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from the i-am-so-fucking-sick-of-this-drama dept.
Update: 10 March 2014 20:20 UTC. Follow here for the latest.
Update: 10 March 2014 19:10 UTC.
At this point Barrabas reports he is exchanging email with the buyer but refuses to say anything. Until we hear from them, we have to hope for the best but plan for the worst. If this link goes down, please go to the linode site where we will regroup. We will use that link as a fallback if necessary.
Update: 10 March 2014 18:30 UTC.
Barrabas reports in IRC he has received funds for the site and has sold the domain name. The terms of this sale, as well as its buyer, have not been disclosed. We await additional information. If you have information on this, please contact us at admin @ soylentnews . org
Update: 10 March 2014 16:30 UTC.
Due to NCommander's personal involvement with the situation he is recusing himself from negotiations. I (Mattie_p) am currently working with the staff to figure out how to address this incident. We have posted a poll which is available and should show up shortly on the front page.
Original text:
We've been held hostage by John:
Working with NCommander
Am I The Bad Guy
Right now, I can't write a coherent response properly (I'm writing this from a Mac Store right now as some sort of response was necessary). Despite John's offer, we never used the Linode's he purchased for hosting slash, and the two services (forums and wiki) that were hosted on them were migrated. I had hoped that this would have been a private issue between me and John, to be handed by email with a proper agreement, but the site itself is now at risk.
Right now, I'm organizing a response with out staff now, but I won't be home for several hours so MrBluze is currently handling the crisis. He can hand off to mattie_p when he returns, or myself when I have proper net access again. John's offer does not reflect myself or any of the staff here, nor does he have what he says he has. The web server, dev server (fusion forge), and database were always hosted on Linode's on my personal account. John DID have access to the Linode account which was revoked when he left staff, but to my knowledge never had the root password or shell accounts on any of the boxes. That access was revoked. It is possible he has a copy of the database, I do not know for sure. He does not at this moment have access to any of the hardware powering the site. He does however control the DNS register and can possibly yank the site from under us. If that happens, I can send a mass email to every user account to inform them of what happened, and where we are now. We supposedly have until Friday until John drops everything in the trash unless someone pays him $2000 USD. As per the posts, I was willing to pay him, but I had some issue with the expenses as written (my emails are genuine, as is the email I received from John), but I'm currently in Asia, and have no practical way to send him a check until I return to the continental United States on Sunday; I informed John of this on IRC originally.
We're currently in scramble mode to try and organize a new name, and getting migrated as soon as possible. I was serious when I said I was done with the drama but it appears John isn't. I'm personally sorry to have to inflict this on the community, and if you wish to leave us, I shall not blame you in the slightest.
(Score: 5, Funny) by d on Monday March 10 2014, @07:34AM
Crap, I already had 18 karma and a 3-digit ID!
(Score: 5, Informative) by xlefay on Monday March 10 2014, @07:40AM
We're not leaving! We will change domain, that's for sure. But everything will stay the same.
I suggest everyone that's interested in real time discussion and updates joins us at http://chat.sylnt.us/ [sylnt.us]
(Score: 3, Informative) by buswolley on Monday March 10 2014, @02:24PM
I liked the name soylentnews...after a while.
subicular junctures
(Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Monday March 10 2014, @03:34PM
Soylent News IS people,
Soylent Green WAS People.
Soylent News is now grinding up the executive staff and there will soon be enough for all to eat........
Front row seats for the downfall of modern civilization. Who could ask for more...
(Score: 1) by Reziac on Monday March 10 2014, @11:15PM
Okay, I can log in with the browser, but for the life of me I don't see how to post. No "enter text here" type field. [scratching head]
I like the silly name, so there.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by marcello_dl on Monday March 10 2014, @07:43AM
well think about all the karma you left on /.
Migrating everything to something like diaspora would be an interesting long term solution, right now I'll just have patience (whatever editors are doing, it's something i am grateful for).
(Score: 5, Insightful) by lx on Monday March 10 2014, @08:00AM
Meh those are merely numbers in a database. The real world karma expended by all this drama is the real shame.
Switch to tea or decaf take a couple of deep breaths, talk it out and find a solution. No need to ruin a perfectly good site with heated emotions.
I know it's easy for me to say it because I'm not directly involved, but I think it's advice both sides could benefit from.
The best of luck with finding that solution.
(Score: 2) by Jerry Smith on Monday March 10 2014, @09:55AM
Easy for you to say, mister 4-number-id.
Back on topic: it's time for some decisions to be made. It needs to become a non-profit so they can generate some tax-free income by ads or donations. etc.
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.
(Score: 2) by mojo chan on Monday March 10 2014, @07:07PM
379? Pfft. Half the reason I come here is to be a low UID snob.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
(Score: 1) by ragequit on Monday March 10 2014, @11:23PM
3 digits? pshaw.
The above views are fabricated for your reading pleasure.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by TWiTfan on Monday March 10 2014, @08:37AM
It's sad, but not uncommon. Most forks end up falling apart with squabbling. Just look at the mess that Linux is in.
I've got to say, though, that the speed at which this one has fallen apart has surprised even me. It's a pretty good indication that the "management" had no fucking clue what they were getting themselves in for from the get-go. So it's probably for the best that they just disappear.
A good Slashdot fork may come along one day, but it obviously won't be led by these bunch of numbnuts.
If real life were like D&D, my Charisma score would be a negative number
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 10 2014, @09:57AM
Especially when the guy claimed this was "all about the community". Since the point that he "amicably" stepped down it seems his true motivations have come through which was to build a fiefdom for himself. It seems he can't stand that the site does not need him and as such is going to try to raze the place as a way to get back at the guy he squabbled with.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by mrcoolbp on Monday March 10 2014, @10:16AM
Believe me, this is NOT falling apart. Things exploded rapidly, more quickly then we imagined. We'll have this sorted out, just give it a little time.
Remember this is what /. looked like in 1998:
http://web.archive.org/web/19980113192107/http://s lashdot.org/slashdot.cgi?mode=article&artnum=429 [archive.org]
(Score:1^½, Radical)
(Score: 1) by Reziac on Monday March 10 2014, @11:17PM
I find it hilarious that one of the articles on that page is headlined as "Boycott".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 11 2014, @01:18AM
soylent news... is news