Suck.com
Encyclopedia
Suck.com was one of the earliest ad-supported content sites on the Internet
. It featured daily editorial content on a wide variety of topics, including politics
and pop-culture
and was targeted at Generation X
. Their tagline, and mascot
s, were "A fish, a barrel, and a smoking gun".
who created daily comically cynical commentary with a self-obsessed and satiric edge. The writing was accentuated by the art of cartoonist Terry Colon. In 1996, they brought on the writing talent of Heather Havrilesky, who provided the whiny, sarcastic voice of her alter ego Polly Esther in their most popular column, titled Filler.
The name of the site was chosen for its possibly offensive connotations, and is probably also meant to poke fun at the fact that questionably offensive domain names were approved only at the discretion of Network Solutions
, who controlled the InterNIC
system for the distribution of domain names before ICANN
took over that authority.
In 1997, Suck published a compilation of their most popular essays in Suck: Worst-Case Scenarios in Media, Culture, Advertising and the Internet (ISBN 1-888869-27-5).
to create Automatic Media
. Their concept was to streamline their operations and collaborate on boutique operations with low staffing costs. Their joint project Plastic.com
was founded with only 4 staffed employees. Despite the faithful cult following, and a combined reader base of over 1 million, Automatic Media folded in June 2001. On June 8, 2001, Suck.com declared that they were "Gone Fishing" indefinitely, and the site ceased to publish new content.
. It featured daily editorial content on a wide variety of topics, including politics
and pop-culture
and was targeted at Generation X
. Their tagline, and mascot
s, were "A fish, a barrel, and a smoking gun".
who created daily comically cynical commentary with a self-obsessed and satiric edge. The writing was accentuated by the art of cartoonist Terry Colon. In 1996, they brought on the writing talent of Heather Havrilesky, who provided the whiny, sarcastic voice of her alter ego Polly Esther in their most popular column, titled Filler.
The name of the site was chosen for its possibly offensive connotations, and is probably also meant to poke fun at the fact that questionably offensive domain names were approved only at the discretion of Network Solutions
, who controlled the InterNIC
system for the distribution of domain names before ICANN
took over that authority.
In 1997, Suck published a compilation of their most popular essays in Suck: Worst-Case Scenarios in Media, Culture, Advertising and the Internet (ISBN 1-888869-27-5).
to create Automatic Media
. Their concept was to streamline their operations and collaborate on boutique operations with low staffing costs. Their joint project Plastic.com
was founded with only 4 staffed employees. Despite the faithful cult following, and a combined reader base of over 1 million, Automatic Media folded in June 2001. On June 8, 2001, Suck.com declared that they were "Gone Fishing" indefinitely, and the site ceased to publish new content.
Suck.com was one of the earliest ad-supported content sites on the Internet
. It featured daily editorial content on a wide variety of topics, including politics
and pop-culture
and was targeted at Generation X
. Their tagline, and mascot
s, were "A fish, a barrel, and a smoking gun".
who created daily comically cynical commentary with a self-obsessed and satiric edge. The writing was accentuated by the art of cartoonist Terry Colon. In 1996, they brought on the writing talent of Heather Havrilesky, who provided the whiny, sarcastic voice of her alter ego Polly Esther in their most popular column, titled Filler.
The name of the site was chosen for its possibly offensive connotations, and is probably also meant to poke fun at the fact that questionably offensive domain names were approved only at the discretion of Network Solutions
, who controlled the InterNIC
system for the distribution of domain names before ICANN
took over that authority.
In 1997, Suck published a compilation of their most popular essays in Suck: Worst-Case Scenarios in Media, Culture, Advertising and the Internet (ISBN 1-888869-27-5).
to create Automatic Media
. Their concept was to streamline their operations and collaborate on boutique operations with low staffing costs. Their joint project Plastic.com
was founded with only 4 staffed employees. Despite the faithful cult following, and a combined reader base of over 1 million, Automatic Media folded in June 2001. On June 8, 2001, Suck.com declared that they were "Gone Fishing" indefinitely, and the site ceased to publish new content.
Suck.com was one of the earliest ad-supported content sites on the Internet
. It featured daily editorial content on a wide variety of topics, including politics
and pop-culture
and was targeted at Generation X
. Their tagline, and mascot
s, were "A fish, a barrel, and a smoking gun".
who created daily comically cynical commentary with a self-obsessed and satiric edge. The writing was accentuated by the art of cartoonist Terry Colon. In 1996, they brought on the writing talent of Heather Havrilesky, who provided the whiny, sarcastic voice of her alter ego Polly Esther in their most popular column, titled Filler.
The name of the site was chosen for its possibly offensive connotations, and is probably also meant to poke fun at the fact that questionably offensive domain names were approved only at the discretion of Network Solutions
, who controlled the InterNIC
system for the distribution of domain names before ICANN
took over that authority.
In 1997, Suck published a compilation of their most popular essays in Suck: Worst-Case Scenarios in Media, Culture, Advertising and the Internet (ISBN 1-888869-27-5).
to create Automatic Media
. Their concept was to streamline their operations and collaborate on boutique operations with low staffing costs. Their joint project Plastic.com
was founded with only 4 staffed employees. Despite the faithful cult following, and a combined reader base of over 1 million, Automatic Media folded in June 2001. On June 8, 2001, Suck.com declared that they were "Gone Fishing" indefinitely, and the site ceased to publish new content.
. It featured daily editorial content on a wide variety of topics, including politics
and pop-culture
and was targeted at Generation X
. Their tagline, and mascot
s, were "A fish, a barrel, and a smoking gun".
who created daily comically cynical commentary with a self-obsessed and satiric edge. The writing was accentuated by the art of cartoonist Terry Colon. In 1996, they brought on the writing talent of Heather Havrilesky, who provided the whiny, sarcastic voice of her alter ego Polly Esther in their most popular column, titled Filler.
The name of the site was chosen for its possibly offensive connotations, and is probably also meant to poke fun at the fact that questionably offensive domain names were approved only at the discretion of Network Solutions
, who controlled the InterNIC
system for the distribution of domain names before ICANN
took over that authority.
In 1997, Suck published a compilation of their most popular essays in Suck: Worst-Case Scenarios in Media, Culture, Advertising and the Internet (ISBN 1-888869-27-5).
to create Automatic Media
. Their concept was to streamline their operations and collaborate on boutique operations with low staffing costs. Their joint project Plastic.com
was founded with only 4 staffed employees. Despite the faithful cult following, and a combined reader base of over 1 million, Automatic Media folded in June 2001. On June 8, 2001, Suck.com declared that they were "Gone Fishing" indefinitely, and the site ceased to publish new content.
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. It featured daily editorial content on a wide variety of topics, including politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
and pop-culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
and was targeted at Generation X
Generation X
Generation X, commonly abbreviated to Gen X, is the generation born after the Western post–World War II baby boom ended. While there is no universally agreed upon time frame, the term generally includes people born from the early 1960's through the early 1980's, usually no later than 1981 or...
. Their tagline, and mascot
Mascot
The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
s, were "A fish, a barrel, and a smoking gun".
The site
Suck.com was founded in 1995 by writer Joey Anuff and editor Carl SteadmanCarl Steadman
Carl Steadman is co-founder of suck.com, creator of several pieces of early web-savvy literature and current operator of plastic.com. He was also production director for HotWired....
who created daily comically cynical commentary with a self-obsessed and satiric edge. The writing was accentuated by the art of cartoonist Terry Colon. In 1996, they brought on the writing talent of Heather Havrilesky, who provided the whiny, sarcastic voice of her alter ego Polly Esther in their most popular column, titled Filler.
The name of the site was chosen for its possibly offensive connotations, and is probably also meant to poke fun at the fact that questionably offensive domain names were approved only at the discretion of Network Solutions
Network Solutions
Network Solutions, LLC is a technology company founded in 1979. The domain name registration business has become the most important division of the company. As of January 2009, Network Solutions managed more than 6.6 million domain names.-History:...
, who controlled the InterNIC
InterNIC
The Internet Network Information Center, known as InterNIC, was the Internet governing body primarily responsible for domain name and IP address allocations from 1972 until September 18, 1998 when this role was assumed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers...
system for the distribution of domain names before ICANN
ICANN
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a non-profit corporation headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, United States, that was created on September 18, 1998, and incorporated on September 30, 1998 to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks previously performed directly...
took over that authority.
In 1997, Suck published a compilation of their most popular essays in Suck: Worst-Case Scenarios in Media, Culture, Advertising and the Internet (ISBN 1-888869-27-5).
Style
Other than the distinctive artwork of Terry Colon, the site also had many other characteristics that tied their daily articles together. The main text of each article was restricted to a table only 200 pixels wide. Most articles would feature links within the flow of the content rather than as in labeled footnotes or references, foreshadowing the same technique in modern weblogs.Regular columns
- Hit & Run — A link-driven summary of recent events
- Filler — A weekly self-deprecating look at cultural pretension and dating in post-modern times
Automatic Media
In July 2000, following a sharp downturn in Internet investment, suck.com merged with Feed MagazineFeed Magazine
Feed or feedmag.com was one of the earliest e-zines that relied entirely on its original online content. Feed was founded by Stefanie Syman and Steven Johnson in 1995, and soon found a devoted online following. The zine had daily content, and focused on media, pop culture, technology, science and...
to create Automatic Media
Automatic Media
-Foundation:Automatic Media was created as a joint venture by early editorial dot-coms suck.com and Feed Magazine.It was announced on July 9, 2000 that the founders of Suck.com and Feed.com had raised $4 million in fresh venture capital financing from Lycos Ventures LP for their new project...
. Their concept was to streamline their operations and collaborate on boutique operations with low staffing costs. Their joint project Plastic.com
Plastic.com
Plastic.com was an internet forum for news and discussion of events and issues. The site was community-driven, with readers moderating discussions, submitting stories, and participating in their selection.Its motto was 'Recycling the Web in Real Time'....
was founded with only 4 staffed employees. Despite the faithful cult following, and a combined reader base of over 1 million, Automatic Media folded in June 2001. On June 8, 2001, Suck.com declared that they were "Gone Fishing" indefinitely, and the site ceased to publish new content.
Staff
- Carl SteadmanCarl SteadmanCarl Steadman is co-founder of suck.com, creator of several pieces of early web-savvy literature and current operator of plastic.com. He was also production director for HotWired....
, co-founder, writer, and editor, is now the owner of plastic.comPlastic.comPlastic.com was an internet forum for news and discussion of events and issues. The site was community-driven, with readers moderating discussions, submitting stories, and participating in their selection.Its motto was 'Recycling the Web in Real Time'....
. - Joey Anuff, co-founder, writer and editor, is an author and co-wrote the book Dumb Money. He co-founded, launched and edited plastic.comPlastic.comPlastic.com was an internet forum for news and discussion of events and issues. The site was community-driven, with readers moderating discussions, submitting stories, and participating in their selection.Its motto was 'Recycling the Web in Real Time'....
in 2001, which won a Webby in the category of "Print + Zine" that same year. He went on to become a producer at VH-1 and has more recently created the music recommendation site Critical MetricsCritical MetricsCritical Metrics is a web-based music recommendation service. Unlike user-driven sites like The Hype Machine and Pandora, Critical Metrics features only expert-generated content. Aggregating reviews and playlists from over 150 publications, both print and online, the site also encompasses...
. - Terry Colon was the site's full-time illustrator from 1997 until 2001. He now contributes illustrations to publications including TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
. - Heather Havrilesky, writer of Filler, Suck's most beloved feature, is now a popular featured columnist at SalonSalon.comSalon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
s Arts & Entertainment section. She also writes and takes letters at the Rabbit Blog. - Tim CavanaughTim CavanaughTim Cavanaugh is a columnist for Reason Magazine. Prior to that, he was Web editor of the Los Angeles Times opinion page. Prior to that, he was Web editor of Reason from 2002 to 2006 and the editor in chief of Suck.com from 1998 to 2001...
(BarTel D'Arcy) was Suck's editor in chief from 1998 to 2001. He went on to be the web editor of the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
opinion page. He is now a contributor to Reason magazine and sporadically runs a webzine called The Simpleton. - Ana Marie CoxAna Marie CoxAna Marie Cox is an American author and blogger. The founding editor of the political blog Wonkette, she is currently the Washington correspondent for GQ and is The Guardian's lead blogger on US politics. She previously worked at Air America Media.-Early life:Cox was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico...
