Personal

R.I.P Linkblog

May 15, 2007
<1 min read

After 7 years, It's time to put my linkblog to rest.

I've been struggling in the last few months to find good content… what used to take 30 minutes, now takes hours. Moreover, places like DZone are doing a better job than I ever could.

I took a few weeks off last summer hoping it would help with my frustrations, but it didn't. In a way it made things worse. It is no longer fun and I can't shake the feeling that I could do something more productive with my time.

Thanks to all my regular (and not so regular) readers. It has been fun.

Thanks for the memories.

E.

Comments

88 (Closed)

bloid

May 14, 2007

That's a shame Erik, I (for one) liked the linkblog, but I understand your reasons for stopping...

Good luck with whatever it is you do with all your new spare time ;-)
Jason

May 14, 2007

Your linkblog was always the first place I visisted if I saw you had a new post in my blog reader. Thanks for all the hard work and effort. It was much appreciated.
Luke

May 14, 2007

Hey Erik, sorry to hear that, but totally understand. Thanks for all the great links and breadth of expertise inherent in the selections over the years.

Do you have a del.icio.us account or similar? I use del.icio.us and a a keyword search shortcut in firefox to quick and one-step post to delicious and thus my blog.

All the best,

Luke, Glasgow, UK.
Peter

May 14, 2007

Hello Erik, I've been longtime reader of your linkblog. Not once have you included interesting story, which I would completely missed otherwise. Thank you for your longtime service.

-peter
Moritz

May 14, 2007

NOooooooooooooooooooooo! Your linkblog was always an interesting and valuable source of information to me
oliver egger

May 14, 2007

i really enjoyed your links as my daily java reading but i always wondered how you manged to find all the time finding theese links ... thank you for all that work you've done or "so long, and thanks for all the fish"
Morten Krogh Andersen

May 14, 2007

So long, and thanks for all the fish.
Vladimir Sizikov

May 14, 2007

Ah, one great resource less... The LinkBlog was the first place to visit, day after day, for months after months. The links were always interesting, and within 5-10 minutes I could get the feel what's going on online, news, important releases, blogs.

This LinkBlog will be severely missed!! And thank you, Eric, for all your hard work.
Nicolas cornaglia

May 14, 2007

I'm sorry to hear that. Thanks for all these years. And for your time.
Suresh

May 14, 2007

Hi Erik,

This was the only link blog I used to look forward to everyday. I will surely miss it.

All the best
Matt

May 14, 2007

Thanks for the years of wonderful aggregation, Erik!
Tom Klaasen

May 14, 2007

We'll miss you.
Kevin Yank

May 14, 2007

Sorry to see you go, Erik! Your succinct, one-line descriptions beat DZone et al for sheer information bandwidth into my brain every single day. This resource will be sorely missed!
James Sugrue

May 14, 2007

Hi Erik,

It's a shame to hear that - it was the first page I opened every morning, and I always found it very useful.

Thanks for all the hard work - it's very much appreciated.

James
Gustaf Erikson

May 14, 2007

Thanks for all the hard work over the years, Erik! Much appreciated.
Craig

May 14, 2007

Sorry to see your linkblog end.

Thanks for the years of service.
Keith Pitty

May 14, 2007

Thanks for all the links.

You provided a wonderful service to the Java community.
Brad Cooper

May 14, 2007

Thanks for all the great links Erik; I checked your site each morning for the last couple of years! Your work was much appreciated!!!! Take care.
Oliver Burn

May 14, 2007

I will miss your linkblog, it was first on my reading list everyday. :-(
Paul Boocock

May 14, 2007

Thanks from me too, Erik. Your Linkblog has been the first news site I looked at every day for years.
Christian Gosselin

May 14, 2007

I've been following this link blog for a while...

thanks for the ride !!
Calvin Yu

May 14, 2007

Thanks for all the links.

I've always found sites like DZone equivalent to drinking out of a firehose, and much preferred you distilled version.

