What's amazing to me isn't that/. has carried on this long, but rather that the comment quality on here hasn't gone the way of most social new sites. It seems that in general as a social news site ages, matures, and grows, the comment quality follows an inverse pattern. Or more simply, as the number of users approaches infinity, the comment quality approaches 4chan. Digg used to be a decent site for discussion; now you'd be laughed at for even suggesting that the comments might be notable. Reddit is quickl
Tragically this is because the degradation is instead shifted to the editors. Slashvertisements, things in "ask slashdot" that should instead get someone redirected to google, and kdawson....
It's sad but true. If we stay here comfy in our/. home,/. becomes a parking space for what we know and outside of here ignorance reigns. In addition to being a troll magnet,/. becomes an ivory tower. That's bad. We need to go out from here and disabuse the idiots of ZDNET and CNET of their general idiocy. That we are smart here does no good if the common cause becomes "Up with dumb"! The only cure is for us to go out to all those other spaces and comment something other than "you're a 'tard", usefu
Correction to that: 100,000 actually First Post-First Posts.
If we count all the comments that contain "first post", then we'd have around ~200-300,000 of them.
I agree with you about the editors. It is amazing how little Slashdot editors
seem to have learned about editing in the last 12 years. Sometimes stories
have not even been spell-checked. It is very common that a Slashdot story is
misleading in some way.
However, even with the sloppy editing, Slashdot is the best way of
learning about computer and other technology events. It's indispensable in my
life. Slashdot editors have been very good at choosing stories that are
interesting to us.
I think there is some sort of sociological principle at play here... some sort of emergent property of systems. As the number of people frequenting the internet, and social networking sites, grow... there's an effect that both drives most sites toward absolute mediocrity, the most populated part of the bell curve... but if you are sufficiently above or below the middle, you may be pushed further to that extreme.
The smart people need a site, and there's more smart people than ever... so there is a demand for something on the high edge. But there's absolutely no need for a 'halfway smart' site, like, say, Digg... at that point, the site joins millions of others in vying for the attention at the populated middle. I THINK there might be something like that happening with slashdot... at least I hope.
I think something similar happens with movies and tv.
things in "ask slashdot" that should instead get someone redirected to google
Not everybody is an expert at formulating search engine queries. In these Ask Slashdot articles, I take the question to be the following: "To answer this question, what words should I have typed into a search engine?" Even a "Let me Google that for you" response [lmgtfy.com] can be informative if it reveals keywords that the submitter couldn't think to use.
Not everybody is an expert at formulating search engine queries.
That is very true. Search engine queries are a suprisingly subtle exercise in language. I never really appreciated this until I tried searching for something in a different language. I have a reasonably good command of that language, and yet I could not form a decent query to save my life.
Tragically this is because the degradation is instead shifted to the editors. Slashvertisements, things in "ask slashdot" that should instead get someone redirected to google, and kdawson....
Kdawson? You clearly weren't around for the times of Jon Katz...
I know it's fun to rag on the 'editors' here, and kdawson is evidently a troll account (no profile, just consistent flamebait), whenever I consider ranting against them, I think of this post from the 'idle' launch:
Yeah well you can go eat a dick you cock jockey. Err... let me rephrase that. It would be prudent for you to satiate your hunger by consuming a specimen of male genitalia seeing as you are a particularly adept at the wielding of a mans gonads.
Age and quality. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Age and quality. (Score:5, Insightful)
Tragically this is because the degradation is instead shifted to the editors. Slashvertisements, things in "ask slashdot" that should instead get someone redirected to google, and kdawson....
Re: (Score:0)
I credit the stupidity of the users. Collectively they dont have enough intelligence to know they are supposed to be dumb.
Re: (Score:0)
Re: (Score:0)
I heard you like mudkips.
Slasdot sucks out the wisdom of the crowd (Score:1)
Groan (Score:2)
Tragically this is because the degradation is instead shifted to the editors.
And the fact that there have now been 100,000 First Posts!
Re: (Score:2)
How many "soviet russia" and "overlord" jokes ? I would scrape the site and find out for myself, but don't want to slashdot slashdot.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Yeah it would be cool to have some sort of linux kernel swear counts [vidarholen.net] but with /. stories, which matches some patterns like:
Come on /. devs, bring us a xmas gift ! ;)
Re:Groan (Score:5, Funny)
# cowboyneal
there, fixed it for ya.
signed,
grammar nazi
Re: (Score:1)
# cowboyneal
there, fixed it for ya.
signed, spelling Nazi
FTFY.
Signed,
semantics and spelling Nazi.
Wikipedia calls it "Culture". (Score:2)
Re: (Score:-1)
You forgot me you insensitive clod!
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:0)
Sloppy editing, but indispensable. (Score:3, Interesting)
However, even with the sloppy editing, Slashdot is the best way of learning about computer and other technology events. It's indispensable in my life. Slashdot editors have been very good at choosing stories that are interesting to us.
The comments have
Re:Sloppy editing, but indispensable. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Sloppy editing, but indispensable. (Score:4, Interesting)
The smart people need a site, and there's more smart people than ever... so there is a demand for something on the high edge. But there's absolutely no need for a 'halfway smart' site, like, say, Digg... at that point, the site joins millions of others in vying for the attention at the populated middle. I THINK there might be something like that happening with slashdot... at least I hope.
I think something similar happens with movies and tv.
Re: (Score:2)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon's_Law [wikipedia.org]
specifically the second one...
Ask Google (Score:4, Interesting)
things in "ask slashdot" that should instead get someone redirected to google
Not everybody is an expert at formulating search engine queries. In these Ask Slashdot articles, I take the question to be the following: "To answer this question, what words should I have typed into a search engine?" Even a "Let me Google that for you" response [lmgtfy.com] can be informative if it reveals keywords that the submitter couldn't think to use.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Not everybody is an expert at formulating search engine queries.
That is very true. Search engine queries are a suprisingly subtle exercise in language. I never really appreciated this until I tried searching for something in a different language. I have a reasonably good command of that language, and yet I could not form a decent query to save my life.
Re: (Score:1, Insightful)
Tragically this is because the degradation is instead shifted to the editors. Slashvertisements, things in "ask slashdot" that should instead get someone redirected to google, and kdawson....
Kdawson? You clearly weren't around for the times of Jon Katz...
Re: (Score:1)
I know it's fun to rag on the 'editors' here, and kdawson is evidently a troll account (no profile, just consistent flamebait), whenever I consider ranting against them, I think of this post from the 'idle' launch:
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=646041&cid=24603867 [slashdot.org]
We all have PHBs, even /. editors. I love how they all appeared in solidarity, like the ending of a Stephen King novel.
Keep it up, we luv ya really ;-)
Re: (Score:-1, Troll)
Yeah well you can go eat a dick you cock jockey.
Err... let me rephrase that.
It would be prudent for you to satiate your hunger by consuming a specimen of male genitalia seeing as you are a particularly adept at the wielding of a mans gonads.
Re: (Score:-1)