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{{Short description|Technology-related news website (launched 1997)}} | |||
{{Infobox Website | |||
{{Italic title}} | |||
| name = Slashdot | |||
{{Infobox website | |||
| favicon = | |||
| name = ''Slashdot'' {{(-}}''/.'') | |||
| logo = | |||
| logo = Slashdot logo.png | |||
| screenshot = | |||
| caption = Screenshot of the ''Slashdot.org'' main page | |||
| caption = | |||
| url = |
| url = {{URL|slashdot.org}} | ||
| language = English | |||
| commercial = | |||
| type = ]<BR>] | |||
| type = News | |||
| registration = Optional | | registration = Optional | ||
| owner = Slashdot Media<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/slashdot-media-to-merge-with-bizx-llc-creating-a-market-leader-in-b2b-software-technology-and-data-1028780285 | title=Slashdot Media to Merge with BIZX, LLC, Creating a Market Leader in B2B, Software, Technology, and Data | website=] | access-date=2020-01-12 | archive-date=2020-01-12 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200112202047/https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/slashdot-media-to-merge-with-bizx-llc-creating-a-market-leader-in-b2b-software-technology-and-data-1028780285 | url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
| owner = ] | |||
| author = ] | | author = ]<br />] | ||
| key_people = Logan Abbott (])<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.sdbj.com/news/2016/jan/28/slashdot-media-acquired-bizx-undisclosed-price/ | title=Slashdot Media Acquired by BIZX for Undisclosed Price | work=] | date=January 28, 2016 | access-date=July 25, 2020 | archive-date=July 22, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200722140501/https://www.sdbj.com/news/2016/jan/28/slashdot-media-acquired-bizx-undisclosed-price/ | url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
| launch date = September 1997 | |||
| launch_date = {{start date and age|1997|10|5}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://whois.domaintools.com/slashdot.org|title=Slashdot.org WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info – DomainTools|work=]|access-date=2016-10-14|archive-date=2018-12-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181201143255/http://whois.domaintools.com/slashdot.org|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
| current status = | |||
| current_status = Online | |||
| revenue = | |||
| revenue = Advertisement, optional subscription | |||
}} | }} | ||
{{slashdot}} | |||
'''Slashdot''' (often abbreviated as '''/.''') is a technology-related news ] which features user-submitted and editor-evaluated ] news with a ]y slant. It is known for the ]-style comments section attached to each story; Slashdot was one of the first popular websites to include a commentary section in such a prominent manner. The site slogan is ''"News for nerds. Stuff that matters."'' | |||
'''''Slashdot''''' (sometimes abbreviated as '''''/.''''') is a ] website that originally billed itself as "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters". It features news stories on science, technology, and politics that are submitted and evaluated by site users and editors. Each story has a comments section where users can add online comments. | |||
The summaries for the stories are generally submitted by Slashdot's own readers with editors accepting or rejecting these contributions for general posting. Slashdot's haphazard ] is cherished, if not admired, by some for its ].{{or}} | |||
The website was founded in 1997 by ] students ], also known as "CmdrTaco", and classmate ], also known as "Hemos". In 2012, they sold it to<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dhigroupinc.com/our-company/default.aspx?section=cTimeline|title=DHI Group Inc. - Our Company|website=dhigroupinc.com|access-date=2016-06-03|archive-date=2016-05-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160521194347/http://www.dhigroupinc.com/our-company/default.aspx?section=cTimeline|url-status=live}}</ref> DHI Group, Inc. (i.e., Dice Holdings International, which created the ] website for tech job seekers<ref name="dice2012">{{cite web|url=http://www.dhigroupinc.com/press/Press-Release-Details/2012/Dice-Holdings-Inc-Acquires-Online-Media-Business-from-Geeknet-Inc/|title=Dice Holdings, Inc. Acquires Online Media Business from Geeknet, Inc.|access-date=16 April 2017|archive-date=18 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150618125029/http://www.dhigroupinc.com/press/Press-Release-Details/2012/Dice-Holdings-Inc-Acquires-Online-Media-Business-from-Geeknet-Inc/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="theh2012" />). In January 2016, BIZX acquired both '''slashdot.org''' and ].<ref name="MarketWired20160128">{{cite web|title=BIZX Subsidiary SourceForge Media, LLC Acquires Slashdot Media|url=http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/bizx-subsidiary-sourceforge-media-llc-acquires-slashdot-media-2091995.htm|website=MarketWired|date=January 26, 2016|access-date=October 15, 2016|archive-date=November 9, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109140923/http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/bizx-subsidiary-sourceforge-media-llc-acquires-slashdot-media-2091995.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="bizx20160127">{{cite web|title=BIZX Subsidiary SourceForge Media, LLC Acquires Slashdot Media|url=https://www.bizx.info/press/bizx-subsidiary-sourceforge-media-llc-acquires-slashdot-media|website=bizx.info|date=January 28, 2016|access-date=October 15, 2016|archive-date=June 3, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603061418/https://www.bizx.info/press/bizx-subsidiary-sourceforge-media-llc-acquires-slashdot-media|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="PRNewswire20160128">{{cite web|title=DHI Group, Inc. Announces the Sale of Slashdot Media|url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dhi-group-inc-announces-the-sale-of-slashdot-media-300211026.html|website=]|date=January 28, 2016|access-date=October 21, 2016|archive-date=October 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022024832/http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dhi-group-inc-announces-the-sale-of-slashdot-media-300211026.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In December 2019, BIZX rebranded to '''Slashdot Media'''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/slashdot-media-to-merge-with-bizx-llc-creating-a-market-leader-in-b2b-software-technology-and-data-1028780285|title=Slashdot Media to Merge with BIZX, LLC, Creating a Market Leader in B2B, Software, Technology, Social Media Manipulation and Data|website=BusinessInsider.com|access-date=2020-01-12|archive-date=2020-01-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200112202047/https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/slashdot-media-to-merge-with-bizx-llc-creating-a-market-leader-in-b2b-software-technology-and-data-1028780285|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
Though the site predates the modern concept of the ], Slashdot's architecture is commonly compared to that of modern blogs. Slashdot is notable in that its commenting system is much more robust than most blogs, with threading and user moderation having been introduced before these were commonplace in modern weblog packages.{{cn}} | |||
Summaries of stories and links to news articles are submitted by Slashdot's own users, and each story becomes the topic of a threaded discussion among users. Discussion is moderated by a user-based moderation system. Randomly selected moderators are assigned points (typically 5) which they can use to rate a comment. Moderation applies either ''−1'' or ''+1'' to the current rating, based on whether the comment is perceived as either "normal", "offtopic", "insightful", "redundant", "interesting", or "]" (among others). | |||
Officially, the name "Slashdot" was chosen to confuse those who tried to pronounce the ] of the site (h-t-t-p-colon-slash-slash-slash-dot-dot-org). <ref></ref> | |||
The site's comment and moderation system is administered by its own ] ], ], which is available under the ]. In 2012, ''Slashdot'' had around 3.7 million ]s per month and received over 5300 comments per day.<ref name=dice2012/> The site has won more than 20 awards, including ] in 2000 for "Best Community Site" and "Best News Site". At its peak use, a news story posted to the site with a link could overwhelm some smaller or independent sites. This phenomenon was known as the "]". | |||
==Administration== | |||
] | |||
Slashdot also now offers a business software comparison<ref>{{Cite web |title=Best Business Software of 2024 |url=https://slashdot.org/software/ |website=Slashdot}}</ref> directory with over 100,000 software titles. | |||
Created in September 1997 by ], Slashdot is now owned by the ], part of ]. The site is run primarily by Malda, Jeff "]" Bates (who handles articles and book reviews and sells advertising) and Robin "Roblimo" Miller who helps handle some of the more managerial tasks of the site, as well as posting stories. | |||
==History== | |||
The software that runs Slashdot is called ], and is available under the terms of the ]. | |||
===1990s=== | |||
The Slashdot headquarters are located in ]. | |||
] and ]]] | |||
]]] | |||
Slashdot was preceded by ]'s ] "Chips & Dips", which launched in October 1997,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://whois.domaintools.com/slashdot.org|title=Slashdot.org WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info - DomainTools|work=]|date=2016|access-date=2016-02-09|archive-date=2018-12-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181201143255/http://whois.domaintools.com/slashdot.org|url-status=live}}</ref> featured a single "rant" each day about something that interested its author – typically something to do with ] or ] software. At the time, Malda was a student at ] in ], majoring in computer science. The site became "Slashdot" in September 1997{{Contradictory inline|date=March 2021}} under the slogan "News for Nerds.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Lee |first=Timothy B. |date=2013-08-07 |title=Slashdot founder Rob Malda on why there won't be another hacker news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2013/08/07/slashdot-founder-rob-malda-on-why-there-wont-be-another-hacker-news/ |access-date=2023-01-12 |newspaper=] |archive-date=2022-12-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221208040506/http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2013/08/07/slashdot-founder-rob-malda-on-why-there-wont-be-another-hacker-news/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Ohtake |first=Miyoko |title=Slashdot's CmdrTaco Looks Back at 10 Years of 'News for Nerds' |language=en-US |magazine=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/2007/10/slashdots-cmdrtaco-looks-back-at-10-years-of-news-for-nerds/ |access-date=2023-01-12 |issn=1059-1028}}</ref> Stuff that Matters", and quickly became a hotspot on the Internet for news and information of interest to computer geeks.<ref name="Leonard_Andrew">{{cite news|url=https://www.salon.com/1998/06/15/feature_308/ |title=Geek Central |last=Leonard |first=Andrew |date=June 15, 1998 |work=] |access-date=January 15, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011123183320/http://www.salon.com/21st/feature/1998/06/15feature.html |archive-date=November 23, 2001 }}</ref> | |||
The name "Slashdot" came from a somewhat "obnoxious parody of a ]" – when Malda registered the domain, he desired to make a name that was "silly and unpronounceable" – try pronouncing out, 'h-t-t-p-colon-slash-slash-slashdot-dot-org{{'"}}.<ref name="slashdot_name">{{cite web|url=http://slashdot.org/faq/slashmeta.shtml|title=FAQ: About Slashdot: What does the name "Slashdot" mean?|last=Malda|first=Rob|date=October 29, 2000|publisher=Slashdot|access-date=January 15, 2010|archive-date=September 24, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060924100115/http://slashdot.org/faq/slashmeta.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> By June 1998, the site was seeing as many as 100,000 page views per day and advertisers began to take notice.<ref name="Leonard_Andrew" /> By December 1998, Slashdot had net revenues of $18,000, yet its Internet profile was higher and revenues were expected to increase. | |||
