Happy Birthday Ghacks
October 3, 2005, that's when it all began. Back then I had no idea that this little pet project of mine would turn into something that would change my life fundamentally forever. Ghacks back then was my first blog. It was not my first Internet site, as I had been running a popular hacking related forum with a friend of mine for some years before that. The blog was something new, and I did create it for a number of reasons. First, to promote free software to do advanced Google searches, and second, to play around with blogs to learn all there is to know about them.
I'm not really sure why I applied for Google Adsense and added ads on the site, it was my first attempt at monetizing Internet sites and probably an experiment just like the blog itself. When I checked the account a few days later I noticed that on one day, the site made almost $100 after being online for just a few days. Another coincidence, as one of the articles got picked up on the then-popular website Digg. Thousands of visitors came to the site to read it which skyrocketed the earnings. It also got me kicked off Godaddy hosting, one of the unpleasant experiences of which several were to follow in later years.
Once I knew that I could earn money from a blog, I started to take the experiment serious. It took me about six months to realize that I could do this fulltime, and another six to convince myself to resign from my job and jump in at the deep end. It was a huge risk at that time, giving up a safe monthly income to become a fulltime blogger.
The what ifs kept me up at night in that time. What if someone hacks the site and deletes all data. What if Google kicks me out of Adsense. What if the site gets punished in the search engines. After a while though the questions became less frequent and I realized that everything ran smoothly along. There were a few bumps in the road, no question about that. Google banned the site from Adsense twice, but I managed to get it back after 1-2 weeks after making changes to comply with the program's terms of service. I also had to switch hosting twice only in that time, first from Godaddy to German company Hetzner - which offers great value - and then to a managed Wiredtree server in the US.
I met a lot of cool guys and girls along the road that helped me a lot. I'm trying to give some of that back to others who may be at a similar crossroad in life.
Looking back at those seven years, I have to say that this was the best decision that I have made in my life so far. Without further ado, happy birthday Ghacks. Lets hope this ride continues for the next 30 or so years to come ;)
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Hey Happy belated B’day to Ghacks!! 2005 is a long time , we didn’t even know what blogging was all about , wow! i can surely tell you have come a long long way!! may god showers you with loads of happiness and success!!
Regards,
Nish Advani
Happy birthday Ghacks! May many decades of Martin´s work still come to us!
Happy belated.
Hey congrats Martin, happy birthday Ghacks, and thanks for the consistently excellent, informative, helpful and useful high quality content.
I started my first site in February 2005 (still online) and Access Firefox in December of that year.
My first thought about Ghacks was that it must be some kind of Google hacks type of site providing Google tips, tricks, and content, and I think that you did have a lot of Google content, but that obviously wasn’t the main purpose of the site.
I had stayed up on Firefox, Thunderbird, and Mozilla content from you through Google Alerts and when I was here I’d look around at the other content, but I finally realized (and not too long ago) that I should just add the front page to Update Scanner (Firefox add-on) so that I don’t miss anything.
So, what’s the story behind the name?
Who created your logo and is it just a cool logo, or does it hold some deeper meaning?
And, not a question but, I want a Ghacks t-shirt. :)
I don’t know if you have some early captures of your site but I went to the Wayback Machine to see what I could find and found the following.
10/26/2005
http://web.archive.org/web/20051026014323/https://www.ghacks.net/?
Must be when it simply appeared online, perhaps not pushed live to the public yet. There isn’t any styling.
11/01/2005
http://web.archive.org/web/20051101005134/https://www.ghacks.net/
First capture with styles included.
http://web.archive.org/web/20081013231449/http://www.splitreason.com/ghacks/
Merchandise? Really? That’s cool! That’s why I mentioned it above.
Reviewing, testing, and writing about software, hardware, sites, and other content is a lot of work no matter how long you’ve been doing it. Much more than most realize or appreciate.
Once you have the topic (software, etc), you download it, install it, sometimes have to do a reboot, configure the software, sometimes create accounts online for it, or, register it, thoroughly test and explore it and all features, options, grab screenshots, write the article, proof read it several times (for some people), upload it, publish, and then respond to comments.
Well, actually, you’re one of the very few that takes the time to interact with visitors and that not only humanizes the site and adds more personality, it’s an additional service and helpful for the people who may need help, have additional, tips, comments, etc.
I know that you know all of this, but others may not.
Perhaps a reader’s comments shouldn’t be longer than the writer’s post, but I’ve always believed that one should take the time to offer praise and gratitude when warranted and most definitely earned. Especially when someone is providing a service free of monetary charge.
