The Hacker News effect
hvs: I hope it doesn't.  I never liked Slashdot's "personality" with the constant bickering, fanboys, and general surliness of most of the comments.  HN is filled with intelligent, thoughtful people and the noise it kept to a minimum.  This would be hard to maintain in a community the size of Slashdot.  The future is uncertain, but I think pg's philosophy of this site will help to keep it civil as long as humanly possible.