Slashdot Design Changes for Wider Appeal

Our marketing department has done extensive research over the last 3 quarters and discovered that our audience is strangely disproportionately skewed towards males. Like, 98.3% males to be precise. To correct this oversight, we have decided to subtly tweak Slashdot's design and content to widen our appeal to these less active demographics. Don't worry! We'll still continue to serve our core audience, but we hope you'll work with us as we try to find a balance that will work for all.

Never mind

[erick99]

I can definitely feel myself getting in touch with my inner....oh, never mind...

Re:Never mind

[hirnfurz]

At first I thought I misclicked, got to a porn site and started looking around in case anybody was watching me. But then I remembered: the porn site was blue...

Re:Never mind

[Tibor the Hun]

hmm. i will download and take a look.

Re:Never mind

[Clived]

Hey folks

Been on /. like 8 years. An old fogey (57 yr old). Love it here, am very sensitive to the younger female crowd, got lots of young chic buddies ... but the PINK

Gawd, guys .. Please .. any color but pink.

my two bits

Re:Never mind

[C0rinthian]

You can keep your two bits to yourself, thank you very much.

Re:Never mind

[DigitalDren]

Its not PINK, its Lightish Red.

Re:Never mind

[kcb93x]

Guess what: they already have a color for lightish red. You know what it's called? Pink.

Re:Never mind

[rishistar]

Stop quibbling you fools! Its actually #ffa3dd!

Re:Never mind

[TopShelf]

two bits... wow, that IS old school! My first computer had an 8-bit processor, and that was back in 1979...

Re:Never mind

[keithmo]

Random train of thought...

2 bits = 25 cents
4 bits = 50 cents

8 bits = byte
4 bits = nibble

Therefore:

50 Cent = Nibble

I think everyone should refer to the rapper 50 Cent as "Nibble" from now on.

Re:Never mind

[Flower]

But pink is the new black. Didn't you get the memo?

Oh yeah?

[Locke2005]

Well, I'm gonna find your inner child and kick its little ass!

Re:Never mind

[Anonymous Coward]

Should it not say "pwnies"?

(...It's still March 31st here, gimme a break...)

au contraire!

[Phil Urich]

I'm pretty sure it's because tomorrow is apr1. I think someone sent this out early.

Oh, you silly North American-centric person . . . yeah, okay, I was a bit confused for a second myself, but just think in GMT/UCT and everything makes sense.

Re:au contraire!

[einhverfr]

You would THINK an uber-UNIX-geek slashdot reader would think in terms of UTC....

Re:au contraire!

[Richard Frost]

Wait... you mean there are actually people living outside North America? You just blew my fucking mind!

Re:Aprli 1st? Slashdot?

[Mr Z]

As the evening sky faded from a salmon color to a sort of flint gray, I thought back to the salmon I caught that morning, and how gray he was, and how I named him Flint.

Re:Never mind

[Morlark]

The design has changed for a *wider* appeal, eh? Can we expect this to *expand* Slashdot's userbase? All this pink sure is *broadening* our horizons. In fact you could almost say that it's *stretching* our imaginations. Who knew?

Re:Never mind

[iamhassi]

Isn't April 1st still a few hours away?? All these posts still say March 31 to me....

Re:Never mind

[aichpvee]

Yeah, but if they don't start early how are they going to dupe the April Fools posts?

Re:Never mind

[werewolf1031]

Slashdot goes by GMT, so yeah, your time will be different if you're not in that zone. Who knew! :)

TIme Zone (Re:Never mind)

[Stephen Samuel]

Isn't April 1st still a few hours away?? All these posts still say March 31 to me....

It depends on your time zone. April Fools is almost over in Australia. (Do you guys celebrate AFD down in Australia?)

Re:TIme Zone (Re:Never mind)

[shellbeach]

Do you guys celebrate AFD down in Australia?

No. The current gov't outlawed it last year as part of the anti-terror legislation.

But don't worry - you yanks are going to have it outlawed too, thanks to the FTA ...

