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Andover.Net Acquires Freshmeat.Net 121

Posted by CmdrTaco from the hey-look-who-I-hafta-work-with dept.
Today Andover.Net announced that they have acquired Freshmeat. They promise never to put scoop and I in the same room for fear of the carnage that would ensue. (j/k). Actually scoop had all the same reasons as I did: running Freshmeat has been a hectic one man show for a long time. Andover has done of good job giving me the resources I've needed to allow Slashdot to expand, and now they'll give scoop the same helping hand with fm. Very cool.
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Andover.Net Acquires Freshmeat.Net More

Andover.Net Acquires Freshmeat.Net

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  • Woohoo (Score:2)

    by drwiii ( 434 )
    Good news.

    Let's just be glad you-know-who [min.net] isn't acquiring all these websites..

  • This may be a bit off topic, but I've enjoyed seeing how the advertisments have changed. They've gone to smallish, start-up isp's to cobalt server-ware, to that sony-dog-thing. Just thought it's been a cool thing to watch. Remember when /. didn't have comments? Good work Rob. When you go public, I'm buying stock ;)
    fict.

    ------------------
  • It worries me that *anybody* owns more than one of the really really popular community sites for open source. Ah, well, at least the maintainers are getting rich.

    ----

  • Anybody have any idea why Freshmeat is .net? It doesn't appear to be a network provider, and as far as I know, it never has been a network provider. I can excuse slashdot's .org, since it was a non-profit entity when the domain name was picked (and slashdot.com was already taken by the time the site whent commercial), but i see absolutely no reason why freshmeat should be .net.
  • Last dozen times I tried to access frehsmeat's ftp server I discovered that it wasn't even running...I don't know why this is, but it's kind of annoying to try to get a file (either from freshmeat or filewatcher) and then discover that said file is on the (non-running) freshmeat ftp server.


    Who am I?
    Why am here?
    Where is the chocolate?
  • Well, when you consider that originally, Slashdot was used as a way to avoid doing school work... it makes sense that more work went into quick posts and such at all times.

    If you consider the volume of mail they get now (no stats but I can't imagine it being a small amount), it's a little bit harder to do constant updates.

    Just some speculation from someone who's been around /. for a loooong time...
  • Disclaimer: I work at Andover.Net.

    That won't happen. We built LDC (Linux.DaveCentral)
    to be different than any other Linux software
    archive -- basically the category scheme and
    content is different. We consider Freshmeat to
    be for experienced Linux people and LDC is geared
    toward Linux newbies so it is to everyone's
    advantage that they be maintained separately.
  • Disclaimer: I work at Andover.Net.

    Even if Microsoft tried to buy us (which is very
    unlikely) Rob and scoop still by contract have
    total creative control over their respective sites
    and always have last say on what gets posted there.

    Right now upper management here understands that
    it's in Andover's best interests to let Rob and scoop maintain
    their sites because whatever they're doing they're
    doing it right because the IT crowd is coming here
    in droves.

  • Disclaimer: You know...

    I've stressed that to upper managers many times
    here at Andover, and I think they're listening.

    Slashdot and Freshmeat happen to be the two
    favorite sites of the geeks working here so we
    will be the first to cry loudly if our suits have
    any funny ideas about either site.

  • Re:So what now? (Score:3)

    by Kurt Gray ( 935 ) on Tuesday August 10, 1999 @12:12PM (#1754035) Homepage Journal
    Disclaimer: I work at Andover.Net (..and getting
    tired of typing that)

    Yes, Freshmeat will have one ad banner like /. as
    far as I know. Don't know what will happen to
    existing mirrors -- right now we're indifferent
    about mirrors. Our first priority is setting up
    scoop on a rack of servers that can handle more
    traffic.

