SoylentNews - User contributions [en]

SoylentNews

2014-02-11T15:02:17Z

Koen: Corrected name of Bruce Perens (not Parens)

[[FAQ|Frequently Asked Questions]]

'''Site Announcements'''

'''Feb 10, 2014:''' It looks like we are ready for "soft launch" tonight (Mon), which means we'll invite a bunch of people to use the site and see how things hold up.

If everything seems to work, we'll open the doors on Wednesday. Cross your fingers everyone!

There may be some teething problems in the first couple of days. We will bump the server to whatever level is needed, but it may take some hours of slow access before we decide to do that.

Also, SlashCode is 5 years old - it's got sharp edges and rough spots, and maybe a few pugs. Please have patience, the systems team is working very hard.

----

If you are having tech issues with the forum software, please Email Joel: soylent (at) finite (dot) ms

It's not certain whether we will be able to rollout on Monday as planned, but it's not out of the question either. Expect a rollout status update, late Monday

The slashcode group has been working very hard to get things up and running. SlashCode is 5 years old, heavily dependent on older revs (Apache, Perl, MySQL), and ran as root

Check out the [http://imgbin.org/index.php?page=image&id=16688| look and feel] of the new site!

----

'''To everyone involved... THANK YOU!'''

We are building a news site alternative to Slashdot. We have started only a few days ago, and this wiki is a temporary measure so that volunteers can coordinate and others can see what's happening.

The idea is to build a news aggregation site that delivers what's important - better articles, less fluff, and all the functionality you expect from the moderation system. We are still looking for volunteers so stop by the boards and the IRC and let us know you want to help!

* The proposed business model is [[Finances|here]] <br>
* Some business planning is [[Business|here]] <br>
* A statement of functionality (turn into a requirements document?)--- [[FeatureList]]

''' Get Involved '''

'''Hop in to IRC!''' - [[SoylentNews:IRC|IRC]]: ##altslashdot on chat.freenode.net ([https://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=##altslashdot Webchat], we are growing in [http://irc.netsplit.de/channels/details.php?net=freenode&room=%23%23altslashdot strength!])

'''Register on the forums''' - http://forums.SoylentNews.org
* Go to forums.SoylentNews.org and register a user
* Read [http://forums.soylentnews.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=38&sid=e55255cb6dfe68b28c8cf5f2b9697a64| this] post if you are having problems. (Thanks MrGuy)
* Add yourself to whichever groups you are interested in

'''Slashcott''' Organized boycott of the Dice-owned Slashdot pages
* Show your support for the "Get rid of Beta" crowd by avoiding Slashdot during the week of February 10-17

'''Tell Somebody''' A friend, a colleague, any major news source....
*Do what you can to get the word out

'''Contact:'''
If you want to send the project lead a message: John (at) SoylentNews (dot) org

'''Mumble (Voice / Text Server)''' : voice.whackperiod.org <--- Does not appear to be working ??

==Status==

Check out the [[FAQ]]

* Forums are available at forums.SoylentNews.org
* We upgraded the hosting by two tiers - this should fix the problems people were having yesterday accessing the system.
* The System team is working on installing SlashCode. If all goes well, we expect to have a working system by Monday. Everyone believes this goal is achievable.
* The site now has forums with four user groups: Code, Content, Style, and System.
* Probably won't be non-profit, see [[Finances|business model]].
* We won't poach from Slashdot. This includes articles and logos, also "style" to a reasonable extent.

Mailing list update Messages are [[MailingListUpdates|here]]

== Site Name ==
We have a '''temporary''' name!

Thanks go out to everyone who made suggestions - some of them were
absolutely brilliant! For example, it hadn't occurred to me to choose a name based on a
non-English word, or a palindrome, or a puzzle. Many of the entries were quite clever.
(Adies, it took me more than a day to figure yours out. Bravo!)

I won't post the runners up because squatters might take the names before we hold the real
contest. We'll figure out a way to prevent this somehow - at worst case we can choose judges
and do it privately (like I did, but with more people).

Jerry had the winning entry.

The temp name is: '''SoylentNews''' with the tagline: '''SoylentNews is people!'''

