IS SLASHDOT OVER? Here’s an interesting post that I discovered via Nick Denton. Nick wonders if online communities inevitably decline. It does seem that way, though I don’t actually think that Slashdot is going anywhere.

Does this mean the blogosphere will eventually collapse into a flamer-haven that everyone else avoids? I’m not sure. It’s possible, and it’s probably even the way to bet based on history.

On the other hand, online communities in the past have all shared the characteristic that it’s possible to inflict speech on other members of the community at a relatively low cost. Usenet flaming is the most obvious example. Dumb Slashdot posts are, somewhat, mitigated by moderation, but I have to say that the moderation system on Slashdot seems less effective lately.

With blogs on the other hand, you can avoid the flaming bloggers. Flaming in comments seems to follow the Usenet model to some degree, but since it’s easy to avoid reading blog comments I’m not sure it will be as alienating. Only time will tell.

UPDATE: Jeff Jarvis responds with some thoughts that I’m going to use in my talk tonight. I love the blogosphere!