Also, I would be interested to hear more about your frustrations and thoughts that led up to this decision.
Daniel Farinha

May 14, 2007

No, no no. I mean, thank you for the years of effort. But... no!
Angelo Rizzi

May 14, 2007

Thank You very much for all time you spent to search useful info for us.
Allan C

May 14, 2007

Thanks for all the work. It was greatly appreciated.
Joe Attardi

May 14, 2007

Sorry to see the linkblog go, Erik - you always did a great job! Good luck!
Holger

May 14, 2007

Danke für die Zeit und den Aufwand. Ich war zwar nur kurz dabei, habe aber Deinen Blog sehr geschätz. Ich kann es aber auch verstehen warum Du nicht weiter machen möchtest. Best wishes from Germany and thank you so much!!
Julian Robichaux

May 14, 2007

Well, it was a great run and I'll miss it too. You always did a fantastic job of rounding up the daily news, although I did constantly wonder how you made time to do it. You provided a wonderful service.

Enjoy your new-found free time!

;-)
David Czarnecki

May 14, 2007

If only we had a way to virtually "pour one out". Thanks for all the hard work!
Nicola Ken Barozzi

May 14, 2007

A big thanks for the time spent in making us have more quality time.
Mickael

May 14, 2007

This was definitely one my favourite blogs, and a very useful one. Thank you for your work. Wish you the best.
Russ

May 14, 2007

W00t!

Welcome to the world of the ex-daily blogger! That nervous twitching will go away after a week or so and then suddenly you'll snap out of it and wonder a) why you were spending so much time blogging in the first place and b) what the hell to do with all your newfound time.

:-)

-Russ
Val

May 14, 2007

You were one of my favorite daily tech blog. Thank you for all the time you spend on it !

Val
John N. Underwood

May 14, 2007

This has been one of my favorite blogs. Thanks for your time and effort!
Giulio Piancastelli

May 14, 2007

Thanks a lot for all the links you provided during these years! Enjoy your time doing whatever else you'll decide to put your time up to!
Neil Weber

May 14, 2007

Erik, thanks for all the years of aggregation and for occasionally linking to my blatherings.

The linkblog will be missed.
C. Enrique Ortiz

May 14, 2007

Oh Erik.... I will miss your linkblog -- it was so awesome and one of my 1st places to go on a daily basis. Thanks for all your effort and sharing all these years!

ceo
octalpus

May 14, 2007

Oh no!!!!

Erik, I've been using your link blog for a long time, and it definitely has been my favourite blog.

I completely disagree with your statement about sites like DZone doing a better job than you!!!

Honestly, thank you very much for your time and dedication!
Francis Perreault

May 14, 2007

Erik,

Thanks for the time you devoted to your readers. I guess we all were wondering how you were doing it. I'm not sure I completely agree with the statement "Places like DZone are doing a better job than I ever could", since you often pointed to things that would not necessarily show up on anyone else's radar.

Well, it's your decision to make. If you're not having fun, then stop. I for one will keep an eye out for anything else you write/blog/produce. Are you going to continue your "Pulse" postings ?

Best of luck!
Nevin Ng

May 14, 2007

Thanks, Erik!!!

I always enjoy reading your linkblog throughout these years.

Hope you all the best!
Dion Almaer

May 14, 2007

Erik,

You have done a fantastic job. I am sure that we will see something just as great from the time that you now have reclaimed.

Cheers,

Dion
Rogers Cadenhead

May 14, 2007

Thanks for the linkblog. It was one of my favorite reads as well.
Swapnonil Mukherjee

May 14, 2007

Thanks a lot Erik.
Ralf Quebbemann

May 14, 2007

Sorry to see this great blog die. It was my first blog to read in the morning and my first blog to read when I went to bed. I fully understand your reasons but disagree with your opinion on DZone. Now I have to look for an alternative ... Thanks for this great work Erik.
Peter Thomas

May 14, 2007

This is a real shame.

Your link blog made a big difference, more than you could possibly imagine.

Thanks for everything and for even linking to a couple of my very first blog posts :)
rich

May 14, 2007

Thanks Eric for providing so many valuable years of fresh java news. We all understand where you are coming from.. may you find what brings you joy and passion.

