Rob Malda

Smiling, friendly Robert Malda appears in a number of linux and open source-related documentaries and stories. As a co-founder of Slashdot.org, the defacto "geek news" site for many years, his voice and editorial approach have defined the nature of water-cooler conversation for a large audience of computer users and industry workers. Malda started Slashdot.org in 1997 at the age of 21 while enrolled at Hope College in Michigan. He has continued to run the operation as of 2005, even through a purchase by Andover.Net (and that company's merger with VA Linux). He continues to live in Michigan, editing the site's stories and making appearances at conventions and seminars. He co-wrote the software that Slashdot runs on (called SlashCode) and also created "Everything", a collaborative information site. Slashdot's extremely large online following (both by fans and haters of the site's editorial slant) created a unique situation called the "Slashdot Effect", where a link from the Slashdot front page causes such a large amount of traffic for a website that it crashes or otherwise stops functioning. At the center of this, Malda continues to approach the site as he did in 1997, mixing a various collection of linux-slanted stories with trivia, on-line political issues, and random fun. The mix has continued to be successful, and Slashdot has stayed at the forefront of online influence throughout its run. On Valentines' Day in 2002, Malda proposed to his girlfriend Kathleen Fent via Slashdot. She accepted, and they are now married.