, executive editor, (who wrote as Ann O'Tate) was later the writer of popular Washington D.C. based blogBlogA blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
WonketteWonketteWonkette is a left-leaning American online magazine of topical satire and political gossip, established in 2004 by Gawker Media and founding editor Ana Marie Cox, and edited by Ken Layne from 2006 to 2011...
and wrote for Time.com. - Owen ThomasOwen Thomas (writer)Owen Thomas is the executive editor of VentureBeat since April 1, 2010He was the managing editor of Valleywag, a New York City-based Gawker Media gossip and news blog about Silicon Valley personalities that bills itself as a "tech gossip rag"...
, copy editor and was managing editor at ValleywagValleywagValleywag was a Gawker Media blog with gossip and news about Silicon Valley personalities. It was initially launched under the direction of editor Nick Douglas in February 2006. After Douglas was fired, the blog was taken over by Owen Thomas. Thomas himself left in May 2009, to be replaced by Ryan...
.
Contributors
- Greg Beato (who wrote as "St. Huck") writes and edits Soundbitten.com. http://www.soundbitten.com.
- Steve BodowSteve BodowSteve Bodow is co-executive producer and former head writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.He is also a founding member and a past artistic director of the New York theater group Elevator Repair Service, best known for Gatz, its full-text adaptation of The Great Gatsby.Before joining The Daily...
("Johnny Cache") is the head writer of Comedy Central's The Daily ShowThe Daily ShowThe Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
. - Chris Bray (Ambrose Beers) joined the ArmyUnited States ArmyThe United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. As of June 2005, he is stationed in Kuwait. - Rogers CadenheadRogers CadenheadRogers Cadenhead is a computer book author and web publisher who is currently chairman of the RSS Advisory Board, a group that assists developers in using the RSS 2.0 specification. He graduated from the University of North Texas in 1991 and Lloyd V...
(CGI Joe) runs a blog, Workbench, and a blog host, Buzzword.com; he has also published programming books. He also administers humor site Cruel.com. - Michael Gerber (Bay B. Food) wrote a parody of Harry PotterHarry PotterHarry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
called Barry Trotter. - Nick GillespieNick GillespieNick Gillespie is the editor of Reason.com and Reason.tv and was the editor in chief of Reason magazine from 2000 to 2008...
("Mr. Mxyzptlk") is editor-in-chief of Reason Magazine'sReason (magazine)Reason is a libertarian monthly magazine published by the Reason Foundation. The magazine has a circulation of around 60,000 and was named one of the 50 best magazines in 2003 and 2004 by the Chicago Tribune.- History :...
Reason Online and Reason.tv. - Ben Godar (Godar) graduated from Chapman UniversityChapman UniversityChapman University is a private, non-profit university located in Orange, California affiliated with the Christian Church . Known for its blend of liberal arts and professional programs, Chapman University encompasses seven schools and colleges: Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media...
film schoolFilm schoolThe term film school is used to describe any educational institution dedicated to teaching aspects of filmmaking, including such subjects as film production, film theory, digital media production, and screenwriting. Film history courses and hands-on technical training are usually incorporated into...
. - Greg KnaussGreg KnaussGreg Knauss is an American Internet humorist and computer programmer. He was born in Torrance, California. In college at the University of California, San Diego, he was the editor of Muir College Erratically, a small humor publication, as well as a frequent contributor to the UCSD Guardian student...
(An Entirely Other Greg) continues his long-form blog An Entirely Other Day and works in the software industry. - Rob Levine ("Dr. Dreidel") is currently the executive editor of BillboardBillboard (magazine)Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
. - Josh Ozersky ("The Boob") currently writes about food and gastronomy for TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
. - Tom SpurgeonTom SpurgeonTom Spurgeon is an American writer, historian and editor in the field of comics, notable for his five-year run as editor of The Comics Journal and his blog The Comics Reporter, which he launched in 2004 with site designer Jordan Raphael.-Books:...
("40th Street Black") runs the comic bookComic bookA comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
news site The Comics Reporter. - Jake TapperJake TapperJacob Paul "Jake" Tapper is an American print and television journalist, currently the senior White House correspondent for ABC News in Washington, D.C...
("James Bong") is a Senior White House Correspondent for ABC NewsABC NewsABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
.
External links
Suck.com was one of the earliest ad-supported content sites on the InternetInternet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. It featured daily editorial content on a wide variety of topics, including politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
and pop-culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
and was targeted at Generation X
Generation X
Generation X, commonly abbreviated to Gen X, is the generation born after the Western post–World War II baby boom ended. While there is no universally agreed upon time frame, the term generally includes people born from the early 1960's through the early 1980's, usually no later than 1981 or...
. Their tagline, and mascot
Mascot
The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
s, were "A fish, a barrel, and a smoking gun".
The site
Suck.com was founded in 1995 by writer Joey Anuff and editor Carl SteadmanCarl Steadman
Carl Steadman is co-founder of suck.com, creator of several pieces of early web-savvy literature and current operator of plastic.com. He was also production director for HotWired....
who created daily comically cynical commentary with a self-obsessed and satiric edge. The writing was accentuated by the art of cartoonist Terry Colon. In 1996, they brought on the writing talent of Heather Havrilesky, who provided the whiny, sarcastic voice of her alter ego Polly Esther in their most popular column, titled Filler.
The name of the site was chosen for its possibly offensive connotations, and is probably also meant to poke fun at the fact that questionably offensive domain names were approved only at the discretion of Network Solutions
Network Solutions
Network Solutions, LLC is a technology company founded in 1979. The domain name registration business has become the most important division of the company. As of January 2009, Network Solutions managed more than 6.6 million domain names.-History:...
, who controlled the InterNIC
InterNIC
The Internet Network Information Center, known as InterNIC, was the Internet governing body primarily responsible for domain name and IP address allocations from 1972 until September 18, 1998 when this role was assumed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers...
system for the distribution of domain names before ICANN
ICANN
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a non-profit corporation headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, United States, that was created on September 18, 1998, and incorporated on September 30, 1998 to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks previously performed directly...
took over that authority.
In 1997, Suck published a compilation of their most popular essays in Suck: Worst-Case Scenarios in Media, Culture, Advertising and the Internet (ISBN 1-888869-27-5).
Style
Other than the distinctive artwork of Terry Colon, the site also had many other characteristics that tied their daily articles together. The main text of each article was restricted to a table only 200 pixels wide. Most articles would feature links within the flow of the content rather than as in labeled footnotes or references, foreshadowing the same technique in modern weblogs.Regular columns
- Hit & Run — A link-driven summary of recent events
- Filler — A weekly self-deprecating look at cultural pretension and dating in post-modern times
Automatic Media
In July 2000, following a sharp downturn in Internet investment, suck.com merged with Feed MagazineFeed Magazine
Feed or feedmag.com was one of the earliest e-zines that relied entirely on its original online content. Feed was founded by Stefanie Syman and Steven Johnson in 1995, and soon found a devoted online following. The zine had daily content, and focused on media, pop culture, technology, science and...
to create Automatic Media
Automatic Media
-Foundation:Automatic Media was created as a joint venture by early editorial dot-coms suck.com and Feed Magazine.It was announced on July 9, 2000 that the founders of Suck.com and Feed.com had raised $4 million in fresh venture capital financing from Lycos Ventures LP for their new project...
. Their concept was to streamline their operations and collaborate on boutique operations with low staffing costs. Their joint project Plastic.com
Plastic.com
Plastic.com was an internet forum for news and discussion of events and issues. The site was community-driven, with readers moderating discussions, submitting stories, and participating in their selection.Its motto was 'Recycling the Web in Real Time'....
was founded with only 4 staffed employees. Despite the faithful cult following, and a combined reader base of over 1 million, Automatic Media folded in June 2001. On June 8, 2001, Suck.com declared that they were "Gone Fishing" indefinitely, and the site ceased to publish new content.
Staff
- Carl SteadmanCarl SteadmanCarl Steadman is co-founder of suck.com, creator of several pieces of early web-savvy literature and current operator of plastic.com. He was also production director for HotWired....
, co-founder, writer, and editor, is now the owner of plastic.comPlastic.comPlastic.com was an internet forum for news and discussion of events and issues. The site was community-driven, with readers moderating discussions, submitting stories, and participating in their selection.Its motto was 'Recycling the Web in Real Time'....
. - Joey Anuff, co-founder, writer and editor, is an author and co-wrote the book Dumb Money. He co-founded, launched and edited plastic.comPlastic.comPlastic.com was an internet forum for news and discussion of events and issues. The site was community-driven, with readers moderating discussions, submitting stories, and participating in their selection.Its motto was 'Recycling the Web in Real Time'....
in 2001, which won a Webby in the category of "Print + Zine" that same year. He went on to become a producer at VH-1 and has more recently created the music recommendation site Critical MetricsCritical MetricsCritical Metrics is a web-based music recommendation service. Unlike user-driven sites like The Hype Machine and Pandora, Critical Metrics features only expert-generated content. Aggregating reviews and playlists from over 150 publications, both print and online, the site also encompasses...
. - Terry Colon was the site's full-time illustrator from 1997 until 2001. He now contributes illustrations to publications including TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
. - Heather Havrilesky, writer of Filler, Suck's most beloved feature, is now a popular featured columnist at SalonSalon.comSalon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
s Arts & Entertainment section. She also writes and takes letters at the Rabbit Blog. - Tim CavanaughTim CavanaughTim Cavanaugh is a columnist for Reason Magazine. Prior to that, he was Web editor of the Los Angeles Times opinion page. Prior to that, he was Web editor of Reason from 2002 to 2006 and the editor in chief of Suck.com from 1998 to 2001...
(BarTel D'Arcy) was Suck's editor in chief from 1998 to 2001. He went on to be the web editor of the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
opinion page. He is now a contributor to Reason magazine and sporadically runs a webzine called The Simpleton. - Ana Marie CoxAna Marie CoxAna Marie Cox is an American author and blogger. The founding editor of the political blog Wonkette, she is currently the Washington correspondent for GQ and is The Guardian's lead blogger on US politics. She previously worked at Air America Media.-Early life:Cox was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico...
, executive editor, (who wrote as Ann O'Tate) was later the writer of popular Washington D.C. based blogBlogA blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
WonketteWonketteWonkette is a left-leaning American online magazine of topical satire and political gossip, established in 2004 by Gawker Media and founding editor Ana Marie Cox, and edited by Ken Layne from 2006 to 2011...
and wrote for Time.com. - Owen ThomasOwen Thomas (writer)Owen Thomas is the executive editor of VentureBeat since April 1, 2010He was the managing editor of Valleywag, a New York City-based Gawker Media gossip and news blog about Silicon Valley personalities that bills itself as a "tech gossip rag"...
, copy editor and was managing editor at ValleywagValleywagValleywag was a Gawker Media blog with gossip and news about Silicon Valley personalities. It was initially launched under the direction of editor Nick Douglas in February 2006. After Douglas was fired, the blog was taken over by Owen Thomas. Thomas himself left in May 2009, to be replaced by Ryan...
.
Contributors
- Greg Beato (who wrote as "St. Huck") writes and edits Soundbitten.com. http://www.soundbitten.com.
- Steve BodowSteve BodowSteve Bodow is co-executive producer and former head writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.He is also a founding member and a past artistic director of the New York theater group Elevator Repair Service, best known for Gatz, its full-text adaptation of The Great Gatsby.Before joining The Daily...
("Johnny Cache") is the head writer of Comedy Central's The Daily ShowThe Daily ShowThe Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
. - Chris Bray (Ambrose Beers) joined the ArmyUnited States ArmyThe United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. As of June 2005, he is stationed in Kuwait. - Rogers CadenheadRogers CadenheadRogers Cadenhead is a computer book author and web publisher who is currently chairman of the RSS Advisory Board, a group that assists developers in using the RSS 2.0 specification. He graduated from the University of North Texas in 1991 and Lloyd V...
