8 ms·

How would you say the Slashdot and HN cross-sections differ?

by majos 8y ago

_wmd 8y ago
HN tends more towards software and startups, everyone is an armchair CTO, Slashdot tends more towards tech, space and science. They both cover each other's topics, but there is a definite tendency on both sides. You're unlikely to read about some venture capital gossip on the Slashdot side, while you're unlikely to read e.g. "Giant Predatory Worms Are Invading France" on the HN side. The great thing about HN comments is that everyone is a smart ass, the bad thing about HN comments is that everyone is a smart ass. Slashdot comments are generally just toxic noise, dumb jokes and horrifically amateur analysis.
- mistersquid 8y ago
  I'll add that Slashdot's user comment toxicity is a product of its founders' commitment to non-censorship and free speech. Back in the day (what some here have referred to as Slashdot's "peak"), Slashdot commentary and trolling could be side-achingly hilarious, irreverent, profane, thought-provoking, insightful, silly, and humbling. Slashdot's editorially permissive policy coupled with algorithmically assigned moderator points allowed "representative" Slashdot users to choose which trolls and provocateurs would be buried and which boosted. As a result, Slashdot was renowned and reviled for its sometimes predictable and frequently appropriate inside jokes (e.g. "Had Netcraft confirmed it?", "Only old people ______", "IN SOVIET RUSSIA $NOUN $VERBs YOU", etc.) as well as for its sometimes intractable and iconoclastic user base. The user base was in fact so intractable that a site-wide redesign was deployed and then retracted due to extraordinary complaints from the user base. Dice ended up throwing a lot of invested time and resources away to appease a user base determined to voice its displeasure with a Web 2.0 redesign. Roblimo, CmdrTaco, and CowboyNeal were the ones who forged Slashdot's editorial policy and, by so doing, indelibly shaped the character of Slashdot at its peak. Today, thoughtless shitposting and unoriginal trolling of anonymous (and some pseudonymous) Slashdot users has driven away all but the most hardy (or desperate) of Slashdot readers. Slashdot today seems to be an endlessly burning tire fire. I'm grateful the current /. thread for Roblimo is so far civil. [0] But there was a time when its moderation policies and commitment to anonymity generated insight and humor. Even now, Slashdot has a hackerish mean streak that can yield endlessly entertaining threads full of puns, jokes, and in-jokes and if there is anything I wish HN had more of it is an understanding that iconoclastic juvenile humor can play an important discursive role in conversations of technology, society, and culture. I only rarely visit Slashdot these days due to the toxicity of its users' comments (I can't bring myself to hide comments moderated to -1 for the same reasons that I "showdead" here on HN). I am forever indebted to the original Slashdot team, the Slashdot community and, on this occasion, especially Robin Miller for providing a platform where I could learn from others, express my opinions, and keep abreast of geek culture. Roblimo, you will be missed. [0] https://linux.slashdot.org/story/18/05/24/1750210/robin-roblimo-miller-a-long-time-voice-of-the-linux-community-has-passed-away#comments https://linux.slashdot.org/story/18/05/24/1750210/robin-robl... EDIT: typos and small changes here and there
  - CaptainZapp 8y ago
    "e.g. "Had Netcraft confirmed it?", "Only old people ______", "IN SOVIET RUSSIA $NOUN $VERBs YOU", etc." Sorry to point out that you forgot grits and Natalie Portman, of whom some /. users seemed to have a not quite healthy obsession. Else than that your comment is spot on.
    - surrealize 8y ago
      I, for one, welcome our new inside-joke-forgetting overlords
      - dnnrly 8y ago
        I'd like to see a Beowolf cluster of those.
  - cma 8y ago
    > As a result, Slashdot was renowned and reviled for its sometimes predictable and frequently appropriate inside jokes One nice thing was Slashdot votes were categorized, and in your preferences you could add a negative modifier to "funny" comments and have all the repetitive meme stuff sorted to the bottom.
asveikau 8y ago
I don't know if it's true of current slashdot, but one aspect of "golden age" slashdot that I have found lacking in HN was the focus on software in terms of ethics. This was probably because slashdot used to be very intertwined with the rise of open source and Linux. People were altruistic in discussions of these things. It's a big contrast here to see, for example, that references to someone like Stallman are usually mocking or prefaced with the idea that he's a nut.
- jhbadger 8y ago
  But even there there was a bit of a break when Stallman insisted (does he still?) that Linux be referred to as GNU/Linux as its kernel would be worthless without the GNU userland. People in classic Slashdot were fans of Free/Open source, but in conflicts between Linus and others, Linus came first.
  - msla 8y ago
    And Stallman is wrong in his GNU/Linux naming crusade, because it ignores a whole lot of non-GNU components in any modern Linux distro, even the fully-Free ones like gNewSense. X, for example, has never been a GNU project.

