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I suppose that's a fair response, but at the risk of being rude please consider some advice from a marketing perspective. > All are subtle things that are of l

I suppose that's a fair response, but at the risk of being rude please consider some advice from a marketing perspective. > All are subtle things that are of little meaning to most people... If the changes do have little to no meaning in themselves, it's important to consider: Why did you submit it, and why does it sit at the top of HN? HN didn't upvote it because of the changelog itself. There's nothing there. HN upvoted it because HN wants to know more about what's going on with Go. So what's really happened, is that HN is affording you a great opportunity here, but the contents of the post are sorta clutching defeat from the jaws of victory. I think we could both agree that Go is a great language that we want people to be excited about, and releases can make good front-of-mind advertising at the very least. If making the release announcements is part of your job then I think you should take it on yourself to get the prospective audience excited. Tell us everything that's happened since 1.2, including reminding us of any major advances surrounding go. Here's what people want to hear: The Go team is plugging along. Go is getting more dependable than ever. Here's what we're doing with Go, by the way. Here's the latest projects. Here's the latest tools. Don't just say the changes since 1.2, tell us everything in your ecosystem that's changed. Teach us to long for the immensity of the sea, as it were[1]. [1] https://gist.github.com/simonsarris/9318374 https://gist.github.com/simonsarris/9318374

enneff 13y ago
My goal with the mailing list post and the submission was to let as many Go users as possible that a new release is out and they should upgrade. Should I use a minor release announcement as an occasion to get people more excited about Go? I'm not sure. I like the short and sweet nature of these point releases, and I'm wary of turning them into a marketing exercise. Otherwise, I do spend a lot of time telling people what's going on with Go. For instance, my presentation on what's new in Go 1.3 was at the top of HN for a day. Appreciate the feedback, though.
- bsdetector 13y ago
  So how is this different from any other spammer? You're get paid to use Hacker News as a Go mouthpiece to promote your product every chance you can take. The reason why you, a Google employee working on Go, shouldn't be submitting these stories is because you have a clear conflict of interest. You think that 5 changes totaling a few dozen lines of code is worth everybody's attention because you're in the thick of it. But really, a story like this being front page I think calls into question whether there is a voting ring or voting bot; I can't imagine more than a person or two actually looked at the changes and said this is important.
  - enneff 13y ago
    No need to be so cynical. You may not be interested in Go, but many programmers are, and many of them read HN (and vote). You underestimate the size and enthusiasm of the Go community.
    - endersshadow 13y ago
      Right, so please add some summary of changes/content to this. I don't have time to go through SVN commit logs, but I'm interested in Go and use it in some side projects. I want to quickly be able to say, "What changed? Can I apply it to my projects?" Not having that is wildly frustrating when I see these "version releases" where I have no clue what's worth my time.
  - Intermernet 13y ago
    As someone interested in Go, I looked at it because it was worth a look... I don't expect every HN post to be "important" as that differs from reader to reader. The fact that this ended up on the front page, and doesn't contain much easily consumable information for anyone not interested in Go, should possibly tempt you to have a look at the language, instead of assuming voting rings or bots. I personally have minimal interest in many topics that get covered on HN. I usually just don't click on them, but if they get enough coverage I'll usually check the topic out to see if my preconceptions were flawed.
    - bsdetector 13y ago
      See there you go. There's absolutely nothing in these 5 bug fixes of note, but I should be tempted to have a look at the language because of them? This story is just a shameless hackvertisement for Go. > instead of assuming voting rings or bots. I've several times in the past seen new stories critical of Go on reddit go from 1 to -20 in less than a minute. This stopped about when uriel died so I just assumed it was him, but maybe it's still going on HN. How do you explain this post being on the front page?
      - Intermernet 13y ago
- SyneRyder 13y ago
  For what it's worth, I'm happy to see the Go update announcement here. I only hack occasionally on Go so I haven't updated it in a while, but seeing this post has prompted me to download the latest version.
- scott_s 13y ago
  Anecdote: I have a general interest in the progress of Go, even though I don't program in it. I clicked through, saw no real content, and moved on to the comments to see if they would talk about what changed. I'm not going to try to parse svn commits - such things are written for people who know the code. These updates are a fantastic opportunity to talk about interesting technical points. What changed and why? You don't need to think about it as marketing, just an excuse for some quick-n-dirty tech talk.
voidlogic 13y ago
I love the way the Go team operates, including the way the point releases are handled. The last thing this the world needs is more marketing bullshit- No nonsense, just like Go: Go by engineers for engineers. Go will do fine "marketing" itself on its merits and the merits of things created with it. >The Go team is plugging along. Go is getting more dependable than ever. Here's what we're doing with Go, by the way. Here's the latest projects. Here's the latest tools. gag You realize golang.org isn't a startup right? :)- If this is what you are looking for check this out: http://www.golangweekly.com/archive/ http://www.golangweekly.com/archive/ (or if you want smaller bites the mailing list https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/golang-nuts https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/golang-nuts) >don't just say the changes since 1.2, tell us everything in your ecosystem that's changed. This is a tiny maintenance change, I don't want to read a fricking newsletter. Of course maybe I'm wrong- maybe- CVEs, and issues filed need more marketing speak too! After all, they might get linked on Hacker News! What an opportunity!
- afhof 13y ago
  +1 to short and sweet incremental change lists. VLC / Firefox used to be this way until /someone/ deemed those not worthy. You can still get to the VLC changes which ware way more satisfying to read: http://www.videolan.org/developers/vlc/NEWS http://www.videolan.org/developers/vlc/NEWS
0xdeadbeefbabe 13y ago
If you teach them to long for the immensity of the sea, as it were, won't they get frustrated by building the boat and start to take dangerous short cuts so they can get out to sea, or maybe even ride whales and drown? It may also serve the purpose of marketing to keep things boring. "plugging away" sounds scary by the way. It could imply they are thoughtless.

