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Comment by progers7 | Hacker News Reader

At the bottom of the article Bruce mentions the slashdot comments went downhill. This is the first time I've visited slashdot in years and I'm sad to see an old haunt turned so bad. The equivalent reddit thread is significantly more interesting, positive, and hacker-ish: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/16/03/25/141256/chromium-bei... https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/4bvswj/compile...

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I overstayed at Slashdot. I kept visiting it probably due to a long habit of it being the first news site I'd check while code was compiling. Just ingrained in muscle memory.

Then, one day, I realized most discussions had turned vile. Cynical rants that would find fault with absolutely anything, and I would feel dirtier reading it.

It's really a shame, a bit like seeing an old friend that ended up with wrong choices in life.

> Cynical rants that would find fault with absolutely anything.

I think that is just comments on the internet in general, everywhere has them, I had to work hard at stopping it bothering me, you can't bath in negativity and not get wet.

I was really into slashdot for like a year, and then quickly saw the tides turn in favor of trolls for some reason and left.. I mean, it went from being a place I check multiple times per day to now I never go to slashdot unless someone explicitly gives me a link. I think they lost their community somewhere in the multiple buy outs. Their bias supporting Sourceforge during the adware bundling debacle I think was when there was a mass exodus, and now it's pretty much just trolls left.

There have been many mass exoduses from there.

I was into Slashdot back in the 1990s. I lost interest about 15 years ago. When the Sourceforge thing happened I was mildly surprised to see that Slashdot still existed.

Back in the mid-2000's when Slashdot was "working" -- It was this: A bunch of yahoos would post enough inane comments, that an expert who actually worked there would get annoyed enough to write a long, insightful post full of actual facts.

In the late 90s, everyone who was technical and cared about Linux/open source/etc monitored slashdot. EVERYONE.

A lot of the experts who got annoyed, probably had been following it from then. But as time went by, being said expert got tiring. Eventually the trolls drove them away.

Yep. "News for nerds. Stuff that matters." It used to have some useful software news. Then it turned Randian and political, and it was just too tiring to wade through the BS. It apparently still exists, but I see no reason to look at it.

FYI, an email I got the other day

notices@slashdotmedia.com 18 Mar (11 days ago)

to me 2016-03-17

Dear Site User,

Fair processing notice - Data Protection Act 1998

We are writing to let you know that with effect from 27 January 2016, the Slashdot Media business, which provides online services through various web sites including Slashdot.org and SourceForge.net (the "Slashdot Media Services") has been purchased by SourceForge Media LLC of 1660 Logan Avenue, San Diego, California, 92113, USA ("we" or "us").

As a result your personal data have been transferred to us and will be used in connection with the continued provision of the Slashdot Media Services to you. Your personal data will continue to be processed fairly and lawfully in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 for the same purposes as those it was originally collected by Dice Career Solutions Inc and/or eFinancialCareers Limited including to:

* continue to provide you with information (by electronic means or otherwise) about other services we offer that are similar to those that you have already received or enquired about; * carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us; * provide you with the information and services you request from us; * tell you about changes to the Slashdot Media Services; and * ensure that the content made available through the Slashdot Media Services is presented in the most effective manner for you and your device.

Further information on how your personal data may be processed, who it may be disclosed to and how it will be stored can be found in the Slashdot Media Services privacy policy available at: http://www.slashdotmedia.com/privacy-statement/

You can ask us to remove all your account data, stop processing your personal data and to stop contacting you for marketing purposes at any time. * For SourceForge.net, please contact us at sfnet_ops@slashdotmedia.com * For Slashdot, please contact us at privacy@slashdot.org * For FreeCode, please contact us at freecode-privacy@slashdotmedia.com * For SlashdotMedia.com, please contact us at sfnet_ops@slashdotmedia.com

Please let us know if you have any queries. Yours sincerely, Logan Abbott The team at SourceForge Media LLC

Yeah, I gave up on Slashdot comments when the comments on the "Microsoft is joining the Eclipse Foundation" news item turned into a "Microsoft is killing Eclipse" conspiracy.

Completely different from HN, where every "Google is improving security/adding a new API/product" post turns into a "Google is an NSA front/will kill any product/API that you use" flamedown.

"Google is an NSA front" and "Google may kill any product/API that you use" are in completely different orbits in terms of rationality.

One thing I like about Slashdot is that the comments there often represent a much wider set of opinions and a greater diversity of thought than are found here or at reddit.

That does often mean that more of the comments might be seen as negative, some might be offensive to some people, and some might contain misinformation. But it works the other way, too, where some of the best commentary I've seen anywhere has been there, often from people posting as Anonymous Coward.

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