

Puppy (or, details on Joel Spolsky's retirement from blogging) - 100k
http://joelonsoftware.com/items/2010/03/14.html

======
j_baker
"We need to stop rewriting the same things again and again (fail fast! NDAs
are worthless! Execution matters, not ideas! Use the right tools for the
job!)."

Couldn't agree more. I agree with these ideas 100%, but it's getting to the
point where they're all beginning to feel cliched.

~~~
mechanical_fish
I've said it before and will say it again: Repeating yourself is what
effective teaching is all about.

You need to say the same thing over and over to refine your own understanding
and presentation. You need to do this not just once, but periodically
thereafter, because the thing you believed in 2007 will be _different_ when
you restate it in 2010. Experience has taught you things since then.

You need to say the same thing over and over because students don't learn it
all the first time. They, too, grow in experience over time. When I reread the
things that I read twenty years ago, I see completely different nuances than I
did before.

But, most importantly, you need to say the same thing over and over because
_most people didn't hear you the first time_ , and even if they did, _the
world keeps making more people_. If nobody ever reposts or retweets the
classics, they rapidly become forgotten. (And then they aren't classics
anymore: The reason classics are classics is that people can't stop quoting
them.)

We've "all" heard that NDAs are worthless and that execution matters... and
yet prospective clients keep pulling out those crazy NDAs. We've all heard
that agile development is better than waterfall... except for the thousands of
programmers who are working on waterfall projects right now. We all know that
there is No Silver Bullet, and yet silver bullets continue to appear and
continue to be touted, almost 25 years after the original essay.

It's okay that Spolsky himself no longer feels called to the vocation of
patiently teaching the same things, over and over, to new generations of
programmers and entrepreneurs. That job is not for everyone, and he's got a
few other things he could be doing. ;) And it's also true that the web does a
miserable job of segregating the newbs from the old hands, such that it's hard
to avoid hearing lessons repeated more times than you really want to. But
however much Spolsky may not need to write the 18,001st restatement of No
Silver Bullet, there are always going to be people who need to read it. We're
never going to _finish_ the job of teaching people. They aren't _born_
knowing.

~~~
portman
>> _"the world keeps making more people"_

Well said. A corollary is that Joel was unfairly labeled a "blogger" even
though __he never really blogged __.

A blog is a reverse chronological list of short posts. Readers often assume a
kind of exponential decay of usefulness, where old blog posts are far less
interesting and relevant than new ones. Consequently, tech bloggers keep
posting the same content, as if to say _pay attention to this, it's still
important_.

What we really need is a new label for content like Joel's, one that doesn't
carry any negative stigma for text written long ago. I have no suggestions for
what that might look like, but I have to imagine there's something better than
the status quo, which is:

(1) People keep posting the same stuff, and (2) I send around a giant, growing
list of old articles to every newly minted CS graduate I meet

~~~
_delirium
Not formatting exclusively as a blog might help. In Ye Olden Statick HTML
Days, sites with mainly essay-like content usually had some sort of
organization: by topic, by theme, by importance, or some combination. They
often _also_ had a reverse-chronological list of essays on a page called
"updates" or "recent additions" or "sorted by date" or something similar, but
it wasn't the only or even primary way of displaying the content, and some
sites didn't have an updates page at all.

But blogs, including Joel's, display the "updates" page as if it were the main
website. There are sometimes other views, like by tag, or on Joel's by topic
in the sidebar, but they're positioned as clearly secondary, just pointers
into the primarily-chronological blog. They aren't the default display, and
posts are still prominently formatted with the date, as if they were journal
entries--- on Joel's blog, the posting date is even on the same line as the
title, in font that's just as big.

------
ApolloRising
Please DO NOT overexercise a puppy. It is common for people to start
exercising puppies way to much early on. They will happily keep themselves
busy and tend to exercise quickly and then sleep quite a bit. Puppies need
time to grow and their bones harden properly. That is why bigger breed dogs
are put on a slower growth puppy formula. You want to avoid causing any hip
issues that will be very tough on them later in life.

Please do read some of the better authors on the subject and acceptable levels
of exercise for the next 12 months.

~~~
spolsky
don't worry... Jared has read everything on the internets.

~~~
ApolloRising
Look into <http://www.thehonestkitchen.com> my dog loves it and they use top
notch ingredients. It is not that well known but quite good.

------
bmalicoat
The nice thing is there is a huge backlog of articles by Joel to refresh on or
read for the first time. I frequently get lost in his cross-linked articles
like so many people do with Wikipedia.

I know you'll still be around, Joel, but thanks for what you've done this far.

~~~
michaelneale
Yes I actually felt a bit sad as I read that "last blog post" - remembering
back to when I first came across the essays. I also enjoy the podcast, I hope
that continues on in some form.

But I agree with and appreciate the need to do something different - good on
you Joel - and thanks for everything. And don't let the VC's eat your soul
(unless for a very good price - puppies can get expensive quickly).

------
alaithea
When I saw the husky puppy, the first thing I thought of was Philip Greenspun
and his Samoyeds. <http://philip.greenspun.com/>

Funny coincidence that he mentioned him in the article, as one of his
forerunners. Maybe it wasn't coincidence.

------
hristov
a. I totally agree on Twitter, and

b. That is a nice puppy, Joe but you have to make sure you give him proper
exercise. It is not nice to keep a dog like that cooped up in an apartment.

~~~
spolsky
Don't worry, as soon as he gets his shots he's going to doggy day care.

