old-timer or newbie?

[Jerianne]

What are some of the ways you can tell if someone is new to the zine scene, or if they are a long-time zinester? (I ask in the spirit of good humor and silliness, not mean-spiritedness.)

My example: Old-timers put anti-alien stickers (like below) on their envelopes, because they've had dozens of them hanging around since the mid-90s and they want to be rid of them.

[Dan 10things]

bibliophile83 said:

It's impossible for me to ignore that title.

I think maybe that was the point in choosing the title. And it came from the woman that named her zine after her ex-husband calling it Ben is Dead (which is one of my favorite zines from that era).

[Erin H]

Well, I mean, it catches my attention in a way that does not want me to buy that zine.

Dan 10things said:

bibliophile83 said:

It's impossible for me to ignore that title.

I think maybe that was the point in choosing the title. And it came from the woman that named her zine after her ex-husband calling it Ben is Dead (which is one of my favorite zines from that era).

[NESS]

Alot of Oldtimers dull down(lose an edginess) after their tenth edition/zine.

[Ericfishlegs]

"I think maybe that was the point in choosing the title. And it came from the woman that named her zine after her ex-husband calling it Ben is Dead (which is one of my favorite zines from that era)."

I actually never really connected the term "socially retarded" to the mentally retarded. If someone was short you could say their height was retarded and if someone is awkward socially you can say they're socially retarded. I've referred to myself as "socially retarded" and never thought of it as any slight against the mentally challenged.

"Alot of Oldtimers dull down(lose an edginess) after their tenth edition/zine."

I guess I'm glad I was never that edgy to begin with.

[Tara Sin]

my old roommate LOVED fish with legs. all i have to do is say "fish with legs" to him now and he cracks up.

Ericfishlegs said:

"*Used to check the top zine lists in the Zine Guide for their zine and hope that they made one, even if they insisted those lists were just stupid popularity contests"

I'm still mystified as to my zine was ranked one of the top ten least popular zines in the poll in their last issue. My theory is that not many people listed their least favorites so all it took was a few nay sayers to get you a high ranking. Luckily I was also ranked on the favorite zines list so it kept me from going totally insane over it.

And was "Andre the Giant has a posse" zine related? I used to see those stickers/posters/flyers everywhere but never knew they were zine related.

[Tara Sin]

wow. i think i read alt.zines before i even had a hotmail account.

and the kill zinesters stop in SF was so controversial! they got invited to a town hall discussion at epicenter to discuss the political ramifications of it all... oh those were the days. i remember people CRYING about stuff being discussed!

Dan 10things said:

Oldsters:
*Fondly remember hey day of alt.zines and it's epic battles
*Got emailed bombed by Zine Mao... my revenge will be slow and sweet Marc Parker, don't think we'll forget :)
*Have at least one Aaron Cometbus story up their sleeve
*Remember when zines were on MTV and in most major magazines and hated it, yet now pine away for the time when they could sell hundreds copies of each issue
*Sold their zine and got penpals through the once massive classified section of MaximumRocknRoll
*On the penpal tip, had penpals and wrote letters back and forth for years with people they sometimes never met
*Remember Amusing Yourself to Death, MSRRT Newsletter and many other predecessors to Zine World
*Used to check the top zine lists in the Zine Guide for their zine and hope that they made one, even if they insisted those lists were just stupid popularity contests
*Helped out with or tabled at their local leg of 1996's Kill Zinester Tour if they lived in a major US city
*Have ordered a copy of The Match
*Own copies of Answer Me, Ben is Dead, Fiz, The Probe, Flipside and/or Bunnyhop and considered them all zines
*Have about a 50% chance that they got drunk with Larry from Genetic Disorder or Aaron Probe

Newbies:
*Think printing over 100 issues is a big print run
*Don't know who Andre the Giant is, much less his Posse
*Are much more likely to experiment and focus on design/printing, making their publishing more of an art
*Don't make a big deal out of zine vs. ezine
*Have ordered zines from, and possibly have been published by, Microcosm
*Can be just as opinionated as older zine publishers, thank fucking gawd

[tim scannell]

reviewed 100's of zines for..chiron review and...small press review
ed/pub a poetry zine...muse of fire...130 issues..for 10 yrs.

sara tin's
advice to newbies correct...SEE ABOVE...'cept 50 print run is plenty...move on to next BEAUTY
(also get to foreign countries...ukraine/uzbekistan...THEY NEED US!!!!...yes, i
know it is Xpensive...so what???)...get a p/t job...MY ZINE JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

develop a thick skin...all kinds of loonies online...the self-absorbed, the NEEDY, the
wee-wee whiners...etcetera

be careful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dan 10things]

Tara Sin said:

and the kill zinesters stop in SF was so controversial! they got invited to a town hall discussion at epicenter to discuss the political ramifications of it all... oh those were the days. i remember people CRYING about stuff being discussed!

Isn't that funny? People were pissed (and crying!) about a DIY nation-wide zine tour because it was getting national press and Darby had a little feud going with Seth from Factsheet Five. I was actually pretty critical of it at first, but then was one of the three local people that put on the Seattle leg. It was fantastic too! I have some video footage somewhere I need to transfer from 8mm to an electronic format.

[Microcosm Publishing]

The term "socially retarded" or "socially fucking retarded" is not lacking in political correctness.

That is using those words for the denotative face value of what they mean (especially fuck).

It is not derogatory or slang (other than "fucking") or insulting.

It is always funny that any new innovation, change, or departure is always marked as a betrayal of "death" of the zine "community". best never to change anything. but i'm glad they put together Kill Zinesters because that inspired Y'Herd Me? which inspired us to do "Copy & Destroy" without all of the flame war hating going on about it.

I could probably transfer your 8mm footage.

Dan 10things said:

Tara Sin said:

and the kill zinesters stop in SF was so controversial! they got invited to a town hall discussion at epicenter to discuss the political ramifications of it all... oh those were the days. i remember people CRYING about stuff being discussed!

Isn't that funny? People were pissed (and crying!) about a DIY nation-wide zine tour because it was getting national press and Darby had a little feud going with Seth from Factsheet Five. I was actually pretty critical of it at first, but then was one of the three local people that put on the Seattle leg. It was fantastic too! I have some video footage somewhere I need to transfer from 8mm to an electronic format.

[Ericfishlegs]

"my old roommate LOVED fish with legs. all i have to do is say "fish with legs" to him now and he cracks up."

I remember that. You had me send him some for Xmas or his birthday or something. I forget exactly, but it was a long, long time ago. There have been a lot more issues since them so if he wants some he can contact me here. And I think WE LIKE POO was in the very first package of zines I ever ordered from anywhere.

Also-

Old timers look at all the comp zines being organized on the forums here and know full well that roughly half of them will never see the light of day.

[Ericfishlegs]

Tara- I hope you see this because my computer won't let me send messages via this site, but my e mail is eric.lyden(at)gmail.com

Sorry to everyone, but it was the only thing I could think of.

[Dan 10things]

Ericfishlegs said:

Old timers look at all the comp zines being organized on the forums here and know full well that roughly half of them will never see the light of day.

Make that old timers look at anyone announcing a new distro, idea for a zine, comp zine, or any zine related project before they've actually started it, realize that more likely than not, it will never happen. I always advise new zinesters to focus on the content, rather than the concept. Too much time is spent conceptualizing things that never come to be. But hey, it's that way with lots of things, not just zines.