Rob Malda
{{Short description|American businessman (born 1976)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2012}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Rob Malda
| image = Rob 'CmdrTaco' Malda crop.jpeg
| alt =
| caption = Malda at LinuxWorld in Boston, 2006
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1976|05|10}}
| birth_place = Holland, Michigan, United States
| nationality =
| other_names = CmdrTaco
| known_for = co-founder of Slashdot
| occupation = Author, former editor of Slashdot
| spouse = Kathleen Fent (m. 2002)
}}
Rob Malda (born May 10, 1976), also known as CmdrTaco, is an American Internet content author, and former editor-in-chief of the website Slashdot.
Career
{{Update|section |date=November 2016}}
Malda is an alumnus of Hope College and Holland Christian High School.{{citation needed|date=October 2013}} In 1997, Malda and Jeff Bates created Slashdot while undergraduates of Hope College.{{cite web|title=Attack of the Blogs |publisher=Holland Sentinel |date=September 7, 2004 |url=http://hollandsentinel.com/stories/090704/lif_090704042.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050110112625/http://www.hollandsentinel.com/stories/090704/lif_090704042.shtml |archive-date=January 10, 2005 }} After running the site for two years "on a shoestring",{{cite magazine | title = Cmdrtaco on Slashdot Sale |magazine = Wired | date = June 29, 1999 | url = https://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/1999/06/20483}} they sold the site to Andover.net, which was later acquired by VA Linux Systems.{{cite web | title = VA Linux buys Andover.Net | publisher = news.com | date = February 3, 2000 | url = http://www.news.com/2100-1001-236456.html | archive-url = https://archive.today/20120906054229/http://www.news.com/2100-1001-236456.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = September 6, 2012 }} Malda ran the site out of the SourceForge, Inc. office in Dexter, Michigan.{{cite web | title = The Slashdot Supremacy |last=Kushner |first=David| publisher = IEEE |date=November 2007 | url = https://spectrum.ieee.org/nov07/5639| archive-url = https://archive.today/20120714165752/http://spectrum.ieee.org/nov07/5639| url-status = dead| archive-date = July 14, 2012}}
Rob Malda also wrote a monthly column for Computer Power User.{{cite web |last=Malda |first=Rob |title=The Department of Stuff: Caught in the Web |url=http://www.computerpoweruser.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles%2Farchive%2Fc0910%2F50c10%2F50c10.asp |date=October 2009 |work=Computer Power User |access-date=August 28, 2009}} {{Dead link|date=July 2011}} In 2002, he was named in the MIT Technology Review TR100 as one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.technologyreview.com/tr35/?year=2002 |title=2002 Young Innovators Under 35 |magazine=Technology Review | year=2002 | access-date=August 16, 2011}}
On August 25, 2011, Rob Malda announced his resignation from Slashdot.{{cite web|last=Malda|first=Rob|title=Rob Malda Resigns from Slashdot|date=August 25, 2011 |url=http://meta.slashdot.org/story/11/08/25/1245200/Rob-CmdrTaco-Malda-Resigns-From-Slashdot|publisher=Slashdot|access-date=August 25, 2011}} On March 5, 2012, Malda was appointed as Chief Strategist and Editor-at-Large of WaPo Labs, a subsidiary of The Washington Post Company.{{cite web|url=http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-washington-post-companys-wapo-labs-hires-rob-malda-as-chief-strategist-and-editor-at-large-2012-03-05 |title= The Washington Post Company's WaPo Labs Hires Rob Malda as Chief Strategist and Editor-at-Large |publisher=Business Wire | year=2012 | access-date=March 5, 2012}} After The Washington Post Company sold its newspaper operations to Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos, the company rebranded as Graham Holdings Company. WaPo Labs became Trove, for which Malda was Chief Strategist and Head of Product, before shutting down in December, 2015.{{cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2014/1/22/5334414/slashdot-founder-cmdrtaco-is-back-with-a-news-recommendation-startup-trove |title= Slashdot founder CmdrTaco is back with a news recommendation startup called Trove |website=The Verge | year=2014 | access-date=June 13, 2014}}{{cite web |url=http://blog.trove.com/post/74067984372/introducing-trove |title=Introducing Trove |publisher=Trove Blog |year=2014 |access-date=June 13, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140701061223/http://blog.trove.com/post/74067984372/introducing-trove |archive-date=July 1, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}
Personal life
Malda proposed to longtime girlfriend Kathleen Fent using the front page of Slashdot on February 14, 2002.{{cite book |author1=Avery, Laura |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=szcTJtwhyGoC&q=slashdot+marriage+proposal |title=Newsmakers: the people behind today's headlines |author2=Thomson, Gale |publisher=Thomson Gale |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7876-8090-9 |volume= |pages=73 |access-date=February 15, 2010 |issue=3}}{{cite web|url=http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/02/14/143254|title=Kathleen Fent Read This Story |last=Malda|first=Rob|date=February 14, 2002|work=Slashdot|access-date=February 15, 2010}} They were married on December 8, 2002, in Las Vegas, Nevada.{{cite web|title=News from Hope College|date=February 2003|url=https://magazine.hope.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/2003-NfHC-Feb.pdf|access-date=February 15, 2010}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Rob Malda}}
{{wikiquote}}
- [http://cmdrtaco.net/ Personal homepage]
- [http://twit.tv/floss3 CmdrTaco interview] on the FLOSS Podcast
- [http://meta.slashdot.org/story/11/08/25/1245200/Rob-CmdrTaco-Malda-Resigns-From-Slashdot Rob's resignation post on Slashdot]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malda, Rob}}
Category:American Internet celebrities
Category:American information technology businesspeople
Category:Businesspeople in software