As someone who pays an inordinate amount of time pondering things, I noticed some recent milestones for SoylentNews and thought these might be of interest to the rest of the community. In round numbers we have:
- 20 Months since SoylentNews went live (on February 14th, 2014.)
- 20 Current staffers who keep things running.
-
200150 Subscribers.[*] - 5,900 Registered users.
- 8,400 Stories posted.
- 10,000 Stories submitted.
- 250,000 Comments posted (almost -- who will get it?)
- 166,770,000 page hits on the site (yes, 1/6 of a Billion!)
What started as a protest activity (The Slashcott) burgeoned into action in the form of taking a several-years-old, non-maintained code base and, through the alchemy of dedication and sleep deprivation, came to be known as SoylentNews. There were numerous site crashes and outages, but things gradually stabilized. We were incorporated (completed on July 4th, aptly enough). Other niceties started to make their way onto the site: moderation changes, User Interface (UI) enhancements, Unicode support, apache and mod-perl upgrades, and countless other behind-the-scenes tweaks and tunings to get things to where they are now.
Besides the main site, I would be remiss if I did not mention that we also have our own Wiki and an active Internet Relay Chat (IRC) community.
Most importantly, it is our community that drives us! Thank you for all the story submissions, for all the comments on those stories, and for your feedback on site improvement ideas.
[*] The original value of 200 for the number of subscribers was an estimate; the correct number was 150. Updated this story for posterity.
To those who have started or extended their subscription please accept our genuine and sincere thanks — we could NOT do it without you! -Ed.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 14 2015, @03:53PM
So instead of a competition for the first post, we will now have a competition for the 250,000th post? :-)
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday October 14 2015, @03:59PM
How about the 201st subscriber?
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday October 14 2015, @09:42PM
Yeah, that statistic was pathetic.
I understand that setting up and funding a paypal account is a pretty big thing to ask for the guy still living in his parent's basement, but jeeze, 200 out of 5900 is revolting.
Come on people!
[stomps off in disgust to buy yet another subscription].
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Informative) by martyb on Thursday October 15 2015, @03:07PM
I submitted the original story and have since discovered there was an error in the number of subscribers that I reported.
At the time I wrote this, I was unable to get an actual count of the number of subscribers. I had access to very limited data which showed 350 subscription activities had been performed. I made a reasoned guess from that as to the number of currently subscribed users. I hoped to get an accurate count with which to update the story but was unable to do so before the story hit the main page.
I have since been able to run an actual query against the database. By this time, several of our registered users had already renewed their subscription [soylentnews.org] and after making an allowance for that discovered we have approximately 150 current subscribers.
To those of you have started or renewed your subscription, thank you!
P.S. The site funding progress bar has as its goal the ,em>bare minimum we foresee as being needed to 'keep the lights on' — there is no allowance for contingency. Any additional support beyond that is greatly appreciated and you can be assured it will be put to good use!
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 2) by martyb on Thursday October 15 2015, @03:10PM
And of course, in true SoylentNews fashion, I failed to properly proofread my comment! =)
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday October 15 2015, @03:55PM
But congrats on making the 250000th comment. You get no prize, but it was timed perfectly.
(Score: 2) by martyb on Saturday October 17 2015, @12:48AM
Thanks! Had a little bit of luck on that one. =)
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday October 15 2015, @06:01PM
This whole post was a plot to get 250k for yourself, admit it.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday October 14 2015, @05:07PM
Looks like about 500 to go. What's that, a day or two worth of comments?
(Score: 2) by Alfred on Wednesday October 14 2015, @05:21PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 14 2015, @05:28PM
I am working on it give me some time... umm MOOO.. There that will make a great 250k.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday October 14 2015, @11:07PM
I am the 0.5% !
