The Perl Journal's woes

Having just got up to date on TPJ hassles, it got me thinking.

Has anyone thought of creating a printed journal to accompany the monastry? ie, some sort of sifted content from that month/quarter/whatever, along with extrapolations of nodes that created interest.

And I think we could take this chance to be slightly stranger than TPJ.

I was thinking of something small initially, along the lines of a local church newsletter for the Parish of St Larry on the Camel or something. "This month, we would like to welcome XXX new members of our flock, and congratulate Brother ZZZ on his ascent to sainthood. We thank profusely Sister ZZZ for her meditation on DBI. Thursday's coffee morning raised $24.50 - well done Brother Peet!" etc etc..

Initially, we could distribute as .PDF, and if enough interest generated, move to a small print run. I used to be a type-setter, and I know we have some good writers out there - perhaps merlyn would be interested in publishing some of his weirder script ideas for the benefit of the brothers and sisters.

On the other hand, perhaps the jokes would wear too thin, too quickly....

Well, like the page says, just thinking...

cLive ;-)

Update: I'm not thinking "full blown magazine", more fanzine, with option to print (hence PDF format :)

advertising - no, not unless it was needed. I think the point is to have something that can't fall foul of dividends :)

I think I'm thinking more about the community side - eg, find out who members are outside of their Perl existence, manage campaigns etc - 'newbie/mentor scheme?!', networking, trips to the beach... (well, you get the idea... :)

What has sucked me in to the monastry is the community feel. Just thought it would be nice to work on that side for a while...

Comment on The Perl Journal's woes

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: The Perl Journal's woes by azatoth (Curate) on Apr 03, 2001 at 20:56 UTC
It seems to me that a job like this would be best suited to the monk who came up with it... We all know vroom is very busy, but I think this is a good idea, cLive. Those who wish to get this project into production would merely need to liase with the Management, thus eliminating another job from Vroom's endless list. PDF would definitely be the way to go, and I'm sure there would be a lot of interest in submitting articles for it (I for one would love to). I doubt it would be that difficult to get the wheels in motion, provided those wishing to contribute throw in their ideas in this thread. If you're willing to kick this off, I'd be willing to help you along the way. I think a burgeoning society such as PerlMonks would benefit greatly from some kind of monthly output. Azatoth a.k.a Captain Whiplash Make Your Die Messages Full of Wisdom! Get YOUR PerlMonks Stagename here! Want to speak like a Londoner?	[reply]
Re: The Perl Journal's woes by footpad (Abbot) on Apr 03, 2001 at 21:06 UTC
Hmmm...I not entirely certain we really want to be stranger than TPJ. Its articles are well-written, helpful, and professional. That seems, imho, a better standard to strive for. (Also, I can almost guarantee that the "church bulletin" angle would get old real fast.) I'm not entirely convinced that going into the print business is necessarily a good idea, either. Periodicals live or die according to the amount of advertising revenue they can generate. There have been a lot of magazines started and very few have survived over time. Also, with new content being added all the time, why not just keep enjoying the site? I'd rather see our best writers focus on new nodes, reviews, tutorials, samples, and so on. What I might like to see instead is if TPJ isn't able to revive itself, then to see if we, O'Reilly, or whoever, can't obtain permission to mirror the site's content once EarthWeb decides to shut it down (again). --f Update: Just saw azatoth's reply and would support a grass-roots effort like the one he describes.	[reply]
Re: The Perl Journal's woes by Masem (Monsignor) on Apr 03, 2001 at 21:18 UTC
First, there is the problem with getting permission from all revelent posts that you'd want to include. But, given the way that PM nodes are created, I don't see the easy connection between taking a threaded discussion and converting into an article. I do agree that we should have some archive beyond Best Nodes that is on a daily/weekly/basis (see 'Best Nodes' on a {dailyweekly...} basis? for my comments on that), but that's up to vroom to create. But I do think that some of the more advanced monks should consider writing more 'articles' for PM, whether it be module reviews, tutorials, or similar. For example, I'm going to try to put one together this weekend for something I've observed in my perl programming, and it would be nice to see more particular those higher level monks that know what they are doing. The only thing here is that it would also be nice to have a beta-node where one could post such an article and point selected people to it, before it is moved into public viewing, but I guess that editing the article after release isn't that bad either. Dr. Michael K. Neylon - mneylon-pm@masemware.com \|\| "You've left the lens cap of your mind on again, Pinky" - The Brain	[reply]
Re: Re: The Perl Journal's woes by elwarren (Priest) on Apr 04, 2001 at 00:01 UTC
You could put a "Print my posts" checkbox on the homenode, any node written by a user with this turned off wouldn't be printed...	[reply]
Name Suggestion by McD (Chaplain) on Apr 04, 2001 at 01:47 UTC
I think this is a great idea, without regard to the eventual fate of TPJ. As footpad noted above, TPJ had well-written, helpful, and professional articles - not to say that you can't find that here as well, just that it's not always the focus. But there are gems to be found. I think such an effort should weed out those gems, snippets, hacks, gripes, and amusing chatbox ramblings, and publish them as: The Illuminated Manuscripts of PerlMonks.org The mind boggles with the opportunities for creative typesetting and such here. Sounds like fun. Peace, -McD	[reply]
Re: The Perl Journal's woes by InfiniteSilence (Curate) on Apr 04, 2001 at 17:33 UTC
I think the central issues here are as follows: > How can you do something like this? > What is the benefit to doing this? > Why should we do this? To answer the first question, you really cannot create a derivative 'Perlmonks' magazine without expressed permission of the owners of the Perlmonks.org site. Otherwise, if it ever became profitable, you would be liable for infringement. So the answer to 'how' is to propose it to vroom, whether he is busy or not. Second, the benefit of creating a magazine is simple: Magazines are self-supported advertising! Look at Yahoo Internet Life. It supports itself through advertisements, but c'mon, it might as well be a Jewel sale paper (Jewel is a grocery store for those unfamiliar). The third question is about feasibility. The most obvious target market for such a magazine would be the Perlmonks.org users. If someone could show that the costs for production of a decent/high quality magazine could be superseded by subscribers, then I think you may be in business, provided Perlmonks ownership consents. Celebrate Intellectual Diversity	[reply]
Re: Re: The Perl Journal's woes by cLive ;-) (Prior) on Apr 04, 2001 at 22:51 UTC
Err, you did read my original post? 1) think 'fanzine' base no ads (at least for now - I don't see production costs getting too big if we're distributing as PDF :) 2) either read on screen and, if good enough, print out and: use to 'evangelise' perlmonks offline? put by your toilet for when you're bored/out of toilet paper leave on your coffee table - ooo, so stylish... 3) "..then I think you might be in business". No! No! That's the point. NOT in business. Fun, otherwise why do it? .02 cLive ;-)	[reply]
Re: Re: Re: The Perl Journal's woes by InfiniteSilence (Curate) on Apr 27, 2001 at 18:30 UTC
Just fun, no business huh? Please notice the newest link at Perlmonks.org, the "offering plate". Click the link and find out why such a thing is necessary. Fun doesn't mean 'free' always. Celebrate Intellectual Diversity	[reply]