(CGI Joe) runs a blog, Workbench, and a blog host, Buzzword.com; he has also published programming books. He also administers humor site Cruel.com. - Michael Gerber (Bay B. Food) wrote a parody of Harry PotterHarry PotterHarry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
called Barry Trotter. - Nick GillespieNick GillespieNick Gillespie is the editor of Reason.com and Reason.tv and was the editor in chief of Reason magazine from 2000 to 2008...
("Mr. Mxyzptlk") is editor-in-chief of Reason Magazine'sReason (magazine)Reason is a libertarian monthly magazine published by the Reason Foundation. The magazine has a circulation of around 60,000 and was named one of the 50 best magazines in 2003 and 2004 by the Chicago Tribune.- History :...
Reason Online and Reason.tv. - Ben Godar (Godar) graduated from Chapman UniversityChapman UniversityChapman University is a private, non-profit university located in Orange, California affiliated with the Christian Church . Known for its blend of liberal arts and professional programs, Chapman University encompasses seven schools and colleges: Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media...
film schoolFilm schoolThe term film school is used to describe any educational institution dedicated to teaching aspects of filmmaking, including such subjects as film production, film theory, digital media production, and screenwriting. Film history courses and hands-on technical training are usually incorporated into...
. - Greg KnaussGreg KnaussGreg Knauss is an American Internet humorist and computer programmer. He was born in Torrance, California. In college at the University of California, San Diego, he was the editor of Muir College Erratically, a small humor publication, as well as a frequent contributor to the UCSD Guardian student...
(An Entirely Other Greg) continues his long-form blog An Entirely Other Day and works in the software industry. - Rob Levine ("Dr. Dreidel") is currently the executive editor of BillboardBillboard (magazine)Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
. - Josh Ozersky ("The Boob") currently writes about food and gastronomy for TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
. - Tom SpurgeonTom SpurgeonTom Spurgeon is an American writer, historian and editor in the field of comics, notable for his five-year run as editor of The Comics Journal and his blog The Comics Reporter, which he launched in 2004 with site designer Jordan Raphael.-Books:...
("40th Street Black") runs the comic bookComic bookA comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
news site The Comics Reporter. - Jake TapperJake TapperJacob Paul "Jake" Tapper is an American print and television journalist, currently the senior White House correspondent for ABC News in Washington, D.C...
("James Bong") is a Senior White House Correspondent for ABC NewsABC NewsABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
.
External links
}Suck.com was one of the earliest ad-supported content sites on the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. It featured daily editorial content on a wide variety of topics, including politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
and pop-culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
and was targeted at Generation X
Generation X
Generation X, commonly abbreviated to Gen X, is the generation born after the Western post–World War II baby boom ended. While there is no universally agreed upon time frame, the term generally includes people born from the early 1960's through the early 1980's, usually no later than 1981 or...
. Their tagline, and mascot
Mascot
The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
s, were "A fish, a barrel, and a smoking gun".
The site
Suck.com was founded in 1995 by writer Joey Anuff and editor Carl SteadmanCarl Steadman
Carl Steadman is co-founder of suck.com, creator of several pieces of early web-savvy literature and current operator of plastic.com. He was also production director for HotWired....
who created daily comically cynical commentary with a self-obsessed and satiric edge. The writing was accentuated by the art of cartoonist Terry Colon. In 1996, they brought on the writing talent of Heather Havrilesky, who provided the whiny, sarcastic voice of her alter ego Polly Esther in their most popular column, titled Filler.
The name of the site was chosen for its possibly offensive connotations, and is probably also meant to poke fun at the fact that questionably offensive domain names were approved only at the discretion of Network Solutions
Network Solutions
Network Solutions, LLC is a technology company founded in 1979. The domain name registration business has become the most important division of the company. As of January 2009, Network Solutions managed more than 6.6 million domain names.-History:...
, who controlled the InterNIC
InterNIC
The Internet Network Information Center, known as InterNIC, was the Internet governing body primarily responsible for domain name and IP address allocations from 1972 until September 18, 1998 when this role was assumed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers...
system for the distribution of domain names before ICANN
ICANN
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a non-profit corporation headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, United States, that was created on September 18, 1998, and incorporated on September 30, 1998 to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks previously performed directly...
took over that authority.
In 1997, Suck published a compilation of their most popular essays in Suck: Worst-Case Scenarios in Media, Culture, Advertising and the Internet (ISBN 1-888869-27-5).
Style
Other than the distinctive artwork of Terry Colon, the site also had many other characteristics that tied their daily articles together. The main text of each article was restricted to a table only 200 pixels wide. Most articles would feature links within the flow of the content rather than as in labeled footnotes or references, foreshadowing the same technique in modern weblogs.Regular columns
- Hit & Run — A link-driven summary of recent events
- Filler — A weekly self-deprecating look at cultural pretension and dating in post-modern times
Automatic Media
In July 2000, following a sharp downturn in Internet investment, suck.com merged with Feed MagazineFeed Magazine
Feed or feedmag.com was one of the earliest e-zines that relied entirely on its original online content. Feed was founded by Stefanie Syman and Steven Johnson in 1995, and soon found a devoted online following. The zine had daily content, and focused on media, pop culture, technology, science and...
to create Automatic Media
Automatic Media
-Foundation:Automatic Media was created as a joint venture by early editorial dot-coms suck.com and Feed Magazine.It was announced on July 9, 2000 that the founders of Suck.com and Feed.com had raised $4 million in fresh venture capital financing from Lycos Ventures LP for their new project...
. Their concept was to streamline their operations and collaborate on boutique operations with low staffing costs. Their joint project Plastic.com
Plastic.com
Plastic.com was an internet forum for news and discussion of events and issues. The site was community-driven, with readers moderating discussions, submitting stories, and participating in their selection.Its motto was 'Recycling the Web in Real Time'....
was founded with only 4 staffed employees. Despite the faithful cult following, and a combined reader base of over 1 million, Automatic Media folded in June 2001. On June 8, 2001, Suck.com declared that they were "Gone Fishing" indefinitely, and the site ceased to publish new content.
Staff
- Carl SteadmanCarl SteadmanCarl Steadman is co-founder of suck.com, creator of several pieces of early web-savvy literature and current operator of plastic.com. He was also production director for HotWired....
, co-founder, writer, and editor, is now the owner of plastic.comPlastic.comPlastic.com was an internet forum for news and discussion of events and issues. The site was community-driven, with readers moderating discussions, submitting stories, and participating in their selection.Its motto was 'Recycling the Web in Real Time'....
. - Joey Anuff, co-founder, writer and editor, is an author and co-wrote the book Dumb Money. He co-founded, launched and edited plastic.comPlastic.comPlastic.com was an internet forum for news and discussion of events and issues. The site was community-driven, with readers moderating discussions, submitting stories, and participating in their selection.Its motto was 'Recycling the Web in Real Time'....
in 2001, which won a Webby in the category of "Print + Zine" that same year. He went on to become a producer at VH-1 and has more recently created the music recommendation site Critical MetricsCritical MetricsCritical Metrics is a web-based music recommendation service. Unlike user-driven sites like The Hype Machine and Pandora, Critical Metrics features only expert-generated content. Aggregating reviews and playlists from over 150 publications, both print and online, the site also encompasses...
. - Terry Colon was the site's full-time illustrator from 1997 until 2001. He now contributes illustrations to publications including TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
. - Heather Havrilesky, writer of Filler, Suck's most beloved feature, is now a popular featured columnist at SalonSalon.comSalon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
s Arts & Entertainment section. She also writes and takes letters at the Rabbit Blog. - Tim CavanaughTim CavanaughTim Cavanaugh is a columnist for Reason Magazine. Prior to that, he was Web editor of the Los Angeles Times opinion page. Prior to that, he was Web editor of Reason from 2002 to 2006 and the editor in chief of Suck.com from 1998 to 2001...
(BarTel D'Arcy) was Suck's editor in chief from 1998 to 2001. He went on to be the web editor of the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
opinion page. He is now a contributor to Reason magazine and sporadically runs a webzine called The Simpleton. - Ana Marie CoxAna Marie CoxAna Marie Cox is an American author and blogger. The founding editor of the political blog Wonkette, she is currently the Washington correspondent for GQ and is The Guardian's lead blogger on US politics. She previously worked at Air America Media.-Early life:Cox was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico...
, executive editor, (who wrote as Ann O'Tate) was later the writer of popular Washington D.C. based blogBlogA blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
WonketteWonketteWonkette is a left-leaning American online magazine of topical satire and political gossip, established in 2004 by Gawker Media and founding editor Ana Marie Cox, and edited by Ken Layne from 2006 to 2011...
and wrote for Time.com. - Owen ThomasOwen Thomas (writer)Owen Thomas is the executive editor of VentureBeat since April 1, 2010He was the managing editor of Valleywag, a New York City-based Gawker Media gossip and news blog about Silicon Valley personalities that bills itself as a "tech gossip rag"...
, copy editor and was managing editor at ValleywagValleywagValleywag was a Gawker Media blog with gossip and news about Silicon Valley personalities. It was initially launched under the direction of editor Nick Douglas in February 2006. After Douglas was fired, the blog was taken over by Owen Thomas. Thomas himself left in May 2009, to be replaced by Ryan...
.
Contributors
- Greg Beato (who wrote as "St. Huck") writes and edits Soundbitten.com. http://www.soundbitten.com.
- Steve BodowSteve BodowSteve Bodow is co-executive producer and former head writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.He is also a founding member and a past artistic director of the New York theater group Elevator Repair Service, best known for Gatz, its full-text adaptation of The Great Gatsby.Before joining The Daily...
("Johnny Cache") is the head writer of Comedy Central's The Daily ShowThe Daily ShowThe Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
. - Chris Bray (Ambrose Beers) joined the ArmyUnited States ArmyThe United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. As of June 2005, he is stationed in Kuwait. - Rogers CadenheadRogers CadenheadRogers Cadenhead is a computer book author and web publisher who is currently chairman of the RSS Advisory Board, a group that assists developers in using the RSS 2.0 specification. He graduated from the University of North Texas in 1991 and Lloyd V...
(CGI Joe) runs a blog, Workbench, and a blog host, Buzzword.com; he has also published programming books. He also administers humor site Cruel.com. - Michael Gerber (Bay B. Food) wrote a parody of Harry PotterHarry PotterHarry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
called Barry Trotter. - Nick GillespieNick GillespieNick Gillespie is the editor of Reason.com and Reason.tv and was the editor in chief of Reason magazine from 2000 to 2008...
("Mr. Mxyzptlk") is editor-in-chief of Reason Magazine'sReason (magazine)Reason is a libertarian monthly magazine published by the Reason Foundation. The magazine has a circulation of around 60,000 and was named one of the 50 best magazines in 2003 and 2004 by the Chicago Tribune.- History :...
Reason Online and Reason.tv. - Ben Godar (Godar) graduated from Chapman UniversityChapman UniversityChapman University is a private, non-profit university located in Orange, California affiliated with the Christian Church . Known for its blend of liberal arts and professional programs, Chapman University encompasses seven schools and colleges: Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media...
film schoolFilm schoolThe term film school is used to describe any educational institution dedicated to teaching aspects of filmmaking, including such subjects as film production, film theory, digital media production, and screenwriting. Film history courses and hands-on technical training are usually incorporated into...
. - Greg KnaussGreg KnaussGreg Knauss is an American Internet humorist and computer programmer. He was born in Torrance, California. In college at the University of California, San Diego, he was the editor of Muir College Erratically, a small humor publication, as well as a frequent contributor to the UCSD Guardian student...
(An Entirely Other Greg) continues his long-form blog An Entirely Other Day and works in the software industry. - Rob Levine ("Dr. Dreidel") is currently the executive editor of BillboardBillboard (magazine)Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
. - Josh Ozersky ("The Boob") currently writes about food and gastronomy for TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
. - Tom SpurgeonTom SpurgeonTom Spurgeon is an American writer, historian and editor in the field of comics, notable for his five-year run as editor of The Comics Journal and his blog The Comics Reporter, which he launched in 2004 with site designer Jordan Raphael.-Books:...
("40th Street Black") runs the comic bookComic bookA comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
news site The Comics Reporter. - Jake TapperJake TapperJacob Paul "Jake" Tapper is an American print and television journalist, currently the senior White House correspondent for ABC News in Washington, D.C...
