Editing 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 Conference and Expo|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 <!-- Trove shut down in 2015. --> |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 (Slashdot)|Jeff Bates]] created [[Slashdot]] while undergraduates of [[Hope College]].<ref>{{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 }}</ref>  After running the site for two years "on a shoestring",<ref>{{cite magazine | title = Cmdrtaco on Slashdot Sale |magazine = Wired | date =  June 29, 1999 | url = https://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/1999/06/20483}}</ref> they sold the site to [[Andover.net]], which was later acquired by [[VA Linux Systems]].<ref>{{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 }}</ref>  Malda ran the site out of the [[SourceForge, Inc.]] office in [[Dexter, Michigan]].<ref>{{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}}</ref>

Rob Malda also wrote a monthly [[column (periodical)|column]] for ''Computer Power User''.<ref>{{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}}</ref> In 2002, he was named in the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] [[Technology Review]] [[TR35|TR100]] as one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

On August 25, 2011, Rob Malda announced his resignation from Slashdot.<ref>{{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}}</ref> On March 5, 2012, Malda was appointed as Chief Strategist and Editor-at-Large of [[WaPo Labs]], a subsidiary of [[The Washington Post Company]].<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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 (app)|Trove]], for which Malda was Chief Strategist and Head of Product, before shutting down in December, 2015.<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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 }}</ref>

==Personal life==
Malda proposed to longtime girlfriend Kathleen Fent using the front page of Slashdot on February 14, 2002.<ref name="newsmakers">{{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}}</ref><ref name="proposal">{{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}}</ref> They were married on December 8, 2002, in [[Las Vegas Valley|Las Vegas]], [[Nevada]].<ref name="hope_college_update">{{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}}</ref>

==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:1976 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American Internet celebrities]]
[[Category:American information technology businesspeople]]
[[Category:Businesspeople in software]]
[[Category:Geeknet]]
[[Category:Hope College alumni]]
[[Category:People from Holland, Michigan]]
[[Category:Slashdot]]
[[Category:People from Dexter, Michigan]]