    Basically our attitude toward Freshmeat is the
    same as Slashdot: let the existing site managers
    do whatever they want and we feed them as much
    hardware and bandwidth as they need to do it.
  • People see the control that is exerted over .edu, .gov, and .mil, and they assume that same control exists over the other 3 (.com, .org, .net). But it doesn't. You can register a domain using any of the three that you want and no one "checks your papers". Sure, the intent was that .net was for network providers, but without policing, it's just an intention. Freshmeat can be .net, simply because they want to. You might not agree, but that's the way it is.
  • Don't worry.. soon either AOL or Microsoft will buy out Andover.net and then we'll get to see the lovely Slashdot logo replaced with "AOL" or "MSN".

    Not a serious concern. Someone else will start another Slashdot if this were to happen.

  • You have to understand. These guys are Microsoft Trolls. Remember how they went around claiming that you couldn't count on support for linux because linux support was unstable because it had no real backing. Now that it looks like Andover.Net may bring that backing to sites like Slashdot and Freshmeat, they need to come up with a new way to attack Linux.....
  • I'm happy to give free consultancy, which is why I post to usenet and mailing lists.

    But, it just occured to me that Andover.net is a profit making entity - and /. is part of that.

    So, the comments I make (assuming they are interesting) attract people to slashdot, make slashdot more valuable, and generally line the pockets of andover.net

    And I don't much like that. Can all /. posters get a % dividend of Andover's profits please? After all, it's us who (in large part) make it popular?

    But remember, Andover.net, that all the comments are still copyright 1999 "the poster".... I'm waiting for that very small print at the bottom to change one day...
  • Andover.net are a very small company (35 people). They have had three rounds of investment from various VC companies, so it is very likely that these VC companies have between them a majority share of the company.

    And I QUOTE:

    "Bruce Twickler, President of Andover, noted, "The acquisition, repurposing and commercialization of content is an extraordinary opportunity for growth. Our proprietary database-driven site creation tools, data collection tools, web tracking and reporting systems, and other technologies allow us to get to a breakeven point on a new site quickly.""

    Now, how Open Source friendly does that sound.

    Advertisers on andover net publications have included:

    Microsoft
    ZD Net

    read more here:
    http://www2.mtdc.com/mtdc/press004.html
  • But isn't that the whole point? Money should be coming in from -giving- services & software, rather than -taking- freedoms?

    Slashdot and Freshmeat are significant services, by any standards. There's more -useful- news in Slashdot than your average newspaper, and yet Slashdot is free. There's more -useful- software announcements and articles on Freshmeat than most computer mags, yet it's the mags that cost the money.

    I believe that payment to Slashdot and Freshmeat is both appropriate and in the spirit of the free software community. Yes, the programmers who made it all possible should get more than a nod of the head, but what's wrong with them marketing the non-software side of their skills? Such as documentation?

    Ultimately, at the heart of it, are you programmers to write code that you enjoy, to scratch an itch, or programmers for profit, to scratch a perceived itch of someone else?

  • Stop the press! (Score:3)

    by jd ( 1658 ) <`imipak' `at' `yahoo.com'> on Tuesday August 10, 1999 @09:00AM (#1754043) Homepage Journal
    ANNOUNCEMENT! Andover.Net Acquires Microsoft

    In a sudden move, Andover.Net bought Microsoft, this afternoon. When asked about the deal, William (Pentium) Gates III said that it would ensure Windows 2000 got prominent placement on Freshmeat, and a review on Slashdot. When it was pointed out to the Chairman of Microsoft that nobody who read either service was likely to buy Windows 2000, he answered that he was aware of this. He just wanted to see computer geeks throw up over their keyboards.

    Andover.Net declined to be interviewed, but issued a press statement that it would solve the energy crisis, should the Y2K bug shut down the national grid. By putting Scoop, CmdrTaco and Bill Gates in the same room, they expect a matter/antimatter reaction to be initiated, providing power to the US for the next century.

  • The original announcement [slashdot.org] of the Slashdot buyout gives some explanation and mentions that Rob got a seat on the board of Andover. He also says "Most of what we're getting is a piece of Andover.Net." so I assume that means part ownership. While they may or may not have gotten the ultimate value for their site, it does not seem that they got screwed. And a contract gauranteeing creative control is worth quite a bit of money IMHO.
    --
  • Congratulations to both parties! It's always good to see people getting paid and supported for solid open-source community work.
    Beer recipe: free! #SourceCold pints: $2 #Product
  • heh, cute. I likes.

