Video Introducing SlashBI 339
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By now you’ve noticed that Slashdot is growing. We recently introduced Slashdot TV, which offers up everything from “amateur” rocket launches to the return of Leisure Suit Larry. We revamped our newsletters. Now we’re launching some new sites devoted to very specific corners of tech. Our first one, SlashBI, focuses on the fast-changing world of business intelligence, and features articles and opinion pieces on everything from how Big Data and analytics could make salespeople extinct, to B.I. apps for your iOS device, to choosing the right database for a business. No matter what your background, chances are good you’ll find something of interest here. Swing on over, give it a look-see, and let us know what you think.
SlashBI (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm going the way of Malda (Score:2, Insightful)
Im outta here. It's been a good 10 years, but this reminds me of when Coke changed their formula. It's been fun guys, but I is outta here.
SlashBI? (Score:4, Insightful)
2012: The beginning of the end (Score:5, Insightful)
Eventually Slashdot will be nothing but a brand; a collection of minimally-viewed tech blogs that are finally sold to a media company and rolled into their large collection of robotic advertising delivery channels.
Here we go (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't even have any specific objections... this just feels wrong somehow. Maybe I'm cynical or just following the trend of slashdot pulse, sponsored "ask slashdot", slashtv, etc.. but this feels like when a big company buys out some site you like and runs it down the drain. Obviously that's not exactly what happened here, but I'm starting to think Cmdr. Taco leaving had the same effect.. like maybe he was holding back this tide.
Right now it feels like the "gliding on legacy" phase.. coming soon is the "trying to gather new audience" stage.. then the "please come back, we're still cool and returning to our roots stage" and finally .. acceptance and forgiveness.
I hope I'm wrong. I'd love to see slashdot return to its former glory.. or at least turn into something better than what it was. It managed to turn back from it's "digg" path a few years back.. maybe it can do the same here.
Re:SlashBI (Score:5, Insightful)
So Slashdot is turning into a blog site?
Slashdot was a blog site before there were blog sites.
And I'm done (Score:1, Insightful)
This site is nothing like what it used to be, and it's no longer something I enjoy reading anymore. Bye!
Re:slashdot news vs SlashVertisements (Score:1, Insightful)
How much of this will be paid content?
All of it?
It's purely a marketing channel. How long before this shit starts appearing on the front page?
*close tab* (Score:5, Insightful)
"No matter what your background, chances are good youâ(TM)ll find something of interest here."
Nnnnnnope.
Re:*close tab* (Score:5, Insightful)
That was cut and pasted from your summary into your comments box. How about less pratting around on stuff nobody wants and more fixing the basics?
(And how damn long do I have to wait before I can post another comment? Excellent karma and apparently I can't be trusted not to flood the board. All I'm good for is ad eyeballs, it seems.)
Re:Here we go (Score:4, Insightful)
It feels like they're flailing around at random, to be honest.
SlashTV is wrong in one sort of way for the existing culture, but could be a deliberate attempt to take the site to a mass (from my perspective down market) audience.
This is wrong in a different way for the existing culture, but could be a deliberate attempt to take the site to a different niche (but maybe more profitable?) audience. The slashdot poll about teleporters or whatever looks completely wrong on the new page.
While moving in either direction would probably lose the existing user base it might also be profitable in principle. Trying to go in both directions, however, is probably going to be a disaster all round.
There's no sense of strategy or direction.
What I think (Score:5, Insightful)
I think Taco exited at the right time. Also, I think I might be spending less time here, if Slashdot has started focusing on keywords like BI, and away from the core idea of "News for Nerds, Stuff That Matters", which is why we joined the site in the first place & kept coming back.
loss of focus (Score:5, Insightful)
Instead of doing more stuff, how about doing the stuff you should be doing better?
There have been complaints about the editing and story selection - the core aspects of /. - for many years now. It may not be true, but this second side-project feels like confirmation that one of the reasons this has never been fixed is that you're simply trying to make more money with more stuff.
I have taken a good look at this new offshot, and I can guarantee that it's the last look I have ever taken on it. I simply couldn't care less, even though I am the CEO of a small company, so I'm right there in your target audience.
But I don't come to /. for "business intelligence" (more on that in a second) and I don't expect any from /. and I don't trust /. as a source of any. One of the reasons loops back to the beginning: If you are not doing an excellent job in your core business, why should I expect you to do a good job in an offshot project?
As for "business intelligence" - that crap is a dime a dozen. If you want to enter the market, do something different. Like actual intelligence. The word largely means "information" these days, but it should mean more than that. A good intelligence source requires really good editing. And that is not exactly a strength of /.