So, thanks to you and your crew for everything.
P.S. Adblock Plus is disabled on Ghacks in my profiles. I believe the only site that is.
Hej Ken, thanks so much for the post, I really appreciate your comment and what you are doing to support Ghacks. About the name, you mentioned it already in your comment, probably without realizing it: Ghacks back then was about Google HACKS. I wish I’d selected a different name though, a .com name and something without hack in the name. Turned out that using hacks in your site may land your site in filters of all kinds automatically.
The logo was created by a French – I think it was – reader of Ghacks whose name I can’t remember right now (Sorry Pal but that was a long time ago). The site needed a lightweight new logo, and that’s what he came up with. I really liked it and kept it ever since.
I can get you a red shirt right away, have to talk to the merchant about the black shirts, as I think they look better on guys than the red ones ;) If you do not mind, pm me your size and address on Facebook.
I try to keep as close to the reader base as possible, help out where I can and not get into any ego fights when someone attacks me on a personal level. This happens from time to time, but really not that often as it seems to do on other sites.
Thanks again for this kind comment.
Congratulations :) Whising you can continue GHacks for many years :)
Bappy Hirthday!
Stumbled onto the site from a search, and have been a subscriber ever since.
Really good! I used to subscribe to many PC newsletters, now just yours!
Hi
We’re glad you’re going on three years of our acquaintance
But it is your birthday in 2005 and we met too late, you’ve been
Although the materials you’ll no
But things would you look at their website for Iranians would translate
You are content with being short, the Web is very useful and key users IT
Glad to know you
And this way you can earn money through google
We wish you success
International Journal Gooyait team
http://www.gooyait.com
Happy Birthday, gHacks !
Martin is what we call in French “quelqu’un de bien” (a most valuable person), of that I am convinced though I don’t know him personally, as well as I acknowledge the everyday pleasure I have to discover gHacks’ articles, always understandable by all even when focusing on savvy matters.
Happy Birthday, and many many more to gHacks, a reference among blogs.
Happy Birthday Ghacks
and indeed Martin this is one of the best technology blogs and you deserve this success.
Every day I open Ghack web page, you are great! Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday
I have followed you since the other sites. It was work was related
I was a little upset when the site change over happened, and thought that it was drastic. However, my career has moved in a different direction and I find the information that you share to be a greater benefit. I visit regularly, and appreciate all the articles. My wife still wonders why I visit a site with GHACKS as a name, but she has now learned to appreciate (through her work in IT) all that you and the contributors have to say.
Best of luck for the next years
Regards,
Sockz!
I agree, it has been drastic but I unfortunately did not have a choice in the matter. Glad that it turned out to be positive for both of us in the end.
Congratulations Martin & the GHacks team!
Happy Birthday Martin!
A very useful site; I stop by everyday to learn something new. Thanks for all of your hard work.
Hi Martin,
I discovered Ghacks while browsing around and looking for tips for better web browsing and good windows freeware.
Your site is useful and straight to the point. I do not find myself reading endless articles and rants which do not help me at the end like in many other similar blogs.
Thanks for keeping up the good work and cheers for many more years. :)
Happy Birthday Ghacks. Congratulations, Martin, on maintaining such an interesting and useful technical blog since 2005. As with many others, this blog is a daily read for me and has become an essential resource for keeping me up to date with what is appearing in the information technology scene. You have helped to improve my on-line experience immensely and I have kept friends and colleagues informed of the treasures you have turned up.
The blog has always been a pleasure to read and I hope, as I am sure do the rest of your dedicated readers, that there will be many more years of enlightening articles ahead. Once again many happy returns for the Ghacks birthday and may there be many more of them
Regards
Michael Primrose
Happy Birthday ;) Good Work! Continue in this way!
I’m glad to see you continue your net adventure in the great way.
Yeah, I remember the beginning of course. Exciting places and time of the new world.
Let’s hope we meet here always.
hugs & kisses old friend :)
F.
The old days will always have a place in my heart ;)
A Very Happy Birthday, Ghacks!
First came across Ghacks in 2009 during the Christmas Giveaway (won a Sandboxie license, yay!), and have been a big fan, and daily visitor, ever since. Excellent site, Martin, one of my favorites :) .
Best wishes for the future!
-RD
my wish for gHacks & Martin is to be alive & kicking by the time quantum computers become the PC as we know it.
as a winner of 3 softwares so far,during Christmas Giveaway, I have to thank Martin for Ghacks. But I also have to thank Martin for the well written and well documented articles he and his colleagues post here – be sure, I learned to deal with certain situations here – it also helped me to chose a better software, for instance, an agile pdf reader, just to give an example.