enneff 13y ago

My goal with the mailing list post and the submission was to let as many Go users as possible that a new release is out and they should upgrade. Should I use a minor release announcement as an occasion to get people more excited about Go? I'm not sure. I like the short and sweet nature of these point releases, and I'm wary of turning them into a marketing exercise. Otherwise, I do spend a lot of time telling people what's going on with Go. For instance, my presentation on what's new in Go 1.3 was at the top of HN for a day. Appreciate the feedback, though.

bsdetector 13y ago
So how is this different from any other spammer? You're get paid to use Hacker News as a Go mouthpiece to promote your product every chance you can take. The reason why you, a Google employee working on Go, shouldn't be submitting these stories is because you have a clear conflict of interest. You think that 5 changes totaling a few dozen lines of code is worth everybody's attention because you're in the thick of it. But really, a story like this being front page I think calls into question whether there is a voting ring or voting bot; I can't imagine more than a person or two actually looked at the changes and said this is important.
- enneff 13y ago
  No need to be so cynical. You may not be interested in Go, but many programmers are, and many of them read HN (and vote). You underestimate the size and enthusiasm of the Go community.
  - endersshadow 13y ago
    Right, so please add some summary of changes/content to this. I don't have time to go through SVN commit logs, but I'm interested in Go and use it in some side projects. I want to quickly be able to say, "What changed? Can I apply it to my projects?" Not having that is wildly frustrating when I see these "version releases" where I have no clue what's worth my time.
- Intermernet 13y ago
  As someone interested in Go, I looked at it because it was worth a look... I don't expect every HN post to be "important" as that differs from reader to reader. The fact that this ended up on the front page, and doesn't contain much easily consumable information for anyone not interested in Go, should possibly tempt you to have a look at the language, instead of assuming voting rings or bots. I personally have minimal interest in many topics that get covered on HN. I usually just don't click on them, but if they get enough coverage I'll usually check the topic out to see if my preconceptions were flawed.
  - bsdetector 13y ago
    See there you go. There's absolutely nothing in these 5 bug fixes of note, but I should be tempted to have a look at the language because of them? This story is just a shameless hackvertisement for Go. > instead of assuming voting rings or bots. I've several times in the past seen new stories critical of Go on reddit go from 1 to -20 in less than a minute. This stopped about when uriel died so I just assumed it was him, but maybe it's still going on HN. How do you explain this post being on the front page?
    - Intermernet 13y ago
SyneRyder 13y ago
For what it's worth, I'm happy to see the Go update announcement here. I only hack occasionally on Go so I haven't updated it in a while, but seeing this post has prompted me to download the latest version.
scott_s 13y ago
Anecdote: I have a general interest in the progress of Go, even though I don't program in it. I clicked through, saw no real content, and moved on to the comments to see if they would talk about what changed. I'm not going to try to parse svn commits - such things are written for people who know the code. These updates are a fantastic opportunity to talk about interesting technical points. What changed and why? You don't need to think about it as marketing, just an excuse for some quick-n-dirty tech talk.

voidlogic 13y ago

I love the way the Go team operates, including the way the point releases are handled. The last thing this the world needs is more marketing bullshit- No nonsense, just like Go: Go by engineers for engineers. Go will do fine "marketing" itself on its merits and the merits of things created with it. >The Go team is plugging along. Go is getting more dependable than ever. Here's what we're doing with Go, by the way. Here's the latest projects. Here's the latest tools. gag You realize golang.org isn't a startup right? :)- If this is what you are looking for check this out: http://www.golangweekly.com/archive/ http://www.golangweekly.com/archive/ (or if you want smaller bites the mailing list https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/golang-nuts https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/golang-nuts) >don't just say the changes since 1.2, tell us everything in your ecosystem that's changed. This is a tiny maintenance change, I don't want to read a fricking newsletter. Of course maybe I'm wrong- maybe- CVEs, and issues filed need more marketing speak too! After all, they might get linked on Hacker News! What an opportunity!

afhof 13y ago
+1 to short and sweet incremental change lists. VLC / Firefox used to be this way until /someone/ deemed those not worthy. You can still get to the VLC changes which ware way more satisfying to read: http://www.videolan.org/developers/vlc/NEWS http://www.videolan.org/developers/vlc/NEWS

0xdeadbeefbabe 13y ago

If you teach them to long for the immensity of the sea, as it were, won't they get frustrated by building the boat and start to take dangerous short cuts so they can get out to sea, or maybe even ride whales and drown? It may also serve the purpose of marketing to keep things boring. "plugging away" sounds scary by the way. It could imply they are thoughtless.