaction. Just because on the Price is Right some people get to participate in the show directly, doesn't mean those watching in the studio aren't the audience. Likewise, writing a letter to the editor in the local paper, does not change one's relationship with the paper. You don't suddenly become a freelance reporter.
So, like it or not, the viewers of slashdot are an audience, some of them targeted and others not, but all are still the audience for the production called slashdot.
It took a day or two, but now when I google "fuck beta" all the top results are from slashdot. Yay.
Yeah, we should be proud of that. Now slashdot has already been added to most filters, reducing access to millions of people, because of the potty mouth nerds who couldn't find a better way to articulate their frustration.
If the spin of the particle (electron in the summary) is germaine to the observed properties of the particle does that mean there are two different particles involved. For instance if a left spinning quark or electron interacts this way and a right spinning quark or electron interacts that way, are there two different types of quarks or electrons involved.
Until now, there have been neutrons, protons and electrons. However, does this really mean there are six atomic particles instead of three?
A better question would be why do ACs keep posting this shit against the beta, when in a separate article, the powers that be said they were backing down and re-evaluating?
If Apple left Apple stuff out of the iDroid, then it more than likely wouldn't pass the Android compatibility tests. This would block applications that rely on things in the CDD over which Apple claims a patent. It would also block a lot of applications that rely on Google Play Services, which are available only on devices whose manufacturer demonstrates conformance to the CDD.
What are you talking about. There is nothing stopping Apple creating an Android phone. It could be 100% pure android, just like HTC, Samsung, Motorola and others. Are you thinking that an Apple Android phone would need to be able to run iOS apps? That would be sweet, but that's not a requirement for Apple to sell an Android phone.
Look at it this way, say Apple licenses the Samsung Galaxy 4 to use as it's phone and they slap an Apple logo on it. There is now an Apple Android phone and it hasn't cost Apple one iota of intellectual property or anything else. Granted they probably wouldn't do that, but even if they ported Android to run on the iPhone, they aren't required to release their drivers open source. Even Android has closed source parts.
Again says nobody whos ever worked on software ever. Flushing failed projects down the drain is expected. A large percentage of projects are flushed down the drain. Beta might be salvagable, with a lot of rework... but it might be better to start from scratch. It often is.
That's the second time you've said that. You don't know me, but I guarantee that you use software that either I have personally developed or our company has each and every day. Once a project makes it to beta, it is rare for it not to be finished. Yes, it may have to be reworked or even go back to the drawing board and start over, and often is, but it is still part of the same project, not a new one. Again, it is rare to totally scrap a major project that has made it to the beta stage.
Its also not some herculean task that only Dice holdings could ever possibly manage.
That is true, but it doesn't matter Dice owns slashdot. Get over it.
A relative pittance. Its a text only forum for christsake not youtube. Yes its still going to need servers and bandwidth and maintenance, but its 2014 and its primarily a text site.
Evidently, if it is so easy, there wouldn't be the problems with the beta. Again, if you think creating and maintaining a high volume text site, go for it and create your own. Just like Facebook toppled MySpace, maybe yourdot will topple slashdot.
Beta Sucks Join the boycott Feb 10-17. If Beta is still here on the 18th I will not return. Do not fix what is not broken.
If slashdot keeps the beta or even went away for good, it wouldn't be the end of the world. If you want to rally for a cause, then do so for something really important like abolishing human trafficking or protecting at risk youth or whatever. But really, all of this attention for something so trivial. People should be ashamed of themselves all of this hoopla over this.
Apple's rich enough to duke it out with the other Big Boys over patents. But they don't want to dilute their high end hardware brand. It would be like BMW producing cheap Ford Locus copies. People buy Apple because they want "something special".
People buy Apple because it says Apple. They could scoop up dogshit from the NY city streets and if they called it iShit and put an Apple logo on it, people would buy it.
There's nothing to keep Apple out of the Android market as a secondary phone market.
