A submission from an AC prompted the following.
Pipedot (https://pipedot.org/) was another reaction to Slashdot Beta but didn't get going as quickly as SN. Nevertheless Bryan, the owner, created a useful site with nice features like the "Feed" page for RSS reading.
Last Thursday Aug 15, the site started sending out 502 codes in response to any attempts at access and it remained like that for a short while. We have seen no explanation regarding the outage. However, at the time of this story's writing, the site is back online again.
Pipedot is not currently accepting new stories and hasn't published one since 2017, but it hasn't gone away. Those running the site believe that it didn't justify the level of effort to keep pushing out stories when they were really competing with other Slashdot alternatives, including ourselves. But, recognising that things can change, the site is still 'live' and ready to go if needed. It provides a very useful RSS feed which is available for anyone to use and it provides a lot of useful material for potential submissions.
We have a good and friendly relationship with Pipedot and we are very happy to cooperate with them, especially as we did in the first year or two after Slashdot Beta. It is also reassuring to know that, if something unexpected happens to our own site, it would only be a matter of days before an alternative site could be up and running. We are pleased to discover that last weeks event was only a temporary blip and not a sign that Pipedot was going away. We wish them every success for the future.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @05:16PM (9 children)
I noticed Slashdot does not allow anonymous posts anymore though.
(Score: 2) by VanessaE on Monday August 19 2019, @06:36PM (8 children)
It does, only if you're logged-in. Good way to beat 99% of trolls/spam.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @08:19PM
Not really.
The trolls have started creating throwaway accounts with names such as Annnonymous Coward, including the swastika kid.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @09:06PM (5 children)
And hopefully a good way to kill the site, too.
(Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Monday August 19 2019, @10:47PM (4 children)
NOOOO! If Slashdot dies, we may inherit their trolls. Seriously, when this site started, we kinda lucked out and got the best of /. trolls, we can do without huge diatribes and stalking by APK and others!
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @11:21PM (1 child)
Thanks, I like to think of myself as one of the best of /. trolls :)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @01:55AM
A good troll often stirs up a good discussion.
(Score: 2) by Kell on Tuesday August 20 2019, @12:16AM (1 child)
I agree, although we also inherited relatively more political drama than the green site. I feel like we're much more partisan here - not necessarily a bad thing, but it's a thing.
Scientists ask questions. Engineers solve problems.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday August 22 2019, @03:29AM
I'd go with "opinionated" more than "partisan". A lot of folks here aren't huge establishment fans, even if they do prefer one flavor of bullshit over another.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @07:03PM
For some reason I didn't think to log in and try anonymous. Thank you!