Re:Never mind

[erc]

Yeah, they do ... and they also swallow ;)

Re:Never mind

[doubledoh]

Actually, I like, totally LOVE it! Pink is the new green. Like, welcome to 2006...HELLO!

Re:Never mind

[Justin205]

...I actually kinda like it, too... Certainly a change. ;)

Keep it as an option for us weirdos, perhaps?

OMG!

[American AC in Paris]

This. Is. Sooo awesome!

You guys are totally invited to my sleepover.

We're gonna talk about servers, and soldering irons, and building your own computer, and cameraphones, and open source software, and

OH! oh oh oh!

I heard that Linus and Richard might try to sneak in! They're sooooo cute! *SQueaL!*

*giggle*

Re:OMG!

[Pantero Blanco]

"I heard that Linus and Richard might try to sneak in! They're sooooo cute! *SQueaL!*"
Oh, but Mitnick has that adorable bad boy thing going on!

Re:OMG!

[tabby]

and we can have vi vs emacs pillow fights!

I am so there.

Re:OMG!

[ClamIAm]

Sorry, I don't wanna be the first person to die from a blow to the head from an emacs pillow.

I know what I'm gonna do!

[Interrobang]

I'm gonna have to start dotting my eye with a heart! Hee!

Re:OMG!

[just-a-stone]

damn, i'll miss the please date me, urgently modding option more than ever.

Re:OMG!

[Pharmboy]

I heard that Linus and Richard might try to sneak in! They're sooooo cute! *SQueaL!*

Have you seen "Richard"? [google.com]

Don't get me wrong, we owe RMS for the GPL and more, but you have to admit, he looks Jerry Garcia after an all nighter.

Re:OMG!

[Kelson]

I always figured Richard Stallman, Alan Cox, and Alan Moore should do a seminar together, if they can find enough intersection between Free Software and comic books. Or maybe magic. Sometimes source code does end up looking like arcane incantations.

Re:OMG!

[cmeans]

I prefer a LAMP out.

We'd all sit around the fire-wire.

Toasting Motherboards.

Telling end-user support stories.

Very scary...but a great way to network.

Re:OMG!

[Toxicgonzo]

You guys are totally invited to my sleepover.

Sleepover? What's that? Is it a Beowulf cluster of women?

Re:OMG!

[woozlewuzzle]

Those aren't pillows!!!

"See anything wrong with this story"

[Space cowboy]

HELL, YEAH, but only briefly before I scraped my eyes out of my skull with my fingernails.

Simon

Where's the pr0n?

[chill]

If they are 98.3% skewed towards males, where is all the front page pr0n?

Re:Where's the pr0n?

[Valdrax]

Because Slashdot caters to men who are slacking off at work. It's a lot easier to avoid getting fired if you aren't surfing a site with a "Boobies" section. *cough* Fark *cough*

Re:Where's the pr0n?

[Pharmboy]

Slashdot is what you keep loaded in the OTHER tab, in case the wife walks in and you are looking at pron.

You just switch tabs right quick, so she sees you are looking at Slashdot, which guarantees she will not have any interest in looking at the computer screen any futher. She won't even notice the other tab with the "Want to play tonight?" title.

Unless of course Slashdot has a pink ponies theme, which will actual pique her interest. Bastards.

First post!

[Randseed]

You're a day early, guys. When feminists attack, next on Slashdot.

April Fools

[krray]

April Fools.
Haha.
Now PUT IT BACK.
My eyes are bleeding already...
Unbearable and almost unreadable.

Hmm

[Shawn Parr]

As strange as it feels looking at this, it still is better looking than the IT color scheme... ;)

Re:Hmm

[rholliday]

Actually, through an emergency use of the Slashdot Firefox Extension [slashdot.org] I've forced the IT scheme on the whole site. Unfortunately it doesn't get everything, but at least the comments are okay.

Re:Hmm

[identity0]

... and slightly less gay than the Apple color scheme.

But we need more than just a color scheme to get in touch with our femine side - I suggest new mod options.