==Audience== | |||
While Slashdot's core audience is often said to consist of ] enthusiasts and various other enthusiasts of the ] software movement, there is a significant Windows audience as well. A poll on Slashdot suggests that approximately half of all Slashdot visitors use ] as their ], a third use some form of Linux, and above ten percent use ]. But what is probably significant is the number of cross-users, that is people who use more than one if not all the mentioned systems.<ref> (2002)</ref> Polls on Slashdot, like most on the Internet, may be unreliable. The ongoing assumption that Slashdot is Linux-oriented comes both from historical reasons and from its famous ] "]" icon. Despite this reputation, many Slashdot stories are related to Windows ]s or applications, or Microsoft security bulletins. | |||
On June 29, 1999, the site was sold to Linux megasite ] for $1.5 million in cash and $7 million in Andover stock at the ] (IPO) price. Part of the deal was contingent upon the continued employment of Malda and Bates and on the achievement of certain "milestones". With the acquisition of Slashdot, Andover.net could now advertise itself as "the leading Linux/Open Source destination on the Internet".<ref name="Welch_Matt">{{cite news|url=http://www.newcitychicago.com/newcity/content/specials/webby_feature2.html|title=All the Young News|last=Welch|first=Matt|date=May 5, 2000|publisher=Newcitychicago|access-date=January 7, 2010|archive-date=March 2, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090302073601/http://www.newcitychicago.com/newcity/content/specials/webby_feature2.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Slashdot_goes_quiet">{{cite news|url=http://www.salon.com/tech/log/1999/09/17/slashdot/index.html|title=Slashdot goes quiet|last=Leonard|first=Andrew|date=September 17, 1999|work=]|access-date=January 15, 2010|archive-date=March 8, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080308141406/http://www.salon.com/tech/log/1999/09/17/slashdot/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Andover.net merged with ] on February 3, 2000,<ref name="VALinux_acquisition">{{cite news|url=http://www.zdnet.com.au/va-linux-acquires-andover-net-120102822.htm|title=VA Linux acquires Andover.net|date=October 13, 2000|work=]|access-date=April 4, 2010|archive-date=December 29, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101229063719/http://www.zdnet.com.au/va-linux-acquires-andover-net-120102822.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> changed its name to ] on May 24, 2007, and then became ] on November 4, 2009.<ref name="company_name">{{cite news|url=http://geek.net/press/sourceforge-inc-changes-its-name-to-geeknet-inc/|title=SourceForge, Inc. Changes its Name to Geeknet, Inc.|author1=Parry, Tracey |author2=Friedman, Todd |author3=Bosinoff, Stacie |date=November 4, 2009|publisher=]|access-date=January 15, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100108220120/http://geek.net/press/sourceforge-inc-changes-its-name-to-geeknet-inc/ <!--Added by H3llBot-->|archive-date=January 8, 2010}}</ref> | |||
Famous or well-known active "Slashdotters" include ] founder ] (username ""), actor ] (username ""), ] technical director ] (username ""), ] author ] (username ""), ] and ] architect Miguel de Icaza (username ""), ] creator ] (username ""), ] creator ] (username ""), and ] evangelist ] (username ""). Also noteworthy is the participation of several engineers from NASA involved in the ] rover exploration projects. | |||
== |
===2000s=== | ||
Slashdot's 10,000th article was posted after two and a half years on February 24, 2000,<ref name="10,000">{{cite web|url=http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/02/24/0954216&mode=thread&tid=124|title=Slashdot's 10,000th Story|last=Malda|first=Rob|date=February 24, 2000|publisher=Slashdot|access-date=January 22, 2010|archive-date=December 5, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205183249/http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/02/24/0954216&mode=thread&tid=124|url-status=live}}</ref> and the 100,000th article was posted on December 11, 2009, after 12 years online.<ref name="100,000">{{cite web|url=http://meta.slashdot.org/story/09/12/11/1615202/Slashdot-Turns-100000.html|title=Slashdot Turns 100,000|last=Malda|first=Rob|date=December 11, 2009|publisher=Slashdot|access-date=January 22, 2010|archive-date=May 15, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515201419/http://meta.slashdot.org/story/09/12/11/1615202/Slashdot-Turns-100000.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> During the first 12 years, the most active story with the most responses posted was the post-] article "Kerry Concedes Election To Bush" with 5,687 posts. This followed the creation of a new article section, ''politics.slashdot.org'', created at the start of the 2004 election on September 7, 2004.<ref name="politics_section">{{cite web|url=http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/09/07/1513235|title=Slashdot Goes Political: Announcing politics.slashdot.org|last=Malda|first=Rob|date=September 7, 2004|publisher=Slashdot|access-date=January 22, 2010}}</ref> Many of the most popular stories are political, with "Strike on Iraq" (March 19, 2003) the second-most-active article and "Barack Obama Wins US Presidency" (November 5, 2008) the third-most-active. The rest of the 10 most active articles are an article announcing the ], and several articles about ] vs. ], ]'s capture, and '']''. Articles about ] and its Windows Operating System are popular. A thread posted in 2002 titled "What's Keeping You On Windows?" was the 10th-most-active story, and an article about Windows 2000/NT4 source-code leaks the most visited article with more than 680,000 hits.<ref name="hall_of_fame">{{cite web|url=http://slashdot.org/hof.shtml|title=Hall of Fame|last=Malda|first=Rob|publisher=Slashdot|access-date=January 22, 2010|archive-date=March 25, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100325045901/http://slashdot.org/hof.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> Some controversy erupted on March 9, 2001, after an anonymous user posted the full text of ]'s "Operating Thetan Level Three" (OT III) document in a comment attached to a Slashdot article. The ] demanded that Slashdot remove the document under the ]. A week later, in a long article, Slashdot editors explained their decision to remove the page while providing links and information on how to get the document from other sources.<ref name="scientology">{{cite web|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/03/16/slashdot_caves_in_to_scientology/|title=Slashdot caves in to Scientology loonies|last=Greene|first=Thomas C.|date=March 16, 2001|website=]|access-date=January 7, 2010|archive-date=December 3, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101203132758/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/03/16/slashdot_caves_in_to_scientology/|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
{{Main|Slashdot effect}} | |||
Historically, sites that received a mention on Slashdot were said to be "Slashdotted" as they would receive a flood of attention that may overwhelm their servers. This is similar to a website being "]" in modern internet lingo. | |||
Slashdot Japan was launched on May 28, 2001 (although the first article was published April 5, 2001) and is an official offshoot of the US-based Web site. {{as of|2010|1}} the site was owned by OSDN-Japan, Inc., and carried some of the US-based Slashdot articles as well as localized stories.<ref name="slashdot_jp">{{cite journal |last=Poor |first=Nathaniel D. |date=March 2007 |title=A Cross-National Study of Computer News Sites: Global News, Local Sites |journal=The Information Society |volume=23 |issue=2 |doi=10.1080/01972240701224135 |pages=73–83|s2cid=42632628 }}</ref><ref name="slashdot_jp_2">{{cite web |url=http://slashdot.jp/opensource/article.pl?sid=01%2F04%2F05%2F039210 |title=Wind River Systems が BSDi を手中に! |date=April 5, 2001 |publisher=Slashdot Japan |language=ja |access-date=January 22, 2010 |archive-date=November 28, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101128204452/http://slashdot.jp/opensource/article.pl?sid=01%2F04%2F05%2F039210 |url-status=dead }}</ref> An external site, ''New Media Services'', has reported the importance of Online Moderation last December 1, 2011.<ref name="content moderation">{{cite web|url=https://newmediaservices.com.au/content-moderation-services/|title=NewMediaServices|last=Kanaya|first=Ichiroh|access-date=December 1, 2010|archive-date=August 29, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829121834/http://newmediaservices.com.au/content-moderation-services/|url-status=live}}</ref> On ] 2002, founder Rob Malda proposed to longtime girlfriend Kathleen Fent using the front page of Slashdot.<ref name="newsmakers">{{cite book|title=Newsmakers: the people behind today's headlines|year=2007|volume=Issue 3|pages=73|isbn=978-0-7876-8090-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=szcTJtwhyGoC&q=slashdot+marriage+proposal|access-date=February 15, 2010 | publisher=Thomson Gale|author1=Avery, Laura |author2=Thomson, Gale }}</ref><ref name="proposal">{{cite web|url=http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/02/14/143254|title=Kathleen Fent Read This Story|last=Malda|first=Rob|date=February 14, 2002|publisher=Slashdot|access-date=February 15, 2010|archive-date=July 1, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090701110720/http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/02/14/143254|url-status=live}}</ref> They were married on December 8, 2002, in ], ].<ref name="hope_college_update">{{cite web|title=News from Hope College|date=February 2003|url=http://www.hope.edu/pr/nfhc/archive/pdf/NFHC_Feb_03.pdf|access-date=February 15, 2010|archive-date=June 7, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100607055542/http://www.hope.edu/pr/nfhc/archive/pdf/NFHC_Feb_03.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Slashdot implemented a paid subscription service on March 1, 2002. Slashdot's subscription model works by allowing users to pay a small fee to be able to view pages without ]s, starting at a rate of $5 per 1,000 page views – non-subscribers may still view articles and respond to comments, with banner ads in place.<ref name="subscription">{{cite news|url=http://www.oreillynet.com/mac/blog/2002/03/slashdots_subscription_model.html|title=Slashdot's Subscription Model|last=Sims|first=David|date=March 1, 2002|publisher=]|access-date=January 22, 2010|archive-date=May 14, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514163712/http://www.oreillynet.com/mac/blog/2002/03/slashdots_subscription_model.html|url-status=live}}</ref> On March 6, 2003, subscribers were given the ability to see articles 10 to 20 minutes before they are released to the public.<ref name="see_future">{{cite web|url=http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/03/06/1548245&mode=thread&tid=124|title=Slashdot Subscribers Now See The Future|last=Malda|first=Rob|date=March 6, 2003|publisher=Slashdot|access-date=January 22, 2010|archive-date=December 5, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205183522/http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/03/06/1548245&mode=thread&tid=124|url-status=live}}</ref> Slashdot altered its threaded discussion forum display software to explicitly show domains for links in articles, as "users made a sport out of tricking unsuspecting readers into visiting <nowiki>]<nowiki>]</nowiki>."<ref name="PHP">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lVXnmsCCd3wC&pg=PA274 |title=Pro PHP Security |author1=Snyder, Chris |author2=Southwell, Michael |page=274 |publisher=] |year=2005| isbn=978-1-59059-508-4 |access-date=September 14, 2010}}</ref><!-- exactly when did this occur? Help!--> | |||
==Article sections== | |||
