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Slashdot Announces Idle Section

Posted by CmdrTaco on Thu Aug 14, 2008 01:30 PM
from the do-not-read-the-idle-section dept.
Announcements News Slashdot.org Idle
For the last few months we've been beta testing Idle.slashdot.org, our offtopic humor/meme/viral video/pictures section. Like many of you, we spend most of our waking hours on-line seeking stuff to entertain our brains, but most replicators out there pick so much content that it's incredibly boring filtering through the mediocrity to find the funny. We intend to fill our idle section with a very small collection of the very best the net has to offer, making it the most efficient way to waste your time. Some of this content will make it back to the Slashdot mainpage, but much of it will be new content that we wouldn't dare soil the precious Slashdot mainpage with. We are also using it as a test bed for new functionality on Slashdot — currently the page is a reasonably dynamic/interactive experience with various voting controls and filtering options. Finally you will see occasional original content, starting with a recurring special feature today where Samzenpus shares some real tech support email from some of our most intelligent readers. We hope you will enjoy wasting a slice of your day with us, and in addition will submit content through the usual channels, but put it into the 'Idle' section so we know not to take it seriously. Now go about your day — it's mid August, so I'm sure everything you do is urgent, exciting, and oh-so-interesting.
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  • We intend to fill our idle section with a very small collection of the very best the net has to offer, making it the most efficient way to waste your time.

    Translation: Porn, stupidity, and bugzappers.

    I tried visiting idle.slashdot.org once. I was outright embarassed by the content. So much so that I changed my sig in response to Slashdot's, "Never visit idle.slashdot.org" teaser. My reply? "Good idea."

    I hate to say this, but Slashdot does attract a lot of intelligent people. They're not always the ones who post, but they frequent the site anyway. Attempting to "entertain" the more intelligent types with the same sort of filth/LCD* they see on their television is a counterproductive goal. Slashdot and Slashdot-Idle cannot coexist.

    Sorry guys, but it's time for you to go back to marketing school. Using brand recognition for a product that does not represent the brand will only devalue the brand. You may see short term gains on the new product, but in the end you will see long-term losses across the board. If you want to do something like Slashdot-Idle, try making a new site rather than lumping it in with Slashdot.

    * If you don't know what LCD stands for in this context, you should turn in your geek card. Assuming you had one to begin with...

    P.S. What's this fascination with making a Digg-like site, anyway? 95% of what's on Digg sucks. Stop trying to be like them.

    P.P.S. Idiocracy was not a documentary. Stop trying to bring it about.

    • Re:Can you feel the excitement? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Ethanol-fueled (1125189) * on Thursday August 14 2008, @01:43PM (#24603223) Homepage
      Agreed, the last thing we want is for the cesspool of Digg-reading, MySpace dwelling, Pokemon-playing LuSerS!!!!!1 to spill over into where the grownups are trying to have intelligent discussions.

      If you think Slashdot is infantile now, just wait until idle goes live! It would be eternal September [wikipedia.org] all over again!

    • Re:Can you feel the excitement? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Lovedumplingx (245300) on Thursday August 14 2008, @01:53PM (#24603415)

      I feel the same way. If I want content like that I'll read fark or digg.

      Besides...the only times that I've been to idle they've had stories that were already featured on other websites.

    • Re:Can you feel the excitement? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 14 2008, @01:53PM (#24603421)

      You're missing the point, this is great news. If idle becomes a "real" section, we'll finally be able to block it from the front page.

    • Re:Can you feel the excitement? (Score:5, Funny)

      by jollyreaper (513215) on Thursday August 14 2008, @02:32PM (#24604159)

      * If you don't know what LCD stands for in this context, you should turn in your geek card. Assuming you had one to begin with...

      Liquid crystal display, naturally. Now what about the posts with titties in them? It was made quite clear that there would be titty.

        • Re:Critical thinking... (Score:5, Insightful)

          by exley (221867) on Thursday August 14 2008, @02:15PM (#24603785) Homepage

          Reality TV [has its] place in the life of an intellectual.

