The Eristocracy

About the magazine

The Eristocracy is an electronic magazine distributed by electronic mail. I have pubished it since 1985. I am its editor and publisher, with the help of its subscribers, who submit most of the articles I publish. My charter for The Eristocracy is high-quality high weirdness, to provide a contrarian view, especially one that is puckish, that makes my readers think, or at least shows some thought.

Here are my guidelines for selecting stories:

• My most important function as an editor is to cut down on drivel and repeats of stories. Fortunately, I have a good memory for these things. You will rarely see a chestnut in The Eristocracy. Of course, the downside of this is that you won't see a chestnut that I remember from 1988 and you don't.
• I do my best to follow copyright. The nature of the net and the WWW especially makes it difficult to tell what the correct thing to do. I do my best.
• There will be no sexist humor. None, no exceptions.
• I try to make sure the original author of a piece retains their attribution.
• I try to obscure the origin of a piece when that seems to be the thing to do (for example, if it might embarass the person who submitted it).
• Please note that the above two guidelines are in conflict. I do my best to resolve this conflict. Sometimes I make mistakes. If you make a submission to me and you want attribution specifically left in (or removed), tell me. If you don't, I get to guess. I almost always guess right, which is perhaps worse than being hit or miss.
• If something made me laugh out loud, I probably send it.
• If I send a joke, I send it deadpan. Some of the best humor is the news, and some of the best sad social commentary is what passes for humor.
• I have been known to write news stories (as opposed to reporting on the news).
• Sometimes I propagate urban legends. Sometimes I hunt them down. Sometimes I propagate them only to hunt them down. I have reasons for this that include but transcend simple amusement value.
• If there is a hype, I often push a counter-hype. I often send heretical views, especially ones that go beyond simple anti-establishment poses. This ain't Edupage, it ain't RISKS, it ain't Wired, and it ain't the Conspiracy Weekly, but I might select goodies from any of those.
• I avoid religious topics. Given that this magazine is named for a goddess, it's impossible to eliminate them. Also given what passes for a religion these days, it's impossible to be completely consistent here, but hey, that's why it's "The Eristocracy," that's why I'm the editor, and that's why I rake in all that good karma I get in subscriptions. Please note that I do not limit religious topics to mere matters of deities.
• If five people submit something to me, it probably goes out, even if I wouldn't otherwise have sent it. My rationale is that they must see some value in it for the community that I don't.
• There will be no cute graphics. Why? Because these days, any yoyo with a scanner, a sneer, and a copy of photoshop thinks they can run an electronic magazine. The Eristocracy isn't the oldest Internet magazine, but I know the power of text and remember when 300 baud was fast. My rag doesn't suck and I'm proud of it.
• Lastly and most importantly, I reserve the right to violate any of the above rules as I see fit.

Submitting Stories

It's simple. Send them to me at jon@callas.org. If I like it, I'll send it. If I don't send it out, there is a reason. I always worry that people might get miffed because I don't send something. For my benefit as much as yours, here are reasons I might not send a submission:

• I've sent it before. This is the usual reason.
• I was busy. Lately, this is also a usual reason.
• I have sent out a lot of things recently, and am feeling like I'm swamping my subscribers.
• It was too mainstream.
• It was too specialized.
• It's liable to insult too few people.

How to Subscribe

Send a mail message with the magic words subscribe eristocracy in the body.

Archive

There is an archive of old postings at ftp://merrymeet.com/Eristocracy-Archives/. In addition, the majordomo can retreive and search through the archive.

In Summary

Even though I think The Eristocrats would get along in person, we have a lot of differences. I have subscribers on four continents. I have subscribers in the computing industry. I have subscribers who are Internet newbies. Among the subscribers who work in the computing industry, many are in fierce competition with each other. Remember, an Eristocrat is someone who never insults someone unintentionally.

Last Updated: 15 September 2001
©1996-2001 Jon Callas and The Eristocracy
The Eristocracy is a trademark of Jon Callas. All rights reserved. So there, nyah.