Slashdot effect suck balls these days.

[Herodes]

It is my impression that every time bitcoin is mentioned on Slashdot, it receives a lot of negative comments.

This surprises me a little, as when there's political issues presented, there are usually a lot of insightful and interesting comments, and a lot of them is kind of libertarian.

So not sure about the hostile attitude towards bitcoin from the slashdot community.

Anyone got a theory about it ?

I told a senior Linux system administrator at my work about Bitcoin (thinking he would be really interested in it), but he was actually really turned off by it. I think in order to for someone to be interested in Bitcoin and not be repelled by it, they have to have some kind of economic understanding of the potential, and they have to be a bit more open minded than most. It is not just a technical understanding that is necessary, that's for sure. If you don't have the economic understanding of Bitcoin's potential, it will just seem like another scheme.

I see a lot of people dismiss things immediately when they are told about it, and don't even bother to check it up. Personally I'm always open minded and tries to learn about new things when I hear about it.

Not bitcoin related, but in life I have done some experiences, and I often have some tips for people that I know are good tips, but very often, people do not even listen, but just continue on in their miserable ways. Some people even prefer to use their ineffective methods of solving things, when they are presented with more efficient ways of doing something. So I realized, it's not for me to try to convince or try to better the lifes of others, I tell people about something once. And if they don't react to it, I won't push it on them.

[Matthew N. Wright]

It is my impression that every time bitcoin is mentioned on Slashdot, it receives a lot of negative comments.

This surprises me a little, as when there's political issues presented, there are usually a lot of insightful and interesting comments, and a lot of them is kind of libertarian.

So not sure about the hostile attitude towards bitcoin from the slashdot community.

Anyone got a theory about it ?

I told a senior Linux system administrator at my work about Bitcoin (thinking he would be really interested in it), but he was actually really turned off by it. I think in order to for someone to be interested in Bitcoin and not be repelled by it, they have to have some kind of economic understanding of the potential, and they have to be a bit more open minded than most. It is not just a technical understanding that is necessary, that's for sure. If you don't have the economic understanding of Bitcoin's potential, it will just seem like another scheme.

I see a lot of people dismiss things immediately when they are told about it, and don't even bother to check it up. Personally I'm always open minded and tries to learn about new things when I hear about it.

Not bitcoin related, but in life I have done some experiences, and I often have some tips for people that I know are good tips, but very often, people do not even listen, but just continue on in their miserable ways. Some people even prefer to use their ineffective methods of solving things, when they are presented with more efficient ways of doing something. So I realized, it's not for me to try to convince or try to better the lifes of others, I tell people about something once. And if they don't react to it, I won't push it on them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4FSLOMErbA

I've seen lots of this in real life where people freeze up at opportunities. They need things dictated to them. They need habits. Everyone would be using Bitcoin in 10 years if we kept at this rate of adoption, so I guess we should just start building for the future and using it now.

[Vladimir]

Actually I would not take any money in such circumstances either. Lots of scams are based on somehow giving a person money and then emotionally assaulting him based on the fact that money were accepted. One of the rules of survival in prison, some army units etc... (dpending on country obviously) is to not owe anything to anyone. I'd say refusing gifts from strangers is a perfectly viable survival stratagem.

See one of the latest Burn Notice episodes (season6, ep 3-4 ish) for confirmation if you do not believe me.

Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes ->  "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts"

Troyan horse attacks are possible and are are happening not only in Information Security context but in context of street level survival as well. What you see in that video is people intuitively defending themselves from a potential trojan horse attack.

If only bitcoiners were as streets smart as those random people in that video, Pirate ponzi would be done and dusted long ago...

[exahash]

eleuthria, fair point. However, by "old days" we perhaps refer to slightly different old days. I, for example, distinctly remember some websites updating their dedicated servers to cope with slashdot effect.