Of course there is. Apple isn't allowed to distribute copies of Android to the public except under license from Linus Torvalds, Google, and other contributors to Android. If Apple accepts the license of Android (mostly Apache v2 and GPLv2), it has to give the public an implicit or explicit license to patents that Apple holds that Android allegedly infringes. So unless Apple wants to end up dropping lawsuits against Samsung, it has to refrain from making an iDroid.
That would only be true if Apple incorporate those patents into their version of Android. If Apple left Apple stuff out of the Android operating system, they wouldn't have to give up anything.
I don't really care if they go back to classic or keep beta, I would like the numerous bugs in classic fixed, however, regardless of which interface is used.
Slashdot media has 35 employees. Can you believe the insanity of that? 35 fucking employees to run this site and a bunch of shit spin-offs. There is plenty of fat to trim there that will make Slashdot profitable for _years_, all they have to do is scrap this shitty beta and fire these incompetent assholes.
I don't work for Slashdot media, but I'm sure they appreciate an anonymous coward saying to fire them. After all, usually it is not the decision maker that gets fired, but the rank and file employee. Since slashdot lost money this year, it would be cheaper for Dice to fire all 35 employees and just shut down the site. That would also end the beta.
Commenters are doing such things, but it is foolish to think that management is going to throw good money after bad to redesign the site again when they've had a bad year with Slashdot Media financially.
Their best bet is to simply turn it into another buzzfeed-like linkfarm and hope it generates revenue somehow (maybe sell it). So... yeah. Let's just take her out back and put her out of her misery.
Maybe some angel investor will come in and buy up the property and allow us to like support the site's maintenance via paypal.
Maybe I'll grow another dick.:3
It's even more foolish to think that Dice is going to respond to a bunch of "Fuck Beta" comments.
Try http://slashdot.org/?nobeta=1 at least until they switch completely over. I don't know I what I did but currently I never see the Beta.
Evidently it remembers your last use. If you are in beta and click the classic mode link, then the next time you come back you will still be in classic mode. At least for now.
Well partly at least it's the fact that I wrote a long reply enumerating seven specific things that I thought were terrible about the new design, and the comment was eaten by the site.
I understand the frustration in that, but it's not unique to the beta. I've had what is now called classic eat or mangle posts before, too. I've gotten to the point if it is something that I really want to make sure it gets said they way I entered it, that I copy it to the clipboard first, just incase I need to paste it back.
You seem to think that Dice should host this site out of the goodness of their hearts. Why should they? Yes, slashdot is a community, but slashdot community members don't pay the bills. Yes, advertising covers the costs (although I don't know if it covers 100%) but still, it is Dice's business. Unless advertising exceeds the cost versus just breaking even, there is no loss to Dice if the site shuts down.
The "F*ck beta posts" are doing more harm to the user base than good. Since the beta, it is virtually impossible to get to any real posts on any article. That is impacting both the beta and classical modes and has effectively made slashdot useless. Yes, useless, but not because of the beta, but because of all of the AC spam about the beta.
The irony is that all of that added traffic has increased ad revenue, so instead of hurting Dice, it's helped them. If the ACs who are upset actually hadn't taken that approach and instead actually boycotted the site, that would have hurt Dice.
As for not stopping the beta and going back to classic, that's just naive. They've spent a lot of money on the changes and aren't going to flush that effort down the drain. Sure, they may lose current members, but look at it from their perspective - it's just the loud obnoxious whiney ACs that are leaving. That would be a win for them.
Finally, IIRC, CmdrTaco used to talk about the amount of work keeping slashdot going. It doesn't just happen. On top of that somebody has to pay for the bandwidth, the servers and all of the other infrastructure. If you think it could be done for a pittance, I challenge you to go do it.
ps. slashdot doesn't moderate itself and never has and prides itself on being unmoderated. If it was moderated, this whole flame thing would have never of happened.
