Please take your marketing rollouts somewhere else

October 26, 2008 4:16 PM

Hey, Non Prosequitor, mrgrimm wants me to ask you if you work for The Atlantic, as I accused your somewhat uninteresting post of being part of the marketing roll out for The Atlantic redesign.

So, are you just a fan, or are is it all part of some master plot?

posted by nax to MetaFilter-Related at 4:16 PM (51 comments total)

This prolly coulda been done with a unit of MeMail; however I will say that I think the Atlantic's new website is quite pretty, but the special feature has too much whizzy bangy stuff.

Also I just killed rather a lot of things in Fable 2, which was very satisfying.
posted by By The Grace of God at 4:23 PM on October 26, 2008

i like donuts
posted by bonaldi at 4:30 PM on October 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

Take your Dunkin' Donuts marketing campaign somewhere else, bonaldi!
posted by dhammond at 4:36 PM on October 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

I'm not really a fan, I've just been reading their bloggers recently and been noticing their long form articles for an year or so. For me, "fan" is like my love for The New Yorker, which I find incredible.

I think there's some merit to the criticism that the interviews seem to clone the aesthetic of some TV shows; I don't watch TV so I'm probably not a sophisticated viewer on that front.

Fun fact: the double post catcher matches on substrings so I was warned when posting The Atlantic site that it's been posted hundreds of times before.
posted by Non Prosequitur at 4:38 PM on October 26, 2008

Self-linky? I dunno... but comments like this: "Have you cleared your bile duct yet?" , are inappropriate. I'd say the OP could stand to do a wee bit less moderating his own thread.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:41 PM on October 26, 2008

There you have it. Asked and answered.
posted by netbros at 4:41 PM on October 26, 2008

Also, I thought I responded to you in the thread re: why I mentioned the redesign rather than just the marketing, don't get your hackles up and starting making MeTa threads because someone in the thread remarks on something you said.

To be unequivocal, I don't work for, nor have I ever been affiliated with any project that has been done for The Atlantic.
posted by Non Prosequitur at 4:41 PM on October 26, 2008

*shoots bonaldi*

*leaves gun. takes donuts*
posted by jonmc at 4:44 PM on October 26, 2008

hey, hey, jon, you gonna eat all those donuts, man?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:49 PM on October 26, 2008

Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donut!

Pleeeeeeeaaaaaaaase?
posted by An Infinity Of Monkeys at 5:03 PM on October 26, 2008

Oh, hey, there are donuts?
posted by Pronoiac at 5:09 PM on October 26, 2008

Lame.
posted by Kwantsar at 5:12 PM on October 26, 2008

Hey, Non Prosequitor, mrgrimm wants me to ask you if you work for The Atlantic

And if mrgrimm asked you to walk off a cliff... ?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:17 PM on October 26, 2008

For me, "fan" is like my love for The New Yorker, which I find incredible.

Not to get into random chatfilter or anything, and I don't mean this in a "what is wrong with you" kind of way so much as genuine curiosity, but really?

I don't know what it was like in its heyday, but current New Yorker articles are the most over-written, worst edited garbage I come across in any internet periodicals. It's like they fired all their copyeditors and gave their writers ego-implants. Even when the subjects of the articles are interesting, which is often the case, they are barely readable because of the overwrought meandering sentences get away from the writers. So can someone point me to the second, good New Yorker that is apparently out there somewhere?
posted by Caduceus at 5:18 PM on October 26, 2008

It's like they fired all their copyeditors and gave their writers ego-implants.