"+1 Hug!"
"+1 You GO, Girl!"
"+1 Uh huh, I know what you're going through"
"+1 Oh, really like that shirt, where did you get it?"
"+1 My boyfriend does that too! Men are such pigs!"

"-1 Talk to the mod, the user ain't listening"
"-1 WhatEVER!"
"-1 Oh sorry, I have to go paint my nails now"

OMG!!! Pink!!!

[Jesus_666]

It is necessary that this style stays available, even though it's not normally active. Then the Slashdotter [mozilla.org] extension needs to get it as an option. This needs to stay for the sheer WTF value when you switch the style to pink. Especially when you do it with (or rather to?) someone else's Fx profile.

Great.

[saltydog0302]

I hope you're selling matching panties.

Slashdot Panties WTF

[technoextreme]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/31/forget_me_ not_panties/ [theregister.co.uk] Typing in slashdot panties takes me to a URL from last year's April Fools that originated from Slashdot.

I say...

[RingDev]

F' the other 1.7%

-Rick

Re:I say...

[CAIMLAS]

F' the other 1.7%

I'm trying, I'm trying!

Re:I say...

[IIH]

F' the other 1.7%

We should be so lucky!

Re:I say...

[vidarh]

I'm not sure I want to, given the amount of sharing that would involve..

Re:I say...

[evil agent]

That's gonna be tough if they catch us going to pink colored websites...

zOMG I 3 the new design LOL

[eggstasy]

Thank you so much for the redesign. That old green was sure ugly!
Pink is like, the new, uh, pink!
I 3 pink!
Now, where are these ponies!!! Give me ponies. Now.

Huzzah!

[Sneftel]

Huh. I suddenly have this urge to collect all the Slashdot Dream-House Playsets, each sold separately.

Pink and Green????

[technoextreme]

Wow. Everything is pink except for the little area where the reply button is. I guess CowboyNeal really did let his girlfriend redesign the website.

WFT are you guys talking about?

[tak amalak]

I think I need to upgrade from this grayscale monitor.

I believe Ambassador Kosh said it best...

[JoshWurzel]

"And so it begins"

Also

"The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote."

Re:I believe Ambassador Kosh said it best...

[Rob Carr]

No, I think the last Xon said it the best:

"Aaaaaacccccccccckkkkk...."

Or quite possibly, Garibaldi, Sinclair, Sheridan, Delenn, Ivanova, Marcus, Dr. Franklin, Zack, Londo, Vir, Lennier, G'kar, Lochley, Lyta, Talia, Na'toth, Senator Hidoshi, Lorien, Zathrus, Corwin...pretty much everyone but Morden, and I bet even Morden said it of camera after he got all scabby:

"It's going straight to hell!"

ah well

[Umbral Blot]

I was more amused when there was no official explanation and we were all going "WTF WTF!". I mean with no explanation some of us were forming complex theories involving girls raised to be hackers by their evil masters, barbie, who have trained to seek out and destroy geek culture starting with slashdot.

I'm just waiting

[MechaShiva]

I can't wait for them to publish the other extreme with the "OMG!!! Titties!" theme.

Re:I'm just waiting

[identity0]

They will, but the titties will belong to Taco, Richard Stallman, Eric Raymond, and other overweight Linux geeks.

Ph33r.

What in world is this!

[Anonymous Coward]

Uggh...now Slashdot looks like someone poured Pepto Bismol (c) all over it.
It hurts.

HOLY CRAP!! I LOVE PONIES!!!

[23orgFlea]

I was JUST sitting here bitching to a co-worker about he lack of support for pink/pony loving men in the geek world. Cudos slashdot, once again, you're on the leading edge of proving geeks with what they need!! GO PINK!!!

Watch out!

[Locke2005]

I beleive "loving ponies" is still a crime in all 50 states... better make sure you don't get caught!

This is a surprising change

[Parham]

Just yesterday, I was telling my girlfriend to read Slashdot and she refused saying she hated the current layout (even though SHE LOVES the content). I guess this was just the final touch required. I can already feel the number of females reading this site go up!!

Wow

[pHatidic]

Gabe and Tycho would be proud. Especially Gabe.

