by prepend on 4/1/23, 12:43 PM
I remember really liking lifehacker when it was basically a blog.
I think the issue is that these sites don’t generate enough income for whole teams of editors and to be bought by media companies like ZiffDavis.
Maybe they are better now, that’s nice.
But I think what works is a single person or maybe 3 finding life hacks and writing about them.
I’m not even sure what lifehacker is supposed to write about now. But I think until they get back to someone’s passion project, they won’t be very good.
by rationalist on 4/1/23, 8:24 AM
Gizmodo, LifeHacker, and The Consumerist used to be my daily reading back when they were high quality sites 15+ years ago.
Thanks for posting this to HN, because I'm bookmarking LH and willing to give it another go.
by npilk on 4/1/23, 2:48 PM
When I was in high school I wrote a very basic Mac app that pretty much just wrapped some Terminal commands in a GUI. Somehow it got enough attention to get a small post from Gina on Lifehacker, which helped translate into thousands and thousands of downloads. Seeing my dumb little app on Lifehacker was an incredibly cool moment that made me feel like I'd really accomplished something.
Here's hoping they can recapture some of the spirit of the old days.
by bachmeier on 4/1/23, 11:53 AM
It'll be interesting to see how long it takes for a site that was a garbage click generator to be accepted as a legit site. I wonder at what point you're better starting from scratch. If lifehacker.com comes up in a search now, I don't click, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
by nxpnsv on 4/1/23, 7:40 AM
I started a much used todo.txt based Gina's posts on Lifehacker, sometime back in the dark ages before the site deteriorated...
by solarkraft on 4/1/23, 11:55 AM
This looks good. I used to really like Lifehacker about a decade ago. When I looked at it again a few years ago I was deeply disappointed. The article sounds like they're trying to pivot away from being a spam farm and actually want to provide valuable content again.
by ben30 on 4/1/23, 12:30 PM
On personal note, I had set lifehacker to automatically go into reader mode on iOS safari probably due to some time in the past wanting to read the content but fed up by how bad the site layout had gotten.
by Tsiklon on 4/1/23, 9:27 AM
I really used to enjoy reading lifehacker in years gone past. When Kinja happened, and then gawker imploded I gave up completely as by that point the articles had taken a turn for the worse.
I hope this offers the site a new start and they can do longer form articles now
by dirtyv on 4/1/23, 1:38 PM
This is not the type of article I would post on April 1st
by lapcat on 3/31/23, 12:33 PM
> Lifehacker stopped publishing slideshows.
Hallelujah!
by brainzap on 4/1/23, 12:27 PM
I still remember that “what will kill you” (something like that) article, with statistics on how you most likely will die.
Gave me focus.
by rchaud on 4/1/23, 6:36 PM
At this point I'd prefer to show my support for Lifehacker by purchasing a hardcover compilation of their top stories and their comment threads. The best content is evergreen anyway.
It doesn't matter if the V3.0 of LH has done away with slideshows, something I thought the Internet abandoned in 2012. There is no way for a modern content-only website to survive without saturating every paragraph with affiliate link spam.
by atlgator on 4/1/23, 1:13 PM
Beth Skwarecki is part of the problem, not the solution. Elevating her content in the statement tells me they are heading further down the wrong path.
by resuresu on 4/1/23, 1:36 PM
Removing ads and bloat from your website makes people want to use it more.
Who woulda thunk it.
by KeplerBoy on 4/1/23, 4:16 PM
I remember when Whitson Gordon regularly wrote stuff on there.
They covered niche, nerdy topics in simpler terms than most other publications, which was neat for a kid who just started learning English.
by unsupp0rted on 4/1/23, 11:35 AM
15 years ago I read Lifehacker daily.
Top article on Lifehacker right now: Donald Trump news.
If they go back to publishing quality life hacks I’ll go back to reading them. “Toxic” comments section or not.
by kylehotchkiss on 4/1/23, 8:38 PM
I was hoping Gina would buy it back via Postlight. Rich and Paul’s podcasts have always been so entertaining, they’d make great writers for it!
by miked85 on 4/1/23, 5:56 PM
I feel like lifehacker has slowly become a slightly better version of buzzfeed over the last few years.
by robertlagrant on 4/1/23, 10:02 AM
I still follow the advice of a LH article on when to first have a cup of coffee. Seems to work.
by SecurityMinded on 4/2/23, 3:59 AM
Hopefully, lifehacker will again become a blog of life hacks rather than "your kid is trans and not yet know it" propaganda outlet. I definitely give them another chance under ZD ownership. Their current style is abysmal and even god damn tasteless.
by dmix on 4/1/23, 2:06 PM
by PaulWaldman on 4/1/23, 12:30 PM
The comments in the article from the editors make me wonder why they continued to work there under the previous ownership.
by lethologica on 3/31/23, 7:34 AM
So they just got rid of ads in the middle of articles and are making it sound like something revolutionary?
by gadders on 4/1/23, 7:11 PM
Bring back Gina Trapani.
by thot_experiment on 4/1/23, 10:04 AM
genuinely brought a hopeful tear to my eye, maybe all is not lost
by petodo on 4/1/23, 9:44 AM
is there really any place for LH in times of Reddit subs like LPT and likes?
also used to read it like 15-20 years ago, but the content just didn't tell me anything new