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"You can, and should, make the strategic decision that you'll primarily write things which retain their value." I'm a huge fan of Patrick's, but I couldn't dis

"You can, and should, make the strategic decision that you'll primarily write things which retain their value." I'm a huge fan of Patrick's, but I couldn't disagree more on this point. Choosing to write primarily about evergreen topics is ONE valid approach to creating value, but it's not the only one. It's equally useful to write about topics that people have a burning desire to know more about, even if that desire will fade over time, provided you are building that knowledge into your strategy. For example, one of the sites I run provides accurate, up-to-date information on optimal builds for World of Warcraft characters. That's the very definition of information that becomes rapidly useless. However, the time it takes to write those guides compared to the value it provides to me (in terms of advertising revenue) and my readers (in terms of giving a quick, accessible answer to a question they really want authoritative information on) makes those guides a very solid business proposition. Likewise, I started an information site about the Oculus Rift a while ago. Again, everything on there is going to go out of date relatively fast - but whilst it's relevant, it's extremely relevant. And that allows me to build the site on a very small time investment and be in a good place to ride the wave of the DK2 and consumer release. This is HN, for goodness' sake. Half the things we're likely all interested in are ephemeral. Anyone ever searched for information on Ruby on Rails configuration? Or Heartbleed? Neither of these topics are unlikely to change over time (said he, looking sadly at the wreckage of his Rails 1.0 sites), but it's still a solid decision both for business and value-creation reasons to write about them. However, choosing to focus on evergreen topics is also a valid strategy. (The rest of the article, by the by, is fantastic advice, and by the end of the week my main site is likely to be split into "news" and "articles", the latter of which will have a significantly deprecated - but still visible - date field.)

jimejim 12y ago
I took away 2 things from this article and don't agree with him on everything: 1. If you're intention is to write evergreen content, you should probably separate it from your blog so people don't automatically assume it's less valuable. Like it or not, the date and format matter. At the very least, I would create a separate page to highlight the more important articles. 2. I would make sure to include a date on some topics, like tech that's going to change rapidly. Not every topic needs a date though, like his salary negotiation article. You said some of this too, but just felt like summarizing myself.

jimejim 12y ago

I took away 2 things from this article and don't agree with him on everything: 1. If you're intention is to write evergreen content, you should probably separate it from your blog so people don't automatically assume it's less valuable. Like it or not, the date and format matter. At the very least, I would create a separate page to highlight the more important articles. 2. I would make sure to include a date on some topics, like tech that's going to change rapidly. Not every topic needs a date though, like his salary negotiation article. You said some of this too, but just felt like summarizing myself.