Boing Boing (originally
bOING bOING) is a publishing entity, first established as a
magazine, later becoming a
group blog.
History
Boing Boing started as a
zine in 1988 by
Mark Frauenfelder and Carla Sinclair, his wife. Issues were subtitled "
The World's Greatest Neurozine". Associate editors included
Gareth Branwyn,
Jon Lebkowsky, and
Paco Nathan. Along with
Mondo 2000, Boing Boing was an influence in the development of the
cyberpunk subculture. It reached a maximum circulation of 17,500 copies. Xeni Jardin was also a guest on the
NewsHour with Jim Lehrer to discuss the
Washington Post's decision to remove their comments section, and spoke from her experience at Boing Boing. In August 2007, a redesigned site was launched, which included a restored comment facility, moderated by
Teresa Nielsen Hayden.
In 2004, the project incorporated as Happy Mutants LLC, and John Battelle became the blog's business manager. Boing Boing has twice won the Bloggies for 'Weblog of the Year', in 2004 and 2005, at a time where it "had become one of the most-read and linked-to blogs in the world" according to Fast Company. The advertising income during the first quarter was already $27,000, and as of 2010, Boing Boing still "makes a nice living for its founders and a handful of contract employees" (Fast Company) and remains a prominent member of Battelle's blog network Federated Media Publishing Inc.
In September 2009, Boing Boing refused to comply with a demand from Polo Ralph Lauren's lawyers to remove a post concerning a heavily manipulated image of model Filippa Hamilton, originally published by the Photoshop Disasters blog, which was itself forced to comply by its hosting provider.
Ralph Lauren issued DMCA takedown notices to BoingBoing's ISP and Blogspot, which hosts Photoshop Disasters, claiming their use of the image infringed copyright. Blogspot complied, but BoingBoing's ISP consulted with BoingBoing and agreed that the image was fair use. As a result, BoingBoing issued a mocking rebuttal,
using the same image again and posting the takedown notice. The rebuttal was widely reported, including on frequently viewed websites such as The Huffington Post
and ABC News.
, Xeni Jardin, Cory Doctorow, Mark Frauenfelder. ]]
On the evening of 27 October 2010, somebody hacked the BOINGBOING.net website. About one hour later, it was down, but then returned.
Unicorn chaser
A "unicorn chaser" is a concept created by Boing Boing editors as an
antidote to blog postings linking to sites containing disgusting or
shocking images. The antidote contains a picture of a
unicorn and was launched first in August 2003 as a reply to a picture of a rash that editor Mark Frauenfelder posted in an attempt to get readers to diagnose it for him. The text posted with the image came with the title "And now, we pause for a Unicorn Moment." It was used as an antidote for pictures of a
brain tumor, a man who pumped up the skin of his face with
saline solution, many different ways to clean one's
earwax and a lengthy discussion of the internet video "
2 Girls 1 Cup".
On May 18, 2007, Boing Boing announced that Virgin America, as part of its "Name Our Planes!" campaign, would be naming one of its new aircraft "Unicorn Chaser," after having asked Boing Boing to suggest a name.
Boing Boing Gadgets and Offworld
In August 2007, Boing Boing introduced a gadgets-focused companion site headed by fomer
Gizmodo editor Joel Johnson. Johnson left in July 2009, to be replaced by Rob Beschizza, formerly of Wired News. Other writers include Steven Leckart and Lisa Katayama. Offworld, a blog covering video games edited by
Brandon Boyer, was added in November 2008.
Boing Boing TV
In October 2007, Boing Boing started a new component,
Boing Boing TV, that consists of video segments, produced by its co-editors in conjunction with DECA, the
Digital Entertainment Corporation of America. The episodes appear online, as well as on Virgin America flights.
Violet Blue controversy
Sex blogger
Violet Blue has been mentioned, interviewed and once contributed at Boing Boing. On the June 23, 2008, Blue posted on her blog,
Tiny Nibbles, that all posts related to her had been deleted from Boing Boing, without explanation. The
LA Times featured an interview with Blue that cast the silence on the part of Boing Boing on the matter as 'inexplicable', causing a controversy as Boing Boing "has often presented itself as a stalwart of cultural openness". A heated debate ensued after a brief statement on the Boing Boing site regarding this action stated: "Violet behaved in a way that made us reconsider whether we wanted to lend her any credibility or associate with her. It's our blog and so we made an editorial decision, like we do every single day". In commentary attached to that blog entry, "many commenters surmised that they had something to do with Blue's suing to stop a
porn star from also using the name Violet Blue," and many commenters found the removal troubling, but
Xeni Jardin said that she hoped she would not have to make the reasons public.
Notes and references
External links
Boing Boing website
Boing Boing Gadgets
Boing Boing TV
A collection of deleted posts mentioning Violet Blue
;Audio/Video media
Boing Boing: The Making of a Media Empire on BNETvideo, official YouTube channel of BNET. (December 19, 2007)
Category:Non-fiction Cyberpunk media
Category:Publications established in 1988
Category:Internet properties established in 1995
Category:Blogs
Category:Defunct magazines of the United States
Category:American blogs