Regarding videos on Slashdot, should we:
Displaying poll results.22820 total votes.
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- When will AGI be achieved? Posted on April 24th, 2025 | 49 comments
Third option - don't care (Score:5, Insightful)
I never follow up on them. They don't bring anything to the table for me, but I am happy to ignore them if they bring valuable visitors.
Re:Third option - don't care (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Third option - don't care (Score:5, Insightful)
I voted to kill them, but to be honest it is kill them in the state they are currently in.
I would not mind them if:
They never, ever autoplay.
If they bring some sort of valuable knowledge to the site. I mean valuable tech news or commentary from actual notable figures in technology, no fringe actors or flash in the pans. That will only dilute it.
The ability to hide them existed for logged in users. (For people afflicted by slow connections, data limits, or mobile connections.
Allow comments on the videos like any other article.
Please, please, no video ads though. Please.
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Re:Third option - don't care (Score:5, Insightful)
Hi. Nice to finally see some attention to the problems. Hopefully you'll fix the (serious, multiple) flaws in the moderation system, the inability to post most characters that aren't ASCII, the problem that most HTML doesn't work (and a good deal more of it should, particularly when it comes to information transfer and enhancement, like lists, strikeouts, and at least thumbnailing of linked still images), the mobile app's requirement to log in every damned time it is opened...
But to the point:
The inherent problem with videos, even best case when they are high quality, in the context of any site where discussion of the subject at hand is the objective: you can't quote them. When TFS or TFA says "yadda yadda yadda", then the users can:
Blah blah blah.
When a video says "yadda yadda yadda" of anything longer than a very short sentence, you can't quote without hand-transcribing it first, and that is a not only inconvenient as hell, it's prone to error. Without doing that, it ends up with whatever your head reconstructs, which isn't a reliable process and more often than not makes for muddy waters. You can't quote images without externally hosting them (at least here... other, more advanced sites allow still images in posts, but apparently that's too "free" for slashdot, just as the ability to edit one's posts is, even for a few minutes.)
Another inherent problem: Videos don't link to references, nor does the medium itself really have a good way to make that work.
Another: Without sound, which invades other people's environment or requires earphones/buds, they are typically near-information-free.
To add to that, modern video making technique has largely devolved into sound-bite laden, simplistic tripe aimed at the lowest common denominator.
That's not to say there can't be good video. There can, obviously. However that is very rarely the case.
Making video worthy (as much as possible with today's tech)
PS: Why the enthusiasm for still images, but not videos? Because the ability to quote a still image accurately and concisely is 100% practical, that's why.
Re:Third option - don't care (Score:5, Informative)
I'm pretty sure I saw some Unicode characters in a comment the other day. Let's see...
“smart quotes”
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Re:Third option - don't care (Score:5, Funny)
1) Keep videos, but only in the paid sponsor articles.
2) Make them autoplay.
3) Allow comments in said paid sponsor articles.
4) Slashdotters will be driven en masse, by the inexorable forces of anger and snark, to these articles.
5) They'll be all smug like, "Hehe, I just shat all over the new Ford Fusion with its stupid best in class safety features and low MSRP!"
6) There are no ???s here, this is a direct road to extra eyeballs, and thus profit.
7) Profit.
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I hate autoplay. I hit a page with an autoplaying video and even if I wanted to go there 9 times out of 10 it is X and that page is gone.
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--I never really have time to watch Slashdot videos, but if the story is interesting I will at least always read the transcript.
--Also - Logan, if you have a spare moment, please email me privately; I have an idea for a possible Slashdot ad partnership.
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--Bleh, I don't twitter. Hover over my obfuscated email in one of my posts, /. requires human-level decoding skillz to make sense of it but any old yah00 should be able to suss it out. ;-)
Re:Third option - don't care (Score:5, Interesting)
We're going to defer entirely to the majority opinion on this one. So far it's clear most people don't like them.
I've been coming to /. since 1999(this is my second account, since to hell if I can remember the password to my first--which is tied to a defunct email service that hasn't existed since late 1999), I've never once watched one of the videos since they were introduced. Generally I'm here for the comments and stories. Though I'm getting tired of the preachy BS in some of the article summaries.
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I've been coming to /. since 1999(this is my second account, since to hell if I can remember the password to my first--which is tied to a defunct email service that hasn't existed since late 1999),
Same here. I wish there could be some way for /. to re-activate old accounts based on things like you being the only one who knows the (now no longer working) e-mail address, and it being linked to your real name elsewhere.
Re:Third option - don't care (Score:5, Informative)
I lost my account password for years - same issue with dead email. I eventually recovered it because I remembered that early period slashdot did auto-login by storing your password in your cookie. Double BASE 64 encoded! I dug out my old PC that had died around that time and was able to pull my cookies off the hard disk, decode the slash ones and finally regain access to my account after 4 years. This probably doesn't help you, but it might work for someone else out there....