I hope you merely put this project on the shelf and perhaps someday it will appeal to you once more and you'll have a 'Grand Reopening!' I also strongly disagree that dzone or any other site was providing more relevant java news than your linkblog. I will miss it greatly. Thanks again.. and best of luck to you!
Axel Rauschmayer

May 14, 2007

It will be missed: There was no other source of information that combined Mac and Java news like it did.
Sven

May 14, 2007

I just want to say: Thanks!
Eric Lunt

May 14, 2007

Oh bummer! I'm going to miss this. I'm going to keep the feed alive in my reader "just in case". Thanks for all the work.
incze

May 14, 2007

Thanks & good luck.
G.Stew

May 14, 2007

Like everyone else, this is the first site I check each day. I guess I'll probably get more work done now that I'm not refreshing every few minutes to see if you posted. My boss thanks you for that, and I wish you the best of luck with whatever you do. Thanks for all your hard work.
Yakov Fain

May 14, 2007

Eric,

I've been checking your Java links frequently -

it's been a credible source of the useful Java info...

I guess the problem is not in finding time, the problem is in finding excitement. Not much is going on with Java, and the recent JavaOne is yet another prove to that.

Thank you for the time you spent in all these years just to

save our time.

All the best,
Yakov Fain
Jerry

May 14, 2007

Hey Erik, I'm an regular reader from China mainland. It's great pity that I lost your

linkblog track in my daily routine. Any way, wish you good luck and thank you for your efforts!
jawa

May 14, 2007

Oh No!

Gaspits the only addiction i ever allowed to sneak in

now all of a sudden a jolt from the blue


anyway i am consoling myself that atleast you will be publishing the Pulse regularly
Rolf

May 14, 2007

Erik,

Thanks for all the hard work. your linkblog was my portal to a lot of knowledge I've gathered over the last couple of years. I will miss it.

Have fun with what ever you will be doing with your newfound time.
Joe Cole

May 14, 2007

Erik,

Thanks for your effort over the years - like everyone else I will sorely miss your linkblog!

Would like to know how many people visited the site at its peak - it would be really interesting to know how much influence your site really had.
Ben Poole

May 14, 2007

Many thanks for the past 7 years Erik!
Vishwas

May 14, 2007

We will miss linkblog.Many thanks for your contribution .
Nico

May 14, 2007

Erik,

thanks for all the wonderful work you have put into this linkblog. When I had little time to read I allways made sure I went through your linkblog. Thanks and have fun with the extra time.
Karsten Voges

May 15, 2007

Thanks Erik,

With your Linkblog you provided a very important piece of online resource in the Java news world. It was helpful, interesting and always a good place to stop and spend some time.

IMHO you have done a huge contribution to the Java world and your Linkblog will have his share in history.

Thanks for your time and effort and I hope you will find a way to contribute to our community in one way or another in the future as well (although it might be a slightly smaller amount of time ;)).
Best Wishes,

Karsten.
Claus Vagner

May 15, 2007

Erik,

Thanks for a great link blog. It will for surely be missed!
hishammk

May 15, 2007

Erik,

You decision is very disappointing. I visited your linkblog everyday, and it's the most useful daily consumption after Slashdot.org. Anyway, I would like to thank for your effort for the past few years, it was a great job & great contribution to Java community. Hope somebody else can take over this job (and perhaps cash in along the process).
Sonny

May 15, 2007

Erik,

Remember when MS homepage used to have the 'Where would you like to go today' slogan!

That's what the Linkblog was like for me.

I am definitely sad to see it go. At the same time, it is amazing how long you kept it running. That was a lot of hard work.

Thank you so much.
Debashish

May 15, 2007

Will miss the blog Eric. I always felt elated whenever some of my posts were linked. Thanks for the hard-work and best wishes :)
James Cooley

May 15, 2007

I guess the increased time you were spending reflects Java's status as the COBOL of the 00's - I think we now have (de facto) standards for most things in Java without a lot of revolutionary activity on the margins. Newsworthy stuff is happening in

Ruby and Python so for me at least Java is moving down my list.

I'll stay subscribed to this feed in case you decide to go in a different direction. Thank you for a great service, much appreciated.

J
Simon Brown

May 15, 2007

I echo everybody else's comments and the filtering you put into the linkblog really made it something different. I enjoyed reading it. Thanks for all of the hard work and for the traffic that you drove my way. :-)
Peter

May 15, 2007

When you did post I was always there to read.

Please continue speaking at the conferences, because I feel you are one of the better speakers out there because your ability to talk about the basics for real world use.

Thanks for your information.
Ben Geyer

May 15, 2007

Your linkblog was definitely one of my must-reads.

I'm sad to see it go.

