"Publishing the best work possible remains our aim."

July 21, 2014 11:27 AM

Today, The New Yorker announces a redesign, temporary free access to their archives for all web visitors, and a soon-to-be implemented paywall, modelled on that of The New York Times. The New Yorker website--which now publishes 15 original stories a day--has been steadily expanding their offerings (and increasing their traffic) under online editor Nicholas Thompson. Perhaps TNY seeks to finally answer the question: what's an old magazine to do on the internet? Capital NY digs into the history of the relaunch and how striving for timeliness on the web may affect the publication. Others maintain that a remaining problem is Andy Borowitz, whose vague satire accounted for 6% of traffic to the website last year.
posted by youarenothere (46 comments total)

Wow. When Salon is making fun of you for being a lame liberal humorist...
posted by Etrigan at 11:35 AM on July 21, 2014 [2 favorites]

Great post.
posted by KokuRyu at 11:36 AM on July 21, 2014

Oh lord I hope Borowitz writes a scathing reply to that salon article and then the two of them just spiral down into a NO U nadir of slapfights.
posted by elizardbits at 11:41 AM on July 21, 2014 [7 favorites]

I do not believe it's And Borowitz's fault that his articles are funny and clever.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:42 AM on July 21, 2014 [2 favorites]

I was happy to see that you can now actually view a list of all content in a given issue on their website.

Previously, in order to view the Table of Contents for any issue, you had to (a) have a subscription, and (b) log in to their "digital archive" (even if you were viewing the current issue's Table of Contents!)
posted by Asparagus at 11:42 AM on July 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

It's arguably the only thing I am still interested in reading via paper. Their subject matter and publishing frequency make them the only magazine I can think that is perfectly suited to the timing of print issues, not too quick, they are not part of the current news cycle, but rather with just enough time to publish things tangentially related to the news.

And I'm not sure what is new about their paywall scheme, it's the same format they've used for years.
posted by Keith Talent at 11:45 AM on July 21, 2014 [14 favorites]

The Baffler also put their archives online.
posted by gorbweaver at 11:49 AM on July 21, 2014 [5 favorites]

And I'm not sure what is new about their paywall scheme, it's the same format they've used for years

Really? I don't believe I've ever paid to read a New Yorker article, and I've never been prompted, either.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:49 AM on July 21, 2014

@roomthreeseventeen The implication is that his articles are not popular because they are funny and clever, but rather conflated as real news, and spread because of their ambiguity (and shared because of how incredible they sound).
posted by CharlesV42 at 11:50 AM on July 21, 2014

Wow. When Salon is making fun of you for being a lame liberal humorist...

I love that the Salon article (correctly) cites Paris Hilton outrage as lazy and behind-the-times while the lead story at Salon right now is an outrage piece about clueless rich kids, featuring a large picture of Paris Hilton.
posted by COBRA! at 11:53 AM on July 21, 2014 [10 favorites]

I wish the New Yorker well on this - anything to keep one of the last great print magazines afloat and also accessible on-line too. I'm with Keith Talent - this is the only magazine I still prefer to get in my mailbox.

I noticed the other day that Slate.com has taken a different tack and instead of doing a paywall, they have some sort of monthly membership you can pay for now. I assume this is because no one would actually pay if they went to a paywall method.
posted by boubelium at 12:00 PM on July 21, 2014 [2 favorites]

I am from an old school. You like a magazine, you read it. You like or dislike articles within that magazine, you read or skip. For one magazine (online) to belittle another shows a paucity of material.
posted by Postroad at 12:14 PM on July 21, 2014 [5 favorites]

What, so now all the riff-raff are going to be able to read The New Yorker for free?! Eustace, please.
posted by Flashman at 12:22 PM on July 21, 2014 [8 favorites]

"We hate the most in others what we hate in ourselves."
posted by aught at 12:22 PM on July 21, 2014

I own the complete New Yorker archives on DVD (up to 2005). There are used copies on Amazon going for $10 or so. What a bargain. At the time I thought it was selling the crown jewels instead of charging a monthly website subscription package. They seem to be coming around to that conclusion, but those DVDs are still floating around diluting the value.
posted by stbalbach at 12:28 PM on July 21, 2014 [3 favorites]

I love that the Salon article (correctly) cites Paris Hilton outrage as lazy and behind-the-times while the lead story at Salon right now is an outrage piece about clueless rich kids, featuring a large picture of Paris Hilton.

