Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda Resigns From Slashdot • Hacker News Board

Re: Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda Resigns From Slashdot

#21

Post by bcl » Thu, Aug 25, 2011, 2:16 PM UTC

whazzmaster wrote: post #9

I've been down on Slashdot for the last few years, even going so far as to remove it from my RSS reader and bookmarks bar. I check back sometimes here and there but devote most of my time to HN/reddit now. Taco's farewell (and Hemos' reply in comments) really brought to me back why I liked Slashdot in the first place back in 1998- an editorial voice curating interesting tech stories. That editorial voice was importan…

I quit reading /. when the comments became too difficult to wade through, even when reading only +5's the system became overloaded with noise so I stopped visiting. HN is now my go-to site for news, due to the high quality of the comments (read 'em first to see if the link is worth the time) and the generally high value of articles.

Re: Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda Resigns From Slashdot

#22

Post by goatforce5 » Thu, Aug 25, 2011, 2:33 PM UTC

burgerbrain wrote: post #15

kabdib wrote: post #4

It's made its way into near-future SF. Some character in a novel by Ken Macleod, faced with a Plot Device disaster, says to a friend "I can't even get to Slashdot."

The verb "slashdotted" is even more common. I recall seeing it at least once in a Charles Stross novel or two, and in numerous other near-future SF.

I once submitted a friend's blog entry to slashdot. It was picked for the front page. I can't remember exactly how it works, but you get an email or a notice on the site saying your story will appear shortly.

I was in my friend's living room at the time, sitting near the laptop on the end of an ADSL connection that served his blog.

"Ummmm.... I think i've done a baaaaad thing."

That lil' ol' laptop was absolutely hammered for the next day, even after moving the images, etc., on to 'proper' servers and making the site static.

Re: Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda Resigns From Slashdot

#23

Post by onemoreact » Thu, Aug 25, 2011, 2:34 PM UTC

nicpottier wrote: post #5

I don't visit /. anymore, but definitely grew up on it. I don't think you can understate the impact it had on a generation of geeks. Especially when it comes to Open Source, I think /. was incredibly important in educating people on a concept, history and philosophy many of us take for granted now. And hot grits aside, it really did set the bar for intelligent discussion. /. was the first site where the comments were…

I think a lot of people have a similar history with slashdot. I still ocationally go back but reading his fairwell and by his partner Hemos (2)'s reply reminded me of the best parts of Slashdot.

PS: Ok, I admit it. I found the "you must be new here." reply really funny.

Re: Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda Resigns From Slashdot

#24

Post by greyish_water » Thu, Aug 25, 2011, 2:47 PM UTC

And he'll resign again in a few hours.

Re: Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda Resigns From Slashdot

#25

Post by abcd_f » Thu, Aug 25, 2011, 2:48 PM UTC

zobzu wrote: post #14

Slashdot still has the best comment moderation system, even if none is perfect. When the story gets crowded by zillion of comments you still get the best ones in a single page without having to read literally 10 or 15 pages of comments.

> Slashdot still has the best comment moderation system

I disagree. It has a fundamental problem of earlier posts having far more chances to go +5 than those posted later. Something that is handled far better on HN that starts newer posts at the top of the comment page and lets them sink down.

Re: Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda Resigns From Slashdot

#26

Post by zavulon » Thu, Aug 25, 2011, 2:51 PM UTC

_delirium wrote: post #12

whazzmaster wrote: post #9

I've been down on Slashdot for the last few years, even going so far as to remove it from my RSS reader and bookmarks bar. I check back sometimes here and there but devote most of my time to HN/reddit now. Taco's farewell (and Hemos' reply in comments) really brought to me back why I liked Slashdot in the first place back in 1998- an editorial voice curating interesting tech stories. That editorial voice was importan…

> Ah slashdot, you truly taught me what a 'troll' was In a lot of interesting varieties! Some even sort of artistic, and some precursors of later SomethingAwful/4chan/internet-meme types of things. I just heard some sad news on talk radio - Slashdot editor Rob Malda resigned from his editorship this morning. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the HN community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy…

Natalie Portman, naked and petrified, covered in hot grits

Re: Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda Resigns From Slashdot

#27

Post by gte910h » Thu, Aug 25, 2011, 2:59 PM UTC

kahawe wrote: post #7

sjs382 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

God, I miss K5...

Me too... they had some of the strangest and freaked-out submissions there. I don't know any substitute for it on today's internet. Last time I went to the website I was surprised it was still online and I felt really sad when I realized the frontpage submissions were weeks old. I feel old now, missing the 90s pre-bubble internet and I am sad I was just a few years too late to that party back then. sigh

The day it dawned on me that the way you pronounced k5 was "corrosion" my mind was blown.

Re: Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda Resigns From Slashdot

#28

Post by Cymen » Thu, Aug 25, 2011, 3:08 PM UTC

whazzmaster wrote: post #9

I've been down on Slashdot for the last few years, even going so far as to remove it from my RSS reader and bookmarks bar. I check back sometimes here and there but devote most of my time to HN/reddit now. Taco's farewell (and Hemos' reply in comments) really brought to me back why I liked Slashdot in the first place back in 1998- an editorial voice curating interesting tech stories. That editorial voice was importan…

My experience is similar but in addition I also noticed that I would come across many of the topics a day or two before they were actually posted on /. so it started to get less and less relevant. Now I don't visit at all.

Re: Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda Resigns From Slashdot

#29

Post by chico_dusty » Thu, Aug 25, 2011, 3:09 PM UTC

Sad news ... Rob Malda, dead at 54

I just heard some sad news on talk radio - Nerd/Ponies website proprietor Rob Malda was found dead in his Maine home this morning. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Hacker News community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly an American icon.

Re: Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda Resigns From Slashdot

#30

Post by steveb » Thu, Aug 25, 2011, 3:13 PM UTC

To me slashdot was critical in galvanizing the geek community and bringing free software to the mainstream in the late 90's. The comments added incredible value and created a community that I had not come across anywhere else.

I think the high point of that period was the announcement of the open-sourcing of the Netscape code base. Nowadays, itt is hard to imagine the need for all the stories on how to convince your boss to use this software some dude in Finland wrote.

Slashdot also championed everything2.com, kind of a proto-wiki.

The low point was all the trolling in the article about death of W. Richard Stevens, which lead to much of the moderation code that needed to be put in place.

Rob's run at slashdot was pioneering and hugely influential. I look forward to his next project.