Jim Nelson
19 January 1997

Before submitting anything, I recommend looking around and reading some of the current and archived articles. Note that Ad Nauseam recently underwent a major facelift. Check out the "classic" Ad Nauseam archive for a year's worth of articles, opinion, and editorial. From that, you should get a feel for what kind of material I'm looking for.

However, with the recent cosmetic surgery the old departments (Verbage, Minutia, and Lists) were tossed out and replaced with Fumes, 3-D, and Sightings. A submission should (in some way) fit under one of these categories. To better explain:

• Fumes: Rant. Spew. Vitriol. Editorial with a 'tude. Yeah, there's a lot of this in webspace, so don't bother repeating something that's been covered here or elsewhere. Stuff like "Microsoft sucks" or "My local computer retailer screwed me" is not interesting. But if something is irking you, type it up and send it here. Almost everything in the old Verbage column would fit here. (By the way: I know it's spelled "verbiage". Live with it.)

• 3-D: The human element. Stuff related but not limited to the Internet is the name of this game. Articles like "A small matter of addiction" and "Breakfast at Fry's" would fit comfortably as 3-D content. Even poetry is welcome; check Victoria Smith's poem "Don't Be Shy, Just Tell Me What You Want" for a great example. Book reviews, fiction, and interviews would fit here comfortably.

• Sightings: Web pages, newsgroup flame wars, chain-lettered emails. Anything humorous or insightful out there that needs to be preserved for future generations to ponder. Basically, most everything in the old-style Minutia would do well as a Sighting.

Hopefully, that gives you an idea what kind of material is desired and how it would fit in here. Now, stuff that has no place at Ad Nauseam:

• Shameless self-promotion. Don't even bother. All the "press releases" about new sites and Internet services I get in email are drag-and-dropped to the Recycle Bin immediately. I'm certainly not going to reprint that crap here.

• Personal vandettas. Take it to Usenet.

• Non-stop floggings. Netscape and Microsoft aside, I've tried to avoid relentless beatings on a particular company's or individual's web site. It's okay to slam someone for doing stupid stuff. Just try and fit it into a broader context.

If you have an idea but aren't sure if it fits, feel free to contact me with an inquiry. Submissions and questions should be sent to jim@barbecuingpeople.com. HTML is the preferred format, but ASCII and Microsoft Word will work as well.