    "Electric Relaxation" - ATCQ
    - Bwana
  • I don't believe slashdot CAN go public. They're owned by Andover.net.
  • You think? Personally I have noticed more updates in the last few days...

    Also, it has been particularly nice to see that Rob finally has some time to work on his code and soon the long-awaited v0.4 of slash will be ready for the eager consumption of other people who want to run it... (me!)

    Regards,
    Denny

  • There was a really good article in USAToday (editorial section) about how the 'internet revolution' is over since the people who wrote the code before did it for the code and for the excitement rather than the money. I personally also feel slashdot is slipping; I know I only visit two-three times a week now, only find 1 or two articles of interest, and the folks I work with and talk with, who used to visit often, now rarely visit.

    Of course, that's hardly a scientific survey nor proves any correlation between quality and acquisition by any sort of Borg, but hey... things have changed. No matter what Andover or Slashdot can say it's different when you're no longer the owner. I know how it is -- I was approached with a similar offer on something else and turned it down -- I didn't want to sell out (not saying the slashdot crew did, but, everyone is entitled to their opinion).

  • IPO? (Score:1)

    by TeddyR ( 4176 )
    OK.... So whens the IPO


    :-)



    https://www.mav.net/teddyr/syousif/ [mav.net]
  • They can't change the disclaimer because of liability. If Andover.net owns your libellous comment, then Andeover.net can be sued for it, I think. IANAL.
    /El Niño
  • Anytime you interact with a commercial entity generally you benefit, as well as they do. The end result of this may be money, both in Andover's case and in your own case. A lot of the services that you use lines somebodies pockets. Everytime you looked at one of slashdot's pages you generated money for slashdot and whomever controlled the advertising at the top.

    It seems as though you're opposed to other's making a profit? Why? You are free to create a competing service and make it better then slashdot.

    On a related note, do you notice how many people "love" the idea of a free OS? But hey, doesn't Linus make money due to the fact that Linux is popular? I want my share! I use Linux dammit! I use it a lot!
  • watch your ticker for RHAT
  • TV is certainly dead. Good TV is dead, then, bad TV is certainly alive.

    I won't declare Good TV dead until Mr Rogers goes off the air. As long as he is alive, there will be an itty-bitty bit of "Good TV" left.

    If you have "The Onion: Our Dumb Century" read the story on page 73 named "Tele-Vision Promises Mass Enrichment of Mankind".
  • OK, as the head of NewsTrolls, I've been watching this growing phenomena with interest. It seems painfully obvious that Andover.net is planning an IPO-- they are in their third round of financing now. So how do you get an IPO off the ground? You show your investors your unique users count. What if you don't have enough unique users? Well, you better go buy you some...and that's exactly what Andover did, which all things considered is a smart buisness move to make.

    But what would be interesting to know is: have Rob and Scoop been given percent of ownership in Andover? Options is fine for most employees, but if you are the guys who are actually bringing them the eyeballs that lets them tout big numbers, YOU should have partial ownership pre-IPO. If you don't, I'm saddened to say, I think you've been had.

    Of course they're going to let you "do whatever you want" content-wise, they are reaping HUGE benefits when you think of the potential money to be made from an IPO...1 million?...that's chump change compared to $60 million or more raised in an IPO...

    I also hope you have contracts that state you can walk from your relationship at any time.

    What I would have liked to see is the sites like Slashdot, Freshmeat, HNN, HNS, Attrition.org, LinuxToday, OS Opinion, The Register .uk and yes, NewsTrolls, link up together and create a meta-company that could have been IPO'd with percentage of company ownership based on eyeballs of each site...well, who knows?...maybe we can create something like that anyway...

    Best wishes to scoop and as always to Rob, but I REALLY hope you guys aren't being screwed...cause you're the ones with the gold...

