Comments for 2 June 1996

Okay, so this edition took a little while to get out. Quality takes time, ya know? Some people even went so far as to submit material. For example, this one's straight from the Unsolicted Editorial file:

Date: Sunday, 23-Jun-96 03:48 PM
From: Ian Fletcher
Subject: what the web will become

I used to work in publishing. I think the Web will end up like the
publishing business: utterly ubiquitous (even more so than predicted 100 years
after the invention of the printing press) but:

	1) Most of the content is either:
		a) Ephemeral pap.
		b) Of interest only to a tiny specific subgroup, and
		utterly boring otherwise.

	2) Only a few major players will make any money, namely people who 
	have the financial muscle to get their hands on the relatively few
	pieces of content (Tom Clancy, Time magazine) that economic numbers
	of people are willing to PAY REAL MONEY for.  I think we will find that 
	people's willingness to pay profitable amounts of money for most of what's 
	on the Web is close to ZERO.  
		

			iAN fLETCHER

Tom Clancy: media giant.

Or, these additions to my list of things to do when you're bored with the Web:

Date: Wednesday, 12-Jun-96 05:50 PM
From: kurt anderson
Subject: things to do when you are bored with the web

neat page jim, but the "things to do when you are bored with the web"
page lists the more of the things that are boring me already. know what
i mean? how about a list like...

1. have sex with a human being. (yes, real sexual intercourse, where you
take off your clothes and everything)

2. watch paint dry. (sure it sounds boring, but then so is a lot of crap
out there on the internet)

3. blow up a federal building. (oh, just kidding.)

... you get the idea.

the rest of your lists are great.

	kurt

How about watching paint dry while you're having sex?

How about listening to paint dry while you're having sex? Or maybe hearing someone else have sex while you watch paint dry? The combinatorics are endless, but the sound quality may be less than optimal if you're using RealAudio:

Date: Wednesday, 12-Jun-96 03:29 PM
From: Russell Barrett
Subject: Stopped Making Sense/RealAudio 2 June

Your comments about RealAudio quality: Actually, you're being too kind.
RealAudio sounds more like the Voice of America being received in New
Zealand on a bad shortwave radio with weak batteries during a period of
heavy solar flares. And that's for version 2.0!

So, what are you trying to say, Russ? Quit pussyfooting and get it off your chest.

Another reader who just can't seem to express him/herself:

Date: Monday, 08-Jul-96 10:30 AM
From: temp@worldnet.att.net
Subject: STOP WHINING!!!

Seems to me maybe you're not giving a young company a chance.....There
are some people WITHIN the company that don't like thier lack of quality
service and are trying to do something about it...Maybe you shouldn't be
such a whining little prick and give them a chance....

The funny thing is, I have no idea what article this person is bitching about. Maybe Fry's. With the salty language, they're practically a shoo-in for customer service at the Great Pyramid.

The only thing missing so far is an actual column suggestion from a reader (and it's happened before). Whaddya know:

Date: Friday, 28-Jun-96 12:21 PM
From: Dan Danknick
Subject: Comments

The Fry's piece was great and I just enjoyed reading Twelve. Do me a
favor and beat up Wired magazine, too. Their subintelligent
pseudotechnical fluorescent-ink-of-the-month publication is really
pissing me off.

...

The fictionalized stories were the last straw for me. I remember telling
all of my  friends about the "Microserfs" story and how they should read about
how Microsoft treats  it's programmers. Well, it turns out that it was pure
fiction. So I guess that their  editorial policy is "When there isn't anything
new happening, let's make something up!"

The other thing I simply cannot stand is the implied profundity of their
presentation.  "Ooo... we have Nic Negroponte on our cover. Aren't we
something?" I say: big deal.  Newsweek could put Nic on *their* cover, too.

So there you have it. While HotWired spends big dinero to produce its hype ex machina, Ad Nauseam is proving a more efficient way to write a zine: let the readers do all the hard work.