back to article Slashdot, SourceForge looking for new owners after parent dumps them on the web's doorstep

DHI Group, the company formerly known as Dice Holdings, has announced that it's selling off its Slashdot Media division following two successive quarters of declining revenue. DHI's main business is running job-listing and recruitment sites, including Dice.com. But in 2012 it acquired Slashdot Media – which includes source …

  1. Andy Non Silver badge
    FAIL

    Lost credibility

    SourceForge, CNET and others lost credibility to me when they started bundling adware (some of it bordering on malware) with software. I don't touch those sites with a barge pole nowadays.

    I'll just add that it does nothing for the credibility of those who host software there either, as many of the user comments complain about the adware/malware and put the blame on the original software developers not realising that SourceForge/CNET have added the nasty stuff.

    1. Planty Bronze badge

      Re: Lost credibility

      Slashdot lost theirs when they started allowing obvious paid shilling and banning of anyone that didn't make noises that didn't agree with their shadow sponsors.

      A problem all to common on the "free" internet

      1. Dan 55 Silver badge
        Trollface

        Re: Lost credibility

        So who are El Reg's BBC-hating pro-copyright right-wing climate-sceptic sponsors?

        1. James O'Shea

          Re: Lost credibility

          "So who are El Reg's BBC-hating pro-copyright right-wing climate-sceptic sponsors?"

          Donald Trump and the dead muskrat on his head?

          1. Captain DaFt

            Re: Lost credibility

            "Donald Trump and the dead muskrat on his head?"

            That's not a muskrat!

    2. Nameless Faceless Computer User

      Re: Lost credibility

      The last time I downloaded from Sourceforge my anti-virus program deleted it. Now I understand what happened.

  2. Fraggle850

    About time

    I've occasionally downloaded off sourceforge but the last time I did so I ended up installing some nasty browser plugin along with the software that I actually wanted. I'm quite careful about check boxes on downloaded installers but didn't see anything on the sourceforge installer to give me the option not to install junk. I was a little shocked as I'd never had a problem with sourceforge installers before that.

    Don't know who's going to buy something that can't be monetised though, especially now they've been damaged by cack handed attempts to do so.

    1. John Lilburne

      Re: About time

      "Don't know who's going to buy something that can't be monetised though, especially now they've been damaged by cack handed attempts to do so."

      But you get a whole load of slashdot trolls thrown in free.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    this is why

    /quote The issue came to a head when the popular Gnu Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) pulled its code from the site, saying it was no longer "a useful and trustworthy place to develop and host FLOSS applications."

    /quote

    As has been stated above (and probably will be below.)

  4. John Miles

    Translation

    I think what they really mean

    We thought most down-loaders would be "too stupid" to get round the ad-ware but we didn't realise just how many of the developers would be peeved and move their stuff elsewhere and now we have a dead body we'd like to sell before it stinks even more

  5. Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

    UI revamp

    "many commenters refusing to post anything but vitriolic, often profane criticisms of the site's revamped UI."

    Had to reread that - the article was talking about Slashdot revamp, not El Reg. So it's all good then.

    /troll.jpg/

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: UI revamp

      Really low number account on Slashdot and I can't see any reason to go back. As for SourceForge it's a damn sad day when you trust a n00b torrent upload over properly curated FLOSS on the previously trusted site [looking at almost all the players. I'm more than willing to give complete access to my browser if you keep your side of this Devil bargain. Playing Dodgeball with installers is far beyond the pale.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    1. Barry Rueger

      Re: SoylentNews

      I too jumped ship to SoylentNews and have to say that it seems to do just fine. But hey, with User ID 66, I may be biased.

      Mostly I like the the overall attitude of trying to respond to what the community wants, or at least needs, which is refreshing after the last few years of Slash madness.

      Worth a visit.

  7. Zola

    SourceForge is so dated

    I'm surprised any active projects continue to use it in preference to a superior and adware-free alternative such as Github. I can understand projects that are no longer maintained parking their code there, but for active projects to continue using SourceForge just seems bizarre given how crusty it is, and now all the adware nonsense.

    1. Avalanche

      Re: SourceForge is so dated

      That is quite simple: inertia. Having to move your project(s) to another hoster takes time and effort that you can also spend on developing new features. If your project is relatively large it requires coordination (which adds discussion). If you don't have a good reason to move (or the reason is not urgent enough), then you stick around until it does become urgent enough.

    2. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

      Re: SourceForge is so dated

      I prefer SourceForge to github for a handful of reasons. One, as Avalanche said, is inertia; I have projects on SourceForge already and don't feel like spending any effort to move them.

      Another is that we use Subversion at work (and it's fine for our purposes), and switching between Subversion and git is a bit of a pain - cognitive load I don't need. (And to be honest I'm not terribly fond of git except when I need the features and behavior that Subversion doesn't support, or doesn't do well.)

      And in my limited experience it's easier to make a fairly user-friendly project page on SourceForge than on github, which is useful if you're creating projects that have a lot of non-technical users.

      Ultimately, though, I just don't buy the "SourceForge is outdated and github is shiny and new" argument. The adware issue (and I agree it's a big one) aside, what actually makes github better? You call SourceForge "crusty", but what does that actually mean?

  8. John Styles

    Maybe the News Chronicle or some similarly relevant outlet will vuy them.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    My greatest fear

    My greatest fear is that all the slashtards will come over here.

    Don't ever change this crappy comment system. It's perfect. It doesn't give a crap who you are or how many upvotes you get, your pathetic rant will be on page 3 where no one will ever see it.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: My greatest fear

      My greatest fear is that all the slashtards will come over here.

      Too late! And I've been here a good long while. I also wade through pages 3 or 4 a lot.

    2. breakfast Silver badge

      Re: My greatest fear

      I think I originally came here from Slashdot about twelve years ago after it was pointed out that every interesting story there was a repost of something from here.

    3. Androgynous Cupboard Silver badge

      Re: My greatest fear

      Well I, for one, will welcome our new Slashtard overlords.

  10. westlake

    SourceForge served a purpose.

    The problem is that GitHub is a management tool for developers.

    It doesn't catalog, describe, review, rate, and expose FOSS apps for download in way that is accessible and meaningful to users.

    There are, of course, a half-dozen or so FOSS apps like Firefox that have brand-name recognition outside of the geek community.

    But most just aren't that visible.

  11. future research

    Used to like slashdot.

    I used to like slashdot, as about 1% of the comments where thought provoking, and the mod points system helped to find them, but that was in the days when about 25% of the stories where interesting. Now only 5% are worth the time to even read the copies and paste "summary". I still look occasionally when I am bored.

  12. Hans 1

    >"The company is committed to ensuring that the transition is seamless and transparent to its community and clients, while working to maintain high levels of quality as it does today," DHI said.

    Fsck, NO, we do not want it to be a seamless transition, you a$$holes, we do not want your "high levels of quality", they are piss poor, we think.

    I just hope some FSF-aficionado will grab those.

  13. midcapwarrior

    Trying to figure out why they purchased the sites in the first place

    Love them or hate them neither site seemed to have the type of audience you can monetize.

    Actually the types of audiences that would actively fight monetization.

    Bet the percentage that blocked ads is as close to 100% as any site on the web.

    DHI is a for profit enterprise, surprising it's taken this long for then to figure that out.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    SourceForge for sale?

    I'd buy that for a dollar!

    Sorry, sorry. I'll get my coat.

    1. Captain DaFt

      Re: SourceForge for sale?

      It's a shame you posted anonymously, now they don't know who to contact.

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