SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
A lot can happen in one year.
SoylentNews.org had its alpha release to the public on February 12, 2014.
I know it's been a long wait, but we've been steadily moving towards launch. With luck, you're reading this on the main index of the site, which means we've gone, and haven't gone mad in the process. Now that we're here, we hope to have made the wait worth it, but we depend on everyone in the community. To make this site a success, we depend on each and every single user even if its just from passing word of mouth. Remember, every single user can submit stories, moderate, and contribute to discussions all at the same time, and that's what makes us unique. May I be the first to welcome you to your new home.
We struggled during those first few months with organizational issues as well as just keeping the site up and running. The community grew. The site struggled at times under the load, yet we still pushed forward.
One year ago on July 4th, we became SoylentNews PBC:
I'm pleased to announce that as of today, our articles of incorporation have been accepted and signed off by the State of Delaware, and "SoylentNews PBC" is a licensed public benefit corporation, ready to accept business, effective today.
A staff of volunteers develop, maintain, support, and run this site. The community has been our main focus right from the start and now is a good time to take inventory. Over the past year, we have implemented changes in moderation with additional moderation options as well as the ability to both moderate and comment in the same discussion. There was a massive rebuild of the underpinnings of the site to take us from the unsupported base of outdated Apache and mod_perl code to more recent releases. We are in the early stages of rolling out nexuses. Subscriptions have been implemented and the community rose to the occasion to support our ongoing server and administrative costs. Numerous performance enhancements have been made. New site themes have been introduced. Polls have been posted (admittedly, some lingered for much too long) with vibrant community discussion. Similarly, there are some of our community who have posted stories to their journal which have also generated much discussion. We aim to facilitate discussion among our community and yet some choose to simply read the site and pass the word on to others — we are grateful for you, too!
As I write this, our stats since day one are: we have over 5,600 registered users; over 8,100 stories have been submitted (of which over 6,800 were posted); and over 204,000 comments made! A special thanks to those who have subscribed and thus allowed us to pay our bills and continue as a going concern.
Though entirely run by volunteers, the efforts I've seen put into this site continue to amaze me. So, fellow Soylentils, where can we do better? And where in your estimation have we done well? What are the high points for you for the site over this past year?
[Ed. note: Story updated to clarify that our anniversary is on July 4th.]
Original Submission
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Snow on Thursday July 02 2015, @09:04PM
Thanks for all the hard work guys!
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Thursday July 02 2015, @09:04PM
I'm not the kind of person to get wrapped up in celebrations or anniversaries, but congratulations for getting through the first year. Considering the origin story of "disaffected users fleeing a much more popular site" I can't see indefinite growth on the horizon, but who needs that?
(Score: 2) by The Archon V2.0 on Thursday July 02 2015, @09:10PM
There's no such thing as indefinite growth. Eventually growth stops or a bigger fish like Conde Nast or Dice buys you.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Thursday July 02 2015, @09:16PM
A fair point on both accounts.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday July 02 2015, @09:22PM
Lotta good things about this place. The staff are competent, transparent, and not outwardly arrogant. The site continuously improves both under the hood and with user operations like moderation. They censor spam and repeated shitposts while being reasonably tolerant of alternative viewpoints. The stories, while not all technical, are a good blend of aspie-specific, political, and diversions.
As for the bad, a lot of the most quality members rarely post. The default red color scheme is ugly and suggests communism. Night mode looks like Motherless.com. Too many people bitch and moan rather than contribute to the discussions.
As for selling out, you can call me the 'sellout canary' - if or when I get permabanned, you know that selling out is right around the corner.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Kell on Thursday July 02 2015, @11:24PM
Excellent points, although I should ask: isn't communism somewhat appropriate? Something about "by the people, for the people"?
Scientists ask questions. Engineers solve problems.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by TheGratefulNet on Thursday July 02 2015, @11:28PM
the best way to convert someone to thinking along communism lines: have them live a few decades in the present day USA.
not kidding.
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday July 03 2015, @04:03PM
I dunno about the rest of them but I do it because of the entertainment the site and the work give me. Nothing approaching altruism here.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by darnkitten on Friday July 03 2015, @01:33AM
Communist red is more of a scarlet-a bit brighter and slightly orangey--SN's red is more of a dark crimson with a little violet in the mix. With the white (instead of commie gold), I'd say it's more the colors of a college sport team.
GO SOYLENT!
-
Oh, congrats to the Soylent Team--this past year has been a treat!
(Score: 3, Funny) by TheGratefulNet on Friday July 03 2015, @02:41AM
...the crimson permanent assurance.
