It's not like they can't monetize this site, they just don't know what they're doing.
The way to monetize Slashdot isn't to drive out the existing and very knowledgeable users/contributers by bringing in a site that caters to the masses.. no, it's to use this crowd's high level of technical expertise/knowledge to make profit. How? Charge for ask Slashdot! Have a technical problem and need assistance, and stackoverflow isn't cutting it? Well shit, pay Slashdot and get an article posted and bam, your problem will be answered by a slew of very intelligent people.
The other thing is jobs. I know Slashdot has a few job listings or whatever, but they aren't doing it right. They have a massive pool of people, some of whom are unemployed (if you read the comments). Why not hook up contractors/head hunters with these people through the site, for a price? Why not open up the subscriber base with an OPT-IN (by default opt-out) option where potential employers can contact us, and even post jobs (properly)?
These are two very simple ways they could monetize, and I don't have an MBA. I'm sure there's many more. Sometimes it's not about straight up ad-click and growing page views, it's about being intelligent, and working with the extremely valuable resource you have: very smart people who give articles and discussions for free!
They are hoping this fuck beta movement dies down before they have to acknowledge it or change.
But Slashdot users aren't the typical internet users. This won't go away.
I'm flattered; you directly copied/pasted my comment, along with the title (http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4756311&cid=46164335).
Impressive.
Please send e-mails to feedback@slashdot.org saying this. Coming from low UID accounts might make them listen.
Is everyone e-mailing feedback@slashdot.org to tell them? I hope so.
This is off topic, but I'm getting a warning at the top of Slashdot that classic is going to be going away soon (looks like in 4 months).
How many people will leave if they cut it off completely...?
All the features in JS that the parent is talking about are very important. But they're important and good for web applications, not web sites. Everyone here seems to assume that all people do with HTML/CSS/JS is write web sites, but that's no longer the case. Application which were traditionally written in WinForms/WPF/C++/Mobile apps are starting to get offloaded to web, which means we need those features in JS. I mean, why do you think the canvas tag and others were introduced?
The problem is advertisers/annoying websites are also using them.
Happiness is twin floppies.