          Let me see. What's the best way to phrase this?

          No, no it doesn't.

          Wow, I'm sorry that not everyone's tastes line up with yours. I didn't know that to be considered an intellectual everyone has to fall into some narrow regime of likes and dislikes. And this is coming from someone who personally hates reality TV and the like.

          Anyone who thinks this narrowly can't be taken seriously as the intellectual that they think they are. To sum up, get off your high horse.

          • You'll have to forgive me if you find my stance offensive, but reality TV epitomizes stupidity and Lowest Common Denominator thinking.

            Fast Food? Not even sure why it was included. It's fine.
            Beer? Fine.
            Crude Humor? Fine on occasion.
            Sitcoms? Sometimes incredibly stupid, but mostly fine.
            Interest in fishing, NASCAR, sports, or other non-nerdy pursuit? Perfectly fine.

            Reality TV? No.

            Reality TV is a trap of the most dangerous and intellectually lethal kind. It encourages people to track the personal lives of others to a point that makes gossiping look tame. Yet like gossiping, it can become a trap that lures people in and encourages them to waste their time, judgment, and critical thinking. In effect, it causes you to stoop to the level of those who would participate in the activities of having their lives bared for all to see. (Which usually means they're the type to appeal to sex and voyeurism.)

            The end result is that your thinking becomes stuck in a quagmire of complex personal matters that are not of your own. Which has negative effects on your thinking, priorities, and thus day to day life.

            You may think ill of me all that you want. But "reality television" as it is defined today is NOT something I think any intelligent person should see as "entertainment". And I am highly suspect of anyone who claims otherwise. If anything, they are likely to be faux intellectuals who would rather put on a show of intelligence than actually make an effort to *be* intelligent.

            • Re:Critical thinking... (Score:5, Insightful)

              by exley (221867) on Thursday August 14 2008, @02:47PM (#24604475) Homepage

              You'll have to forgive me if you find my stance offensive...

              I don't find your stance personally offensive, I just find it incredibly arrogant.

              As I mentioned once, and I will reiterate here, I am not a reality TV fan. But to generalize like you have, to say that an intelligent person can't have mindless escapes like that, is just ridiculous. To generalize like that (which we are all guilty of at one time or another, of course) shows a complete lack of critical thought. Like that t-shirt sold by The Onion says, stereotypes are a real time saver, aren't they?

              You also talk about the negative effect that reality TV has on a person's priorities... I find that statement interesting from someone who is so up in arms over this issue and wasting all this time bitching about it on Slashdot.

              If you don't like reality TV, you don't have to watch it. If you dont like idle.slashdot.org, then you don't have to go to that section. If you don't like that Slashdot has idle, then you don't have to come here.

              /faux intellectualism

                • -1 Offtopic? Apparently some folks don't like well thought out answers. Too bad. Stupid troll mods.

                  As usual, mod abuse will not be tolerated. Here is the post again:

                  --

                  To generalize like that (which we are all guilty of at one time or another, of course) shows a complete lack of critical thought.

                  If you were looking for a more specific answer, ask a more specific question [slashdot.org]. General issues raised will result in general answers given. One cannot apply further critical thinking to a matter for which further data for consideration has not been presented.

                  In this particular case, I can say that watching Reality TV in general is definitely NOT a sign of intelligence. If you were to bring up specific examples, however, you'd get more specific answers. Some which would seemingly disagree with the general statement. Such is the way of things.

                  You also talk about the negative effect that reality TV has on a person's priorities... I find that statement interesting from someone who is so up in arms over this issue and wasting all this time bitching about it on Slashdot.

                  You seem to be suggesting that Slashdot is a priority for me. Which I can assure you is far from the truth. In fact, it has always been more of a release for me. I mean, where else can you have entire conversations in hex code* or about RC4 encryption [slashdot.org]?

                  I enjoy my day life and I enjoy my work. But sometimes it's nice to just plain geek out. :-P

                  (* Sorry for the lack of a link, but the hex code conversation is a bit hard to find in Google.)

