http://typeengine.net We're big fans

Hey all,

So - as you may have seen, we're trying to bring The Redditor back.

I'm only on board for the next few months, so my focus is assembling a design team to share the workload into the future.

I need people with solid skills and free time up their sleeves. Most desirable skills are editorial design, indesign work, text treatment in illustrator, and illustrators/photoshoppers to create artwork to accompany stories.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN BEING A PART OF THIS AWESOMENESS:

Please comment in this thread, or PM me if you really don't want to comment publicly.

Some people have contacted me in the past, but I'd appreciate it if you would comment again here so it's all together.

• Please mention your level of experience.

• Please mention your specific skills (InDesign expert, Page layout, editorial illustration, etc etc)

• Please mention your time availability (I work 2 fulltime jobs and have 7 kids / I have no job and no kids / I'm addicted to cocaine and I don't know how I got here / etc)

• Please show some relevant examples of your work if you can, or link to your portfolio. (You can PM me this if you don't want to post it here.

Ok, radness. Thanks for your interest!

Edit: You're all making me feel like this can really work, thanks to everyone who has commented or PM'd me. If you're just seeing this now, you're not too late - any time until end of July is ok.

I can't believe the new issue is coming out!

What are the current plans? What is the current train of thoughts on brainstorming? What were the main criticisms of previous issues? What are the strong points of previous issues? Who is in charge (don't say nobody!)?

About a month ago, I asked for the template to the magazine in order to practice InDesign while doing something I loved: browsing Reddit and making something awesome while I am at it.

A few weeks of practice and a couple of courses on Lynda.com have given me some confidence with InDesign.

I present a small preview of what's to come -warning dropbox link to PDF-

I am well aware it still needs a lot of things. For example, I need to create a variety of paragraph and character styles to make words and paragraph pop. I also need to make a preview for what a 1-page view would look like.

I also need to download some cool fonts and recreate the logotype for the magazine's title. In short, there's a lot of work to do, but I'm pretty excited and optimistic!

If you are interested in helping me out. Sent me a private message!

TL;DR: The Redditor is coming back! ^^^soon

Edit: Just a small note, if you have positive criticism, I'm all ears. If you have excellent links for documents or books I should be checking out of the library, I'm all ears. But as this thing gets more upvotes and more visibility, I might come to regret using the word "preview". The pdf you see above is the equivalent of a Freshman dicking around in InDesign at 11 pm before the project is due. It's not done. I definitely didn't use anything other than the default font on InDesign. And I need a refresher on several things I've learned recently. The Redditor is coming when it's ready. It is nowhere near the finish line.

I've just recently started learning InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator and so on. So I'm curious as to see what the template of this magazine looked like, dunno if any of the editors would be interested in sharing or pointing me to a good resource for free magazine templates.

Thanks, Choppa790

Hey all,

So Apple FINALLY approved an update to the iphone app. You can get it here:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-redditor/id507645312?mt=8

It has been such a hassle getting this into the app store. I initially tried to make it a newsstand app which would have been awesome - push uploads of new issues, cool app icon art to reflect the new issue cover and a host of other cool Newsstand only features. Apple unfortunately were very cranky and simply didn't want 'The Redditor' as a newsstand app.

Anyhow, after that plus a few other annoyances trying to get it past their app reviewers this is the current version.

Part of the reason I'm posting is I'd love to work on a user driven magazine like this. All the code is ready and waiting (albeit needs a tiny bit of cleanup). If we didn't call it The Redditor I think it would make it into newsstand just fine. Likewise we could actually charge some money and hopefully make this a 'worthwhile' project for people to work on. If anyone is into making magazines and has the same level of talent as swampgum and killtheredditor and ohblair please contact me and let's see if we can do this.

Hope you guys enjoy the app and let me know if anything is broken - because of all the headaches involved with getting it approved + this project dying I didn't do the same level of QA I normally do when I make an app.

BTW if you guys want to support me you can download my other app called Fridge Pal. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fridge-pal-shopping-lists/id496451091?mt=8. It's a sweet shopping list app that also lets you record what's in your fridge. It will let you know when things expire and you can search for recipes using ingredients you have. There's a $2.99 upgrade to a 'full' version (free version just limits you to one storage area and a single shopping) list. Hopefully it's a useful app in general but if you wanted to throw some charity my way for the redditor app that would be how to do it.

I think I speak for all of us when I say 'killtheredditor/swampgum/ohblair coooommeeee bbbaacccckkk'. But in lieu of that let me know if you want to continue something like this and barring that enjoy this update.

edit: oh yeah and there were a ton of negative reviews of the previous version because it was broken and took a long time to fix. If you guys wouldn't mind doing some 5 star reviews assuming they are fixed that'd be great.

This magazine was amazing. The amount of work and effort put into each issue really astounded me. You took the disorganized mess that is Reddit and presented it in a clean, and elegant manner that made it a lot easier to read and enjoy. Good work.