    --diva CEO NewsTrolls, Inc.
  • while freshmeat is my favorite s/w site, andover already has a linux s/w site (linux.davecentral.com) which has a different layout and feel entirely.

    hope they don't try to munge the two together (esp re freshmeat, since I prefer that layout).
  • I don't think that's very fair to any of the /. maintainers OR Andover. I have been reading Slashdot for a long time, and I have noticed nothing but improvements overall. I don't think it's been long enough to really know for sure how the Andover buyout will affect Slashdot, but it sure seems to be getting off to a good start.

    Heaven forbid that the /. maintainers should do something other than post stories for YOUR amusement every once in a while...

    Keep up the good work, guys. Here's to hoping Andover makes a good steward for Slashdot/Freshmeat/whoever else.
    Ethan
  • You know, there are also some of us who fit in somewhere between 'gcc/gdb proficient' and 'dope', too.

    My interest in computer technology in general is longstanding (first computer: brand new Commodore VIC20), but it isn't going to be a career for me and I'm never going to be able to decide for myself if, for instance, Raster's code is as sloppy as some people say; or whether Debian's packaging system is more technically sound than RPM (though I do have a perverse attraction to dselect).

    All the same, I enjoy the culture Slashdot sprang out of, and I've been enjoying it since before there was even a Linux, even if I sometimes think the media exposure has caused some affectation and posturing among its less secure members, and even if I'll never graduate from shell scripts and the occasional foray into Perl to reinvent some wheel I should have just handled better knowledge of vi.

    My hope is that as the Open Source/Free Software/Linux wave crests, drawing more people to sites like this one and freshmeat, these places will continue to function as 'zines instead of publications, which is to say that I hope they'll continue to remain slightly inward turned, 'eyeballs,' hits, and 'Cool Site Awards' be damned.

    There are plenty of other sites for people who aren't as passionate about this particular niche. If people like me can't keep up sometimes, well, some of us don't mind, and may even enjoy it.

    Enough of my yakkin'. Congratulations are in order to Scoop, and belated congratulations to Rob et al.


    ----------
    mphall@cstone.nospam.net

  • Windows 98 DOES speed up the net.. Imagine if all those millions of 98 users were on the net surfing pr0n sites or doing 3 hour live updates instead of rebooting or trying to get DUN to work....
    Just a thought..
  • How do I turn off this "Slashdot overload" shit?? It won't let me display more than 25 comments even though I have the limits set to 1000!
  • Yeah, This GTK based junk software is really plentifull these days. Well, I should'n probably say junk as there are people who find some of it usefull but there is definately too much of this.
  • If Web sites like /. and freshmeat stop serving the community, and nobody else has the resources to take over the job, we can always fall back on netnews and email lists....
  • (. And now the freshmeat server is down. Do I see a connection? They are taking our speech away! Oups! .)

  • Rich? (Score:1)

    by JasonB ( 15304 )
    Ummmm, rich?

    Perhaps you should ask Cmdr Taco what color his Ferarri is?

    I think a better term is 'fairly compensated'.

    -jason
  • Nice parody. But you forgot to include a link to "bob" in the column on the far left.

    (The nanites bit was the best. :-) )
  • This is absolutely correct. If MSFT buys Andover, you could bet that most of the Slashdot reader base would defect to another (clone) service. The same thing would likely happen, albiet to a slightly smaller degree if AOL were to buy Andover.

    BTW, who does own Andover? Is it publically traded?

  • One could argue that the Internet matured in 1992, that it started dying in 1996, and that organs are failiure is now setting in.

    I see a lot of people (ala Bob Metcalfe) predicting the death of the Internet, but I just don't see a lot of evidence to support it. The Internet is changing, but more and more people are still hooking up, more and more sites are still appearing. Sure, there are a lot of 'dead' sites out there, and people will come and go, but it looks like the Internet is still on its way to becoming as ubiquitous as television.