1) The reply to comment has a pointless title box labelled 'Reply to Comment'. What's it for? I left it blank in this reply. 2) Once you scroll down in the comments, fully one third of my monitor's width is wasted. 3) Also once you scroll down the indentation of the nested comments occurs on both sides, so that the comments gradually get narrower and narrower. This happens on the old site too, but the incremental indentation is less, and the amount of width to begin with is much greater. I have seen this taken to such extremes on some sites that comments actually become a column of letters. 4) The main page, wherein the stories, are listed has lost its personality. Gone are the icons on the old site that added colour and humour. Gone are the "from the insert-witty-and-relevant-comment-here dept." bylines, which added to the personality of the site. The place is for geeks, so it's supposed to be a bit geeky. It's not supposed to look corporate and neutered. 5) The main page downloaded a total of 1.7Mb when I refreshed. The old page downloaded 1.1Mb - which is still completely insane but it's quite a bit less. 6) The main page gives the impression of wasting large amounts of vertical space - although this is actually an illusion because both the old and the new site fit the same number of stories in each page - it still looks sloppy. 7) When I tried to preview the comment it turned out that I have to put something in the "reply to comment" box. So let's try again. 8) Ah it turns out to be the title, which used to be filled in automatically and is irrelevant anyway if you're replying.
Those all sound like bugs that should be reported. Fine, but on any other system, do bugs reports sound like what is being posted here? For instance, your first post about the comment box. If that is a problem why not post that it is a problem. That would have a much better chance of getting changed than a post that says "Fuck this shit!" (not that you have made those posts, or maybe you have).
All I am suggesting is that if the interface has problems then people should voice those problems in an intelligent way. That is, at least, if they want their concerns to be heard.
With all the rants about the beta, I have yet to see specifics as to what is less functional or causing such distress. It is different, but exactly what is causing such frustration? It's just a news feed, afterall, nobody's life or liberty is being harmed.
There was nothing wrong with the Edsel car either. I mean, it had four wheels and it got you from point A to point B. Fun fact: Aesthetics matter too.
True, but then people who didn't like the Edsel didn't block the road so that those with an Edsel or any other car couldn't drive.
Yes aesthetics are important, but really, is all of this over simple aesthetics? From the venom being spewed, I thought there would have been a massive loss of functionality.
I'm not apologizing for Dice. But quite frankly, the "F*ck Beta" post are much more annoying than the new interface. Dice probably should have done things differently. Hell, there's lots of stuff I wish I had done differently, but once it's done, its done and you can't go back.
It's unlikely that they are going to cancel the new site because of these posts. If anything, the posts will probably encourage them to simply shut slashdot down. Who wins in that? A crappy interface is better than no interface at all.
As for
You just don't get this level of outrage from the people who use a site unless your REALLY botch it good.
Really, this is slashdot, we complain about everything. In terms of how many are complaining, I only see a handfull. For all those AC rants, they could be the work of one person or not, but since they are anonymous, they really don't mount to a hill of beans.
All of this just reminds me of the KDE 4.0 or Gnome 3.0 or Unity/Ubuntu rants that flared up when those changes were made. Like it or not, rants aren't productive because the people who need to here them that can make change, simply don't because they are, well, rants. I'm not saying that those who don't like the new interface need to be all sugar and spice and sickly sweet. It's fine to have an opinion or disagreement, but one also has to accept that in the end, it is still just our opinion.
Based on what people are saying though, it seems like Dice didn't kill the slashdot community, it was already collapsing under it's own weight. So, in the end, maybe its best to go away, new interface or not.
I initially found the protest against annoying and juvenile, but I'm changing my mind. Slashdot is its contributors. Look what happens when they cease to contribute.
Power to the people, motherfuckers!
I haven't seen any evidence of contributors ceasing to contribute. I also fail to see how the new format would somehow hinder contributors from contributing. All I see is a lot bitching by commentors, most of them ACs. One thing you would think that all slashdot purveyors would understand is that change is inevitable.