So, Martin, I have to thank you for your courage back in 2005, for the courage of investing all on Ghacks.
all the best and please continue with the project.
Congratulations. I really look forward to your articles.
Happy Birthday. You’re doing an outstanding job. I look forward to your articles.
I have been reading Ghacks regularly, great source for us, geeks :)
Happy Birthday
Congratulations Ghacks and Martin. One of the trusted and reliable sites that I continue to follow. Keep up the good work .
Very well done Martin!! GHacks is the first blog that I always visit and it’s full of useful material.
More power to your elbow. Keep it up! (Said the actress to the Archbishop!)
Congratulations and thank you.
JC
Happy Birthday, Ghacks! :-)
Happy 10th Anniversary ! Most valuable information. Danke Schön !
Don’t know how long this site is in my favorites, but i’m following it also quit a few years…
So, from me to you : happy BirthDay !!
Happy Birthday Ghacks.
Thanks Martin for the excellent work over the years. Ghacks is among the few trusted sources that I follow closely.
Happy Birthday GHacks! :)
Trying to keep up with what’s happening is made all the easier by your timely and informative articles and reviews. Really appreciate the work you do, thanks.
Happy Birthday Ghacks!
Let me add to the happy chorus. As far as I’m concerned, your instruction and guidance are nothing less than a service to humanity. Thank you Martin, and many more happy birthdays.
Congratulations and Happy Birthday to GHacks, Martin! I’ve followed GHacks for several years via RSS and usually read several articles every day. Thanks so much for your efforts.
Shame on me, I didn’t know your blog until last year or so, but I instantly added it to my feed-reader.
Herzlichen Glückwunsch!
Happy b-day Ghacks, and thank you for all efforts you put in this great Website.
I enjoyed it since 5 years and hope to do so in next years !
Happy B-Day from a long time follower, Martin.
I love your no-nonsense approach to writing and that you are always looking out for your users: that is an unbeatable combination.
Here’s to many more years of blogging success on Ghacks!!
Huzzah!
♪ And many mooooooooorrrrrre! ♫
What’s in store for gHacks future?
And what’s the ‘G’ stand for anyway?
Hi Ed, I plan to get a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 this month and a Nokia Lumia 920 next month to add some app reviews, tips and tricks, and all that good stuff to the site.
Happy birthday Ghacks. I am a frequent visitor of Ghacks since 2006
Thanks JK, you have a great site of your own.
Happy birthday Ghacks! :-)
“One the best, most informative blogs in its arena!”
+1 Thanks, Martin!
Thanks for the wishes Sören, trying my best to keep it that way.
Happy Birthday GHacks, I discovered your blog some 3 or 4 years ago and have seldom disagreed with opinions given. I check virtually every day for subject of interest to me, also enjoy being informed by your articles etc. Keep right on to the end of the road. Thanks.
Thanks for the wishes, I will do my best.
Inspiring stuff Martin. Congrats and all the very best :)
Raju PP, thanks for the wishes.
Happy Birthday to Ghacks. Keep up the Great Work.
Happy Birthday. I know you will have many, many more. Your success is well-deserved.
Thanks Kalmly.
Found GHacks in 2007, I check every post since and read all that is within my interest. Great source of IT news and I still daily using numerous free software that I heard about here first. Happy B-Day and keep going!
Happy Birthday Ghacks, keep up the good work!
Long live Ghacks… Happy Birthday… Old time reader even few 3.6.x era articles of yours contain my comment.
Keep going and rocking… Never ever quit..
Good times ;)
Happy Birthday gHacks
und Glückwunsch Martin. :)
Danke dir ;)
Have been following your blog since 2008. Keep up the great effort on blogging. Happy birthday! :-)
Thanks Steve.
Happy Birthday Ghacks, here’s to many more
You bet ;)
Can we set a record number of comments here?
Happy anniversary GHacks!
One the best, most informative blogs in its arena!
I do not think this post will cross the 300 comment mark, so likely, no ;)
Happy birthday! :)
I hope this blog will stay a long time (and will not end like downloadsquad =/)!
Well, Ghacks is not owned by a company that is run by people who only think about profit. I’m pretty sure that the DS was profitable, but likely not that profitable.
Happy birthday GHacks! Martin, all of these posts show what a kind & generous guy you are. You’ve succeeded brilliantly and like all the other posters here I thank you for your contributions to your loving community. Here’s to you & GHacks!!!