From the look of things, The Redditor is never going to go back to former glory. You guys got busy, you weren't being compensated for your time, etc., and the magazine died. I'm don't want to bag on you for that. What I think would be cool, is instead of fruitless attempts to restart the magazine full time, you guys do a proper final issue. Go out fighting. Have a final hurrah. It could be about Reddit's most famous stories, and people. Things like President Obama's AMA, or an article on Apostolate. These things make Reddit what she is, and having one, awesome, commemorating issue celebrating all of it would be cool. That's my two cents, and whatever you choose to do with this magazine, it was my favorite way to browse Reddit.

I apologize in advance for the rambling nature of what is to come, but it is difficult to describe the way the Redditor pulled me in, how it captivated me.

It was more enchanting than the Harry Potter books and more engaging than Half-Life 2. To me it represents the pinnacle of what reddit itself can be, of what it has to offer. Its content was not just the best of reddit, it was the kind of content that could only exist on reddit. I also want to mention its design, just to say it was excellent. I would love to see the Redditor return. If it becomes part of reddit (officially) it would be a great incentive for reddit gold (I'd get it in a heartbeat, just for the Redditor).

In conclusion, I just wanted to express my love and appreciation of the issues that were. I want to thank the creators for making them and providing me with hours of joy. I miss it, and sincerely hope the Redditor one day returns.

It would be easy. You would be able to bring it back, and have the funds to make it a tangible thing. Has this option been explored?

Edit: So for legal reasons, this would have to be supported by Reddit. Perhaps a petition is in order? They wouldn't have to supply funds if a kickstarter was done, but profits from The Redditor may be put through them first. Lost of paperwork there, I can guess. I think all we would need for this is a boatload of new support to get Reddit's attention.

That is all.

EDIT: Dammit, forgot a word in the title. How embarrassing.

I've been in contact with both ohblair (editor extraordinaire, co-creator) and swampgun (lead designer). The largest reason The Redditor hasn't released new issues is that the volunteers (important to remember that everyone involved is 100% working for free) hasn't been reaching a large enough audience or receiving enough attention and feedback. Lots of people have never heard of The Redditor. We need to spread the word. Tell your friends, tweet a link to past issues, share the subreddit link in other popular reddits, anything to get more subscribers/potential readers here. If we can reach 15,000 subscribers by the end of the month I am confident that ohblair, swampgun, and I can cooperate to launch a September issue by the 20th of that month.

If you're interested in helping with design or content submission, please comment below or PM myself or ohblair.

EDIT: I may not have been clear initially. The magazine didn't go on hiatus because the creators weren't getting enough attention, that's not at all it. It's only that the magazine is a lot of work, and wasn't reaching the audience it deserved (imo). I'm simply encouraging readers to spread word of the magazine to those who may not know about it so we can reach a larger audience. A project this cool deserves to be shared. It has nothing to do with "spamming" the link or "attention-whoring".

I personally ordered print copies of several issues to show off at the Portland, OR meetup, but I'm not certain they'll come in time. Either way, let's show off the digital version of the mag and encourage fellow Redditor to subscribe to this sub in anticipation of an Issue 8.

Not a huge description needed, I'm all washed up. Read through them all, I need my fix man.

Does the app work for you guys?

Whenever I click on an issue it says "Something went wrong :("

Hey all,

I am not giving up on getting this into newsstand because I really like this project and because I think it's a perfect fit for the iPad. I had a very nice conversation with an Apple rep who is going to try and bring this up again. I'm not optimistic about the outcome but I think this is our last, best hope to persuade and get them to see that this app belongs in newsstand.

Here's why newsstand is important:

1. We can change the cover icon to reflect the issue
2. It goes in the newsstand folder and the newsstand section of itunes - it makes much more sense than sticking it in 'Books' and to be frank I think it's better than 90% of what's currently in newsstand
3. We can do push uploads of content - when a new issue comes out you don't have to download it...the content will be there when you wake up with a nice 'new' flag

The main sticking point seems to be that the magazine is just an aggregation/aggregator.

What is the best way to argue that this deserves to be in newsstand? I have sort of exhausted my quiver of reason(s) which are:

1. There is custom content i.e. the Potma interview
2. The artwork is all custom
3. Aggregation is a disservice to what this magazine really does. Crowdsourced is a much better way of putting it imho.
4. Content is selected by editors for quality and not quantity/popularity
5. If we didn't tell you it was from Reddit it's unlikely that you'd realize it wasn't a traditional magazine.
6. Most of our content is creative in nature - they are not reposts or links to content but original content submitted by users to reddit (short stories, photos, interview).

Anyone who worked on issues - can you please get me a list of all the custom content? Interviews which show up in the magazine only but not on reddit.