How would you say the Slashdot and HN cross-sections differ?

by majos 8y ago

How would you say the Slashdot and HN cross-sections differ?

_wmd 8y ago

HN tends more towards software and startups, everyone is an armchair CTO, Slashdot tends more towards tech, space and science. They both cover each other's topics, but there is a definite tendency on both sides. You're unlikely to read about some venture capital gossip on the Slashdot side, while you're unlikely to read e.g. "Giant Predatory Worms Are Invading France" on the HN side. The great thing about HN comments is that everyone is a smart ass, the bad thing about HN comments is that everyone is a smart ass. Slashdot comments are generally just toxic noise, dumb jokes and horrifically amateur analysis.

mistersquid 8y ago
I'll add that Slashdot's user comment toxicity is a product of its founders' commitment to non-censorship and free speech. Back in the day (what some here have referred to as Slashdot's "peak"), Slashdot commentary and trolling could be side-achingly hilarious, irreverent, profane, thought-provoking, insightful, silly, and humbling. Slashdot's editorially permissive policy coupled with algorithmically assigned moderator points allowed "representative" Slashdot users to choose which trolls and provocateurs would be buried and which boosted. As a result, Slashdot was renowned and reviled for its sometimes predictable and frequently appropriate inside jokes (e.g. "Had Netcraft confirmed it?", "Only old people ______", "IN SOVIET RUSSIA $NOUN $VERBs YOU", etc.) as well as for its sometimes intractable and iconoclastic user base. The user base was in fact so intractable that a site-wide redesign was deployed and then retracted due to extraordinary complaints from the user base. Dice ended up throwing a lot of invested time and resources away to appease a user base determined to voice its displeasure with a Web 2.0 redesign. Roblimo, CmdrTaco, and CowboyNeal were the ones who forged Slashdot's editorial policy and, by so doing, indelibly shaped the character of Slashdot at its peak. Today, thoughtless shitposting and unoriginal trolling of anonymous (and some pseudonymous) Slashdot users has driven away all but the most hardy (or desperate) of Slashdot readers. Slashdot today seems to be an endlessly burning tire fire. I'm grateful the current /. thread for Roblimo is so far civil. [0] But there was a time when its moderation policies and commitment to anonymity generated insight and humor. Even now, Slashdot has a hackerish mean streak that can yield endlessly entertaining threads full of puns, jokes, and in-jokes and if there is anything I wish HN had more of it is an understanding that iconoclastic juvenile humor can play an important discursive role in conversations of technology, society, and culture. I only rarely visit Slashdot these days due to the toxicity of its users' comments (I can't bring myself to hide comments moderated to -1 for the same reasons that I "showdead" here on HN). I am forever indebted to the original Slashdot team, the Slashdot community and, on this occasion, especially Robin Miller for providing a platform where I could learn from others, express my opinions, and keep abreast of geek culture. Roblimo, you will be missed. [0] https://linux.slashdot.org/story/18/05/24/1750210/robin-roblimo-miller-a-long-time-voice-of-the-linux-community-has-passed-away#comments https://linux.slashdot.org/story/18/05/24/1750210/robin-robl... EDIT: typos and small changes here and there
- CaptainZapp 8y ago
  "e.g. "Had Netcraft confirmed it?", "Only old people ______", "IN SOVIET RUSSIA $NOUN $VERBs YOU", etc." Sorry to point out that you forgot grits and Natalie Portman, of whom some /. users seemed to have a not quite healthy obsession. Else than that your comment is spot on.
  - surrealize 8y ago
    I, for one, welcome our new inside-joke-forgetting overlords
    - dnnrly 8y ago
      I'd like to see a Beowolf cluster of those.
- cma 8y ago
  > As a result, Slashdot was renowned and reviled for its sometimes predictable and frequently appropriate inside jokes One nice thing was Slashdot votes were categorized, and in your preferences you could add a negative modifier to "funny" comments and have all the repetitive meme stuff sorted to the bottom.

asveikau 8y ago

I don't know if it's true of current slashdot, but one aspect of "golden age" slashdot that I have found lacking in HN was the focus on software in terms of ethics. This was probably because slashdot used to be very intertwined with the rise of open source and Linux. People were altruistic in discussions of these things. It's a big contrast here to see, for example, that references to someone like Stallman are usually mocking or prefaced with the idea that he's a nut.

jhbadger 8y ago
But even there there was a bit of a break when Stallman insisted (does he still?) that Linux be referred to as GNU/Linux as its kernel would be worthless without the GNU userland. People in classic Slashdot were fans of Free/Open source, but in conflicts between Linus and others, Linus came first.
- msla 8y ago
  And Stallman is wrong in his GNU/Linux naming crusade, because it ignores a whole lot of non-GNU components in any modern Linux distro, even the fully-Free ones like gNewSense. X, for example, has never been a GNU project.