Robin "Roblimo" Miller, a Long-Time Voice of the Linux Community, Has Passed Away (wikipedia.org) 344
Reader rootmon writes: Our thoughts/prayers are with the family and friends of long time open source writer/journalist Robin "Roblimo" Miller who passed away this morning. Robin "Roblimo" Miller (born October 30, 1952) served as the Editor-in-Chief of Open Source Technology Group, the company which owned Slashdot, SourceForge.net, Freshmeat, Linux.com, NewsForge, and ThinkGeek between 2000 to 2008. Miller formerly owned Robin's Limousine, a small limo company based in Elkridge, Maryland, the origin of his online nickname. Miller is best known for his involvement with Slashdot, where he was not only the corporate editorial overseer but also Interview Editor.
As a freelancer, Miller wrote for a number of print and online publications including Time.com, Baltimore City Paper, American Medical News, Innkeeping World, Machine Design, The Baltimore Sun, and Rewired.com. Miller is the author of three books: The Online Rules of Successful Companies, Point -- Click Linux!, and Point -- Click OpenOffice.org, all published by Prentice Hall. His most recent ventures revolved around Internet-delivered video, including video software "tours" and tutorials on Linux.com and his recent "side" venture, Internet Video Promotion, Inc. Miller has been a judge for the Lulu Blooker Prize and is on the online advisory board of the Online Journalism Review of the Annenberg Center for Communication at the University of Southern California. (Biographical Info Quoted in Part from Wikipedia) Further reading: Linux Journal: RIP Robin "Roblimo" Miller.
Remembering Miller, ZDNet journalist S. Vaughan-Nichols wrote, "He was funny, bright, quick with a quip, caring, and wise. I, and many others who had the pleasure of knowing him, will miss him enormously." Paul Jones, Clinical Professor at the School of Information & Library Science, and Director of ibiblio.org, wrote, "Robin taught me many things, besides the immense gift of his friendship, including 'the way to make money on the internet is to take on more than you spend.' Both funny and accurate in context and very much true to roblimo." Writer and engineer Emmett Initiative said, "He was my editor, which means he was my best friend and worst enemy. He was a kind and thoughtful man that made every writer around him at least 300% better. I already miss him."
As a freelancer, Miller wrote for a number of print and online publications including Time.com, Baltimore City Paper, American Medical News, Innkeeping World, Machine Design, The Baltimore Sun, and Rewired.com. Miller is the author of three books: The Online Rules of Successful Companies, Point -- Click Linux!, and Point -- Click OpenOffice.org, all published by Prentice Hall. His most recent ventures revolved around Internet-delivered video, including video software "tours" and tutorials on Linux.com and his recent "side" venture, Internet Video Promotion, Inc. Miller has been a judge for the Lulu Blooker Prize and is on the online advisory board of the Online Journalism Review of the Annenberg Center for Communication at the University of Southern California. (Biographical Info Quoted in Part from Wikipedia) Further reading: Linux Journal: RIP Robin "Roblimo" Miller.
Remembering Miller, ZDNet journalist S. Vaughan-Nichols wrote, "He was funny, bright, quick with a quip, caring, and wise. I, and many others who had the pleasure of knowing him, will miss him enormously." Paul Jones, Clinical Professor at the School of Information & Library Science, and Director of ibiblio.org, wrote, "Robin taught me many things, besides the immense gift of his friendship, including 'the way to make money on the internet is to take on more than you spend.' Both funny and accurate in context and very much true to roblimo." Writer and engineer Emmett Initiative said, "He was my editor, which means he was my best friend and worst enemy. He was a kind and thoughtful man that made every writer around him at least 300% better. I already miss him."
This sux. (Score:5, Insightful)
I for one, fondly remember the early days of Slashdot, where a single story could completely DDOS a website, creating the Slashdot Effect.
In his honor, I'm going to pour hot grits down Natlie Portman's pants.
Who's with me? :)
(just joking, Miss Portman; please don't send the Mossad after me)
RIP, RobLimo. :(
Re:This sux. (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm with you.
RIP RobLimo. Thanks for the memories. Obsessively reloading Slashdot was once a huge part of my life.
Re:This sux. (Score:4)
Remember? Reloading several times, while a kernel-build finished?
Hail, 3-Digit UIDs.
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Missed a 3-digit UID due to a needless meeting
Cheers to you, RobLimo...
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RIP roblimo.
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Me too. Even though it's not september. I'd rather stare at the goatse pic than to receive this news. I guess that in Korea, passing away is only for old people. RobLimo should have moved there. RIP. I'm sorry.