It's like watching a snake swallow its tail and roll around like a hoop.
posted by Pudhoho at 12:32 PM on July 21, 2014 [9 favorites]

I hope it's like the NYTimes paywall in that it's equally easy swat it aside.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 12:38 PM on July 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

I subscribe on my Kindle, which has turned out to be great for my sanity. When I used to get the print edition, there would be some issues which were very hard to throw away.
posted by honestcoyote at 12:41 PM on July 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

Alex Pareene is very funny and Andrew O'Hehir is a really good movie critic, but the rest of Salon lately seems chained to a desperate SEO plan based on outrage articles like "Why I Unfollowed Patton Oswalt...And Why You Should Too."

I have thought about writing a robot that will auto-generate Salon content about how outraged we should be about the latest remarks by X, and why it's nothing like what you think, and why Joan Walsh thinks the Republican Party has just banished itself to the fringes where we are about to never hear from them again, etc.
posted by johngoren at 12:51 PM on July 21, 2014 [6 favorites]

Really? I don't believe I've ever paid to read a New Yorker article, and I've never been prompted, either.

It used to be that some articles were blocked and some weren't. The ones people share are the completely free ones, and their archives were difficult to access, so it was easy to be completely unaware of the existence of the locked articles.
posted by tofu_crouton at 12:55 PM on July 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

When I used to get the print edition, there would be some issues which were very hard to throw away.

I'm moving this weekend, and I plan on sorting through and recycling my collection beforehand so that my friends who are helping me move do not see my shame.

(I'm also throwing out my several jars of uneaten kimchi for the same reason).
posted by tofu_crouton at 12:56 PM on July 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

I subscribe on my Kindle, which has turned out to be great for my sanity.

I often buy the current issue for the Kindle when I travel, which is relatively inexpensive but gives lots of airport time-eating diversion.
posted by aught at 1:32 PM on July 21, 2014

I was just working on a FPP on this, which would have included Lonform's 25 favorite unlocked New Yorker articles, based on which I put together this Readlist (that you can download to Kindles and other ebook readers). So I figure I'll just put them here.
posted by AceRock at 1:40 PM on July 21, 2014 [14 favorites]

tofu_crouton: (I'm also throwing out my several jars of uneaten kimchi for the same reason).

can i have them? [noshame]
posted by IAmBroom at 1:53 PM on July 21, 2014 [2 favorites]

In addition to Longform's list, I'd like to just recommend Deep Frieze, a very interesting piece on the history of the Parthenon.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 2:21 PM on July 21, 2014 [3 favorites]

I get the print edition, and I read every issue.

However, there's only a couple that I have kept. The rest? I give away. I'll leave them on an empty chair on a train or bus. I'll give them to baristas for them to read behind the counter, during slow times. Some, I've given to friends who become curious why their scruffy metalhead buddy is reading this highflautin' magazine filled with Cartier ads, 15 page articles about tugboat operators on the Mississippi River, and dense chewy fiction.

Once, I saw a teen pick up an issue that I left on a bus seat, and watching him flip through it with curiosity gave me a tiny smile.
posted by spinifex23 at 2:22 PM on July 21, 2014 [2 favorites]

The rest? I give away. I'll leave them on an empty chair on a train or bus. I Yes, I love to get about 2 months behind in the paper issues and then take them when I travel, leaving them in airport lounges and the backseat pockets as I go, hoping some other bored traveler will get a diversion.
posted by TwoStride at 2:47 PM on July 21, 2014 [2 favorites]

I've always thought that Shouts & Murmurs and, more recently, Borowitz, were the only weak parts of a fucking fantastic magazine. I mean, even though I don't live in New York, I gladly read the short theater and dance blurb notices in order to squeeze the most out of every magazine.

I'm not sure what is new about the paywall. They have shifted from offering print copy online for free to hiding it behind a paywall for some time now, and have really beefed up their blogs.