There's gotta be a few 1%ers too
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 15 2015, @04:16PM
You predicted wrong. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 14 2015, @08:00PM
250000 GET?
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Covalent on Wednesday October 14 2015, @03:57PM
I came here as part of the Slashcott and haven't been back to the green site. I find the comments here to be significantly more thoughtful and of higher quality than the old site was able to muster for the last few years I spent there. Very little garbage / trolling and courteous debate and disagreement, something I thought might be completely absent from the Internet.
Keep up the good work Soylentils. Keep SN thoughtful.
You can't rationally argue somebody out of a position they didn't rationally get into.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by _NSAKEY on Wednesday October 14 2015, @04:23PM
Agreed 100%. I rarely post, but lurk the comments quite a bit. It's consistently a better experience than Slashdot ever was for me.
(Score: 2, Offtopic) by frojack on Wednesday October 14 2015, @09:46PM
2 digit ID but no star?
Or just too proud to wear it?
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday October 14 2015, @04:02PM
I have founded grassroots organizations that have grown to significant size. I have been a proponent of OSS from the beginning. I carry the FOSS philosophy wherever I go. Yet I am not the most ardent in any of those communities. The ones who shape our world are the very ones you feel uncomfortable standing next to at a cocktail party.
So here's a tip of the hat to the 1, the 2, the 3 people in any group who subsume their lives to make life possible for the rest of us. Soylent Editors, you give so much for so much scorn, yet you continue anyway. Bless you, and the work that you do. So many thousands live because you give.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by rcamera on Wednesday October 14 2015, @04:39PM
i strongly suspect that most people here would be uncomfortable at a cocktail party regardless of who they're standing next to. in fact, we'd probably be more comfortable standing next to the other geeks than next to the more socially apt types.
/* no comment */
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Gaaark on Wednesday October 14 2015, @04:57PM
+1 agree: when i was growing up, i was considered 'shy'. As i grew older, my mother said i was 'anti-social'.
Now i know i am only awkward in social situations where i am not confident in my words: if i know you have a weird sense of humour, we'll get along. If i know you are a computer geek, we'll get along (even if you use windows). If you are uncomfortable in social situations, we'll probably get along.
Not shy, not anti-social, just socially awkward/different.
Thanks, Soylentils, for giving me a forum for being myself: i post here WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY more than ANYWHERE ELSE, cause i know that despite the occasional troll, people here know what i am talking about/feel the same way. (And the posts/comments/stories are excellent, mostly).
Signed, future subscriber.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by mmcmonster on Thursday October 15 2015, @12:06AM
Heh.
Socially awkward fits me to a bill as well. I won't make small talk most of the time and find it utterly boring. That being said, I am easily interested in listening to my friends talk about almost anything when we're in a group. (And they know well enough to just let me smile and stand along with them without having to say much.)
I had a couple friends mention to me that they thought I was aloof and uncaring before they met me, and now realize that I care a great deal for my friends and being quiet when I don't have something to add to the conversation is just the way I am.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday October 15 2015, @12:56AM
Ha, yeah... "Some weather we've been having.... how about them Jays, huh?.... other things people say for conversation starters"
My wife says it's a necessary social convention, but i say "Let me the f*ck outta here!"
If i have to say something useless like that in order to be social, then i'd rather be non-social.
Now, have someone talk linux/computers/relativity/girls/geek-shit, and i'll join in and be social; pull out a Settlers of Catan board and i'll game you (euchre or f*ck your neighbour, sure!). Talk intelligent and i'm there... talk dumb and i'll walk.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday October 14 2015, @09:49PM
What is this cocktail party thing you speak of?
Do they serve beer there?
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by mrcoolbp on Friday October 16 2015, @05:03PM
Yes.
(Score:1^½, Radical)
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday October 14 2015, @04:43PM
What scorn? It's not like we have, say, a Jon Katz hatefest going on around here.
Now, granted, as far as I can tell, being part of the Soylent leadership plus $3 is worth 1 cup of coffee, but overall the quality has been a lot better.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by NCommander on Wednesday October 14 2015, @04:49PM
I wasn't around for katz, but I do remember most of the kdawson era.