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I wouldn't mind a quick salute from goat.cx and tub girl. like the old days
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I wouldn't mind a quick salute from goat.cx and tub girl. like the old days
I'm one of those odd people who would laugh when tricked into clicking a goatse or tubgirl link. Some of the best would have a long, thoughtful reply to a story as bait to click the link.
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You will be missed, Rob.
In Soviet Russia, Away passes RobLimo!
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Imagine a Beowulf cluster of RobLimo's!
RIP good sir.
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Logged in after so many years to pour hot grits on a naked and petrified Natalie Portman.
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So we're all clear - "petrified" as in "turned to stone" not "terrified", right?
I found myself wondering about that several years after the fact - one is a joke,the other is *really* creepy.
I always understood "turned to stone" myself.
mod parent up (Score:2)
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ditto
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Those were the days. RIP
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Why RIP, seriously why should it be rest in peace. How about happy reincarnation or enjoy your place in the choir, why the fear. A restless roblimo, hmm, we all do it, why fear it so much.
Enjoy the next adventure Roblimo ;D.
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Re: This sux. (Score:2)
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Only if she is naked and petrified.
RIP RobLimo .FWIW, your work touched a lot of lives. And in a good way, not a JonKatz sort of way.
Dear Slashdot management (Score:5, Insightful)
People like Roblimo and CmdrTaco put a ton of hard work and enegry into building Slashdot into what it once was. They obviously cared about their work beyond simply turning a profit. Please honor their work by keeping your promises to rebuild and improve Slashdot. You've made a lot of promises and users are sincerely hoping you'll finally start to keep them.
RIP Roblimo
It's sad to hear that a former editor from when I started reading this site has passed away. I remember what Slashdot was then, and those are fond memories.
Re:Dear Slashdot management (Score:5, Interesting)
+1
I wonder if the community could raise enough funds to buy it back. I'd chip in to an effort.. and I know some of us lower UID people must have some resources available by now.
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I'd chip in too.
I've actually been wondering how much it would cost. Probably not as much as we might think.
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I'd chip in. Though after 2 layoffs I don't have as much resources as people would imagine.
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I'd chip in and turn off my adblocker as long as ads were sane.
Re: Dear Slashdot management (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Dear Slashdot management (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Dear Slashdot management (Score:4, Insightful)
I, for one, wish you were around more often. CmdrTaco and many of the other editors were often on IRC to chat with anyone who wanted to join the channel. Many nerds like myself spent a lot of time on IRC back in the day and it was a lot of fun. I, for one, would welcome you to mingle with Slashdot users more often.
As for changing Slashdot, if you read CmdrTaco's journal, you'll see he was frequently thinking of ways to tweak to Slashdot and try to improve it. A lot of small tweaks over time can add up to a much improved experience for users. And then share what you're doing, not necessarily in front page articles, but perhaps in a journal or blog, as a nerd sharing with other nerds the ideas you have to tweak the site.
Many of us complained incessantly about Slashdot, even back in the day. We fussed about the editors and the site. But most of us also knew how much the site to CmdrTaco and the others who helped build the site. He's a nerd like most of the people who commented here, so despite our complaining, we appreciated his work greatly. It's why most of the people who were around back then speak so highly about what Slashdot was like back then, even if we were the same people complaining back then. Even though I complain about Slashdot now, I have no ill will toward you or anyone else are Slashdot. Best wishes, sir.
Re: Dear Slashdot management (Score:5, Informative)
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I created a new SourceForge account the other day. It's surprisingly good now. Well done.
I'm still figuring out how to integrate it with my open source code. I get the impression it's more about projects that have ordinary users, while most of my code is libraries and the like for other coders.
I need to look at the project organisation options. The biggest thing all the others lack is a way to organise 100+ repos.
Re: Dear Slashdot management (Score:5, Insightful)
I always say:
"Slashdot is a free service . . . and worth more than every penny I pay for it."
You guys fended off the worst DDOS ever launched on the Internet.
Sure, times change and folks will whine at you, but please keep your faith, and keep up the good work.
There are those of us who still really appreciate having Slashdot, where we can rant about IT subjects that we have no clue about, and make wacky and outrageous comments.
And a few folks here will even understand our bizarre jokes.
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Re: Dear Slashdot management (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: Dear Slashdot management (Score:5, Insightful)
community just isn't what it used to be
Maybe it has to do with cantankerous people like yourself posting angry comments in order to compensate for the deeply unsatisfying or otherwise inadequate parts of your life? At least Slashdot is one of the last places you can still do that. Improvements are coming.