("James Bong") is a Senior White House Correspondent for ABC NewsABC NewsABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
.
External links
}Suck.com was one of the earliest ad-supported content sites on the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. It featured daily editorial content on a wide variety of topics, including politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
and pop-culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
and was targeted at Generation X
Generation X
Generation X, commonly abbreviated to Gen X, is the generation born after the Western post–World War II baby boom ended. While there is no universally agreed upon time frame, the term generally includes people born from the early 1960's through the early 1980's, usually no later than 1981 or...
. Their tagline, and mascot
Mascot
The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
s, were "A fish, a barrel, and a smoking gun".
The site
Suck.com was founded in 1995 by writer Joey Anuff and editor Carl SteadmanCarl Steadman
Carl Steadman is co-founder of suck.com, creator of several pieces of early web-savvy literature and current operator of plastic.com. He was also production director for HotWired....
who created daily comically cynical commentary with a self-obsessed and satiric edge. The writing was accentuated by the art of cartoonist Terry Colon. In 1996, they brought on the writing talent of Heather Havrilesky, who provided the whiny, sarcastic voice of her alter ego Polly Esther in their most popular column, titled Filler.
The name of the site was chosen for its possibly offensive connotations, and is probably also meant to poke fun at the fact that questionably offensive domain names were approved only at the discretion of Network Solutions
Network Solutions
Network Solutions, LLC is a technology company founded in 1979. The domain name registration business has become the most important division of the company. As of January 2009, Network Solutions managed more than 6.6 million domain names.-History:...
, who controlled the InterNIC
InterNIC
The Internet Network Information Center, known as InterNIC, was the Internet governing body primarily responsible for domain name and IP address allocations from 1972 until September 18, 1998 when this role was assumed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers...
system for the distribution of domain names before ICANN
ICANN
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a non-profit corporation headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, United States, that was created on September 18, 1998, and incorporated on September 30, 1998 to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks previously performed directly...
took over that authority.
In 1997, Suck published a compilation of their most popular essays in Suck: Worst-Case Scenarios in Media, Culture, Advertising and the Internet (ISBN 1-888869-27-5).
Style
Other than the distinctive artwork of Terry Colon, the site also had many other characteristics that tied their daily articles together. The main text of each article was restricted to a table only 200 pixels wide. Most articles would feature links within the flow of the content rather than as in labeled footnotes or references, foreshadowing the same technique in modern weblogs.Regular columns
- Hit & Run — A link-driven summary of recent events
- Filler — A weekly self-deprecating look at cultural pretension and dating in post-modern times
Automatic Media
In July 2000, following a sharp downturn in Internet investment, suck.com merged with Feed MagazineFeed Magazine
Feed or feedmag.com was one of the earliest e-zines that relied entirely on its original online content. Feed was founded by Stefanie Syman and Steven Johnson in 1995, and soon found a devoted online following. The zine had daily content, and focused on media, pop culture, technology, science and...
to create Automatic Media
Automatic Media
-Foundation:Automatic Media was created as a joint venture by early editorial dot-coms suck.com and Feed Magazine.It was announced on July 9, 2000 that the founders of Suck.com and Feed.com had raised $4 million in fresh venture capital financing from Lycos Ventures LP for their new project...
. Their concept was to streamline their operations and collaborate on boutique operations with low staffing costs. Their joint project Plastic.com
Plastic.com
Plastic.com was an internet forum for news and discussion of events and issues. The site was community-driven, with readers moderating discussions, submitting stories, and participating in their selection.Its motto was 'Recycling the Web in Real Time'....
was founded with only 4 staffed employees. Despite the faithful cult following, and a combined reader base of over 1 million, Automatic Media folded in June 2001. On June 8, 2001, Suck.com declared that they were "Gone Fishing" indefinitely, and the site ceased to publish new content.
Staff
- Carl SteadmanCarl SteadmanCarl Steadman is co-founder of suck.com, creator of several pieces of early web-savvy literature and current operator of plastic.com. He was also production director for HotWired....
, co-founder, writer, and editor, is now the owner of plastic.comPlastic.comPlastic.com was an internet forum for news and discussion of events and issues. The site was community-driven, with readers moderating discussions, submitting stories, and participating in their selection.Its motto was 'Recycling the Web in Real Time'....
. - Joey Anuff, co-founder, writer and editor, is an author and co-wrote the book Dumb Money. He co-founded, launched and edited plastic.comPlastic.comPlastic.com was an internet forum for news and discussion of events and issues. The site was community-driven, with readers moderating discussions, submitting stories, and participating in their selection.Its motto was 'Recycling the Web in Real Time'....
in 2001, which won a Webby in the category of "Print + Zine" that same year. He went on to become a producer at VH-1 and has more recently created the music recommendation site Critical MetricsCritical MetricsCritical Metrics is a web-based music recommendation service. Unlike user-driven sites like The Hype Machine and Pandora, Critical Metrics features only expert-generated content. Aggregating reviews and playlists from over 150 publications, both print and online, the site also encompasses...
. - Terry Colon was the site's full-time illustrator from 1997 until 2001. He now contributes illustrations to publications including TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
. - Heather Havrilesky, writer of Filler, Suck's most beloved feature, is now a popular featured columnist at SalonSalon.comSalon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
s Arts & Entertainment section. She also writes and takes letters at the Rabbit Blog. - Tim CavanaughTim CavanaughTim Cavanaugh is a columnist for Reason Magazine. Prior to that, he was Web editor of the Los Angeles Times opinion page. Prior to that, he was Web editor of Reason from 2002 to 2006 and the editor in chief of Suck.com from 1998 to 2001...
(BarTel D'Arcy) was Suck's editor in chief from 1998 to 2001. He went on to be the web editor of the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
opinion page. He is now a contributor to Reason magazine and sporadically runs a webzine called The Simpleton. - Ana Marie CoxAna Marie CoxAna Marie Cox is an American author and blogger. The founding editor of the political blog Wonkette, she is currently the Washington correspondent for GQ and is The Guardian's lead blogger on US politics. She previously worked at Air America Media.-Early life:Cox was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico...
, executive editor, (who wrote as Ann O'Tate) was later the writer of popular Washington D.C. based blogBlogA blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
WonketteWonketteWonkette is a left-leaning American online magazine of topical satire and political gossip, established in 2004 by Gawker Media and founding editor Ana Marie Cox, and edited by Ken Layne from 2006 to 2011...
and wrote for Time.com. - Owen ThomasOwen Thomas (writer)Owen Thomas is the executive editor of VentureBeat since April 1, 2010He was the managing editor of Valleywag, a New York City-based Gawker Media gossip and news blog about Silicon Valley personalities that bills itself as a "tech gossip rag"...
, copy editor and was managing editor at ValleywagValleywagValleywag was a Gawker Media blog with gossip and news about Silicon Valley personalities. It was initially launched under the direction of editor Nick Douglas in February 2006. After Douglas was fired, the blog was taken over by Owen Thomas. Thomas himself left in May 2009, to be replaced by Ryan...
.
Contributors
- Greg Beato (who wrote as "St. Huck") writes and edits Soundbitten.com. http://www.soundbitten.com.
- Steve BodowSteve BodowSteve Bodow is co-executive producer and former head writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.He is also a founding member and a past artistic director of the New York theater group Elevator Repair Service, best known for Gatz, its full-text adaptation of The Great Gatsby.Before joining The Daily...
("Johnny Cache") is the head writer of Comedy Central's The Daily ShowThe Daily ShowThe Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
. - Chris Bray (Ambrose Beers) joined the ArmyUnited States ArmyThe United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. As of June 2005, he is stationed in Kuwait. - Rogers CadenheadRogers CadenheadRogers Cadenhead is a computer book author and web publisher who is currently chairman of the RSS Advisory Board, a group that assists developers in using the RSS 2.0 specification. He graduated from the University of North Texas in 1991 and Lloyd V...
(CGI Joe) runs a blog, Workbench, and a blog host, Buzzword.com; he has also published programming books. He also administers humor site Cruel.com. - Michael Gerber (Bay B. Food) wrote a parody of Harry PotterHarry PotterHarry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
called Barry Trotter. - Nick GillespieNick GillespieNick Gillespie is the editor of Reason.com and Reason.tv and was the editor in chief of Reason magazine from 2000 to 2008...
("Mr. Mxyzptlk") is editor-in-chief of Reason Magazine'sReason (magazine)Reason is a libertarian monthly magazine published by the Reason Foundation. The magazine has a circulation of around 60,000 and was named one of the 50 best magazines in 2003 and 2004 by the Chicago Tribune.- History :...
Reason Online and Reason.tv. - Ben Godar (Godar) graduated from Chapman UniversityChapman UniversityChapman University is a private, non-profit university located in Orange, California affiliated with the Christian Church . Known for its blend of liberal arts and professional programs, Chapman University encompasses seven schools and colleges: Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media...
film schoolFilm schoolThe term film school is used to describe any educational institution dedicated to teaching aspects of filmmaking, including such subjects as film production, film theory, digital media production, and screenwriting. Film history courses and hands-on technical training are usually incorporated into...
. - Greg KnaussGreg KnaussGreg Knauss is an American Internet humorist and computer programmer. He was born in Torrance, California. In college at the University of California, San Diego, he was the editor of Muir College Erratically, a small humor publication, as well as a frequent contributor to the UCSD Guardian student...
(An Entirely Other Greg) continues his long-form blog An Entirely Other Day and works in the software industry. - Rob Levine ("Dr. Dreidel") is currently the executive editor of BillboardBillboard (magazine)Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
. - Josh Ozersky ("The Boob") currently writes about food and gastronomy for TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
. - Tom SpurgeonTom SpurgeonTom Spurgeon is an American writer, historian and editor in the field of comics, notable for his five-year run as editor of The Comics Journal and his blog The Comics Reporter, which he launched in 2004 with site designer Jordan Raphael.-Books:...
("40th Street Black") runs the comic bookComic bookA comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
news site The Comics Reporter. - Jake TapperJake TapperJacob Paul "Jake" Tapper is an American print and television journalist, currently the senior White House correspondent for ABC News in Washington, D.C...
("James Bong") is a Senior White House Correspondent for ABC NewsABC NewsABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
.
External links
Suck.com was one of the earliest ad-supported content sites on the InternetInternet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. It featured daily editorial content on a wide variety of topics, including politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
and pop-culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
and was targeted at Generation X
Generation X
Generation X, commonly abbreviated to Gen X, is the generation born after the Western post–World War II baby boom ended. While there is no universally agreed upon time frame, the term generally includes people born from the early 1960's through the early 1980's, usually no later than 1981 or...
. Their tagline, and mascot
Mascot
The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
s, were "A fish, a barrel, and a smoking gun".
The site
Suck.com was founded in 1995 by writer Joey Anuff and editor Carl SteadmanCarl Steadman
Carl Steadman is co-founder of suck.com, creator of several pieces of early web-savvy literature and current operator of plastic.com. He was also production director for HotWired....
who created daily comically cynical commentary with a self-obsessed and satiric edge. The writing was accentuated by the art of cartoonist Terry Colon. In 1996, they brought on the writing talent of Heather Havrilesky, who provided the whiny, sarcastic voice of her alter ego Polly Esther in their most popular column, titled Filler.
The name of the site was chosen for its possibly offensive connotations, and is probably also meant to poke fun at the fact that questionably offensive domain names were approved only at the discretion of Network Solutions
Network Solutions
Network Solutions, LLC is a technology company founded in 1979. The domain name registration business has become the most important division of the company. As of January 2009, Network Solutions managed more than 6.6 million domain names.-History:...
, who controlled the InterNIC
InterNIC
The Internet Network Information Center, known as InterNIC, was the Internet governing body primarily responsible for domain name and IP address allocations from 1972 until September 18, 1998 when this role was assumed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers...
system for the distribution of domain names before ICANN
ICANN
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a non-profit corporation headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, United States, that was created on September 18, 1998, and incorporated on September 30, 1998 to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks previously performed directly...
took over that authority.
In 1997, Suck published a compilation of their most popular essays in Suck: Worst-Case Scenarios in Media, Culture, Advertising and the Internet (ISBN 1-888869-27-5).
