Vice to Readers: You Never Write
Like a parent who threatens to turn around a car full of unruly kids unless they behave this instant, Vice magazine has decided to suspend its letters page until readers can send them something worth printing.
"You know what? No letters page this month," declare the editors of the Brooklyn-based youth culture and integrated marketing magazine. "You know why? Because we aren’t receiving enough real letters. We mainly get emails now, and people don’t think when they write emails."
Lamenting the fact that they used to receive "great letters... in decorated envelopes along with goofy little tokens, tchotchkes, gizmos, and gifts inside," the editors are throwing down the gauntlet:
In protest of this state of affairs, we are suspending the letters page for one month. We would like to formally do a wee curtsy and invite those among you, readers, who still have most of your fingers and know how to hold a pen, to send us actual, tangible letters. You can use a typewriter too, or a computer and then print it out.
Weirdly, this statement was posted online, allowing readers to respond—anonymously—in comments, even though the editors would prefer them to send "real letters written on real paper like a real person."
The lack of printable letters to the editor hasn't been this pressing a problem for a magazine since at least last century when McSweeney's "The Service Industry" column featured the behind-the-scenes story of a letter-less month at Man: The Magazine for Men.
Maybe people are just not reading or looking at VICE!
That's just cuz vice fell off and nobody cares no more.
I never heard of Vice. But now that I have, I think I'll sit down and write them a very nice letter.
A few years of ago, my friend Anthony suggested I check out Vice magazine to pursue a writing opportunity. He knew I was studying journalism in college and looking for an internship that would offer me career-related experience.
The issue he gave me to check out was Volume 13, Number 8: the first annual story awards. I took politely took it with an open-mind, but never really got around to checking it out... that is until today, when Media Bistro's Daily News Feed consisted of this article, "Vice to Readers, You Never Write."
So I'm flipping through this magazine for the first time in my life and I couldn't help but notice all the graphics, colors and images. Where is there a good article worth reading? I want something more enlightening that reaches out to me and what I'm going through i my life. (Transitioning from college to life after college is definitely not an easy task).
And those stories...who are these writers and are they credible? I don't know if these stories are real or not.
There was just something about the magazine that was overall unappealing. I found the magazine extremely . . . callow. What is the age range of this "Brooklyn-based youth culture" your magazine is targeting? And I couldn't help wonder how a Brooklyn-associated magazine made it's way to LA. That's mixing SoCal with the Bay Area.
So I went online to see if any current articles appealed to me. "Dark Fruit" got a click from me. The illustration was disgustingly interesting. I scrolled down a little more... there was some chuckles of disbelief here and there but didn't really read any of your shit.
So I concluded, your magazine is basically no different than the Union paper at CSULB. There is a unique personality to your magazine that consists of twisted humor, sarcasm and even foul language. I like that there are no boundaries you can't cross and that if I wanted to rant about something really stupid, you might actually accept my lame pitch as a freelance writer. Nah.
You want to know why your readers aren't writing? Because there is nothing about your magazine worth writing about. Besides, do you really think some stoner skateboarder is actually going to but his bong down and write a letter worthy of publication???? Seriously now.... let's be real. They'll laugh at your shit and talk about it amongst friends and then they throw your magazine away... actually they might keep it around to roll some joints are stack lines of coke.
Your magazine is lame because it does nothing to add to my life. It doesn't enrich my soul. I'm throwing this garbage in the trash after all these years. I wasn't missing out on anything to begin with.
Niki, your post was lame.