I fear this garment may upset the delicate ignorance/knowledge balance upon which our very existence depends.
Therefore I intend to walk around in my own T shirt with the legend Ignorant Since 1973 on the front and Fight? on the back.
Speaking for myself only, I don’t like his drawings because I don’t like his drawings.
I do not like thee, Slug-aroo,
The reason why I can’t achoo,
But this I know and know for hoo,
I do not like thee, Slug-aroo.
I do not like thee, Signorino,
The reason why I can’t fathom-ino,
But this I know and fare thee well-o,
I do not like thee, Signorino.
Yeah, I am all for explaining what the Straight Dope is, or who Cecil is, but I refuse to wear an shirt that causes me to have to explain, over and over, what that hideous illustration is supposed to mean.
But you’re right, it’s all a moot point as no one is listening.
Curious, don’t you think since they are always going on and on about creating new revenue streams?
Kind of makes you wonder what exactly this board’s future actually is, doesn’t it?
I will not buy anything that has
“hi Opal”
Valente,
Vox Imperitorus (sorry if it’s spelled wrong. Actually, I’m not sorry)
Enjoy,
Stephen
Regards,
Shodan
Or any other annoying inside joke, signature, or Slug drawing.
I’m easy to please. 
I wouldn’t buy a t-shirt, but I’d buy a mug if it didn’t have Slug’s “artwork” on it.
Your definition of normal is a bit off there…what ever happened to “Medium?”
It’s still on, amazingly enough – Monday nights on NBC.
I never unstood why they called it that…only tiny people wear it.
I’m not saying we would never do this. However:
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We don’t sell a huge amount of merchandise, never have. Currently we gross a few thousand a year, and that’s for everything - books, mugs, shirts. It’d take me a while to figure out the net, but it’s probably under $1,000 per year.
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What with setup charges, price breaks for bulk quantities, etc., we’d have to invest maybe $500 to make this worthwhile, basically on a hunch that there’s a significant untapped market of T-shirt buyers out there who really hate Slug’s art. Say we sell 50 shirts at a profit of $6 each (we’re due to raise the price). We net $300. The company owes - I’m not telling you anything that isn’t in the public record - $31 million. The honchos want me to make them some money. This investment won’t strike them as shrewd.
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Slug’s art has attained a certain iconic stature. I realize not everybody likes it. However, to request a Straight Dope shirt without it … it’s like going into the Vatican and saying, “Your Holiness, I love that Sistine Chapel. But can you redo the ceiling in flat white?”
Can someone explain to me the downside (for Creative Loafing et al) of going the Cafe Press or Zazzle type route?
The downside if we do it is it diverts time and resources needed for other things, and if we let someone else do it is we lose control. I’d be willing to entertain proposals, though. One possibility is for someone to create an SDMB T-shirt that used no CL-owned trademarks. We’ve never registered “Teeming Millions” and variations on the phrase have been used in ventures by others.
What about having a thread were people can post designs of their own creation (I’m assuming there are members who can do professional-quality work pro bono)? You can choose which design, if any, will work (or put it to a vote). Then someone can make it available on Cafe Press, etc. Would that minimize the work you’d have to do, allow you to keep control (by giving official sanction), and keep the up-front costs low.
I already have the SD t-shirt but I do get some odd looks when folks first gander at Slug’s artistry.
See, I think it would be more like going to the Vatican and saying “You Holiness, I love that Sistine Chapel. But can you get someone to clean the public toilets?”.
[Montgomery Burns] Sheer Bolshevism! And ripe for the crushing! [/MB]
Odd looks are a plus for me. A t-shirt that no one notices is a waste of time.
EXACTLY!
Cheers,
bcg
a) If you do it via Cafe Press, there’s no setup charge; you provide the art, they only run the T-shirt (mug, mouse pad, g-string) when someone places an order. No upfront expenses, esp. if a Doper provides the art. We have a lot of talented people here.
b) Your guess of 50 seems low to me. At least 50 different people have expressed an interest in a Slug-free T by posting in this thread or one of the other ones (they do pop up every six months or so). I’d guess that for every one person who posts, there are anywhere from two or three to ten other people who are reading along thinking “me too” without posting. So – say 100 to 500, to start. And go reread a) again – you don’t have to maintain inventory or lay out any money for this.
c) If you do it via Cafe Press, as noted above, you can make the design available not only on T-shirts and mugs, but also mouse pads, magnets, tote bags, etc. etc. etc. – people who don’t ordinarily wear T-shirts would be able to find other merchandise they did like, and spend money on it – money that doesn’t require an upfront investment from you. It’s damn close to free money for you.
This is just silly. We’re not saying you have to destroy Slug’s artwork or disavow your relationship with him – keep selling the current design as a “classic,” and give those of us who hate it a different design in addition to it. It’s not an either/or situation.
Missed the edit window.
Here is an example of a Cafe Press “boutique” for a site. This came to mind because I’m going to take credit/responsibility for the “I [heart] the dominant paradigm” design. They used the line as a throwaway in a piece they had four or five years ago, it totally cracked me up, and I asked them to do a T-shirt of it, which they did, so I got the T-shirt and a button for myself, and a half dozen magnets for friends. Significantly, two of the recipients of the magnets laughed, the others were completely WTF. I’ve worn the T-shirt in public (including at a Dopefest, which I would have thought a natural audience to find someone else who thinks it’s funny) and gotten nothing but WTF.
The moral of this story? No one but me and two people out of 100+ finds this funny, so they can’t be selling more than a couple of items a year, but they’ve still got it up for sale. Why? Because it costs them nothing to offer it, and once in a while they get some free money from it.
This is a good point, SD merchandise does not have terribly much volume potential, so having staff spending a lot of time designing and reviewing options doesn’t make sense.
My suggestion is that the SD sponsor a “Design a SDMB T-Shirt” contest. I’m sure one (or more) of the moderators or SDSAB, people trusted by the staff, can review entries for acceptability (size, content, quality, etc.) and set up a thread where we can vote on our favorites.
While it’s not going to be a big money maker, I think this is the type of event that the community would really enjoy. Posters get a chance to express their creativity, and potentially get their “Member” status changed to “T-Shirt Genius”. It certainly shouldn’t be a net cost, or require terribly much staff time to implement.
This seems wildly over-optimistic to me.