Slashdot (frequently abbreviated online as "/.") is a popular technology-oriented weblog, primarily consisting of short summaries of stories on other websites with links to the stories, and provisions for readers to comment on the story. Each story generally receives 50 to over 1000 such comments. The summaries for the stories are generally submitted by Slashdot's own readers with editors accepting or rejecting these contributions for general posting. Also sometimes featured are movie or book reviews, interviews, and "Ask Slashdot" queries from users requesting information from the readership.
The site's slogan is "News for nerds, stuff that matters", but Slashdot is sometimes criticized for posting inaccurate, highly biased, and/or inflammatory story summaries that incite heated posting, as opposed to serious news or commentary (see Slashdot subculture). It is also famous for the related Slashdot effect, which often floods unsuspecting websites with traffic, sometimes bringing them down. Topics related to Slashdot Slashdot subculture Slashdot history Slashdot effect CmdrTaco CowboyNeal Anonymous Coward Slashdot trolling Trolltalk The name "Slashdot" was invented to confuse people who try to spell the url of the site (h t t p colon slash slash slashdot dot org).
Created in September 1997 by Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda, Slashdot is now owned by the Open Source Technology Group, part of VA Software. The site is run primarily by Malda, Jeff "Hemos" Bates (who handles articles and book reviews and sells advertising) and Robin "Roblimo" Miller who helps handle some of the more managerial tasks of the site, as well as posting stories. (See Slashdot history).
Slashdot's core audience consists of Linux enthusiasts and various other enthusiasts of the open source software movement. Curiously, a poll on Slashdot suggests that approximately half of all Slashdot visitors actually use a Microsoft Windows operating system with only a third using some form of Linux.
Slashdot users, frequently called Slashdotters, number in excess of 800,000 registered users. Famous or well-known Slashdotters include actor Wil Wheaton (username "CleverNickName "), id Software programmer John Carmack (username "John Carmack "), GNOME and Mono's chief architect Miguel de Icaza (username: "miguel ") and open source evangelist Bruce Perens (username "Bruce Perens "). Also noteworthy is the participation of several engineers from NASA involved in the Mars rover exploration projects.
The software that runs Slashdot is called Slash or slashcode and is released under the terms of the Free Software Foundation's GNU General Public License. Many other websites use various customized versions of this software for their own web forums.
