Slashdot effect

Synonyms:	slashdotting, Reddit effect, hug of death, flash crowd attack
See also:	An composite of various web browser screenshots crudely resized and overlaid over each other. The screenshots are of various text posts, detailing reactions to the release of [S] Cascade crashing multiple websites. Meme by TJ (imploder)
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The slashdot effect is a term used to refer to when a website, web server, or internet service slows down, crashes, or becomes temporarily unavailable due to a sudden increase in internet traffic. This effect is similar to a denial of service attack. However, DDOS attacks occur due to superfluous traffic and are deliberate, malicious attacks, while slashdotting occurs due to legitimate traffic and is accidental. In the IT sector, slashdotting is referred to as a flash crowd attack.

Slashdotting typically occurs when a large website links to a small one, as smaller sites typically have less infrastructure and are less equipped to handle sudden traffic increases. However, slashdotting can occur to larger websites and services, such as Newgrounds, Tumblr and Twitter. The term comes from the online magazine Slashdot, which would cause such effects when linking to websites.

Fandoms can cause slashdotting for a variety of reasons. This can include, but is not limited to:

• fandom events
• a release of highly anticipated content
• a game or service opening to the public or to a wider audience
• sudden notable announcements
• a recommendation or shoutout by a fandom figure or prominent creator.

Fandom slashdotting can incur reactions from within or towards the fandom, particularly if large websites or services are affected.

Notable examples of fandom slashdotting

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

Friday Night Funkin' Week 7

On April 18th 2021, the then-latest content update for Friday Night Funkin' was posted exclusively on Newgrounds. Newgrounds crashed shortly afterwards due to traffic overload. This was compounded by the fact that Week 7 was only posted to Newgrounds, and the update was not pushed to Itch.io builds, leaving Newgrounds as the only platform to play the update. After Newgrounds was brought back online, the Friday Night Funkin' page on Newgrounds was disabled for three days to allow time to set up additional infastructure.

Due to both fandoms causing Newgrounds to crash, some Homestuck fans drew comparsions between the release of Week 7 and the [S] Cascade release.

i'm so proud that the younger fandoms are speedrunning these milestones

– engiSonic

[S] Cascade (Homestuck)

Main article: Cascade (Homestuck)

Steve Smash Bros announcement

On October 1, 2020, months into the worldwide pandemic, the announcement video for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's then-next fighter was uploaded onto the official Super Smash Bros. Youtube channel, titled "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - A New Seed! - Nintendo Switch", which turned out to be Steve of Minecraft fame. Unexpectedly enough, within the ensuing seconds and minutes, both longtime and newcomer fans, fresh off the then-resurgent revival and 10th anniversary of said sandbox game more than a year prior, posted reactions and memes related to the vid at an exceedingly-fast pace that the sheer accumulated volume of such content managed to successfully render Twitter (and its central servers) unusable for several minutes on end; as for other social media websites where fans and players both reside in, the effect is still rather unknown and rather largely undocumented to this day.

Yuri On Ice finale

On December 21st 2016, the finale to Yuri on Ice was released online on streaming services. Tumblr, Crunchyroll, and some anime piracy sites crashed due to server overload as a result.

External links

• Demand Overload on TV Tropes
• Slashdot effect on Wikipedia