rochlin writes "Looks like The Perl Journal might not make it up for air after all. This blurb is on their website. 'Time is running short and we need your help if The Perl Journal is to get another chance at being the real deal. As of a couple of minutes ago, we only have 881 subscriptions and the deadline is fast approaching. Please subscribe now. It only costs 3 cents per day to get the best Perl coverage anywhere.'" They need 3,000 subscribers to move forward.
Well, I take it back. There is such a thing as critical mass. If we don't have TPJ, we'll all be the poorer for it. It's not just the great articles that we get, it's also supporting a community of writers who help to give Perl a real presence in the overall Computing landscape.
I think I'll subscribe to TPJ AND to The Perl Review tonight. Why don't you?
Re:I take it back...
jordan on 2002-10-09T15:55:13
Well, I did it. Subscribed to TPJ and subscribed/donated to TPR via Pay Pal.
Come on guys, for about 2/3 the cost of one not-very-expensive O'Reilly book, you can support a year of these two interesting publications.
TPJ indicates that they won't even bill your credit card if they fail to get the 3000, so no hassles there. You'll be out the time it takes you to go to the TPJ site and sign up or you'll spend $12 and know that you've helped support a great publication and the Perl Community.
So, I'll get you started. Whip out a major credit card and click here to start the sign up process for TPJ.
For The Perl Review, Click here. I used Pay Pal. I know a lot of people have pretty severe problems with Pay Pal and I appreciate that, even though I've never had any problems. What can I say? I keep a little money in Pay Pal for eBay stuff. I don't know if it's easy to subscribe to The Perl Review if you don't Pay Pal.
Re:I take it back...
brian_d_foy on 2002-10-09T18:24:34
Some day I'll have alternate ways to pay for TPR, bu t I'm still wrestling with the government to wrap up Perl Mongers. Shutting down a non-profit is not the easiest thing in the world.
Until then, most of my TPR-available time is just publishing it, much less making it a business.:) Perl mongers
pne on 2002-10-12T10:03:57
Why is Perl mongers being wrapped up/shut down?
Re:Why not combine the forces?
jordan on 2002-10-08T21:28:46
I think they should stay separate, myself.
Competition almost always is a Good Thing (TM). It means there's a vital market. If there's only one, they could get sloppy and just put out anything.
If we'd all just support them, there could easily be two. If we don't want to support them, maybe we don't deserve even one.
Re: Why not combine the forces?
SuperCruncher on 2002-10-08T21:46:38
It seems to me that The Perl Journal and The Perl Review have very different content. TPJ seems to focus more on real-world, practical applications, whereas TPR seems to focus more on geeky or computer science applications.I'm not saying one is better than the other, but I think it's good to have competition and also to have separate magazines for different types of content.
Re:Why not combine the forces?
brian_d_foy on 2002-10-08T21:47:46
If TPR and TPJ combine forces, that means TPR becomes part of a big magazine company with all of the problems that entails.
The folks behind TPJ are really trying to do a good thing. They aren't getting paid extra to do what they are doing with TPJ. However, they think if they can show the higher-ups there is enough interest, they can save the magazine.
I'm not competing with TPJ. I think people should subscribe to it. TPR won't try to duplicate content or copy TPJ. We've even been talking about working together on some things. Still, why ask for less content? Two journals is twice the content.:) Re:Why not combine the forces?
BobGoolsby on 2002-10-08T23:18:36
There are more than enough readers in Perl-space to support both 'zines, particularly if they both are running as e-zines. I personally would prefer not to see them combined, on the same principal that I insist that my production machines are double-plugged. If I have problems in one of the power-supplies, I know that there IS a backup.
Re:TPJ's still fighting
mshiltonj on 2002-10-09T00:11:46
Slashdot is ironic---when I looked at the thread, about 260 posts bitched and moaned about TPJ, and the folks at TPJ told me they had got about 600 new subscription pledges from that.
Interesting. I read somewhere on/. that only about 2% of their user base actually posts comments. Looks like the 98% who silently read the site put their money where their mouth isn't. Re:TPJ's still fighting
pudge on 2002-10-11T01:57:51
I work on Slashdot -- even posting stories -- and I rarely post comments.:-)