Style
Other than the distinctive artwork of Terry Colon, the site also had many other characteristics that tied their daily articles together. The main text of each article was restricted to a table only 200 pixels wide. Most articles would feature links within the flow of the content rather than as in labeled footnotes or references, foreshadowing the same technique in modern weblogs.Regular columns
- Hit & Run — A link-driven summary of recent events
- Filler — A weekly self-deprecating look at cultural pretension and dating in post-modern times
Automatic Media
In July 2000, following a sharp downturn in Internet investment, suck.com merged with Feed MagazineFeed Magazine
Feed or feedmag.com was one of the earliest e-zines that relied entirely on its original online content. Feed was founded by Stefanie Syman and Steven Johnson in 1995, and soon found a devoted online following. The zine had daily content, and focused on media, pop culture, technology, science and...
to create Automatic Media
Automatic Media
-Foundation:Automatic Media was created as a joint venture by early editorial dot-coms suck.com and Feed Magazine.It was announced on July 9, 2000 that the founders of Suck.com and Feed.com had raised $4 million in fresh venture capital financing from Lycos Ventures LP for their new project...
. Their concept was to streamline their operations and collaborate on boutique operations with low staffing costs. Their joint project Plastic.com
Plastic.com
Plastic.com was an internet forum for news and discussion of events and issues. The site was community-driven, with readers moderating discussions, submitting stories, and participating in their selection.Its motto was 'Recycling the Web in Real Time'....
was founded with only 4 staffed employees. Despite the faithful cult following, and a combined reader base of over 1 million, Automatic Media folded in June 2001. On June 8, 2001, Suck.com declared that they were "Gone Fishing" indefinitely, and the site ceased to publish new content.
Staff
- Carl SteadmanCarl SteadmanCarl Steadman is co-founder of suck.com, creator of several pieces of early web-savvy literature and current operator of plastic.com. He was also production director for HotWired....
, co-founder, writer, and editor, is now the owner of plastic.comPlastic.comPlastic.com was an internet forum for news and discussion of events and issues. The site was community-driven, with readers moderating discussions, submitting stories, and participating in their selection.Its motto was 'Recycling the Web in Real Time'....
. - Joey Anuff, co-founder, writer and editor, is an author and co-wrote the book Dumb Money. He co-founded, launched and edited plastic.comPlastic.comPlastic.com was an internet forum for news and discussion of events and issues. The site was community-driven, with readers moderating discussions, submitting stories, and participating in their selection.Its motto was 'Recycling the Web in Real Time'....
in 2001, which won a Webby in the category of "Print + Zine" that same year. He went on to become a producer at VH-1 and has more recently created the music recommendation site Critical MetricsCritical MetricsCritical Metrics is a web-based music recommendation service. Unlike user-driven sites like The Hype Machine and Pandora, Critical Metrics features only expert-generated content. Aggregating reviews and playlists from over 150 publications, both print and online, the site also encompasses...
. - Terry Colon was the site's full-time illustrator from 1997 until 2001. He now contributes illustrations to publications including TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
. - Heather Havrilesky, writer of Filler, Suck's most beloved feature, is now a popular featured columnist at SalonSalon.comSalon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
s Arts & Entertainment section. She also writes and takes letters at the Rabbit Blog. - Tim CavanaughTim CavanaughTim Cavanaugh is a columnist for Reason Magazine. Prior to that, he was Web editor of the Los Angeles Times opinion page. Prior to that, he was Web editor of Reason from 2002 to 2006 and the editor in chief of Suck.com from 1998 to 2001...
(BarTel D'Arcy) was Suck's editor in chief from 1998 to 2001. He went on to be the web editor of the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
opinion page. He is now a contributor to Reason magazine and sporadically runs a webzine called The Simpleton. - Ana Marie CoxAna Marie CoxAna Marie Cox is an American author and blogger. The founding editor of the political blog Wonkette, she is currently the Washington correspondent for GQ and is The Guardian's lead blogger on US politics. She previously worked at Air America Media.-Early life:Cox was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico...
, executive editor, (who wrote as Ann O'Tate) was later the writer of popular Washington D.C. based blogBlogA blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
WonketteWonketteWonkette is a left-leaning American online magazine of topical satire and political gossip, established in 2004 by Gawker Media and founding editor Ana Marie Cox, and edited by Ken Layne from 2006 to 2011...
and wrote for Time.com. - Owen ThomasOwen Thomas (writer)Owen Thomas is the executive editor of VentureBeat since April 1, 2010He was the managing editor of Valleywag, a New York City-based Gawker Media gossip and news blog about Silicon Valley personalities that bills itself as a "tech gossip rag"...
, copy editor and was managing editor at ValleywagValleywagValleywag was a Gawker Media blog with gossip and news about Silicon Valley personalities. It was initially launched under the direction of editor Nick Douglas in February 2006. After Douglas was fired, the blog was taken over by Owen Thomas. Thomas himself left in May 2009, to be replaced by Ryan...
.
Contributors
- Greg Beato (who wrote as "St. Huck") writes and edits Soundbitten.com. http://www.soundbitten.com.
- Steve BodowSteve BodowSteve Bodow is co-executive producer and former head writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.He is also a founding member and a past artistic director of the New York theater group Elevator Repair Service, best known for Gatz, its full-text adaptation of The Great Gatsby.Before joining The Daily...
("Johnny Cache") is the head writer of Comedy Central's The Daily ShowThe Daily ShowThe Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
. - Chris Bray (Ambrose Beers) joined the ArmyUnited States ArmyThe United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. As of June 2005, he is stationed in Kuwait. - Rogers CadenheadRogers CadenheadRogers Cadenhead is a computer book author and web publisher who is currently chairman of the RSS Advisory Board, a group that assists developers in using the RSS 2.0 specification. He graduated from the University of North Texas in 1991 and Lloyd V...
(CGI Joe) runs a blog, Workbench, and a blog host, Buzzword.com; he has also published programming books. He also administers humor site Cruel.com. - Michael Gerber (Bay B. Food) wrote a parody of Harry PotterHarry PotterHarry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
called Barry Trotter. - Nick GillespieNick GillespieNick Gillespie is the editor of Reason.com and Reason.tv and was the editor in chief of Reason magazine from 2000 to 2008...
("Mr. Mxyzptlk") is editor-in-chief of Reason Magazine'sReason (magazine)Reason is a libertarian monthly magazine published by the Reason Foundation. The magazine has a circulation of around 60,000 and was named one of the 50 best magazines in 2003 and 2004 by the Chicago Tribune.- History :...
Reason Online and Reason.tv. - Ben Godar (Godar) graduated from Chapman UniversityChapman UniversityChapman University is a private, non-profit university located in Orange, California affiliated with the Christian Church . Known for its blend of liberal arts and professional programs, Chapman University encompasses seven schools and colleges: Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media...
film schoolFilm schoolThe term film school is used to describe any educational institution dedicated to teaching aspects of filmmaking, including such subjects as film production, film theory, digital media production, and screenwriting. Film history courses and hands-on technical training are usually incorporated into...
. - Greg KnaussGreg KnaussGreg Knauss is an American Internet humorist and computer programmer. He was born in Torrance, California. In college at the University of California, San Diego, he was the editor of Muir College Erratically, a small humor publication, as well as a frequent contributor to the UCSD Guardian student...
(An Entirely Other Greg) continues his long-form blog An Entirely Other Day and works in the software industry. - Rob Levine ("Dr. Dreidel") is currently the executive editor of BillboardBillboard (magazine)Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
. - Josh Ozersky ("The Boob") currently writes about food and gastronomy for TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
. - Tom SpurgeonTom SpurgeonTom Spurgeon is an American writer, historian and editor in the field of comics, notable for his five-year run as editor of The Comics Journal and his blog The Comics Reporter, which he launched in 2004 with site designer Jordan Raphael.-Books:...
("40th Street Black") runs the comic bookComic bookA comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
news site The Comics Reporter. - Jake TapperJake TapperJacob Paul "Jake" Tapper is an American print and television journalist, currently the senior White House correspondent for ABC News in Washington, D.C...
("James Bong") is a Senior White House Correspondent for ABC NewsABC NewsABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
.
External links
Suck.com was one of the earliest ad-supported content sites on the InternetInternetThe Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. It featured daily editorial content on a wide variety of topics, including politicsPoliticsPolitics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
and pop-culturePopular culturePopular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
and was targeted at Generation XGeneration XGeneration X, commonly abbreviated to Gen X, is the generation born after the Western post–World War II baby boom ended. While there is no universally agreed upon time frame, the term generally includes people born from the early 1960's through the early 1980's, usually no later than 1981 or...
. Their tagline, and mascotMascotThe term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
s, were "A fish, a barrel, and a smoking gun".
The site
Suck.com was founded in 1995 by writer Joey Anuff and editor Carl SteadmanCarl SteadmanCarl Steadman is co-founder of suck.com, creator of several pieces of early web-savvy literature and current operator of plastic.com. He was also production director for HotWired....
who created daily comically cynical commentary with a self-obsessed and satiric edge. The writing was accentuated by the art of cartoonist Terry Colon. In 1996, they brought on the writing talent of Heather Havrilesky, who provided the whiny, sarcastic voice of her alter ego Polly Esther in their most popular column, titled Filler.
The name of the site was chosen for its possibly offensive connotations, and is probably also meant to poke fun at the fact that questionably offensive domain names were approved only at the discretion of Network SolutionsNetwork SolutionsNetwork Solutions, LLC is a technology company founded in 1979. The domain name registration business has become the most important division of the company. As of January 2009, Network Solutions managed more than 6.6 million domain names.-History:...
, who controlled the InterNICInterNICThe Internet Network Information Center, known as InterNIC, was the Internet governing body primarily responsible for domain name and IP address allocations from 1972 until September 18, 1998 when this role was assumed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers...
system for the distribution of domain names before ICANNICANNThe Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a non-profit corporation headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, United States, that was created on September 18, 1998, and incorporated on September 30, 1998 to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks previously performed directly...
took over that authority.
In 1997, Suck published a compilation of their most popular essays in Suck: Worst-Case Scenarios in Media, Culture, Advertising and the Internet (ISBN 1-888869-27-5).
Style
Other than the distinctive artwork of Terry Colon, the site also had many other characteristics that tied their daily articles together. The main text of each article was restricted to a table only 200 pixels wide. Most articles would feature links within the flow of the content rather than as in labeled footnotes or references, foreshadowing the same technique in modern weblogs.
Regular columns
- Hit & Run — A link-driven summary of recent events
- Filler — A weekly self-deprecating look at cultural pretension and dating in post-modern times
Automatic Media
In July 2000, following a sharp downturn in Internet investment, suck.com merged with Feed MagazineFeed MagazineFeed or feedmag.com was one of the earliest e-zines that relied entirely on its original online content. Feed was founded by Stefanie Syman and Steven Johnson in 1995, and soon found a devoted online following. The zine had daily content, and focused on media, pop culture, technology, science and...
to create Automatic MediaAutomatic Media-Foundation:Automatic Media was created as a joint venture by early editorial dot-coms suck.com and Feed Magazine.It was announced on July 9, 2000 that the founders of Suck.com and Feed.com had raised $4 million in fresh venture capital financing from Lycos Ventures LP for their new project...
. Their concept was to streamline their operations and collaborate on boutique operations with low staffing costs. Their joint project Plastic.comPlastic.comPlastic.com was an internet forum for news and discussion of events and issues. The site was community-driven, with readers moderating discussions, submitting stories, and participating in their selection.Its motto was 'Recycling the Web in Real Time'....
was founded with only 4 staffed employees. Despite the faithful cult following, and a combined reader base of over 1 million, Automatic Media folded in June 2001. On June 8, 2001, Suck.com declared that they were "Gone Fishing" indefinitely, and the site ceased to publish new content.
Staff
- Carl SteadmanCarl SteadmanCarl Steadman is co-founder of suck.com, creator of several pieces of early web-savvy literature and current operator of plastic.com. He was also production director for HotWired....
, co-founder, writer, and editor, is now the owner of plastic.comPlastic.comPlastic.com was an internet forum for news and discussion of events and issues. The site was community-driven, with readers moderating discussions, submitting stories, and participating in their selection.Its motto was 'Recycling the Web in Real Time'....