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I never watch the videos, but I read the comments. I'm not morally opposed to them. If they're expensive, I would suggest that they don't add enough value to justify the cost.
Maybe the current readership doesn't engage in them, but this sort of original content gets high visibility across the web and attracts new users?
Re:Third option - don't care (Score:4, Insightful)
I'd prefer a sweaty fat dude talking for half hour about something interesting over a scantily clad female talking about her first impression of a phone/laptop/useless-gadget at a booth at a show in under a minute.
the latter seems to be what the videos here are. when in the latter scenario, the female is replaced by a male, there's literally no reason to watch. the video can usually be replaced by a sentence. i.e. "gadget X will come to market in march and i'm excited about it" and a photo of the said gadget.
last video i watched here was about a smart bra. that is seriously NOT news for nerds.
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Wait a second, the videos have scantily clad females? I need to check them out. A good reason to continue the series!
Re:Third option - don't care (Score:5, Informative)
this was the bra video
http://partnervideo.slashdot.o... [slashdot.org]
this one i watched because in the thumbnail she was semi attractive
http://partnervideo.slashdot.o... [slashdot.org]
and these 2 contain scantily clad females
http://developers.slashdot.org... [slashdot.org]
http://news.slashdot.org/story... [slashdot.org]
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The first one - killed it immediately. Dumb.
The second one - the product is a really, really bad idea. A makeup mirror that will recreate the lighting where you're going? So you'll look okay at the office under "makes-you-look-like-a-dead-person" zombie fluorescent lighting, but ghastly going to and from? What's the matter with carrying a little makeup in your purse instead? Or (dare I say it) not using any if you're not in the front office and can get away with it?
I think I'll skip the rest.
Re:Third option - don't care (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Third option - don't care (Score:5, Insightful)
I can read a lot faster than listening to talking heads, and I never struggle to understand someone's accent when reading their words with Arial font. So for me it's either a transcript or nothing.
I don't think I've ever watched a video here. If I click on a video headline at all, I only read the transcripts then browse the comments. But I know I'm only one data point. As you say, videos may serve to attract someone else.
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good point here. video is so real-time. we're way passed that, man!
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Re:Third option - don't care (Score:4, Funny)
Either they don't like them or people that like them don't answer to polls.
Perhaps the video lovers need the poll presented as a video. After all, the question written out could be tl;dr for some...
Re:Third option - don't care (Score:5, Insightful)
We're going to defer entirely to the majority opinion on this one.
Does slashdot at long last have the hero it deserves? Holy cow. Cheers, Mr. Abbott!
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Re:Third option - don't care (Score:4, Interesting)
If you're thinking of running another poll like this, can the subject be timothy?
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You must be new here.
Oh wait
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I suggest producing videos occasionally is fine, but only do tastefully... post them to Youtube instead, or in addition, and provide a YT link or Embed for sharing.
When I saw a video that was cool; I want to share it, but friends complain about Slashdot links.... Something about popups obscuring things and excessively annoying floating ad banners, reminiscent of the late '90s, etc, etc.....
Re:Third option - don't care (Score:5, Funny)
If you're going to make videos, then at least create a YouTube channel.
If I want to watch your videos, I want it on my living room TV. On YouTube. When I am at home.
Not when I am at busy at work reading Slashdot.
I thought it was just me. (Score:3)
I voted "no videos", but I considered abstaining just because I've resigned myself to being out-of-step with contemporary culture. I know that I hate videos more than most other people, but because I'm an outlier, I resign myself to skipping over them, or blocking them, or moving on to another site.
As best I can guess, most other people don't find motion and noise as distracting as I do, don't mind being locked to the video producer's pace, and don't mind having their batteries and bandwidth drained for som
Kill them with fire (Score:5, Interesting)
They contribute nothing to the site. Instead have traditional text interviews (edited to get rid of fluff).
You can do this via email, it's cheaper, and easier to read. It doesn't require anything complicated.
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I wouldn't mind an occasional video, but in that case it should be there to visualize things that are hard to get a grip on in text. And then provided as a supplement to an article.
Re:Kill them with fire (Score:5, Insightful)
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Polls like these (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Polls like these (Score:5, Interesting)
Listening to your community? Making changes based on their feedback? Amazing.
In all seriousness, good work. Behavior like that might actually turn Slashdot back into something awesome again.
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Dude. What the hell...?
First, actually asking what we like, then sticking around for the comments? AND THEN ACTUALLY TALKING TO US??
Keep it up and I won't delete the bookmark...
(BTW, I didn't mind the movies, it was just that the interviews seemed like advertisements for the interviewee's company all the time. That was a total turn-off.)
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A little off topic but I don't mind the new inline ads that look like stories. I like that you designate them as such but I wish that we could comment and have discussions about them just like regular stories.
