SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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: 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.