Do I like the new beta look, not really, but then I'm not very partial to the classic design, either. If people spent as much energy helping the less fortunate as they do whining about the slashdot beta, the world might just really be a better place.
The internet's standards and protocols were built to allow for a nearly limitless selection of design, every kind of spoken and written language, multimedia... it's all there.
I'm pretty sure that was not one of DARPAs stated goals. Sounds good, though.
With all the rants about the beta, I have yet to see specifics as to what is less functional or causing such distress. It is different, but exactly what is causing such frustration? It's just a news feed, afterall, nobody's life or liberty is being harmed.
Slashdot Mirror
I think that was his point... That they should fire some of those 35 employees to save money.
It would seem to be prudent to first figure out what those employees bring to the bottom line. Slashing the workforce only saves money if the the same output can be achieved with fewer people. Maybe 34 of those 35 employees market slashdot to various entities for advertising. If they are covering their cost then cutting them cuts revenues, unless there is enough slack to be picked up by others. Of course, if the others do pick up the slack for those cut, then they don't have the time to go after new clients.
The labor force of a company is rarely the problem. They don't make managerial decisions. If change is needed, it needs to start at the top. The same is true with cost savings. With the pay disparity between rank and file workers and management, cutting one manager position is the equivalent of cutting several rank and file workers. And, is more just as the managers are the ones who made the decision that screwed things up.
Oops, meant to respond to the post further up. My mistake.
Yes, you are, or at least most people viewing slashdot are. Some people are contributors, those who post the articles, but the vast majority are viewers, even if they post comments.
If slashdot is serving up media to its viewers, the viewers of that media would be consumers, just like at the theater. However, being a consumer has an implicit financial aspect and people view slashdot without paying for it. As such, we aren't consumers but instead we are simply viewers and viewers of a media production are called the audience.
Slashdot refines it even further. The media being presented is news and the target audience for that news is nerds. Some may say that we can't be an audience because we can interact by leaving posts and the like. But, there is nothing inherent in being an audience that prohibits interaction. Just because on the Price is Right some people get to participate in the show directly, doesn't mean those watching in the studio aren't the audience. Likewise, writing a letter to the editor in the local paper, does not change one's relationship with the paper. You don't suddenly become a freelance reporter. You can right a letter to the editor every day and you would not be considered a contributor in that realm, but you would still be a subscriber (viewers of slashdot are not subscribers, because that implies something you ordered, being delivered to you).
So, like it or not, the viewers of slashdot are an audience, some of them targeted and others not, but all are still the audience for the production called slashdot.
Yes, you are, or at least most people viewing slashdot are (some are contributors). If slashdot is serving up media to its viewers, the viewers of that media would be consumers, just like at the theater. However, being a consumer has an implicit financial aspect and people view slashdot without paying for it. As such, we aren't consumers but instead we are simply viewers and viewers of a media production are called the audience.
Slashdot refines it even further. The media being presented is news and the target audience for that news is nerds. Some may say that we can't be an audience because we can interact by leaving posts and the like. But, there is nothing inherent in being an audience that prohibits interaction. Just because on the Price is Right some people get to participate in the show directly, doesn't mean those watching in the studio aren't the audience. Likewise, writing a letter to the editor in the local paper, does not change one's relationship with the paper. You don't suddenly become a freelance reporter.
So, like it or not, the viewers of slashdot are an audience, some of them targeted and others not, but all are still the audience for the production called slashdot.
It took a day or two, but now when I google "fuck beta" all the top results are from slashdot. Yay.
Yeah, we should be proud of that. Now slashdot has already been added to most filters, reducing access to millions of people, because of the potty mouth nerds who couldn't find a better way to articulate their frustration.
If the spin of the particle (electron in the summary) is germaine to the observed properties of the particle does that mean there are two different particles involved. For instance if a left spinning quark or electron interacts this way and a right spinning quark or electron interacts that way, are there two different types of quarks or electrons involved.
