
Show HN: Hacker Spring – Instant blog by email, no signup required - hacker256
https://hackerspring.com/
======
hacker256
Hey HN! I worked hard to make this so that everyone, even Grandma and Grandpa,
can now blog, make a website, or even learn to code with JavaScript!

You can send an email to anything@hackerspring.com and it will automatically
create a post based on your Subject and Body of your e-mail!

You can also attach javascript, css, or html files to make a full website that
is hosted free by just sending an email!

I hope you guys like it!

~~~
MaxLeiter
It’s a great idea. I think it would be a lot nicer to read without the typing
animation for blog text. It seems like a fast site - show that off!

~~~
hacker256
Thank you! The animation site was actually just to show that you could attach
a javascript file and embed it in your e-mail!

[https://hackerspring.com/p/protonmail.com/hackerspring/5ec06...](https://hackerspring.com/p/protonmail.com/hackerspring/5ec06c8f/hello-
world)

Is an example without the javascript!

~~~
plibither8
But... why? Giving a user complete control over JS code that will run directly
off the site is inherently an unsafe idea, for you and for the user.

~~~
hacker256
Sorry about that, a more serious answer: There are already hundreds of
thousands of webhosts who offer Javascript hosting - what makes this one any
less safe?

------
AnonC
As pointed out by samstave in a comment at
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23209348](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23209348)
:

You send an email to this service to post a blog entry, and this service
exposes your name and email address (as obtained from the email headers) to
everyone! That’s a huge privacy disconnect in a world where exposed emails can
cause a lot of problems, and more so for non-technical people, which this
service intends to make things easy for.

One look at the homepage of this service shows all the email addresses used by
the users to post. Since the service also claims (in another comment here)
that spoofed email addresses won’t work, users must use a non-personal address
and name if they don’t wish to expose their information publicly.

~~~
hacker256
This site isn't an anonymous posting forum. If you want to be anonymous you
can use an anonymous e-mail account, but for everyone else it's to speak with
your name and your voice.

What you're looking for is a different service with different goals, and that
doesn't make this one worse at what it is trying to do.

~~~
AnonC
No need to get defensive. You have basically created a spam attractor for non-
technical users by saying that this is suitable for “Grandpa and Grandma” and
making them a lot more vulnerable to email scams.

Writing in one’s voice doesn’t need to have an email address attached with it.
I can understand using the person’s name. You could do better by not
displaying the email address or obfuscating it. Or you could remove that
“Grandpa and Grandma” part from your description and say that it’s for those
who understand how email addresses in public can get misused.

~~~
hacker256
This isn't defensive. I'm simply stating that anonymous posting is different
from named posting. That said, I will be adding a way to do anonymous posting
and unlisted posting today. :-)

Thank you for your suggestions!

~~~
AnonC
Named posting doesn’t need to expose one’s email address. You could just use
the name. That was my point. There is no need to expose anyone’s email address
to the world, be they technically knowledgeable people or otherwise.

I still believe your site is harmful to users unless the default is publishing
with just the name and no email address, with an option of publishing with the
email address if someone really wants to. The current defaults seem inverted.

I’ll stop with this comment since I’ve said enough.

~~~
hacker256
I updated it to hide name and email by default.

If people wish to expose their name and email, they can include an email
signature!

Edit: If you already posted, this page was already archived so you should
create a new e-mail address if you want to be pseudoanonymous.

------
samstave
There was a service a while back - I cant recall what it was - but it would
send you a question via email asking what you did today and you would reply to
it and it would keep a history...

I cant recall what that was now though.

I really like this though.

\---

Custom URLs?

I am going to try this right now. What happens....

WAIT A MINUTE. HOL' UP. SOMETHIN AINT RIGHT.

This exposes your email to anyone on Hackerspring. and allows you to
effectively non-anonymously post to a forum, whereby your post is intermixed
with everyone elses?

No thank you.

Here is a feature request I would like:

TO: join@hackerspring.com Subject: Join, "PHLUX"

SEND

\---

From: Join@Hackerspring.com Subject: Join, "PHLUX"

Hello,

Your new page has been created under Hackerspring.com/phlux!

Any emails you send to phlux@hackersping.com will now be visible at
hackerspring.com/phlux

Please enjoy your nano blog! Also, your email will never be visible, unless
YOU put it into the body of your email-post sent to Hackerspring, so pllease
be careful of signatures.

If you wish to delete a post at any time, simply send an email - just as you
would a post with "Delete [POSTID]" as the subject of your email!

Please be sure to adhere to our TOS regarding harmful content posts.

\----

I dont want all my posts intermingled with others.

Thanks

~~~
hacker256
Makes sense and I think that creates a different dynamic and community. You
can delete emails by just sending $DELETEME.