That's all I'll say to you, this post is about Robin.
Re:Dear Slashdot management (Score:5, Interesting)
If CmdrTaco cared about Slashdot he wouldn't have literally sold out!
When you get married, and think about raising a family, sometimes you make choices that you think are necessary. RIP Roblimo. :(
RIP (Score:5, Insightful)
RIP. Truly an American Icon. :D (Score:5, Insightful)
RIP Roblimo.. and thanks for all the /.
Sad for such a 'young' man (Score:5, Insightful)
I wish his family and friends strength and thank Robin for all the good he did.
Rest in Peace (Score:4, Insightful)
End of an era. (Score:2)
: weeps : Please watch over the open source community and help us grow and strengthen spiritually the way you did in the living world Roblime. Many pleasant memories and positive energy is going out to the family and friends.
The real tragedy is... (Score:2)
nobody has updated his Wikipedia page to report his death and it's even the primary article link!
Re:The real tragedy is... (Score:4, Informative)
nobody has updated his Wikipedia page to report his death and it's even the primary article link!
. . . nobody has the heart to do it . . . posting that would break anyone's heart.
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So there's hope it's fake? Has netcraft confirmed it?
RIP Roblimo! (Score:4, Interesting)
Oddly enough, I don't recall seeing a picture of him until now.
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It seems like just yesterday. He'll be missed.
Wait - Netcraft? (Score:2, Funny)
Has Netcraft confirmed this?
Too soon?
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And can we make a Beowulf cluster out of him?
MEEP MEEP
RIP (Score:3)
RIP Roblimo
The Old Days (Score:5, Funny)
As a tribute to the days of early Slashdot I suggest we post this article to the site no less than 4 times over the next 8 days. It's not what Roblimo would have wanted but it's probably what he would have done.
Thanks Rob (Score:4, Insightful)
Rest in peace.
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Indeed. Our technological heroes are starting to pass. RIP Rob. You were and are missed.
Started /. in his 40's (Score:2)
In other words when he was "over the hill". He was a limo driver FFS, not the entitled son of a psychiatrist and a dentist. Fuck you Zuckerberg, you over the hill asshole.
I feel old (Score:2)
I spoke with Rob a couple of times back in the internet fame days. We could talk for an hour without realizing the time had passed, such a gentleman and all around great person. He will be missed. My condolences to his family and those close to him. At least the world is a better place for his having lived here for so long.
Very sorry to hear. RIP Rob (Score:2)
While I never met him in person, I did speak to him on several occasions over the phone/Skype and we did email over the years.
Very nice person and he will be missed.
Roblimo on "Geeks in Space" (Score:4)
Roblimo was a special guest on this Slashdot Geeks in Space [textfiles.com] audio episode.
I raise my glass to Roblimo (Score:3)
It's people like him and places like this one that welcomed me when I first found my way onto the Internet. They taught me what to value, and how to behave. I will forever be grateful for that, even if I don't come around that often anymore. Cheers, and godspeed.
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"Welcomed"?
Man, I'd hate to see what happened to the guys that weren't welcomed.
Goatse, FFS. Honestly.
I remember when I met him! (Score:5, Informative)
I met Rob at a Linux conference in Atlanta around 1998-99...
We started talking and he was extremely excited and explaining about Slashdot's amazing rise.
He kept saying... "I'm "Phat" and sticky.. I'm Phat and sticky!!"
The "Phat" was the cool factor...and the sticky was how people just seemed to hang around on Slashdot all day. Obviously, it really helped Slashdot's value and worth.
Rob also showed me a picture of his lovely wife and told me how glad he was to be with her.
I left that conversation with a big smile on my face and hoped we would meet again soon.
Great job Rob!!
Rob will be missed (Score:2)
Rob's humor and contributions to linux advocacy will be missed. His early presence on Slashdot made it my go-to news site for many years.
My condolences to his family. Thanks for sharing him with us for all these years.
RIP RobLimo :,( (Score:3)
He was funny, brilliant, and smart.
Heâ(TM)s going to be missed, and it hurts, even though if you knew him youâ(TM)ve surely had heard about his failing health. I thought Mr. RobLimo had found the right place to slowly retire while being in good care. But then, this.
Wherever you go, hope you become /bin/smartassd, the best daemon there could be.
so long (Score:5, Insightful)
I always remember him as one of the better and less offensive submitter / editors.
Looks like he last posted in 2016 here [slashdot.org]
Sure its taken out of context (he was talking about linux audio editing) but i think its a nice optimistic quote to have as your last post.