Until now, there have been neutrons, protons and electrons. However, does this really mean there are six atomic particles instead of three?
A better question would be why do ACs keep posting this shit against the beta, when in a separate article, the powers that be said they were backing down and re-evaluating?
If Apple left Apple stuff out of the iDroid, then it more than likely wouldn't pass the Android compatibility tests. This would block applications that rely on things in the CDD over which Apple claims a patent. It would also block a lot of applications that rely on Google Play Services, which are available only on devices whose manufacturer demonstrates conformance to the CDD.
What are you talking about. There is nothing stopping Apple creating an Android phone. It could be 100% pure android, just like HTC, Samsung, Motorola and others. Are you thinking that an Apple Android phone would need to be able to run iOS apps? That would be sweet, but that's not a requirement for Apple to sell an Android phone.
Look at it this way, say Apple licenses the Samsung Galaxy 4 to use as it's phone and they slap an Apple logo on it. There is now an Apple Android phone and it hasn't cost Apple one iota of intellectual property or anything else. Granted they probably wouldn't do that, but even if they ported Android to run on the iPhone, they aren't required to release their drivers open source. Even Android has closed source parts.
Again says nobody whos ever worked on software ever. Flushing failed projects down the drain is expected. A large percentage of projects are flushed down the drain. Beta might be salvagable, with a lot of rework... but it might be better to start from scratch. It often is.
That's the second time you've said that. You don't know me, but I guarantee that you use software that either I have personally developed or our company has each and every day. Once a project makes it to beta, it is rare for it not to be finished. Yes, it may have to be reworked or even go back to the drawing board and start over, and often is, but it is still part of the same project, not a new one. Again, it is rare to totally scrap a major project that has made it to the beta stage.
Its also not some herculean task that only Dice holdings could ever possibly manage.
That is true, but it doesn't matter Dice owns slashdot. Get over it.
A relative pittance. Its a text only forum for christsake not youtube. Yes its still going to need servers and bandwidth and maintenance, but its 2014 and its primarily a text site.
Evidently, if it is so easy, there wouldn't be the problems with the beta. Again, if you think creating and maintaining a high volume text site, go for it and create your own. Just like Facebook toppled MySpace, maybe yourdot will topple slashdot.
Beta Sucks
Join the boycott Feb 10-17.
If Beta is still here on the 18th I will not return.
Do not fix what is not broken.
If slashdot keeps the beta or even went away for good, it wouldn't be the end of the world. If you want to rally for a cause, then do so for something really important like abolishing human trafficking or protecting at risk youth or whatever. But really, all of this attention for something so trivial. People should be ashamed of themselves all of this hoopla over this.
Apple's rich enough to duke it out with the other Big Boys over patents. But they don't want to dilute their high end hardware brand. It would be like BMW producing cheap Ford Locus copies. People buy Apple because they want "something special".
People buy Apple because it says Apple. They could scoop up dogshit from the NY city streets and if they called it iShit and put an Apple logo on it, people would buy it.
There's nothing to keep Apple out of the Android market as a secondary phone market.
Of course there is. Apple isn't allowed to distribute copies of Android to the public except under license from Linus Torvalds, Google, and other contributors to Android. If Apple accepts the license of Android (mostly Apache v2 and GPLv2), it has to give the public an implicit or explicit license to patents that Apple holds that Android allegedly infringes. So unless Apple wants to end up dropping lawsuits against Samsung, it has to refrain from making an iDroid.
That would only be true if Apple incorporate those patents into their version of Android. If Apple left Apple stuff out of the Android operating system, they wouldn't have to give up anything.
Mod parent up.
Why would you ever mod up somebody hiding behind an anonymous coward? If they aren't willing to sign their name, why should they be listened to?
I don't really care if they go back to classic or keep beta, I would like the numerous bugs in classic fixed, however, regardless of which interface is used.