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A little off topic but I don't mind the new inline ads that look like stories. I like that you designate them as such but I wish that we could comment and have discussions about them just like regular stories.
That would get me to click on them once in a while.
We had fun talking about the X10 gadgets back when the ads were all over the place. Discussion might make for some good exposure for the advertisers while providing value to those that want to talk trash. ;)
Re:Polls like these (Score:5, Funny)
Next thing, we'll be expected to read the articles.
Re:Polls like these (Score:4, Funny)
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Next thing, we'll be expected to read the articles.
We have articles?
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It TRULY is amazing!!! I remember having to boycott slashdot for MONTHS during the Valentine's Day Beta Massacre of 2014!!
Then, just after Valentine's Day 2015, management wised up and stopped a year of hemorrhaging by instituting the current, much more palatable theme! 27 Feb 2015, the day I came back!!!
Now, Valentine's Day 2016?? It's like a whole new world!!!!!!!!!!!!
WOW!
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Re:Polls like these (Score:5, Insightful)
Can you also put the poles back in the side where they used to be and not inline with the story?
Also would be nice to see the stupid circle animation and ajax response thing go away.
The fact that the result comes in the color orange and blue really make it look like someone just hacked together some code from a javascript library to build that in rather than code it all from scratch like our old masters from yesteryears would have done. A POST request followed by a Location: /pollresultsthing.pl should be plenty. No need for javascripty frills everywhere.
Re:Polls like these (Score:4, Insightful)
Also, would love to see all the social media buttons go away as well. Nobody is going to post slashdot stories to reddit, and I don't believe we want reddit or other social media users leaking over here with their memes, lame jokes, and empty comments.
I'm here all day, feel free to pay me.
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Re:Polls like these (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Polls like these (Score:5, Insightful)
But if polls mixed in with articles drives traffic to the poll, I would not mind having a post in the regular flow that highlights that there is a new poll in the sidebar. Maybe that will make people see it faster and the voting will "settle" quicker.
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Thanks.
In general, most of us would be perfectly happy with just being able to hide the things we don't like. Things like the silly videos, or Bennet Hasselton, would never have achieved their level of infamy if there were an option to hide them. People who lurk anonymously, or resent the wasted resources, would still care.
As for video:there are important philosophical reasons to pick text over video. Bandwidth. Searchability. Self-pacing. Ability to skim the text, or to read more carefully. Immunity to cer
Re:Polls like these (Score:4, Informative)
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Another option (Score:2)
Transcript (Score:5, Informative)
There's nothing really wrong with Slashdot videos, but if you do post a video, also post a written transcript at the same time. This was the biggest problem with past videos -- the transcript wasn't posted right away, and by the time it was everyone had moved on. Lots of people read Slashdot during breaks at work, or in some other environment where video and audio don't work. Supplementing an interview or story with a video is fine, but the text content needs to be a first-class citizen.
But whatever you do, definitely don't use videos as fluff to shoehorn video-based advertisements into the mix. Everyone sees right through that scheme.
Re:Transcript (Score:5, Funny)
As the old adage goes, a picture takes the bandwidth of a thousand words.
To say nothing about videos. The information content is so low in videos that you can present the same facts as a 10 minute video in less bytes and time than this post, and lose the ambiguity inherent with audible communications.
Videos are really only useful for what cannot be described, like a planetary fly-by. And even then, a link will usually suffice.
Some dude reading an already overly lossy compressed presentation doesn't add anything except a fat pipeline bill and grumbling users who won't watch it to the finish anyhow.
As for pictures, is there a reason why the Digital Equiipment Corporation logo is next to this post? Hosting the videos on an old Alpha server or something?
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Arth1 one is right and more (Score:3)
We don't have the patience to watch a video of someone reading text to us. We are well capable of reading that text ourselves.
Video is a terrific medium. Use it for the purposes at which it excels. Produce content that works for the video form
There are videos here? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Are you an Internet billionaire that has bought /. on a whim? I'm not used to seeing that icon next to a username that appears to give a shit.
If that comes across as dickish I apologise; I really do think this looks like a change for the better.
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My initial reaction when your company gobbled up slashdot was: Oh shit, that's the final nail in the coffin. In a year it will be a vehicle for ads, only occasionally visited by those who once enjoyed the site. But.. so far it seems like you're making a serious attempt at making it actually better. I hope it will be a continuing genuine trend.
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Youtube (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Youtube (Score:4, Informative)
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A bit off-topic perhaps, definitely off-the-cuff, and maybe not practical, but here goes... how about videos authored by Slashdot? The name still has some cachet, so I'm thinking about things like a short video inside the LHC facility, (with maybe some interviews of the people who work there), or a fast-forwarded job-shadowing video of somebody like Wozniak doing whatever he does these days, or exclusive footage of Fukushima. This is just stuff off the top of my head, so it may be off point - but I'd enjoy
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Videos (Score:2)
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Never watched one. Won't ever. (Score:5, Insightful)
I can read 45 times faster than some random fucker can speak.
