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| [[FAQ|Frequently Asked Questions]] | | This is a home for information about how '''[http://soylentnews.org SoylentNews.org]''' was started, and the vision for it. |
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| '''Site Announcements'''
| | ==About SoylentNews.org== |
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| '''Feb 11, 2014 12:01PM EST:''' We need some CSS and sphinx help | | Welcome to the '''[http://soylentnews.org SoylentNews.org]''' Wiki. |
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| | We deliver community-sourced news and discussion. This is an, grassroots effort powered by article submissions from our readers, volunteers, and our forked version of [https://github.com/SoylentNews/slashcode slashcode] called [https://github.com/SoylentNews/rehash 'Rehash']. We highlight stories on the web which are important to everyone - especially nerds. We also provide a soapbox for discussion moderated by the site's patrons, and allow anonymous discourse as there's no mandatory registration needed to comment. |
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| As part of the SlashCode rollout we need to fix a lot of broken CSS and to install [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphinx_(search_engine) sphinx (search engine)]. We need 2+1 volunteers to help with the conversion this afternoon via IRC. Two to fix CSS issues, and one familiar with install and config of the sphinx software package.
| | We are mindful of community sentiment, and will not bend to overreaching corporate agenda. The goal is to be an excellent source for discussion and news about technology, art, science and politics. |
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| We need people who are fast, so I'll choose based on experience. | | We've incorporated as a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation (similar to a non-profit) as we feel our mission to provide a platform for news dissemination and relevant discussion is not only essential for mankind, but also a legal right (i.e. freedom of press, freedom of speech) in some places, and these are liberties which we aim to protect. |
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| If you're interested, please send ONLY a one liner of the number of years you've been doing CSS or sphinx. Something like this:
| | Though the site is young and there are [https://github.com/SoylentNews/rehash/issues bugs], we are improving and adapting to satisfy the community's needs. We look forward to pushing the boundaries of web experience and are committed to involving the community on all major decisions. |
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| ''3 years doing CSS professionally''
| | ==Get Involved== |
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| This will be on IRC, coordinating with robin and our tech lead. | | This project is run entirely by the community and there are many ways to contribute. Here are some of the many ways to participate: |
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| Thanks go to everyone - it looks like we're on the final stretch!
| | *'''[http://soylentnews.org/submit.pl Submit a Story]''' |
| | ** Try joining the #rss-bot channel in [[SoylentNews:IRC|IRC]] for story ideas |
| | *'''Volunteer''' |
| | ** Get in touch with the '''[[Development|Development Team]]''', especially if you know perl |
| | ** Reach out to one of the other '''[[TeamPages|Teams]]''' (we have openings for many skill sets) |
| | ** Contact the relevant person: '''[[WhosWho| Who's Who?]]''' |
| | *Hop on to '''IRC:''' |
| | ** #Soylent on irc.soylentnews.org/6697 |
| | ** [https://chat.soylentnews.org/ Webchat] |
| | ** [[SoylentNews:IRC|IRC Wiki Page]] |
| | *'''Bugs''' and Features: |
| | ** [https://github.com/SoylentNews/rehash/issues/new Submit a bug or Feature Request] |
| | ** [[Suggestions|Add a Suggestion]] - larger projects to tackle for the future |
| | *'''Tell Somebody''' A friend, a colleague, any major news source.... |
| | ** Do what you can to [[Spreading the word|get the word out]] |
| | ** You could participate in [[The_Slashcott|The Slashcott]] |
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| If interested, send E-mail to: John (at) SoylentNews (dot) org
| | ==Contacts== |
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| P.S. - Check out the logo.