Slashdot media has 35 employees. Can you believe the insanity of that? 35 fucking employees to run this site and a bunch of shit spin-offs. There is plenty of fat to trim there that will make Slashdot profitable for _years_, all they have to do is scrap this shitty beta and fire these incompetent assholes.
I don't work for Slashdot media, but I'm sure they appreciate an anonymous coward saying to fire them. After all, usually it is not the decision maker that gets fired, but the rank and file employee. Since slashdot lost money this year, it would be cheaper for Dice to fire all 35 employees and just shut down the site. That would also end the beta.
Commenters are doing such things, but it is foolish to think that management is going to throw good money after bad to redesign the site again when they've had a bad year with Slashdot Media financially.
Their best bet is to simply turn it into another buzzfeed-like linkfarm and hope it generates revenue somehow (maybe sell it). So ... yeah. Let's just take her out back and put her out of her misery.
Maybe some angel investor will come in and buy up the property and allow us to like support the site's maintenance via paypal.
Maybe I'll grow another dick. :3
It's even more foolish to think that Dice is going to respond to a bunch of "Fuck Beta" comments.
Try http://slashdot.org/?nobeta=1 at least until they switch completely over. I don't know I what I did but currently I never see the Beta.
Evidently it remembers your last use. If you are in beta and click the classic mode link, then the next time you come back you will still be in classic mode. At least for now.
Any way to disable beta?
go to the bottom of the page and hit classic mode.
Well partly at least it's the fact that I wrote a long reply enumerating seven specific things that I thought were terrible about the new design, and the comment was eaten by the site.
I understand the frustration in that, but it's not unique to the beta. I've had what is now called classic eat or mangle posts before, too. I've gotten to the point if it is something that I really want to make sure it gets said they way I entered it, that I copy it to the clipboard first, just incase I need to paste it back.
You seem to think that Dice should host this site out of the goodness of their hearts. Why should they? Yes, slashdot is a community, but slashdot community members don't pay the bills. Yes, advertising covers the costs (although I don't know if it covers 100%) but still, it is Dice's business. Unless advertising exceeds the cost versus just breaking even, there is no loss to Dice if the site shuts down.
The "F*ck beta posts" are doing more harm to the user base than good. Since the beta, it is virtually impossible to get to any real posts on any article. That is impacting both the beta and classical modes and has effectively made slashdot useless. Yes, useless, but not because of the beta, but because of all of the AC spam about the beta.
The irony is that all of that added traffic has increased ad revenue, so instead of hurting Dice, it's helped them. If the ACs who are upset actually hadn't taken that approach and instead actually boycotted the site, that would have hurt Dice.
As for not stopping the beta and going back to classic, that's just naive. They've spent a lot of money on the changes and aren't going to flush that effort down the drain. Sure, they may lose current members, but look at it from their perspective - it's just the loud obnoxious whiney ACs that are leaving. That would be a win for them.
Finally, IIRC, CmdrTaco used to talk about the amount of work keeping slashdot going. It doesn't just happen. On top of that somebody has to pay for the bandwidth, the servers and all of the other infrastructure. If you think it could be done for a pittance, I challenge you to go do it.
ps. slashdot doesn't moderate itself and never has and prides itself on being unmoderated. If it was moderated, this whole flame thing would have never of happened.
1) The reply to comment has a pointless title box labelled 'Reply to Comment'. What's it for? I left it blank in this reply.
2) Once you scroll down in the comments, fully one third of my monitor's width is wasted.
3) Also once you scroll down the indentation of the nested comments occurs on both sides, so that the comments gradually get narrower and narrower. This happens on the old site too, but the incremental indentation is less, and the amount of width to begin with is much greater. I have seen this taken to such extremes on some sites that comments actually become a column of letters.
4) The main page, wherein the stories, are listed has lost its personality. Gone are the icons on the old site that added colour and humour. Gone are the "from the insert-witty-and-relevant-comment-here dept." bylines, which added to the personality of the site. The place is for geeks, so it's supposed to be a bit geeky. It's not supposed to look corporate and neutered.