As of ] ], Slashdot articles are divided into the following sections:<ref>{{ cite web | url = http://slashdot.org/faq/editorial.shtml | title = Slashdot FAQ: What are the Slashdot Sections for? | publisher = Slashdot.org }}</ref> | |||
In observance of ] in 2006, Slashdot temporarily changed its signature teal color theme to a warm palette of bubblegum pink and changed its ] from the usual, "News for Nerds" motto to, "OMG!!! Ponies!!!"<ref name=":0" /> Editors joked that this was done to increase female readership.<ref name="OMG_Ponies!!!1">{{cite news|url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-6056735-7.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025094359/http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-6056735-7.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 25, 2012|title=Good one, Slashdot|last=Meyers|first=Michelle|date=March 31, 2006|publisher=]|access-date=April 1, 2019}}</ref> In another supposed April Fools' Day joke, User Achievement tags were introduced on April 1, 2009.<ref name="user_achievements">{{cite web|url=http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/31/1610228|title=Slashdot Launches User Achievements|last=Malda|first=Rob|date=April 1, 2009|publisher=Slashdot|access-date=January 22, 2010|archive-date=December 5, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205183716/http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/31/1610228|url-status=live}}</ref> This system allowed users to be tagged with various achievements, such as "The Tagger" for tagging a story or "Member of the {1,2,3,4,5} Digit UID Club" for having a Slashdot UID consisting of a certain number of digits. While it was posted on April Fools' Day to allow for certain joke achievements, the system is real.<ref name="user_achievements_2">{{cite web|url=http://slashdot.org/faq/accounts.shtml#ac1300|title=Slashdot FAQ: What are these achievement things I keep hearing about?|last=Malda|first=Rob|date=April 29, 2009|publisher=Slashdot|access-date=January 22, 2010|archive-date=March 25, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100325231145/http://slashdot.org/faq/accounts.shtml#ac1300|url-status=live}}</ref> Slashdot unveiled its newly redesigned site on June 4, 2006, following a CSS Redesign Competition. The winner of the competition was Alex Bendiken, who built on the initial CSS framework of the site. The new site looks similar to the old one but is more polished with more rounded curves, collapsible menus, and updated fonts.<ref name="site_redesign">{{cite news |url=http://blogs.zdnet.com/web2explorer/?p=198 |title=Slashdot redesign goes live: a polished CSS upgrade |last=MacManus |first=Richard |date=June 4, 2006 |work=] |access-date=January 22, 2010 |archive-date=February 12, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070212222725/http://blogs.zdnet.com/web2explorer/?p=198 |url-status=dead }}</ref> On November 9 that same year, Malda wrote that Slashdot attained 16,777,215 (or 2<sup>24</sup> − 1) comments, which broke the database for three hours until the administrators fixed the problem.<ref name="slashdot_gets_slashdotted">{{cite web|url=http://slashdot.org/articles/06/11/09/1534204.shtml|title=Slashdot Posting Bug Infuriates Haggard Admins|last=Malda|first=Rob|date=November 9, 2006|publisher=Slashdot|access-date=January 22, 2010|archive-date=April 26, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090426164217/http://slashdot.org/articles/06/11/09/1534204.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
* • Articles related to products from ], such as ], ], as well as items that directly compete with those products. | |||
* • Articles that seek advice from the Slashdot readership about jobs, computer hardware, software glitches, philosophical problems, etc. | |||
* Slashback • This section contains editor's picks of best comments from a recent popular article, primarily intended for those who do not want to read hundreds of high-moderated comments from the original thread. | |||
* • This section is for original book reviews on (not necessarily) tech books. | |||
* • News about the software, or anything that directly affects the practice of programming. (i.e. A new programming language? A useful technique? Licensing issues?) | |||
* Entertainment | |||
* Games | |||
* Hardware | |||
* • This is the place to suggest possible Slashdot interviewees (with contact information, if possible, and background material.) | |||
* Information Technology () • Anything that people with "Information Technology" in their job description might be interested to know. | |||
* • The Linux section is for news specific to ] | |||
* News | |||
* • This section is for news relevant to United States government politics. It was created primarily to cover the 2004 US Presidential Election, but now exists for occasional stories that are related to U.S. Politics. | |||
* • This is the place for science articles. Cool technology, space telescope observations, interesting medical research. | |||
* Technology | |||
* Your Rights Online () • News affecting your ability to live as a free, responsible person online. Such examples are Spam, invasions of privacy, and onerous licenses. | |||
===2010s=== | |||
The section is still posted to, although it no longer enjoys a place in the main site navigation. The section was a web audio broadcast featuring several of the editors of Slashdot; there have been no recent updates to this section. | |||
On July 11, 2010, SlashDot was the first major media platform where ], the first cryptocurrency, was publicized.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Silvera |first=Ian |title=Inside the intertwining and scandalous history of Bitcoin and the media |url=https://www.news-future.com/p/inside-the-intertwining-and-scandalous |access-date=2022-05-08 |website=www.news-future.com |archive-date=2022-05-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220508140424/https://www.news-future.com/p/inside-the-intertwining-and-scandalous |url-status=live }}</ref> On January 25, 2011, the site launched its third major redesign in its 13.5-year history, which gutted the ] and ], and updated the graphics.<ref name="3rd_redesign">{{cite news|last=Malda|first=Rob|title=Slashdot Launches Re-Design|url=http://meta.slashdot.org/story/11/01/25/163257/Slashdot-Launches-Re-Design|access-date=February 25, 2011|newspaper=Slashdot|date=January 25, 2011|archive-date=July 28, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728030142/http://meta.slashdot.org/story/11/01/25/163257/Slashdot-Launches-Re-Design|url-status=live}}</ref> On August 25, 2011, Malda resigned as Editor-in-Chief with immediate effect. He did not mention any plans for the future, other than spending more time with his family, catching up on some reading, and possibly writing a book.<ref name="Watercutter_Angela">{{cite news|last=Watercutter|first=Angela|title=Slashdot Founder Rob "Cmdr Taco" Malda Resigns.|url=https://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/08/slashdot-founder-resigns/|access-date=September 1, 2011|newspaper=]|date=August 25, 2011|archive-date=September 11, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110911172038/http://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/08/slashdot-founder-resigns/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Malda_resign">{{cite web|url=http://meta.slashdot.org/story/11/08/25/1245200/Rob-CmdrTaco-Malda-Resigns-From-Slashdot|last=Malda|first=Rob|title=Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda Resigns From Slashdot|date=August 25, 2011|publisher=Slashdot|access-date=August 25, 2011|archive-date=September 4, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110904005414/http://meta.slashdot.org/story/11/08/25/1245200/Rob-CmdrTaco-Malda-Resigns-From-Slashdot|url-status=live}}</ref> His final farewell message received over 1,400 comments within 24 hours on the site.<ref name="Noyes_Katherine">{{cite news|last=Noyes|first=Katherine|title=On Slashdot's Lost Taco and Apple's Big Turnover.|url=http://www.technewsworld.com/story/73164.html|access-date=September 6, 2011|newspaper=technewsworld.com|date=August 29, 2011|archive-date=April 1, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401161644/http://www.technewsworld.com/story/73164.html|url-status=live}}</ref> On December 7, 2011, Slashdot announced that it would start to push what the company described as "sponsored" Ask Slashdot questions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://meta.slashdot.org/story/11/12/07/0537225/upcoming-changes-to-ask-slashdot|title=Upcoming Changes To 'Ask Slashdot'|date=2012-12-07|access-date=2011-12-07|archive-date=2012-04-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120421064447/http://meta.slashdot.org/story/11/12/07/0537225/upcoming-changes-to-ask-slashdot|url-status=live}}</ref> On March 28, 2012, Slashdot launched Slashdot TV.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.slashdot.org/story/12/03/28/0126257/ladies-and-gentlemen-welcome-to-slashdottv-video|publisher=Slashdot|title=Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to SlashdotTV! (Video)|date=2012-03-28|access-date=2012-03-28|archive-date=2012-03-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328165938/http://news.slashdot.org/story/12/03/28/0126257/ladies-and-gentlemen-welcome-to-slashdottv-video|url-status=live}}</ref> Two months later, in May 2012, Slashdot launched SlashBI, SlashCloud, and SlashDataCenter, three websites dedicated to original journalistic content. The websites proved controversial, with longtime Slashdot users commenting that the original content ran counter to the website's longtime focus on user-generated submissions.<ref>{{Cite web|title = A Glimpse Into Slashdot's Future|url = https://thenextweb.com/media/2012/05/10/a-glimpse-into-slashdots-future/#gref|website = The Next Web|access-date = 2016-01-29|language = en-US|first = Anna|last = Heim|date = 10 May 2012|archive-date = 2016-02-05|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160205075029/http://thenextweb.com/media/2012/05/10/a-glimpse-into-slashdots-future/#gref|url-status = live}}</ref> Nick Kolakowski, the editor of the three websites, told The Next Web that the websites were "meant to complement Slashdot with an added layer of insight into a very specific area of technology, without interfering with Slashdot's longtime focus on tech-community interaction and discussion." Despite the debate, articles published on SlashCloud and SlashBI attracted attention from io9,<ref>{{Cite web|title = Could you really have a space colony like the one in Elysium?|url = http://io9.gizmodo.com/could-you-really-have-a-space-colony-like-the-one-in-el-1095171180|website = io9|access-date = 2016-01-29|language = en-US|first = Annalee|last = Newitz|date = 12 August 2013|archive-date = 2016-02-04|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160204204108/http://io9.gizmodo.com/could-you-really-have-a-space-colony-like-the-one-in-el-1095171180|url-status = live}}</ref> NPR,<ref>{{Cite news|title = After Yahoo Acquires Summly, Is Buying Math The Next Tech Bubble?|url = https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2013/03/26/175377617/after-yahoo-acquires-summly-is-buying-math-the-next-tech-bubble|website = NPR.org|date = 26 March 2013|access-date = 2016-01-29|last1 = Mullis|first1 = Steve|archive-date = 2016-02-04|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160204213509/http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2013/03/26/175377617/after-yahoo-acquires-summly-is-buying-math-the-next-tech-bubble|url-status = live}}</ref> Nieman Lab,<ref>{{Cite web|title = This Week in Review: Paywall prospects in the U.K., and making sense of two Yahoo deals|url = http://www.niemanlab.org/2013/03/this-week-in-review-paywall-prospects-in-the-u-k-and-making-sense-of-two-yahoo-deals/|website = Nieman Lab|access-date = 2016-01-29|archive-date = 2016-02-02|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160202040558/http://www.niemanlab.org/2013/03/this-week-in-review-paywall-prospects-in-the-u-k-and-making-sense-of-two-yahoo-deals/|url-status = live}}</ref> Vanity Fair, and other publications. | |||
