[spauldingg]

Slashdot and other sites have a threshold ratio thingy on their forums. I don't get it. what does it mean and how does it work? And how do I make a "nested" view stick between visits?

[GSixZero]

Basically a moderator gives each post a rating, -1 through 5 depending how how interesting/insightful/funny it is. You can set what threshold you read at, depending on what you think is worth your time reading. -1 is off topic, and it goes up from there. I read at 3, which I find results in the right amount of material for any one topic. Sometime if I want a little more, or if a topic is new, I'll read the 2s as well.

You can save your browsing preferences by registering, logging in, and then clicking 'Save' next to the nested menu.

[Ghoser777]

Each post on slashdot has a moderater level associated with it. If you're a new poster on slashdot, all your posts start at 1 - if you're anonymous, you start at 0, and if you have "good kharma" you start at 2. Some members of slashdot are somewhat randomly chosen to have moderator proviledges, and they are give the ability to moderate 5 posts for a short period of time, but they can't moderate in stories they submit or in stories they have posted in. They can either moderate up a post or moderate down a post (min: -1, max: 5). Then, slashdoters can set their threshold to be the minimum scored post that they'd like to see.

[spauldingg]

Thanks and Wow! That's a lot of effort just to read comments. Glad MacNN doesn't do this.

[Chris O'Brien]

The system is there for a reason. It means you don't have to wade through the chaff to get to something worth reading (unlike here...). It's incredibly useful.

http://slashdot.org/faq/

[bradoesch]

I've currently got 5 moderator points (mod points.) According to /. they choose registered readers who have an average posting and reading rate. I must be pretty average since I get mod points almost once a week.

[Chris O'Brien]

Anyone else look for people from the macnn forums when browsing slashdot? Not that I explicitly view comments just to see people from here.

I noticed juanvaldes the other day.

[ReggieX]

Originally posted by Black Book:
Anyone else look for people from the macnn forums when browsing slashdot? Not that I explicitly view comments just to see people from here.)

Nah, I use different aliases at different boards; though I use the same name at MacSlash and Slashdot :0

[Judge_Fire]

You can also Meta-Moderate, meaning you can judge whether the moderators have done a fair job. You can do it without mod points, just by logging in. Active meta-moderation gives you regular mod points more frequently.

Try reading Slashdot at "-1, flat, oldest first" to see the gruesome truth. (That setting resembles this forum layout.)

J

[lavar78]

Originally posted by ReggieX:
Nah, I use different aliases at different boards; though I use the same name at MacSlash and Slashdot :0

I try to use the same one everywhere.

Thanks and Wow! That's a lot of effort just to read comments. Glad MacNN doesn't do this.

I'd say each site is different. Believe me, Slashdot needs a great deal of moderation. I'm so sick of the GNAA I could scream.

[Scifience]

Originally posted by lavar78:
[BI'd say each site is different. Believe me, Slashdot needs a great deal of moderation. I'm so sick of the GNAA I could scream. [/B]

I'm so sick of all the *AAs that I could scream.

[juanvaldes]

Originally posted by Judge_Fire:
You can also Meta-Moderate, meaning you can judge whether the moderators have done a fair job. You can do it without mod points, just by logging in. Active meta-moderation gives you regular mod points more frequently.

Try reading Slashdot at "-1, flat, oldest first" to see the gruesome truth. (That setting resembles this forum layout.)

J

It can be a lot of fun. Especially the apple threads where you get the apple trolls and such.

But /. NEEDS it's mod system, a flat forum like this simply does not scale well enough. And then throw in the GNAA, hot grits, Father O'Brian, first post and what have you. checkout wiki article on slashdot trolling phenomena.

/. is lots of fun to read and waste lots of time but it sucks to have a conversation in.

[Superchicken]

I have good Karma, used to have great but I think I made a "FIRST POST" in an iPod story

I had to... it was THERE!

Anyway, Love slash dot... I rarely post, but I read a lot... I never get in by the time I think anyone would read... that said I do get a bit confused with their system. I have mine set to flat... it's a bit to nerdy but I learn all sorts of stuff I did not need to know

[bradoesch]

Originally posted by Black Book:
Anyone else look for people from the macnn forums when browsing slashdot? Not that I explicitly view comments just to see people from here.

I noticed juanvaldes the other day.

I saw the guy from macvillage.net, Robert Accettura the other day.

[entrox]

Trolling was invented at Slashdot. Prepare to read this in every BSD-related story


It is now official - Netcraft has confirmed: *BSD is dying

Yet another crippling bombshell hit the beleaguered *BSD community when recently IDC confirmed that *BSD accounts for less than a fraction of 1 percent of all servers. Coming on the heels of the latest Netcraft survey which plainly states that *BSD has lost more market share, this news serves to reinforce what we've known all along. *BSD is collapsing in complete disarray, as further exemplified by failing dead last in the recent [i[Sys Admin[/i] comprehensive networking test.

You don't need to be a Kreskin to predict *BSD's future. The hand writing is on the wall: *BSD faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for *BSD because *BSD is dying. Things are looking very bad for *BSD. As many of us are already aware, *BSD continues to lose market share. Red ink flows like a river of blood. FreeBSD is the most endangered of them all, having lost 93% of its core developers.

Let's keep to the facts and look at the numbers.

OpenBSD leader Theo states that there are 7000 users of OpenBSD. How many users of NetBSD are there? Let's see. The number of OpenBSD versus NetBSD posts on Usenet is roughly in ratio of 5 to 1. Therefore there are about 7000/5 = 1400 NetBSD users. BSD/OS posts on Usenet are about half of the volume of NetBSD posts. Therefore there are about 700 users of BSD/OS. A recent article put FreeBSD at about 80 percent of the *BSD market. Therefore there are (7000+1400+700)*4 = 36400 FreeBSD users. This is consistent with the number of FreeBSD Usenet posts.

Due to the troubles of Walnut Creek, abysmal sales and so on, FreeBSD went out of business and was taken over by BSDI who sell another troubled OS. Now BSDI is also dead, its corpse turned over to yet another charnel house.

Recently, Slashdot confirmed that FreeBSD has been bucked away by WindRiver to FreeBSD Mall, for a carton of Winston's and a six-pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon. This only serves to confirm the fact that FreeBSD is unwanted, doomed to be passed around like a harelipped orphan from one foster parent to another.

All major surveys show that *BSD has steadily declined in market share. *BSD is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If *BSD is to survive at all it will be among OS hobbyist dabblers. *BSD continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, *BSD is dead.

Fact: *BSD is dead

[MacGorilla]

Originally posted by bradoesch:
I saw the guy from macvillage.net, Robert Accettura the other day.

When I pos there, which is fairly rare, I post as christurkel.

[bradoesch]

Originally posted by MacGorilla:
When I pos there, which is fairly rare, I post as christurkel.

That will be difficult to spot. He posted a link to his macvillage.net site which look familiar. I never look at usernames.