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[h2o-discuss] Fwd: slashdot news
Ref: the 5/20 meeting discussion on the proprietary
or supposed lack thereof of "open source".Apparently,
Slashdot has been hailed as one of the au courrant
sites for open source, this news clip should be of
interest.
> Tuyet A. Tran sent this message and story from
> Wired News.
>
> W I R E D N E W S
> - - - - - - - - - -
>
> CmdrTaco on Slashdot Sale
> by Leander Kahney
>
> For more than two years, Rob Malda, aka CmdrTaco,
> has been running Slashdot.org, the community-driven
> news service focused on open-source software
> development. On Tuesday, he revealed he had sold his
> "News for Nerds" operation to Andover.net for an
> undisclosed sum. Wired News spoke with Malda about
> the past, present, and future of the site.
> Wired News: Why did you sell Slashdot?
>
> Malda: The major issue was we'd been running it on a
> shoestring for a long time, and it keeps getting
> more expensive. Unfortunately, the more expensive
> things get to run, the harder it is to take care of
> them. And we didn't have any interest in the
> business side. You know, the marketing things and
> the things that the guys that wear the suits and the
> ties figure out. We don't care about that. We want
> to run a Web site, so we decided to find people, and
> we looked around and got contacted by a lot of
> people to basically offload that part of our
> responsibility and free us up to do things we cared
> about.
>
> WN: Were there any alternative suitors for Slashdot?
> Malda: There were many alternatives that we can't
> talk about.
>
> WN: So it was a good fit, huh?
>
> Malda: Yep. It's a good fit because everyone out
> here [at Andover.net] has got a grasp of what
> Slashdot is. They understand that they can't really
> tamper with it without destroying what it is. So
> from my perspective it's a great fit because they
> are going to give me creative control, and they're
> going to let me hire a staff. And they're not like a
> Linux company: They don't have any bias in any
> particular direction that's related to Slashdot.
> That was a major issue. We wanted to make sure ...
> that our integrity would not be compromised. Their
> point in having us was mainly because we get a lot
> of impressions and they can sell banner ads.
>
> WN: How many people are involved in production?
>
> Malda: The primary guys are myself and Hemos [Jeff
> "Hemos" Bates] and then there's 10 or so guys that
> are involved here and there, that kind of pick up
> the pieces on a volunteer basis.
> WN: Do you plan to make any changes?
>
> Malda: There's a lot of areas we'd like to spend
> more time on, focus more on. We can expand certain
> topics we don't cover as well as we'd like to. As
> far as fundamentally what we're covering, we're not
> going to change that. We'd like to do more original
> content. We'd like to focus more on the FreeBSD
> stuff. We'd like to do more of the political stuff.
> We cover a lot of these topics and we just barely
> gloss over them. But the fundamental nature of the
> thing is not going to change. It's successful
> because of what it is and Andover knows what it is
> and they know that tampering with that would be a
> dumb idea.
> WN: Will it still be Slashdot.org, or will you now
> have to change it to .com, now that it's a
> commercial operation?
>
> Malda: You know, I haven't really thought about
> that. I don't think it really matters all that much.
> I know of .nets that aren't ISPs and a lot of .orgs
> that aren't orgs and a lot of .coms that ain't coms.
> I don't think that matters too much any more.
>
> WN: And so are you guys talking about the terms of
> the deal?
>
> Malda: Well. I don't think so.
>
> WN: I take it that you made, er, some money?
>
> Malda: Er ... I think I can pay off my credit cards.
>
>
> WN: You were described in the press release as a
> millionaire.
>
> Malda: Was I? Yikes.
>
> WN: Yeah. "With the acquisition, Slashdot founder
> Rob Malda becomes the Internet's latest 23-year-old
> millionaire." Is that right?
>
> Malda: I don't know. Er, I am 23.
>
> WN: And the millionaire part?
>
> Malda: Yeah, I didn't know that.
>
> WN: You didn't know you were a millionaire. You're
> kidding?
>
> Malda: Yeah. I didn't know people were saying that.
>
>
> WN: I see. But is it true? Are you a millionaire?
>
> Malda: I don't know. Maybe.
>
>
> Andover.net CEO Bruce Twickler jumps in.
>
> Twickler: I don't think you're going to get an
> answer.
>
> Malda: Remember about playing dumb ... things I
> can't talk about?
>
> WN: What was that?
>
> Malda: There are things I'm not allowed to talk
> about with you. I don't think we're releasing the
> amount.
>
> WN: OK. In a QA on Slashdot, you said you were
> planning to make donations to various organizations
> that helped and supported you over the years.
>
> Malda: Yeah, it's the community thing. There have
> been so many guys that have contributed so much. The
> only way to do that fairly was to pick things that
> we thought were kind of representative of the
> audience and kind of representative of the people we
> personally wanted to thank. And so, yeah, that makes
> us happy.
>
> WN: So the money is coming out of your own pockets,
> or is it written into the terms of the deal?
>
> Malda: I think so. I don't know exactly where it's
> coming out of. But we've got all that sorted out
> somewhere. I don't care about that sort of thing. I
> don't care about money. I care about running my
> site.
>
> WN: So do you plan to take a vacation?
>
> Malda: Dude, when am I going to take a vacation? I
> work 70 or 80 hours a week. I don't have time to
> urinate.
>
> WN: Are you going to buy yourself some nice toys?
>
> Malda: My car has about another 150 miles on it. I
> don't know about that.... I haven't planned much
> farther out than that.
>
> WN: And future ventures?
>
> Malda: There's a lot of things going on here at
> Andover. That should be interesting. I'm going to
> spend a bit of time on that. But Slashdot will
> continue to be my focus.
Copyright WiredNews 1999
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