FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

What is this site about

This is a news site alternative to Slashdot. It runs an interface much like Slashdot used to be - better articles, less decoration, and less "in your face" functionality.

Who owns this site

The site is owned and run by NCommander.

This may change in a month or so when we choose a business model.

What if Dice decides to revert to Classic Slashdot?

The general feeling is that the quality of articles on Slashdot has become poor. We think we can do a better job, so the project will continue regardless of what Dice does with Slashdot.

How can I volunteer?

Volunteering is done via the group forums:

• Register a user at http://forums.soylentnews.org
• Go to your user panel (UL corner of page) and then "Groups" tab and add yourself to interesting groups
• You can also just start posting in relevant areas

Additionally, you can check out the SoylentNews:IRC.

We also need to spread the word

For almost all facets of the site, contributions are made by community consent: If you can convince the community in your forum group, we'll do it. You don't need permission of the owner.

The owner controls certain narrow aspects of the site such as domain registration, money, legal, and such. This may change when we choose a business model.

Will the code be released open source?

Yes.

Will the database be released open source?

Yes, providing there are no legal issues or other "gotchas".

On the subject of making things open source, someone suggested that the database be separated via API from the presentation. People could then write other interfaces and presentation methods that show the data in various ways. It would also allow program access to the data for things such as searching and other uses.

I think this is an excellent idea. Barring any insurmountable issues, I'll try to make that happen during the rewrite.

Will you be taking articles/content from Slashdot?

No.

I don't consider it fair. Slashdot put a lot of effort into building their brand and community. If we are to succeed, we need to do it on our own merits.

I'm deciding this as benevolent dictator. Regardless of community sentiment, we won't be poaching from Slashdot.

Doesn't AltSlashdot infringe on Slashdot's trademark?

Opinion on this is mixed, but it doesn't matter as the name has already changed from AltSlashdot to SoylentNews.

We may be choosing a new name by community consensus real soon after the initial rollout, via a properly organized vote.

Still, there is thought that the name SoylentNews is already great, and changing the name again would add confusion.

I've got this great idea for a new name

Soon there will be a submission form on our website, where everyone will be able to submit a suggestion. Collecting submissions will take a whole week. The following week will have a two-stage voting process. In the first stage people will just assign numbers to each proposal; in the second stage the top 10 names will be voted on. (if I inferred correctly from my talk with Barrabas.)

I own the domain for a new name - want it?

Some feel that names based on a pun of Slashdot would present similar problems.

We need a name which is completely lateral, something that's ours and ours alone.

(And some of the suggestions were brilliant. I'm particularly fond of "NewSlash". Sadly, we can use none of them.)

What about user ID on old slashdot, can we preserve that?

Yes, people migrating from old slashdot can keep their username and ID. New people will start counting their ID from 'last_slashdot_ID'. See Migration of users from Slashdot for exact details.