The reason I visit certain sites is for the community, not the news. Slashdot was good, then reddit, then programming.reddit, and now n.yc. They all carry similar news, but the people are what make me come and go.
The next big site could be www.dzone.com. They have a bunch of good stories, but unfortunately no community. Everything of interest there gets cross posted to programming.reddit and here, and I think they generally have it first.
Wouldn't it be nice if you could get the community no matter the story source? Maybe it's my fomo (fear of missing out) but when I'm interested in an event/article I find myself digging around to find more info/commentary
The next big site could be www.dzone.com. They have a bunch of good stories, but unfortunately no community. Everything of interest there gets cross posted to programming.reddit and here, and I think they generally have it first.