. - Joey Anuff, co-founder, writer and editor, is an author and co-wrote the book Dumb Money. He co-founded, launched and edited plastic.comPlastic.comPlastic.com was an internet forum for news and discussion of events and issues. The site was community-driven, with readers moderating discussions, submitting stories, and participating in their selection.Its motto was 'Recycling the Web in Real Time'....
in 2001, which won a Webby in the category of "Print + Zine" that same year. He went on to become a producer at VH-1 and has more recently created the music recommendation site Critical MetricsCritical MetricsCritical Metrics is a web-based music recommendation service. Unlike user-driven sites like The Hype Machine and Pandora, Critical Metrics features only expert-generated content. Aggregating reviews and playlists from over 150 publications, both print and online, the site also encompasses...
. - Terry Colon was the site's full-time illustrator from 1997 until 2001. He now contributes illustrations to publications including TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
. - Heather Havrilesky, writer of Filler, Suck's most beloved feature, is now a popular featured columnist at SalonSalon.comSalon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
s Arts & Entertainment section. She also writes and takes letters at the Rabbit Blog. - Tim CavanaughTim CavanaughTim Cavanaugh is a columnist for Reason Magazine. Prior to that, he was Web editor of the Los Angeles Times opinion page. Prior to that, he was Web editor of Reason from 2002 to 2006 and the editor in chief of Suck.com from 1998 to 2001...
(BarTel D'Arcy) was Suck's editor in chief from 1998 to 2001. He went on to be the web editor of the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
opinion page. He is now a contributor to Reason magazine and sporadically runs a webzine called The Simpleton. - Ana Marie CoxAna Marie CoxAna Marie Cox is an American author and blogger. The founding editor of the political blog Wonkette, she is currently the Washington correspondent for GQ and is The Guardian's lead blogger on US politics. She previously worked at Air America Media.-Early life:Cox was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico...
, executive editor, (who wrote as Ann O'Tate) was later the writer of popular Washington D.C. based blogBlogA blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
WonketteWonketteWonkette is a left-leaning American online magazine of topical satire and political gossip, established in 2004 by Gawker Media and founding editor Ana Marie Cox, and edited by Ken Layne from 2006 to 2011...
and wrote for Time.com. - Owen ThomasOwen Thomas (writer)Owen Thomas is the executive editor of VentureBeat since April 1, 2010He was the managing editor of Valleywag, a New York City-based Gawker Media gossip and news blog about Silicon Valley personalities that bills itself as a "tech gossip rag"...
, copy editor and was managing editor at ValleywagValleywagValleywag was a Gawker Media blog with gossip and news about Silicon Valley personalities. It was initially launched under the direction of editor Nick Douglas in February 2006. After Douglas was fired, the blog was taken over by Owen Thomas. Thomas himself left in May 2009, to be replaced by Ryan...
.
Contributors
- Greg Beato (who wrote as "St. Huck") writes and edits Soundbitten.com. http://www.soundbitten.com.
- Steve BodowSteve BodowSteve Bodow is co-executive producer and former head writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.He is also a founding member and a past artistic director of the New York theater group Elevator Repair Service, best known for Gatz, its full-text adaptation of The Great Gatsby.Before joining The Daily...
("Johnny Cache") is the head writer of Comedy Central's The Daily ShowThe Daily ShowThe Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
. - Chris Bray (Ambrose Beers) joined the ArmyUnited States ArmyThe United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. As of June 2005, he is stationed in Kuwait. - Rogers CadenheadRogers CadenheadRogers Cadenhead is a computer book author and web publisher who is currently chairman of the RSS Advisory Board, a group that assists developers in using the RSS 2.0 specification. He graduated from the University of North Texas in 1991 and Lloyd V...
(CGI Joe) runs a blog, Workbench, and a blog host, Buzzword.com; he has also published programming books. He also administers humor site Cruel.com. - Michael Gerber (Bay B. Food) wrote a parody of Harry PotterHarry PotterHarry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
called Barry Trotter. - Nick GillespieNick GillespieNick Gillespie is the editor of Reason.com and Reason.tv and was the editor in chief of Reason magazine from 2000 to 2008...
("Mr. Mxyzptlk") is editor-in-chief of Reason Magazine'sReason (magazine)Reason is a libertarian monthly magazine published by the Reason Foundation. The magazine has a circulation of around 60,000 and was named one of the 50 best magazines in 2003 and 2004 by the Chicago Tribune.- History :...
Reason Online and Reason.tv. - Ben Godar (Godar) graduated from Chapman UniversityChapman UniversityChapman University is a private, non-profit university located in Orange, California affiliated with the Christian Church . Known for its blend of liberal arts and professional programs, Chapman University encompasses seven schools and colleges: Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media...
film schoolFilm schoolThe term film school is used to describe any educational institution dedicated to teaching aspects of filmmaking, including such subjects as film production, film theory, digital media production, and screenwriting. Film history courses and hands-on technical training are usually incorporated into...
. - Greg KnaussGreg KnaussGreg Knauss is an American Internet humorist and computer programmer. He was born in Torrance, California. In college at the University of California, San Diego, he was the editor of Muir College Erratically, a small humor publication, as well as a frequent contributor to the UCSD Guardian student...
(An Entirely Other Greg) continues his long-form blog An Entirely Other Day and works in the software industry. - Rob Levine ("Dr. Dreidel") is currently the executive editor of BillboardBillboard (magazine)Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
. - Josh Ozersky ("The Boob") currently writes about food and gastronomy for TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
. - Tom SpurgeonTom SpurgeonTom Spurgeon is an American writer, historian and editor in the field of comics, notable for his five-year run as editor of The Comics Journal and his blog The Comics Reporter, which he launched in 2004 with site designer Jordan Raphael.-Books:...
("40th Street Black") runs the comic bookComic bookA comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
news site The Comics Reporter. - Jake TapperJake TapperJacob Paul "Jake" Tapper is an American print and television journalist, currently the senior White House correspondent for ABC News in Washington, D.C...
("James Bong") is a Senior White House Correspondent for ABC NewsABC NewsABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
.
External links
Suck.com was one of the earliest ad-supported content sites on the InternetInternetThe Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. It featured daily editorial content on a wide variety of topics, including politicsPoliticsPolitics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
and pop-culturePopular culturePopular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
and was targeted at Generation XGeneration XGeneration X, commonly abbreviated to Gen X, is the generation born after the Western post–World War II baby boom ended. While there is no universally agreed upon time frame, the term generally includes people born from the early 1960's through the early 1980's, usually no later than 1981 or...
. Their tagline, and mascotMascotThe term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
s, were "A fish, a barrel, and a smoking gun".
The site
Suck.com was founded in 1995 by writer Joey Anuff and editor Carl SteadmanCarl SteadmanCarl Steadman is co-founder of suck.com, creator of several pieces of early web-savvy literature and current operator of plastic.com. He was also production director for HotWired....
who created daily comically cynical commentary with a self-obsessed and satiric edge. The writing was accentuated by the art of cartoonist Terry Colon. In 1996, they brought on the writing talent of Heather Havrilesky, who provided the whiny, sarcastic voice of her alter ego Polly Esther in their most popular column, titled Filler.
The name of the site was chosen for its possibly offensive connotations, and is probably also meant to poke fun at the fact that questionably offensive domain names were approved only at the discretion of Network SolutionsNetwork SolutionsNetwork Solutions, LLC is a technology company founded in 1979. The domain name registration business has become the most important division of the company. As of January 2009, Network Solutions managed more than 6.6 million domain names.-History:...
, who controlled the InterNICInterNICThe Internet Network Information Center, known as InterNIC, was the Internet governing body primarily responsible for domain name and IP address allocations from 1972 until September 18, 1998 when this role was assumed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers...
system for the distribution of domain names before ICANNICANNThe Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a non-profit corporation headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, United States, that was created on September 18, 1998, and incorporated on September 30, 1998 to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks previously performed directly...
took over that authority.
In 1997, Suck published a compilation of their most popular essays in Suck: Worst-Case Scenarios in Media, Culture, Advertising and the Internet (ISBN 1-888869-27-5).
Style
Other than the distinctive artwork of Terry Colon, the site also had many other characteristics that tied their daily articles together. The main text of each article was restricted to a table only 200 pixels wide. Most articles would feature links within the flow of the content rather than as in labeled footnotes or references, foreshadowing the same technique in modern weblogs.
Regular columns
- Hit & Run — A link-driven summary of recent events
- Filler — A weekly self-deprecating look at cultural pretension and dating in post-modern times
Automatic Media
In July 2000, following a sharp downturn in Internet investment, suck.com merged with Feed MagazineFeed MagazineFeed or feedmag.com was one of the earliest e-zines that relied entirely on its original online content. Feed was founded by Stefanie Syman and Steven Johnson in 1995, and soon found a devoted online following. The zine had daily content, and focused on media, pop culture, technology, science and...
to create Automatic MediaAutomatic Media-Foundation:Automatic Media was created as a joint venture by early editorial dot-coms suck.com and Feed Magazine.It was announced on July 9, 2000 that the founders of Suck.com and Feed.com had raised $4 million in fresh venture capital financing from Lycos Ventures LP for their new project...
. Their concept was to streamline their operations and collaborate on boutique operations with low staffing costs. Their joint project Plastic.comPlastic.comPlastic.com was an internet forum for news and discussion of events and issues. The site was community-driven, with readers moderating discussions, submitting stories, and participating in their selection.Its motto was 'Recycling the Web in Real Time'....
was founded with only 4 staffed employees. Despite the faithful cult following, and a combined reader base of over 1 million, Automatic Media folded in June 2001. On June 8, 2001, Suck.com declared that they were "Gone Fishing" indefinitely, and the site ceased to publish new content.
Staff
- Carl SteadmanCarl SteadmanCarl Steadman is co-founder of suck.com, creator of several pieces of early web-savvy literature and current operator of plastic.com. He was also production director for HotWired....
, co-founder, writer, and editor, is now the owner of plastic.comPlastic.comPlastic.com was an internet forum for news and discussion of events and issues. The site was community-driven, with readers moderating discussions, submitting stories, and participating in their selection.Its motto was 'Recycling the Web in Real Time'....
. - Joey Anuff, co-founder, writer and editor, is an author and co-wrote the book Dumb Money. He co-founded, launched and edited plastic.comPlastic.comPlastic.com was an internet forum for news and discussion of events and issues. The site was community-driven, with readers moderating discussions, submitting stories, and participating in their selection.Its motto was 'Recycling the Web in Real Time'....
in 2001, which won a Webby in the category of "Print + Zine" that same year. He went on to become a producer at VH-1 and has more recently created the music recommendation site Critical MetricsCritical MetricsCritical Metrics is a web-based music recommendation service. Unlike user-driven sites like The Hype Machine and Pandora, Critical Metrics features only expert-generated content. Aggregating reviews and playlists from over 150 publications, both print and online, the site also encompasses...
. - Terry Colon was the site's full-time illustrator from 1997 until 2001. He now contributes illustrations to publications including TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
. - Heather Havrilesky, writer of Filler, Suck's most beloved feature, is now a popular featured columnist at SalonSalon.comSalon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
s Arts & Entertainment section. She also writes and takes letters at the Rabbit Blog. - Tim CavanaughTim CavanaughTim Cavanaugh is a columnist for Reason Magazine. Prior to that, he was Web editor of the Los Angeles Times opinion page. Prior to that, he was Web editor of Reason from 2002 to 2006 and the editor in chief of Suck.com from 1998 to 2001...
(BarTel D'Arcy) was Suck's editor in chief from 1998 to 2001. He went on to be the web editor of the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
opinion page. He is now a contributor to Reason magazine and sporadically runs a webzine called The Simpleton. - Ana Marie CoxAna Marie CoxAna Marie Cox is an American author and blogger. The founding editor of the political blog Wonkette, she is currently the Washington correspondent for GQ and is The Guardian's lead blogger on US politics. She previously worked at Air America Media.-Early life:Cox was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico...
