Kuro5hin (K5; read "corrosion") was a collaborative discussion website founded by Rusty Foster in 1999, having been inspired by

Slashdot ''Slashdot'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''/.'') is a social news website that originally advertised itself as "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters". It features news stories concerning science, technology, and politics that are submitted and eval ...

. Articles were created and submitted by users and submitted to a queue for evaluation. Site members could vote for or against publishing an article and once the article had reached a certain number of votes, it was published to the site or deleted from the queue. The site has been described as "a free-for-all of news and opinion written by readers". Around 2005, its membership numbered in the tens of thousands. On May 1, 2016, the site was closed down permanently with all content taken offline. Foster stated at the time that it might return in the form of a static archive at a later date.

Overview

All content was generated and selected by the users themselves, with the exception of site news written by the administrators. Registered users would submit stories to the ''submissions queue'' where other users would vote +1 FP (''front page''), +1, 0, or −1. If the story reached a predetermined threshold score, it was posted to the front page or to the relevant section, depending on the proportion of "FP votes". If it failed to make the threshold, other factors (such as number of comments, type of comments, and their ratings) could still cause the story to be posted to a section or to the front page. Otherwise, it was dropped. One feature of the story queue was ''edit mode'', in which a story was protected from voting for a period of time during which the author could make changes. Comments could still be made on the story to suggest changes before voting began. These comments were distinguished as being ''editorial'' or ''topical''. A further section was known as the ''diaries''. Having no editing or moderation vetting, diaries were essentially

weblogs Weblogs may refer to: *Plural of Blog *Weblogs, Inc. Weblogs, Inc. was a blog network that published content on a variety of subjects, including tech news, video games, automobiles and pop culture. At one point, the network had as many as 90 b ...

. and formed the source of most o
Kuro5hin
s content by volume. However, unlike the edited article sections, they were not widely syndicated. Other users would also comment on these diaries in the same way as stories but with without the editorial or topical stipulation.

History

Foster named Kuro5hin—pronounced ''

corrosion Corrosion is a natural process that converts a refined metal into a more chemically stable oxide. It is the gradual deterioration of materials (usually a metal) by chemical or electrochemical reaction with their environment. Corrosion engi ...

''—as a

pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...

on his first name. The site was powered by the Scoop collaborative system, originally written by Foster himself, with the motto "Technology and Culture, from the Trenches". In July 2000, the site was temporarily closed due to comment spam and denial of service attacks. In January 2002, OSDN ended the advertising affiliate agreement with Kuro5hin.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Wayback Machine archive of Kuro5hin
American social networking websites Internet forums Slashdot Internet properties established in 1999 Internet properties disestablished in 2016 1999 establishments in the United States

Overview

History

See also

References

External links