There are more commands available in
[https://hackerspring.com/faq](https://hackerspring.com/faq)

It was considered to do 'unlisted' posts, but in the end, what's a blog if
it's not for worldwide publication?

~~~
samstave
Im confused - so my collection of posts is contained under "category +me"

Does it post inline images from within the body of the email? I must have
missed that part.

And I didnt say not available to the world - I said not intermingled among
everyone elses posts. That is a forum.

By your definition, HN would be a blog - as I can post to HN, and it just
shows up under /new I just happen to be the poster...

Am I missing something?

~~~
hacker256
> Im confused - so my collection of posts is contained under "category +me"

Yes

> Does it post inline images from within the body of the email? I must have
> missed that part.

Yes! You can include anything you can with HTML and e-mail. You can even
include a .js or .css file!

> By your definition, HN would be a blog - as I can post to HN, and it just
> shows up under /new I just happen to be the poster...

With Hacker Spring, it's both a blog and an aggregator. HN can be used as a
blog by doing a text post! :-). Hacker Spring just has a bit more features to
customize your site since it's fully geared toward this.

------
andrefuchs
This reminds me of a blogging by email service I used called Posterous. Loved
it but got shut down after Twitter bought it.

~~~
chrismatheson
I was just thinking the same. It was the first platform I actually used for
quite a while.

~~~
hacker256
Nice! I hope you'll give this a shot too! :-)

------
arkitaip
Damn, I really like the concept of creating blog posts simply by sending
email. Solves a lot of UI problems.

~~~
hacker256
I agree! I really hope this takes off and also sparks a revolution of making
things easier for people!

------
generalpass
On consideration, I would prefer if it worked without js. Since the whole site
requires js to load content, clicking on someone's post that has js that effs
with my computer is something I prefer to avoid.

At the very least, label a post that has js so I don't click it, if you are
going to require the site to function with js.

Is it really necessary that every link opens in a new tab?

~~~
hacker256
It now indicates that there is a script by putting [JS] next to the title.
Links that redirect elsewhere have an arrow in the post title appended!

Thanks for the suggestion!

------
hacker256
I just added a dark mode toggle (no cookies still)! Hope you like!

[https://hackerspring.com?darkmode=1](https://hackerspring.com?darkmode=1)

------
loks5
I have typed my website URL wrong. How do I edit?

~~~
hacker256
There is no edit, but you can delete and repost! Just go to your sent mailbox
and find the email, click on the mail you sent us, and hit reply. Then type
"$DELETEME" as the first text in the body.

[https://hackerspring.com/faq/](https://hackerspring.com/faq/)

------
forgotmypw17
>Just e-mail [email protected] to post or pick your own
topic@hackerspring.com.

------
loks5
Nice concept and cool animation!

~~~
hacker256
Thank you!

------
larl
Some of this strikes me as a bad idea...

------
godmode2019
From tos page

"PLEASE READ THESE TERMS CAREFULLY, AS THEY ARE A LEGAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN YOU
AND Podesta Pizzeria, LLC."

~~~
n8henry
OP is Q

~~~
hacker256
You found me.

------
rubatuga
This is a repost of a banned submission:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=podestapizza](https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=podestapizza)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=podestapizza](https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=podestapizza)

~~~
hacker256
> This is a repost of a banned submission:

Wrong. It's a repost of a flagged submission that was flagged due to the
nature of its name and reposted. The real hacker community loved the podesta
pizza name. HN not so much so I renamed it to Hacker Spring!

Good find though! Keep it up Sherlock! :)

~~~
mcintyre1994
What on Earth is the real hacker community? I feel like I’m missing out!

~~~
hacker256
IRC! :-)