, executive editor, (who wrote as Ann O'Tate) was later the writer of popular Washington D.C. based blogBlogA blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
WonketteWonketteWonkette is a left-leaning American online magazine of topical satire and political gossip, established in 2004 by Gawker Media and founding editor Ana Marie Cox, and edited by Ken Layne from 2006 to 2011...
and wrote for Time.com. - Owen ThomasOwen Thomas (writer)Owen Thomas is the executive editor of VentureBeat since April 1, 2010He was the managing editor of Valleywag, a New York City-based Gawker Media gossip and news blog about Silicon Valley personalities that bills itself as a "tech gossip rag"...
, copy editor and was managing editor at ValleywagValleywagValleywag was a Gawker Media blog with gossip and news about Silicon Valley personalities. It was initially launched under the direction of editor Nick Douglas in February 2006. After Douglas was fired, the blog was taken over by Owen Thomas. Thomas himself left in May 2009, to be replaced by Ryan...
.
Contributors
- Greg Beato (who wrote as "St. Huck") writes and edits Soundbitten.com. http://www.soundbitten.com.
- Steve BodowSteve BodowSteve Bodow is co-executive producer and former head writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.He is also a founding member and a past artistic director of the New York theater group Elevator Repair Service, best known for Gatz, its full-text adaptation of The Great Gatsby.Before joining The Daily...
("Johnny Cache") is the head writer of Comedy Central's The Daily ShowThe Daily ShowThe Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
. - Chris Bray (Ambrose Beers) joined the ArmyUnited States ArmyThe United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. As of June 2005, he is stationed in Kuwait. - Rogers CadenheadRogers CadenheadRogers Cadenhead is a computer book author and web publisher who is currently chairman of the RSS Advisory Board, a group that assists developers in using the RSS 2.0 specification. He graduated from the University of North Texas in 1991 and Lloyd V...
(CGI Joe) runs a blog, Workbench, and a blog host, Buzzword.com; he has also published programming books. He also administers humor site Cruel.com. - Michael Gerber (Bay B. Food) wrote a parody of Harry PotterHarry PotterHarry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
called Barry Trotter. - Nick GillespieNick GillespieNick Gillespie is the editor of Reason.com and Reason.tv and was the editor in chief of Reason magazine from 2000 to 2008...
("Mr. Mxyzptlk") is editor-in-chief of Reason Magazine'sReason (magazine)Reason is a libertarian monthly magazine published by the Reason Foundation. The magazine has a circulation of around 60,000 and was named one of the 50 best magazines in 2003 and 2004 by the Chicago Tribune.- History :...
Reason Online and Reason.tv. - Ben Godar (Godar) graduated from Chapman UniversityChapman UniversityChapman University is a private, non-profit university located in Orange, California affiliated with the Christian Church . Known for its blend of liberal arts and professional programs, Chapman University encompasses seven schools and colleges: Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media...
film schoolFilm schoolThe term film school is used to describe any educational institution dedicated to teaching aspects of filmmaking, including such subjects as film production, film theory, digital media production, and screenwriting. Film history courses and hands-on technical training are usually incorporated into...
. - Greg KnaussGreg KnaussGreg Knauss is an American Internet humorist and computer programmer. He was born in Torrance, California. In college at the University of California, San Diego, he was the editor of Muir College Erratically, a small humor publication, as well as a frequent contributor to the UCSD Guardian student...
(An Entirely Other Greg) continues his long-form blog An Entirely Other Day and works in the software industry. - Rob Levine ("Dr. Dreidel") is currently the executive editor of BillboardBillboard (magazine)Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
. - Josh Ozersky ("The Boob") currently writes about food and gastronomy for TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
. - Tom SpurgeonTom SpurgeonTom Spurgeon is an American writer, historian and editor in the field of comics, notable for his five-year run as editor of The Comics Journal and his blog The Comics Reporter, which he launched in 2004 with site designer Jordan Raphael.-Books:...
("40th Street Black") runs the comic bookComic bookA comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
news site The Comics Reporter. - Jake TapperJake TapperJacob Paul "Jake" Tapper is an American print and television journalist, currently the senior White House correspondent for ABC News in Washington, D.C...
("James Bong") is a Senior White House Correspondent for ABC NewsABC NewsABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
.
External links
Suck.com was one of the earliest ad-supported content sites on the InternetInternetThe Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. It featured daily editorial content on a wide variety of topics, including politicsPoliticsPolitics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
and pop-culturePopular culturePopular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
and was targeted at Generation XGeneration XGeneration X, commonly abbreviated to Gen X, is the generation born after the Western post–World War II baby boom ended. While there is no universally agreed upon time frame, the term generally includes people born from the early 1960's through the early 1980's, usually no later than 1981 or...
. Their tagline, and mascotMascotThe term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
s, were "A fish, a barrel, and a smoking gun".
The site
Suck.com was founded in 1995 by writer Joey Anuff and editor Carl SteadmanCarl SteadmanCarl Steadman is co-founder of suck.com, creator of several pieces of early web-savvy literature and current operator of plastic.com. He was also production director for HotWired....
who created daily comically cynical commentary with a self-obsessed and satiric edge. The writing was accentuated by the art of cartoonist Terry Colon. In 1996, they brought on the writing talent of Heather Havrilesky, who provided the whiny, sarcastic voice of her alter ego Polly Esther in their most popular column, titled Filler.
The name of the site was chosen for its possibly offensive connotations, and is probably also meant to poke fun at the fact that questionably offensive domain names were approved only at the discretion of Network SolutionsNetwork SolutionsNetwork Solutions, LLC is a technology company founded in 1979. The domain name registration business has become the most important division of the company. As of January 2009, Network Solutions managed more than 6.6 million domain names.-History:...
, who controlled the InterNICInterNICThe Internet Network Information Center, known as InterNIC, was the Internet governing body primarily responsible for domain name and IP address allocations from 1972 until September 18, 1998 when this role was assumed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers...
system for the distribution of domain names before ICANNICANNThe Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a non-profit corporation headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, United States, that was created on September 18, 1998, and incorporated on September 30, 1998 to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks previously performed directly...
took over that authority.
In 1997, Suck published a compilation of their most popular essays in Suck: Worst-Case Scenarios in Media, Culture, Advertising and the Internet (ISBN 1-888869-27-5).
Style
Other than the distinctive artwork of Terry Colon, the site also had many other characteristics that tied their daily articles together. The main text of each article was restricted to a table only 200 pixels wide. Most articles would feature links within the flow of the content rather than as in labeled footnotes or references, foreshadowing the same technique in modern weblogs.
Regular columns
- Hit & Run — A link-driven summary of recent events
- Filler — A weekly self-deprecating look at cultural pretension and dating in post-modern times
Automatic Media
In July 2000, following a sharp downturn in Internet investment, suck.com merged with Feed MagazineFeed MagazineFeed or feedmag.com was one of the earliest e-zines that relied entirely on its original online content. Feed was founded by Stefanie Syman and Steven Johnson in 1995, and soon found a devoted online following. The zine had daily content, and focused on media, pop culture, technology, science and...
to create Automatic MediaAutomatic Media-Foundation:Automatic Media was created as a joint venture by early editorial dot-coms suck.com and Feed Magazine.It was announced on July 9, 2000 that the founders of Suck.com and Feed.com had raised $4 million in fresh venture capital financing from Lycos Ventures LP for their new project...
. Their concept was to streamline their operations and collaborate on boutique operations with low staffing costs. Their joint project Plastic.comPlastic.comPlastic.com was an internet forum for news and discussion of events and issues. The site was community-driven, with readers moderating discussions, submitting stories, and participating in their selection.Its motto was 'Recycling the Web in Real Time'....
was founded with only 4 staffed employees. Despite the faithful cult following, and a combined reader base of over 1 million, Automatic Media folded in June 2001. On June 8, 2001, Suck.com declared that they were "Gone Fishing" indefinitely, and the site ceased to publish new content.
Staff
- Carl SteadmanCarl SteadmanCarl Steadman is co-founder of suck.com, creator of several pieces of early web-savvy literature and current operator of plastic.com. He was also production director for HotWired....
, co-founder, writer, and editor, is now the owner of plastic.comPlastic.comPlastic.com was an internet forum for news and discussion of events and issues. The site was community-driven, with readers moderating discussions, submitting stories, and participating in their selection.Its motto was 'Recycling the Web in Real Time'....
. - Joey Anuff, co-founder, writer and editor, is an author and co-wrote the book Dumb Money. He co-founded, launched and edited plastic.comPlastic.comPlastic.com was an internet forum for news and discussion of events and issues. The site was community-driven, with readers moderating discussions, submitting stories, and participating in their selection.Its motto was 'Recycling the Web in Real Time'....
in 2001, which won a Webby in the category of "Print + Zine" that same year. He went on to become a producer at VH-1 and has more recently created the music recommendation site Critical MetricsCritical MetricsCritical Metrics is a web-based music recommendation service. Unlike user-driven sites like The Hype Machine and Pandora, Critical Metrics features only expert-generated content. Aggregating reviews and playlists from over 150 publications, both print and online, the site also encompasses...
. - Terry Colon was the site's full-time illustrator from 1997 until 2001. He now contributes illustrations to publications including TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
. - Heather Havrilesky, writer of Filler, Suck's most beloved feature, is now a popular featured columnist at SalonSalon.comSalon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
s Arts & Entertainment section. She also writes and takes letters at the Rabbit Blog. - Tim CavanaughTim CavanaughTim Cavanaugh is a columnist for Reason Magazine. Prior to that, he was Web editor of the Los Angeles Times opinion page. Prior to that, he was Web editor of Reason from 2002 to 2006 and the editor in chief of Suck.com from 1998 to 2001...
(BarTel D'Arcy) was Suck's editor in chief from 1998 to 2001. He went on to be the web editor of the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
opinion page. He is now a contributor to Reason magazine and sporadically runs a webzine called The Simpleton. - Ana Marie CoxAna Marie CoxAna Marie Cox is an American author and blogger. The founding editor of the political blog Wonkette, she is currently the Washington correspondent for GQ and is The Guardian's lead blogger on US politics. She previously worked at Air America Media.-Early life:Cox was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico...
, executive editor, (who wrote as Ann O'Tate) was later the writer of popular Washington D.C. based blogBlogA blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
WonketteWonketteWonkette is a left-leaning American online magazine of topical satire and political gossip, established in 2004 by Gawker Media and founding editor Ana Marie Cox, and edited by Ken Layne from 2006 to 2011...
and wrote for Time.com. - Owen ThomasOwen Thomas (writer)Owen Thomas is the executive editor of VentureBeat since April 1, 2010He was the managing editor of Valleywag, a New York City-based Gawker Media gossip and news blog about Silicon Valley personalities that bills itself as a "tech gossip rag"...
, copy editor and was managing editor at ValleywagValleywagValleywag was a Gawker Media blog with gossip and news about Silicon Valley personalities. It was initially launched under the direction of editor Nick Douglas in February 2006. After Douglas was fired, the blog was taken over by Owen Thomas. Thomas himself left in May 2009, to be replaced by Ryan...
.
Contributors
- Greg Beato (who wrote as "St. Huck") writes and edits Soundbitten.com. http://www.soundbitten.com.
- Steve BodowSteve BodowSteve Bodow is co-executive producer and former head writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.He is also a founding member and a past artistic director of the New York theater group Elevator Repair Service, best known for Gatz, its full-text adaptation of The Great Gatsby.Before joining The Daily...
("Johnny Cache") is the head writer of Comedy Central's The Daily ShowThe Daily ShowThe Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
. - Chris Bray (Ambrose Beers) joined the ArmyUnited States ArmyThe United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. As of June 2005, he is stationed in Kuwait. - Rogers CadenheadRogers CadenheadRogers Cadenhead is a computer book author and web publisher who is currently chairman of the RSS Advisory Board, a group that assists developers in using the RSS 2.0 specification. He graduated from the University of North Texas in 1991 and Lloyd V...
(CGI Joe) runs a blog, Workbench, and a blog host, Buzzword.com; he has also published programming books. He also administers humor site Cruel.com. - Michael Gerber (Bay B. Food) wrote a parody of Harry PotterHarry PotterHarry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
called Barry Trotter. - Nick GillespieNick GillespieNick Gillespie is the editor of Reason.com and Reason.tv and was the editor in chief of Reason magazine from 2000 to 2008...