You are right, it is an awesome community.
Happy birthday number 7Ghacks!
For 5 years now I am following daily this great website because you always give me great tips, for free software.
I hope that you will find the power to keep this up for more than 30 years and that the formula keeps intact.
Thanks Paulus, I’d enjoy that.
Happy birthday Ghacks!
I read your posts every day!
Congratulations and happy birthday Ghacks
Happy happy birthday GHacks :-)
Reading yr site every single day it gave me insight into many things and I’ve learned a lot.
When in doubt about something I always check out what GHacks says…
Thank you and hopefully you’ll be around for many more years to come!!!
Julia thanks for the wishes. I really hope I can keep working on the site until retirement, and maybe beyond. Just love to write about tech stuff.
Happy bday, ghacks :d,
I will continue to keep a watch for new things like i always do..
On a daily basis+.
Rick, thanks for being a regular here, I really appreciate it.
Awesome. Happy Birthday gHacks and congratulations Martin. God bless you. :)
You too Vishal.
Happy birthday Ghacks! And thank you Martin for this great site.
Thanks Mon!
Congratulations, Martin! I visit your site every day, which has given me some valuable knowledge & tools that I may not have found otherwise. Thank you.
Thanks for the wishes and compliment Scott.
Congratulations Martin on your well-deserved success. I frequently promote Ghacks to friends and acquaintances personally and online.
Of all the dozens of tech sites, blogs, podcasts etc I’m subscribed to this is by far my favorite. The quality of reporting and range of subject matter matches or exceeds that of any other tech info source.
Adding co-authors a couple years ago was a good move. Their articles contribute a lot to the site.
One question – do you plan on ever reviving the forums? I know there were spam issues but other forums have tactics to control it.
Thanks for the wishes and spreading the word. I’m not really sure about the forum yet, it was lots of work, not only because of spam issues but also because of the updating and everything that was involved in it.
Congratulations man. One of the sites I visit daily for information at work. Even more than arstechnica, tomshardware, maximumpc, neowin etc.
Waht I like is the fast loading of the webpage and of course your interaction with the readers.
Thanks so much for the wishes. Trying my best to keep loading times as low as possible.
Wish U All The Best ^^v
Thanks for the wishes.
Congratulation Martin.
I found Ghacks through a Google search cause I wanted to hack a forum of someone who pissed me off :D
The site had nothing to do with my purpose (the title is misleading so not my fault) but I liked it and have used it as my main tech news source ever since.
All the best.
P.s. Hetzner is only cheap, I’ll give you that, but they are an absolute mess of a company proving that also Germans can be disorganized. ;)
P.p.s No I never hacked that forum in the end :D
The Hetzner server was unmanaged and the main reason for switching to Wiredtree. I did not really have any issues with the company back then. Not every German is organized, wears lederhosen and drinks beer for breakfast ;) Generally speaking though, we are an organized bunch, hehe.
Well done and a very happy birthday to you!!!
Thanks so much for the wishes Trevor.
Congratulations on the 7 years, GHacks. Let’s enjoy the next more years.
Thanks I really hope this comes true.
Happy birthday GHacks :-) I’ve been a reader since late 2005. Actually GHacks inspired me to come up with my own blog.
Just a question to Martin, what would be your best post in all these years if you had to select only one? :-)
To be honest, I have no idea. I have written more than 12,000 posts in those years. What I like generally-speaking is how my English improved in that time. If you compare some of the first articles here on Ghacks with articles from this year, it is like day and night. I’m always blushing when I’m editing old articles on the site :)
Wish Ghacks very happy birthday, and I wish your ride continues for another 50 years. Martin sir, you deserve all the credit for this blog being most popular on internet, the command and knowledge you’ve on various topics on technology really impresses me.
The way you write articles is superb. Long journey of blogging like yours inspires small bloggers like us to move forward even though with the strike of Panda and Penguins here and there .
Thanks for the nice wishes and compliment Venkat. I hope your blog continues to prosper as well.
Here’s to many more. Congratulations!
Sergio, I hope I can keep on writing the next 30 or so years on this site, as it is really something that I love doing.
Happy birthday GHacks .Long live Ghacks.
Thanks for the wishes ;)
Happy birthday! :-)
Thanks Thomas.
First link to Ghacks from my blog appeared in 2005 (free file hosts list, via my friend), regular reader and commenter since 2007.
Happy Birthday Ghacks!
Thanks Roman for all the years of being a reader ;)
Indeed, Happy Birthday Ghacks.
Thanks for the nice wishes Ilev.