Tweakers.net
Encyclopedia
Tweakers.net is a Dutch
website featuring news and information about hardware
, software and the internet
. The website was founded in 1998 by Femme Taken, a computer enthusiast, under the name World of Tweaking as a student's hobby project to offer a Dutch alternative to hardware review sites like Tom's Hardware Guide
. The verb "tweaking" in the title refers to the process of tweaking the hardware of a computer, as a form of optimisation. Thus, the site's visitors are called tweakers, not to be confused with methamphetamine users.
Tweakers.net has grown substantially since its conception. Nowadays its primary feature is the publication of summaries of news and other technology-related articles on other websites. This is why Tweakers.net is often regarded as the Dutch clone of Slashdot
albeit with a stronger Windows
orientation than Slashdot. Tweakers.net has more features for the computer enthusiast, such as reviews, bi-monthly Best Buy guides, a classifieds section for jobs and used hardware, the Pricewatch and the Shop Survey, among others. While the majority of the reviews are written in Dutch, there are several articles translated into English because they cover a non-standard topic.
As of March 2006, Tweakers.net has been taken over by the Dutch media conglomerate
VNU
, now known as The Nielsen Company. However, VNU Media has become owner of the website after The Nielsen Company had sold its Business Media division to private equity
firm 3i
.
. Tweakers.net's forum is known as the Gathering of Tweakers (often abbreviated as GoT). The forum is mainly focused on technical subjects and tries to maintain a relatively high standard of posting. It has a fairly strong moderation policy, especially when compared to other online discussion forums. Users of the forum are strongly urged to read the FAQ
and to have invested a fair amount of his/her own time into finding an answer, either on GoT using the search tools, or anywhere else on the internet, before asking a question.
Tweakers.net currently has more than 400,000 members and its forum has over 29 million posts. It has won several awards, including "(Dutch) website of the year 2009" and "(Dutch) website of the year 2011"
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
website featuring news and information about hardware
Hardware
Hardware is a general term for equipment such as keys, locks, hinges, latches, handles, wire, chains, plumbing supplies, tools, utensils, cutlery and machine parts. Household hardware is typically sold in hardware stores....
, software and the internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. The website was founded in 1998 by Femme Taken, a computer enthusiast, under the name World of Tweaking as a student's hobby project to offer a Dutch alternative to hardware review sites like Tom's Hardware Guide
Tom's Hardware Guide
Tom’s Hardware is an online publication focused on technology that was founded in 1996 by a German medic Dr. Tom Pabst. Tom's Hardware is owned by Bestofmedia Group company, one of the top three online publishers for technology in the world....
. The verb "tweaking" in the title refers to the process of tweaking the hardware of a computer, as a form of optimisation. Thus, the site's visitors are called tweakers, not to be confused with methamphetamine users.
Tweakers.net has grown substantially since its conception. Nowadays its primary feature is the publication of summaries of news and other technology-related articles on other websites. This is why Tweakers.net is often regarded as the Dutch clone of Slashdot
Slashdot
Slashdot is a technology-related news website owned by Geeknet, Inc. The site, which bills itself as "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters", features user-submitted and ‑evaluated current affairs news stories about science- and technology-related topics. Each story has a comments section...
albeit with a stronger Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
orientation than Slashdot. Tweakers.net has more features for the computer enthusiast, such as reviews, bi-monthly Best Buy guides, a classifieds section for jobs and used hardware, the Pricewatch and the Shop Survey, among others. While the majority of the reviews are written in Dutch, there are several articles translated into English because they cover a non-standard topic.
As of March 2006, Tweakers.net has been taken over by the Dutch media conglomerate
Media conglomerate
A media conglomerate, media group or media institution is a company that owns large numbers of companies in various mass media such as television, radio, publishing, movies, and the Internet...
VNU
VNU
Nielsen is a global marketing and advertising research company headquartered in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Nielsen is active in over 100 countries, and employs some 32,000 people worldwide...
, now known as The Nielsen Company. However, VNU Media has become owner of the website after The Nielsen Company had sold its Business Media division to private equity
Private equity
Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....
firm 3i
3i
3i Group plc is a multinational private equity and venture capital company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It has offices in 13 countries across Asia, Europe and the Americas and had total assets under management of £12.7 billion as at 31 March 2011...
.
Gathering of Tweakers
Another important area of the site is the forumInternet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
. Tweakers.net's forum is known as the Gathering of Tweakers (often abbreviated as GoT). The forum is mainly focused on technical subjects and tries to maintain a relatively high standard of posting. It has a fairly strong moderation policy, especially when compared to other online discussion forums. Users of the forum are strongly urged to read the FAQ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions are listed questions and answers, all supposed to be commonly asked in some context, and pertaining to a particular topic. "FAQ" is usually pronounced as an initialism rather than an acronym, but an acronym form does exist. Since the acronym FAQ originated in textual...
and to have invested a fair amount of his/her own time into finding an answer, either on GoT using the search tools, or anywhere else on the internet, before asking a question.
Tweakers.net currently has more than 400,000 members and its forum has over 29 million posts. It has won several awards, including "(Dutch) website of the year 2009" and "(Dutch) website of the year 2011"
External links
- Tweakers.net Front page
- Tweakers.mobi Mobile front page
- Gathering of Tweakers