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A Pre-History of Slashdot

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Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#261

Post by mindcrime »

geezerjay wrote: post #196
Nition wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The anti-Microsoft zeitgeist that you could find at the top of pretty much any thread, even if it was about something completely unrelated. Just a side comment, I feel like Hacker News is going this way with Facebook a little. Posts that tangentially mention Facebook, there's usually a high-rated comment about how Facebook is evil and since the user left Facebook their life has improved. Those "I don't even own a T…

> Just a side comment, I feel like Hacker News is going this way with Facebook a little. In slashdot, PR companies working for Microsoft were operating dozens of sock puppet accounts to post copy-paste messages extolling the company for its perfection, and praising each and every single product they were announcing. Slashdotters became aware of the problem, and what appeared to be a deep collusion between those PR co…

Some people may not like Facebook, but HN is far from the path that slashdot was driven into.

Perhaps, but I have no doubt that there are a substantial number of sock puppet accounts running loose here. I just wish I had enough free time to try and prove it using text analytics. Then again, I'm not sure it would make any difference anyway.

Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#262

Post by dredmorbius »

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 are platforms which can and do survive. HN, despite bumps, does pretty well. Metafilter is another that seems to be kicking along.

Others tend to become Generation Ships of the founder culture. I'd put the Well in that category, as the userbase still seems to be strongly focused on the original cohort. Some fresh blood is necessary.

Actually: the idea of a university as an intentional community that tends to survive over time has occurred to me. Not fully assured, but there are an impressive number of centuries-old instances.

And, continuing that thought: YC emulates a critical element of that dynamic, in having regular incoming classes.

Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#263

Post by dpcx »

syntheticnature wrote: post #249
digi_owl wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

heh, now i remind myself that i still have User Friendly in the RSS reader. Anyone know what Illiad is up to these days?

Still posting comics? http://www.userfriendly.org/

He sometimes takes sabbaticals, and the users of the site will re-post old comics.

Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#264

Post by zhte415 »

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...

+5, Troll

Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#265

Post by dredmorbius »

jiqiren wrote: post #234
whathaschanged wrote: post #62

Slashdot was awesome right up until the point that they forced the redesign on everybody and drove away all the users that made it great. It would be the equivalent of HN forcing autoplay videos and animated banner ads on each page. A lesson to reflect upon--monetizing is ok when it doesn't kill your userbase. My ID is under 5000 (cue the older ID replies) and I refuse to give them pageviews now.

I now regret not making an account earlier (I'm 126xxx). I was totally fine being an Anonymous Coward. It was only when I realized that having an account still allowed me to post as an AC that I finally made one. I wish AC was still a thing for popular websites like reddit, HN, etc. Just start off the comment at -1 or something... ‍️

Imzy tried that. It went quite poorly.

It's possible that with different moderation, notifications, blocking, and post mechanics this might have been less of a problem. But the site's design and architecture more or less perfectly amplified everything that could possibly go wrong with the concept.

It died in less than a year after going public. I'd anticipated it wouldn't go well, but that it failed that hard and fast surprised me.

https://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/500ysb/the_imz...

Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#266

Post by kazinator »

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.

I'm dreading the first of those Microsoft Halloween documents that are going to be leaked soon, all about how WSL will wipe out GNU/Linux.

Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#267

Post by nathancahill »

Nition wrote: post #230
ballenf wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Also check out Plex Server. It's awesome. The management side is particularly well done.

Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#269

Post by flachsechs »

jasongill wrote: post #222
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

came here looking for a story like this. i had a 2-digit id that i coincidentally sold for exactly $150 on ebay also. college beer money. don't regret it at all.

cmdrtaco announced his site on irc and i happened to see it in the first few days.

Re: A Pre-History of Slashdot

#270

Post by unexistance »

conesus wrote: post #11

I never publicly announced this but I loved Slashdot’s friend/foe system so much that I built it as a cross browser extension for Hacker News. It’s called Hacker Smacker and it’s on GitHub. https://github.com/samuelclay/hackersmacker Supports not only friends and foes but also friends of friends and foes of friends. Makes it easy to scan the HN homepage and comment threads and see what’s good. Much like how Slashdot’…

fascinating :D

I do have my own system on following/starring PoI in HN, using no extension at all, so I can instantly know who's comment is more useful

no banning though, since valuable nuggets on knowledge can come from anyone

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