Slashdot.org: News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters.
Written: Aug 01 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: peer moderated message boards
Cons: none!
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What is Slashdot.org (also known as /.)?
Slashdot.org is a news web site owned by andover.net that focuses primarily on technology and computer news. It's main page consists of news articles submitted by reader, questions posted by readers, interviews done by slashdot, and articles written by members of the /. staff. It also supports some nice features that most other news sites do not have such as complete personal customization and a peer moderated message board.
Customization
If you think being able to add stock headlines or weather to you msn.com, yahoo.com, abcnews.com or other news site is nice, then this will blow you away. First you need to create an account on /. so it can remember your personal settings. After making an account, you have complete control of how /. looks to you. For example, you can control how the date and time are displayed, you can have it not display icons to save load time, if you use a text based browser or a pocket device, you can lighten the complexity of the web page. Perhaps one of the best features is that you can filter which news headlines you see. For example, you can filter based on author (don't want to hear JonKatz's flamatorly articles?), topic (Don't care about Gnome, Star Wars or Wine?) or section (Don't want to read articles written by the /. team?).
/. also has these things called "Slashboxes." Slashboxes are the boxes that appear on the right side of the page. They are a bunch of boxes that each display different information. You can customize which slashboxes show up on your slashdot. For example, if you still want news from wired.com or betanews.com, you can put that in a slashbox. You can also put a box for weather or to all major search engines. With a list of almost 150 different types of slashboxes, you can get all the news and information you need through your slashboxes. If you don't see an option for a site you frequently visit (like www.thehungersite.org), then there's a space for your own slashbox. If you know HTML, you can enter any HTML there and it will become a slashbox. Some good examples for your custom slashbox would be adding a favorite graphic or links to your favorite web sites.
Message Boards and Peer Moderation
This is why I really like slashdot: a public message board to discuss any headline. While the message boards are filled with lots of offtopic comments, meaningless comments, and other garbage, there is also lots of good insight available because there are so many people who visit slashdot. Also, the message board is moderated, that is, comments are given a score of -1 to 5 based on how interesting, insightful or funny the comment is. The great thing about the moderation is that it is peer moderation, not moderation by the owners or webmasters of slashdot. This is how peer moderation works, slashdot readers are selected randomly (well almost) and each given a few points. If you are selected as a moderator, you can use your points to increase or decrease the score of a comment by 1. If you like a comment, add a point to it. If it's offtopic or flame bait, take a point away. This way the "good" comments get higher scores. As a moderator, you're not allowed to post your own comments for a headline to prevent moderating up your own posts. Your power as a moderator expires after 3 days and a new user is selected.
Most comments start off with a score of one and most headlines get hundreds of comments. If you don't want to read all the comments, you can filter the comments to display only those with at least 3 points, or only those with 4 points, or whatever. There's also a system of "karma" that you get and lose for getting points added to any comment you post. I won't go into detail about the system, but if you want to know more, there's a nice FAQ about the whole system and about peer moderation here:
http://slashdot.org/faq/
What's so great about the message boards?
I like the message boards because there are so many people who participate in it. No matter what the topic is, you almost always get a few professionals throwing in their two cents along with everyone else. The size also allows for both sides of an issue to be voiced. It's a great place to find out what the media isn't telling you in their articles and what they're simply mistaken about.
Be part of something big
Slashdot has enough regular visitors that there is a term called the "slashdot effect." This is what happens when slashdot posts an article and everyone rushes over to a site that is linked in the article. This isn't a problem for major news sites, but some smaller sites can be crashed due to the overwhelming number of hits. When this happens, the site is said to be "Slashdotted."
Also, I've been told that some major companies or lawyers read through slashdot message boards to better understand what the people are thinking. In the MPAA vs. 2600 case, slashdot was mentioned as a primary source for information by both the plaintiff and the defendants. Slashdot has the power to even influence the legal shaping of technology.
Is slashdot for me?
Well, maybe not. Some of the articles are very technical (questions about database systems or large networks) and probably doesn't interest most people. But even if you don't really know anything about computers, it's a good place to keep up with the continuing MP3 wars between Napster and the RIAA or to learn about how linux fares against Windows or the benefits of open source software. Also, there is a definite side that most slashdot regulars are on. Most are pro-linux, pro-free speech, anti-corporation, and pro-open source. If you're against these things, then the site might not be for you. I love the site and visit it a few times each day so I won't miss an article. I read and post comments of headlines that I feel strongly about or am interested it. I learn a lot from the message boards. I think it is a must visit site for anyone interested in technology or technological issues.
Recommended:
Yes
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c_knight
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Location: Ohio
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