The law of unintended consequences.

[bluephone]

So, now we'll have a site full of 30 year old male geeks who have never been on a date, and 13 year old girls. I forsee a period of thousands of "hookups" being made, followed by herds of Feds swarming Ann Arbor shortly thereafter.

So... ...

ASL?

I for one, salute our new female ... umm ...

[WillAffleckUW]

I'm sorry, I was distracted.

No, it's ok, I think I'll remain seated if you don't mind, ma'am.

My wife reaction is NOT positive...

[SysKoll]

I field tested the new design on my techie, smart wife, and she said "if this is how they expect to attract women, no wonder most of their readers are home alone jerking off".

So, I think you should add a couple of unicorns. Mad science! Robots! Underwear! Cute girls! Full comic online! http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/ [girlgeniusonline.com]

My wife is NOT positive...

[TiggertheMad]

I field tested the new design on my techie, smart wife, and she said "if this is how they expect to attract women, no wonder most of their readers are home alone jerking off".

...and her reaction confirms that she really is a girl techie. She's bitter, surly, and hostile to men.

*ducks*

This will teach you to complain!

[supremebob]

People have been whining for years that Slashdot should redesign their home page. After seeing THIS, however, I think that a lot of people will know to keep their mouths shut rather than face the evil wrath of Slashdot's "alternative" design team again :)

Re:This will teach you to complain!

[LiquidCoooled]

I think it should be an automatic thing.

If somebody becomes a fulltime troll, their stylesheet is permanently locked to "omg ponies".

This is no joking matter

[moochfish]

So many commments, and yet not a single one is modded as insightful or interesting. You know it's April Fools Day.

Re:This is no joking matter

[moochfish]

Oh man, I can't believe that worked. =D

This may be a good thing

[Gnpatton]

This may be a good thing, most of the site has become compleatly illegible.

Slashdot Mountain?

[UnCivil Liberty]

Come on, CowboyNeal, it's a dead give away.

"I wish I knew how to quit you!"

Re:Slashdot Mountain?

[AntiFreeze]

"I wish I knew how to quit you!"

C-x C-c

or :wq! if you prefer

Re:Slashdot Mountain?

[Interrobang]

Just be glad you don't have to see how the other half lives -- Abort, Retry, Fail?...

You bastards!

[LibertineR]

I just finished filling out a trouble ticket up at Viewsonic! I thought my LCD had gone stupid! IT AINT APRIL YET!!

So, what changed other than the logo?

[thedave]

My preferences were set to simple, low bandwidth, and no icons. So, I had no idea what all the fuss was about.

But, I turned it all back on, and

<SQUEAL> OMG I LUV IT! </SQUEAL>

I'm telling all my girlfriends to do their site just like this. It is so t3h cuteness!

XOXOXOXOXO

Friends 4-Ever!
It's soooo special, I almost cried.

Actually, I am crying.

And a little nauseous.

I admit....

[sho-gun]

This cracked me up. Been here since day 1 (or maybe 2), and this is
probably the funniest april fools prank they've pulled IMHO.

Of course, I think i need my brain scrubbed after seeing
this new style.. the pain! the pain!

Web Developer plugin kicks ass! Just turn off fool

[MCRocker]

I love the Web Developer plugin [chrispederick.com] for the Mozilla browsers like Firefox. When it's installed, it's trivially easy to select the CSS drop down menu, the select the Disable Styles - Individual Styles and uncheck slashdot_fool.css. The pink goes away just like that. I'm sure there are other ways to do that, but this was just so cool that I had to share. Though, I guess that using the Edit CSS sidebar is even more cool because you can see the colours change AS YOU TYPE in the CSS window.

First viewed from wife's account

[jdavidb]

I just happened to sit down at my wife's computer and check Slashdot. The wife just recently got her own account (yes, I am lucky) ... and when I saw this I freaked! Simultaneously thought "cool, there's some kind of customizing," and "what in the world prompted her to spend the time to do this ... and ... hey ... she wouldn't say "ponies" ... what gives?"

