6 ms·

Zed Shaw's New Blog

59 points by twampss 18y ago

icey 18y ago
It's oddly work safe. I wonder what Zed's up to.
- Dobbs 18y ago
  He stated a while ago that he was planning on dropping the attitude and semi-starting over. It seems like he is working to make good on his promise.
  - icey 18y ago
    Huh, I guess I've been out of the Zed Shaw loop for a little while. Thanks for filling me in!
- kaens 18y ago
  He dropped the tough-guy stuff a bit ago, admitted to creating said persona for (more-or-less) the purposes of trolling, and announced that he would be acting a lot more serious in the future.
  - herval 18y ago
    Got a hard time finding another job due to his 'fame', maybe?
    - icey 18y ago
      Seriously doubtful. Zed may have had a website that featured him talking like a pirate, but I think it's pretty well known that he can code like a motherfucker.
      - herval 18y ago
        just a theory. Even if he couldn't code at all, he speaks VERY well (seen him at a Canadian conference) - that alone is enough to land a job in most pointy-hair-managed companies out there...
        kaens 18y ago
        He said he wanted to focus more on music than code. I think he's doing pretty well for himself. Also, he can absolutely code - and the code of his that I've looked at has been pretty awesome on all accounts.
- deleted 18y ago
  [deleted]
peregrine 18y ago
Is this the death of Zed Shaw as we know it? Goodbye interesting articles...
- halostatue 18y ago
  If that's what you think, then you're not thinking this through. Look, I don't like Zed -- especially the jackass persona he adopted -- and he doesn't like me, either. (I've had a few run-ins with him for various reasons.) When he's not ranting like in the Rails Rant, or his odious performance "art" (insulting friends of mine when they weren't there to defend themselves) at RubyFringe this summer, Zed's an intelligent guy who deserves a lot of credit for his positive contributions. His essay about statistics is an absolute must-read (and he's right). Zed's essays are worth reading because they are well-considered, even if I disagree with the conclusions therein. I personally look forward to his non-ranting on-line personality.
jballanc 18y ago
Key Quote -- "I’ve found that while I’ve moved on from the Rails scene, the scene has not moved on from me" The true quality of a community is not just a measure of how forceful or big it is, but how easily it can adapt to change. This quote, plus the fact that the plan for "moving forward" was to pull in another framework wholesale, does not bode well for the Rails community. It by no means indicates that the Rails community is doomed, but it does not bode well. I'd also like to take this moment to point out that this is yet another indication that the Ruby community != the Rails community. Quite to the contrary, I think you'll find the Ruby community quite flexible and robust when faced with opposition. (Just read some of the recent ruby-talk discussions on 1.8.6 vs. 1.8.7 if you don't believe me...)
- dboyd 18y ago
  "The true quality of a community is ... how easily it can adapt to change." Very true. "The fact that the plan for 'moving forward' [is] to pull in another framework wholesale, does not bode well for the Rails community." Very untrue. In fact, very contradictory to what you first said. The fact that the the Rails community is so willing to adapt to the change that is Merb bodes very well for the community as a whole. +1 for "the Ruby community != the Rails community." That's a statement worth echoing many times over.
- adamhowell 18y ago
  The fact that a guy who's been known to be somewhat of a troll states, anecdotally, that an entire community is still "consumed" by him proves that the community must therefore be in trouble? Don't agree.
  - alecco 18y ago
    It was parody.
    - adamhowell 18y ago
      Ah, guess I don't know the source well enough.
- 18y ago
vaksel 18y ago
to tell the truth I liked the old design better, this one is kinda boring
lessofthat 18y ago
God, that persona's much better. It's like the neighbours turned the 3am rap music down.
- jpwagner 18y ago
  Does he have a link to the old page? I can't sleep without that music.
  - spydez 18y ago
    He's still using his old favicon...
  - Shtirlic 18y ago
    http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.zedshaw.com/ http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.zedshaw.com/
Silentio 18y ago
The comments here are interesting. They either breath a sigh of relief and welcome the change in persona with open arms, or they let out a "pfft," uninteresting and wish for the old Zed. Any mediators out there?
- gjm11 18y ago
  They probably don't see that there's anything much to be said until we discover what the new persona actually has to say. If you loved or hated the old one, then you can already guess that the new one is much worse or better, respectively; if not, Insufficient Data For Meaningful Answer.
- jamesbritt 18y ago
  " Any mediators out there?" The silent majority who likely don't give a rat's ass either way?
petercooper 18y ago
Keep feeding the monster, folks.
jacktang 18y ago
Looking forward the new projects and coming articles
nuclear_eclipse 18y ago
From his site's source code, he's using YUI it seems, but there is one gem:  <table border="0"><tr><td><h1><a href="/">Zed Shaw</a></h1></td> <td width="100%"><h2>Enjoy the show.</h2></td></tr></table>
tptacek 18y ago
How is this Hacker News?
sho 18y ago
"I’ve found that while I’ve moved on from the Rails scene, the scene has not moved on from me. It’s time to do something else with your lives." I see the, uh, "elevated self-esteem" remains. As a member of the "Rails scene" myself I don't feel particularly stuck on Zed, and I don't get the impression many others are either, if they ever were. Maybe a couple of curmudgeons whose nose he tweaked or something, but on the whole the scene is much too large for any one attention-seeker to disrupt for long. Note to Zed: Reddit users != "the Rails scene". Anyone who got bent out of shape by your rant != "the Rails scene". The real Rails scene is too busy, you know, working. Not that I don't like Zed, I do. As our gentle host PG once put it, he "offends the right people", and I respect anyone who gets things done. But his antics have been a drop in the ocean. Zed's work on Mongrel affected the Rails scene far more than his rants ever did, so on balance his influence has actually been pretty positive.