I think a lot of it is we accept that we have a natural slant, and editors simply put their two cents either at the end of a post, or in a comment, plus we include links to the original submission in the queue.
Still always moving
(Score: 2) by CoolHand on Wednesday October 14 2015, @05:54PM
Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job-Douglas Adams
(Score: 4, Insightful) by janrinok on Wednesday October 14 2015, @06:06PM
While I thank you for your comments, the only difference between the editors and other staff is that we have a more 'public' role to play - well, that and they don't let us have the power to break things. I wouldn't like to single out anyone as having a more or less important role than anyone else. And if I was forced to, I would have to say that my own thanks go to all those who submit stories and make the comments.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by cmn32480 on Wednesday October 14 2015, @07:09PM
martyb/Bytram has the power to break things. And frequently does! Ask the devs. They'll back me up.
But speaking for myself (as I roll out of town again, but hey, I'm typing this from an airplane), this requires a tremendous amount of teamwork to keep running. All the players, be they the more public facing editors, or the folks who are totally in the background (like the sysadmins) are vital to the continuation of our success and growth as a community.
We welcome your barbs and complaints. It means you are still reading and still care, and that is the most important part of being invested in this wonderful bastion of ad-free, text only, internet-like-it-used-to-be goodness.
"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson
(Score: 2) by martyb on Thursday October 15 2015, @12:48PM
Thanks for the kind words! I must confess that I have had some considerable practice in software test/QA, so that helps. I'd also like to note that you are gaining in skills, as well, my Padawan. =)
Teamwork is the key; most definitely! I am continually impressed by the skills of the staff members and their willingness to help out in any way they can. The wealth of knowledge that backs this site is absolutely amazing!
Seconded. It's the community that makes this site what it is. Yes, we do welcome the barbs and complaints. Yet, there's a saying along the lines that "one 'oh shit' cancels ten attaboys", so the occasional affirmation goes a long ways, too. The positive feedback posted to this story has done a great deal to replenish my enthusiasm!
For those who may be new here, this site is entirely supported by volunteers. Like you, we have outside responsibilities and it may be at the end of a very long day that we sign on and then "do our thing" for the site. There's not a great deal of redundancy in some areas, but somehow we keep the site up and running! If you are interested in helping out, there's a place for you here. The easiest way to get hold of someone to volunteer is to head on over to IRC (Internet Relay Chat -- a web interface is available [soylentnews.org]) or send an e-mail to admin@soylentnew.org [mailto] and someone will get back to you.
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Saturday October 17 2015, @11:11PM
I tried to think up some complaints, but nothing specific comes to mind. :)
I will say I think the subscriber thing got priced out of the market. Some anonymous kind person gift me one, but it would have been out of my budget. :(
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by WizardFusion on Wednesday October 14 2015, @04:15PM
There are not many subscribers, only about 3.4% of registered users.
Still, it's better than none at all.
(Score: 2) by M. Baranczak on Wednesday October 14 2015, @04:39PM
(Score: 5, Informative) by NCommander on Wednesday October 14 2015, @04:44PM
That's supposed to work ...
Can you check your email preferences and see what the setting of "Subscription Running Low" and "Subscription Expired" are? https://soylentnews.org/my/messages [soylentnews.org]
Still always moving
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 14 2015, @05:45PM
FWIW, it would also be good to put a closable banner up on the top of the main page for such users - start it 14 days before the subscription expires and then pop it up again at least once after the subscript has expired. Saves worry about ending up in the spam folder and some of us don't even use valid email addresses (mailinator, etc).
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Wednesday October 14 2015, @06:56PM
Thanks for that, I had it set to "no messages" when my sub ran out.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 3, Insightful) by NCommander on Wednesday October 14 2015, @06:59PM
I think the bug is the default is set to off.
Still always moving
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday October 14 2015, @07:23PM
Maybe, mine ran out "awhile" ago and I don't remember getting a message.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Thursday October 15 2015, @01:03AM
Most of the things were default to off. The only site I have ever seen do that. :)
Kudos!
