how to read slashdot
Slashdot is quite likely the
geekiest of all geeky sites. I know that I never consciously
decided to read /. every day, it just kind of happened. Even from
the fist time I started reading the site, I always found the topics
interesting, not just the computer related things, but they cover
things like privacy, the environment, books, all sorts of fun
stuff...
What always bothered me was the comments on the articles, now don't
get me wrong, some pretty bright and informed folk do comment on /.
articles, it's just that I had to wade through so much crap to read
the good comments, I just gave up entirely and read the front page
and perhaps original article's link.
It wasn't until someone pointed out to me that /. does scoring, and
you can eliminate 90% of the garbage that people post with some
simple account settings.
So first you need an account. Then you log in and got to your
preferences page. From there, click on the comments tab.
Discussion Style: select Slashdot's New Discussion System
Testing
Display Mode: choose Nested
Sort Order: Oldest First
Threshold: 3:score+3
Highlight Threshold: 4:score+4
Reparent Highly Rated Comments [check this box]
People Modifier (assign a modifier to different people) choose
Friend +5 Fan +5
Karma Bonus (modifier assigned to posts where the user has good
karma) +1
New User Modifier (assign modifiers to recently created accounts)
+4% -1
Comment Limit: 100
Comment Byte Limit 128k
Index Spill 50
Max Comment Size 4096
Comment Box: 50 rows 10 columns
Always show link domains (checked)
Selected by create time descending, results grouped by discussion,
newest discussion first. (checked)
Thats about it, all the other settings were default or zero's or
unchecked. The site for me at least is now much more
readable.
Sometimes I am a bit gullible, not often but sometimes I am just
not thinking. I have a friend who just moved to Scotland..
<orchid> how's the haggis eating going?
<paul> The Haggis is nearly extinct now due to over-hunting, so very rarely
eaten now.
<orchid> haggis is an animal?
<paul> yeah
<orchid> way to make me ask in another channel and look stupid