SL's newspapers - ugh

I must say that this is not a criticism that has never been made of the MM before. I have been saying it for years, and so have others. Thus I would not hold my breath for a change in format. But if they do, I would be very happy.

Adobe reader. It's bloody huge and I swear every goddam time I have to read a PDF the damn thing's asking me to download an update. Forced updates are a huge part of Adobe's business model now, with their 3,445,665 graphics/web/publishing technologies, but that's not MY problem.

I still hate PDF but Foxit Reader (a free PDF reader/printer) makes it a lot less painful than it was with Adobe Reader.

I hate Adobe PDF reader. It's like constantly running. I haven't reinstalled it since the last time I had to redo my computer. I think I'll try that Foxit reader.

If a SL Magazine had the circulation of Time Magazine (sorry, I don't know what the biggest magazines are in other countries) then they could get away with not so many ads because the cost per ad would be extremely high. Given the low readership of a SL Magazine, it's not surprising a large number of ads need to be sold to make up the difference.

I agree with the anti-PDF sentiment. I wish they were laid out in more of a blog format. How many RL newspapers publish in PDF on the web? I've never seen it before. Anyway, it's a shame because I won't read a PDF newspaper on the web and I won't advertise in one either. I wish they would change.

Try x1, Ordinal, www.x1.com .

I can't live without desktop search. Even the free version indexes PDFs.

We don't need no stinkin' folders.

If you click on the ads in the Metaverse Messenger, they are linked via slurl to the in-world locations of the advertiser. Only know this cause my husband stays up till 3 AM every Tuesday night putting the in-world links to the ads in the paper after Katt finishes the layout. You can also click on the "Continued on page 10" line of type and it takes you to the page, then does the same in reverse...takes you back to where you left off reading.

And yeah, I'm pretty sure the website update is going to have the content (news stories and columns) with banner ads..more of a blog format I guess in addition to the continued PDF version of M2.

A lot of people put in a lot of hard work to put it out. Unless you want the equivalent of a one or two page community flyer or a charge to obtain the newspaper, advertising is what makes it worth the time putting together.

I understand the gripe about pdf format, but hating the ads... they are what keep it free! Like many, many publications out there in the real world.

Compare the early issues of Second Style to the later ones. Used to be an attractive magazine. Doesn't really look like a magazine at all now.

I must confess that I rather have .pdf format even yesterday I was reading metaverse on .pdf. Always use it and never had any kind of problem, it's easiest to print (nobody read huge texts in internet) and we don't need to be always updating it - just unflag their regular updates. I really hope that some other magazines (like vogue) turn it available so I stop to read vogue inworld and do it when I'm on my morning bus.....

On the other end I agree that most of the adds should have a better layout, sometimes I found them almost pre-historic lolol I like to read not only the articles but also the adds to find something new to visit.

I agree with Lindal. Ads allow those newspapers to remain FREE to us. I like that. Sure, I'd rather see MM with a better layout, and an RSS feed (and NO PDF please, Adobe eats all my memory once opened, even AFTER I close it when I'm done reading the paper.)

But the the ads themselves? I've actually found new stores, and spent money in them, based on their newspaper ad. SL is huge. How else would I have known about this new business otherwise?

Princess Ivory

wow greats thoughts and feedback from the sl-scape of publishing... i've had my own hand in it rl before, so although it's mainly a topic i hope i've left behind, it kinda keeps coming up...

1) pdf (and dealing with pdf formatting and printing) suxxxorz, but it is also offers more 'permanance' in layout as a set-and-published periodical 'for ever', as opposed to an online bloggy that probably switches out ads on the fly. for future historians, editors, -and- advertisers alike, that's not unimportant. (hope you can handle the double-neg

2) i'm not a regular dl-er of any pub, but second style definitely fits its market and is done in a fairly profession way. avastar, lol well 'it's dah news, whaddaya want??' ny post for the virtual world! or cheap birdcage lining. your choice.

ummm... i think there was a number 3 somewhere, but i forget now. anyhow, there are -some- reasons for doing a pdf - if at least, mostly because i -will not- read something 'published inworld' as a 'HUDbook' (if 'published' is what you can call that... ahem, asset server... hello, asset server...

Oh not this again.

Look - if you want three people and their dog to read your publication, have it in PDF. If you don't, follow the route of pretty much every professional publication in the world and have it in HTML and/or XML. The three people and their dog will still be able to read it.

strange this subject came up, I actually thought about making a magazine, just for grins and giggles and to have a reason to use the thinc press I got LOL

but, never got around to doing it cuz mainly I would not know what all to put in it, AND it would cost to have others do articles. Not to mention the time involved in photoshop doing the layout etc.

That might be (actually my guess is that is exactly) why there are so many ads in the magazines

they need to cover costs (and yes there is a cost, upload fees and TIME, lots and lots of TIME, and staff

*sigh* it does sound like a good idea though

maybe just for fun I will make a fashion one, with pics and articles from different stores, interviews, etc...
*shrug*

only time will tell LOL

let us not forget the all-important lesson that reuters i think has learned...

-there just ain't enough dang news in here yet-

so, for those about to publish... we salute you

I have spent several days trying to contact ANY newspaper or magazine catering for the Second Life community, but non of them appear to be available!

I have an urgent press release that will be all but useless after tomorow 31st May.

I do not charge for my services so how you can say that these newspapers are expensive to run is beyond me.

Here, you can have the item for free. All I ask is that I am credited with the article:

Second Life’s The Edge To Close



The Edge, probably Second Life’s most hippest dance venue is to close on midnight Saturday 31st May 2008.



