Now, on the eve of Hack a Day’s fifth anniversary, seems like an appropriate time to announce my resignation. Site founder [Phillip Torrone] published the first post, a red box, on September 5th, 2004. On May 7th, 2005 I took over editorial duties at Hack a Day by publishing one of my favorite projects: [Jonathan Westhues]‘ proximity card spoofer. Since then, I’ve run Hack a Day with a number of great contributors over the last four years: [Fabienne Serriere], [Will O'Brien], [Ian Lesnet], and current senior editor [Caleb Kraft] just to name a few. I’ve enjoyed watching the site grow, powered by the constant stream of tips from readers. Whether we were turning hard drives into molten goo or putting our hardware designs into production, it’s been a lot of fun. With all the new talent we’ve brought on recently, I have confidence that Hack a Day will continue to be a great resource in the future.

You’ll be able to find me online running my personal blog RobotSkirts.com and on Twitter as @sweetums. In real life, I’ll still be attending hacker conferences, like the upcoming ToorCon in San Diego, and local Los Angeles tech events like Mindshare and the weekly Hacker Drinkup.

In closing, I’d like to thank you, the readers, for all the support you’ve given us over the years. If it weren’t for all the tips, personal projects, and ideas you’ve sent us, we’d never have made it this far. Thank you.

[photo: Viss]

There have only been two occasions where Hack a Day ran an April Fools post. They’re both tongue-in-cheek and intended to entertain instead of confuse with absurdity: Hack a Day goes autonomous, Introducing Craft a Day.

I do like YouTube’s &flip=1 option.

Notacon is a hacker convention, but is interesting for featuring Blockparty, a demoparty. You can find my posts about Notacon on Hack a Day. The conference was okay. The 12 hours it took Holiday Inn to get me into a room were freaking awful. Cleveland sucks. Knowing my track record for hating on places, I’ll end up moving there some day.

I haven’t been posting much here, but I do post quite frequently to both Twitter and Flickr (thanks to my geotagging/autouploading N95).

I think my interview about Hack-A-Day went really well and I suggest you have a listen if you’ve ever wondered what we’re all about. (Yes, “I’m feeling lucky” for the word hack has been bumped by Wikipedia yet again)

UPDATE: Link fixed.

• Benjamin Heckendorn
• Eliot Phillips
• Fabienne Serriere
• Will O’Brien

How to blog for a professional group blog

I hope this doesn’t sound too condescending, but it should both strike down general populace perceptions about blogging and build a foundation for what good blogging is.

Length: You should neither be so brief as to make your post pointless (why didn’t they just go to the source) or so long as to be a dissertation (why didn’t they just go to the source). You want the reader to know all of the important facts of the article that you are linking to by the time they reach the end of your write up. They should be able to easily decide whether or not they want to follow the link to the original story.

Snarkiness: It definitely has a firm foundation in blogging but you shouldn’t let it define your blogging.

Voice: You’re part of a professional publication; this type of blogging isn’t about you. That doesn’t mean you can’t have individual voice and nuances, but you’re posting as part of a team and should refer to your actions with the editorial we.

Clarity: A direct post title is preferred to a clever one. If people can’t find your post title using a search engine it’s not worth much beyond the day it was written. Try to include all the major players in the title. Also, don’t block quote, ever. It’s not writing and the Google won’t think you’re a legitimate publication if you do it.

Engagement: Engaging your audience is incredibly important. Ad revenue is what keeps a blog alive and an active commenting community will help build your readership. You can seed comments by asking a question in your post or making a controversial statement. Your audience isn’t full of idiots though and will feel insulted if you constantly end every post with “What do you think?” or “Macs suck!” Ask a legitimate question and more people will be willing to participate.

Insight: Nearly anyone can summarize a post, but few people want to read “This is what it says at this link. Wheeeeeee!”. You have to provide insight into the topic. Why is it important now? When has this come up in the past? What similar items has the blog reported before? What impact will this have in the future? People reading blog posts expect both factual reporting plus the authors honest opinion on the subject.

Credit: Blogs are notorious for giving credit where credit is due. If you are linking to a story that you are only aware of because you saw it linked from somewhere else, you must include a [via SiteName] with SiteName being linked to the post you read. If someone sends you a tip you give a [thanks SomeReader] with a link to their site if applicable. There are rare occasions where something is so widely reported that you can give a [via Everywhere] or a [thanks Everyone].

Context linking: It’s important to include context links in your posts; not necessarily a lot. You definitely want to include them when you think a reader will be unfamiliar with a topic. Also, to connect to a previous article as a story progresses. This is one of the many benefits of publishing online. You can provide interactive footnotes in your story that a reader can explore at their own will. Don’t assume the reader is following your context links though. Otherwise you will end up with a meaningless piece of text that’s just a hyperlinked inside joke.

Originality: Original content trumps all others. You can be a good news reporting service, but you really want to be a readers final stopping point for content. Every time you link to another site it’s a chance for a reader to think “That site has the content. Why don’t I cut out the middle man.” This doesn’t mean that you should link less, just that it’s important to generate content that is unique to your site. It will not only keep readers, it will encourage other sites to link to you.

“Your greatest challenge lies ahead – and downwards.”