5) The main page downloaded a total of 1.7Mb when I refreshed. The old page downloaded 1.1Mb - which is still completely insane but it's quite a bit less.
6) The main page gives the impression of wasting large amounts of vertical space - although this is actually an illusion because both the old and the new site fit the same number of stories in each page - it still looks sloppy.
7) When I tried to preview the comment it turned out that I have to put something in the "reply to comment" box. So let's try again.
8) Ah it turns out to be the title, which used to be filled in automatically and is irrelevant anyway if you're replying.
Those all sound like bugs that should be reported. Fine, but on any other system, do bugs reports sound like what is being posted here? For instance, your first post about the comment box. If that is a problem why not post that it is a problem. That would have a much better chance of getting changed than a post that says "Fuck this shit!" (not that you have made those posts, or maybe you have).
All I am suggesting is that if the interface has problems then people should voice those problems in an intelligent way. That is, at least, if they want their concerns to be heard.
With all the rants about the beta, I have yet to see specifics as to what is less functional or causing such distress. It is different, but exactly what is causing such frustration? It's just a news feed, afterall, nobody's life or liberty is being harmed.
There was nothing wrong with the Edsel car either. I mean, it had four wheels and it got you from point A to point B. Fun fact: Aesthetics matter too.
True, but then people who didn't like the Edsel didn't block the road so that those with an Edsel or any other car couldn't drive.
Yes aesthetics are important, but really, is all of this over simple aesthetics? From the venom being spewed, I thought there would have been a massive loss of functionality.
I'm not apologizing for Dice. But quite frankly, the "F*ck Beta" post are much more annoying than the new interface. Dice probably should have done things differently. Hell, there's lots of stuff I wish I had done differently, but once it's done, its done and you can't go back.
It's unlikely that they are going to cancel the new site because of these posts. If anything, the posts will probably encourage them to simply shut slashdot down. Who wins in that? A crappy interface is better than no interface at all.
As for
You just don't get this level of outrage from the people who use a site unless your REALLY botch it good.
Really, this is slashdot, we complain about everything. In terms of how many are complaining, I only see a handfull. For all those AC rants, they could be the work of one person or not, but since they are anonymous, they really don't mount to a hill of beans.
All of this just reminds me of the KDE 4.0 or Gnome 3.0 or Unity/Ubuntu rants that flared up when those changes were made. Like it or not, rants aren't productive because the people who need to here them that can make change, simply don't because they are, well, rants. I'm not saying that those who don't like the new interface need to be all sugar and spice and sickly sweet. It's fine to have an opinion or disagreement, but one also has to accept that in the end, it is still just our opinion.
Based on what people are saying though, it seems like Dice didn't kill the slashdot community, it was already collapsing under it's own weight. So, in the end, maybe its best to go away, new interface or not.
..the Beta wars.
I initially found the protest against annoying and juvenile, but I'm changing my mind. Slashdot is its contributors. Look what happens when they cease to contribute.
Power to the people, motherfuckers!
I haven't seen any evidence of contributors ceasing to contribute. I also fail to see how the new format would somehow hinder contributors from contributing. All I see is a lot bitching by commentors, most of them ACs. One thing you would think that all slashdot purveyors would understand is that change is inevitable.
Do I like the new beta look, not really, but then I'm not very partial to the classic design, either. If people spent as much energy helping the less fortunate as they do whining about the slashdot beta, the world might just really be a better place.
The internet's standards and protocols were built to allow for a nearly limitless selection of design, every kind of spoken and written language, multimedia... it's all there.
I'm pretty sure that was not one of DARPAs stated goals. Sounds good, though.
With all the rants about the beta, I have yet to see specifics as to what is less functional or causing such distress. It is different, but exactly what is causing such frustration? It's just a news feed, afterall, nobody's life or liberty is being harmed.