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Some view it as a best practice: https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/content-marketing-strategy https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archiv

Some view it as a best practice: https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/content-marketing-strategy https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/content-m...

eyuelt 12y ago
As a user though, I find it extremely annoying when I'm trying to find out how old an article is and can't find a date anywhere on the page.
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  Yeah, if it doesn't have a date, that's (to me) a much stronger negative signal than an old date. If its old, I can take that into account (and, particularly, I can properly contextualize it and understand what it must not have considered because of timing.) If it doesn't have a date, I can't contextualize it, and its value drops.
npsimons 12y ago
And some would argue that truly timeless writing will transcend any timestamp you put on it, but the timestamp still has immense value. You can, and should, make the strategic decision that you'll primarily write things which retain their value. With this, I heartily agree; leaving off a date, though, that's just rude. If there are those who would judge your writing by the date it was written, there's either something wrong with them, or something wrong with the writing. As for the former, you can't do much about them, and probably don't want much to do with them. As for the latter, well, keep aiming higher! The date can be handy, though. Consider it a nod towards transparency and openness, and in more technical pieces with specific instructions, a great boon to those dealing with a version of the software a few years removed.
- vertex-four 12y ago
  Additionally... how are we supposed to figure out when things fall out of copyright if nobody puts dates on anything? You might not think your blog post will be worth anything to anyone by then, but otoh, we're absolutely terrible at predicting what'll be valuable even 5 years down the line.
raverbashing 12y ago
"Some view it as a best practice" NO, IT IS NOT That's probably the stupidest thing I've heard today Things in IT change all the time. Heck, even non technical things. One text saying something, even if about something pretty "stable", may change tomorrow. It's one of the most important contextual information we have. I shouldn't have to explain why not having a date is BS so I won't. Time is money after all. ALWAYS date your texts, and brush your teeth (even though tomorrow someone may come up with something better)
- voltagex_ 12y ago
  I just let a domain lapse that was going to be about this issue - wrongtutorial. "Your tutorial is wrong and you should feel bad". Not updating / timestamping / putting a big fat "outdated" warning on an article is inexcusable. This article, however, probably isn't that out of date - the attack still works!
dragonwriter 12y ago
> Some view it as a best practice: https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/content-m.. https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/content-m.... A marketing best practice; concealing information that might be of positive value to very many users because some users will treat it as a negative input (perhaps incorrectly in some cases, but that's not really important one way or the other from a marketing perspective) has obvious content marketing utility. That doesn't mean it isn't universally a disservice to thoughtful readers.
vacri 12y ago
That article's commentary on dating articles is largely complaining about HN's policy. You can still stick a date somewhere on your page - put it at the footer, and anyone who gets that far will already have invested enough in the article to have at least scrolled down a bit.
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  > That article's commentary on dating articles is largely complaining about HN's policy. No, it is using the observed effect of HN's policy as a piece of evidence for the broader claim that using dates is bad content marketing because it leads people to discount the dated content as it ages; the thesis is that, to maximize the value people ascribe to your content, you should avoid dates.
ufmace 12y ago
Depends on the subject. Marketing and conversion stuff, like he posts, is mostly timeless. Things related to specific pieces of web technology or security or other things that tend to change rapidly really ought to be dated in an easy to find way.

Some view it as a best practice: https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/content-marketing-strategy https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/content-m...

eyuelt 12y ago

As a user though, I find it extremely annoying when I'm trying to find out how old an article is and can't find a date anywhere on the page.

dragonwriter 12y ago
Yeah, if it doesn't have a date, that's (to me) a much stronger negative signal than an old date. If its old, I can take that into account (and, particularly, I can properly contextualize it and understand what it must not have considered because of timing.) If it doesn't have a date, I can't contextualize it, and its value drops.

npsimons 12y ago

And some would argue that truly timeless writing will transcend any timestamp you put on it, but the timestamp still has immense value. You can, and should, make the strategic decision that you'll primarily write things which retain their value. With this, I heartily agree; leaving off a date, though, that's just rude. If there are those who would judge your writing by the date it was written, there's either something wrong with them, or something wrong with the writing. As for the former, you can't do much about them, and probably don't want much to do with them. As for the latter, well, keep aiming higher! The date can be handy, though. Consider it a nod towards transparency and openness, and in more technical pieces with specific instructions, a great boon to those dealing with a version of the software a few years removed.

vertex-four 12y ago
Additionally... how are we supposed to figure out when things fall out of copyright if nobody puts dates on anything? You might not think your blog post will be worth anything to anyone by then, but otoh, we're absolutely terrible at predicting what'll be valuable even 5 years down the line.

raverbashing 12y ago

"Some view it as a best practice" NO, IT IS NOT That's probably the stupidest thing I've heard today Things in IT change all the time. Heck, even non technical things. One text saying something, even if about something pretty "stable", may change tomorrow. It's one of the most important contextual information we have. I shouldn't have to explain why not having a date is BS so I won't. Time is money after all. ALWAYS date your texts, and brush your teeth (even though tomorrow someone may come up with something better)

voltagex_ 12y ago
I just let a domain lapse that was going to be about this issue - wrongtutorial. "Your tutorial is wrong and you should feel bad". Not updating / timestamping / putting a big fat "outdated" warning on an article is inexcusable. This article, however, probably isn't that out of date - the attack still works!

dragonwriter 12y ago

> Some view it as a best practice: https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/content-m.. https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/content-m.... A marketing best practice; concealing information that might be of positive value to very many users because some users will treat it as a negative input (perhaps incorrectly in some cases, but that's not really important one way or the other from a marketing perspective) has obvious content marketing utility. That doesn't mean it isn't universally a disservice to thoughtful readers.

vacri 12y ago

That article's commentary on dating articles is largely complaining about HN's policy. You can still stick a date somewhere on your page - put it at the footer, and anyone who gets that far will already have invested enough in the article to have at least scrolled down a bit.

dragonwriter 12y ago
> That article's commentary on dating articles is largely complaining about HN's policy. No, it is using the observed effect of HN's policy as a piece of evidence for the broader claim that using dates is bad content marketing because it leads people to discount the dated content as it ages; the thesis is that, to maximize the value people ascribe to your content, you should avoid dates.

ufmace 12y ago

Depends on the subject. Marketing and conversion stuff, like he posts, is mostly timeless. Things related to specific pieces of web technology or security or other things that tend to change rapidly really ought to be dated in an easy to find way.