            • Re:Critical thinking... (Score:5, Insightful)

              by Kozz (7764) on Thursday August 14 2008, @03:45PM (#24605611) Homepage

              You may think ill of me all that you want. But "reality television" as it is defined today is NOT something I think any intelligent person should see as "entertainment". And I am highly suspect of anyone who claims otherwise. If anything, they are likely to be faux intellectuals who would rather put on a show of intelligence than actually make an effort to *be* intelligent.

              Hey, dude. I read lots of your posts, and frequently agree with what you've said. But I think the quote above comes across quite elitist. I know where you're coming from, but it may be that there exist some reality TV (henceforth RTV) shows out there that you would probably even like if you gave them a chance.

              I'm speaking for myself, of course, but I imagine there are others reading this thread who follow a few RTV shows but fear stating such, expecting to get blasted as "faux intellectuals".

              I've regularly watched (with my wife) Amazing Race, Survivor, America's Got Talent, Rock Star (cancelled now, I guess?), various Food Network competition RTV programs, Wife Swap, Super Nanny, Biggest Loser and others. That being said, I'd never watch Big Brother, Fear [Gross Out] Factor, and many others that are perfect tens on the "stupid" scale. I realize in writing it down, that this list mostly illustrates that I watch too damned much TV (although RTV is far from the only fare I watch).

              And you know what? I do think I'm intelligent, and I do think that many of them are reasonable entertainment. I'm also capable of keeping my perspective. I find many of them to be good fun, but I don't get so emotionally invested as you seem to suggest. So my friend, AKAImBatman, I think you're generalizing a bit much about the viewers of these kinds of programs from a rather high horse.

              Respectfully in disagreement,

              Kozz

  • Does this mean... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by k_187 (61692) on Thursday August 14 2008, @01:31PM (#24603001) Homepage Journal
    That the CSS on idle.slashdot.org won't suck ass and/or be ass ugly? I'd really prefer that no ass be involved in the layout or design of the page.

  • I see the tag beat me too it (Score:4, Interesting)

    by TheCycoONE (913189) on Thursday August 14 2008, @01:33PM (#24603063)
    Is there any difference between this new service and... Digg? (or XKCD because the best the net has to offer is already posted there.)
  • I have my worries about this, and I have no doubt that we all do here on /.. What I definitely do not want to see is /. becoming another digg/reddit/delicious. On the other hand, hopefully slashdot will be able to mold the content more so that it doesn't just become a "HERE'S ANOTHER FUNNY CAPTION PIC FROM 4CHAN" fest. Don't get me wrong, those things have their place and are sometimes humorous, but it doesn't fit the niche that is /.. Remember, the slashdot tagline is "News for Nerds" - not "Funny Image of the Day for Nerds".

    With any luck, it will hopefully become something more along the lines of Daily Wtf [slashdot.org], which still provides insight while remaining humorous. And in any case, congrats on rolling out a new feature for us /. staff.

  • Goatse (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Enderandrew (866215) <enderandrew@@@gmail...com> on Thursday August 14 2008, @01:34PM (#24603069) Homepage Journal

    Not enough people post goatse or rick-rolling links in Slashdot, so we needed to dedicate an entire new area to it?

    I look forward to all the lemon party and meat spin misleading links.

  • Natural order (Score:3, Funny)

    by iXiXi (659985) on Thursday August 14 2008, @01:37PM (#24603107)
    Order -> chaos /. -> #$%&*

  • If I want LOLcats, I go to Digg.
    If I want Pseudo-Politics, I go to Reddit.
    If I want to know about the latest announced Apple product, I go to appleinsider.
    If I want to know about the worlds largest TV, I go to The Register.

    If I want actual Intellectual articles with in-depth discussions, I come to slashdot.

    Please don't ruin this for me.

  • Anyone else... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Seakip18 (1106315) on Thursday August 14 2008, @01:41PM (#24603199) Journal

    thinking CmdrTaco has hit some hard times? I mean, let us look back of the past few months...