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by NCommander on Saturday October 17 2015, @06:00PM
If memory serves, the defaults are the daily newsletter is set to on, and a few of the administrative stuff (i.e., if your password was reset). Seclevel 100 get a few additional ones on top of that like the stats email and such. The headache is there's no *actual* control panel for this, its either hardcoded, or uses the table schema to determine the default.
I'm guessing we hosed the subscription notification code when I ripped apart the codebase to upgrade it to Apache2. I'll have to test it and try and fix the bug; we'll probably change all users to get subscription notices by default (though changing user preferences always causes people to get annoyed :/)
Still always moving
(Score: 1) by pTamok on Wednesday October 14 2015, @07:40PM
I can confirm it did not work for me either.
Same issue. I have just renewed my subscription, which ran out at the end of September.
The settings for the email are:
Subscription Expired: E-mail
Subscription Running Low: E-mail
I successfully receive the daily digest.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by dublet on Wednesday October 14 2015, @06:22PM
Seeing those numbers, I decided to do the only think I could do. Subscribe myself.
"If anyone needs me, I'm in the angry dome. [dublet.org]"
(Score: 1) by cngn on Thursday October 15 2015, @04:31AM
HTF do I have this?
- Your subscription ends 2022-08-26 UTC.
Is that a mistake or am I the mistake?
(Score: 2) by NCommander on Saturday October 17 2015, @06:06PM
I checked the billing records; its correct. For every $20 dollars you put in the box, you get a year on the clock; that's a change in behavior due to an oversight when we originally coded it (originally, you got a year no matter how much you put in). We retroactively extended subscriptions to fit this model, and I probably forgot to write a novel that we did so.
Still always moving
(Score: 1) by cngn on Sunday October 18 2015, @11:00PM
Thanks for the clarification NC, damn... I hope I live that long...
(Score: 2) by everdred on Friday October 16 2015, @08:52PM
Registered users isn't a useful statistic. Users who are "active" in some way is better. Exactly how to define that is anybody's guess, but people who have signed in at least once in the last three or six months would make sense.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Tork on Wednesday October 14 2015, @04:15PM
The people here, even the ones I've had severe disagreements with, I actually like. Maybe respect is a better word. Thank you all.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 3, Interesting) by NCommander on Wednesday October 14 2015, @04:46PM
I've found in my experience that a community tends to reflect those who run it. Everyone here knows the value of the community, and when someone says something, we respond and try to fix it if possible. It's one of the things I'm most proud about our staff as a collective whole.
I'm a relatively hands off leader and as of late, I've had very little time for SN in the last two months, but even if I was to bail out of the project, I'm well confident that attitude would remain because its so ingrained into everyone who continues time, effort, and comments.
Still always moving
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday October 14 2015, @09:57PM
Here, hate posts are almost guaranteed to come from ACs.
There, its the same, but 90 percent of the posts over there are from ACs (statistics pulled directly from thin air).
So naturally there was more hate spewed there.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday October 14 2015, @10:03PM
What I like about Soylent is close to what you've said, "The people here, even the ones I've had severe disagreements with, I actually like. Maybe respect is a better word. Thank you all." I really despise certain aspects of certain world-views. I really, truly categorically reject what certain users have to say on some topics. Then, give it a day or a topic change and the same users post something that expands my universe.
Where else do you get that?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by ledow on Wednesday October 14 2015, @04:21PM
How sustainable is the site going to be with only 10 subscribers per staff member?
I am a subscriber, and will pay to lose the rubbish that accumulates around free sites, the same as I'd rather pay for a game server of my own so I can kick those not playing ball.
I'm disappointed at that registered->subscribed ratio, to be honest.
(Score: 5, Informative) by NCommander on Wednesday October 14 2015, @04:47PM
We can pay the bills on the server, as well as our legal and tax burdens. Its not a brilliant moneymaker by any means, but as long as that remains true, we will stay up.
