After the Slashdot Effect
On Sunday, the 18th of December this website was the victim of the slashdot effect. That is, we were slashdotted.
slashdotted
Function: Verb
Etymology: Post-modern geekspeak
1 a: to kill a web server through excessive traffic, usually caused by a link from slashdot.org
Usage: Science Addiction was slashdotted on Sunday because I submitted my article on open source charity for the holiday season.
Here are a few stats from the aftermath:
- So far, in 2 days, my server has recorded 9000 views for the article linked from slashdot.
- In the first 6-8 hours after the effect, the site was practically inaccessible. Read comments on slashdot to that effect.
- So far, 5 people besides me have del.icio.us’ed my article! Translation: they added it to their web-bookmarks at del.icio.us.
- This website, which till a few days ago barely received a dozen visitors a day, is averaging in the hundreds 50-ish hours after the effect
UPDATE (12/22/05): A few more facts…
- A vast majority of the slashdotters use Mozilla Firefox. Many use Apple with Safari, and finally, a few poor souls actually use MSIE, though I would like to believe they are online from their place of work and have no choice. If so, please switch jobs quick!
- Many Linux users… no surprises there. Many of those were Ubuntu linux users; seems like Ubuntu is popular with the slashdot crowd.
