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Journal heliocentric's Journal: The Slashdot Blackout of 2004 (begins) 13

Journal by heliocentric

Well, today is the first day of the week of the blackout for those of us participating.

It is my understanding that a great number of you believe the reasons for this are varied, great, and desiring of a large impact. To sort of bring the place down from the inside or something similar to the last one two years ago.

I don't know how I can keep explaining it over and over that this couldn't be farther from the truth.

I know many of you are choosing not to participate. I think a lot of you are doing this because you don't understand, and if that is the case that is the only part I feel sad about - the total lack of understanding. But, oh well, I'm not going to make you understand, it just isn't worth it.

This is merely a means for those of us "obsessed" (as apparently labeled by the staff here) to move ourselves from the top of the bell curve of page load frequency (where mod points are purposely not given) to a lower area. By reducing our page loads we will (by my math skills at least) lower our page loads per unit of time.

I am simply asking that those of you who may not even be in this realm help by also reducing your JE load. I'm not asking you to stop, or to never talk again. I'm just asking that if it isn't something of great importance to maybe save it up for a few days.

Think of this as me being your friendly alcoholic asking you nicely to stop sending me the beer of the month. That's it. "Hey bro, I'm trying to quit smoking for a week, can you not tell me about when you're headed out for a smoke break?" That's very much like it, too.

I'm not seeking to reduce the front-page stories, just JE discussions. Can I quit cold turkey for a while on my own? Sure. But if I, and others like me, quit together and we get a little help from the rest of you, then things will be easier for all like me. One of you posted, "Yup, I can stop posting in a while. Heck, I can even stop reading, but that's gonna be a little harder." This is exactly what I'm talking about. If we all post less it makes it a lot easier to read less.

Taco thinks (and I can't disagree) that the "normal" or "majority of" Slashdot users simply read the first page every day and maybe read the posts to a front-page story once or twice a week. I'm merely seeking to become a "normal" user for a little while.

Clearly if there's less here for me to read I will be here less and read less. (Again, my by my math skills I infer a reduction in page load frequency). Although "we" who read this are knowingly a small group to Slashdot, we form a circle or clique. We in the circle read each other's things and comment to each other. Inside of this circle everyone of us is a much larger percentage and therefore everyone has a much larger impact in this blackout as compared to the last one (here we are working within a circle, there we were apparently working within the universe).

I'm sorry if it seems like I keep getting back to what this isn't, but I read the posts from my introduction and while I thought I was being clear to separate myself (different date, different reasons, asking for different involvement) from the last blackout apparently I wasn't doing a good enough job. I thought by stating what I wanted clearly it would get the point across.

Hey, some of you think this will fail and therefore don't want to try. I have no problems with that, but I would like to point out that I'm going into this with a very low threshold for success (just one user who hasn't had mod points in ages gets them again after this week, preferably me, but I digress). Since I'm not seeking some gigantic dip in general Slashdot viewership, or other similar things from the last blackout both the metrics and the feeling for success are different.

For those of you who voiced your approval or who are on board but don't want to tell us (you didn't have to say you were doing anything), I thank you.

To sum up: this is different from last time, and it starts now. If you understand the whys and really wish to not help, I can't stop you. See you next week!

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

The Slashdot Blackout of 2004 (begins) More

The Slashdot Blackout of 2004 (begins)

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  • Comment removed (Score:3)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) * on Sunday March 21, 2004 @02:45PM (#8628424)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Lending mod points. (Score:3)

    by Alioth ( 221270 ) <no@spam> on Sunday March 21, 2004 @06:51PM (#8629453) Journal
    Wish I could give you my excess mod points. I get moderator access fairly frequently (and I do read the comments in at least a couple of stories per day, and reload several times), but I seldom use more than one or two mod points. They are a bit wasted on me, I'm afraid.
    • Heh. I'd take them. :)

      My karma is down to "good", due to someone attacking [slashdot.org] me. If you really want to use them (positively!) i'd appreciate it.

      BTW, if you don't want them, and even feel you "waste" them, you can uncheck you "Willing to Moderate" option in the Homepage [slashdot.org] section. Anyway, they are not really wated, as IIRC, they go back into the pool to be distributed.
      • You've been modded up :-)

        The thing is, I am willing to moderate. It's just I don't really get around to using 5 points within 3 days or whatever it is. I generally prefer metamoderating to moderating.

        The trouble with metamoderating is that it doesn't give moderators any feedback - I have no idea how my moderations are metamoderated.
        • You've been modded up :-)

          Thanx! My karma is now back to "excellent". Though i forget what the number is now. I guess i need a few more points to hit fifty. Perhaps i'll actually post a comment in a story.

          It's just I don't really get around to using 5 points within 3 days or whatever it is.

          As they points are never wasted, that really isn't much of an issue. The points go back into the pool.

          The trouble with metamoderating is that it doesn't give moderators any feedback - I have no idea how my moderat
  • I view slashdot as a hobby. I do it because there is nothing better to do where I am. It's interesting, it keeps me informed, and it's even fun sometimes. It's something I do in my spare time at home (which I currently have a lot of).

    I have been known to stop suddenly, and not visit for months. Assorted reasons for this include having something better to do. Will I stop visiting again? Yes. Will I stop this week? Probably not.

    And by the way, just how many pages do you load here to not get mod points?
  • What's the point? The 'bell curve' people, and the 'constant reloaders' are a big population. You are less than a percent of both populations. Sure, you'll get back in the bell curve, until the end of the blackout, then you'll be back with us 'constant reloader' people.

    Even if this is successful and you are a large majority, ever think it'll backfire? Cause you guys comment a lot, and there is a good majority of people that simply reply to your posts, everyone will slow down, and instead of pushing yo
  • While there are some people who are obsessive reloaders, there's also a group of people who are just avid readers of the site and will end up towards the tail of the bell curve. Sure, some of them are obsessive, but I'd bet a lot of them are just people who are the best users of the site. It's somewhat ironic that a site would reward users for not reading the site. My point in all of this is there has to be a better way to give out mod points than this. I'd prefer something that checks how often people visi

  • No no no (Score:1)

    by PD ( 9577 ) *
    The way to fix things is to metamoderate as much as you are eligible to.

    And, be STRICT on the metamods. This means:

    1) Flamebait is interpreted as "flame". (Flamebait is nonsense, and equivalent to a troll). A flame is a direct attact, such as "You are a poopy head." An unpopular opinion that does not contain that direct attack is not a flame.

    2) Troll - This mod is over used. Trolls are invitations or traps for more comments to be posted. Explaining how Microsoft makes a superior operating system is a tro
    • When you catch all the crappy moderations out there, the bad moderators get mod points less often. That means that YOU will get them more often. So get out there and meta-moderate.

      When you metamoderate as often as you are able for 6 months and still don't get a chance to moderate, you know something is wrong. M2 is a well and good, but if you are ineligible to moderate because you have too many page views, or you have been $rtbl'd (or whatever the shit-list is called), then M2 ain't gonna help get mod poi

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