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[h2o-discuss] Fwd: slashdot news
Ref: the 5/20 meeting discussion on the
(non-)proprietary nature of the open source approach.
Since 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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