Top all-time · #4087
Glenn Fleishman
Personal blog · glog.glennf.com/blogwritingdesignhistory
Glenn Fleishman writes Glog, a personal blog at glog.glennf.com about writing, design and history. Since 2013, 19 different Hacker News readers have linked it 20 times, most often “The true story of the Amazon door desk (2011)”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-23, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (9) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Glenn Fleishman's posts on the history of Amazon's door desks, including a first-hand account by a former employee. Other posts cover citation appropriation and the iOS em-dash autocorrect.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 9 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Glenn Fleishman Interrogates the Past — 25 years of writing on technology, publishing, printing history, type, and life by Glenn Fleishman
Most-linked posts?
- The true story of the Amazon door desk (2011)3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2019-10-02
- /blog/2011/10/16/the_true_story_of_the_amazon_door-desk2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2013-10-17
- The Magazine Is Shutting Down2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2014-10-09
What Hacker News says?
Off-topic, but door-desks aren't really cheap at all. Great recount by an old time employee: http://glog.glennf.com/blog/2011/10/16/the_true_story_of_the...
Comment linking /blog/2011/10/16/the_true_story_of_the_amazon_door-desk
on “Firebase is Joining Google”Submitted The true story of the Amazon door desk (2011) as a story · 79 points
HN discussionYou may enjoy this article that argues the door desks were both more expensive & possibly more about marketing an idea to employees than actually saving money - https://glog.glennf.com/blog/2011/10/16/the_true_story_of_th... Either way the door desk is an interesting piece of tech history.
Comment linking /blog/2011/10/16/the_true_story_of_the_amazon_door-desk
on “Amazon more than doubles max base pay to $350k”Submitted U.S. Small Biz Can't Ship to the EU Anymore as a story · 62 points
HN discussionWell, it sure worked for Amazon [1][2]. [1] http://glinden.blogspot.com/2006/01/early-amazon-door-desks.... [2] http://glog.glennf.com/blog/2011/10/16/the_true_story_of_the...
Comment linking /blog/2011/10/16/the_true_story_of_the_amazon_door-desk
on “The Story of My Desk”Submitted News Genius Picks Up Again Where Failures Left Off as a story · 58 points
HN discussionDidn't News Genius run into trouble by copying articles for annotation like this? https://glog.glennf.com/blog/2016/3/25/citation-appropriatio...
Comment linking /blog/2016/3/25/citation-appropriation-and-fair-use
on “How a shampoo bottle is saving young lives”Submitted Yahoo's Logo Reveals the Worst Aspects of the Engineering Mindset as a story · 10 points
HN discussionIn case you missed it they are also shutting down. [1] It's unfortunate, I think, since the model for a publication was interesting. [1]: http://glog.glennf.com/blog/2014/10/8/the-magazine-is-making...
Comment linking /blog/2014/10/8/the-magazine-is-making-a-book-again-and-shutting-down-what
on “The Magazine: The Book (Year One), Free Download”Submitted The Soylents of the Lambs as a story · 5 points
HN discussionLooks like it auto-corrects -- to — https://glog.glennf.com/blog/2017/7/6/dash-dash-it-all from iOS 11
Comment linking /blog/2017/7/6/dash-dash-it-all
on “Em Dash in Reddit Comments”Submitted The Software and Services Apple Needs to Fix as a story · 5 points
HN discussion"okay buddy you're not making very compelling arguments here" isn't even a basic contribution to the discussion. Your entire argument is just "all Meta employees are bad people" and you have spent very little effort justifying that position, including stating seemingly contradictory phrases: > That being said, I still empathize with workers. I think people need to be treated like people and not some resource to be e…
Comment linking /blog/2026/5/11/we-should-improve-society-with-a-book
on “Meta employees protest against mouse tracking tech at US offices”Submitted The Magazine Is Shutting Down as a story · 5 points
HN discussionFrom iOS 11 it auto-corrects -- to — https://glog.glennf.com/blog/2017/7/6/dash-dash-it-all
Comment linking /blog/2017/7/6/dash-dash-it-all
on “Em Dash in Reddit Comments, Interactive”Submitted One Million Dollars as a story · 3 points
HN discussionThe story I have heard about early Amazon was that everyone put together a desk from a door and sawhorses. Hmm, this also mentions that a garage was one of their locations: https://glog.glennf.com/blog/2011/10/16/the_true_story_of_th...
Comment linking /blog/2011/10/16/the_true_story_of_the_amazon_door-desk
on “The Origins of Silicon Valley's Garage Myth”Submitted "How Comics Were Made" (print edition or bundle) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Why isn't The Magazine free with ads? Volume. as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Work for free for peers, not for owners or bosses as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
