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It's my subtle protest against the HN belief that people need to be warned against articles from previous years. That said, it's a bit alarming to realize I wro
by kens 5y ago
It's my subtle protest against the HN belief that people need to be warned against articles from previous years. That said, it's a bit alarming to realize I wrote the article 9 years ago.
- segfaultbuserr 5y agoHi, kens. This is my n-th time rereading this article, this time I noticed a small typo. Footnote 90, "More recent VMR specifications" should've been "VRM".
- kens 5y agoThanks! I've fixed it now.
- otterley 5y agoThat’s a curious stance, considering that “News” is in the very title of this site, and presumably a description of its content and intent.
- DoreenMichele 5y agoI think it's just context to help people better understand what they are reading.
- darkteflon 5y agoAgree - a date is often absolutely essential to placing what you’re reading in context. I always look for one at the top of any article I read, and assume based on past experience that the lack of one is usually indicative of clickbait (although clearly not in this case).
- Raed667 5y agoI did a small A/B test long ago, and found that the date, if more than a couple of years old, can discourage a lot of people from even reading the article. So maybe it should be placed at the end as a compromise?
- darkteflon 5y agoI can definitely appreciate the conundrum - you write a great piece and you want people to see it. My 2c would just be: trust your reader. People tend to have a good sense for whether a particular piece of content is going to have an effective “use-by” date or not.
- TedDoesntTalk 5y agoLack of dates in articles annoyed me way before i started reading HN. So i don't see the problem (didn't know that was a thing on HN), but i respect your decision.
- nayuki 5y agoNice article, Ken. I noticed that all the Google patent links are broken. For example, https://www.google.com/patents?id=RfA9AAAAEBAJ https://www.google.com/patents?id=RfA9AAAAEBAJ should be https://patents.google.com/patent/US4677366 https://patents.google.com/patent/US4677366 .