K5, A One Year Retrospective By rusty in Meta Thu Dec 21, 2000 at 08:12:22 AM EST Tags: Kuro5hin.org (all tags)
	As of today, K5 is one year old. It probably seems longer to many of you (I know it does to me!) but in fact, it was just one short year ago today that the first K5 story was posted. I Won't Be Home For Christmas went up on Tuesday, the 21st of December 1999, and the rest is history. But how much of that history do you know? We can see where we are, but do you know where we've been? For those who don't, or just want a refresher, interiot has put together an incredibly cool K5 retrospective, covering pretty much all the highs and lows of our inagural year. I pulled some Y1 stats from the DB for those who are interested, and then I'll turn it over to him. Happy Birthday K5! :-)

ADVERTISEMENT Sponsor: rusty This space intentionally left blank ...because it's waiting for your ad. So why are you still reading this? Come on, get going. Read the story, and then get an ad. Alright stop it. I'm not going to say anything else. Now you're just being silly. STOP LOOKING AT ME! I'm done! comments (15) active | buy ad ADVERTISEMENT Stats, Dec 21 1999 - Dec 21 2000: Stories submitted: 1953 Stories posted: 1304 Stories posted to front page: 892 Users: 10075 Diary entries: 2203 Comments: 58942 Pages served (very roughly, since Feb): 7006310 Data served (equally roughly, since Feb): 248 Gig But, of course, raw numbers say very little. The real "stats" from the last year are found in the stories. So, without further ado: Kuro5hin: An introspective history, by interiot The following are stories by and about Kuro5hin, starting from the very beginning. These stories document K5's history, its values and aspirations, and the features that have been requested over and over in thousands of variations. Some have worried that our culture will be ignored or destroyed by an influx of new users. It's my hope that if more people learn and understand the history of this place, future changes will remain rational and informed. Many of these stories I'd never read before because I showed up after the DoS attacks. For some reason, some of them struck me as very interesting, even if some don't directly apply to day-to-day posting. I guess the two things that struck me the most were how short but rapid the history of K5 is, how much of an influence Slashdot has been throughout its short history, and how the same features have been requested so often from the very beginning. It's rare that any organization's history is preserved in such detail, and that makes K5's history even more special. There is a lot of text here, but I found the earlier half of the first three sections to be the most illuminating. Hearty Congratulations to the K5 crew for the work you did and the community you helped foster. The real congratulations goes to all the contributors, who made it worth doing, and who proved that a site edited by the readers is not a pipe dream. Thanks, everyone. --rusty Kuro5hin Milestones / History Buried within K5's past are some beloved stories. Every once in a while, one is linked to in a current story. Newbies get a brief glimpse at K5's past, and oldtimers get a few moments of nostalgia. I'd like to take this opportunity on Kuro5hin's First Anniversary to start a tradition of reviving these classics, based on a theme. The stories listed below document key milestones as Kuro5hin was born and then set forth into the world. I Won't Be Home For Christmas [first post] Ahh, yes, the spirit of commercialism. That's what Christmas is really about. And it warms the very cockles of my heart. For those of you who don't know where your cockles are, they're right below your druthers, and just to the left of your craw. [first month of posts, a search snapshot] Review: The Infamous Slash Code Scoop Debuts Scoop Update (Now With Extra Tarball!) What About Slash 0.9? [Scoop vs. Slash FAQ] New Features [story submission, story moderation, user info] What Now? The Great Experiment The Root of all Evil? sid=moderation [comment moderation] RFC: So, you wanna be a columnist? (Constant) State of Kuro5hin Auditing kuro5hin K5 Stuff, Designed by You K5, Inc. and California Dreamin' How to Manage Advertising on K5? eWeek gives positive review of kuro5hin.org K5 Store, Open for Business Slashdot: Kuro5hin - Bitter and Hopeful [Interview w/ Rusty and Inoshiro] Mail Bombing Attack The Fun Never Stops Welcome Back! When script kiddies attack (or admins screw up)! IRC Forum: No holy wars, no MSN, and enough about Slashdot already VA does not officially own our souls. New Feature: Diaries 10,000th Confirmed User and Blankets for K5! Community, or What K5 Should Be What's the point? I also felt like I needed a place to put my stuff, and a place I could spew random