In September 2012, Slashdot, ], and ] were acquired by online job site ] for $20 million, and incorporated into a subsidiary known as Slashdot Media.<ref name=dice2012/><ref name=theh2012>{{cite web|url=http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Dice-Holdings-acquires-Slashdot-and-SourceForge-1711181.html |title=Dice Holdings acquires Slashdot and SourceForge - The H Open: News and Features |date=8 December 2013 |access-date=16 April 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131208023450/http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Dice-Holdings-acquires-Slashdot-and-SourceForge-1711181.html |archive-date=8 December 2013 }}</ref> While initially stating that there were no plans for major changes to Slashdot,<ref name=theh2012/> in October 2013, Slashdot launched a "beta" for a significant redesign of the site, which featured a simpler appearance and commenting system.<ref name="redesign backlash"/><ref name="new_design">{{cite web|title=Come Try Out Slashdot's New Design (In Beta).|date=October 2013 |url=http://meta.slashdot.org/story/13/10/01/1849218/come-try-out-slashdots-new-design-in-beta|publisher=Slashdot|access-date=January 7, 2014|archive-date=February 28, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228011520/http://meta.slashdot.org/story/13/10/01/1849218/come-try-out-slashdots-new-design-in-beta|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=D'Onfro |first=Jillian |date=2013-10-09 |title=Check Out The Sleek Redesign of 'News For Nerds' Site Slashdot |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/check-out-the-sleek-redesign-of-news-for-nerds-site-slashdot-2013-10 |access-date=2023-01-12 |website=Business Insider |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-01-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230112223349/https://www.businessinsider.com/check-out-the-sleek-redesign-of-news-for-nerds-site-slashdot-2013-10 |url-status=live }}</ref> While initially an opt-in beta, the site automatically began migrating selected users to the new design in February 2014; the rollout led to a negative response from many longtime users, upset by the added visual complexity, and the removal of features, such as comment viewing, that distinguished Slashdot from other news sites. An organized boycott of the site was held from February 10 to 17, 2014.<ref name="redesign backlash">{{cite news |last=Peterson |first=Andrea |date=2014-02-07 |title=Slashdot creator on redesign backlash |newspaper=] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/02/07/slashdot-creator-on-redesign-backlash-every-slashdot-change-met-with-objections |access-date=February 11, 2014 |archive-date=2014-02-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140211002217/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/02/07/slashdot-creator-on-redesign-backlash-every-slashdot-change-met-with-objections/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The "beta" site was eventually shelved. In July 2015, Dice announced that it planned to sell Slashdot and SourceForge; in particular, the company stated in a filing that it was unable to "successfully the Slashdot user base to further Dice's digital recruitment business".<ref name="ars-dhisell"/> | |||
==History== | |||
===1997=== | |||
* '''July''' - shortlived forerunner to Slashdot, called "Chips & Dips" | |||
* '''September''' - Slashdot is created. | |||
* '''December 31''' - First archived Slashdot post. | |||
On January 27, 2016, the two sites were sold to the San Diego–based BizX, LLC for an undisclosed amount.<ref name="PRNewswire20160128"/><ref name="ars-dhisell">{{cite web |last=Hutchinson |first=Lee |date=28 July 2015 |title=DHI Group plans to sell off Slashdot and Sourceforge |url=https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/07/dhi-group-plans-to-sell-off-slashdot-and-sourceforge/ |access-date=4 February 2016 |website=Ars Technica |archive-date=5 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205013923/http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/07/dhi-group-plans-to-sell-off-slashdot-and-sourceforge/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="sdbj-bizx">{{cite web |last=Graves |first=Brad |date=28 January 2016 |title=Slashdot Media Acquired by BIZX for Undisclosed Price |url=http://www.sdbj.com/news/2016/jan/28/slashdot-media-acquired-bizx-undisclosed-price/ |access-date=4 February 2016 |website=San Diego Business Journal |archive-date=4 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204211651/http://www.sdbj.com/news/2016/jan/28/slashdot-media-acquired-bizx-undisclosed-price/ |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
===1998=== | |||
* '''February 2''' - Slashdot begins accepting ]. | |||
* '''May 13''' - Slashdot introduces the "Ask Slashdot" section. | |||
* '''September 14''' - Slashdot is hacked. | |||
== |
==Administration== | ||
* '''February 1''' - The ] is first mentioned. | |||
* '''June 29''' - Slashdot is acquired by Andover.net. | |||
* '''September 7''' - Meta-moderation is introduced to Slashdot. | |||
* '''September 10''' - Slashdot announces the addition of the "Your Rights Online" section. | |||
* '''October 15''' - Slashdot announces the addition of two new sections: Apache and BSD. | |||
=== |
===Team=== | ||
] | |||
* '''February 3''' - Andover.net, Slashdot's parent company, merges with ] company ]. | |||
It was run by its founder, ], from 1998 until 2011.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Watercutter |first=Angela |date=2011-08-25 |title=Slashdot Founder Rob 'Cmdr Taco' Malda Resigns |language=en-US |magazine=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/2011/08/slashdot-founder-resigns/ |access-date=2022-11-26 |issn=1059-1028}}</ref> He shared editorial responsibilities with several other editors including Timothy Lord, Patrick "Scuttlemonkey" McGarry, Jeff "Soulskill" Boehm, Rob "Samzenpus" Rozeboom, and Keith Dawson.<ref name="slashdotFAQ_who">{{cite web|url=http://slashdot.org/faq/slashmeta.shtml#sm100|title=Slashdot FAQ: About Slashdot: Who does this?|last=Malda|first=Rob|date=February 7, 2002|publisher=Slashdot|access-date=January 12, 2010|archive-date=September 24, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060924100115/http://slashdot.org/faq/slashmeta.shtml#sm100|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="emergence">{{cite book | last = Johnson | first = Steven | author-link = Steven Johnson (author) | title = Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software | publisher = Scribner | year = 2001 | page = | location = New York | isbn = 978-0-684-86875-2 | title-link = Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software }}</ref> Jonathan "cowboyneal" Pater is another popular editor of Slashdot, who came to work for Slashdot as a programmer and systems administrator. His online nickname (handle), CowboyNeal, is inspired by a ] tribute to ] in their song, "That's It for the Other One". He is best known as the target of the usual comic poll option,<ref name="spoke">{{cite web|url=http://www.spoke.com/info/p7ZQR2G/JonathanPater|title=Jonathan Pater, Programmer, freshmeat.net |date=2009-04-06|access-date=2009-04-06|publisher=Spoke Software}}</ref> a tradition started by ].<ref>{{cite web|last=samzenpus|title=Making a Slashdot Omelet|date=19 October 2012 |url=http://meta.slashdot.org/story/12/10/09/1650205/making-a-slashdot-omelet|access-date=19 October 2012|archive-date=17 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130517132726/http://meta.slashdot.org/story/12/10/09/1650205/making-a-slashdot-omelet|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
* '''February 24''' - Slashdot's 10,000th article is posted. | |||
* '''May''' - Slashdot is the victim of a week-long Distributed Denial-of-Service attack. | |||
* '''September 28''' - Slashdot is hacked again. | |||
=== |
===Software=== | ||
{{update section|reason=It is unclear whether Slashdot still uses ] or some newer look-alike since around 2009|date=January 2019}} | |||
* '''March 9''' - An anonymous poster posts the full text of ]'s OT III ("Operating Thetan Level Three") document in a comment attached to a Slashdot article. The ] then demanded that the Slashdot editors remove the post under the ]. A week later, in a long article , the Slashdot editors explained their decision to remove the page. | |||
Slashdot runs on ], a ] available under the ].<ref name="slashcode">{{cite web|url=http://www.slashcode.com/about.shtml|title=Slashcode: About This Site|publisher=]|access-date=January 13, 2010|archive-date=December 29, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091229210805/http://www.slashcode.com/about.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> Early versions of Slash were written by ] in the spring of 1998. After Andover.net bought Slashdot in June 1999,<ref>{{Cite news| last = Malda| first = Rob| title = Slashdot Acquired by Andover.net| work = Slashdot| date = 1999-06-29| url = http://news.slashdot.org/story/99/06/29/137212/slashdot-acquired-by-andovernet| access-date = 2016-09-08| archive-date = 2016-10-09| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161009135910/https://news.slashdot.org/story/99/06/29/137212/slashdot-acquired-by-andovernet| url-status = live}}</ref> Several programmers were hired to structure the code and render it scalable, as its users had increased from a few hundred to tens of thousands. This work was done by Brian Aker, Patrick Galbraith, Chris Nandor and others, resulting in version 2 of the software, released in 2001.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Aker |first1=Brian |last2=Krieger |first2=Dave |title=Running Weblogs with Slash |date=2002 |publisher=O'Reilly Media, Inc. |isbn=978-0-596-00100-1 |page=1-10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oigJsLSyZUoC&pg=PR13 |language=en}}</ref> Slash remains ] and anyone can contribute to development. | |||
* '''August 18''' - ] 2.2 is released, which allows for comment notification, journals, and ]-style user pages. | |||
=== |
===Peer moderation=== | ||
Slashdot's editors are primarily responsible for selecting and editing the primary stories that are posted daily by submitters. The editors provide a one-paragraph summary for each story and a link to an external website where the story originated. Each story becomes the topic for a threaded discussion among the site's users.<ref name="Lampe_Resnick">{{cite book|publisher=School of Information, ]|location=], Austria|author1=Lampe, C. |author2=Resnick, P. |title=Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems |chapter=Slash(dot) and burn |date=2004 |doi=10.1145/985692.985761|isbn=978-1-58113-702-6|pages=543–550|s2cid=207548645}}</ref> A user-based ] is employed to filter out abusive or offensive comments.<ref name="Pavlicek_Russell">{{cite book|last=Pavlicek|first=Russell C.|title=Embracing insanity: open source software development.|publisher=]|date=September 15, 2000|isbn=978-0-672-31989-1|url=https://archive.org/details/embracinginsanit00pavl}}</ref> Every comment is initially given a score of ''−1'' to ''+2'', with a default score of ''+1'' for registered users, ''0'' for anonymous users (]), ''+2'' for users with high "karma", or ''−1'' for users with low "karma". As moderators read comments attached to articles, they click to moderate the comment, either up (''+1'') or down (''−1''). Moderators may choose to attach a particular descriptor to the comments as well, such as "normal", "offtopic", "]", "]", "redundant", "insightful", "interesting", "informative", "funny", "overrated", or "underrated", with each corresponding to a ''−1'' or ''+1'' rating. So a comment may be seen to have a rating of "+1 insightful" or "−1 troll".<ref name="emergence"/> Comments are very rarely deleted, even if they contain hateful remarks.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=5216493&cid=47124781|title=Mutant Registration vs. Vaccine Registration – Slashdot|access-date=16 April 2017|archive-date=1 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181201132900/https://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=5216493&cid=47124781|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=7527117&cid=49878335|title=Feds Want To Unmask Internet Commenters Writing About the Silk Road Trial Judge – Slashdot|access-date=16 April 2017|archive-date=1 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181201135311/https://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=7527117&cid=49878335|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
