Is Slashdot 21st-century model for Internet publishing?
The New York Times story on Slashdot.org, "an online publication with a fanatical community of millions of readers that combines a rich view of technology with quick, off-kilter wit." Most importantly, Slashdot continues to thrive because its expenses are low and its following significant. As Internet entrepreneur and author of "Web Business Boot Camp," Richard Seltzer puts it, "Publishing without paper is cheap and cheap is good."
Could it be that this is the 21st-century model for Internet publishing?
The highest-flying print publications of the dot-com bubble burbled about technology and the businesses that it fertilized. But now they and their glossy paper have fallen to earth. Just last week, Forbes ASAP and Upside joined the once-fat Industry Standard in the glossies' graveyard. "There is no market for a dedicated new-economy publication," said Monie Begley, a spokeswoman for Forbes.
But far away from the buzz and the glamour, Slashdot survives and thrives. Run out of a basement office in a suburb of Ann Arbor, Mich., Slashdot has remained true to the slogan: "News for nerds. Stuff that matters."