~~~
imajes
Joel, if you need to use a 'day care' to facilitate looking after a dog, you
shouldn't have gotten him in the first place. Sorry, but that's not how it
works.

~~~
parfe
The comment originally started wtih "Honestly, fuck you." And had a few
ranting paragraphs, but instead, here you go:

I adopted a dog and i don't exercise him nearly enough. The other option? He'd
be dead. Fucking dead at two months old because people like you think animals
need the perfect life.

[http://fora.tv/2008/12/12/Mike_Rowe_on_Discovery_Realization...](http://fora.tv/2008/12/12/Mike_Rowe_on_Discovery_Realization_and_Lamb_Castration)

~~~
philk
Pretty much every time there's a discussion of dogs on the internet there'll
always be at least one guy who pipes up and tells you you're a monster because
you haven't sold your house, moved to the country, bought a farm and spent all
day carving statues of the dog out of marble.

It's quite annoying given that there's a lot worse that can happen to a dog
than being owned by an attentive and intelligent owner in less than ideal
circumstances.

~~~
gamble
I've been taking my dog to daycare since she was six months old. She gets far
more attention and exercise throughout the day than anyone with a day job or
kids to watch could provide. And - though I'm biased =) - I don't think you
could find a better behaved or more pleasant dog. She's so eager to leave for
daycare each morning, I think that at this point it would crush her _not_ to
go.

~~~
philk
Great to hear that it's working out for your dog :)

------
imgabe
I've been very skeptical of twitter from the beginning, but as time goes some
people are emerging that have figured out how to take advantage of the medium.
The first is shitmydadsays, who manages to fit a lot of context into 140
characters, the second is Michael Jordan (probably not the real Micheal
Jordan) who's great at some bite-sized non-sequitor humor.

~~~
spolsky
These people will make millions selling page-a-day calendars.

------
adsyoung
Thanks for all those essays Joel. They gave me a flying head start into how
software development should be done when I got started.

------
100k
I would like to say thanks for the great essays over the years. I started
reading back in college before joelonsoftware.com existed (even exchanged
email with Joel back in 1999 or 2000 or something) and his writing turned me
on to a lot of great ideas and books that I've learned a lot from.

I wasn't sure what Joel's reason for giving up the blog would be, but I agree
that not wanting to re-hash the conventional wisdom is a good reason.

I look forward to seeing what's in store for the next 10 years.

Hey! I think this my first front-page post on HN. So one more thing to thank
Joel for.

------
hackernews
I expect this to be the start of a water fall, the baby boomers of the
blogosphere. Blogs are hard work and a successful one is a full-time job. I
would be more worried if Joel continued to keep it up. (I'm not buying the dog
excuse though)

That said there should be a graveyard for old blowhards. An invite only site
where we can send our stalwarts who can lend a post or two a year.
Collectively there would be no pressure to post but we could keep their
insight on life support.

------
SandB0x
A big thanks for all you've written (if you're reading, Joel). You've really
helped shape my thinking over the last few years.

------
jcsiracusa
No more blogging, but damned if he'll give up responding to comments on Hacker
News.

(Cute dog.)

------
crosvenir
I kinda feel like the guards here:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o5APFI6kH0#t=6m41s>

(spoiler: Truman Show)

------
samd
It would be nice if he went back and updated some posts from 5-10 years ago,
or maybe I'm just young and actually believe that things have changed in that
time. :D

------
eplanit
I thought he retired. Why are we seeing more from him? Isn't the come-back
tour supposed to happen after a longer hiatus?

------
bugs
In regards to huskies there are a few important things:

\- they need a lot of exercise everyday (like a few hours)

\- they need training (not good couch potato dogs)

\- they need high and secure fencing (many will try to escape if left alone
and to their own devices and they are master escape artists)

~~~
machrider
Doesn't Joel live in NYC? A husky in an apartment is a terrible idea.

~~~
spolsky
my apartment has a half mile elliptical snow track -- he does 20 laps a day
with a team pulling a sled full of New York phone books

~~~
jerf
Joel, I just wanted to say that despite the fact the evidence suggests you are
an intelligent person and I know nothing more about your position than the
fact you have a puppy, I want to join the horde of people ensuring that we
stick our nose in your business to remind you (since nobody else has) that
dogs need to be fed rather a lot for optimum health (once every two days just
doesn't cut it in my experience). They also require water, and unfortunately
despite my best efforts most of the food and water just comes out again
several hours later. No, despite what you think you can't seem to just reuse
the stuff that comes out. I'm not certain if you were aware of these things so
let me call you out in public as someone who doesn't.

...

Jeez, people, lay off with the dog advice already. You don't know enough about
the situation to advise meaningfully.

~~~
tpz
bugs' repeated comments being a perfect case in point. I know this entire
subject is hardly HN material, but both myself and the vet sitting beside me
would like you all to know that:

bugs repeated advice on exercise would, if applied, make sure that Joel's dog
leads a short, uncomfortable life due to the kind of overexercise that
compounds the kinds of hip problems that already lead to shortened lives in
large breed dogs even when exercised properly. Do NOT overexercise a puppy.
Especially a large breed puppy.

That said, don't take advise from the internet. Not even mine. Not even if it
is from the vet sitting next to me since, while she may be a vet, this is
still the internet. Talk to your own vet about what is right for your dog.