Does this rock? It hits the trifecta of website goodness:

* Descriptive in a way that mundanes will understand (compare "photoshop" with "gimp", "Internet Explorer" with "Firefox", and "MediaPlayer" with "VLC")

* It's part of Nerd culture, a pun, and slightly twisted

* It's suggestive of being community driven

* It is attached to some movie about eating corpses and implies "News fresh as processed corpses" (??)

* Trademark issues

* We are getting some community flak on the name

This will be a hard act to beat. Start thinking up names for the contest, or throw your weight
behind this one. The contest will be held soon after we open the doors.

(And it was poutine (from IRC) who suggested we use a temporary name. Others may also have suggested it, but it was his post that I noticed. Be sure to thank him if you see him on IRC.)

==ToDo==
[[SlashcodeTodo|Slashcode Todo list]]

* Install SlashCode on the production site
* Get some people to help with the site
* Run a contest for a better name [[NewName|New name discussion]]
* Incorporate
* Consult a lawyer
* How to handle Advertising (necessary evil) - Opt Out, Limited, Typical(box with ads in the top-right corner)?
Why can't we have an advertising cookie with things we are in the market for? I.e. if I'm in the market for a computer, I see computer-related ads. If I opt out, then I don't see any ads. An interest-centric (not user centric) cookie.
* Improved Mod/Meta-Mod/Story-Selection system to minimize required editor input
* Provide a voting system to decide which articles hit the main page (Mod point related?)
* Find and submit some stories

== List of Discussion Pages ==
*[[NewName|NewName]]
*[[MailingListUpdates|MailingListUpdates]]
*[[Finances|Finances]] -- which model would allow to minimise and/or distribute hosting costs
*[[Business|Business]]
*[[Monetization]] -- Duscussion on how to cover costs to make this thing happen (and grow)
*[[FeatureList]] -- Discussion of required/desired characteristics
*[[Submission guidelines|Submission guidelines]]
*[[Content]]
*[[Style]]
*[[Migration of users from Slashdot]] -- How to handle Nicks and UIDs
*[[Licensing]]

== Noteworthy Comments==
*Grabbed the Domain Names: AltSlashdot.org, Soylentnews.org
*Other potential website solutions
::Bruce Perens (created "technocrat.net") is aware of Soylentnews.org and is considering contributing (Relaunch ?? stay tuned)
::/. user 'dotancohen' registered the domain "slashdotan" and is looking to build a new Slashdot (He is willing to coordinate and has cloud experience)
::Add info on Pipedot...[http://pipedot.org/ pipedot.org] by 'Bryan'
::User somenickname (1270442) has registered bangslashdot.(org|net|com)
::Usenet was also suggested as an alternative 'comp.misc is the new Slashdot'
*Scrapping content from old Slashdot suggestion made. benefits/drawbacks ? Overall I think this is a thumbs down
::Content is easier to "find"
::Moral/Legal objections were brought up (Even if it was initially "our" content)
::We should build our own brand
::Pointless to scrap, since it is the comments that draw people in
::Editors should be in multiple timezones to cleanup/improve/multi-source submissions for presentation to the main page
*Initial code build will be from Slashcode... Available (Git?), Old:(5 years) Workable:(maybe)
*Alternate choices for code base: Wiki, Discourse, Usenet
*Non-profit vs For-profit discussion should go here ( [[Business]] )
:: Debian style project organization ?
:: Community driven projects need strong leadership or they tend to flounder
*Codebase
:: Code should be in the public domain
:: Allow the entire website (Stories+Comments+Code)? to be created as a Creative commons work - codebase also available ?
:: AGPL
*Keep the former Slashdot community together

[[Comment History]]

== Comments ==

* Do this as a non-profit, user-run organization '''please'''. From what you write it looks like you want replace the regime, not giving the users the control over the website. Why should we trust you not to sell the website to a DICE-like company after it becomes successful? I applaud your efforts to change things, but I really believe that a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debian#Organization Debian Project] like institution that is both non-commercial and controlled/run by the community has a much higher chance of securing the goals we fight for right now in the long-term. --[[Special:Contributions/141.84.69.20|141.84.69.20]] 03:20, 6 February 2014 (MST)

