Waukegan is upstate.
::::fingers in ears:::::I can’t hear you.
I assume Lil’Ed is a lifetime member of the SDMB. As well as Cecil. Nobody needs to be paid.
Unca Cecil, come tell us ‘hi’ for moral support! Pah—lease!
I see people writing columns all over the Internet. People are making money doing this. Ads, endorsements, clicks, and all that. And it’s easier to make money the more famous you are. Cecil Adams was pretty far up that scale in terms of columnists.
I had assumed it was the usual “we’re going in a different direction” stuff. But “Cecil Adams” is a brand that’s just sitting there, mostly unused. And now would be a great time to launch but do it Internet-style rather than the old school free weekly thing.
And, basically, America needs the Straight Dope again. Time for some people to put that ahead of business-think and go for it.
It sounds like you have an incredible business plan there. How much of your own money are you willing to invest.
I’m agreeing with you ftg. I want Unca Cecil.
We need the straightdope on this virus.
Think of the children, Unca Cecil. (:))
I am not in the Internet column business, but I see a ton of them around. The Atlantic, Slate, etc. all have them. I assume that these writers are not doing it for free. I also assume that the media company that owns the rights to the column is far from ignorant of these matters.
Either they have a “thing” about such a business model or are incompetent. So the Cecil Adams brand lies fallow when it could be used. Just sell it off to someone who will actually put it to its God given function.
(Reading about the upheavals at the Reader since the latest owners took over indicates that there is indeed some less-than-savvy people about. This reinforces the “just sell off the CA rights” argument.)
And I agree: Think of the children.
It might be good to have a small group of Dopers serve as a collective Cecil, answering one vital question in a mini-essay each week.
Imagine the incisiveness of Stranger on a Train, the clarity of monstro, the wit of Vinyl Turnip, and a few others getting together (remotely) to do this? It would be nice if they could get paid, even if the group consisted of folks who had a lot of time on their hands. (The three I mentioned don’t have much time on their hands, I’m pretty sure — I just chose them to exemplify the blend of wit, wisdom, and evidence-based observations that we all loved about Cecil.)
Unlikely to happen, but a nice little thing to imagine.
Me too. That’s why they are not interested in investing in it.
Yet no one is clamoring to buy it. I am certain that, especially now, they’d sell it off at a bargain price
Contact them and make an offer. When they decided to dump the whole thing, they were losing papers who were willing to pay for the rights to publish the column because either the papers ceased to exist or didn’t want to pay for it. You still might know differently though.
Cecil should come back to the internets, selling possets and herb compresses to cure Coronavirus.
I’m old now, which means Zotti is VERY old, and I hope he’s retired to a nice farm in rural Wisconsin, enjoying cheese and bratwurst and artisanal beer. And brandy Old Fashioneds stuffed with fruit.
The classics never age.
Unca Cece, I believe in you. (:))
(I’m nice like that)
I hear the maple sap there flows like salmon down the Niagras!
I think he’d prefer a little Wild Turkey with a blackberry brandy chaser.
He’s younger than I, with a charming and delightful wife. If she hasn’t tossed him out.
They can have the confusing style of dropzone for free. I have nothing but time.
Cecil Adams come home. We need you.
Pleeeeeeeeaseeeeee!
(:))
Ce-e-e-e-e-cil,
Ce-e-e-e-e-cil,
Where, oh where have you gone? (Come home!)
Ce-e-e-e-e-cil,
Ce-e-e-e-e-cil,
Come home, Cecil, come home!
Here’s an article on COVID, that’s as close as it’s gonna get, and just as close as it could get, on this topic.
“What we must do to beat COVID-19 now and forever” by Ed Zotti
Many of us maintain the whimsical notion that Cecil has merely popped out for an enormously long lunch break, and may yet return to put in a solid afternoon’s work.
He let Lil’Ed write a column. See, I knew he was close.
Come on in here Cecil…I wanna hug you.
(;))
So, “Missing, Presumed Fed?”
(By the way, despite that second half of the sentence being very nearly a direct quote, Google thought a article about Popeye’s Chicken with the words strewn throughout was more likely to be what I was searching for than a result where the words were in the order I gave them. And I had to have the whole second half of the sentence for it to even put it on the first page. I couldn’t use quote marks to enforce order because I was pretty sure it was more of a paraphrase, and indeed a few words are different.)
Cecil please come home.
What do I gotta do? Beg?
Okay, I’m begging.
Well, just who do you think you are honey, Zaphod Beeblebrox or something?