* '''January 2''' - Slashdot introduces the "zoo" system, allowing the marking of users as "friend" and "foe". | |||
*'''January 16 - January 30''' - An off-topic post purported to be detailing the results of an investigation into ] becomes itself the subject of a "] war" and ends up being moderated a record 851 times (as well as getting 268 direct replies). The editors are accused of indiscriminately modding down all the posts in the thread collectively as well as permanently banning anyone who moderated the post up from moderating or ] again. | |||
* '''March 1''' - Slashdot begins a subscription service, where subscribers are given special perks in exchange for a small fee. | |||
Starting in August 2019 anonymous comments and postings have been disabled. | |||
===2003=== | |||
* '''March 6''' - Slashdot subscribers are given the ability to see articles 10-20 minutes before they are released to the general public. | |||
Moderation points add to a user's rating, which is known as "]" on Slashdot. Users with high "karma" are eligible to become moderators themselves. The system does not promote regular users as "moderators" and instead assigns five moderation points at a time to users based on the number of comments they have entered in the system – once a user's moderation points are used up, they can no longer moderate articles (though they can be assigned more moderation points at a later date). Paid staff editors have an unlimited number of moderation points.<ref name="emergence"/><ref name="Lampe_Resnick"/><ref name="Poor_Nathaniel">{{cite journal|last=Poor|first=Nathaniel|year=2005|title=Mechanisms of an Online Public Sphere: The Website Slashdot|journal=Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication|publisher=]|volume=10|issue=2|url=http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue2/poor.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050216090413/http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue2/poor.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 16, 2005|access-date=28 February 2012}}</ref> A given comment can have any integer score from ''−1'' to ''+5'', and registered users of Slashdot can set a personal threshold so that no comments with a lesser score are displayed.<ref name="Lampe_Resnick"/><ref name="Poor_Nathaniel"/> For instance, a user reading Slashdot at level ''+5'' will only see the highest rated comments, while a user reading at level ''−1'' will see a more "unfiltered, anarchic version".<ref name="emergence"/> A ] was implemented on September 7, 1999,<ref name="metamod">{{cite web|url=http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=99/09/07/155233&mode=thread&tid=124|title=Slashdot's Meta Moderation|last=Malda|first=Rob|date=September 7, 1999|publisher=Slashdot|access-date=January 22, 2010}}</ref> to moderate the moderators and help contain abuses in the moderation system.<ref name="The Misplaced Pages Revolution by Andrew Lih">{{cite book | title=The Misplaced Pages Revolution | publisher=Hyperion | author=Lih, Andrew | year=2009 | location=New York City | isbn=978-1-4013-0371-6 | oclc=232977686 | url=https://archive.org/details/wikipediarevolut00liha }}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=August 2014}}{{page needed|date=August 2014}} Meta-moderators are presented with a set of moderations that they may rate as either ''fair'' or ''unfair''. For each moderation, the meta-moderator sees the original comment and the reason assigned by the moderator (e.g. ''troll'', ''funny''), and the meta-moderator can click to see the context of comments surrounding the one that was moderated.<ref name="Lampe_Resnick"/><ref name="Poor_Nathaniel"/> | |||
===2004=== | |||
* '''May''' - Slashdot bans HTTP proxies running on ports 3128, 80, 8000 and 8080 from posting and institutes a system of semipermanent posting bans on the ]s of users who are negatively moderated several times. | |||
* '''August 18''' - Slashdot has its ten millionth user posting. | |||
* '''September 7''' - Slashdot "goes political" and creates a new politics subsection, two months before the U.S. 2004 presidential election. | |||
== |
==Features== | ||
{{expand section|date=July 2021}} | |||
* '''April 8''' - Slashdot introduces "day passes", allowing all users to enjoy the benefits of subscribers for the duration of one day if they watch a commercial. | |||
* '''September 22''' - Slashdot begins using HTML 4.01 and CSS on its pages, replacing the aging HTML 3.2-based system which had been in place for many years. | |||
=== |
===Tags=== | ||
Slashdot uses a system of "tags" where users can categorize a story to group them together and sorting them. Tags are written in all lowercase, with no spaces, and limited to 64 characters. For example, articles could be tagged as being about "security" or "mozilla". Some articles are tagged with longer tags, such as "whatcouldpossiblygowrong" (expressing the perception of catastrophic risk), "suddenoutbreakofcommonsense" (used when the community feels that the subject has finally figured out something obvious), "correlationnotcausation" (used when scientific articles lack direct evidence; see ]), or "getyourasstomars" (commonly seen in articles about ] or ]).<ref name="tags">{{cite web|url=http://slashdot.org/faq/tags.shtml|title=Slashdot F.A.Q.: Tags|last=Malda|first=Rob|date=April 29, 2009|publisher=Slashdot|access-date=January 7, 2010|display-authors=etal|archive-date=June 13, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613002800/http://slashdot.org/faq/tags.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | |||
* '''April 1''' - ''OMG!!! Ponies!!!'' pink theme is used for the day, some users report eye strain. The theme can be applied to the current Slashdot layout using the Slashdotter Firefox extension . | |||
|title=Web 2.0 Architectures | |||
* '''June 4''' - A new design is implemented following a contest. | |||
|page=61 | |||
|first1=James |last1=Governor|first2=Duane |last2=Nickull|first3=Dion |last3=Hinchcliffe | |||
|year=2009 | |||
|publisher=] | |||
|isbn=978-0-596-51443-3 | |||
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gmFHsQ6oEtYC&pg=PA61 | |||
}}</ref> | |||
== |
==Culture== | ||
{{See also|Internet meme|List of Internet phenomena}} | |||
To prevent abusive comments, a ] has been implemented whereby every comment posted (including those posted anonymously) can be "moderated" up or down by ], changing the post's score likewise. Moderation points added to a comment are also added to a user's karma score. Having high karma gives added bonuses to users, such as the ability to autopost at higher starting values. Conversely, users with low karma have penalties imposed on them. People that post comments designed to get more karma, for example mirroring a linked article, are referred to as ]. Those who can moderate are selected by their karma score and number of meta moderations (and maybe other criteria). Slashdot editors, including ] ("CmdrTaco"), can moderate limitlessly. Moderator access for non-editors is time limited (to a few days) and the number of 'mod points' one gets is limited (to a max of 5 points at the time of this writing). | |||
] | |||
As an online community with primarily user-generated content, many in-jokes and ]s have developed over the course of the site's history. A popular ] (based on an unscientific Slashdot user poll<ref>{{cite web|url=http://slashdot.org/pollBooth.pl?qid=1483&aid=-1|title=Best Meme in Slashdot's First 10 Years|date=October 1, 2007|publisher=Slashdot|access-date=January 7, 2010|archive-date=June 24, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130624210420/http://slashdot.org/pollBooth.pl?qid=1483&aid=-1|url-status=live}}</ref>) is, "In ], ''noun'' ''verb'' you!"<ref>As an example, the phrase "You use the computer" would translate into "In Soviet Russia, the computer uses you!"</ref> This type of joke has its roots in the 1960s or earlier, and is known as a "]". Other popular memes usually pertain to computing or technology, such as "Imagine a ] of these",<ref name="beowulf_cluster">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.linux-mag.com/id/3534|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509014040/http://www.linux-mag.com/id/3534|url-status=usurped|archive-date=May 9, 2008|title=Cluster Urban Legends: Build Your Cluster With Facts Not Fiction|last=Eadline|first=Douglas|date=June 21, 2007|magazine=]|access-date=January 7, 2010}}</ref> "But does it run ]?",<ref name="engadget_doesitrunlinux">{{cite news|url=https://www.engadget.com/2005/09/12/ibm-unleashes-infoprint-4100-the-330-pages-per-minute-laser/|title=IBM unleashes Infoprint 4100, the 330 pages per minute laser printer|last=Dybwad|first=Barb|date=September 12, 2005|publisher=]|access-date=January 7, 2010|archive-date=October 7, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091007003733/http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/12/ibm-unleashes-infoprint-4100-the-330-pages-per-minute-laser/|url-status=live}}</ref> or "] now confirms: ] (or some other software package or item) is dying."<ref name="netcraft_bsd">{{cite web|url=http://bsd.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=228247&cid=18495137|title=Making OpenBSD Binary Patches With Chroot: BSD is Dying|last=Anonymous Coward|date=March 26, 2007|publisher=Slashdot|access-date=January 7, 2010|archive-date=June 24, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130624210421/http://bsd.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=228247&cid=18495137|url-status=live}}</ref> Users will also typically refer to articles referring to data storage and data capacity by inquiring how much it is in units of ].<ref name="LOC">{{cite news|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/numbersguy/a-dump-trucks-worth-of-quirky-conversions-122/|last=Bialik|first=Carl|title=A Dump Truck's Worth of Quirky Conversions|date=June 7, 2007|newspaper=]|access-date=January 7, 2010|archive-date=October 7, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007003606/http://blogs.wsj.com/numbersguy/a-dump-trucks-worth-of-quirky-conversions-122/|url-status=live}}</ref> Sometimes bandwidth speeds are referred to in units of Libraries of Congress per second. When numbers are quoted, people will comment that the number happens to be the "combination to their luggage" (a reference to the ] film ]) and express false anger at the person who revealed it. | |||
A given comment can have any integer score from −1 to +5, and Slashdot users can set a personal threshold where no comments with a lesser score are displayed. A person browsing the comments at a threshold of 1 will not see comments with a score of −1 or 0 but will see all others. A ] was implemented to moderate the moderators and help contain abuses. | |||