info, news, gossip, or what have you. I did have this dream once where I was up on this podium, and millions of tiny midget Elvises were all throwing pickles at me. Kuro5hin.org Needs a Mission Statement For one thing, I miss the slashdot community that used to be. I'd like to build a community of people who have interesting things to say. I feel qualified to talk about culture because I've done cultural studies at a major, overrated East-Coast American institution of higher "learning," and I learned that any old jerk is perfectly qualified to talk about culture. Criticism of /. -- Film at Eleven. Slashdot, and all weblogs, by their nature are creations and reflections of their community of users. We all helped make Slashdot what it was, some more than others and most more than me. So we feel a sense of ownership. Regardless of how much you contributed to the incredible place that Slashdot was, your contributions were just that, contributions. You GAVE to the community and you got back good discussion and perhaps knowledge you didn't have before. Who Are You? Navel gazing: Discussion of discussion People are worried that if they have something negative or critical to say that they may inadvertently instigate a flame war as happens on Slashdot regularly. The Kuro5hin readership seems to be very fearful of degenerating into another flaminghotgritspetrifiednatalieportman fest. k5 Bootcamp (or Why k5 is not /.) It takes time for an article to get through moderation. By the time the news reaches the front page everyone and their kid brother already know about it. That means you're much better writing of an in-depth analysis of whatever it is that you want to talk about. That way we are getting information that none of the other newsites -- fixated upon getting the scoop before everyone else -- ever bothers giving. To Live Is To Die / The Real Slashdot Effect Looking beyond your nose Who Are You, Part 2 Do we have a sense of humor? Gauntlet's Editorial Guide to Proper Posting Story Content Gypsies in the palace... shameless plug, lowerbound of taste? Film at 11. Peer Review of Articles A Rant About Rants The case for discrimination and politics Rumors and Assumptions as News? MLP vs. Advertising Comment Moderation, Spam Legal Implications of Troll-Bashing sid=moderation Mass-debating all over the Net Suggested change to moderation Rating The Rating Scale Abuse of Comment Ratings And trust me, Raph, Advogato was a major influence on both me and Rusty in putting Scoop together. Thank you for the inspirations. Abuse of Comment Ratings Accountability in Ratings Story Submission New Features Feature request: Story editing Being more positively negative Edit/Cancel own story option required? Things about stories... Reposting stories Story Moderation New Features The Great Experiment kuro5hin.org's moderation process ineffective? Submission Queue and Story Moderation Issues Story Moderation Changes More stories need to make it to the front page What should we do with the queue? Submission voting trends meta-scoring: collaborative article rating Scale back on the front-page activity. Fear and Loathing on K5 Short does not necessarily mean DUMP Debates and Discussions in Internet Forums Should we moderate story submissions before posting them? Post more articles to the front page Fixing Kuro5hin's Story Selection Story Categories Sections Without Borders Separate "Forums" section? Articles That Cross Categories? "Announcements and Brief Mentions" page for K5 I can't stand the sections! Suggestion: "Best of" or "All-Time Classics" of kuro5hin Suggestion: automatically bar all Meta submissions from the front page. K5 News What is MLP? Story Views / Sorting Promoting quality discussion on K5 Cross-section 'New Stories' option needed? Personally customized Front Pages Personalization / Layout Kuro5hin, now you can read it from across the room User I18N Darkness optional A Customizable Front Page: Do You Want It? Advertising K5, Inc. and California Dreamin' How to Manage Advertising on K5? Banner ads Social Contract We the People of Kuro5hin.org... [constitution] Giving cyberspace a voice. Weblogs / "That Other Site" Voices From a Slashmouth [ethics of using comments without an author's permission] The Worth of Reader Contributions Nielsen: Content Creation for Average People All Moderation in Moderation [sig11 arrives] Idealised public debate on the Internet Many-of-the-above What Now? Random Thoughts On K5 The Black Screen of Death [July 24 - Sept 18] The fun starts: Mail Bombing Attack [Why that title? Odd.] The Fun Never Stops The site goes black [Read from bottom up-- this is the whole thing] The Register: Script kiddies fell Kuro5hin Slashdot: Kuro5hin Forced Down By DOS Slashdot: Kuro5hin - Bitter and Hopeful Slashdot: Kuro5hin Update The triumphant