Comments on: Thoughts on writing timeless blog posts and post bylines

By: Marko Saric

Marko Saric — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 12:34:53 +0000

I agree. Thinking of it, that should be WordPress feature by default. Not only showing the published on date, but also showing the last updated date.

By: Gil Reich

Gil Reich — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 08:44:11 +0000

Then what would be perfect IMO is showing Post Date and Last Update Date. That would send me the double signal that the post’s central ideas stood the test of time, and that the details are up to date.
Thanx

By: Marko Saric

Marko Saric — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 21:25:59 +0000

Yeah, I see what you mean. I think Copyblogger is one of the biggest blogs that doesn’t show their post dates. With mine “not that timeless” posts, I do try and go back in time and update them with notes about changes or with links to posts with updated info.

By: Marko Saric

Marko Saric — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 21:24:15 +0000

Definitely a good idea to go back and edit the older posts with either correct / updated info or links to more recent material. I try to do the same as much as possible as well.

By: Gil Reich

Gil Reich — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 20:56:06 +0000

I hate when I’m reading a blog and can’t find the date. Granted, this is better than some other sites that do this because the date is on the page somewhere, and most of your posts seem to really be mostly timeless. But I say mostly. You have some Thesis code in here. That may not be timeless. Some of your recent posts were about iPhone Apps and stopping spam in WordPress. Those may not be timeless. Finally, I like knowing immediately whether or not comments I add to a site have a chance of being seen by the initial surge of users, of if I arrived after the party is essentially over. You may be completely right that this is best for your business. But I don’t think it’s best for your users. I think most users would rather you let us decide for ourselves whether or not we think the date is relevant.

By: Mrs. Micah

Mrs. Micah — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 19:50:27 +0000

Good post! One of the reasons I do keep dates on my site & in my post slug (though I should probably have been content with year) is that I write about personal finance, which isn’t all timeless. Many of the posts can be used any time, but some are about news or even about things that have change since I wrote the post (I try to catch those & link to newer posts if possible). It’s not perfect, but I’d rather have SE visitors informed about when posts are written than a) think I’m out of date or b) act on old information without realizing that it is old information.

By: Deep Arora

Deep Arora — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 11:58:44 +0000

But that removes the date/author byyline from the blog home page too.

I have to add this function:

function custom_byline_top()
{
if (!is_single()) {
?>

}
}
add_action('thesis_hook_after_headline', 'custom_byline_top');

If this is not required, and can be handled without this function, pls do let me know..

By: Marko Saric

Marko Saric — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 10:51:19 +0000

I have explained this in the article.Thesis offers it in the “bylines” in the interface.

By: Deep Arora

Deep Arora — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 21:18:58 +0000

Wonderful. But how do I remove the date from the below the headline?

By: migwickert

migwickert — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:46:33 +0000

Hey Marko,

Way to go, I have to agree with you and your insight. I haven't used dates with my blog posts for some time now… maybe I should also write up on the reasons for doing so. What's else is new with you? Cheers!

-Mig