<s>
The	O
Slashdot	B-General_Concept
effect	I-General_Concept
,	O
also	O
known	O
as	O
slashdotting	B-General_Concept
,	O
occurs	O
when	O
a	O
popular	O
website	O
links	O
to	O
a	O
smaller	O
website	O
,	O
causing	O
a	O
massive	O
increase	O
in	O
traffic	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
original	O
circumstances	O
have	O
changed	O
,	O
as	O
flash	B-General_Concept
crowds	I-General_Concept
from	O
Slashdot	O
were	O
reported	O
in	O
2005	O
to	O
be	O
diminishing	O
due	O
to	O
competition	O
from	O
similar	B-Application
sites	I-Application
,	O
and	O
the	O
general	O
adoption	O
of	O
elastically	O
scalable	O
cloud	O
hosting	O
platforms	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
effect	O
has	O
been	O
associated	O
with	O
other	O
websites	O
or	O
metablogs	O
such	O
as	O
Fark	O
,	O
Digg	B-Application
,	O
Drudge	O
Report	O
,	O
Imgur	B-Algorithm
,	O
Reddit	B-Application
,	O
and	O
Twitter	B-Application
,	O
leading	O
to	O
terms	O
such	O
as	O
being	O
farked	B-General_Concept
or	O
drudged	O
,	O
being	O
under	O
the	O
Reddit	B-General_Concept
effect	I-General_Concept
,	O
or	O
receiving	O
a	O
hug	B-General_Concept
of	I-General_Concept
death	I-General_Concept
from	O
the	O
site	O
in	O
question	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Typically	O
,	O
less	O
robust	O
sites	O
are	O
unable	O
to	O
cope	O
with	O
the	O
huge	O
increase	O
in	O
traffic	O
and	O
become	O
unavailable	O
common	O
causes	O
are	O
lack	O
of	O
sufficient	O
data	O
bandwidth	O
,	O
servers	B-Application
that	O
fail	O
to	O
cope	O
with	O
the	O
high	O
number	O
of	O
requests	O
,	O
and	O
traffic	O
quotas	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sites	O
that	O
are	O
maintained	O
on	O
shared	O
hosting	O
services	O
often	O
fail	O
when	O
confronted	O
with	O
the	O
Slashdot	B-General_Concept
effect	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
flash	B-General_Concept
crowd	I-General_Concept
is	O
a	O
more	O
generic	O
term	O
without	O
using	O
any	O
specific	O
name	O
that	O
describes	O
a	O
network	O
phenomenon	O
where	O
a	O
network	O
or	O
host	O
suddenly	O
receives	O
much	O
traffic	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
According	O
to	O
the	O
Jargon	O
File	O
,	O
the	O
term	O
"	O
Slashdot	B-General_Concept
effect	I-General_Concept
"	O
refers	O
to	O
the	O
phenomenon	O
of	O
a	O
website	O
becoming	O
virtually	O
unreachable	O
because	O
too	O
many	O
people	O
are	O
hitting	O
it	O
after	O
the	O
site	O
was	O
mentioned	O
in	O
an	O
interesting	O
article	O
on	O
the	O
popular	O
Slashdot	O
news	O
service	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
later	O
extended	O
to	O
describe	O
any	O
similar	O
effect	O
from	O
being	O
listed	O
on	O
a	O
popular	O
site	O
,	O
similar	O
to	O
the	O
more	O
generic	O
term	O
,	O
flash	B-General_Concept
crowd	I-General_Concept
,	O
which	O
is	O
a	O
more	O
appropriate	O
term	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
term	O
"	O
flash	B-General_Concept
crowd	I-General_Concept
"	O
was	O
coined	O
in	O
1973	O
by	O
Larry	O
Niven	O
in	O
his	O
science	O
fiction	O
short	O
story	O
,	O
Flash	B-General_Concept
Crowd	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
predicted	O
that	O
a	O
consequence	O
of	O
inexpensive	O
teleportation	B-General_Concept
would	O
be	O
huge	O
crowds	O
materializing	O
almost	O
instantly	O
at	O
the	O
sites	O
of	O
interesting	O
news	O
stories	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Reddit	B-General_Concept
effect	I-General_Concept
has	O
also	O
been	O
used	O
to	O
describe	O
viral	O
crowd	O
fundraising	O
efforts	O
in	O
addition	O
to	O
the	O
surge	O
in	O
web	O
traffic	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sites	O
such	O
as	O
Slashdot	O
,	O
Digg	B-Application
,	O
Reddit	B-Application
,	O
StumbleUpon	O
and	O
Fark	O
consist	O
of	O
brief	O
submitted	O
stories	O
and	O
a	O
self-moderated	O
discussion	O
on	O
each	O
story	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
ensuing	O
flood	O
of	O
page	O
requests	O
from	O
readers	O
can	O
exceed	O
the	O
site	O
's	O
available	O
bandwidth	O
or	O
the	O
ability	O
of	O
its	O
servers	B-Application
to	O
respond	O
,	O
and	O
render	O
the	O
site	O
temporarily	O
unreachable	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Websites	O
that	O
fall	O
victim	O
may	O
be	O
hosted	O
on	O
home	O
servers	B-Application
,	O
offer	O
large	O
images	O
or	O
movie	O
files	O
or	O
have	O
inefficiently	O
generated	O
dynamic	O
content	O
(	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
Few	O
definitive	O
numbers	O
exist	O
regarding	O
the	O
precise	O
magnitude	O
of	O
the	O
Slashdot	B-General_Concept
effect	I-General_Concept
,	O
but	O
estimates	O
put	O
the	O
peak	O
of	O
the	O
mass	O
influx	O
of	O
page	O
requests	O
at	O
anywhere	O
from	O
several	O
hundred	O
to	O
several	O
thousand	O
hits	O
per	O
minute	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
2005	O
,	O
reporters	O
were	O
commenting	O
that	O
the	O
Slashdot	B-General_Concept
effect	I-General_Concept
had	O
been	O
diminishing	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
the	O
effect	O
has	O
been	O
seen	O
involving	O
Twitter	B-Application
when	O
some	O
popular	O
users	O
mention	O
a	O
website	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
the	O
targeted	O
website	O
has	O
a	O
community-based	O
structure	O
,	O
the	O
term	O
can	O
also	O
refer	O
to	O
the	O
secondary	O
effect	O
of	O
having	O
a	O
large	O
group	O
of	O
new	O
users	O
suddenly	O
set	O
up	O
accounts	O
and	O
start	O
to	O
participate	O
in	O
the	O
community	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
bears	O
some	O
similarity	O
to	O
the	O
1990s	O
Usenet	O
concept	O
of	O
Eternal	B-Application
September	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Many	O
solutions	O
have	O
been	O
proposed	O
for	O
sites	O
to	O
deal	O
with	O
the	O
Slashdot	B-General_Concept
effect	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sites	O
in	O
the	O
process	O
of	O
being	O
Slashdotted	B-General_Concept
may	O
be	O
able	O
to	O
mitigate	O
the	O
effect	O
by	O
temporarily	O
redirecting	O
requests	O
for	O
the	O
targeted	O
pages	O
to	O
one	O
of	O
these	O
mirrors	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Slashdot	O
does	O
not	O
mirror	O
the	O
sites	O
it	O
links	O
to	O
on	O
its	O
own	O
servers	B-Application
,	O
nor	O
does	O
it	O
endorse	O
a	O
third	O
party	O
solution	O
.	O
</s>
