xwwt's Journal: Social Media & Slashdot

Since I have been with the team and interact more closely with /. I have come to the conclusion that this platform is really one of the original and best sites for social interaction and media. One of the key points that I have noticed though is that we have done a poor job of making it easier for people to communicate and create interaction.
First of all the registration on /. helps to create a community and causes us to be accountable for our words and deeds. If you are gonna say it, at least stand behind what you say. Second, those that are not familiar with the concept of Friend & Foe, should look into the friend feature on the site. Registered users can click on any other registered user account and choose to mark those people as friends or foes on the site. The cool part about this is that you can then see your friend's comments on the site as well as any other potential friend relationships. My experience with this is that I get a broader view of opinions from friends and from folks who are not friends too.
What I envision is not something sappy or invasive as Facebook or the many other "social media" sites, but something that allows me to more easily see and create these relationships so I can see and participate better in conversations with my friends and their friends too.
My question to you is, Do you see social ties on /. helping you get a better world view of Nerd News?

HELL no

[Captain Splendid]

Slashdot missed the opportunity to "maximize" its social media component about 7-8 years ago. Couple that with the fact that almost nothing new or useful has been implemented in that time frame here on Slashdot, and you guys have an enormous uphill battle to eve begin to compete against the likes of Facebook or Reddit.

Also:

First of all the registration on /. helps to create a community and causes us to be accountable for our words and deeds.

I'm not really sure what it is exactly you're trying to convey here other than "give us some of your info", but one of the last great features this site has is the ability to post anonymously. Apart from 4chan, there is no other forum of this size and scope that allows that. Now, I don't know what they taught you in marketing 101, but having an interesting feature that none of your competitors have is something to run to, not away from.

Second, those that are not familiar with the concept of Friend & Foe, should look into the friend feature on the site.

Yeah, this was a nice feature back in the day, and obviously still has some uses, but it's got almost zero granularity as well as a cap, and those do a really nice job of limiting its potential. Mind you, this is one of those things that hasn't been updated since it was introduced. Imagine this: Back when I joined, the F&F was fairly new and shiny. Now, 10 years later, it's exactly the same, and Facebook ate your lunch. participate better in conversations with my friends and their friends too.

Except there's no one here because they all left. Lack of new features, draconian 'flood' rules, even for people with excellent karma. The Journal bin is full of spam and the metamoderation system's been gutted.

tldr: Not your fault, you're just the guy hired to clean up the mess, but honestly, this site missed the boat a long time ago, and I don't see much that can be done about it. Good luck!

Re:

[xwwt]

I don't disagree with you, just thinking out loud and looking for community feedback. For me that is the most importing driver. So what are some of the opportunities going forward? Honestly I think there is some opportunity for /. to continue to be the place for nerds - I struggle with other sites that provide less engaged community members.