Slashdotters often use the abbreviation TFA which stands for ''The fucking article'' or ] ("Read the fucking article"), which itself is derived from the abbreviation ].<ref name="RTFA_CapnGuts">{{cite news|author=Capn Guts|title=Meta musing, RTFA.|url=http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/06/11/345286/-Meta-musing,-RTFA|access-date=September 6, 2011|newspaper=]|date=June 11, 2007|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304053203/http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/06/11/345286/-Meta-musing,-RTFA|url-status=live}}</ref> Usage of this abbreviation often exposes comments from posters who have not read the article linked to in the main story. Slashdotters typically like to mock then United States Senator ]' 2006 description of the Internet as a "]"<ref name="stevens_internets">{{cite web|url=http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/7/2/232335/3120|title=Ted Stevens on the internets|last=kos|date=July 2, 2006|publisher=]|access-date=January 7, 2010|archive-date=August 16, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090816102747/http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/7/2/232335/3120|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="slashdot_stevens_tubes">{{cite web|url=http://entertainment.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/03/0643238|title=How The Internet Works - With Tubes|last=Zonk|date=July 3, 2006|publisher=Slashdot|access-date=January 7, 2010|archive-date=February 7, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100207192523/http://entertainment.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/03/0643238|url-status=live}}</ref> or former Microsoft CEO ]'s chair-throwing incident from 2005.<ref name="Fried_Ina">{{cite news|url=http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/networking/2005/09/05/ballmer-vowed-to-kill-google-39216371/|title=Ballmer 'vowed to kill Google.'|last=Fried|first=Ina|date=September 5, 2005|publisher=]|access-date=April 4, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100505062154/http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/networking/2005/09/05/ballmer-vowed-to-kill-google-39216371/|archive-date=May 5, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Zonk_Ballmer">{{cite news|url=http://yro.slashdot.org/story/05/09/03/0515250/Balmer-Vows-to-Kill-Google?art_pos=8|title=Ballmer Vows to Kill Google.|last=Zonk|date=September 3, 2005|publisher=Slashdot|access-date=January 7, 2010|archive-date=May 11, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511101128/http://yro.slashdot.org/story/05/09/03/0515250/Balmer-Vows-to-Kill-Google?art_pos=8|url-status=live}}</ref> Microsoft founder ] is a popular target of jokes by Slashdotters, and all stories about Microsoft were once identified with a graphic of Gates looking like a ] from '']''.<ref name="wired_bill_gates_of_borg">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/1999/08/21448|title=Slashdot: All the News that Fits|last=Glave|first=James|date=August 26, 1999|magazine=]|access-date=January 15, 2010}}</ref> Many Slashdotters have long talked about the supposed release of '']'', which was promised in 1997 but was delayed indefinitely (the game was eventually released in 2011).<ref name="DNF">{{cite web|url=http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/07/0146233|title=Duke Nukem For Never|last=samzenpus|date=May 7, 2009|publisher=Slashdot|access-date=January 7, 2010|archive-date=May 25, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090525065048/http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/07/0146233|url-status=live}}</ref> References to the game are commonly brought up in other articles about software packages that are not yet in production even though the announced delivery date has long passed (see ]). Having a low Slashdot ] is highly valued since they are assigned sequentially; having one is a sign that someone has an older account and has contributed to the site longer. For Slashdot's 10-year anniversary in 2007, one of the items auctioned off in the charity auction for the ] was a 3-digit Slashdot user ID.<ref name="user_achievements_2"/><ref name="EFF_auction">{{cite journal|date=October 31, 2007|title=Thanks Slashdot!|journal=EFFector|volume=20|issue=43|issn=1062-9424|url=http://w2.eff.org/effector/20/43.php|access-date=January 25, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101015020623/http://w2.eff.org/effector/20/43.php|archive-date=October 15, 2010}}</ref> | |||
==Trolling== | |||
] of the Sacred Jihad against Slashdot]] | |||
{{Main|Slashdot trolling phenomena}} | |||
As one of the largest forums on the Internet, ] and ] on Slashdot is a highly evolved phenomenon. It is an offbeat and complex subculture involving sometimes repetitive and sometimes obscene comments featuring a mixture of Slashdot celebrities and other unusual juvenilia. | |||
==Traffic and publicity== | |||
The Slashdot editors are sometimes accused of posting (and even preferring) stories that are, themselves, thinly-disguised trolls, which encourage large numbers of postings in response. | |||
{{See also|Slashdot effect}} | |||
] | |||
In 2006, Slashdot had approximately 5.5 million users per month. | |||
==Slashbot== | |||
The term "Slashbot" is sometimes used to refer to a stereotypical participant of Slashdot.{{or}} This is generally a ] term and implies one or more of the following habitual behaviors: | |||
*Consistent failure to make use of help sections, ]s | |||
*Tendency to ] | |||
*Consistently advocating the use of ]/], ]/]/], ], etc. | |||
*Evangelistic condemnation of ], ], etc. | |||
The primary stories on the site consist of a short synopsis paragraph, a link to the original story, and a lengthy discussion section, all contributed by users. At its peak, discussion on stories could get up to 10,000 posts per day. Slashdot has been considered a pioneer in user-driven content, influencing other sites such as ] and Misplaced Pages.<ref name="naughton_john">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2006/aug/13/observerreview.onlinesupplement|title=Websites that changed the world|last=Naughton|first=John|date=August 13, 2006|newspaper=]|access-date=January 7, 2010|location=London|archive-date=September 4, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904192711/http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2006/aug/13/observerreview.onlinesupplement|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Tapscott_Williams">{{cite book|author1=Tapscott, D. |author2=Williams, A.D. |title=Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything|publisher=]|location=New York City|date=2006|pages=144|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DVomiOeBg_YC&q=slashdot&pg=PA144|access-date=January 12, 2010 | isbn=978-1-59184-193-7}}</ref> | |||
==Criticism== | |||
There has been a dip in readership as of 2011, primarily due to the increase of technology-related blogs and Twitter feeds.<ref name="Gaudin_Sharon">{{cite news|last=Gaudin|first=Sharon|title=Rob Malda, a.k.a. CmdrTaco, leaves Slashdot.|url=http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9219503/Rob_Malda_a.k.a._CmdrTaco_leaves_Slashdot|access-date=September 6, 2011|newspaper=ComputerWorld|date=August 25, 2011|archive-date=October 27, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111027070006/http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9219503/Rob_Malda_a.k.a._CmdrTaco_leaves_Slashdot|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
Critics claim{{cn}} that the quality of materials found on Slashdot has progressively declined. Common complaints include: | |||
In 2002, approximately 50% of Slashdot's traffic consisted of people who simply check out the headlines and click through, while others participate in discussion boards and take part in the community.<ref name="Lemos_Robert">{{cite news|url=http://news.cnet.com/2008-1082-938615.html|title=Newsmaker: Behind the Slashdot phenomenon|last=Lemos|first=Robert|date=June 24, 2002|publisher=]|access-date=January 7, 2010|archive-date=May 10, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510075504/http://news.cnet.com/2008-1082-938615.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Many links in Slashdot stories caused the linked site to get swamped by heavy traffic and its server to collapse. This was known as the "Slashdot effect",<ref name="naughton_john"/><ref name="Lemos_Robert"/> a term first coined on February 15, 1999, that refers to an article about a "new generation of niche Web portals driving unprecedented amounts of traffic to sites of interest".<ref name="Tapscott_Williams"/><ref name="slashdot_effect_coined">{{cite web|url=http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=99/02/15/1249237&mode=thread&tid=124|title=Beware of the Slashdot Effect|last=Malda|first=Rob|date=February 15, 1999|publisher=Slashdot|access-date=January 7, 2010|archive-date=December 5, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205183052/http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=99/02/15/1249237&mode=thread&tid=124|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
*The frequency of reposts (also known as "dupes"), where editors approve articles for the front page, often slightly reworded, that have previously appeared on the site. Since the major responsibility of editors is to sift through article submissions, reposts leave the impression of incompetence. Some readers have called for mandatory procedures to search for Slashdot dupes before an article is published<ref> - At that day, complaints about Slashdot story selection process were appearing on all published stories, which prompted a response from Slashdot editors</ref>. | |||
Slashdot has received over twenty awards, including ] in 2000 in both of the categories for which it was nominated (''Best Community Site'' and ''Best News Site'').<ref name="webby_2000">{{cite news|url=http://www.webbyawards.com/press/press-release.php?id=33|title=Stars Turn Out to Honor the Best Web Sites of the Year at the Webby Awards 2000.|last=Mulligan|first=Judie|date=May 11, 2000|publisher=]|access-date=January 13, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090422050535/http://www.webbyawards.com/press/press-release.php?id=33|archive-date=April 22, 2009}}</ref> It was also voted as one of '']''{{'}}s favorite technology Web sites and rated in ]'s Top 100 Web sites as the "Best Geek Hangout" (2001).<ref name="Rappa_Michael">{{cite web|url=http://digitalenterprise.org/cases/slashdot.html|title=Case Study: Slashdot|last=Rappa|first=Michael|publisher=digitalenterprise.org|access-date=January 13, 2010|archive-date=June 12, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612204723/http://digitalenterprise.org/cases/slashdot.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The main antagonists in the 2004 novel '']'', by ] – The Slashers – are named after Slashdot users.<ref name="century_rain">{{cite web|url=http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2006/06/review-century-rain-by-alastair-reynolds-1/|title=REVIEW: Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds|last=Shaffer|first=Scott|date=June 8, 2006|publisher=sfsignal.com|access-date=January 13, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100422203400/http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2006/06/review-century-rain-by-alastair-reynolds-1/|archive-date=April 22, 2010}}</ref> The site was mentioned briefly in the 2000 novel '']'', written by ].<ref name="MacLeod_Ken">{{cite book|last=MacLeod|first=Ken|title=Cosmonaut Keep|publisher=Tom Doherty Associates, L.L.C.|location=]|year=2000|pages=29|isbn=978-0-7653-4073-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WZ79SvQOhPQC&q=Cosmonaut+Keep+slashdot&pg=PA29|access-date=January 13, 2010}}</ref> Several tech celebrities have stated that they either checked the website regularly or participated in its discussion forums using an account. Some of these celebrities include: Apple co-founder ],<ref name="WozniakSteve">{{cite book|last=Kahney|first=Leander|title=The Cult of Mac|publisher=No Starch Press|date=November 18, 2006|pages=|isbn=978-1-59327-122-0|url=https://archive.org/details/cultofmac00kahn/page/50}}</ref> writer and actor ],<ref name="WilWheaton">{{cite web|url=http://www.wilwheaton.net/2003/01/hoo_boy_3.php|title=Hoo boy!|last=Wheaton|first=Wil|date=January 14, 2003|publisher=wilwheaton.net|access-date=January 12, 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061004200239/http://www.wilwheaton.net/2003/01/hoo_boy_3.php |archive-date = October 4, 2006}}</ref> and ] technical director ].<ref name="carmack_thread">{{cite journal|last=McDonald|first=Tom|date=March 2002|title=Romero vs. Carmack|journal=Maximum PC|pages=15|issn=1522-4279|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0gEAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA15|access-date=January 12, 2012}}</ref>{{dubious|date=February 2022}} | |||
*Article summaries with typos, misleading titles, or errors. An example of this is an article titled '''"Spain Outlaws P2P File Sharing"''' where the article summary states that Spain is banning all P2P file sharing, a huge fuss ensues in the discussion, while the reality is that Spain only made it a civil offence to pirate movies, which is hardly "Outlawing P2P". | |||