No patience for it.
Product, meaning, information. Not personality.
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Yup, agreed. In the tech field it's great for tutorials for a specific product for example, but for general information I'd much rather read / skim text than have to click through a slow-as-molasses video.
interviews have value, done properly (Score:2)
Focussed interviews with people at the top of their profession (no matter how small the niche) are well worth watching. However, it's not always easy to do this well.
While it's courteous to warm the guest up with a little "tell me about yourself", too many interviews begin here and never fully dial in. Another style that doesn't work is the "golly gosh" trinket hunt. Nothing bores me more than a shallow litany of amazingness.
A style that actually works is where the interviewer has a bead on "what gets you
You call that "produced"? (Score:2)
You call that "produced"?
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kill it with fire. (Score:2)
We work (Score:2)
I can't watch videos at work, but I can read text.
It's a no brainer - /. WILL overwhelmingly vote against videos and would probably send money to fire the nitwit that cheer-leaded that particular piece of dreg.
Now, thank you for tricking me into using the next piece of thing that has to go - the polls. :)
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Sorry after reading I have to agree - the main page polls have to go - the ones on the side like it used to be can stay.
Wow. I'm actually starting to think hanging on this long wasn't a mistake !
While We're Asking For Things... (Score:5, Interesting)
Not exactly related to the poll, but another thing that would be nice is if we could get a meta post from the new editors introducing themselves.
As Timothy appears to be the only editor that was retained, I for one would like to get to know BeauHD and yaelk (have I missed anyone else?) better. Favorite subjects? Past editor experience? How they landed the job? Vi or Emacs? Etc. It would help give the site a bit more of a community feeling between the editors and readers.
Re:While We're Asking For Things... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:While We're Asking For Things... (Score:5, Interesting)
I'll do my best to answer any other questions people may have. Looking forward to getting to know more of the community!
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Move the poll back, while you're at it! (Score:5, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I'm so glad you asked (Score:4, Insightful)
I skip over videos on all sites, it's much more convenient to read. If I have time/environment to watch something and hear it properly, I'd rather watch a show I want to catch up on.
I've yet to view a single one. (Score:5, Insightful)
I come here to read the ever dwindling amount of "News for nerds, stuff that matters", not that /. uses that slogan anymore. If I want to watch videos I'll go to Youtube. Of course I'm a grey beard who's been around /. since before a lot of the people here were born. Now get off my lawn!
Video AND text. (Score:2)
As long as the full information can be read in the article, video is fine!
No moronic "This hacker tries to build a neutron bomb from a paper clip and tin foil, I almost shat out my iButtplug when I saw what happened next!"
Videos were too slow and too boring (Score:5, Insightful)
The videos on slashdot were like going to a lecture and having the lecturer read the powerpoint slides. It was so unbelievably painful. A transcript with the fluff edited out would have been a million times better.
So when you ask about killing videos or not you need to see the result through the filter of just how bad the videos were. For example if you had a 1 minute video summarising the inside of a tokamak reactor and it was done well, with high density of information you probably would get a different poll result.
Third option (Score:5, Insightful)
One thing I always argued for, but never got anywhere with, was to try soliciting videos from the community. There's already a submission system, it would just be a matter of finding an easy upload method, and defining clear acceptance criteria.
Most of the videos are of people talking to each other — they don't really take advantage of the medium. Ask the community, and see what they can come up with. I'm sure there are many cool home projects that would be interesting to see. DIY home automation, coding tutorials, 3D printing projects, etc.
If you're going to leave it in its current form, my vote would be for killing them. I hated producing the handful of interviews that I posted (the game reviews [slashdot.org] were more interesting, but also exhausting). Definitely get rid of the syndicated stuff -- despite higher production values, the content is of no use to this community.
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One thing I always argued for, but never got anywhere with, was to try soliciting videos from the community.
That's a pretty good idea. Definitely worth consideration.
And thanks for your time at Slashdot. Apparently you're no longer employed there? Or at least not posting stories anymore that I've seen.
I hope you land(ed) on your feet and wish you well.
Re:Third option (Score:4)
Thanks for the years of editing Soulskill. I hope you're doing well.
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Maximum work and minimum payoff -- it is a pretty easy decision to get rid of videos. Personally, I've watched almost none -- maybe part of one.
Audio is a different story. Goes in my truck and I can listen at a time when I can't read. Still, it takes a lot of work to make good audio.
Text is the starting point, usually. And if you don't go A/V, you end up with something of highest utility and least cost to make.
Great to see the new team, especially Whip/, so active here. For me, improvement of /. is all