return: Welcome Back! Slashdot: Kuro5hin Returns The Register: Kuro5hin returns with added Mojo Linux Today: Kuro5hin.org re-launches today Linux Weekly News: Cheesy Press Release [;-)] NerdPerfect: The Rebels Strike Back - or - Kuro5hin Returns [Check out Inoshiro flaming them in the comments of this one. The K5 PR machine works overtime. Imagine what would happen if we got some bad publicity!] The jubilation is global ;-) LinuxFR.org: kuro5hin.org réouvre ses portes BarraPunto: Kuro5hin.org vuelve a estar en línea Gnuheter: Kuro5hin.org öppnar igen om en timme Transfert: Kuro5hin renaît de ses cendres [Note: I did this interview in English. My French isn't quite that good. :-) --R] And don't forget the KuroDot parody: KuroDot.Org Taken Down Following Massive "Lack of Interest" Attack This has been by far the most fun, bizarre, stressful, interesting, strenuous, and cool year of my short life. Thank you all, and let's make 2001 even better. :-) --R

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I've been here... 10 - 12 months 19% 7 - 9 months 21% 4 - 6 months 24% 1 - 3 months 28% I just got here 2% I've never been here 3% Votes: 173 Results | Other Polls

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Slashdot Scoop Kuro5hin I Won't Be Home For Christmas interiot --> [first month of posts, a search snapshot] Review: The Infamous Slash Code Scoop Debuts Scoop Update (Now With Extra Tarball!) What About Slash 0.9? New Features What Now? The Great Experiment The Root of all Evil? sid=modera tion RFC: So, you wanna be a columnist? (Constant) State of Kuro5hin Auditing kuro5hin K5 Stuff, Designed by You K5, Inc. and California Dreamin' How to Manage Advertising on K5? eWeek gives positive review of kuro5hin.org K5 Store, Open for Business Kuro5hin - Bitter and Hopeful Mail Bombing Attack The Fun Never Stops Welcome Back! When script kiddies attack (or admins screw up)! IRC Forum: No holy wars, no MSN, and enough about Slashdot already New Feature: Diaries 10,000th Confirmed User and Blankets for K5! What's the point? Kuro5hin.o rg Needs a Mission Statement Criticism of /. -- Film at Eleven. Who Are You? Navel gazing: Discussion of discussion k5 Bootcamp (or Why k5 is not /.) To Live Is To Die / The Real Slashdot Effect Looking beyond your nose Who Are You, Part 2 Do we have a sense of humor? Gypsies in the palace... shameless plug, lowerbound of taste? Film at 11. Peer Review of Articles A Rant About Rants The case for discrimination and politics Rumors and Assumptions as News? MLP vs. Advertising Legal Implications of Troll-Bashing Mass-debat ing all over the Net Suggested change to moderation Rating The Rating Scale Abuse of Comment Ratings Accountabi lity in Ratings Feature request: Story editing Being more positively negative Edit/Cance l own story option required? Things about stories... Reposting stories kuro5hin.o rg's moderation process ineffective? Submission Queue and Story Moderation Issues Story Moderation Changes More stories need to make it to the front page What should we do with the queue? Submission voting trends meta-scori ng: collaborative article rating Scale back on the front-page activity. Fear and Loathing on K5 Short does not necessarily mean DUMP Debates and Discussions in Internet Forums Should we moderate story submissions before posting them? Post more articles to the front page Fixing Kuro5hin's Story Selection Sections Without Borders Separate "Forums" section? Articles That Cross Categories? "Announcem ents and Brief Mentions" page for K5 I can't stand the sections! Suggestion : "Best of" or "All-Time Classics" of kuro5hin Suggestion : automatically bar all Meta submissions from the front page. K5 News What is MLP? Promoting quality discussion on K5 Cross-sect ion 'New Stories' option needed? Personally customized Front Pages Kuro5hin, now you can read it from across the room User I18N Darkness optional A Customizable Front Page: Do You Want It? We the People of Kuro5hin.org... [constitution] Giving cyberspace a voice. Voices From a Slashmouth The Worth of Reader Contributions Nielsen: Content Creation for Average People All Moderation in Moderation Idealised public debate on the Internet What Now? [2] Random Thoughts On K5 Mail Bombing Attack [2] The Fun Never Stops [2] The site goes black Script kiddies fell Kuro5hin Kuro5hin Forced Down By DOS Kuro5hin - Bitter and Hopeful [2] Kuro5hin Update Welcome Back! [2] Kuro5hin Returns Kuro5hin returns with added Mojo Kuro5hin.o rg re-launches today Cheesy Press Release The Rebels Strike Back - or - Kuro5hin Returns kuro5hin.o rg réouvre ses portes Kuro5hin.o rg vuelve a estar en línea Kuro5hin.o rg öppnar igen om en timme Kuro5hin renaît de ses cendres KuroDot.Or g Taken Down Following Massive "Lack of Interest" Attack Also by rusty