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Offer HN: create a collaborative tech blog?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Offer HN: create a collaborative tech blog?

#31

Post by danneu »

Isn't this what an aggregation like HN is in practice?

Although getting knowledge transfer from people without blogs is a good point. But, in that case, I think a simple Wordpress setup would be better than running from a git repository. I think we tend to overlook git as the barrier of entry that it is.

What gives HN its value is that it's already curated, so if you decide to do this, I think there needs to be a voting system to help give weight to particularly good points.

I could see this turning into too much of a directionless, superfluous stack of tech posts, though.

Re: Offer HN: create a collaborative tech blog?

#32

Post by Kaizyn »

danneu wrote: post #31

Isn't this what an aggregation like HN is in practice? Although getting knowledge transfer from people without blogs is a good point. But, in that case, I think a simple Wordpress setup would be better than running from a git repository. I think we tend to overlook git as the barrier of entry that it is. What gives HN its value is that it's already curated, so if you decide to do this, I think there needs to be a vot…

You're right that quality will become an issue for such a collaborative tech blog. To do it properly, the posts would have to go through some sort of peer review and editorial process - hopefully community driven. In fact, this could form a nice quality gateway... Basically, if your article cannot get two other people to agree to edit/review your article and either "fix it" for you or approve of your resubmission with the recommended changes, then it is just quietly left to languish and die unpublished.

Re: Offer HN: create a collaborative tech blog?

#33

Post by Kaizyn »

pault wrote: post #16
tikhonj wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is where using pull requests to submit articles really shines. The community would vet articles and potentially help with editing and clarity. This would help contributors make sure their articles are well-written and well thought-out, while giving readers consistently high-quality content. Of course, this requires an at least moderately engaged community of contributors, but I think that's completely re…

I agree. Who gets push access to master?

That depends on how closely affiliated with HN the blog is going to be and if our ycombinator benefactors are interested in endorsing such a project. If so, it should be one of them or someone they designate from the community.

If it is not associated to HN, then this is not an easily solved problem.

Re: Offer HN: create a collaborative tech blog?

#34

Post by tikhonj »

danneu wrote: post #31

Isn't this what an aggregation like HN is in practice? Although getting knowledge transfer from people without blogs is a good point. But, in that case, I think a simple Wordpress setup would be better than running from a git repository. I think we tend to overlook git as the barrier of entry that it is. What gives HN its value is that it's already curated, so if you decide to do this, I think there needs to be a vot…

I think that git should not be too big a barrier to entry for a tech blog. Additionally, considering this is aimed at programmers that are not already heavy bloggers, they are more likely to know how to use git than Wordpress.

If the number of contributors is sufficiently small--this really depends on how many people would be willing to put time into this--then we could probably get by with an IRC channel and no super-formal decision making process.

The most difficult part with a project like this is getting started; if we get to the point where voting becomes an issue, we've already got something so it will be worth more time and effort to perfect the system. For now, I think just chatting would do.

Re: Offer HN: create a collaborative tech blog?

#35

Post by tikhonj »

Kaizyn wrote: post #32
danneu wrote: post #31

Isn't this what an aggregation like HN is in practice? Although getting knowledge transfer from people without blogs is a good point. But, in that case, I think a simple Wordpress setup would be better than running from a git repository. I think we tend to overlook git as the barrier of entry that it is. What gives HN its value is that it's already curated, so if you decide to do this, I think there needs to be a vot…

You're right that quality will become an issue for such a collaborative tech blog. To do it properly, the posts would have to go through some sort of peer review and editorial process - hopefully community driven. In fact, this could form a nice quality gateway... Basically, if your article cannot get two other people to agree to edit/review your article and either "fix it" for you or approve of your resubmission wit…

As somebody who would want to publish articles here, I see another benefit of a peer review process--it would make sure my writing is good enough and, hopefully, help me improve it. So I see a system like that not only maintaining quality, but helping the authors as well.

Re: Offer HN: create a collaborative tech blog?

#36

Post by tikhonj »

pault wrote: post #16
tikhonj wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is where using pull requests to submit articles really shines. The community would vet articles and potentially help with editing and clarity. This would help contributors make sure their articles are well-written and well thought-out, while giving readers consistently high-quality content. Of course, this requires an at least moderately engaged community of contributors, but I think that's completely re…

I agree. Who gets push access to master?

If not too many people want to post at the start, it can always just be a volunteer or two from the initial pool of interested people.

Perhaps, at the very beginning, the submitter could just take care of all the administration (hopefully it's not too much work) and everybody could work out a system for discussing and approving posts as a group.

Re: Offer HN: create a collaborative tech blog?

#37

Post by pault »

Kaizyn wrote: post #33
pault wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. Who gets push access to master?

That depends on how closely affiliated with HN the blog is going to be and if our ycombinator benefactors are interested in endorsing such a project. If so, it should be one of them or someone they designate from the community. If it is not associated to HN, then this is not an easily solved problem.

I love the idea of a community blog for HN readers, but I doubt anyone wants to make it official. Maybe we just see who's interested and hand the reins over to whoever has the highest karma?

Re: Offer HN: create a collaborative tech blog?

#38

Post by pault »

danneu wrote: post #31

Isn't this what an aggregation like HN is in practice? Although getting knowledge transfer from people without blogs is a good point. But, in that case, I think a simple Wordpress setup would be better than running from a git repository. I think we tend to overlook git as the barrier of entry that it is. What gives HN its value is that it's already curated, so if you decide to do this, I think there needs to be a vot…

Using pull requests requires stakeholders to review each amendment, and coupling it with github accounts gives a level of accountability that a wordpress blog wouldn't have, in my opinion. It really isn't that difficult to fork the blog and issue a pull request; you could even do it completely within the github gui if need be.

Re: Offer HN: create a collaborative tech blog?

#39

Post by prawn »

Random, half-baked thought:

Set up a blog with 10 participants. Each person writes/curates for 1-3 days and then hands on responsibility. Any AdSense revenue from the site is split by randomly displaying account holder AdSense IDs. A contributor must complete one cycle before their ID joins the ad display pool.

Motivation for writing is enforced to some degree by swapping out a writer if they fail to contribute during their period of responsibility for the blog.

Encourage writers to queue up ideas or entries to cover for being stumped or busy when their time comes.

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