# Reader's Digest circling the drain **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 17, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/readers-digest-circling-the-drain/506774 "2009-08-17T20:04:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/readers-digest-circling-the-drain/506774/41 "2009-08-20T04:47:40Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > If Reader’s Digest folds, what will my Dad read on the can? [_Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader_](http://www.bathroomreader.com/). Uncle John regularly cites the SD and SDMB in articles. We regularly pick up new copies at Costco. We’ve met Uncle John and have autographed copies. ---
**Author:** ![hamster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a8b319/32.png) [@hamster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hamster)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/readers-digest-circling-the-drain/506774/42 "2009-08-20T05:10:23Z")
I saw an issue on the stand the other day that boldly proclaimed they had an article which could help you get rid of a facebook stalker. That’s all it took for me, I knew the magazine’s days were numbered when I read that line. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/readers-digest-circling-the-drain/506774/43 "2009-08-20T05:31:29Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > I remember reading it as a kid just for the funny stories and jokes. > > Then, when I got older, I saw the article “Thank You, Ronald Reagan.” That was a big, rude wake-up call as to the general bent of the editorial staff (or else its target readership). > > OTOH, they DID print and reply to that woman who said she knew J.K. Rowling was a Satanist because of an article from The Onion, so they’re definitely not insane… My school library had a huge collection of old RDs, I spent many a recess reading them. Even in elementary school I noticed that their politics seemed out of whack, and that they represented the worst of the “ugly American”. By the time I made it to high school I loathed that magazine. It couldn’t have happened to a more deserving publication. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/readers-digest-circling-the-drain/506774/44 "2009-08-20T06:19:26Z")
And what’s with their condensed books? Do they think that their readers have such a short attention-span they cannot manage a full sized book? ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/readers-digest-circling-the-drain/506774/45 "2009-08-20T14:23:28Z")
RD is iconic but long past its heyday. I didn’t realize how right-leaning it was until I was older, but it’s unmistakeable. I recently received an offer to subscribe for 2 years for $9.95. Now I know why. I actually worked at RD as a temp back in the early 90s. Pay was terrible but they had an awesome subsidized cafeteria and bonus store. I’m talking pork tenderloin type fare for lunch and fresh breads for purchase. Oh, how I miss that challah bread. The bonus store had incredible deals on Disney movies, CDs, and (oddly) Mikasa crystal. Each year the winner of their sweepstakes would visit and tour the place. They were always in a really good mood… ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/readers-digest-circling-the-drain/506774/46 "2009-08-20T16:32:35Z")
Reader’s Digest is an awful waste of paper that caters to the absolute lowest denominator, and I hope they _do_ go out of business. The magazines are completely worthless, and their condensed books…let’s just do the world a favor and stop them now. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/readers-digest-circling-the-drain/506774/47 "2009-08-20T18:54:05Z")
I do kind of wish that more magazines were formatted like RD. I find the size and weight to be very user friendly when I’m boating or traveling on a plane. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/readers-digest-circling-the-drain/506774/48 "2009-08-20T19:34:35Z")
You know, I never really thought about it, but it really is a very nice layout, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/readers-digest-circling-the-drain/506774/49 "2009-08-20T19:55:02Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Ah well. Life’s Like That. It’s about Time. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/readers-digest-circling-the-drain/506774/50 "2009-08-20T21:39:25Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > Oh there was also an article about tourists from Nazi Germany and what they thought of the US. (The would point at our brass fire hydrants with wonder.) I so want to read that one. ---
**Author:** ![TheMadHun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@TheMadHun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMadHun)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/readers-digest-circling-the-drain/506774/51 "2009-08-20T22:01:26Z")
What they need is to open a can of Not-So-Lowbrow-And-Reactionary. If they go mainstream there are still plenty of readers. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/readers-digest-circling-the-drain/506774/52 "2009-08-20T22:19:31Z")