So this is why they finally switched to CSS

[dagnabit]

This gag has obviously been a _long_ time in the planning - an entire site redesign just to pull the ol' April Fool's Website Theme Change Switcheroo... nice!

As a female, my opinion is...

[Miraba]

The pink! My poor retinas!

Prediction

[NanoGator]

OMG! I predicterered [slashdot.org] this!! LOL

Re:Dupe

[Kjella]

Well, my logic might be off but since it's long past midnight here and the dateline is west of the US, I suspect everywhere except North and South America.

Re:Dupe

[mjbkinx]

From tomorrow? Is it April fools anywhere in the world yet?

Try date -u and you will see that it is in fact April Fool's Day.
Note that April Fool's Day, as defined by the International April Pranksters Association, goes by UTC, not by local time zones. Because IAPA is not widely recognized as an international standards body and many people's problems to understand time zones, this has led to some problems since its introduction in 2002. It is especially uncertain for regional publications, which are reluctant to adopt the new standard because they fear to irritate their audience.
One example is the Hubsborough Gazette, which famously spread confusion on the evening of March 31st, 2004 (EST) when an article claiming that aliens have attacked the Whitehouse appeared on their website. Despite the seemingly obvious nature of the hoax, many believed it and called the authorities or local clergery for guidance. One family even is reported to have spent two weeks in their backyard bunker. Since then, the editor has announced that they will only publish April Fool's articles during the hours when April 1st of their local time zone and UTC overlap, and take down articles afterwards. Many publications have followed their example in the following years.

Slashdot, which serves an international audience, of course sticks to the IAPA standard -- maybe in a (presumably failed) attempt to beat Digg at least once a year.

Re:Dupe

[neomage86]

Not so! I'm the president of the International April Pranksters Association and we define April fools day as 12:00AM-12:00PM Local Time. Don't Believe me? Then check our website. Oh, you can't find it? uhm, it's undergoing technical difficulties now No hits on google? well, that's because ... it's those damn terrorist hackers! it's the cyber-terrorists fault. damn cyber-terrorism.

Re:Dupe

[Donniedarkness]

Congradulations-- you made the only "informative" post on slashdot today...

Except for, possibly, mine. I wonder if this counts as "insightful".... oh well, fuck it.

I'm a pretty purple pony, flippity-flop, flippity-flop, such a pretty pony, flippity-flop, flippity-flop. I like to have my hair brushed, flippity-flop, flippity-flop...

Re:Dupe

[UniverseIsADoughnut]

In Soviet Russia March 31st April 1st You.

(its a silly thread, lame old jokes are allowed)

Re:Dupe

[idonthack]

Rotors: S L A
Stecker-board: SH DO TX
ehyyu wdofx jqvfw yiale qyhzo lfvar keabz anchd fjotw baqgc raeaa vfzdj ikqgh mcyfi awvxf ljkcl etmgo ofrqf nlihx sfejp mryog lstri oudhx cbscd hzvpp lnxts grebi fmjjr zngqv

Re:Dupe

[entrylevel]

True dat! I really only asked because I am a lazy beer-swilling American. Naturually I figured I could get some foreign devil to figure out if it's tomorrow anywhere in the world (isn't it always tomorrow somewhere?).

Seriously though, thanks for saving me from using my brain on Friday, much appreciated!

Re:Dupe

[L7_]

they just want to show off thier (recent) css :x

Re:Sir, I believe you have made a mistake

[MBCook]

They're changing that too.

All hail mother England!

Re:Sir, I believe you have made a mistake

[Kelson]

No, no, no, the proper greeting is, "England Prevails!"

Re:Like OMG! Linus Torvalds is SO Hot!

[Interrobang]

Actually, he is kind of cute. Sorry to stab your joke, but I am a known connoisseuse [slashdot.org] of such things.

Re:I've just been called a fag for refreshing /.

[Scarletdown]

I just had a woman mutter fag under her breath after she saw my screen.

The proper response to that would have been to give her the one-finger salute without you even looking away from your screen.

And just off the record...

I for one welcome our magical little equine overladies from Dream Valley. ;)