Slash is the open source software system that drives the hugely popular Slashdot web site and many others. Slash implements the kind of web site that has come to be called a "weblog": a moderated list, in reverse chronological order, of timely items with links to further discussion on-site, or to further information off-site. Essentially, a weblog is a cooperatively authored daily newspaper for some defined community on the net.

Slash has spawned several imitators. The existence of so many different systems for operating a weblog site demonstrates that there are many people and groups on the net who want to run their own online community newspapers. Slash is based on open source technologies (Perl, Apache, and MySQL), and it makes use of open protocols (XML and RDF) for exchanging headlines with other sites.

Anyone who wants to get a weblog site up and running will want to read this book, particularly system administrators who may not have the time or the background to learn all about Slash by reading the source code. Content managers of Slash sites who want to be able to use the system more effectively will also benefit from this book, which organizes the knowledge currently distributed throughout the Slash source code, Slashcode web site, and mailing lists, and provides it in an organized package.