Slashdot effect

British

/ ˈslæʃˌdɒt /

noun

computing a temporary surge in the numbers visiting a website and consequent service slowdown or even server crash that sometimes arises as a result of a new link being set up from a more popular website

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of Slashdot effect

C21: from the symbols _slash + _dot , which are conventions of website addresses

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

This abbreviation is most often used of attempts to shut down newsgroups with floods of spam, or to flood network links with large amounts of traffic, or to flood network links with large amounts of traffic, often by abusing network broadcast addresses Compare slashdot effect.

From Project Gutenberg

Node:slash, Next:slashdot effect, Previous:slap on the side, Up:= S = slash n.

From Project Gutenberg

Node:slashdot effect, Next:sleep, Previous:slash, Up:= S = slashdot effect n.

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023