I hope this dies a quick death and you will learn that you need to make your core business brilliant before even thinking about doing anything else.
April^H^H^H^H^H May Fools! (Score:0, Insightful)
Was this posted a month too late? Please?
SlashPHB (Score:5, Insightful)
Quick-hit tech items... check.
No context... check.
Lots of buzzwords... check.
Lots of random, cool-looking stock photography having nothing to do with the stories... check.
Why not just call this SlashPHB and be done with it?
Doesn't ring true (Score:4, Insightful)
No matter what your background, chances are good you’ll find something of interest here
If you really believe that then why does it need a separate site? You could just post it on Slashdot with everything else.
Re:Here we go (Score:5, Insightful)
Problem is slashdot has a huge legacy to ride out. People like me who've checked slashdot as part of their daily morning/lunch/whatever routine for in some cases over a decade and corny as it sounds, have lots nostalgic memories from past discussions. It takes a long damn time for that to erode away (see also: the simpsons).
Re:This will go down well...lulz (Score:5, Insightful)
I too started with Slashdot in the late 90's (closer to early 2000 I suppose).
Life/work got in the way, so I quit following the site. I finally came back about 6 months or so ago, mostly lurking.
Now I get the feeling most of the articles are aimed at getting page views. If it weren't for the comments section, I think I'd be just as well off looking at the stuff from Fast Company.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to clean up the vomit.
If I were Slashdot (Score:5, Insightful)
If I were in charge of Slashdot, I'd rather concentrate on improving the quality of the posts - the summaries are eye-bleedingly horrid in every aspect. The only reason anyone ever comes to /. is the quality of some of the replies in the thread. That is, it's the readership that makes Slashdot valuable.
Piss off your readership, and you pissed away Slashdot - since the quality of the content is otherwise rubbish.
Re:What I think (Score:5, Insightful)
Couldn't agree more. This site is becoming forgettable. The news isn't all that interesting any longer. Slashdot used to be my central geek news site, but now I can find more geek news elsewhere, albeit across multiple sites.
Editors... get back to the basics and do it the best in the industry. Then your site will grow. And while you're at it...moderation is going downhill too. Personal attacks are increasing and moderators mod them up as "interesting". The comments section is one of the main features of slashdot, but they are becoming less enjoyable to read.
This explains why Taco left... (Score:4, Insightful)
Chances are, this was discussed in the boardroom, and Rob Malda suddenly came to realize what 'selling out' really meant.
Slashdot is owned by a conglomerate that just wants to make money -- and for a while, Rob had some creative freedom, but that time has long past.
I notice that all these changes (slashdot TV, for example) came *after* Taco left, but something tells me these plans were on the whiteboard well before the retirement happened.
Slashdot is just a name now. In the early days of the web (1995 to 2002), slashdot was a big deal, but the unfortunate reality is, they are losing money compared to say Chezbuger.org or whoever owns lolcats.
The sad reality is that pictures of fat people in walmart generates more ad revenue than a "news for nerds" website.
And this is why Taco left. Facebook is king, and Slashdot isn't. The web has changed. It's not the place it used to be. Now it's about Facebook and Google. They make the rules. And now you have to play by those rules or die.
For me, more and more every day, the internet is over. It's become corrupted by corporate greed. Time to find something new to play with.
Re:Slashdot is dying, netcraft confirms it... (Score:5, Insightful)
I kind of get the feeling that this sort of shift has been in the works for a while. The tag line "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters" has been missing from the banner at the top of the page since early last year. Yeah, it still shows up at the top of your browser on the main page, but if you're using Chrome, like many, many people do these days, you don't get to see that; you don't see the mission statement of the site for most of the past 15 years. I think that's telling.
As you say, they're going in the wrong direction, and I get the feeling they don't think that's a bad thing.
Re:2012: The beginning of the end (Score:4, Insightful)
I think that's been happening for a while now, to be honest.
Re:This will go down well...lulz (Score:5, Insightful)
I've been following Slashdot since the 90s and it just seems to be evolving into another unfocused blog.
See, that's where you're mistaken. It USED to be an unfocused blog (well, focused on interesting stuff, but otherwise unfocused). Now, it's focused laser-sharp at generating page views and getting us to swallow sponsored content. The focus that was missing has now been found, and it's money.
Re:SlashBI (Score:5, Insightful)
Not only that, but BI is as related to Nerds than ... say, knitting. Sure, it's related to CS at large, but there are no nerds interested in BI. Businesses are, not nerds. Thus, what does this have to do with slashdot?
