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.

[Heath Row]

From when I mailed .zap!! #4? I wondered if that was the case.

For those who are interested, the stickers were (and perhaps still are) provided by V2. You can also learn more here.

Another sign of an oldtimer:

* When you mention John Marr, they ask you which one.

[Trailer Trash zine]

Ha ha@anti alien stickers. I think I still have some lying around somewhere. I am an old timer. I started my zine in 1994 an am still producing it.
I do miss Ben Is Dead (and I don't know what I did with my copies and all of the old zines I used to have)
Nope, I don't sell my zine on Etsy.

Here's one to add to noobs:
they decorate their zines with sparkley stickers and write about Riot Grrl like it happened last year. (I'm not saying this in a mean spirited way)

[eElsabet Ra'Kar]

my god i remember those. ive put them everywhere iv ever been on a trip, but alas ive run out. anyone know where i could possibly find more?

[Dan 10things]

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

[Dan 10things]

Heath Row said:

* The IPA owes them money. * Tower owes them money. * See/Hear owes them money.
* They miss Blackout Mail Order.

Can we add Desert Moon and Big Top to the owes zinesters money list? I have no complaints about Tower, they consistently always paid me for 10 Things. And once again, I'd like to put out a serious fuck you to Ted from See/Hear for being a complete lying scumbag and profiting from so many zinester's work and not paying us.

What was the record and zine store in SF the did Blackout Mailorder? Epicenter or something? I went there once in person, holy crap was that awesome, I bought so many zines and records.

[Giz]

"*Have ordered zines from, and possibly have been published by, Microcosm"

or learn things about indie publishing from them ? I guess I'm that newbie, but they do publish good books and distro lot of good stuff too.

[Dan 10things]

Zacery said:

If anyone has any of those alien stickers left, I sure would like a handful!

Correction: Anti-Alien stickers :)

[tim scannell]

old-timers...OT...have been 2 the mt. & seen the
burnin' bush

newbies R here 4 a wee while...then graduate from HS
and move on to am/id or barista...ization...then get
ha-ha tattoos and metal posts in their faces arms tits
major/minor labia e t c e t e r ah!
tim
wa
O-T...original TREE in the
original GARDEN.

[Ericfishlegs]

"*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.

[tim scannell]

someone is NEW if they check lists of
least
most
favored ZINES.................
OL'TIMERS
have long since learned that
the MAKING is important...
not the acceptance...

i.e., someone will always LOVE your zine
someone will always HATE your zine

i.e., SMART people HATE obama
DUMB CRETINS love obama

[W. Alan Fare]

I just don't care, does that make me really old?

P.S. I started in the fanzine world when everyone hated Reagan.

tim scannell said:

someone is NEW if they check lists of
least
most
favored ZINES.................
OL'TIMERS
have long since learned that
the MAKING is important...
not the acceptance...

i.e., someone will always LOVE your zine
someone will always HATE your zine

i.e., SMART people HATE obama
DUMB CRETINS love obama

[whatwave dave]

W. Alan Fare said:

I just don't care, does that make me really old?

P.S. I started in the fanzine world when everyone hated Reagan. me too! LOL....guess that makes me really old!

Me too! LOL...guess i am old!