[jlawer]

Normally I would agree with you but I think with a code base like slash code your going to end up having a lot more time free going back to something much simpler. Your going to spend ages dealing with little foibles with a code base that old, and struggle to find people who are willing to spend the time maintaining a legacy stack. If you have a team of perl monks who are wiling to take it on, then by all means keep the existing code base.

However if you don't, I think your going to be better rolling a minimal site as your able to tap a wider pool of volunteers. Slashdot isn't some technological marvel, yes it will take time to rebuild it, but you will be able to execute much quicker being able to tap existing resources that have developed since.