A Pre-History of Slashdot • Hacker News Board

Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#181

Post by Yetanfou » Thu, Oct 05, 2017, 9:02 PM UTC

matt_wulfeck wrote: post #83

AndrewStephens wrote: post #79

I remember the early days of slashdot fondly, although I didn't actually make an account until a few years later. It was such an interesting mix of serious discussion, in-jokes, and amusing trolls (even the infamous goatsx troll that I fell for more than once.) I still think that the moderation and meta-moderation was one of the most interesting experiments in a self-governing commenting system, even though it was cl…

More like: 1. Group #1 joins who care about site 2. Group #1 improves site. Sense of "community" keeps things in check. 3. Site grows in popularity and group #2 joins 4. Site loses sense of community and ability to moderate itself effectively. 5. Group #1 leaves

There is even a term for this phenomenon: eternal September [1]. It originated as Usenet slang for a period beginning in September 1993, AOL started offering Usenet access to its users which overwhelmed the existing culture for online forums.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September

Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#182

Post by zo1 » Thu, Oct 05, 2017, 9:06 PM UTC

Nition wrote: post #178

jerf wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depending on the age of your kids, I suggest total YouTube curation. I've only got up to a nine-year-old but I'm thinking it's going to have to go up to at least 13 or 14 before I can have a serious discussion about just what is out there and how people are trying to manipulate them. Five years ago that would have been more to avoid them from stumbling across the various types of adult content that for various reason…

How are you managing "total curation"? Are you always there with them when they're on YouTube, or are you whitelisting specific channels in some way?

Not the OP, but there is no way that I'm aware of to whitelist (or blacklist!) specific channels on youtube. And thanks to HTTPS, I can't even intercept + modify youtube pages at the network level. Thank you, privacy folks, hope you're happy!

Alternatively, there is always kids.youtube.com which is weirdly just an app for Ios/Android. I haven't tried it, and myself have actively disabled/removed all Youtube from being accessible by the younglings. Curated media, decided by me is all they get to watch then.

Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#183

Post by mljoe » Thu, Oct 05, 2017, 9:07 PM UTC

I can trace almost everything that helped me professionally and even many of my tech opinions to something I read on Slashdot. Really the site that influenced me the most.

Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#184

Post by mljoe » Thu, Oct 05, 2017, 9:09 PM UTC

paul wrote: post #40

cmdrtaco wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks!

Slashdot is where I first encountered both Google ('98 / early '99) and YC (the Summer Founders Program). So pretty valuable personally. Thanks for that :) I miss the enthusiasm of that community.

Ditto. It almost felt like Google got its nerd cred from being featured on Slashdot multiple times. BitCoin too (waaaay before it was "popular"), and probably Linux itself.

Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#185

Post by JoshMnem » Thu, Oct 05, 2017, 9:12 PM UTC

Jarwain wrote: post #143

JoshMnem wrote: post #129

I wish that people would stop blogging on Medium, especially about Free software topics. I click the link and get an obnoxiously animated popup shoved in my face that tells me that I've read my two articles for the month and that I should log in for the full experience. Why should people be asked to sign in to follow a blog when there is RSS/Atom? Learning how to use Hugo, Metalsmith, Hexo, Pelican, or Jekyll is not…

For an author, I'd imagine there are discoverability and convenience aspects involved in the decision to post on medium, versus hosting one's own blog.

Free software issues are more important than "convenience". Passively consuming TV shows from a couch is more convenient than developing technical skills and building things online, but one is objectively more useful to society than the other.

Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#186

Post by MartinCron » Thu, Oct 05, 2017, 9:14 PM UTC

gcb0 wrote: post #171

gfodor wrote: post #107

I remember getting my house's cable modem slashdotted in 2001 when i launched a community site (half-empty.org) I built -- what a wild ride that was. (If you are reading, thanks to Tim Wilde and the rest of the DynDNS crew for all the memories helping me, a young kid, get that site into an actual DC :)) I remember always rolling my eyes at the Linux and Free Software crowd on /. and the anti-Microsoft zeitgeist that…

context is everything. you were lucky to be doing an online gig. the rest of /. audience was probably in desktop software. most of the people there were ruthlessly crushed by Microsoft business tactics. they mostly had a very good reason to attack Microsoft.

most of the people there were ruthlessly crushed by Microsoft business tactics

That has to be hyperbole. Even at the height of Microsoft's aggression, there were many professional software devs left uncrushed.

Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#187

Post by gfodor » Thu, Oct 05, 2017, 9:16 PM UTC

samstave wrote: post #158

gfodor wrote: post #107

I remember getting my house's cable modem slashdotted in 2001 when i launched a community site (half-empty.org) I built -- what a wild ride that was. (If you are reading, thanks to Tim Wilde and the rest of the DynDNS crew for all the memories helping me, a young kid, get that site into an actual DC :)) I remember always rolling my eyes at the Linux and Free Software crowd on /. and the anti-Microsoft zeitgeist that…

>> In today's world of mass surveillance, corporate consolidation of internet infrastructure, and the call for censorship of speech on the web I am going to have to call you out. I had a low-digit ID on /. We (people like me) have been calling this out for FUCKING DECADES. I feel that we can talk about generational millenials etc.. but we can also call out DIGITAL millenials; those who thing they know what the fuck i…

I think you misinterpreted my post. I wasn't claiming these were new problems. I was just claiming that now more than ever (since software is eating the world) we need communities like /. raising the alarm. I was also admitting that I underestimated the importance of these things back when I was reading /. as a high schooler in the late 90's (I, too, have a low digit ID on slashdot.)

Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#188

Post by Nition » Thu, Oct 05, 2017, 9:16 PM UTC

zo1 wrote: post #182

Nition wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How are you managing "total curation"? Are you always there with them when they're on YouTube, or are you whitelisting specific channels in some way?

Not the OP, but there is no way that I'm aware of to whitelist (or blacklist!) specific channels on youtube. And thanks to HTTPS, I can't even intercept + modify youtube pages at the network level. Thank you, privacy folks, hope you're happy! Alternatively, there is always kids.youtube.com which is weirdly just an app for Ios/Android. I haven't tried it, and myself have actively disabled/removed all Youtube from bein…

The YouTube Kids app has a really nice interface, but there's no whitelist option unfortunately. I wish there was. It does let you block videos or channels individually, but you can imagine how much good that does on a site as big as YouTube.

As you say, it's also iOS/Android only. No PC option for kids at all.

Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#189

Post by gfodor » Thu, Oct 05, 2017, 9:18 PM UTC

MartinCron wrote: post #186

gcb0 wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

context is everything. you were lucky to be doing an online gig. the rest of /. audience was probably in desktop software. most of the people there were ruthlessly crushed by Microsoft business tactics. they mostly had a very good reason to attack Microsoft.

most of the people there were ruthlessly crushed by Microsoft business tactics That has to be hyperbole. Even at the height of Microsoft's aggression, there were many professional software devs left uncrushed.

I feel like avoiding the steamroller of "embrace and extend" that was MS at the time was highly dependent upon luck.

Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#190

Post by peatmoss » Thu, Oct 05, 2017, 9:22 PM UTC

AndrewStephens wrote: post #79

I remember the early days of slashdot fondly, although I didn't actually make an account until a few years later. It was such an interesting mix of serious discussion, in-jokes, and amusing trolls (even the infamous goatsx troll that I fell for more than once.) I still think that the moderation and meta-moderation was one of the most interesting experiments in a self-governing commenting system, even though it was cl…

> I remember the early days of slashdot fondly, although I didn't actually make an account until a few years later.

I still consider my mid 4-digits slashdot id a mark of pride. It's also a great regret that I had spent a significant amount of time on the site before a friend convinced me to finally register an account. I'm pretty sure I could have been in the 3 digit club.

I too remember slashdot fondly, but the webbernets are a very different place today—more fractured, self-selected into groups, more appealing to the masses, less wild west freedom.