They must have kept a few copy editors just to add pretentious nonstandard diacritical marks to words like élite and coöperate.
posted by grouse at 5:32 PM on October 26, 2008

That's just the höuse stÿle.
posted by danb at 5:47 PM on October 26, 2008

Okay, that's weird. I got some severe deja vu there, and after poking around in my comment history I realized I made the same joke eight months ago.
posted by danb at 5:51 PM on October 26, 2008 [8 favorites]

What about the comics?
posted by fixedgear at 6:02 PM on October 26, 2008

Free gun! Sweet!
posted by Mister_A at 6:15 PM on October 26, 2008

danb, the joke is coming from inside the höuse!! Get outta there!
posted by Mister_A at 6:16 PM on October 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

I don't understand people who make jokes about diacritical marks. I think it is a grave matter, and it gives me acute pain whenever someone makes light of the situation.
posted by grouse at 6:24 PM on October 26, 2008 [3 favorites]

Um. Lout.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:28 PM on October 26, 2008 [2 favorites]

That's just the höuse stÿle.

Well, it's a cantankerous, grumpy style, designed to keep people at arm's length, but on the other hand he is able to diagnose things that others miss, thereby saving lives. I say let it go; it's a decent trade-off.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 6:33 PM on October 26, 2008 [4 favorites]

Wow, this thread was a waste of time. And now I really want a dǿnüt.
posted by salvia at 6:41 PM on October 26, 2008

flapjax at midnite: "I dunno... but comments like this: "Have you cleared your bile duct yet?" , are inappropriate."

Actually, I think he was just being helpful. I, for one, can't remember the last time I had my bile duct cleaned. Thanks for the reminder!
posted by Plutor at 6:42 PM on October 26, 2008

There's a place three blocks from me that sells bἁcon donuts.
posted by rtha at 6:50 PM on October 26, 2008

I'm off out to pick up a brick-sized wodge of cash from a client!
posted by Abiezer at 6:55 PM on October 26, 2008

pretentious nonstandard diacritical marks to words like élite and coöperate

Is it better or worse when someone does that to their own name?

I saw a SoCal chef on some Food Network show who spelled his family name "Robért".
posted by CKmtl at 7:02 PM on October 26, 2008

but really?

Oh yeah. The New Yorker's fantastic, one of the central keys to broad-ranging cultural literacy we have going. And the consistent good quality - for a weekly - is a amazing.

No one says you have to like it, though.
posted by Miko at 8:10 PM on October 26, 2008 [5 favorites]

well i never, people coming into metafilter and using it for marketing purposes - that's really surprising.

on another note i saw a wendell st here today, which is the hq of the local hells angels.
posted by sgt.serenity at 8:12 PM on October 26, 2008

</mumble_kick_dirt_awhile>
posted by mandal at 8:59 PM on October 26, 2008

What's this about donuts?
posted by Falconetti at 9:44 PM on October 26, 2008

Oh yeah. The New Yorker's fantastic, one of the central keys to broad-ranging cultural literacy we have going. And the consistent good quality - for a weekly - is a amazing.

Maybe I have poor timing and only happen to stumble across the poorly written articles.
posted by Caduceus at 9:56 PM on October 26, 2008

A dǿnüt bit my sister once...

We apologise for the fault in the comments. Those responsible have been sacked.
posted by nicwolff at 10:20 PM on October 26, 2008 [2 favorites]

It takes a worried man.
posted by Meatbomb at 12:51 AM on October 27, 2008

My name contains an é and an Á. What should I do?
posted by dirty lies at 1:22 AM on October 27, 2008

My name contains an é and an Á. What should I do?

Write for The New Yorker?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:18 AM on October 27, 2008 [1 favorite]

Miko: Oh yeah. The New Yorker's fantastic, one of the central keys to broad-ranging cultural literacy we have going. And the consistent good quality - for a weekly - is a amazing.

That's the problem. The New Yorker has such an outsized reputation that there's no way that it can live up to it on a weekly basis. I had the same problem with The New York Times for a long time. I wanted it to be better than any daily can conceivably be.
posted by Kattullus at 4:36 AM on October 27, 2008

Hey, Non Prosequitor, mrgrimm wants me to ask you if you work for The Atlantic, as I accused your somewhat uninteresting post

uninteresting? you two on crack?
posted by krautland at 5:09 AM on October 27, 2008

I don't watch TV

Do you own one?