Zed Shaw's New Blog

59 points by twampss 18y ago

icey 18y ago

It's oddly work safe. I wonder what Zed's up to.

Dobbs 18y ago
He stated a while ago that he was planning on dropping the attitude and semi-starting over. It seems like he is working to make good on his promise.
- icey 18y ago
  Huh, I guess I've been out of the Zed Shaw loop for a little while. Thanks for filling me in!
kaens 18y ago
He dropped the tough-guy stuff a bit ago, admitted to creating said persona for (more-or-less) the purposes of trolling, and announced that he would be acting a lot more serious in the future.
- herval 18y ago
  Got a hard time finding another job due to his 'fame', maybe?
  - icey 18y ago
    Seriously doubtful. Zed may have had a website that featured him talking like a pirate, but I think it's pretty well known that he can code like a motherfucker.
    - herval 18y ago
      just a theory. Even if he couldn't code at all, he speaks VERY well (seen him at a Canadian conference) - that alone is enough to land a job in most pointy-hair-managed companies out there...
      - kaens 18y ago
        He said he wanted to focus more on music than code. I think he's doing pretty well for himself. Also, he can absolutely code - and the code of his that I've looked at has been pretty awesome on all accounts.
deleted 18y ago
[deleted]

peregrine 18y ago

Is this the death of Zed Shaw as we know it? Goodbye interesting articles...

halostatue 18y ago
If that's what you think, then you're not thinking this through. Look, I don't like Zed -- especially the jackass persona he adopted -- and he doesn't like me, either. (I've had a few run-ins with him for various reasons.) When he's not ranting like in the Rails Rant, or his odious performance "art" (insulting friends of mine when they weren't there to defend themselves) at RubyFringe this summer, Zed's an intelligent guy who deserves a lot of credit for his positive contributions. His essay about statistics is an absolute must-read (and he's right). Zed's essays are worth reading because they are well-considered, even if I disagree with the conclusions therein. I personally look forward to his non-ranting on-line personality.

jballanc 18y ago

Key Quote -- "I’ve found that while I’ve moved on from the Rails scene, the scene has not moved on from me" The true quality of a community is not just a measure of how forceful or big it is, but how easily it can adapt to change. This quote, plus the fact that the plan for "moving forward" was to pull in another framework wholesale, does not bode well for the Rails community. It by no means indicates that the Rails community is doomed, but it does not bode well. I'd also like to take this moment to point out that this is yet another indication that the Ruby community != the Rails community. Quite to the contrary, I think you'll find the Ruby community quite flexible and robust when faced with opposition. (Just read some of the recent ruby-talk discussions on 1.8.6 vs. 1.8.7 if you don't believe me...)

dboyd 18y ago
"The true quality of a community is ... how easily it can adapt to change." Very true. "The fact that the plan for 'moving forward' [is] to pull in another framework wholesale, does not bode well for the Rails community." Very untrue. In fact, very contradictory to what you first said. The fact that the the Rails community is so willing to adapt to the change that is Merb bodes very well for the community as a whole. +1 for "the Ruby community != the Rails community." That's a statement worth echoing many times over.
adamhowell 18y ago
The fact that a guy who's been known to be somewhat of a troll states, anecdotally, that an entire community is still "consumed" by him proves that the community must therefore be in trouble? Don't agree.
- alecco 18y ago
  It was parody.
  - adamhowell 18y ago
    Ah, guess I don't know the source well enough.
18y ago

vaksel 18y ago

to tell the truth I liked the old design better, this one is kinda boring

lessofthat 18y ago

God, that persona's much better. It's like the neighbours turned the 3am rap music down.

jpwagner 18y ago
Does he have a link to the old page? I can't sleep without that music.
- spydez 18y ago
  He's still using his old favicon...
- Shtirlic 18y ago
  http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.zedshaw.com/ http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.zedshaw.com/

Silentio 18y ago

The comments here are interesting. They either breath a sigh of relief and welcome the change in persona with open arms, or they let out a "pfft," uninteresting and wish for the old Zed. Any mediators out there?

gjm11 18y ago
They probably don't see that there's anything much to be said until we discover what the new persona actually has to say. If you loved or hated the old one, then you can already guess that the new one is much worse or better, respectively; if not, Insufficient Data For Meaningful Answer.
jamesbritt 18y ago
" Any mediators out there?" The silent majority who likely don't give a rat's ass either way?

petercooper 18y ago

Keep feeding the monster, folks.

jacktang 18y ago

Looking forward the new projects and coming articles

nuclear_eclipse 18y ago

From his site's source code, he's using YUI it seems, but there is one gem:  <table border="0"><tr><td><h1><a href="/">Zed Shaw</a></h1></td> <td width="100%"><h2>Enjoy the show.</h2></td></tr></table>

tptacek 18y ago

How is this Hacker News?

sho 18y ago

"I’ve found that while I’ve moved on from the Rails scene, the scene has not moved on from me. It’s time to do something else with your lives." I see the, uh, "elevated self-esteem" remains. As a member of the "Rails scene" myself I don't feel particularly stuck on Zed, and I don't get the impression many others are either, if they ever were. Maybe a couple of curmudgeons whose nose he tweaked or something, but on the whole the scene is much too large for any one attention-seeker to disrupt for long. Note to Zed: Reddit users != "the Rails scene". Anyone who got bent out of shape by your rant != "the Rails scene". The real Rails scene is too busy, you know, working. Not that I don't like Zed, I do. As our gentle host PG once put it, he "offends the right people", and I respect anyone who gets things done. But his antics have been a drop in the ocean. Zed's work on Mongrel affected the Rails scene far more than his rants ever did, so on balance his influence has actually been pretty positive.