Still always moving
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 14 2015, @06:52PM
I just subscribed !!
(Score: 4, Funny) by tibman on Wednesday October 14 2015, @06:54PM
There may also be a trick in those numbers. I know for a fact that some subscriber(s) have sub'd for more than a year. I heard a rumor that if you sub enough then NCommander will fly out to visit you in his private helicopter. I don't know what happens after that though?
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 14 2015, @08:33PM
You get a hardy handshake and a pat on the back. I felt cheated, I wanted a ride in the helicopter.
(Score: 2) by GungnirSniper on Thursday October 15 2015, @01:28AM
Okay Pinochet.
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday October 14 2015, @10:04PM
I know for a fact that some subscriber(s) have sub'd for more than a year.
I assumed the subscriber count was individuals, not the number of paid subscriptions.
I've subscribed three times for myself, and once as a gift. But I assume that only counted as 2 instead of 4.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by tibman on Wednesday October 14 2015, @11:47PM
That's a good point, if you gifted a sub to someone, did they count towards that 200?
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
(Score: 3, Informative) by martyb on Friday October 16 2015, @11:56PM
The count of subscribers was determined by counting how many registered users had a subscription-end date that was in the future.
So in the case of gifting a subscription, so long as there was time left in their subscription, it counted. It does not matter whether the subscription was gifted to the user, or they are newly-subscribed, or they extended an existing subscription — as long as their subscription has not run out, that counts as exactly one subscriber.
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 2) by tibman on Saturday October 17 2015, @01:24AM
Thanks man : )
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 14 2015, @04:34PM
The site looks great, runs great, is informative, engaging and entertaining. With surprisingly few glitches or unscheduled downtime.
- YAAC
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Gertlex on Wednesday October 14 2015, @07:18PM
This in particular. The site is bug-free enough that I don't recall the last time some feature on it annoyed me. Major kudos for that, as it's an extreme rarity on the web these days...
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Wednesday October 14 2015, @04:37PM
and I love files... so when you put the two together...
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by The Archon V2.0 on Wednesday October 14 2015, @05:56PM
I love a-rach-a-nids.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by fliptop on Wednesday October 14 2015, @05:02PM
Has there been any discussion as to whether SN is a success? I'm somewhat alarmed at the low # of registered users, just 6k in more than 18 months seems a little low.
I used to think all SN was missing was the "a guy who works at CERN chimed in" feeling /. has (had). However, I'm seeing more and more posts like this one [soylentnews.org] which leads me to believe that, although the # of registered users may seem low, the signal/noise ratio is quite good.
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
(Score: 1) by Bobs on Wednesday October 14 2015, @05:11PM
Has there been any discussion as to whether SN is a success? I'm somewhat alarmed at the low # of registered users, just 6k in more than 18 months seems a little low.
Good question. I occasionally pop onto the green site and it seems to me that the volume of comments is trending lower and I suspect the audience is smaller now.
I also suspect most of them have not heard of Soylent. Anybody have ideas about how to get more people aware of / participating in this site?
(Score: 5, Funny) by curunir_wolf on Wednesday October 14 2015, @05:46PM
Anybody have ideas about how to get more people aware of / participating in this site?
More "Fsck BETA" troll posts on ./ ?
I am a crackpot
(Score: 2) by meisterister on Thursday October 15 2015, @12:20AM
Hey, that may actually work! After all, it's safe to assume that a lot of us heard of that whole "altslashdot" thing that some awesome folks were making because of those posts.
(May or may not have been) Posted from my K6-2, Athlon XP, or Pentium I/II/III.
(Score: 4, Funny) by WillR on Wednesday October 14 2015, @08:50PM
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday October 14 2015, @06:24PM
6K users in 18 months sounds like a lot to me.
I am assuming you're wondering why more of those angry Slashdot refugees haven't yet signed up here. Well, think of Facebook or Twitter -- how many accounts at Slashdot were sockpuppets or just crap posters? How many people were unique and weren't working a job for some paid PR Firm?