* relevant slashdot stats from 2011 [[http://www.dbasoul.com/2011/992.html]]
:::5.5 million user visits per month.
:::7,000 comments are added every day.
:::Over 9 million pages views daily.
:::Over 21 million comments.
:::Average monthly bandwidth usage is around 40-50 mbit/sec (450GB/day)

* From Hacker News on Slasdot: 'When you have the same group of minds selecting the content that gets seen, over the course of years, the users eventually get burnt out seeing the same type of stuff, chosen by the same people over and over again. The content becomes stale even if its fresh <--- A really good point

== IRC ==
General Slashdot Discussion: Come on IRC channel #slashdot at irc.slashnet.org. Or use the web client: http://www.slashnet.org/webclient

AltSlashdot Discussion: Head to IRC channel ##AltSlashdot on irc.freenode.net, Web client is here: https://webchat.freenode.net/

== Stories from former Slashdot users ==

[[Confessions of an Ex-Slashdot Beta User]]

[[Banned from Slashdot]]

[[Dice is killing Slashdot]]

== An interesting Idea ==
Check this out while it's still available. feedback appreciated
* http://slashdot.org/submission/3324011/a-modest-proposal-re-beta-vs-classic?utm_source=rss1.0&utm_medium=feed&sbsrc=firehose

== Telling the world about SoylentNews.org ==
*Please mention SolentNews.org as much as possible.
*It seems like the word is spreading (over 45,000 views in <1 week) Good job everyone!
**Any idea on how and where to make sure people know about this project, please post them here?
:::I'd send a note along to Ars Technica & BoingBoing. (That would get some attention)<br>
:::Anyone have a Reddit account with a reasonable activity level?<br>
:::The Register, Digg, Hacker News and anything else you feel would help get the word out there
* Contacted:
** The Register:: No word back
** Ars Technica:: Was passed along to one of the writers
** Hacker News
::: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7193251 Submission from when AltSlashdot just started]
::: Due for an update once we get an actual site up and running
:::: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7209927 Similar thread from today] [[User:Yahwotqa|Yahwotqa]] ([[User talk:Yahwotqa|talk]]) 10:05, 10 February 2014 (MST)

Historic:Banned from Slashdot

2014-02-11T00:36:22Z

Koen: Added reply from Slashdot's Soulskill

== Banned ==
Anyone else get banned from Slashdot? I did a few 'Fuck Beta' posts and a Beta submission, and apparently this was enough to get a temporary ban. - Robotron23

That is surprising, I posted several times today and did not get anything. I wonder if it had something to do with the Beta submission. - Nightbrood

I've posted loudly, angrily, reflectively, snarkily, thoughtfully, sarcastically, and in many other different ways today (classic and beta). Yet, I've not been banned. - cervesaebraciator

Not banned, either.[[User:Mmcmonster|Mmcmonster]] ([[User talk:Mmcmonster|talk]]) 03:56, 10 February 2014 (MST)

I tried to submit a slashcott reminder this morning but I got banned apparently (omoc)

----

I copied this from alterslash.org (which allows me to know what's going on at /. while boycotting):

Re:Allow me to be the first
By Soulskill • 2014-Feb-10 15:07 • Score: 5, Informative • Thread

We're not banning people for anti-beta comments.

The amount of people complaining about the beta across multiple stories and multiple days should be enough to verify that. If not, it's easy enough to test for yourself. What's been surprising to me is how many comments and emails we've seen asking for us to ban people/delete comments about the beta protest.

Side note: we do ban (and have always banned) commercial spammers and bots that try to flood us with traffic. The folks that do that like using proxies, so if you use a proxy, it's possible you'll end up on one that got banned for that reason. If that happens, you can switch proxies or email us at banned@slashdot.org.
--[[User:Koen|Koen]] ([[User talk:Koen|talk]]) 17:36, 10 February 2014 (MST)

SoylentNews

2014-02-06T15:52:31Z

Koen: Suggest name "slashfork" + added signature

'''Okay, I am officially terrified...'''

I'm building a news site alternative to Slashdot. I've only started a couple of hours ago, this wiki is a temporary measure so that volunteers can coordinate and others can see what's happening.