Love that mag forever!
posted by KokuRyu at 2:47 PM on July 21, 2014 [2 favorites]

I have a whole bunch of New Yorkers from the late 90's and early 00's that I left behind at my MIL's house in Japan. Every year when we go back for a visit there is this stack of magazines waiting for me, so nice...
posted by KokuRyu at 2:48 PM on July 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

Strictly speaking, I think it's just newyorker.com that's getting the redesign, not The New Yorker itself (which I still prefer to read on paper). That's the way I read their announcement anyway.
posted by Paul Slade at 2:53 PM on July 21, 2014

One of my favorites (that hasn't been mentioned yet):

The Fourth State of Matter
posted by ensign_ricky at 3:06 PM on July 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

Two months behind? I'm 1.5 years behind. I have to read them in order, otherwise the world gets unraveled. I'm also a slow reader. Thus, I get further and further behind.

I don't know what happens to DOMA; please don't tell me! Spoilers, sweetie.
posted by spinifex23 at 3:30 PM on July 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

For those asking, the new paywall will be metered, NYT-style. So you'll have access to a limited number of articles per month(?) and prompted to pay after that. Currently, articles at random are available to subscribers only through one of the most aggravating interfaces this side of whatever a good example of a poorly-designed website is. It's unreadable! You can't read it! My most earnest hope is that it's put to rest forever in favor of good old-fashioned text.
posted by youarenothere at 3:43 PM on July 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

I keep getting login requests ... What am I missing?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 4:11 PM on July 21, 2014

12 New Yorker articles on education from Vox
posted by triggerfinger at 5:43 PM on July 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

At a particularly low point in my life, I was working as a bellhop in a local hotel (lacking any better prospects due to dropping out of community college). During the slow times, I would hide out in the main linen supply closet and read back issues of the New Yorker from the magazine basket in the lobby. I swear it was the only thing that kept me literate during a phase where I had become anti-intellectual in every other area.

Um. Yay New Yorker?
posted by murphy slaw at 6:26 PM on July 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

I get the print version because i like the writing (except for the humor which is never funny) and I'm happy to pay for something I enjoy. I mostly read it in cafés and on airplanes (and when I'm eating alone) because the articles are long enough to be interesting but short enough to read over a coffee. I think the average article used to be longer as late as the 1970s, but no one has the attention span for that anymore.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:52 PM on July 21, 2014

except for the humor which is never funny

Steve Martin's "Inventor of Compact Disc Packaging Enters Hell" was pretty good
posted by thelonius at 7:37 PM on July 21, 2014

I've been reading the magazine since I was five years old, which says something about my family environment. I'm 62 now and I still read most of it. Except, usually, the fiction, which is often dreadful even though aspiring writers often desperately dream of getting something accepted by The New Yorker.
posted by Peach at 7:59 PM on July 21, 2014 [2 favorites]

This is quite a coincidence. I was about to subscribe to an online version and set it up for my iPad. When I went to their site to do so it gave me 2 options only: "gift" or "deliver to non-U.S. address."
posted by uraniumwilly at 8:37 PM on July 21, 2014

I own the complete New Yorker archives on DVD (up to 2005).

I bought that on a hard drive. Which I haven't thought of in years. Bought it primarily for reading old favorites like George W. S. Trow.
posted by neuron at 9:36 PM on July 21, 2014

Alex Pareene's annual Hack List is so popular -- and useful -- we thought we should spread it out over the year.

Like manure.
posted by chavenet at 1:47 AM on July 22, 2014

I'm still flabbergasted by the platform they give Borowitz. I mean, obviously a lot of the humor isn't great in the magazine, but Borowitz is just so profoundly unfunny.

Why couldn't they just steal a single writer away from the Onion instead of having the hack-joke, terrible dad humor Onion knockoff sullying their good name? Does David Remnick really just find him actually amusing?

So many questions.
posted by graphnerd at 4:25 AM on July 22, 2014 [2 favorites]

Anyone have any tips for searching the "Archives"? It's not easy.
posted by KokuRyu at 8:38 AM on July 22, 2014

Yeah I get the paper edition free at the library..the only magazine I read. And I have a way of reading it that doesn't translate to the screen.
posted by judson at 10:16 AM on July 22, 2014

And I have a way of reading it that doesn't translate to the screen.

OK, now I'm really curious. Do you read it under water? Dog ear the pages? Make origami out of the old issues?
posted by spinifex23 at 11:34 AM on July 22, 2014