| | A list of people working on this project: |
| | ===[[WhosWho| Who's Who?]]=== |
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| | == Useful Links == |
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| '''3:01PM EST:''' Status
| | *[[Submission guidelines]] - best practices for story submissions |
| | *[[Story Style]] - a guide for editors on article formatting |
| | *[[Development]] team page |
| | **[https://github.com/SoylentNews/rehash Code Repo] - The Slashcode fork repository for this project on GitHub |
| | ** <strike>[[DevelopmentVMHowto]] - How to get our code setup in a VM</strike> |
| | ** [[SlashDocumentationIndex]] |
| | *[[UserExperience]] team page |
| | **[[Style]] - some of this info needs to be merged/moved/organized into/with [[UserExperience]] |
| | **[[CssWork]] |
| | * [[SystemAdministration|System Administration]] |
| | *[[Finances]] - Breakdown of our proposed spending |
| | *[[Licensing]] - ideas about which license to use for our slashcode fork |
| | *[[Staff_Meetings|Staff Meeting Logs]] |
| | *[[SoylentNews_PBC|SoylentNews PBC]] |
| | *[[SoylentNews_Site_Policy|SoylentNews Policy]] |
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| We have a working system, and two people fixing the CSS (sadly, none for sphinx). As far as I can tell, we're trying to get the high-bandwidth aspects of the site running: Varnish, MySQL configuration options, and such. We want the system to be able to withstand a tsunami of visitors 10 meters high.
| | == Similar Projects == |
| | * [http://pipedot.org/ Pipedot] - A complete re-write that uses a modern codebase and sports a clean look |
| | * Usenet newsgroup comp.misc - [https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/comp.misc on Google Groups], [http://squte.com/ on Squte], [news:comp.misc via newsreader application] |
| | * [http://technocrat.net/ Technocrat] - (now defunt) News site presented by Bruce Perens |
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| | == Archive == |
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| The system team has been working around the clock to get things running, and I mean that literally. I have to as-much-as order people to break off at night and go to bed. They *really* want to see this thing work. Send them some love in chat if you can.
| | [[Archive]] -- An archive of obsolete pages/discussions that occurred before launch |
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| Note that these are not "deadlines", nor do I particularly care if we miss them: We're reporting when we "predict" things will be ready. The first 90% of the project is done, now we're working on the remaining 90%.
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| Stand by for launch...
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| '''The Slashcott is getting attention'''
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| :A selection of Slashcott/Beta comments from around the web.......
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| ::* https://community.republicwireless.com/thread/23151 <== "How not to treat your community"
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| ::* http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2014/2/7/183544/0702
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| ::* http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/442346-trouble-at-slashdot
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| ::* http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/916373-pc/68540288
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| ::* http://www.tuicool.com/articles/bmUvMj
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| ::* http://www.reddit.com/r/socialmedia/comments/1x77zt/user_backlash_to_slashdotorg_beta/
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| ::* http://www.fark.com/comments/8133044/Since-when-was-Slashdot-a-Fark-Beta-site-Since-Dice-started-redirecting-25-of-its-users-to-a-failed-site-redesign
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| '''Feb 10, 2014:''' We are still working on getting the &^#$*$%^ code to run. If everything comes together, we hope to open the doors on Wednesday. Cross your fingers everyone! When we are ready for "soft launch", we'll invite a bunch of people to use the site and see how things hold up.
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| 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.
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| The Slashcode group has been working very hard to get things up and running. Consider that SlashCode is 5 years old - it's got sharp edges and rough spots. Please have patience.
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| Check out the [http://imgbin.org/index.php?page=image&id=16688| look and feel] of the new site!
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| '''To everyone involved... THANK YOU!'''
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| * The proposed business model is [[Finances|here]] <br>
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| * Some business planning is [[Business|here]] <br>
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| * A statement of functionality (turn into a requirements document?)--- [[FeatureList]]
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| ''' Get Involved '''
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| '''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!])