== |
== Deterioration == | ||
As of July ], Slashdot's audience is shrinking, not only in relation to other sites, but in absolute terms as well. One graph (originally posted as a comment to a Slashdot story) shows that comment volume has plunged since mid-2005,. On the other hand, Slashdot has instituted many aggressive anti-trolling features (see above) that have cut back on the previously significant amounts of "crapflood" comments that took advantage of software bugs. | |||
* Unlike other sites, ] was never adopted. All text is rendered as ]. Including parts of news posts quoted from third party sites. | |||
As of late September 2006, ] shows a marked decrease in queries including the word "slashdot" over the past year, suggestive of a concomitant drop in relative traffic. Google Trends shows the popularity of a query relative the total number of search queries, and thus no absolute trends can be derived from the Google Trends graph; over the same period, however, rival site Digg has seen no such decline in Trends statistics.<ref>http://www.google.com/trends?q=slashdot%2Cdigg%2Creddit&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all</ref> | |||
* The mobile interface, added after Slashdot was sold off, was never finished, and lacks fundamental functionality, like account settings, anonymous posting, choice of markup style (important because of above lack of UTF-8), etc. | |||
==Similar sites== | |||
English language: | |||
*]: Technology and science news, typically with fewer stories but longer analysis and relevancy. | |||
*]: Technology, and other, news where news is submitted and voted on by registered users. | |||
*]: Database run by Slashdot founders. | |||
*]: News and other items with commentary from users | |||
*]: An alternative discussion site founded and visited by Slashdot expatriates. | |||
*]: A community Weblog focusing on links to interesting sites; some overlap with Slashdot topics | |||
*]: More enterprise oriented than Slashdot. Based in the UK. | |||
*]: Socially promoted general news | |||
*]: Technology and science news, with karma and user-submission similar to Slashdot. | |||
* No visible changes to the site have been made since the addition of the mobile interface and rudimentary ]. | |||
Non-English: | |||
*] (Spanish language) | |||
*] (Portuguese language) | |||
*] (French language) | |||
*] (German language) | |||
*] (Dutch language) | |||
*] (Japanese language) | |||
* Comment numbers have declined to a tenth compared to its golden age.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://slashdot.org/hof.shtml | title=Slashdot: Hall of Fame }}</ref> | |||
==References== | |||
<div class="references-small"> | |||
* As of late Summer 2023, the registration mechanism for new users is disabled, and manual requests via feedback e-mail must be made.<ref>{{Cite web | title=Create Account | url=https://slashdot.org/my/newuser | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090704215117/http://slashdot.org:80/my/newuser | access-date=2024-12-27 | archive-date=2009-07-04}}</ref> | |||
<references/> | |||
</div> | |||
== |
==See also== | ||
{{Portal|Internet}} | |||
{{wikiquotepar|Slashdot.org}} | |||
* ] | |||
* | |||
* ] | |||
* | |||
* ] | |||
* An analysis of traffic patterns when having an article posted on the front pages of the two largest technology blogs. | |||
* ] | |||
* | |||
* ] | |||
* A Podcast that talks about the latest news on Slashdot, three times a week. | |||
* ] {{In lang|zh}}, a Chinese clone of Slashdot, whose name comes from "solidus" (alternate name of slash) and "dot" | |||
== References == | |||
{{Computer Magazines}} | |||
{{Reflist|30em}} | |||
] | |||
] | |||
==External links== | |||
] | |||
{{Wiktionary|slashdot}} | |||
] | |||
* {{Official website|https://slashdot.org/}} | |||
] | |||
] | |||
] | |||
] | |||
] | |||
] | |||
] | ] | ||
] | |||
] | |||
] | |||
] | |||
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Latest revision as of 16:11, 27 December 2024
Technology-related news website (launched 1997)
Type of site | Online newspaper Social news |
---|---|
Available in | English |
Owner | Slashdot Media |
Created by | Rob Malda Jeff Bates |
Key people | Logan Abbott (President) |
Revenue | Advertisement, optional subscription |
URL | slashdot |
Registration | Optional |
Launched | October 5, 1997; 27 years ago (1997-10-05) |
Current status | Online |
Slashdot (sometimes abbreviated as /.) is a social news website that originally billed itself as "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters". It features news stories on science, technology, and politics that are submitted and evaluated by site users and editors. Each story has a comments section where users can add online comments.
The website was founded in 1997 by Hope College students Rob Malda, also known as "CmdrTaco", and classmate Jeff Bates, also known as "Hemos". In 2012, they sold it to DHI Group, Inc. (i.e., Dice Holdings International, which created the Dice.com website for tech job seekers). In January 2016, BIZX acquired both slashdot.org and SourceForge. In December 2019, BIZX rebranded to Slashdot Media.
Summaries of stories and links to news articles are submitted by Slashdot's own users, and each story becomes the topic of a threaded discussion among users. Discussion is moderated by a user-based moderation system. Randomly selected moderators are assigned points (typically 5) which they can use to rate a comment. Moderation applies either −1 or +1 to the current rating, based on whether the comment is perceived as either "normal", "offtopic", "insightful", "redundant", "interesting", or "troll" (among others).
The site's comment and moderation system is administered by its own open source content management system, Slash, which is available under the GNU General Public License. In 2012, Slashdot had around 3.7 million unique visitors per month and received over 5300 comments per day. The site has won more than 20 awards, including People's Voice Awards in 2000 for "Best Community Site" and "Best News Site". At its peak use, a news story posted to the site with a link could overwhelm some smaller or independent sites. This phenomenon was known as the "Slashdot effect".
Slashdot also now offers a business software comparison directory with over 100,000 software titles.
History
1990s
Slashdot was preceded by Rob Malda's personal website "Chips & Dips", which launched in October 1997, featured a single "rant" each day about something that interested its author – typically something to do with Linux or open source software. At the time, Malda was a student at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, majoring in computer science. The site became "Slashdot" in September 1997 under the slogan "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters", and quickly became a hotspot on the Internet for news and information of interest to computer geeks.
The name "Slashdot" came from a somewhat "obnoxious parody of a URL" – when Malda registered the domain, he desired to make a name that was "silly and unpronounceable" – try pronouncing out, 'h-t-t-p-colon-slash-slash-slashdot-dot-org'". By June 1998, the site was seeing as many as 100,000 page views per day and advertisers began to take notice. By December 1998, Slashdot had net revenues of $18,000, yet its Internet profile was higher and revenues were expected to increase.
On June 29, 1999, the site was sold to Linux megasite Andover.net for $1.5 million in cash and $7 million in Andover stock at the Initial public offering (IPO) price. Part of the deal was contingent upon the continued employment of Malda and Bates and on the achievement of certain "milestones". With the acquisition of Slashdot, Andover.net could now advertise itself as "the leading Linux/Open Source destination on the Internet". Andover.net merged with VA Linux on February 3, 2000, changed its name to SourceForge, Inc. on May 24, 2007, and then became Geeknet, Inc. on November 4, 2009.
2000s
Slashdot's 10,000th article was posted after two and a half years on February 24, 2000, and the 100,000th article was posted on December 11, 2009, after 12 years online. During the first 12 years, the most active story with the most responses posted was the post-2004 US Presidential Election article "Kerry Concedes Election To Bush" with 5,687 posts. This followed the creation of a new article section, politics.slashdot.org, created at the start of the 2004 election on September 7, 2004. Many of the most popular stories are political, with "Strike on Iraq" (March 19, 2003) the second-most-active article and "Barack Obama Wins US Presidency" (November 5, 2008) the third-most-active. The rest of the 10 most active articles are an article announcing the 2005 London bombings, and several articles about Evolution vs. Intelligent Design, Saddam Hussein's capture, and Fahrenheit 9/11. Articles about Microsoft and its Windows Operating System are popular. A thread posted in 2002 titled "What's Keeping You On Windows?" was the 10th-most-active story, and an article about Windows 2000/NT4 source-code leaks the most visited article with more than 680,000 hits. Some controversy erupted on March 9, 2001, after an anonymous user posted the full text of Scientology's "Operating Thetan Level Three" (OT III) document in a comment attached to a Slashdot article. The Church of Scientology demanded that Slashdot remove the document under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. A week later, in a long article, Slashdot editors explained their decision to remove the page while providing links and information on how to get the document from other sources.
Slashdot Japan was launched on May 28, 2001 (although the first article was published April 5, 2001) and is an official offshoot of the US-based Web site. As of January 2010 the site was owned by OSDN-Japan, Inc., and carried some of the US-based Slashdot articles as well as localized stories. An external site, New Media Services, has reported the importance of Online Moderation last December 1, 2011. On Valentine's Day 2002, founder Rob Malda proposed to longtime girlfriend Kathleen Fent using the front page of Slashdot. They were married on December 8, 2002, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Slashdot implemented a paid subscription service on March 1, 2002. Slashdot's subscription model works by allowing users to pay a small fee to be able to view pages without banner ads, starting at a rate of $5 per 1,000 page views – non-subscribers may still view articles and respond to comments, with banner ads in place. On March 6, 2003, subscribers were given the ability to see articles 10 to 20 minutes before they are released to the public. Slashdot altered its threaded discussion forum display software to explicitly show domains for links in articles, as "users made a sport out of tricking unsuspecting readers into visiting ."
In observance of April Fools' Day in 2006, Slashdot temporarily changed its signature teal color theme to a warm palette of bubblegum pink and changed its masthead from the usual, "News for Nerds" motto to, "OMG!!! Ponies!!!" Editors joked that this was done to increase female readership. In another supposed April Fools' Day joke, User Achievement tags were introduced on April 1, 2009. This system allowed users to be tagged with various achievements, such as "The Tagger" for tagging a story or "Member of the {1,2,3,4,5} Digit UID Club" for having a Slashdot UID consisting of a certain number of digits. While it was posted on April Fools' Day to allow for certain joke achievements, the system is real. Slashdot unveiled its newly redesigned site on June 4, 2006, following a CSS Redesign Competition. The winner of the competition was Alex Bendiken, who built on the initial CSS framework of the site. The new site looks similar to the old one but is more polished with more rounded curves, collapsible menus, and updated fonts. On November 9 that same year, Malda wrote that Slashdot attained 16,777,215 (or 2 − 1) comments, which broke the database for three hours until the administrators fixed the problem.