Re:Why the Hate? (Score:4, Insightful)
The hate is here because this is insulting. We're not hear to get sold products, for the same reason many of us don't window shop at Best Buy or Radio Shack- the sales staff will push a phone plan or the most expensive, unnecessary tech crap. I don't read most of the articles posted, anyways, because the comments seem to have more content about the subject. Just like this one- I can read the headline and summary, and by reading the comments I now know not to follow the link. If I have to get hammered in order to stomach a site full of crap, I would find something better to do (like get hammered and browse more entertaining sites).
The concept of a "nerd" is going away- now, people who are "good at computers" get the title. They don't hack and tinker in life. This BI crap is the same- it's for people who went to business school and are "good with computers", and ended up a suit somewhere. SlashBI is not for nerds. Its for the bosses of nerds. For those of us who stay true to our roots, and do things, don't need SlashBI. "Geeknet" is failing at this /. thing.
Re:SlashBI (Score:5, Insightful)
Thank you.
Yet this is GeekNet's Jump The Shark moment, today, May 1, 2012, for anyone keeping track.
Philosophically, News for Nerds, and the concept of what /. means now has another branding barnacle: BI. I understand BI, big data, and why. I see the horizon of words and phrases like: new paradigm, hadoop(y), your OpenStack engine, and other revenue-generating phrases.
This is branding gone wrong, like putting a Continental kit onto a Kia Rio. We, the customers of /. aren't ideological customers of BIG DATA and BI. We're theorists, engineers, completely whacked out of our mind gamers, and people that make antennas with Pringles cans. I'm shocked that the publishers would believe that they can somehow meld these two concepts together. It's really frightening that they're trying as BI would have told them: only a subsection of /. readers give a rat's patootie about BI, and BI's been around for more than a decade in one form or another.
Re:SlashBI (Score:4, Insightful)
Right nobody reading Slashdot cares at all about:
automation,
instrumentation,
database engines,
database design,
very high speed transform / processing (ETL),
information security,
storage,
etc.
BI, at least form the geek perspective uses just about every discipline in IT and CS; which is why lots and lots of professionals get into; its actually a fascinating world to work in. My only question is does it make sense to have BI topic on Slashdot as 80% of all stories covered here could be put into it reasonably.
Re:Here we go (Score:5, Insightful)
The big bonus of slashdot has always been the diversity. We arn't _just_ hardware or gamers or programmers or wannabie lawyers or armchair politicians .. it's the mixture of skills, ages, and experiences that makes the discussions interesting. If you want to talk programming.. lots of well run programming programming boards. Same with hardware, gaming, politics, IP law, etc.
I know of nothing with the same general appeal nor diversity of slashdot. We all somehow manage to talk on each others level, while bringing different viewpoints and experience into the discussion (most of the time). It's a beautiful thing to lose :(
Re:This will go down well...lulz (Score:3, Insightful)
"...the articles are aimed at getting page views."
It would be so much better if they posted stuff I wasn't interested in. I don't think I understand this comment...
Articles aimed at getting page views appeal to a broad audience. Even a general audience, like, say American Idol viewers. Slashdot has catered to an audience that Big Media considers a niche - technophiles with actual knowledge. The articles got page views from that (small but obsessive) group, and all of the changes in the last 5-8 years have been to dumb-down and broaden the appeal of articles, thus turning /. from News for Nerds into PC Magazine. This seems to be a common trend among tech-sites: start out focused and interesting, attract a sizeable readership, worry when readership growth slows, and add a bunch of peripheral but less "intimidating" content to bring in more readers, thus alienating the original crowd. You're old enough to know this.
Re:SlashBI (Score:4, Insightful)
CmdrTaco, for all of his bad days, seemed to have an unerring pulse on the interesting stuff that makes a geek's day. Yes, there were colorful sidetracks, and flamewars, and threads that had 700+ comments and drifts that strung to the nebulae.
You meet interesting and thoughtful folks. Some of them are clearly way out on edge of reality. Some beyond. Deciding which is who can be interesting. I don't think that Reddit Getsit, that Digg Diggs, and the other sandpile of social geek communities gets there, either. Hell, even BurningMan has jumped the shark. Slashdot used to *make* the memes, not report on them a dozen days later while grafting the elephant's behind of **BI** onto itself.
Robin, are you listening? Would you give these jokers a klewww? Smack them upside the head, pull their heads out of their butts, and through them back on the cluetrain? Sigh. Big sigh.