Yeah, more experts would be nice. More subscribers would be nice. But what I'm really most interested in is first the quality of discussion and second the tolerance of viewpoints which go against what the wishy-washy definition-of-the-day for what political correctness is.
I think anybody who visits SN multiple times a day should consider it a success.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday October 14 2015, @10:12PM
That is a really good question. But as a veteran of many grassroots efforts, I'd say it's a success because I learn something new every day. I like, on a visceral level, very little of what SN users say. Many of the users I actively despise. But I keep listening, and they say things despite my antipathy that I learn a lot from. I don't get that anywhere else.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 14 2015, @11:57PM
You took the words right out of my mouth.
It's great saying "Citation needed" and getting a valid response with useful links.
I read A LOT of stuff in a day's span and still find topics here that I missed, often with interesting takes|expansions on that.
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday October 15 2015, @03:23PM
I want to correct that, for the record. I overstated it. I actively despise some of the users. That is, a handful. I do so because they are racists or anti-Semites, the real kind, which I can't abide. But, wait a day, and they say something reasonable and informative on some other topic and I again am reminded that no human being is a cartoon-cutout, a 2D caricature you can dismiss.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday October 14 2015, @10:33PM
Yep, a short one in IRC shortly after you asked this. I opined that it's not a proper success until staff get paid; until then we're having to hope being on staff entertains the staffers enough to keep them staffing. For me, it does, but we've also had a fair amount of turnover. Not McDonalds levels, mind you, enough that we occasionally have to poke the community for a new volunteer or three though.
Speaking of, we could still use another perl dev. We got plenty of responses for the last call to arms but none of them followed through enough to even get a login. C'mon, folks, don't leave poor paulej72 with my strongly opinionated ass as his only minion.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by gtomorrow on Wednesday October 14 2015, @05:05PM
I just wanted to say "thanks."
(Score: 2, Funny) by nitehawk214 on Wednesday October 14 2015, @07:07PM
I was trying to figure out what kind of insult a "pinned tab" is. Nevermind, I figured it out, that is a compliment.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by Lagg on Wednesday October 14 2015, @05:24PM
A little bit. Atom feeds are important!
To be serious though, my statement to you guys remains the same: Thank you for giving a decent news source again that isn't burdened with the dead weight of bureaucracy and sociopathic companies. I look forward to its future.
I'll have to subscribe again soon. Donation budget has been a restricted as of late.
http://lagg.me [lagg.me] 🗿
(Score: 2) by Lagg on Thursday October 15 2015, @05:17AM
Heh, thank you sir. Whoever that was.
http://lagg.me [lagg.me] 🗿
(Score: 3, Insightful) by RedBear on Wednesday October 14 2015, @05:39PM
We need to find some way to remind readers every day that this site probably won't last long unless more people subscribe. It's $20/year for Pete's sake. That's like four mornings worth of your favorite overpriced coffee beverage. I'm certain that there are at least 500 of you regular contributors who could afford that quite easily and should have subscribed months ago, and you know it. I should see stars next to damn near every recognizable name here.
The local public radio station does a fund drive twice a year. The hosts of each show compete with the other shows to see who can reach their funding goals first. Without those fund drives a lot of listeners would forget that the local radio station is funded largely by community members and donations from local businesses. I would not be opposed to some sort of fund drive every quarter or something where every other article posted that day is an update on progress toward meeting the subscriber/funding goals. Something certainly needs to be done. 200 * 20 = $4,000. If the entire staff weren't volunteers this site would already be kaputski.
Disturbingly I just checked and realized my own subscription expired a month ago. I don't recall seeing any email or on-site notification about that or I would have renewed already. That's another problem that needs to be addressed. I'm not sure why I didn't set it up as recurring, unless that wasn't possible at the time.
¯\_ʕ◔.◔ʔ_/¯ LOL. I dunno. I'm just a bear.
