“The site’s unexpected unavailability led to lengthy and at times heated discussions about the overall life expectancy of the project on both LinuxQuestions.org and DistroWatch.
“The focus quickly shifted from the problems with the website to worries that Slackware itself was experiencing financial problems, when top Slackware contributor Eric Hameleers responded early in the LinuxQuestions thread with a brief “Old hardware, lack of funds…” statement.
“This was the social equivalent of throwing gasoline on the tiny (metaphorical) short that zapped the Slackware web site to begin with. Suddenly the conversation careened into the repeated queries on what could be done to help. Several participants in the discussion thread began to post their own public entreaties for funding support for the venerable project.