("Mr. Mxyzptlk") is editor-in-chief of Reason Magazine'sReason (magazine)Reason is a libertarian monthly magazine published by the Reason Foundation. The magazine has a circulation of around 60,000 and was named one of the 50 best magazines in 2003 and 2004 by the Chicago Tribune.- History :...
Reason Online and Reason.tv. - Ben Godar (Godar) graduated from Chapman UniversityChapman UniversityChapman University is a private, non-profit university located in Orange, California affiliated with the Christian Church . Known for its blend of liberal arts and professional programs, Chapman University encompasses seven schools and colleges: Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media...
film schoolFilm schoolThe term film school is used to describe any educational institution dedicated to teaching aspects of filmmaking, including such subjects as film production, film theory, digital media production, and screenwriting. Film history courses and hands-on technical training are usually incorporated into...
. - Greg KnaussGreg KnaussGreg Knauss is an American Internet humorist and computer programmer. He was born in Torrance, California. In college at the University of California, San Diego, he was the editor of Muir College Erratically, a small humor publication, as well as a frequent contributor to the UCSD Guardian student...
(An Entirely Other Greg) continues his long-form blog An Entirely Other Day and works in the software industry. - Rob Levine ("Dr. Dreidel") is currently the executive editor of BillboardBillboard (magazine)Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
. - Josh Ozersky ("The Boob") currently writes about food and gastronomy for TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
. - Tom SpurgeonTom SpurgeonTom Spurgeon is an American writer, historian and editor in the field of comics, notable for his five-year run as editor of The Comics Journal and his blog The Comics Reporter, which he launched in 2004 with site designer Jordan Raphael.-Books:...
("40th Street Black") runs the comic bookComic bookA comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
news site The Comics Reporter. - Jake TapperJake TapperJacob Paul "Jake" Tapper is an American print and television journalist, currently the senior White House correspondent for ABC News in Washington, D.C...
("James Bong") is a Senior White House Correspondent for ABC NewsABC NewsABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
.
External links
Suck.com was one of the earliest ad-supported content sites on the InternetInternetThe Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. It featured daily editorial content on a wide variety of topics, including politicsPoliticsPolitics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
and pop-culturePopular culturePopular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
and was targeted at Generation XGeneration XGeneration X, commonly abbreviated to Gen X, is the generation born after the Western post–World War II baby boom ended. While there is no universally agreed upon time frame, the term generally includes people born from the early 1960's through the early 1980's, usually no later than 1981 or...
. Their tagline, and mascotMascotThe term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
s, were "A fish, a barrel, and a smoking gun".
The site
Suck.com was founded in 1995 by writer Joey Anuff and editor Carl SteadmanCarl SteadmanCarl Steadman is co-founder of suck.com, creator of several pieces of early web-savvy literature and current operator of plastic.com. He was also production director for HotWired....
who created daily comically cynical commentary with a self-obsessed and satiric edge. The writing was accentuated by the art of cartoonist Terry Colon. In 1996, they brought on the writing talent of Heather Havrilesky, who provided the whiny, sarcastic voice of her alter ego Polly Esther in their most popular column, titled Filler.
The name of the site was chosen for its possibly offensive connotations, and is probably also meant to poke fun at the fact that questionably offensive domain names were approved only at the discretion of Network SolutionsNetwork SolutionsNetwork Solutions, LLC is a technology company founded in 1979. The domain name registration business has become the most important division of the company. As of January 2009, Network Solutions managed more than 6.6 million domain names.-History:...
, who controlled the InterNICInterNICThe Internet Network Information Center, known as InterNIC, was the Internet governing body primarily responsible for domain name and IP address allocations from 1972 until September 18, 1998 when this role was assumed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers...
system for the distribution of domain names before ICANNICANNThe Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a non-profit corporation headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, United States, that was created on September 18, 1998, and incorporated on September 30, 1998 to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks previously performed directly...
took over that authority.
In 1997, Suck published a compilation of their most popular essays in Suck: Worst-Case Scenarios in Media, Culture, Advertising and the Internet (ISBN 1-888869-27-5).
Style
Other than the distinctive artwork of Terry Colon, the site also had many other characteristics that tied their daily articles together. The main text of each article was restricted to a table only 200 pixels wide. Most articles would feature links within the flow of the content rather than as in labeled footnotes or references, foreshadowing the same technique in modern weblogs.
Regular columns
- Hit & Run — A link-driven summary of recent events
- Filler — A weekly self-deprecating look at cultural pretension and dating in post-modern times
Automatic Media
In July 2000, following a sharp downturn in Internet investment, suck.com merged with Feed MagazineFeed MagazineFeed or feedmag.com was one of the earliest e-zines that relied entirely on its original online content. Feed was founded by Stefanie Syman and Steven Johnson in 1995, and soon found a devoted online following. The zine had daily content, and focused on media, pop culture, technology, science and...
to create Automatic MediaAutomatic Media-Foundation:Automatic Media was created as a joint venture by early editorial dot-coms suck.com and Feed Magazine.It was announced on July 9, 2000 that the founders of Suck.com and Feed.com had raised $4 million in fresh venture capital financing from Lycos Ventures LP for their new project...
. Their concept was to streamline their operations and collaborate on boutique operations with low staffing costs. Their joint project Plastic.comPlastic.comPlastic.com was an internet forum for news and discussion of events and issues. The site was community-driven, with readers moderating discussions, submitting stories, and participating in their selection.Its motto was 'Recycling the Web in Real Time'....
was founded with only 4 staffed employees. Despite the faithful cult following, and a combined reader base of over 1 million, Automatic Media folded in June 2001. On June 8, 2001, Suck.com declared that they were "Gone Fishing" indefinitely, and the site ceased to publish new content.
Staff
- Carl SteadmanCarl SteadmanCarl Steadman is co-founder of suck.com, creator of several pieces of early web-savvy literature and current operator of plastic.com. He was also production director for HotWired....
, co-founder, writer, and editor, is now the owner of plastic.comPlastic.comPlastic.com was an internet forum for news and discussion of events and issues. The site was community-driven, with readers moderating discussions, submitting stories, and participating in their selection.Its motto was 'Recycling the Web in Real Time'....
. - Joey Anuff, co-founder, writer and editor, is an author and co-wrote the book Dumb Money. He co-founded, launched and edited plastic.comPlastic.comPlastic.com was an internet forum for news and discussion of events and issues. The site was community-driven, with readers moderating discussions, submitting stories, and participating in their selection.Its motto was 'Recycling the Web in Real Time'....
in 2001, which won a Webby in the category of "Print + Zine" that same year. He went on to become a producer at VH-1 and has more recently created the music recommendation site Critical MetricsCritical MetricsCritical Metrics is a web-based music recommendation service. Unlike user-driven sites like The Hype Machine and Pandora, Critical Metrics features only expert-generated content. Aggregating reviews and playlists from over 150 publications, both print and online, the site also encompasses...
. - Terry Colon was the site's full-time illustrator from 1997 until 2001. He now contributes illustrations to publications including TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
. - Heather Havrilesky, writer of Filler, Suck's most beloved feature, is now a popular featured columnist at SalonSalon.comSalon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
s Arts & Entertainment section. She also writes and takes letters at the Rabbit Blog. - Tim CavanaughTim CavanaughTim Cavanaugh is a columnist for Reason Magazine. Prior to that, he was Web editor of the Los Angeles Times opinion page. Prior to that, he was Web editor of Reason from 2002 to 2006 and the editor in chief of Suck.com from 1998 to 2001...
(BarTel D'Arcy) was Suck's editor in chief from 1998 to 2001. He went on to be the web editor of the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
opinion page. He is now a contributor to Reason magazine and sporadically runs a webzine called The Simpleton. - Ana Marie CoxAna Marie CoxAna Marie Cox is an American author and blogger. The founding editor of the political blog Wonkette, she is currently the Washington correspondent for GQ and is The Guardian's lead blogger on US politics. She previously worked at Air America Media.-Early life:Cox was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico...
, executive editor, (who wrote as Ann O'Tate) was later the writer of popular Washington D.C. based blogBlogA blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
WonketteWonketteWonkette is a left-leaning American online magazine of topical satire and political gossip, established in 2004 by Gawker Media and founding editor Ana Marie Cox, and edited by Ken Layne from 2006 to 2011...
and wrote for Time.com. - Owen ThomasOwen Thomas (writer)Owen Thomas is the executive editor of VentureBeat since April 1, 2010He was the managing editor of Valleywag, a New York City-based Gawker Media gossip and news blog about Silicon Valley personalities that bills itself as a "tech gossip rag"...
, copy editor and was managing editor at ValleywagValleywagValleywag was a Gawker Media blog with gossip and news about Silicon Valley personalities. It was initially launched under the direction of editor Nick Douglas in February 2006. After Douglas was fired, the blog was taken over by Owen Thomas. Thomas himself left in May 2009, to be replaced by Ryan...
.
Contributors
- Greg Beato (who wrote as "St. Huck") writes and edits Soundbitten.com. http://www.soundbitten.com.
- Steve BodowSteve BodowSteve Bodow is co-executive producer and former head writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.He is also a founding member and a past artistic director of the New York theater group Elevator Repair Service, best known for Gatz, its full-text adaptation of The Great Gatsby.Before joining The Daily...
("Johnny Cache") is the head writer of Comedy Central's The Daily ShowThe Daily ShowThe Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
. - Chris Bray (Ambrose Beers) joined the ArmyUnited States ArmyThe United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. As of June 2005, he is stationed in Kuwait. - Rogers CadenheadRogers CadenheadRogers Cadenhead is a computer book author and web publisher who is currently chairman of the RSS Advisory Board, a group that assists developers in using the RSS 2.0 specification. He graduated from the University of North Texas in 1991 and Lloyd V...
(CGI Joe) runs a blog, Workbench, and a blog host, Buzzword.com; he has also published programming books. He also administers humor site Cruel.com. - Michael Gerber (Bay B. Food) wrote a parody of Harry PotterHarry PotterHarry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
called Barry Trotter. - Nick GillespieNick GillespieNick Gillespie is the editor of Reason.com and Reason.tv and was the editor in chief of Reason magazine from 2000 to 2008...
("Mr. Mxyzptlk") is editor-in-chief of Reason Magazine'sReason (magazine)Reason is a libertarian monthly magazine published by the Reason Foundation. The magazine has a circulation of around 60,000 and was named one of the 50 best magazines in 2003 and 2004 by the Chicago Tribune.- History :...
Reason Online and Reason.tv. - Ben Godar (Godar) graduated from Chapman UniversityChapman UniversityChapman University is a private, non-profit university located in Orange, California affiliated with the Christian Church . Known for its blend of liberal arts and professional programs, Chapman University encompasses seven schools and colleges: Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media...
film schoolFilm schoolThe term film school is used to describe any educational institution dedicated to teaching aspects of filmmaking, including such subjects as film production, film theory, digital media production, and screenwriting. Film history courses and hands-on technical training are usually incorporated into...
. - Greg KnaussGreg KnaussGreg Knauss is an American Internet humorist and computer programmer. He was born in Torrance, California. In college at the University of California, San Diego, he was the editor of Muir College Erratically, a small humor publication, as well as a frequent contributor to the UCSD Guardian student...
(An Entirely Other Greg) continues his long-form blog An Entirely Other Day and works in the software industry. - Rob Levine ("Dr. Dreidel") is currently the executive editor of BillboardBillboard (magazine)Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
. - Josh Ozersky ("The Boob") currently writes about food and gastronomy for TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
. - Tom SpurgeonTom SpurgeonTom Spurgeon is an American writer, historian and editor in the field of comics, notable for his five-year run as editor of The Comics Journal and his blog The Comics Reporter, which he launched in 2004 with site designer Jordan Raphael.-Books:...
("40th Street Black") runs the comic bookComic bookA comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
news site The Comics Reporter. - Jake TapperJake TapperJacob Paul "Jake" Tapper is an American print and television journalist, currently the senior White House correspondent for ABC News in Washington, D.C...
("James Bong") is a Senior White House Correspondent for ABC NewsABC NewsABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
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External links
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- NewSucks500 The current incarnation of the original suck forum.
- Suck.com website, whose archives remain accessible
- Suck.com's final article, originally posted on June 8, 2001
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