I intend to run a site much like Slashdot used to be - better articles, less decoration and less "in your face" functionality. I'm looking for volunteers to help with setup and running the site. If the site becomes profitable, I intend to hire from the pool of volunteers. If you've ever wanted to participate in a site like Slashdot, here's your chance!

I'm particularly in need of people who can:

* Set up and manage a high-traffic site (servers, load-balancers, data sites, &c)
* Edit story submissions
* HTML, CSS, and script creation/bugfix/repair

Contact me if interested

John@AltSlashdot.org

'''Current Progress'''

* Registered "AltSlashdot.org", also ".com" and ".net".
* Purchased hosting through BlueHost
* I'm wading through SlashCode, learning the install procedures.

'''ToDo'''

* Install SlashCode on my home server.

When I'm comfortable with the install and get the kinks worked out, I'll try installing it on the production site

* Install SlashCode on the production site
* Get some people to help with the site
* Find and submit some stories

== Comments ==
* '''Do this as a non-profit, user-run organization please'''. From what you write it looks like you want replace the regime, not giving the users the control over the website. Why should we trust you not to sell the website to a DICE-like company after it becomes successful? I applaud your efforts to change things, but I really believe that a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debian#Organization Debian Project] like institution that is both non-commercial and controlled/run by the community has a much higher chance of securing the goals we fight for right now in the long-term. --[[Special:Contributions/141.84.69.20|141.84.69.20]] 03:20, 6 February 2014 (MST)

* Additional points: Make the whole website (including stories/comments) available under [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ CC-BY-SA] to retain the [http://meatballwiki.org/wiki/RightToFork right to fork]. You should also reconsider the name. I imagine "AltSlashdot" could get you into all sorts of legal trouble, since it is very close to the "Slashdot" trademark. --[[Special:Contributions/141.84.69.20|141.84.69.20]] 03:20, 6 February 2014 (MST)

* John@AltSlashdot.org seems to be bouncing. I'd like to help.

* Consider a '''name change'''. If you're serious about this, then the name "AltSlashdot" will run you into legal trouble down the road, since Slashdot/Dice/etc. will sue for Trademark infringement (and will have a solid case). Slashdot user [http://slashdot.org/~tpaudio tpaudio] suggested [http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4757151&cid=46170795 "Plusdot"]. Another idea (mine) is to call it "divergence" or "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divergence divergence operator]"... the logo would be the mathematical form of divergence, i.e. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabla_symbol nabla] symbol followed by a dot (which looks like an augmented "slash dot"). --Slashdot user [http://slashdot.org/~JustinOpinion JustinOpinion].
** Perhaps altslash.org? Sounds far enough from slashdot to avoid problems, but close enough to clue in any refugees. [[User:Max Hyre|Max Hyre]] ([[User talk:Max Hyre|talk]]) 08:34, 6 February 2014 (MST)

* Attempt to '''coordinate and combine''' the parallel efforts. E.g. Slashdot user [http://slashdot.org/~dotancohen dotancohen] has [http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4757151&cid=46171009 apparently] registered the domain "slashdotan" and is looking to build a new Slashdot there. There are probably a dozen people hacking away separately on similar efforts. Competition is probably good, but combining efforts should be considered. --Slashdot user [http://slashdot.org/~JustinOpinion JustinOpinion].

* [https://github.com/digilord DigiLord] - I would like to help

* I'm the dotancohen mentioned by JustinOpinion. I have some limited experience with Amazon Web Services to run cloud servers for sites with very dynamic load profiles. Altslashdot seems like the perfect application of that technology, as we can expect to get slashdotted at any time. I also agree that we should coordinate efforts, as the whole premise is to keep the /. community together. [[User:Dotancohen|Dotancohen]] ([[User talk:Dotancohen|talk]]) 08:38, 6 February 2014 (MST)

killbeta.org?
diebetadie.org?

unitron

* The name "AltSlashdot" does not "mouth" well. May I suggest "Slashfork"? --[[User:Koen|Koen]] ([[User talk:Koen|talk]]) 08:52, 6 February 2014 (MST)

* I agree that AltSlashdot is hard to pronounce, but wasn't that the idea behind h-t-t-p-colon-slash-slash-slash-dot-dot-o-r-g (that is should be hard to pronounce)? [[User:Dotancohen|Dotancohen]] ([[User talk:Dotancohen|talk]]) 08:41, 6 February 2014 (MST)

SoylentNews

2014-02-06T15:37:05Z

Koen: /* Comments */

'''Okay, I am officially terrified...'''