The reason for closure is not clear, Jenna Fairplay, the owner of the Edge site, say’s it is ‘for personal reasons’.



Jenna Fairplay opened The Edge on September 5, 2004 on a small parcel then known as DaBoom and has since become the longest running club on the Second Life grid.



The Edge has proved constantly over the years to be one of the most popular venues in Second Life.



"I bought this land, 8/12. Did a small event, 8/24. Did some lag tests, 'cause this is Daboom. And opened on 9/01. Hit number one, 9/12. Hit record Dwell, 12/24." She grins coyly. "Interview by Hamlet, 1/19."



"Many said I was insane to buy land here, I had to buy up a lot of land just to free up prims and scripts [i.e. building blocks and custom programs], make the place open and lag free. But we still suffer, but most feel it's worth it. We are the stepping stone for many new players."

Jenna claims to have played an average of 10 hours per week, which only goes to show that dedication pays off in these instances.

The Edge will be sadly missed by many residents of Second Life.



Maverick (Pete Mitchell) UK 30th May 2008

I'm really surprised by 'The Avastar' not picking this story up off you Mav..did you approach them?
=^..^=

Perhaps because you need to pay writers if you don't want them to write things such as "most hippest" or "say's".

There is an incredible book called Feed by M. T. Anderson, written for young adults but still an excellent read for adults as well. I highly recommend it. It is one of my all time favorite books, and that is saying a lot, as I am a voracious reader. I read it years ago, yet the basic premise of it stays in my mind even now. And your quote from Futurama brought it back to mind. When people walk past stores in the mall, they get targeted advertising delivered directly to their brains, based on their likes, dislikes, etc.

You can get it on Amazon. Or, support your local library. They should have it in their young adult section.

Here's a description, from Amazon:

Amazon.com
This brilliantly ironic satire is set in a future world where television and computers are connected directly into people's brains when they are babies. The result is a chillingly recognizable consumer society where empty-headed kids are driven by fashion and shopping and the avid pursuit of silly entertainment--even on trips to Mars and the moon--and by constant customized murmurs in their brains of encouragement to buy, buy, buy.

Anderson gives us this world through the voice of a boy who, like everyone around him, is almost completely inarticulate, whose vocabulary, in a dead-on parody of the worst teenspeak, depends heavily on three words: "like," "thing," and the second most common English obscenity. He's even made this vapid kid a bit sympathetic, as a product of his society who dimly knows something is missing in his head. The details are bitterly funny--the idiotic but wildly popular sitcom called "Oh? Wow! Thing!", the girls who have to retire to the ladies room a couple of times an evening because hairstyles have changed, the hideous lesions on everyone that are not only accepted, but turned into a fashion statement. And the ultimate awfulness is that when we finally meet the boy's parents, they are just as inarticulate and empty-headed as he is, and their solution to their son's problem is to buy him an expensive car.

Although there is a danger that at first teens may see the idea of brain-computers as cool, ultimately they will recognize this as a fascinating novel that says something important about their world. (Ages 14 and older) --Patty Campbell


Oh, now I have to go and read it again! I have a copy here somewhere around the house.
Enjoy!
Princess Ivory

I can't speak for the other papers, but I did talk to someone at the AvaStar lately, and took a look myself, and they are now in blog format! Finally, no more PDF! The layout looks great, and you can get an RSS feed to specific sections if you want, instead of the entire news feed. Check it out here:

http://www.the-avastar.com (this if for the home page)

http://www.the-avastar.com/rss/ (this for the RSS feed page - there is a link at the top right of the home page, as well as a tiny little gray link at the very bottom of the home page)

Princess Ivory

I think this is an essential point. I haven't read that many issues of the PDF-distributed magazines, but to me, it seems they are made by people who have a love of the graphics design part of publication. There is a disconnect between their personal wish to produce aesthetically pleasing design as a product in itself (like an art magazine), and the content they choose to present. As has been said all over this thread, most news and articles need to be accessible, searchable text, and that need is a lot better served with a normal, linkable, immediately readable HTML format.
There is certainly room for art magazines about SL, but the content should be geared to that, rather than trying to present "normal" articles in an artistic layout.

Just wanted to raise my hand for disliking the PDF format as well. I read MM one time, well half of it till I couldn't stand it anymore. What I did read was good, but the PDF format is annoying, like a lot of you already said...scrolling from side to side to read everything, increasing and decreasing percentage for different fonts. Basically QFT what all you have already said about the format.

I read a lot of SL blogs and would definitely read the magazines if they were in a better web format. The ads don't bother me, I know they need to be there to fund the publication. I would more than likely even advertise my business in one if the format was readable...as it stands now I don't know anyone who regularly reads any of the PDF publications.

Not only that, but I have found that even after I close it, it continues to run in the background "just in case" in need to access it again quickly with another PDF article. Eventually, it crashes my entire computer. I avoid PDF files like the plague!

Princess Ivory

I follow a lot of blogs, both new blogs and personal blogs. And I follow them all in an RSS reader. If I can't get it in my reader, I don't read it. I can't be bothered to remember to go click on a web site to get the latest issued downloaded in PDF. I'm not going to keep little Post-It notes on my monitor to remind me what day they publish. If it isn't in my aggregator, I don't read it.

And as I said in a much earlier post, I don't mind the ads. I have found some great new stores that way. And you know what? They have a blog about their store, and I subscribe to their feed! And now I know every time they release something new that I might like! Long live the RSS feed!!!

lol. zing!