"lets go, lads! weigh anchor!"
;)
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 3, Insightful) by martyb on Thursday July 02 2015, @10:12PM
I have a different viewpoint.. some day *we* will buy *them*... BOTH of 'em! =)
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by AnonTechie on Friday July 03 2015, @09:55AM
That would be great Martyb.
My heartiest congratulations and best wishes to all those who volunteer to keep this website running smoothly. I also thank the many contributors and commentators who have generally overwhelmed me with their range of viewpoints and information. I have learnt a lot about many previously unknown topics. I feel humbled.
Keep Walking, as the good advertisement says.
If you want to walk fast, walk alone. If you want to walk far, walk together. (African Proverb)
Albert Einstein - "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
(Score: 2, Interesting) by pyg on Thursday July 02 2015, @09:23PM
Telling when I say something at breakfast and then reference it to soylent or /.; can't remember... although obviously soylentnews has better comments now, which is how I got hooked on that other site. Better in less than one year is pretty impressive.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 02 2015, @09:30PM
Awesome work everyone.
How about other ways to support Soylent News besides Paypal and bitcoin.
(Score: 2) by NCommander on Thursday July 02 2015, @09:34PM
What would you like to see?
Still always moving
(Score: 2) by DECbot on Thursday July 02 2015, @11:07PM
Does Google wallet still have an api? They are already "all you bases R belongs to us" for me, so they're my preferred internet transaction portal.
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 2) by Anne Nonymous on Friday July 03 2015, @01:41AM
Vault-Direct ™ gold bullion transfers would be nice.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Tork on Friday July 03 2015, @02:27AM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by NCommander on Friday July 03 2015, @02:37AM
Hrm, any idea how hard it is to connect up to the current infrastructure? If its similar to PayPal, it won't be that hard. While I'm no fan of Apple personally, I do like to give our users choices ...
Still always moving
(Score: 3, Funny) by Tork on Friday July 03 2015, @06:00AM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 03 2015, @01:37PM
A money courier visiting to fetch the money personally! :-)
(Score: 3, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday July 03 2015, @04:09PM
There's always mailing a check or money order. I'm sure our treasurer would be fine with having his home address posted.
Seriously though, we've been looking into Stripe (a credit card processor who isn't paypal) for a while now. Just been other things always cropping up and sucking up dev time.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Thursday July 02 2015, @09:30PM
https://soylentnews.org/meta/submit.pl?op=viewsub&subid=8115 [soylentnews.org]
Is this AC asking about a warrant canary [wikipedia.org]?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2, Informative) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday July 02 2015, @09:52PM
Remember reading a comment by a user here about his work filter blocking this site because it was labeled under the 'political advocacy' catagory. It might be reassuring to have a legalspeak 'never served with a warrant' thrown somewhere.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 02 2015, @09:36PM
> 204,000 comments posted!
Yeah, and about 201,000 of them are by some jackass named Anonymous Coward.
(Score: 3, Funny) by cmn32480 on Thursday July 02 2015, @10:56PM
Yes, Anonymous Coward is a jackass. But he is OUR jackass, and we still love him!
"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 03 2015, @01:02AM
I won't take that personally.
-- gewg_
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 03 2015, @01:16AM
Fuck you, gewg_. This time it's personal.
-- jewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 03 2015, @10:19AM
That is all.
-- gewg_
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 02 2015, @11:54PM
Yes, let's celebrate the day that SoylentNews stopped being about The People and started being an Evil Corporation.
Nothing will prevent you brown-mouthed morons from kissing ass, will it?
If you're going to kiss ass, why don't you find a larger more powerful ass to kiss? Huh? That's the road to success, fuckwits.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 03 2015, @12:07AM
Mod down the dissenting view. Mod it to hell.
All hail the Soylent Soviet, comrades. So say I, comrade like you. I love Big Soylent!
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday July 03 2015, @12:16AM
topkek m8
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 03 2015, @01:34AM
15 year old pls
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 03 2015, @01:45AM
When you grow up, you'll learn to OBEY, loser!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Friday July 03 2015, @01:13PM
I feels like much longer than a year ago, maybe because Soylent perfectly replaced the place Slashdot occupied in my heart. Except, it's better. NCommander, Eds, we really appreciate the work, spirit, and intent you've put into the community. It's a mark of distinction that this place feels more like a really big, walnut-panelled study filled with learned colleagues than it does a random, pointless forum. The latter is ubiquitous, the former unique.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1) by krommers on Friday July 03 2015, @04:51PM
You nailed it - same for me.