... Peace out. Got bear stuff to do. 彡ʕ⌐■.■ʔ
(Score: 1) by Bobs on Wednesday October 14 2015, @05:48PM
One idea that occurs to me is putting a little icon next to the IDs of posts by subscribers.
Some benefits:
Might also want to provide an auto bump of +1 to posts by subscribers.
Seems like an easy way to encourage subscriptions.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by RedBear on Wednesday October 14 2015, @06:32PM
Subscribers get the gold star next to their UID, unless they disable it in their preferences. But it isn't nearly enough to clue new users into the fact that the site needs subscribers to survive. I'm guessing it's too easy to not notice the total lack of ads on the site.
As a subscriber I do not want extra points just because I've paid. I believe that sort of thing has been discussed and rejected repeatedly, for good reasons. We don't want our own local version of Citizens United.
Isn't this site owned by some sort of non-profit organization now? SoylentNews needs to do something similar to what Wikipedia does every year and put up a huge, impossible-to-miss banner asking for subscribers. Subtle things like gold stars and a little subscribe link are just not cutting it. Reporting the total number of subscribers vs. the number of registered users has certainly triggered quite a bit of concerned feedback here today. Perhaps that statistic should be a more regular part of what gets displayed on the site.
¯\_ʕ◔.◔ʔ_/¯ LOL. I dunno. I'm just a bear.
... Peace out. Got bear stuff to do. 彡ʕ⌐■.■ʔ
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Marand on Wednesday October 14 2015, @06:40PM
I agree with the wikipedia-style banner idea. I know there is already a funding goal box on the sidebar of the main page that sort of does that job, but its problem is that someone like me will practically never see it because I visit stories directly from the RSS freed.
(Score: 3, Informative) by NCommander on Wednesday October 14 2015, @06:58PM
We are a public benefit corporation which is classified as a for-profit business. We sell subscriptions and don't accept donations. Starting a NFP is on our to-do list but the legal costs are too high at this time.
Still always moving
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 14 2015, @08:39PM
I can purchase a subscription with Paypal, which I refuse to use on ideological grounds, or bitcoin, which I have never used and no matter how much I love soylent I wont start toying with a new currency just to subscribe.
Hell give me an address to send a money order to.
I would buy a subscription but apparently they don't want my money.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bryan on Wednesday October 14 2015, @09:32PM
Interesting comments and story submissions are a far greater contribution than more hosting money (that only Linode sees anyway).
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday October 14 2015, @11:38PM
Hopefully I'll get us hooked up with the Stripe API by next year and have us able to process any CC without touching PayPal.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by ticho on Thursday October 15 2015, @07:12AM
That would be great, and I would definitely sub then. I'm having the same view towards paypal and bitcoin as the grandparent.
(Score: 2) by NCommander on Saturday October 17 2015, @06:04PM
None of us really like PayPal, but with the default subscription code we started with, it was the only method available out of the box (and as we found out, annoyingly incomplete). BitCoin was added after a talk with our CPA as it was highly indicated as a desirable feature, and then it kinda fell by the wayside. TMB is a hero for pushing through exceedingly boring and painful work on getting it all working.
Still always moving
(Score: 2) by curunir_wolf on Wednesday October 14 2015, @05:41PM
I am a crackpot
(Score: 2) by gringer on Wednesday October 14 2015, @06:12PM
So presumably the comment counter is that unique comment ID at the top of each post, and we're less than 500 posts away from number 250k. Why not just have a megathread here where people do something inane to go over 250k:
~249,540 soylent posts on the site,
~249,540 soylent posts,
Reply to one, pass it around,
~249,541 soylent posts on the site.
Ask me about Sequencing DNA in front of Linus Torvalds [youtube.com]
(Score: 4, Funny) by gringer on Wednesday October 14 2015, @06:15PM
Hey, I got it right! Let's see if that works again:
249,541 soylent posts on the site,
249,541 soylent posts,
Reply to one, pass it around,
249,542 soylent posts on the site.
