Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda Resigns From Slashdot

meta.slashdot.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 153 posts

Re: Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda Resigns From Slashdot

#31

Post by jcurbo »

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…

Indeed, I entered college for CS in 1998 and Slashdot was my main source of tech news for many years. (userid #132!) The comments would actually have more info on the story, or even someone related to the story itself posting (e.g. Carmack) I still have /. in my RSS reader but don't really read the comments anymore... however one of the main reasons I come to HN is for the comments, just like /. years ago.

Re: Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda Resigns From Slashdot

#32

Post by cdibona »

allwein wrote: post #18
Hisoka wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does he even need a job? Didn't SlashDot earn him enough to live on for rest of his life?

Rob doesn't strike me as the sort of person who'd enjoy just kicking back and relaxing forever. He's comfortably well-off, but is looking for a change. 14 years is a lot of time to dedicate to one project, especially when it's mature and stable like Slashdot is. I imagine he's going to take a well-deserved break and then like a lot of tech entrepreneur's, come back for round two and start another company.

You're spot on. Rob is not good at being Idle.

Re: Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda Resigns From Slashdot

#33

Post by eftpotrm »

abcd_f wrote: post #25
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.

Limited granularity, too. K5 improved on that, while HN's factoring in of time since posting seems to help to my mind as well.

Yet, for all its failings, it was an impressive starting point that led the way for a lot of others, and was massively influential in a way no single site seems to have become since.

Re: Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda Resigns From Slashdot

#34

Post by Alex3917 »

gallamine wrote: post #2

It's a shame that Steve Job's leaving overshadows this. Slashdot has been a rock of the internet for 14 years, and I still regularly visit it. This paragraph is good: In the last 14 years, Slashdot has covered so many amazing events: The explosion of Linux. The rise of Google. The return of Apple. The Dot Com Bubble. The DMCA. 9/11. Wars. Elections. Numerous successful Shuttle Launches and one Disaster. Scientific Br…

I think the span between the Columbine shooting and 9/11 was probably their peak. So many of my memories of /. involve national disasters.

Re: Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda Resigns From Slashdot

#35

Post by matthavener »

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…

One of my favorite memories from /. was refreshing to see a new version of the kernel was available. You'd spend a few hours downloading it, compiling, and reboot. Usually there were no new features you wanted, no bugs fixed, just the idea of being on the bleeding edge was "cool" enough.

Re: Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda Resigns From Slashdot

#36

Post by phillmv »

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."

I'm fairly certain it was mentioned by a character in an issue of Neil Gaiman's Sandman. It's had reverberations across the geek ethos.

Re: Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda Resigns From Slashdot

#37

Post by ekanes »

gte910h wrote: post #27
kahawe wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Heh. Annnnd you just blew mine. I always thought it was "Kooroshin"

Re: Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda Resigns From Slashdot

#38

Post by jberryman »

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 /. was incredibly important in educating people on a concept, history and philosophy many of us take for granted now.

It seems important geek-culturally too, especially w.r.t. a certain kind of humor.

Re: Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda Resigns From Slashdot

#40

Post by imroot »

If you've followed the lifespan of VA Software, OSDN, OSTG, GeekNet...I don't think this will come as a surprise to anyone.

http://traffic.alexa.com/graph?&w=400&h=220&o=f&...;

Slashdot built the community that a lot of people still have close ties to. I'll always remember reading my first few Bruce Perens posts, and adding him (and a few others) to my 'Friends' List.

I'll also never forget listening to their marketing person talk about how they could 'bitchslap' negative comments (about the advertiser) to -2 so that nobody could see them.

Slashdot is a great place for the folks who have been in the industry for any amount of time. It was always a trusted and stable source of news, reposts, and April Fool's Pranks. I will continue to think that this is something that he did on his own free will and volition, and not something that was forced upon him by the powers that be at GeekNet.

Ann Arbor, MI isn't the Linux Hot-Spot -- nor is it a mecca for new and exciting technology jobs. I hope he enjoys his time off and finds something that gives him the love and satisfaction that slashdot gave him over the last decade.

Post reply on HN