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A Pre-History of Slashdot

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Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#221

Post by hinkley »

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.

You didn't have to be crushed directly if they crushed one of your favorite tools.

Happened to me three or four times and I picked up a pitchfork too.

Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#222

Post by jasongill »

MattGrommes wrote: post #45

Slashdot user #578 here. :) Besides pre-web stuff like Usenet and BBS boards /. was the first place I really felt like part of a community. I still remember fondly the times that stuff I submitted made it to the front page (like the story announcing the title of Star Wars Episode 1), like I was now "famous" with a bunch of people I really wanted to impress. Like most of us, I drifted away a long time ago but I'm alwa…

User #527 here. I sold my username (iota) on eBay for $150, back when your slashdot user number still meant something. I've always wondered what the buyer was up to, it was funny at the time to think of "selling" something that didn't exist. I guess it's commonplace now

Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#223

Post by hathawsh »

otakucode wrote: post #101
smacktoward wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I need a beowulf cluster of attention at work. I used to have one of those! Sadly, Natalie Portman filled it with hot grits.

It makes my heart swell to know there are still those out there thinking of dear Natalie, petrified and with hot grits down her pants...

In Soviet Russia, where the pants wear you!

Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#224

Post by ballenf »

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…

I'd look into youtube-dl. I tried all the parental controls on Youtube, Netflix, Amazon and devices only to finally realize that my idea of what's suitable doesn't have an equivalent rating.

There are so many safe for any age videos that have a bunch of kids with the worst, most cynical attitudes and no respect for authority and then wholesome shows with "intense emotion" or whatever that get rated tv-14.

So I download everything and put it on a USB hard drive hooked to a media hub.

Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#225

Post by smacktoward »

shortoncash wrote: post #208
otakucode wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It makes my heart swell to know there are still those out there thinking of dear Natalie, petrified and with hot grits down her pants...

I don't have time for Natalie; I'm fretting over Netcraft's confirmation that BSD is dying.

We need a poll to determine what CowboyNeal says on the matter.

Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#226

Post by hinkley »

ethbro wrote: post #192
donavanm wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. I remember the evolution of ECHELON in the 90s having the same impact in some circles. And then Carnivore coming out a decade later. If someone doesnt (at least) know of SHAMROCK and MINARET they really have no context.

Also Clipper/Skipjack https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipper_chip

Unfortunately, people had already forgotten about the Clipper Chip when Al Gore got the nomination the first time.

Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#227

Post by marcosdumay »

kevstev wrote: post #148
cannam wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a four-digit Slashdot ID and I don't remember friends and foes. Is it after my time, or is it just that I don't remember anything any more?

You just don't remember anything anymore. IIRC, it was implemented around 2001. It was little more than a curiosity though, you may have just bypassed the little colored "pills" on comments, but aside from being angry about having foes, or happy about getting a new friend, nothing was really done with the feature.

The point of it was letting you give free pass from the moderation for some people's comments always appearing for you, or hiding other people.

Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#228

Post by flukus »

jonathankoren wrote: post #147
disease wrote: post #102

slashdot was one of the few news sites that stayed up during 9/11. I think there was even a follow-up technical article about how they kept it up that day.

Yeah, but that day showed just how weak they were in the journalism department. So many unsubstantiated rumors.

But "social media" was were you'd go to for all the unsubstantiated rumors back then. For the most part the news channels that day were sticking with the facts and weren't spending much time with rumors or speculation. I seems like the roles have flipped in the intervening years, for major events news sites are 90% wild speculation and reaction videos and slashdot-esque sites moderate better information to the top.

Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#229

Post by [deleted] »

20721 wrote: post #210

My favourite part of Slashdot was the trolling. Some classic trolls there like "egg troll", "The Turd Report", etc. with their quite absurd yet entertaining posts. Then there was the rather ruder trolling, like not knowing if the link you were about to follow was yet another Goatse Man. Or the more helpful trolls, such as ones taking music requests to spam as the first post. There was even a 'hidden SID' forum, troll…

[deleted]

Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#230

Post by Nition »

ballenf wrote: post #224
zo1 wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I'd look into youtube-dl. I tried all the parental controls on Youtube, Netflix, Amazon and devices only to finally realize that my idea of what's suitable doesn't have an equivalent rating. There are so many safe for any age videos that have a bunch of kids with the worst, most cynical attitudes and no respect for authority and then wholesome shows with "intense emotion" or whatever that get rated tv-14. So I downlo…

I've got an Intel NUC I could do this with. Is there a video player app for iOS that kids could use (i.e. Interface isn't super complex), that'd play remote media?

Edit: Looked into this myself just now. VLC Streamer looks decent, as does Infuse by Firecore.

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