Also, if someone wants to help it would be really useful to get a list of newsstand apps already in the store which could be considered aggregators or which are similar - digital magazines and such. Basically any help you can give me to bolster the argument that this is a great app that apple should be supporting would be really appreciated.

I think The Redditor could reach front page easily with each issue, if there would be a subreddit in which the only posts are from theredditor moderators.

This current subreddit only has 7 posts that I would want to subscribe to. The rest is 'spam'. The 'spam' should be in a different subreddit, like /r/theredditorcoffeeroom or something like that. Less spam = more subscribers = more upvotes = frontpage.

This is the first ever reddit thread that I've created after a year of lurking. So I might be horribly wrong! I have no idea what I'm doing!

Many redditors run into the socially awkward if not frustrating issue of sharing the wonderful website that we all love and enjoy. It is complicated to explain what Reddit actually is while at the same time maintaining their interest. When I tell people about it, I say that Reddit is "the newspaper of the internet", but that does nothing to captivate their attention. And yes, some DO know what I'm talking about but have the audacity to say that "9gag is better", or "That junk is just a bunch of reposts from tumblr". Let's just say we don't have to worry about them anymore...cough

My college provides us with $20 of printing credit. At the end of the year, due to me printing everything from home, I was able to use that credit to print out high quality copies of The Redditor to keep and share with people. Since that day, I have brought many new people to reddit, with all the credit going to you guys. They were fascinated by the stories, questions, ama's, pictures, and the high quality/organization of it all. Furthermore, I have made each and every one aware of the The Redditor's needs in order to keep producing this wonderful magazine. They are continuing to spread awareness to their friends that they share it with. And a few of them want to volunteer to help this cause (they should be messaging you guys shortly). It's a small token of gratitude for all your hard work. Thank you.

I know this is long, so you don't have to read it. The tl;dr is that The Redditor is a wonderful magazine, causing many people to look into reddit, as well as creating volunteers to help with this project.

So, just got off the phone with the apple rep. This is really frustrating and disappointing. Their stance is that this app is not a magazine. It seems that they are hung up on the description I submitted as the app blurb which is:

"Unofficial app for downloading and reading The Redditor.

The Redditor is a DIY digital magazine created entirely from original content posted on reddit.com.

We hope the magazine will let more people spend time with and appreciate quality submissions they had previously either missed or only skimmed through. This is a community effort, embracing the community, for the community.

This app will download and store issues of The Redditor directly on your device for offline reading."

Their stance is basically that this isn't a magazine and they seemed especially hung up on the 'unofficial' part. They said if Reddit was to submit this then that might change their stance which is absurd. We don't really have anything to do with Reddit except for where we get our contributors from. The advocate indicated that he hadn't himself actually sat down and read an issue which is again frustrating. He said that their review board had but I'm not sure how that would work and there is no paper copy which outlines how they made their decision. I spent a lot of time basically trying to illustrate that a lot of the content in here is custom and exclusive and why I thought this made sense as a Newsstand app. The advocate said he would have his manager contact me later this week but I am not optimistic about that. I am a pretty happy iOS dev but this really bothers me - this seems like such a arbitrary stance to take on what seems to be a very clearcut issue. I had heard stories of other developers getting burned by Apple's policies but this is definitely the first time I've hit that wall and it sours me on iOS development a lot.

He has repeatedly said that this app would be fine to submit as a stand alone app but that means I don't have access to Newsstand APIs which are very specifically built to facilitate downloading of issues and the storage of those issues. I would have to essentially reinvent a wheel that is already made and also wouldn't have access to things like background downloading or changing the app icon based on new issues. What is the communities feeling on this matter? Are we ok just having this as a stand alone app but without background downloading and other niceties. Likewise we would never be able to get into the Newsstand portion of the store and be discoverable by people looking for magazines - we would end up in an ancillary part of the store like 'books'.

Kill or someone else - can you help me in drafting a new and more appropriate blurb for the app description. I want to emphasize that while some content comes from redditor users there is still a lot of custom art and content that is exclusive to the magazine. As well they are hung up on the 'unofficial' aspect and sort of seem to think this is just an aggregator of content. I guess we would need to convince them that we aren't a 'Reddit' aggregator. Likewise, what else can I send them to try and change their minds on this subject? Is it worth talking with Reddit admins about this to see if there is anything they can do?

Maybe this is just a lost battle but I'm really shocked that this is the case. It seems like such an obviously perfect fit for Newsstand. I haven't spent a whole lot of time on the project as it was in limbo for such a long time but I really thought this would be a neat little project to work on. Furthermore I think the magazine itself would be really interesting to people who may not have ever heard of reddit since the content is as good as content you might find in any other periodical - and it's free!

At the end of the day I can go forward as a stand alone app but I just really disagree with them on a philosophical basis - I really think they just don't understand what this is all about and it bugs me that a project like this is subject to apple's whims.