    1. No funny April Fool's this year.
    2. Various off hand comments about stuff. (Java, Olympics, etc.)
    3. Just up above he's kinda of an ass. I mean, some people are probably working pretty hard. I know End of Fiscal year for some people is going on.
    4. I dunno, maybe getting tired of being squeezed by other sites like reddit or digg or other stuff?

    Anyone know more or want to spread light on the matter?

  • Uh (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Compuser (14899) on Thursday August 14 2008, @01:50PM (#24603347)

    Horrible site. Poorly organized, old content, just terrible.
    BTW, Fark already has a geek section. Just link to that.

  • Is this news? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by randyest (589159) on Thursday August 14 2008, @01:52PM (#24603387) Homepage
    Is this "News for Nerds" or "Stuff that matters?" Is there anyone here that hasn't seen the "Idle.slashdot.org is a total waste of your time, never go there" teaser atop the page? Besides the fact that it's embarrassing to have such tripe "social link sharing" site associated with slashdot, idle honestly adds zero advantages or new things over digg/reddit/etc.

    In my humble opinion it's a terrible idea to dilute the slashdot brand at a time when it's already pretty weak.

  • Viral? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Gat0r30y (957941) on Thursday August 14 2008, @01:57PM (#24603495) Homepage Journal
    I believe that this isn't viral anymore, it is now bacterial -like the clap.

  • Please don't (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Col. Klink (retired) (11632) on Thursday August 14 2008, @01:57PM (#24603501)

    I frequently read slashdot.org/palm from my blackberry and this idle crap keeps appearing there. It's just horrible, not to mention that very little of the content in idle is mobile friendly. The only comments are things like "is this Digg now?" Please, don't do this. Create a whole new site if you feel like this is really what you want to do with your time, but don't associate with slashdot.

    I never would have thought it possible to make slashdot appear any less credible, but you may have just found a way.

    Don't do it. We've all had grand ideas that got abandoned and I know it feels bad, but you should cut your losses now before it's too late. Really. Stop.

  • Cool, thanks! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by snarfies (115214) on Thursday August 14 2008, @02:17PM (#24603861) Homepage

    Thanks for making Idle official and full-time!

    Because now I can adjust my preferences so that I never see this unfunny garbage again. If I want "teh funnay," I'll visit 4chan, k thx.

  • Conspiracy Theory! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dysfunct (940221) * on Thursday August 14 2008, @02:18PM (#24603867)
    I have a suspicion that idle might actually be a good thing to happen to slashdot. Here's my conspiracy theory:

    IIRC Taco has full control over the stories and editing of slashdot, but marketing, advertisement and other things are mandated by corporate overlords. I somehow suspect that a bunch of trained monkeys in the marketing department created a lot of pressure to make Slashdot more Digg-alike and in a moment of pure genius, Taco created idle - the best parody of Digg the world has ever seen. It's colorful and flashy to please the marketing department, contains the worst stories and oldest mémes out there to convince them this isn't going to work out, all the while preserving the rest of Slashdot and consuming the least money and effort possible.

    I mean just look at it and the way it's announced. It's as if the Slashdot team wants us to hate it.

  • What are you doing? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by christurkel (520220) on Thursday August 14 2008, @02:25PM (#24604003) Homepage Journal
    To quote John Scalzi: "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

    I mean, seriously, was there some demand for this I missed? Some void the /. editors thought needed to be filled. "Oh our current content isn't engaging enough, let's pile on some crap!"

    I agree with other posters. Start a new site for this garbage; it has no place at /.

  • Hope you've got a big ramp... (Score:4, Funny)

    by porkmusket (954006) on Thursday August 14 2008, @02:27PM (#24604025) Homepage
    That's a hell of a shark you're trying to jump.

  • off-topic - moderation (Score:5, Informative)

    by Ogive17 (691899) on Thursday August 14 2008, @02:56PM (#24604655)
    Well, the article is about /. and so is my post.. but has anyone else noticed a difference in how mod points are awarded? I check /. this morning at work and had 15 moderator points. Anyone else see this? The FAQ still says you only get 5 points and they expire after 3 days.

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