    One could argue that television died a long time ago. Certainly most of the complaints about degredation in quality and increase in commercial interests that are often leveled against the Internet are true and then some against television. Yet television lives on. Is it alive or undead? Depends on your perspective, but television is a part of almost everyone's life, if even a small part. The Internet looks like it will become that way too. For some it may mean that the Internet will no longer be as large a part of their life as it has been, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

    People who predict the demise of the Internet seem to miss one thing I think. If the Internet dies, what is going to replace it? Will people flock back to other, more traditional media? What new thing is coming out that could kill both the Internet and its predecessors? The advent of television hurt radio, but didn't kill it. The advent of the Internet has impacted television, but hasn't killed it.

    Its easy to be a pundit, but not so easy to be a visionary.

  • I keep having these nightmares that Bill Gates is going to buy Andover.net and turn all the Linux sites in NT sites!

    It could happen. But it would be a waste of Bill's money -- not that he cares about that. Worse than that it would be a waste of his time, which he does care about. If he tried it, all of the users would just jump ship to the new Linux sites that would spring up somewhere else.

  • Hmm. If there is so much time being wasted - how come i get an instantaneous response from Rob on an email I sent him?
  • No need to sell your time when you run LYNX!
    LYNX rules!
  • I agree with you. In the last few months i have found myself spending less and less time at slashdot. I remember during my first year at slashdot i read everypost, every link, and EVERY comment on slashdot. Now most of the posts don't seem worth the effort. Also, as even a less-than-earth-shaking posts generate 200+ comments(most of them pointless), i no longer feel like spending time reading comments. I also do not feel the moderation agrees with my views and so i keep my threshold negative, so that doesn't help either. I do not mind slashdot being owned by andover(rob and co. deserve whatever money they can get), so i won't say that /. has sold its soul. I just think, /. is losing its soul.


    Maybe now that linux is fairly out into mainstream, this niche site has become redundant(i do not really believe that. Ok: i don't *want* to believe that.


    Linuxghoul

  • So what now? (Score:3)

    by Fizgig ( 16368 ) on Tuesday August 10, 1999 @08:56AM (#1754072)
    I wonder what this means. Slashdot was certainly shaken up a bit at first, but now it seems to be back on track again (Roblimo is doing pretty well now!)

    Currently Freshmeat has no source of income, right? They're quite a different animal from Slashdot. So I guess this means they'll start having banner ads, correct? And the mirroring by other companies would probably stop too, right? (I mean, it's one thing to do something out of the good of your heart for poor scoop, but what about for Andover?) Or maybe I'm reading too much into it. Just wondering what their plans are for it, since it's quite different from Slashdot.

  • Er, I just got 503 from freshmeat.

    Great start to the partnership :-)
  • Slashdot has not changed, it has just gotten larger. It is common to see post with more than 100 comments, no one has enough free time to read that many. Also the moderation and other improvements have changed the nature of the site - for better or worse.

    I think these are growing pains, and it is unlikely the site will be as cosy as it once was.

    BTW. Since slashdot is no longer non-commercial should it not change the TLD
  • And I was under the apparently misguided impression it was getting better!

    Seriously, I haven't noticed a difference in updates at all. The site features have only improved (moderation, comment thresholds, customization). Besides the fact it doesn't take forever and a day to get the whole front page to load anymore!

    One gets the feeling you're quick to assume.

    Congrats to scoop, glad to see his hard work paying off. :)
  • Then you should be glad that Andover is aquiring freshmeat. I know scoop has a lot of ideas for Freshmeat and Andover can give him the resources needed to carry them out. I don't think it's so far fetched to think that we will see ways to customize the contents on Freshmeat according to personal taste.
  • And andover.net is still privately held. But if they ever go public, you can buy that. And if, having gone public, they release a slashdot tracking stock, you can buy that.
  • Freshmeat was a publicly supported site, Redhat helped and many other people helped. It had no commercial backend and really didn't require any funding.

    I think its kind of sad that corporations are taking away the public support of "linux" and turning into corporate control. Thats pretty damn dissapointing

    I like the donation model and support model better then the umbrella and buyout model.
  • One could argue that, but one would be wrong.
  • I'm just wondering...