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| '''Register on the forums''' - http://forums.SoylentNews.org
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| * Go to forums.SoylentNews.org and register a user
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| * Read [http://forums.soylentnews.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=38&sid=e55255cb6dfe68b28c8cf5f2b9697a64| this] post if you are having problems. (Thanks MrGuy)
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| * Add yourself to whichever groups you are interested in
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| * For tech issues with the forum software, please Email Joel: soylent (at) finite (dot) ms
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| '''Slashcott''' Organized boycott of the Dice-owned Slashdot pages
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| * Show your support for the "Get rid of Beta" crowd by avoiding Slashdot during the week of February 10-17
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| '''Tell Somebody''' A friend, a colleague, any major news source....
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| *Do what you can to get the word out
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| '''Contact:'''
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| If you want to send the project lead a message: John (at) SoylentNews (dot) org
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| '''Mumble (Voice / Text Server)''' : voice.whackperiod.org <--- Does not appear to be working ??
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| ==Status==
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| Check out the [[FAQ]]
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| * Forums are available at forums.SoylentNews.org
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| * We upgraded the hosting by two tiers - this should fix the problems people were having yesterday accessing the system.
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| * 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.
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| * The site now has forums with four user groups: Code, Content, Style, and System.
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| * Probably won't be non-profit, see [[Finances|business model]].
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| * We won't poach from Slashdot. This includes articles and logos, also "style" to a reasonable extent.
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| Mailing list update Messages are [[MailingListUpdates|here]]
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| == Site Name ==
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| We have a '''temporary''' name!
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| Thanks go out to everyone who made suggestions - some of them were
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| absolutely brilliant! For example, it hadn't occurred to me to choose a name based on a
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| non-English word, or a palindrome, or a puzzle. Many of the entries were quite clever.
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| (Adies, it took me more than a day to figure yours out. Bravo!)
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| I won't post the runners up because squatters might take the names before we hold the real
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| contest. We'll figure out a way to prevent this somehow - at worst case we can choose judges
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| and do it privately (like I did, but with more people).
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| Jerry had the winning entry.
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| The temp name is: '''SoylentNews''' with the tagline: '''SoylentNews is people!'''
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| Does this rock? It hits the trifecta of website goodness:
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| * Descriptive in a way that mundanes will understand (compare "Photoshop" with "GIMP", "Internet Explorer" with "Firefox", and "MediaPlayer" with "VLC")
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| * It's part of Nerd culture, a pun, and slightly twisted
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| * It's suggestive of being community driven
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| * It is attached to some movie about eating corpses and implies "News fresh as processed corpses" (??)
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| * Trademark issues
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| * We are getting some community flak on the name
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| This will be a hard act to beat. Start thinking up names for the contest, or throw your weight
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| behind this one. The contest will be held soon after we open the doors.
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| (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.)
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| ==ToDo==
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| [[SlashcodeTodo|Slashcode Todo list]]
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| * Install SlashCode on the production site
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| * Get some people to help with the site
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| * Run a contest for a better name [[NewName|New name discussion]]
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| * Incorporate
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| * Consult a lawyer
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| * How to handle Advertising (necessary evil) - Opt Out, Limited, Typical(box with ads in the top-right corner)?
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| ::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. <=='''+1 Insightful'''
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| * Improved Mod/Meta-Mod/Story-Selection system to minimize required editor input
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| * Provide a voting system to decide which articles hit the main page (Mod point related?)
