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Shutting Down My Site

patdryburgh.com

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Re: Shutting Down My Site

#21

Post by keithpeter »

swah wrote: post #17
elliottcarlson wrote: post #13

So you shut down a tumblr hosted site that didn't cost you anything to run except for time - and now all of us who had never heard of it before can't even see the content that used to exist. I'm glad you are doing something better with your time that you will find more fulfilling - but I think it's a shame you went this route.

Here is what you missed: __ | | No, seriously... I enjoyed looking at those photos once, it was just like an architecture magazine. No big deal to shut it off, just don't consider it your life's work.

wayback machine has some samples from 2010. As swah says a bit like Blueprint magazine circa 1985. I liked the older desks that had some marks on them, had been worked on. Does anyone not use a Mac?

Re: Shutting Down My Site

#23

Post by citricsquid »

molecule wrote: post #15

apparent update: "Back, and better than ever January 20th, 2012. Many thanks to Pat Dryburgh for his excellent work over the years. Unfortunately, he has chosen to end this venture. We think that is a great shame, and we've decided to bring it back, but in a different form. When we relaunch on January 20th, Simple Desks will return with a more substantial aim: to provide food for thought on the subjects of productivi…

and it will suck.

The idea of forcing change to revive something dead sucks, organic change (or evolution as one might call) it is great but taking a tried and tested idea that had popularity and changing it forcefully never works.

Why don't they stick with what it was? :|

Re: Shutting Down My Site

#24

Post by raganwald »

erikb wrote: post #6

Well, I have no idea who you are and what pages you are shutting down. Of course I wish you the best for your future. That being said: "The real question is, who gives a fuck?"

I belong to a Facebook group for mountain biking in Ontario. People will propose rides on there, and of course the other folks who want to join in will use the comments to indicate that they’re coming, discuss the timing, carpool, and so on.

And then there are always a few folks who chime in with “Sorry, can’t make it” and “Sorry, not interested.”

What we’ve discovered is that such messages do absolutely nothing to help the group with anything. Unless someone has already said they are interested, we discourage saying you’re not interested. It simply adds noise to an otherwise productive discussion.

That’s my anecdote in response to what appears to be a declaration that you are not interested in this post.

Re: Shutting Down My Site

#25

Post by arn »

patdryburgh wrote: post #18
arn wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course you are welcome to do whatever you want. I find taking it to the moral extreme strange though. That leaves you little in the way of daily activities besides pure charitable work. Does your short film make the world a better place? I doubt it. It sounds like it comes down to what you enjoy, and that's great. The best motivation. Simple Desks though seems like the kind of site that some might get great joy ou…

Hey Arnold, Tried replying to you through email, but the email bounced back. Used the email on your Hacker News profile. Cheers, Pat

odd. might have hit up against a spam filter. I added an alternate email to my profile if you want to try again.

Re: Shutting Down My Site

#26

Post by pg »

erikb wrote: post #6

Well, I have no idea who you are and what pages you are shutting down. Of course I wish you the best for your future. That being said: "The real question is, who gives a fuck?"

If that's what you think, just don't comment.

Re: Shutting Down My Site

#27

Post by codexon »

hpaavola wrote: post #7

It always makes me a bit sad when any site is taken offline. I haven't even heard of Simple Desks before, but it still makes me sad that it is gone. Destroying bits is so darn easy, that people do it too much. I don't delete emails (my spamfilter might delete, I don't). Once in a while it's nice to see what you were up to 5 years ago. My personal homepage is still running. I haven't updated it in many many years, but…

I had a Wordpress blog with several million hits on it. I ran out of time to update it.

I let the hosting expire because I was tired of wondering if there was a new exploit in Wordpress and dealing with dozens of spam comments every day even with Recaptcha.

Re: Shutting Down My Site

#28

Post by notJim »

I can relate to this so well. I've mentioned previously on this site that frankly I find much of the beauty and inspiration you can find on the web completely empty and meaningless. Technologists love to talk about the social impact the web is having and how it's going to change the world for the better (things which are undoubtedly true), but so much of it is so superficial that I can't help but think about what we're losing at the same time.

Re: Shutting Down My Site

#29

Post by silentOpen »

SoftwareMaven wrote: post #20
hpaavola wrote: post #7

It always makes me a bit sad when any site is taken offline. I haven't even heard of Simple Desks before, but it still makes me sad that it is gone. Destroying bits is so darn easy, that people do it too much. I don't delete emails (my spamfilter might delete, I don't). Once in a while it's nice to see what you were up to 5 years ago. My personal homepage is still running. I haven't updated it in many many years, but…

This reply got me thinking: does the nearly-zero incremental cost of a bit cause people to be more likely to turn into virtual hoarders? Anybody who didn't through physical mail away ever would be looked at funny, but I rarely delete an email, either. Is there a psychological cost associated with virtual hoarding like there is with physical? Or is it truly not hoarding?

When the things you are 'hoarding' are indexed digital copies, you are 'archiving'.

Re: Shutting Down My Site

#30

Post by jaredsohn »

raganwald wrote: post #24
erikb wrote: post #6

Well, I have no idea who you are and what pages you are shutting down. Of course I wish you the best for your future. That being said: "The real question is, who gives a fuck?"

I belong to a Facebook group for mountain biking in Ontario. People will propose rides on there, and of course the other folks who want to join in will use the comments to indicate that they’re coming, discuss the timing, carpool, and so on. And then there are always a few folks who chime in with “Sorry, can’t make it” and “Sorry, not interested.” What we’ve discovered is that such messages do absolutely nothing to h…

Going a bit off-topic, this happens on Facebook because when you decline an event it shows a text box asking to "say why you can't go". If Facebook would remove that textbox from the dialog, this would likely happen much less frequently.
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