I'm building a news site alternative to Slashdot. I've only started a couple of hours ago, this wiki is a temporary measure so that volunteers can coordinate and others can see what's happening.

I intend to run a site much like Slashdot used to be - better articles, less decoration and less "in your face" functionality. I'm looking for volunteers to help with setup and running the site. If the site becomes profitable, I intend to hire from the pool of volunteers. If you've ever wanted to participate in a site like Slashdot, here's your chance!

I'm particularly in need of people who can:

* Set up and manage a high-traffic site (servers, load-balancers, data sites, &c)
* Edit story submissions
* HTML, CSS, and script creation/bugfix/repair

Contact me if interested

John@AltSlashdot.org

'''Current Progress'''

* Registered "AltSlashdot.org", also ".com" and ".net".
* Purchased hosting through BlueHost
* I'm wading through SlashCode, learning the install procedures.

'''ToDo'''

* Install SlashCode on my home server.

When I'm comfortable with the install and get the kinks worked out, I'll try installing it on the production site

* Install SlashCode on the production site
* Get some people to help with the site
* Find and submit some stories

== Comments ==
* '''Do this as a non-profit, user-run organization please'''. From what you write it looks like you want replace the regime, not giving the users the control over the website. Why should we trust you not to sell the website to a DICE-like company after it becomes successful? I applaud your efforts to change things, but I really believe that a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debian#Organization Debian Project] like institution that is both non-commercial and controlled/run by the community has a much higher chance of securing the goals we fight for right now in the long-term. --[[Special:Contributions/141.84.69.20|141.84.69.20]] 03:20, 6 February 2014 (MST)

* Additional points: Make the whole website (including stories/comments) available under [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ CC-BY-SA] to retain the [http://meatballwiki.org/wiki/RightToFork right to fork]. You should also reconsider the name. I imagine "AltSlashdot" could get you into all sorts of legal trouble, since it is very close to the "Slashdot" trademark. --[[Special:Contributions/141.84.69.20|141.84.69.20]] 03:20, 6 February 2014 (MST)

* John@AltSlashdot.org seems to be bouncing. I'd like to help.

* Consider a '''name change'''. If you're serious about this, then the name "AltSlashdot" will run you into legal trouble down the road, since Slashdot/Dice/etc. will sue for Trademark infringement (and will have a solid case). Slashdot user [http://slashdot.org/~tpaudio tpaudio] suggested [http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4757151&cid=46170795 "Plusdot"]. Another idea (mine) is to call it "divergence" or "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divergence divergence operator]"... the logo would be the mathematical form of divergence, i.e. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabla_symbol nabla] symbol followed by a dot (which looks like an augmented "slash dot"). --Slashdot user [http://slashdot.org/~JustinOpinion JustinOpinion].
** Perhaps altslash.org? Sounds far enough from slashdot to avoid problems, but close enough to clue in any refugees. [[User:Max Hyre|Max Hyre]] ([[User talk:Max Hyre|talk]]) 08:34, 6 February 2014 (MST)

* Attempt to '''coordinate and combine''' the parallel efforts. E.g. Slashdot user [http://slashdot.org/~dotancohen dotancohen] has [http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4757151&cid=46171009 apparently] registered the domain "slashdotan" and is looking to build a new Slashdot there. There are probably a dozen people hacking away separately on similar efforts. Competition is probably good, but combining efforts should be considered. --Slashdot user [http://slashdot.org/~JustinOpinion JustinOpinion].

* [https://github.com/digilord DigiLord] - I would like to help

killbeta.org?
diebetadie.org?

unitron

* The name "AltSlashdot" does not "mouth" well. May I suggest "Slashfork"? Koen.