I like Slashdot a lot. I come here every day. Despite the common flames (and downright freaky displays of human frailty around -1), I think the group consensus here is fantastic. It's often very funny, and I like knowing what all the really smart mf'ers think about certain issues and topics. I feel smarter for reading Slashdot.
Having said that, my lack of subscription is for a very simple reason: it's not professional.
I won't subscribe until I never see a dupe or typo. Really, for all of our vaunted technology, if Slashdot cannot surmount these two very simple obstacles, it doesn't deserve any real monetary support. It just doesn't. And again, I say this as a real fan.
Fix that, Taco, and you've got my money. And maybe even a little more credibility.
If you want "Professional", read CNN. Slashdot is the trenches. Its down and
dirty. It has typos and dupe stories and flamewars. We do our best to avoid
mistakes, but we're mistake prone humans, trying to get news out in real time.
So, sometimes things will go wrong.
So, if you're going to pay for it, then you jolly well should see content that isn't duplicated. I am continually surprised by this. It takes me very little time to see 90% of dupes, and the spelling part is important too.
If you're running a business that has paying subscribers, they should NOT see double content. Getting your editorial teams organised would be a step forward for SlashDot. It's a huge site, has a large userbase, but reeks of unprofessional practices. Get organised, and people will pay for the content. But if any people think they could do better, they are not going to part with cash. A clean editorial organisation is no too much to ask for $20 a year, heck you can subscribe to a magazine with free DVD on it for 6 months for that price, dude.
Fortunately, I can disagree with you about the definition of "Professional". Do you believe South Park should have higher animation quality? Slashdot was designed to be an informal place. Should I change that just because there is a subscription system? I think not. Slashdot is what it is, and I think that the informal tone is part of its appeal. Part of that means you actively see mistakes happen. You may not like it, but I think that its just part of Slashdot. I work very hard to keep Slashdot consistent with my original purpose for the site.
As for a magazien or DVD, I'd love to see it happen. I just don't have the time and expertise and budget for it. If everyone clicks on banners and subscribes, then I bet such a thing would be quite possible.
South Park's animation is cheesy deliberately, but I bet the putting together of the show is pretty "professional". Professional for me is about procedures, quality control, and get-what-you-pay-for. You can pay for unprofessional work, but you won't pay twice.
Now informal, you usually don't pay for. Seeing mistakes happen from time to time is perfectly human. However, SlashDot doesn't seem to have mastered the learning from the mistakes part. I do support SlashDot, and any initiatives that you have to make it a revenue stream, but I think there are two main ways you can do that, initially:
Selling white-labelled content (this means it has to be top quality, no dupes, etc) to other content providers (rather than allowing a free feed) -> I think this might be workable around some of the tech sites that are out there
Being as good as you can with tech news, tying in advertising based on story submissions (selling your soul a little bit), upping the content ante a little bit as far as your editors are concerned, and looking for something like a magazine tie-in which could easily use content from the site, and other classic advertising revenue, as a sort of Slahdot-on-Paper. If you could get funding to run a test printing of a SlashDot magazine, that might be very interesting
Now the original purpose for the site that you mention, is indeed noble. However, times have changed, and it is hard to make a living in this cutthroat Internet place now. But I know of a number of companies who are trying to get content "right", and the first idea (whitelabelled, perhaps specially edited content) might just work, sold the right way. Imagine - you have companies who could use a properly summarised review of the "public opinion" on a number of technologies. These people may never read Slashdot - and yet it is such a good indicator of tech trends, especially since you guys can sort the wheat from the chaff pretty well.
Oh, and in the corporate world, as far as I am concerned, the language has to be perfect.
Reasons for not subscribing. (Score:5, Insightful)
Having said that, my lack of subscription is for a very simple reason: it's not professional.
I won't subscribe until I never see a dupe or typo. Really, for all of our vaunted technology, if Slashdot cannot surmount these two very simple obstacles, it doesn't deserve any real monetary support. It just doesn't. And again, I say this as a real fan.
Fix that, Taco, and you've got my money. And maybe even a little more credibility.
Re:Reasons for not subscribing. (Score:5, Informative)
Personally, I think that this is half the fun ;)
Re:Reasons for not subscribing. (Score:2)
So, if you're going to pay for it, then you jolly well should see content that isn't duplicated. I am continually surprised by this. It takes me very little time to see 90% of dupes, and the spelling part is important too.
If you're running a business that has paying subscribers, they should NOT see double content. Getting your editorial teams organised would be a step forward for SlashDot. It's a huge site, has a large userbase, but reeks of unprofessional practices. Get organised, and people will pay for the content. But if any people think they could do better, they are not going to part with cash. A clean editorial organisation is no too much to ask for $20 a year, heck you can subscribe to a magazine with free DVD on it for 6 months for that price, dude.
Re:Reasons for not subscribing. (Score:4, Interesting)
As for a magazien or DVD, I'd love to see it happen. I just don't have the time and expertise and budget for it. If everyone clicks on banners and subscribes, then I bet such a thing would be quite possible.
Re:Reasons for not subscribing. (Score:1)
South Park's animation is cheesy deliberately, but I bet the putting together of the show is pretty "professional". Professional for me is about procedures, quality control, and get-what-you-pay-for. You can pay for unprofessional work, but you won't pay twice.
Now informal, you usually don't pay for. Seeing mistakes happen from time to time is perfectly human. However, SlashDot doesn't seem to have mastered the learning from the mistakes part. I do support SlashDot, and any initiatives that you have to make it a revenue stream, but I think there are two main ways you can do that, initially:
Now the original purpose for the site that you mention, is indeed noble. However, times have changed, and it is hard to make a living in this cutthroat Internet place now. But I know of a number of companies who are trying to get content "right", and the first idea (whitelabelled, perhaps specially edited content) might just work, sold the right way. Imagine - you have companies who could use a properly summarised review of the "public opinion" on a number of technologies. These people may never read Slashdot - and yet it is such a good indicator of tech trends, especially since you guys can sort the wheat from the chaff pretty well.
Oh, and in the corporate world, as far as I am concerned, the language has to be perfect.
Re:Reasons for not subscribing. (Score:2)