    If Andover.net has acquired Slashdot, and now Freshmeat, what does this mean? I don't think that this is good. Being able to support a site is good, but I don't think that one company controlling all these sites can be good.

    Dammit, consolidation is bad! Erm...
  • I can't believe some of the shit people release in the name of opensource - it's embarassing.
    If you think you can do better, take the software, rewrite it, release it. If its GNU or BSD style licensing, you shouldn't have a problem distributing. And a lot of software on freshmeat works on freebsd since it does linux apps or can compile them since they are too written for fBSD. Besides, we have /usr/ports. So now that you've made a fool of yourself...
    Linux has gotten a lot more popular and attracted a lot of clueless people.
    I'm sorry but one doesn't CAUSE the other. They go hand in hand. That's like saying people can run because they can crawl. Most likely because they can crawl, they can run =P
    It used to be people wanted to work with an OS that was cool... Now they just want others to think they're cool for working with that OS. Go FreeBSD!
    Um, nice generalization there buddy. Now that you've embarassed the rest of the FreeBSD comunnity....

    - a freebsd user

  • =D

    Had to do a double take on that one! I clicked "open in new window" then went on reading comments forgetting I opened that one. When I eventually got over to that window, I had to blink a couple times before I remebered where that one came from. Scary sh*t!

    Good One!
  • Absolutely. Slashdot used to have much more useful articles than it does now. Now all we have are the 4 standard articles..

    1) Linux was in XXXX magazine
    2) Jon Katz has something to bitch about
    3) Some company has some product with flashing lights, and Hemos/Taco had an orgasm over it.
    4) Some company mentioned the word Open in passing, and Hemos/Taco had an orgasm over it.

    I miss the old days!
  • Isn't it strange that they have two of almost all their sites?

    AndoverNews - Slashdot
    DaveCentral Windows - Slaughterhouse
    DaveCentral Linux - Freshmeat'
    TechSightings - Slashdot

    Etc. Etc. Etc.

    Andover looks dumber and dumber everyday, and infact, more like Microsoft. "BUY THE COMPETITION!!!"
  • The programmers who made all of this possible aren't the ones getting rich.

    By "this" you would be referring to /.? It's my understanding that Rob did the programming and is, in fact, gettin' PAID.

    If by "this" you mean free software... It should be obvious from the previous sentence when they aren't (clue: the word that starts with "f") Go read Linus's interview and see what he says about making money.

    I'd love it if I got paid for my hobbies, alas, I have yet to win a PTQ and get on the gravy train. ;-|

    And finally, if you find profit taking "really bothersome" then you probably shouldn't live in America, it's what we do. If you don't, then maybe you should and you would understand.
  • WTF? Ok I guess so .. Andover.net is cool :) Congrats Scoop. Now make 'the man' go buy you a big red truck or something. :)

    /Brad
  • I'm really pleased that Andover.net keeps giving boosts to sites like this. Let's hope that Freshmeat will only enjoy a better success they have been thus far!

    (First post!)

    --ryan.
  • I keep having these nightmares that Bill Gates is going to buy Andover.net and turn all the Linux sites in NT sites!

    "Buy em out boys!" Bill Gates - The Simpsons
  • It's a little sad to see this happen, but it's inevitable. As linux (and the Internet, for that matter) mature, control of critical components will be wrested from the small fish and be given to the big fish.

    How many marketroids are now reading slashdot looking for more such opportunities?
  • Okay, we all wanted linux to grow, and now we're unhappy to see newbies join the linux ranks??

    we can't have our cake and eat it too, you know... there was a time when just about everone on /. was either a programmer or a sysadmin or some type of engineer. Nowadays, I'd bet that the percentage of slashdotters who can use gcc and gdb has decreased dramatically.

    We've gotten our noses out of joint because there are lots of people using linux who have different agendas, interests, and levels of knowledge.

    The only options we have are:
    1) tolearate a "dumbing down" of our favorite sites as the expand to serve a larger and larger community with large numbers of non-unix-gurus
    2) ask site moderators to cater to a specific niche (like kernel developers, or hardcore computer geeks)
    3) build a new niche site for insert-your-niche-here.
  • ROFL. nice going, BTW. as long as the sites' creative content remain with their owners most of us dont have a problem.
  • OK, when's Andover gonna buy out segfault.org?
  • >Its easy to be a pundit, but not so easy to be a visionary.