Thanks for all your work over the years.
Lars Trieloff

May 15, 2007

Thank you very much for 7 years of linkblogging. Your linkblog has always been one of the five-stars blogs I read.

Lars
Roger

May 15, 2007

Thank you for all your time and effort.

I will miss this page greatly.
Tom Dyson

May 15, 2007

Erik, thank you very much for the time you have put into this project. It's been a fantastic resource. Good luck with whatever you do instead.
Hung Tang

May 15, 2007

I've been a lurker to your site for the last five years.

I learned a lot through the links you provided.

I'm very fortunate to find a great site like yours and thank you for all the hard work and effort you put into it.

It's going to be a difficult to remove the habit of not coming to this site on a weekly basis now.

Here hoping that you are just as successful with your future endeavours.

Hung
BlackBerryGuy

May 16, 2007

Eeeeeeeeks ! Your linkblog will be missed.

Thanks!
Jerry Shea

May 17, 2007

Wow :(

Thanks so much for all the effort you've put in over the years - you've certainly saved me a lot of time digging out interesting content in the world of Java...

Enjoy your free time!
Sean Muse

May 17, 2007

This is sad.

Thank you for everything Erik.

Go reclaim your life.

You definitely deserve it.

Dizzie One (aka DZone) does not do a better job.

Its too much information and the busy-ness makes me nauseous.

Anyways it will end up the same as other JavaLobby backed sites.

JDocs anyone?
sony thomas

May 17, 2007

Eric,

It has been a wonderful job you were doing all these years. Its really sad that you are stopping linkblog. Anyway thanks for the information provided to us all these years.

cheers and good luck

Sony
Anu

May 17, 2007

Eric,

I'll really miss visiting your link blog. I check your link blog to stay up to date - There is just too much info out there to read , but i wouldn't miss the links u suggest.

Anyways - I wish you give ur decision a second thought and see Link Blog alive again.

-Anu
s.w.pollux

May 17, 2007

Eric:

Thanks for all things you hava done these years! I will miss this linkblog in my life.

Good luck!

Thanks again for your information that help me ...
Martin Little

May 21, 2007

It's been a fun journey with you Erik.

Thanks for bringing great posts to the attention of thousands of people ... particularly when they've been written by me.

;-)
Frank Nestel

May 22, 2007

Enjoyed every hour I spent here and I spent a few. Maybe you should have continued spending 30 minutes a day and I would have saved lots of time following all the interesting stuff ;-) Have a good time.
Amit

May 23, 2007

Thanks for your effort. All the best for the future.
jawe

May 25, 2007

Objection: Dzone and the like is _not_ doing a better job. They're emphasizing the most popular links (Eat shit, millions of flies can't be wrong), while you were bringing the most interesting. Most of the blog entries, short tutorials etc. you linked never would have made it to the upper ranks.

Anyway, thank you for your effort. I'm gonna miss it.

-- jan
Maciek

May 25, 2007

Hi Erik,

Thank You for the effort. You were doing great job. I wish You all the best in future.

Greetings

Maciek
Simon Willison

May 26, 2007

I guess it's So long and thanks for all the links. Really appreciate all the work you put in to this over the past 7 years.
Geoffrey Wiseman

Jun 12, 2007

Ah, too bad.

I'll miss it, but I understand.

Looks like you had a fair amount of fans -- although I already knew that, because any time you linked to something I wrote, it counted for a fair amount of views.

;)

Thanks for all the hard work, it'll be missed.

I don't think DZone does a better job, frankly, but that doesn't change your other reasons.
Pascal Gheeraert

Jul 24, 2007

Thanks Erik for all the good work you've done. Your linkblog was my prefered place to discover great stuffs. Online resources about Java World was at my feet with your help. How I will do that now with less efforts ?

Thanks again,

and carry well.
Ken Liu

Sep 10, 2007

Thanks for all the hard work, Erik!

It's an amazing feat to have kept it going for this long.

You really did have the pulse of the java development blogosphere all these years.

Hand-picked posts will beat the wisdom of crowds any day.
Dudley

Apr 18, 2009

Hey. The truth is always a compound of two half- truths, and you never reach it, because there is always something more to say.

I am from Ireland and also now am reading in English, please tell me right I wrote the following sentence: "At an auction site, the seller either a company or an individual puts an item up for."

With love 8-), Dudley.