Whenever I see an issue of The New Yorker, I think of that old commercial where an urbane voice praises it as " ...the best magazine in the world; maybe the best magazine that ever was ..." Sadly, I can't find that commercial on YouTube.
posted by octobersurprise at 5:54 AM on October 27, 2008

I'd say more earnest than urbane.
posted by Meatbomb at 6:07 AM on October 27, 2008

TO: MetaFilter Industries Mailing List

RE: Donuts in Conf Room B!!!

Thanks to Bonaldi, there are a few donuts left from the HR training session this am!! Be sure to clean up after yourselves as I think you know you're mother dosen't work here!!! Also, there is a Staff Meeting at 2 in Conf Room A, and dont forget your expense reports for October are due on FRIDAY.

Thanks!!!
posted by Rock Steady at 6:18 AM on October 27, 2008 [4 favorites]

If the donuts don't have Cocoa Puffs on them, I am uninterested.
posted by pineapple at 8:40 AM on October 27, 2008

New Yorker has such an outsized reputation that there's no way that it can live up to it on a weekly basis

Maybe my expectations are more reasonable. I've been reading it for twenty years; for the last five, it's been the best it's ever been. I don't read everything in every issue and in some issues I find nothing. But putting out a publication every single week that is so consistently informative, well written, and wide-ranging is no easy feat. Neither is putting out a daily paper like the Times. I find that I am constantly sharing articles from the New Yorker with people who don't read the magazine, and find that reading it tends to put me a bit ahead on the 'informed' curve as regards current events and culture. That's all I expect from it, and I consistently get it.
posted by Miko at 8:46 AM on October 27, 2008

In Every New Yorker Short Story Ever:
-sexually frustrated woman brews tea, looks out at barren tree
-"they did not talk for most of the long car ride"
-"pigram by marcel proust or joni mitchell
-"sinewy limbs"
-anhedonia in any form whatsoever
-etc.
posted by milkrate at 9:39 AM on October 27, 2008

I was going to say things about the New Yorker, but Miko said them all, so I won't bother. It's the only magazine I still subscribe to, and I don't intend to let the subscription drop.
posted by languagehat at 11:00 AM on October 27, 2008

...I had the same problem with The New York Times for a long time. I wanted it to be better than any daily can conceivably be.

Around Seattle, with concrete evidence available instantly at any newspaper stand in the state, let alone the greater metropolitan area, proving that it is always better than either daily here could ever conceivably be will never be a problem.
posted by y2karl at 11:58 AM on October 27, 2008

Oh, don't get me wrong... I thoroughly enjoy The New Yorker (except the poetry... shudder) and read it every chance I get. Same goes for The New York Times (I love empty Sundays when I have the time to read through an entire Sunday Times). It's just that when I first moved to the US both The New Yorker and The New York Times had incredible reputations and both failed to live up to it. It didn't help that I got here in 2002 and neither came out well on the question of the Iraq War. I've mostly forgiven them (I don't know if I can ever forgive Thomas Friedman) but that was not the best point in time to get to know The New Yorker and The New York Times.
posted by Kattullus at 4:37 PM on October 27, 2008

Oh, don't get me wrong... I thoroughly enjoy The New Yorker donuts
ftfy
posted by bonaldi at 4:54 PM on October 27, 2008

Nah... donuts don't do much for me... maybe it's that whole not-being-American thing.
posted by Kattullus at 5:13 PM on October 27, 2008

Whenever I see an issue of The New Yorker, I think of that old commercial...

It reminds me of when the Simpsons get a rejection letter from the subscription department.

That said, their subscription rate is incredibly inexpensive. If it didn't have all the stuff about, go figure, New York (No, that's not NYC prejudice, I don't read Little Rock Soiree, either. And a cartoon by R. Crumb and the two coattail riders isn't much of a selling point.), I would totally sign up.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 12:17 AM on October 28, 2008