Something odd happened today. Something that hasn’t happened in at least 20 years, if not longer. I was reading through the B9 robot builder’s list, and someone mentioned Starlog.

Starlog used to be the focus of media SF fandom. Put out a fanzine, start a catalog, make some props or moidel kits, and you were obligated to advertise them in Starlog’s classified ad section. Without Starlog, there would have been no LISFAN. Starlog’s classified ad section was my sole advertising venue.

Things chugged along for quite a few years. And then something odd happened: the classified ads stopped pulling. Fans gravitated away from Starlog, in search of better advertising venues. The culprit was simple enough: the internet killed Starlog’s advertising base. Why bother with a classified ad in Starlog when you could put up a web page for free?

Starlog’s classified ad space kept shrinking and shrinking, until it disappeared entirely. The magazine continued to publish, thoiugh I really can’t say exactly who was reading it. I didn’t know anyone who read Starlog. As I said, I hadn’t bought a copy in 20 years. On occasion I would look at copies at the newsstand. I was never tempted to buy a copy; nothing in it ever interested me.

Starlog was sort of like second tier celebrities, such as anyone who appeared on The Brady Bunch: you assumed it was still around, you never heard about it or saw it, but you assumed it was still chugging along.

At any event, I looked up Starlog on the internet. And I soon came upon the following (you can read the original article here: http://cheap-magazine-subscriptions.blogspot.com/)

Starlog has ceased publication. Starlog was a magazine for developments in the field of science fiction, and included interviews with writers and actors in the science fiction field. Starlog has not announced what current subscribers will receive as a replacement magazine, if any.

What is interesting is that on Starlog’s website (http://www.starlog.com) nothing is mentioned about this; they are still selling subscriptions. Nice bunch of folks.

I remember Starlog in its heyday. They claimed to have a million readers. Yet when they mentioed the amount of copies they printed, it was far less than a million. In magazine publication there is something called a pass on ratio: that is, if you buy a magazine and let 5 friends read it too, and that was typical of that magazine, then it was said to have a 5:1 pass on ratio. Mind you, I would think tht paid circulation is all that should matter, but I suppose that when you’re publishing a magazine you want to present as large a set of numbers as possible.

My main argument with Starlog started some years ago. Now let us have a couple of hypothetical situations:

Fan A decided that he wants to make some unlicensed copies of Star Trek props. He vacuforms them, and sells them in Starlog. Paramount pictures contacts Starlog, asking them to stop accepting ads from that fan.

Fan B decided to make bootlegged copies of my fanzine, LISFAN, and sells them in Starlog. I contact Starlog and ask them to stop accepting ads from that fan.

OK, what did Starlog do?

Did they:

A) Refuse ads from both fans. Right is right and wrong is wrong, and it doesn’t matter who makes a claim.

B) Decide that freedom of speech is what this nation is founded on, and allow both fans to keep selling their wares, or

C) Stop accepting ads from the fan bootlegging Star Trek models, and respond to me with a non answer “This fan is not a subscriber.” And do nothing about the fan bootlegging my fanzine.

Oh hell you know what happened: they went with C. They had one of three decisions to make. Two would have been just and moral. The third was simply a sign of their love of money. Now if I could have legally changed my name to Paramount Pictures, then they might have listened to me.

So, goodbye Starlog. And yes, good riddance. You won’t be missed.