What your favourite Web sites say about you

By Rory Reid on 10 September 2007, 5:27pm

11Pages

1
2
3
4
5
...
11

SLASHDOT
What's the story?
Slashdot is a well-respected science and technology news aggregation Web site. It lists user-submitted news stories with a bias towards geeks. Each story is vetted by a moderator before being posted, at which point visitors can leave their opinions in Slashdot's highly active forums. It was created in September 1997 by Rob 'CmdrTaco' Malda, who still runs the site.

The first Slashdot submission was recorded on 31 December 1997. By 18 August 2004 it had recorded 10 million posts. During this time its users helped create a unique subculture that was responsible for the propagation of several Internet memes. Among these were Al Gore's spurious claim to have invented the Internet, Chuck Norris' refusal to use email because he comes from the cowboy generation, and countless hyperlink-related 'pranks' involving the Goatse phenomenon.

Slashdot's core audience is thought primarily to be Linux users. Contrary to popular opinion, however, over half of its visitors use a Windows PC. Approximately a third use some form of Linux, with 10 per cent using Mac OS X.

Did you know?
Before Slashdot was Slashdot, it was known as 'Chips & Dips'. The site was launched in July 1997 but less than three months later it was renamed. The name Slashdot was allegedly chosen to confuse those poor souls who pronounce the full URL of the site ("h-t-t-p-colon-slash-slash-
slashdot-dot-org"). You've got to love geek humour.

What Slashdot says about you
Slashdot's tagline is "news for nerds", so no prizes for guessing what type of people visit the site. The average male Slashdot user probably looks a lot like our model -- but has more acne and bigger glasses. Users are 23 years old but look twice their age and steadfastly refuse to accept the fact that Windows is actually not a bad operating system.

Far from being lovable dorks, the Slashdotters have a vicious streak. They hunt like spiders, awaiting the arrival of an article from their victims -- usually a hapless news reporter. The second moderators accept a story, they pounce -- pedantry, suspicion and anonymity their weapons of choice.