Tr: [orwant@oreilly.com: The state of TPJ]

Stephane Rondal rondal at usa.net
Wed Jan 3 01:59:15 CST 2001


> ----- Forwarded message from Jon Orwant <orwant at oreilly.com> -----
> 
> Date: Tue, 2 Jan 2001 19:18:48 -0500
> To: Jon Orwant <orwant at oreilly.com>
> 
> January 2, 2001
> 
> Some folks have been asking me about the status of The Perl
> Journal #20, and prospective authors have been asking me
> about deadlines for future issues.  The answers: TPJ #20 is
> in press and ready to print, but EarthWeb (the owner of TPJ)
> has told the printer to stop the presses until further
> notice.  I am currently responding to proposals sent to me
> with approximately "I don't know if there's going to be
> another issue, but when I do I'll respond to your proposal."
> 
> Since the future of the magazine is in doubt, I can't in
> good conscience greenlight proposals; I will not encourage
> an author to spend weeks writing an article when I know that
> it might never be printed.  So I've told people who've asked
> what I know about the current situation: while EarthWeb has
> sold many of its properties to internet.com so that it can
> focus on "career services", it has not sold TPJ.  However,
> EarthWeb has also made it clear that they don't want to
> publish TPJ any more.
> 
> This story has started to leak out to the Perl community and
> has already mutated a bit in not-quite-correct directions,
> so I wanted to write this note to set the record straight.
> Or as straight as I can, given what little I know about
> EarthWeb's decisions.  
> 
> While TPJ's future is very much up in the air, people
> shouldn't take this as any indicator about Perl itself.  
> TPJ was doing just fine back when I ran it, there's no
> shortage of content out there, and the magazine could easily
> go bimonthly and then monthly -- indeed, when EarthWeb
> acquired TPJ I had thought that was the plan.  I still enjoy
> the editing, the authors enjoy the writing, and the 
> designers enjoy the designing.  What happens now is up to
> EarthWeb.  And no, I'm not suggesting that people bombard
> them with email.  Heck, they just laid off 100 people, so
> I'm not even sure who to bombard.  Eventually there will be
> some resolution, and when there is I'll write again to let
> everyone know.
> 
> As of December 27th, this matter is now in the courts, and
> so I have to adopt the "just the facts" tone of this letter
> without portraying my opinions.  Someday I'll be able to
> talk more about what is happening in these strange days;
> until then, you'll have to conjure up your own adjectives on
> my behalf.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Jon Orwant
> 
> ----- End forwarded message -----





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