# Chicago Reader up for sale — effect on SDMB? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [March 12, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-reader-up-for-sale-effect-on-sdmb/615559 "2012-03-12T16:11:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-reader-up-for-sale-effect-on-sdmb/615559/61 "2012-03-15T15:01:20Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I bid $500,000.50. > > Wait, we’re playing by eBay rules, right? Price is Right. The bid that is closest to the actual price of the showcase without going over… ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-reader-up-for-sale-effect-on-sdmb/615559/62 "2012-03-15T20:57:57Z")
I think everyone knows how I feel about SDMB and you all. It’s like a “home” to me, and I hate that every few years something like this rears its ugly head. That’s the reason I wish we members owned our board and weren’t responsible to another entity for its existence. Sure, I understand about tradition and loyalty, but if worse came to worst, I don’t believe the Reader would give us a second thought before divesting itself of us. Please keep us posted, **TubaDiva**.🙂 Thanks Bill ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-reader-up-for-sale-effect-on-sdmb/615559/63 "2012-03-16T00:00:56Z")
I’m sorry, guys, but G-d hates me, and She killed C-Band, she tricked me into spending 16 years with the Evile (Former) Mrs. Plant, and now she will trash the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-reader-up-for-sale-effect-on-sdmb/615559/64 "2012-03-16T01:07:11Z")
No idea what that means, but I am sure it means something to _you_, **carnivorousplant** , so I will leave it at that. 🙂 Q ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-reader-up-for-sale-effect-on-sdmb/615559/65 "2012-03-16T03:21:40Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > No idea what that means, but I am sure it means something to _you_, **carnivorousplant** , so I will leave it at that. 🙂 > > Q It is for the best that you do not know. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-reader-up-for-sale-effect-on-sdmb/615559/66 "2012-03-16T03:27:04Z")
Cool. Then you won’t mind me asking you to take your nebulous and poorly satirical assertions elsewhere, will you? Q ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-reader-up-for-sale-effect-on-sdmb/615559/67 "2012-03-16T11:38:04Z")
Not at all. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-reader-up-for-sale-effect-on-sdmb/615559/68 "2012-03-16T12:42:11Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > I think everyone knows how I feel about SDMB and you all. It’s like a “home” to me, and I hate that every few years something like this rears its ugly head. That’s the reason I wish we members owned our board and weren’t responsible to another entity for its existence. > > Sure, I understand about tradition and loyalty, but if worse came to worst, I don’t believe the Reader would give us a second thought before divesting itself of us. > > Please keep us posted, **TubaDiva**.🙂 > > Thanks > > Bill It’s not quite like that, Quasi – the situation with the Straight Dope website and the Chicago Reader is not at all what it once was. The attitudes you remember are from the original owners of the Reader, people who did not use the internet overmuch and didn’t know anything about it and didn’t really want to know. Those people are not at the Reader anymore and have not been for several years.. Don’t worry about the Reader, or Creative Loafing, or Atalaya, or any of that. We have no control over what happens, if anything. All we know is what we read online. Stay tuned for further developments. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-reader-up-for-sale-effect-on-sdmb/615559/69 "2012-03-16T18:20:27Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > \*Au contraire \*(that means “on the contrary” for those of you who aren’t the smartest kids in the room.) They can dumb down the Reader for the chattering classes, while leaving the Board alone for its current, self-selected audience of **know-it-alls** , psuedo-intellectuals and blowhards. That widens their potential reach. > > It’s a win-win. Really. I’m gnoitall, and I approve of this message. ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2012, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-reader-up-for-sale-effect-on-sdmb/615559/70 "2012-04-25T07:04:19Z")
Any updates on this? ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2012, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-reader-up-for-sale-effect-on-sdmb/615559/71 "2012-04-25T11:48:44Z")
As **Jonathon Chance** will doubtless be able to tell you, there’s still a huge amount of uncertainty in the media about the role of The Internet. In theory, it seems pretty obvious to everyone - but one of the issues is that no-one can agree on much of the allegedly “obvious parts.” One newspaper might find their online presence is best supported via Twitter and Facebook, while another might go for a full online digital edition. Other publications have tried charging for online content, with mixed results. The big issue is “monetising the online space,” I’ve been told - ie it’s all well and good to say “We need to have an online presence” and “we need to embrace technology”, but actually getting any money out of it (for a traditional print publication, with traditional print publication costs and overheads) is an entirely different kettle of fish. What’s all this got to do with the message board? Well, if I was in charge of the Chicago Reader I daresay I’d be having the same sorts of conversations with My People about where to proceed with the online thing. I’ve said before I think the idea behind The Straight Dope Column was great back in the 1970s and 1980s when research was slow, time-consuming, and relied a lot on what was in your local library (and the librarian’s knowledge of what was in said library.) The problem (from a media point of view) is nowadays, you can type anything you like into Google and have your answer in seconds. So, were I a Pointy Headed Boss at Whoever Buys The Chicago Reader, I’d be asking myself (or more like, my underlings) the following questions: A. How much does the website/forum cost to run and/or maintain? B. How much advertising revenue do they bring in? If B is more than A, then I’d tell them to carry on as usual. If B was _less_ than A, I’d be asking: C. What is the business benefit, tangible or otherwisem of continuing to operate the site(s)? D. What loss would the business suffer if the site(s) were closed or sold? Also: E. Assuming what we’re doing isn’t working, what can we do to make it work? No-one posting here (with a couple of exceptions, and I doubt they’re going to share, for obvious reasons) really has the answers to those questions. We can make educated guesses all we like, though, but I don’t think there’ll be a definite answer coming any time soon, FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2012, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-reader-up-for-sale-effect-on-sdmb/615559/72 "2012-04-25T14:09:23Z")
We have seen nothing on this subject since the initial announcements. As soon as we do hear something we’ll let you know. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-reader-up-for-sale-effect-on-sdmb/615559.md?page=3)