Goodbye Hackaday, I’ll Miss You.

Farewell Hackaday, the time has come for me to move on. Don’t worry, hackaday will keep going, just like it did when [Eliot] moved on, and [Phil] before him.

I wrote my first post on July 9th, 2008. Since then I’ve had so much fun, and written a total of 1,552 posts (including this one). In my opinion, there is simply no other site like Hackaday.com, our readers are passionate and knowledgeable and it shows, even if some of you are incredibly rude to each other(that’s a sign of passion right?).

While some projects stand out in my mind, it is the people I have enjoyed the most. The people I met when I went to all the different hackerspaces, my co-writers[Mike Szczys] and[Brian Benchoff], past hackaday employees, our commenters,  and even my boss [Jason Calacanis].

If you want to find me, I’ll be at calebkraft.com or on facebook or G+. I have a twitter too, that I guess I’ll start using today.

Join me after the break just one more time while a take a trip down memory lane with a few of my favorite moments from the last few years.  Oh, and yes, I think saying “after the break” is stupid. What else do you say though?

I built some really fun things.

and some things I feel I can be proud of

This controller didn’t help [Thomas] that much, but it gave me the idea for Thecontrollerproject.com which I’m proud to say has already begun helping people.

I drove almost all the way across the country visiting hackerspaces.

map

I can’t describe how amazing this was for me. I met people from Arizona all the way to South Carolina. I saw hackerspaces that were 110 degrees inside and hackerspaces that were old masonic temples. The people I met were always enthusiastic, helpful and pleasant.

I jammed stuff up my nose for April fools

hackaday-kickstarter

I made this thing a long time ago and was waiting for a reason to do something ridiculous.  I thought it was a great chance to make fun of the kickstarter emails we get all the time. Yes, I did actually shove that thing into my nasal passage.The links actually went to my personal paypal account too.   I think I actually got about $3 in donations off that form!

I got tazed.

We thought maybe you guys would like some coverage of the Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas back in January of 2010. Turns out we didn’t see a whole lot there that we thought you’d be interested in. I stepped up to the plate to take the blame and the punishment.

I had a bunch of other posts in mind, but as I started adding I couldn’t stop. Maybe I should just leave it here.

I’d like to thank the readers again. If it weren’t for your projects happening in your homes, businesses, and hackerspaces, this site wouldn’t exist. You guys are freaking awesome.

139 thoughts on “Goodbye Hackaday, I’ll Miss You.

  1. Hi Caleb, it was great to meet you in person last month. Wish I’d known you were leaving then – would’ve bought you a beer! Keep up the great work, wherever you go. And thanks for all the hacks!

  2. Dear lord the amount of people not reading the actual article… it says HaD will carry on IN THE FIRST PARAGRAPH. and it’s bolded! Maybe it was edited in later? :P

    Going to miss you Caleb… who else will dress up like Thor and stick stuff up their noses D: oh and write great articles too :P

  3. I’ll miss your off the wall stuff, even though some of it was pretty yucky, and thanks for your “discussion” posts – They certainly helped me understand some weird things (to an Englishman) like US attitudes to guns and similar. I had thought ZZ Top’s lyrics were joking…

    Bye Caleb, thanks for everything, and good luck!.

  4. I’ve been a lurker on the site since I was in high school (which I started in 1997?? I think, it was a long time ago) and I’ve visited the site pretty much every day since then. Also I need to say that it’s one of my favourite site and that it’s things like the Thecontrollerproject.com that make me proud to be a hacker of things.

  5. I realy enjoyed your articles and your projects. You’re an awesome guy and a great inspiration! I wish you the best on your further way.

    May the Force be with you :)

  6. Caleb I’ve enjoyed reading hackaday immensely over the years, it’s my daily routine. I’ve enjoyed all the changes made and will miss your posts. You have a way with appealing to people with specific skill sets and people just starting as tinkers. I like that you will post a project that has potential even if it wasn’t popular.
    Handmade.hackaday.com is now one of my frequent visits(I didn’t think watching a video of a tuba being made would be so awesome). You’re a great editor and I wish you the best.

  7. I seem to be missing the why all of a sudden caleb would ‘move on’, from a position where there was no indication he was moving towards such a move.

    Puzzling.

  8. Depressing…….but all i can really say is Good Luck…..sigh….gave me something to do during and after work and school thanks man was fun which i was here from the start…

  9. Thank You for all your hard work over the years. Love coming to the site to see what new and crazy thing someone put together. Site has been an inspiration for our own projects … if not a great way to pass the time at work.

    Best Wishes.

  10. All things must pass, eh?

    While I have made some critical comments at times over the years HaD is one of the very few websites on my toolbar I visit almost daily, is a very important mission in a mass produced throw-away world, and has proven to be a great resource of ideas and creativity. Thank you.

    From an retired old tech, all the very best for the future mate.

    AussieTech

  11. Caleb,

    You guys at HAD served as my inspiration for a significant part of my undergrad degree. You taught me what my professors couldn’t and helped foster a love for electronics in me that still brings me back. When my “OpAmps by Intuition” video hit the front page, I was beaming the whole day.

    Best of luck to you sir in your ventures from here on out.

    – flxgray

  12. Caleb, thank you for the years of information and entertainment you’ve provided me every. Single. Day. Thank you as well for all that you’ve done for the HaD followers and those you’ve featured here, and the universe in general. I hope the wind always fills your sails dude. Namaste.

    All other HaD editors and contributors: I’m keeping this site set as my primary home page and I expect the quality of this site’s content to be no less than what it has been with Caleb’s contributions. You have some 30% extra weight to pull around here and the world needs you. Thank you for your work as well.

  13. Thanks for the real hacks over the years – it’s always been good to see one of the staff actually hacking things themselves rather than regurgitating reddit.

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