    They said the same thing about the novel back in the sixties, that it had died out too.


    TV is certainly dead. Good TV is dead, then, bad TV is certainly alive.

  • Anyone who uses Lynx can tell you that Slashdot does a much better job of putting ALT="Whatever" in their image tags. This spoof had lots of "[IMAGE]" and "[INLINE]" which detracted from the effect a bit.
  • .. of course now we will need some cartoons of scoop showing the sundry effects of wealth (and a recent birthday) on his formerly impeccable character.

    --
  • In case one site fails miserably we have a spare.

    John Casey
    Gif Rotater
    Andover.Net
  • > Great, now freshmeat can go downhill just like slashdot has. Seriously, this site doesn't get updated as often as it used to. Whaaa?! Slashdot has gone downhill? Coulda fooled me. Andover has made it worthwile for Rob to continue doing Slashdot. Believe me. Slashdot would REALLY go downhill if Rob got burned out and quit. You should be THANKFUL that it gets updated as much as it does! I can just imagine that your mouse button is broken from clicking reload. > Weekends are particularly sporadic. Do you have a job? It seems to me that you don't understand what it's like to work all week, and have to do a LOT more on weekends to satisfy people who click refresh until their mice are broken. How about a little R&R for once?
  • hopefully that will take a load off your back scoop.

    btw fellow /.ers let the owners of these sites relish in their success....does customer service have to be 100% all of the time? they're only human :)
    Sensei
  • now if linux could just get itself into some XXX magazines...


    oh wait...wrong place to respond. I wanted alt.sex.hardcore.linux.xxx


    feelin' kinda wacky tonight
  • You're not the only one who thinks that - but that doesn't mean it's right. I'm happy to be able to read Slashdot everyday, free of charge. It doesn't matter to me if they're making money off of it.
  • I think Andover.net is secretly headed by none other than Microsoft. They innocently buy up every popular pro-linux site, and then one day.. wham! all sites are automatically redirected to microsoft.com

    Or I know, Slashdot is the one who really owns andover instead, and that Rob is slowly forcing them all to use the buggy slash code, so then he can have backdoor access to hundreds of websites, to try and take over the world!

    You guys got any other conspiracy theories?
  • Be sure to read all the side stuff too, there are a lot of jokes in this one! It's like a bizarro-slashdot.
  • That was a pretty funny link [min.net].

    I just want to thank you for not FILLING it with snot jokes.
  • Agreed. I don't mind a few ads. I'm happy to sell my attention for some NewsForNerds.
  • One could argue that the Internet matured in 1992, that it started dying in 1996, and that organs are failiure is now setting in.
  • Two could argue it...

    oh, whatever.

    Carry on.
  • People who predict the demise of the Internet seem to miss one thing I think. If the Internet dies, what is going to replace it?

    AOL, MSN, Prodigy, CompuServe. All sorts of private hookup options people can subscribe to. All which connect to one another for various publicly accessable data resources.

    It could happen that way, or it could happen as a result of the end of small ISPs (due to the privatisation of the 'net and the end of massive public subsidies of bandwidth which allow "the little guy" to use resources no small operator could afford alone). If there are only five "on-ramps" (i.e. the above mentioned "Online Service Providers") then the net as people see it today is dead.

    Massive public subsidy of the infrastructure is already a dying thing. It's inevitably so, as we live in conservative privatising times. Why should I as a citizen of Minnesota pay for every college kid to download MP3s over ethernet in his/her dorm room?

  • cool (Score:1)

    by eries ( 71365 )
    maybe now we can get software rankings/user postings on freshmeat :)
  • Keep this up and your hands off these sites (reasonably) and you're gonna get a good reputation/following.

    P.S. don't fsck it up.

  • Lets hope that the Borg Collective does not eat up our nice little site.

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