2010s
On July 11, 2010, SlashDot was the first major media platform where Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency, was publicized. On January 25, 2011, the site launched its third major redesign in its 13.5-year history, which gutted the HTML and CSS, and updated the graphics. On August 25, 2011, Malda resigned as Editor-in-Chief with immediate effect. He did not mention any plans for the future, other than spending more time with his family, catching up on some reading, and possibly writing a book. His final farewell message received over 1,400 comments within 24 hours on the site. On December 7, 2011, Slashdot announced that it would start to push what the company described as "sponsored" Ask Slashdot questions. On March 28, 2012, Slashdot launched Slashdot TV. Two months later, in May 2012, Slashdot launched SlashBI, SlashCloud, and SlashDataCenter, three websites dedicated to original journalistic content. The websites proved controversial, with longtime Slashdot users commenting that the original content ran counter to the website's longtime focus on user-generated submissions. Nick Kolakowski, the editor of the three websites, told The Next Web that the websites were "meant to complement Slashdot with an added layer of insight into a very specific area of technology, without interfering with Slashdot's longtime focus on tech-community interaction and discussion." Despite the debate, articles published on SlashCloud and SlashBI attracted attention from io9, NPR, Nieman Lab, Vanity Fair, and other publications.
In September 2012, Slashdot, SourceForge, and Freecode were acquired by online job site Dice.com for $20 million, and incorporated into a subsidiary known as Slashdot Media. While initially stating that there were no plans for major changes to Slashdot, in October 2013, Slashdot launched a "beta" for a significant redesign of the site, which featured a simpler appearance and commenting system. While initially an opt-in beta, the site automatically began migrating selected users to the new design in February 2014; the rollout led to a negative response from many longtime users, upset by the added visual complexity, and the removal of features, such as comment viewing, that distinguished Slashdot from other news sites. An organized boycott of the site was held from February 10 to 17, 2014. The "beta" site was eventually shelved. In July 2015, Dice announced that it planned to sell Slashdot and SourceForge; in particular, the company stated in a filing that it was unable to "successfully the Slashdot user base to further Dice's digital recruitment business".
On January 27, 2016, the two sites were sold to the San Diego–based BizX, LLC for an undisclosed amount.
Administration
Team
It was run by its founder, Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda, from 1998 until 2011. He shared editorial responsibilities with several other editors including Timothy Lord, Patrick "Scuttlemonkey" McGarry, Jeff "Soulskill" Boehm, Rob "Samzenpus" Rozeboom, and Keith Dawson. Jonathan "cowboyneal" Pater is another popular editor of Slashdot, who came to work for Slashdot as a programmer and systems administrator. His online nickname (handle), CowboyNeal, is inspired by a Grateful Dead tribute to Neal Cassady in their song, "That's It for the Other One". He is best known as the target of the usual comic poll option, a tradition started by Chris DiBona.
Software
This section needs to be updated. The reason given is: It is unclear whether Slashdot still uses Slash or some newer look-alike since around 2009. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (January 2019) |
Slashdot runs on Slash, a content management system available under the GNU General Public License. Early versions of Slash were written by Rob Malda in the spring of 1998. After Andover.net bought Slashdot in June 1999, Several programmers were hired to structure the code and render it scalable, as its users had increased from a few hundred to tens of thousands. This work was done by Brian Aker, Patrick Galbraith, Chris Nandor and others, resulting in version 2 of the software, released in 2001. Slash remains Free software and anyone can contribute to development.
Peer moderation
Slashdot's editors are primarily responsible for selecting and editing the primary stories that are posted daily by submitters. The editors provide a one-paragraph summary for each story and a link to an external website where the story originated. Each story becomes the topic for a threaded discussion among the site's users. A user-based moderation system is employed to filter out abusive or offensive comments. Every comment is initially given a score of −1 to +2, with a default score of +1 for registered users, 0 for anonymous users (Anonymous Coward), +2 for users with high "karma", or −1 for users with low "karma". As moderators read comments attached to articles, they click to moderate the comment, either up (+1) or down (−1). Moderators may choose to attach a particular descriptor to the comments as well, such as "normal", "offtopic", "flamebait", "troll", "redundant", "insightful", "interesting", "informative", "funny", "overrated", or "underrated", with each corresponding to a −1 or +1 rating. So a comment may be seen to have a rating of "+1 insightful" or "−1 troll". Comments are very rarely deleted, even if they contain hateful remarks.
Starting in August 2019 anonymous comments and postings have been disabled.
Moderation points add to a user's rating, which is known as "karma" on Slashdot. Users with high "karma" are eligible to become moderators themselves. The system does not promote regular users as "moderators" and instead assigns five moderation points at a time to users based on the number of comments they have entered in the system – once a user's moderation points are used up, they can no longer moderate articles (though they can be assigned more moderation points at a later date). Paid staff editors have an unlimited number of moderation points. A given comment can have any integer score from −1 to +5, and registered users of Slashdot can set a personal threshold so that no comments with a lesser score are displayed. For instance, a user reading Slashdot at level +5 will only see the highest rated comments, while a user reading at level −1 will see a more "unfiltered, anarchic version". A meta-moderation system was implemented on September 7, 1999, to moderate the moderators and help contain abuses in the moderation system. Meta-moderators are presented with a set of moderations that they may rate as either fair or unfair. For each moderation, the meta-moderator sees the original comment and the reason assigned by the moderator (e.g. troll, funny), and the meta-moderator can click to see the context of comments surrounding the one that was moderated.
Features
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (July 2021) |
Tags
Slashdot uses a system of "tags" where users can categorize a story to group them together and sorting them. Tags are written in all lowercase, with no spaces, and limited to 64 characters. For example, articles could be tagged as being about "security" or "mozilla". Some articles are tagged with longer tags, such as "whatcouldpossiblygowrong" (expressing the perception of catastrophic risk), "suddenoutbreakofcommonsense" (used when the community feels that the subject has finally figured out something obvious), "correlationnotcausation" (used when scientific articles lack direct evidence; see correlation does not imply causation), or "getyourasstomars" (commonly seen in articles about Mars or space exploration).
Culture
See also: Internet meme and List of Internet phenomenaAs an online community with primarily user-generated content, many in-jokes and internet memes have developed over the course of the site's history. A popular meme (based on an unscientific Slashdot user poll) is, "In Soviet Russia, noun verb you!" This type of joke has its roots in the 1960s or earlier, and is known as a "Russian reversal". Other popular memes usually pertain to computing or technology, such as "Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these", "But does it run Linux?", or "Netcraft now confirms: BSD (or some other software package or item) is dying." Users will also typically refer to articles referring to data storage and data capacity by inquiring how much it is in units of Libraries of Congress. Sometimes bandwidth speeds are referred to in units of Libraries of Congress per second. When numbers are quoted, people will comment that the number happens to be the "combination to their luggage" (a reference to the Mel Brooks film Spaceballs) and express false anger at the person who revealed it.
Slashdotters often use the abbreviation TFA which stands for The fucking article or RTFA ("Read the fucking article"), which itself is derived from the abbreviation RTFM. Usage of this abbreviation often exposes comments from posters who have not read the article linked to in the main story. Slashdotters typically like to mock then United States Senator Ted Stevens' 2006 description of the Internet as a "series of tubes" or former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's chair-throwing incident from 2005. Microsoft founder Bill Gates is a popular target of jokes by Slashdotters, and all stories about Microsoft were once identified with a graphic of Gates looking like a Borg from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Many Slashdotters have long talked about the supposed release of Duke Nukem Forever, which was promised in 1997 but was delayed indefinitely (the game was eventually released in 2011). References to the game are commonly brought up in other articles about software packages that are not yet in production even though the announced delivery date has long passed (see vaporware). Having a low Slashdot user identifier (user ID) is highly valued since they are assigned sequentially; having one is a sign that someone has an older account and has contributed to the site longer. For Slashdot's 10-year anniversary in 2007, one of the items auctioned off in the charity auction for the Electronic Frontier Foundation was a 3-digit Slashdot user ID.
Traffic and publicity
See also: Slashdot effectIn 2006, Slashdot had approximately 5.5 million users per month.
The primary stories on the site consist of a short synopsis paragraph, a link to the original story, and a lengthy discussion section, all contributed by users. At its peak, discussion on stories could get up to 10,000 posts per day. Slashdot has been considered a pioneer in user-driven content, influencing other sites such as Google News and Misplaced Pages. There has been a dip in readership as of 2011, primarily due to the increase of technology-related blogs and Twitter feeds.
In 2002, approximately 50% of Slashdot's traffic consisted of people who simply check out the headlines and click through, while others participate in discussion boards and take part in the community. Many links in Slashdot stories caused the linked site to get swamped by heavy traffic and its server to collapse. This was known as the "Slashdot effect", a term first coined on February 15, 1999, that refers to an article about a "new generation of niche Web portals driving unprecedented amounts of traffic to sites of interest".
Slashdot has received over twenty awards, including People's Voice Awards in 2000 in both of the categories for which it was nominated (Best Community Site and Best News Site). It was also voted as one of Newsweek's favorite technology Web sites and rated in Yahoo!'s Top 100 Web sites as the "Best Geek Hangout" (2001). The main antagonists in the 2004 novel Century Rain, by Alastair Reynolds – The Slashers – are named after Slashdot users. The site was mentioned briefly in the 2000 novel Cosmonaut Keep, written by Ken MacLeod. Several tech celebrities have stated that they either checked the website regularly or participated in its discussion forums using an account. Some of these celebrities include: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, writer and actor Wil Wheaton, and id Software technical director John Carmack.
Deterioration
- Unlike other sites, UTF-8 was never adopted. All text is rendered as ASCII. Including parts of news posts quoted from third party sites.
- The mobile interface, added after Slashdot was sold off, was never finished, and lacks fundamental functionality, like account settings, anonymous posting, choice of markup style (important because of above lack of UTF-8), etc.
- No visible changes to the site have been made since the addition of the mobile interface and rudimentary asynchronous functionality.
- Comment numbers have declined to a tenth compared to its golden age.
- As of late Summer 2023, the registration mechanism for new users is disabled, and manual requests via feedback e-mail must be made.
See also
- Digg
- Fark
- Hacker News
- Phoronix
- Solidot (in Chinese), a Chinese clone of Slashdot, whose name comes from "solidus" (alternate name of slash) and "dot"
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