Ah the old days. My /. uid is ~100000 - I was late to the party. For many years getting Slashdotted meant your connection would go down - and they themselves had a pretty big pipe. When 9/11 happened and a lot of big websites went down due to traffic (CNN.com IIRC) Slashdot was the only site that was continuously updated.

It's quite fun reading comments on Bitcoin on Slashdot. Most of them reek with hurt geek superiority, i.e, "Since I didn't get it from the beginning I will now hate it".

My /. uid is just below 4000, tho 100k is pretty good too. 

Anyway, getting slashdotted is a good thing.  It means people are actually reading your site.

[twmz]

Hasn't Slashdot been largely irrelevant for almost a decade?

(my uid is < 500)

[justusranvier]

My UID is a palindrome: 25252

[Seal]

I'd be interested to see the site traffic on slashdot over the last 10 years. Its a pretty niche crowd that I cant imagine has grown much compared to the 'lighter' to read tech blogs like engadget or gizmodo these days.

[bb113]

As others have said slashdot is going downhill. I barely visit any longer. A funny coincidence is that I used to frequent something awful back in the day as well (like 5 years ago), but have long abandoned that place. Both these communities seem to be overrun by pseudointellectual trolls these days. Maybe it isn't a coincidence.

[Herodes]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4FSLOMErbA

I've seen lots of this in real life where people freeze up at opportunities. They need things dictated to them. They need habits. Everyone would be using Bitcoin in 10 years if we kept at this rate of adoption, so I guess we should just start building for the future and using it now.

Instead of a sweaty scary guy, they should've used a glam babe with cleavage, I think more people would have accepted the cash then. On the other hand, giving out money on the street is 'unnatural', while giving out flyers is normal..

[Mike Hearn]

I've been reading and posting to Slashdot for over ten years. The site itself hasn't changed much in that time, bar some minor redesigns. The traffic and posting levels, the types of stories that are posted, etc, are all pretty similar.

It's not that the Slashdot effect got smaller, it's that technology got better.

As to why some people dislike the idea of Bitcoin, a lot of it depends on how you initially introduce it to people. I've not encountered anyone who's turned off by it, but I don't ever introduce it as a kind of investment or way to make money. I don't try and sell Bitcoins to them or get them involved. I just describe it as a bunch of people experimenting with a new financial system that doesn't need banks. Then typically they are quite receptive to the idea. They won't sign up tomorrow, but maybe in a few years.

[JupeB]

Actually I would not take any money in such circumstances either. Lots of scams are based on somehow giving a person money and then emotionally assaulting him based on the fact that money were accepted. One of the rules of survival in prison, some army units etc... (dpending on country obviously) is to not owe anything to anyone. I'd say refusing gifts from strangers is a perfectly viable survival stratagem.

See one of the latest Burn Notice episodes (season6, ep 3-4 ish) for confirmation if you do not believe me.

Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes ->  "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts"

Troyan horse attacks are possible and are are happening not only in Information Security context but in context of street level survival as well. What you see in that video is people intuitively defending themselves from a potential trojan horse attack.

If only bitcoiners were as streets smart as those random people in that video, Pirate ponzi would be done and dusted long ago...

That's awesome, using Burn Notice as a reference.

[Xian01]

TIL that Slashdot is still relevant to some people.

Haven't visited that place regularly since discovering Reddit a few years back.

[D.H.]

As to why some people dislike the idea of Bitcoin, a lot of it depends on how you initially introduce it to people. I've not encountered anyone who's turned off by it, but I don't ever introduce it as a kind of investment or way to make money. I don't try and sell Bitcoins to them or get them involved. I just describe it as a bunch of people experimenting with a new financial system that doesn't need banks. Then typically they are quite receptive to the idea. They won't sign up tomorrow, but maybe in a few years.

So true, and not only for Bitcoin. Most people don't like being "forced" into new ideas. Make them curious and they will investigate it on their own. Any critically thinking person will be sceptical if you tell them that you know something fantastic, something amazing that will revolutionize the world.