A name I haven't seen in a long time... (Score:3, Insightful)
...and I wish it was something different. Brings back a lot of memories of this site back in the day. RIP Rob.
R.I.P. (Score:2)
Rest well, Roblimo.
A big part of early /. success.
RIP (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't mind being considered an ass. After a whole bunch of years working on Slashdot, my skin is thicker than the armor on M1 Abrams.
Cheers, Roblimo! (Score:2)
Pretty instrumental guy in the early days of /. -- see ya round the bend, Roblimo
Gasp (Score:2)
This was one of those headlines that had me say something ("Oh no") out loud. Am I reading it right, he hasn't edited on
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Roblimo (Score:2)
Goodbye, Robin! (Score:5, Insightful)
Robin was friendly and helpful and took his work as a journalist seriously. His work had worldwide impact, a fact that wasn't always appreciated. Robin and I corresponded often online, and I had the pleasure to meet him in person several times, and to be introduced to his charming wife once. Goodbye, Robin!
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Today is a sad day. We lost a good one.
RIP, roblimo (Score:2)
Always sad to see a founder die. RIP, roblimo.
RIP and Thanks (Score:2)
The world is a less interesting place today.
Goodbye Rob (Score:2)
RIP
I don't comment much anymore, but here I am. (Score:2)
So much of my early internet was Slashdot, and so much of Slashdot in that era was Roblimo. I owe a debt of gratitude to everyone involved.
Ah the old slashdot (Score:2)
Now days its filled with dysfunctional wannabe's and MAGA people.
RIP Robin you will be missed.
He will be missed (Score:2)
RIP Rob (Score:2)
A sad day. My condolences to his family and those who knew him personally.
He was a man who knew what community meant, and built one here.
Long may your memory, and what you've built, live on...
Already said, but (Score:2)
This sucks.
I think of roblimo from a time when I really loved /. And I think of him and Hemos and Taco as much of why.
Blah.
Wow (Score:2)
It's always weird to find out someone who felt really familiar has passed away, even when you didn't really know them. I only interacted with Rob within the Slashdot universe - I remember him corresponding with me about an account issue, way way back - but he seemed like a good guy.
Thanks, Rob, for all you did.
RIP (Score:2)
RIP. (Score:2)
Your stories were always enlightening, and employed far better grammar than CmdrTaco's. I regret that I never got to ride in your limo. Godspeed, Rob.
Ahh hugely sad (Score:2)
Definitely a somber kick off to what was supposed to be a relaxing weekend. Terrible news, i'll always remember the early days of Slashdot as a community of well intentioned budding techs who thought we knew it all... Slashdot was our hub; and roblimo our conductor... That time will always fill me with fondness.
Very sad news (Score:2)
RIP Roblimo (Score:2)
Thank you Roblimo for being you and may you rest in peace.
Sad news. (Score:3)
Logging in today reminds me how old friends drift apart and eventually only get together for weddings and funerals. We prefer weddings. I didn't know Rob but he was certainly left his mark here, and best wishes to his family and those who knew him.
Re:Frosty RIP (Score:5, Interesting)
Rob was what you might call a real mensch. Smart and a real sweetheart. I knew him personally, tho' not exceptionally well.
We shared close mutual friends, some going back more than 30 years.
RIP, Rob. Thank you.
Re:Frosty RIP (Score:5, Interesting)
Look at all the low UIDs who never post anymore, coming out with remembrance and farewell for Roblimo.
Thanks for all the fish.
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Impressive re even your own UID; oh, sorry, my bad --I was trying not to step on the sprinklers on, I'm guessing, what must be your lawn?
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A lot of us (I was one) were part of the Slashdot community early on, but preferred to post w/o an account - I didn't get one until /. made changes that required an ID (which kind of miffed me, really), even though I'd been an active poster for years as an AC who put my actual name and sometimes email address in my sig...
Slashdot was once THE place to find out what was new on the net (I'm old enough to remember when that was NCSA's What's New page, or the UMN Gopher server), and Rob was a huge part of shapi
Re:Frosty RIP (Score:4, Insightful)
Many of us also came from Usenet, where lurking for a while before posting was considered correct etiquette.
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Oh yeah?
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I haven't viewed Slashdot in some time and happened to pass through and see this news.
Roblimo will be missed. Thanks for all the work you did to further the community here and around open source.
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We had Jon Katz and his "Hellmouth" geeksploitation.
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Before we get too worked up - has anyone checked Netcraft?
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They confirmed it.
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He was one of the reasons I read Slashdot, My prayers are with you and your family.
RIP,
harryk
So? (Score:3)