While Chapter 11 is not in and of itself a sign the RD is going away (especially given the leveraged loan issue), I wonder if it’s going to go the way of TV Guide. Both were once the biggest magazines in their categories. TV Guide is a joke with a tiny fraction of it’s former sales. (Once in a while a company buys TV Guide solely for its trademark value. Which they apparently then regret and dump it.) One of the things that accelerates a decline is that a company is just unable to shed enough employees and whatnot to match the decline in sales and still make the same product. The bigger the magazine, the harder the fall. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/readers-digest-circling-the-drain/506774/53 "2009-08-21T00:40:00Z")
We keep TV Guide on microfilm only because a) it’s indexed in Readers’ Guide, and b) because sometimes the cops call and they need it to confirm alibis. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/readers-digest-circling-the-drain/506774/54 "2009-08-21T01:31:24Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > We keep TV Guide on microfilm only because a) it’s indexed in Readers’ Guide, and b) because sometimes the cops call and they need it to confirm alibis. You mean the cops don’t call to confirm alibis with RD? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/readers-digest-circling-the-drain/506774/55 "2009-08-21T06:44:45Z")
> [@Rayne\_Man](#): > > And what’s with their condensed books? Do they think that their readers have such a short attention-span they cannot manage a full sized book? I think that they put out books for people who just really are not that interested in reading books. These non-readers then feel good that they have the latest bestsellers on hand, and they can skim them if they want to. What the hell, they’re already condensed, so the non-readers feel virtuous about actually reading SOMETHING. RD condensed books are really, really good as weights, if you need to weigh something down. They’re also good for altering, so that you don’t deface a book that’s actually worth something. And I know that some local used book stores sell them by the yard, for decorating purposes. MY book decorating problem is that I have many many more books than I have shelf space. I pack books up, and rotate them in and out of the storage sheds. No, I can’t get rid of most of the books, because most libraries don’t carry the books that I love the most. > [@PunditLisa](#): > > I do kind of wish that more magazines were formatted like RD. I find the size and weight to be very user friendly when I’m boating or traveling on a plane. Yeah, that size is very portable. I have subscribed to Analog for a number of years now, and one thing that I liked about it was its size. For that matter, when my parents used to give us a subscription to RD, I’d just tuck the latest issue into my purse, and read it if I had an unexpected wait. I’m letting my subscription drop, though. Analog has let the story quality drop, or I’m getting pickier about my SF in my old age, or something. I’m not as happy with it as I used to be. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/readers-digest-circling-the-drain/506774/56 "2009-08-21T12:00:14Z")
> [@KRC](#): > > It was a little too God n’ Country for me, but the drama in real life stuff, what with people wrestling grizzlies or hiking 14000 feet down a mountain with two broken legs was kind of cool. It was the zine where I first learned about autism and anorexia nervosa and it actually printed a dirty joke. > > (Woman to a girl’s mother: I don’t think your daughter should be playing football with the boys. > > Mother: Don’t worry, she’ll stop once she realizes they’re tackling her to get their hands on something other than the football!) I’ve noticed on occasion Reader’s Digest and Playboy will print the same joke. Just racy enough for Playboy, yet tame enough for the Reader’s Digest. A reader of one magazine often submits it to the other. And as often or not, I’ll see a joke turn up in the Reader’s Digest first, then in Playboy a few months later. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/readers-digest-circling-the-drain/506774/57 "2009-08-21T13:38:49Z")
I did see a very racy joke in RD years ago:- “Doctor, can you catch venereal disease by sitting on a toilet seat?” “Yes you can, but it’s very uncomfortable” ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/readers-digest-circling-the-drain/506774/58 "2009-08-21T14:39:54Z")
I suppose schadenfreude is natural, if you don’t have much use for Reader’s Digest, but don’t get too smug. The problems that have pushed Reader’s Digest to the brink aren’t so different from the problems facing the magazines you DO love, be that Penthouse or Mother Jones or TV Guide. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/readers-digest-circling-the-drain/506774.md?page=2)