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| * Find and submit some stories
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| == List of Discussion Pages ==
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| *[[NewName|NewName]]
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| *[[MailingListUpdates|MailingListUpdates]]
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| *[[Finances|Finances]] -- which model would allow to minimise and/or distribute hosting costs
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| *[[Business|Business]]
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| *[[Monetization]] -- Discussion on how to cover costs to make this thing happen (and grow)
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| *[[FeatureList]] -- Discussion of required/desired characteristics
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| *[[Submission guidelines|Submission guidelines]]
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| *[[Content]]
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| *[[Style]]
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| *[[Migration of users from Slashdot]] -- How to handle Nicks and UIDs
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| *[[Licensing]]
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| *[[WhosWho]] -- Points of contact in different project areas
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| == Noteworthy Comments==
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| *Grabbed the Domain Names: AltSlashdot.org, Soylentnews.org
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| *Other potential website solutions
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| ::Bruce Perens (created "technocrat.net") is aware of Soylentnews.org and is considering contributing (Relaunch ?? stay tuned)
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| ::/. user 'dotancohen' registered the domain "slashdotan" and is looking to build a new Slashdot (He is willing to coordinate and has cloud experience)
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| ::Add info on Pipedot...[http://pipedot.org/ pipedot.org] by 'Bryan'
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| ::User somenickname (1270442) has registered bangslashdot.(org|net|com)
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| ::Usenet was also suggested as an alternative 'comp.misc is the new Slashdot'
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| *Scrapping content from old Slashdot suggestion made. benefits/drawbacks ? Overall I think this is a thumbs down
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| ::Content is easier to "find"
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| ::Moral/Legal objections were brought up (Even if it was initially "our" content)
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| ::We should build our own brand
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| ::Pointless to scrap, since it is the comments that draw people in
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| ::Editors should be in multiple timezones to cleanup/improve/multi-source submissions for presentation to the main page
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| *Initial code build will be from Slashcode... Available (Git?), Old:(5 years) Workable:(maybe)
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| *Alternate choices for code base: Wiki, Discourse, Usenet
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| *Non-profit vs For-profit discussion should go here ( [[Business]] )
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| :: Debian style project organization ?
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| :: Community driven projects need strong leadership or they tend to flounder
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| *Codebase
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| :: Code should be in the public domain
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| :: Allow the entire website (Stories+Comments+Code)? to be created as a Creative commons work - codebase also available ?
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| :: AGPL
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| *Keep the former Slashdot community together
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| [[Comment History]]
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| == Comments ==
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| * 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)
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| * Relevant Slashdot stats from 2011 [[http://www.dbasoul.com/2011/992.html]]
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| :::5.5 million user visits per month.
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| :::7,000 comments are added every day.
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| :::Over 9 million pages views daily.
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| :::Over 21 million comments.
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| :::Average monthly bandwidth usage is around 40-50 mbit/sec (450GB/day)
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| * From Hacker News on Slashdot: '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
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| == IRC ==
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| General Slashdot Discussion: Come on IRC channel #slashdot at irc.slashnet.org. Or use the web client: http://www.slashnet.org/webclient
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| AltSlashdot Discussion: Head to IRC channel ##AltSlashdot on irc.freenode.net, Web client is here: https://webchat.freenode.net/
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| == Stories from former Slashdot users ==
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| [[Confessions of an Ex-Slashdot Beta User]]
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| [[Banned from Slashdot]]
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| [[Dice is killing Slashdot]]
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| == An interesting Idea ==
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| Check this out while it's still available. feedback appreciated
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| * http://slashdot.org/submission/3324011/a-modest-proposal-re-beta-vs-classic?utm_source=rss1.0&utm_medium=feed&sbsrc=firehose
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| == Telling the world about SoylentNews.org ==
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| *Please mention SoylentNews.org as much as possible.
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| *It seems like the word is spreading (over 45,000 views in <1 week) Good job everyone!
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| **Any idea on how and where to make sure people know about this project, please post them here?
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| :::I'd send a note along to Ars Technica & BoingBoing. (That would get some attention)<br>
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| :::Anyone have a Reddit account with a reasonable activity level?<br>
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| :::The Register, Digg, Hacker News and anything else you feel would help get the word out there
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| * Contacted:
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| ** The Register:: No word back
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| ** Ars Technica:: Was passed along to one of the writers
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| ** Hacker News
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| ::: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7193251 Submission from when AltSlashdot just started]
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| ::: Due for an update once we get an actual site up and running
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| :::: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7209927 Similar thread from today] [[User:Yahwotqa|Yahwotqa]] ([[User talk:Yahwotqa|talk]]) 10:05, 10 February 2014 (MST)
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