Ask me about Sequencing DNA in front of Linus Torvalds [youtube.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 15 2015, @12:20AM
and we go into meta...
249,542 soylent posts on the site,
249,542 soylent posts,
Reply to one, Is Ethanol-Fueled around?
249,543 soylent posts on the site.
(Score: 1) by Yaa101 on Wednesday October 14 2015, @09:21PM
Just congratulations... :-)
No comment...
(Score: 1) by aitmanga on Wednesday October 14 2015, @09:21PM
Been here since the Slashcott and have found discussions to be much better than in the green site and without the annoying ads (/. mobile site being the worst offender). Thanks for all the work you've been doing this past 20 months.
Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
(Score: 2) by NCommander on Saturday October 17 2015, @06:07PM
I watched Chrome on Android OOM and crash due to Slashdot Mobile. Rather impressive TBH.
Still always moving
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 14 2015, @10:27PM
See subject.
(Score: 3, Informative) by efernsler on Thursday October 15 2015, @12:26AM
Count me among the people who didn't know their subscription expired!
The shame...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by goodie on Thursday October 15 2015, @03:55AM
Love reading SN, love how quick it is to load and how clear the layout actually is. Great job on that. Best thing is the threading of comments for me. Now that we have that raw data, can you guys give us some more detailed stats? We've talked about this before but it would be pretty neat to see for example, per topic, the avg number of posts and/or modding points allocated, ration of AC to registered users postings, day of the week with biggest posts, the stories that have triggered the biggest conversation and so on. Heck, we could build a nice graph out of this :). I've said it before, having a dump of the anonymized DB would be pretty interesting to me if that's ever of interest to the staff. We could generate some weekly/monthly stats that may help us see how the site is doing and how much participation we get from the community.
But great stuff though guys, keep it going!
(Score: 2) by Papas Fritas on Thursday October 15 2015, @10:01AM
166,770,000 pageviews on the site
Dividied by
250,000 Comments posted on the site
Equals
667 who people read a story for every one person who comments
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 15 2015, @02:18PM
Wrong. It means 667 comments per pageview.
Neither is the number of pageviews identical to the number of visitors (I visited this very story several times already, and I'm sure each time I generated a new pageview), nor is the number of comments a single person leaves identical to the number of pageviews (I've looked at many stories I didn't have anything to say on, and I've repeatedly left several comments on the same story from the same page view; I have no idea what my average number of comments per pageview is, but I would be surprised if it happened to be one; probably it's below one, because of the times I come back to the page to look if someone has answered to my comment, and then see that no one has, and don't leave another comment).
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Thursday October 15 2015, @03:38PM
I never subscribed, hoping to make it up in sweat equity. But then I remembered what I used to say back in the days when I ran my grassroots political organization: "We can do a lot with a little, but it's hard to do anything with nothing."
I also gave a gift subscription to the user I hate the most, in the hope that he might learn a little something about Christian charity and also as a reminder to myself that I can learn something from even the darkest heart.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1) by utoddl on Thursday October 15 2015, @08:27PM
I suppose you meant, "To those who have started or extended their subscription please accept our genuine and sincere thanks — we could not do it without you! -Ed." It's the little things...
(Score: 1) by Didz on Friday October 16 2015, @04:08AM
Good to see it's charging along still.
I usually read the daily email with that days articles. Good ol plain text and no ads unlike the green machine.
(Score: 1) by Axllent on Friday October 16 2015, @09:34AM
The site is unfortunately worse than painful to use on a phone, other than that it's great.
(Score: 2) by NCommander on Saturday October 17 2015, @06:08PM
We have the technical base in place to be able to dynamically swap out the layout based on UA (the theme system uses this); every page element is defined as a template, and can be overwritten in a hierarchical fashion. The problem is none of us are much of a UI designer, and no one has stepped forward to try and optimize the site for mobile/small screen.
Still always moving