I’ve had a couple of complaints about a story in the 7 August 2011 issue. Let’s start with the story:
Reader Feedback
Florida: Officially the Weirdest
Some interesting statistical analysis on True story locations from Premium subscriber Mark in (yep!) Florida:
Ooh! Do It Again!
Last week I did a harder-than-usual “push” for subscription upgrades. You might like to know the excellent result: 32 upgrades. Just 32 upgrades is “excellent”?! Yep. The week before, it was four. The week before that was better: 15.
A Bare-Knuckles Experiment
It always fascinates me how readers perceive me and the business behind This is True. This is the story of one reader’s …well… “interesting” impression.
Younger Readers
There were very few comments about a tag that Jennifer put on one of her stories, about two people listening to music so loud that they couldn’t hear trains coming. There’s a real and significant reason I publish such stories, but not everyone grasps that.
Here’s the story, from True’s 6 February 2011 issue:
Psychic Pay
I write True to make a living, yes, and it’s gratifying that enough people support the publication to make that happen. But there’s another reason, too: I want to change the world just a little bit, on both a micro and a macro scale.
The Drunk Zone
A reader has a very interesting point of view on True’s stories — from the perspective of a (recovering) alcoholic.
I Want to Complain, But…
It happens once in awhile that someone really wants to whine at me for something, but doesn’t have the guts to sign their name. Normally, such complaints are summarily trashed: if they can’t even sign their name to their opinion, then really, what’s that opinion worth?
Fighting the Good Guys
There always has to be at least one idiot in the crowd. The people who fight against the fight against zero tolerance and zero thought, and create more problems for victims — like the girl I told you about last week who was raped at school.
Cathy in Florida
There were two accidentally related emails in my morning download that I’d like to tell you about. To truly appreciate what happened, though, there’s a bit of backstory. In September 2007, I ran the following reader letter in True.
Animals Love Him, Too (Nom Nom Nom)
Last week, quite a few readers wanted to report an “error.” Here’s the story, from the 10 October (10/10/10!) issue:
Is This Zero Tolerance?
A story from last week brought two very interesting reactions from Premium readers (the story wasn’t in the free edition).
So, first, here’s the story, from True’s 8 August 2010 issue:
Poor Taste? Not Offhand.
I did get some complaints last week about the story of the guy who lost his arm when it became stuck in his furnace boiler. I have my own response to the complaints of “poor taste” and “NOT FUNNY!”
I also have a reply from the reader I was thinking about when I wrote the story — a Premium subscriber who is missing an arm.
Noblesse Oblige
Or, Was I Offensive to Little Girls?
There was a phrase in the previous blog entry on the 6-year-old kid, where I imagined the school staff: “Run in circles! Pull out your hair! Scream like a little girl!”
Today Nancy in Illinois complained that was “sexist language.” She writes:
“False, Crude and Offensive!”
An angry Premium subscriber, after reading a story in this week’s issue, wrote to proclaim “That is not only false, crude, and offensive, it is an obvious, kneejerk response that would occur to many people looking for a cheap shot.”
Civic Pride
There were several cranky responses to a story in last week’s issue. Let’s start with the story, from the edition dated 5 July 2009:
Changes to the Honorary Unsubscribe
Now and then, Premium subscribers — the paying customers which, I have said time and again, make True possible — get a little miffed that they get the Honorary Unsubscribe after it’s published in the free edition. Frankly, shouldn’t they get it either exclusively, or at the very least first?
Lifetime Subscriptions?
My mail isn’t all whining like last week’s post — far from it. I publish more of the whines because they’re so …well… entertaining! But Paul in Texas really liked last week’s issue. He wrote:
Laugh, or the World Laughs At You
It’s so sad to see how people just can’t take an obvious joke. (Say, like on a site called Jumbo Joke!) There was a political item today, and it resulted in a lot of whining — and protest unsubscribes.
Justifiable(?) Homicide
There was a horrendous story in last week’s issue about a guy who stabbed an intruder to death. Several readers took me to task for my tagline on the story, so I’m putting it here as a place for discussion.