Slashdot, a user-generated news, analysis, peer question and professional insight community. Tech professionals moderate the site which averages more than 5,300 comments daily and 3.7 million unique visitors each month.
As I said before, we don't have a really good idea on the number of unique IPIDs visiting the site, but we do have solid numbers for our daily comment counts. Here's the graph as generated by slashcode for a biweekly period:
(due to a quirk in slashcode, the graphs don't update until 48 hours later; our comment count for 04/01 was 712 comments total).
Taking in account averages, we're roughly getting a little less than 10% of Slashdot's comment counts, with a considerably smaller user base. As I said, the OkCupid story made me take notice. Here's the comment counts at various scores between the two sites
| SoylentNews | Slashdot.org | --------------------------------------- Score -1 | 130 | 1017 | Score 0 | 130 | 1005 | Score 1 | 109 | 696 | Score 2 | 74 | 586 | Score 3 | 12 | 96 | Score 4 | 4 | 64 | Score 5 | 1 | 46 | ---------------------------------------Furthermore, I took a look at UIDs on the other site, the vast majority of comments came from 6/7 digit UID posters. Looking at CmdrTaco's Retirement Post as well as posts detailing the history of the other site most of the low UIDs are still around, and are simply in perma-lurk mode.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by cmn32480 on Wednesday April 02 2014, @07:57AM
I too was fairly active at one point on the other site, but became a logged in perma-lurker. I have commented more here since launch then I commented on the other site in the last 5+ years.
The biggest issue I had on the other site was that it, frankly, got too big. The SNR became so bad that it wasn't worth it. I still read some articles and browsed the comments at -1, but it became a chore to filter the handful of good stuff from the trash.
Since I came here, I have found a VERY nice SNR. The vast majority of the postings here are quality. The signal degradation will happen as the site grows in popularity, it is inevitable. The process is accelerated buy allowing the AC to post, but this is an important thing in this community, and I think it should stay that way, but the SNR will increase as teh site gains in popularity.
I know I'm not as invested as some in this site, but it has very quickly become a part of my day, most every day. I'm not exactly sure why, but I actually care that the site does well. Maybe it is because right now it is the one place I have that I don't have to filter the crap (at home I still change diapers, that counts as filtering crap, right?). The commenters haven't gotten really snarky yet, and it is actually a place that the discussion is fostered, instead of becoming a flame war over everything (Even the Apple vs. Samsung discussions haven't been too awful).
God knows many of the folks on staff have put their entire lives virtually on hold for the last several months. And you all deserve a huge amount of credit for what you have done.
Short version: The SNR is currently really good, and it seems like the staff and the community want the site to succeed.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 02 2014, @08:20AM
Another thing is that Slashdot publish a lot of articles every day so if you haven't logged on in a few days you're quickly 100+ articles behind.
(Score: 1) by inyoutees on Wednesday April 02 2014, @08:53AM
I'm going to reply here because I think I agree that the signal to noise ratio is something nearer the top of the list of answers to your questions than the bottom. I'm not entirely sure how, though.
My story: 313173 on the other site. No idea when that was, but probably early 00's or late 90's when I first got into open source & computing. I apparently had a comment modded up in 2009 (yay achievements!) but honestly don't really remember if I've posted more than 2-3 times ever on the other site. I think I subscribed at some point, just from a monetary support standpoint, but never really got involved in commenting. I hadn't logged in in years until people started posting about altslashdot, just to find out my UID and how long I'd actually been around. Lurking has a way of making time fly and suddenly you feel old.
My browsing (historically): I tend to either be busy and not come by at all, or show up 2-4 times throughout the day to make a quick read of whatever has been posted. I'll typically not spend more than 15-30 minutes engaged at a time, which usually means finding one story that piques my interest, reading TFA, and then browsing comments. On high-comment stories I'd limit myself to +4s and +5s, otherwise maybe +3s. Historically I've avoided moderating. I think I've enjoyed comments mostly as a way of learning more about the story/subject, and expanding my perspective. I've been getting out of IT for years now, so I don't often have a dog in the fight, but I still love the subjects. The best parts of the ./ comment system were learning/following some of the posters that I enjoyed, and seeing the best comments bubble to the top in a way that worked. Reddit/etc simply has never really worked for me in that way. Too much time to find the good comments/information, I think.
My Soylent activity: I'm still not big on the name and probably one of the few still using the altslashdot redirect because I find it easier. But that's beside the point. It's honestly about the same here. Brief visits, where I enjoy reading comments (learning) and the actual story without having to put in a ton of work (remember, this is my "mental break" from real work) trying to find the good information. I am always logged in here, and I moderate every time I have points, which is new(er) for me, but have enjoyed as it feels that it makes more of a difference than on the other site. I typically don't spend more than 3-4 of my points, then go on about my day until my next visit.
The first few weeks here, I was disappointed when a story only had 10 comments, but I've come around to thinking I don't really miss much on a 10-comment Soylent story compared to a 200-comment story on the other site. (I haven't visited the other site outside of your links in this story, and don't really miss it) I find I browse on lower comment thresholds here (0 or +1 sometimes) which makes me think the signal to noise ratio is a much more important factor than I would have thought if you had randomly asked me on the street. I don't post usually, but want to contribute to the site's success. That said, it's rare for me to 1) have a particularly new/insightful comment that someone else here hasn't already mentioned or is a better expert, and 2) my visits are usually fairly time-limited. This is one of the few sites I gather any news from (no FB, avoid the 24hr news networks like the plague, etc), and I figure if something in the world is important enough, it'll figure out a way to find me. Soylent is a great way for me to be an armchair IT/geek/nerd/whatever without having to work in the field any longer.
Hope that helps.
(Score: 2) by tibman on Wednesday April 02 2014, @10:05AM
The commenters haven't gotten really snarky yet, and it is actually a place that the discussion is fostered, instead of becoming a flame war over everything..
I second this. Sometimes i am reluctant to post because my knowledge in the article area isn't enough to defend myself with. You needed some really thick skin on slashdot. Which is probably why so many people posted AC.
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.