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Why I resigned from JDJ
In case you missed it, I resigned from JDJ a few weeks ago. I think it's important to me to try to explain some of the reasons why.
It wasn't a simple decision, made lightly, nor was there a single thing that pushed me over the edge to where I simply had to leave. Making the decision to leave took a certain amount of courage, and an understanding of some long-term implications.
As I've said before, I bear JDJ no ill-will, nor its readers, management, or associates. There are things I wish we'd been able to work together on more effectively than we did, but I understand that my motives and theirs are sometimes – or often – out of sync.
I quit because I felt that JDJ was an ineffective medium, for non-technical reasons, and showed no signs of strengthening itself in ways that would either correct or compensate for, its weaknesses. The history behind JDJ means that the path it needed to follow was very specific, and I felt that as time went by that history and plan was being ignored.
In the distant past – a few years, I suppose – JDJ was easily pinned as an advertiser's magazine. Vendors would write or sponsor authors who would, in turn, write articles that rather transparently pushed a given product or methodology. This was a pretty regular occurrence – to the point where I stopped reading JDJ myself. As a voracious reader, who reads much as a goat eats (i. e., “pretty much anything”), ignoring a magazine centering on technology I use is a pretty big thing.
When Alan Williamson took over, he started a campaign specifically to avoid shilling products. I don't know the specifics, but I can tell you that I'd submitted an article rather cynically myself to promote my own product, and Alan rejected it... and I didn't realise that the policy had changed until I talked to Alan directly about it. Even when I was Editor, people assumed the policy had not changed, and I tried to spend a lot of time correcting that impression.
Now, when you have a history of being a corporate shill, you simply have to be very careful about being straightforward. We argued about whether to discuss only open source products or to possibly allow commercial product mentions if and only if there was a comparison with free versions or competing products (a policy that was eventually adopted for all products, including open source). After all, if an author has discovered a useful technique with a commercial product, he shouldn't be punished for it – especially if there are alternatives that allow the use of the technique elsewhere.
Here's where things started to go south for me. As Editor, I never really got the sense of being on a team – based on reader feedback and my own desires, I tried constantly to have the rather draconian writer's agreement changed (successfully, but not visibly - the new agreement was available for authors who asked for it). I tried to have the awful web site updated such that JDJ would have a decent appearance on-line (which was met with a "We'll try to find resources"). I tried to enact a plan to get our contributing authors compensated – either materially or financially (very minor success here, as we sort of promised to offer any author a free subscription to JDJ at the very least). I also tried to be a sort of evangelist for the print magazine, with the concept being that if we had vibrant support from vocal and intellectual authors, we'd be more able to attract even more authors, in a sort of positive feedback loop.
The goal for all of this was very simple. You see, I think that Java, as an industry, needs a print magazine, something you can hold in your hands with glossy paper (well, gloss is optional), something that managers and developers can both use, something that serves as a sort of record of happenings and ideas. The on-line community for Java is great for a select few, and it has many passive readers, but compared to the print community... it's very small. (Sorry, guys, but it's true.)
I didn't want to dominate TheServerSide.com or JavaLobby, Jguru.com or Javaranch. I wanted those on-line communities to cooperate with us, either actively or passively, to create an industry communication channel so that Java could thrive and thus continue to benefit us all.
I encountered quite a bit of resistance to this concept, not from the hosts of those sites so much as many of the people who use those sites. It's hard to fault them, given JDJ's long term history. My intent was clear, I thought, and my will is strong (I think!), so I simply took their feelings as additional data and worked harder to correct things I thought were worth correcting, while acknowledging that business profitability still had to be maintained.
Therein lies where my relationship with Sys-Con itself affected things. I never got the sense of being part of the team. I was relied upon for evangelism and recruitment of authors and editors, but when it came to the point where I was trying to make my job easier and the magazine better... I got nowhere. In fact, one thing that always stung me was that Alan was never formally “retired” as Editor-in-Chief, and I was never formally introduced in that position. I had written my own introduction, with some distaste, but JDJ replaced my initial editorial with an editorial by the publisher.
In some ways, that's perfectly all right – they own it, not I, and it's theirs to do with as they will. However, it impacts how I'm able to present myself – I had to explain my role (as the Editor!) to a number of people who were still under the impression Alan was in the position or who assumed, because of the editorial position in the magazine, that someone else was performing those duties. I have to admit I never found this to be a comfortable situation.
Further, though, there was a whole slice of content that was being used improperly, in my opinion. I'm not a BEA supporter any more than I'm an IBM supporter, but I resented the use of the magazine to hint that BEA was in trouble, or going down, or an arrogant company, or any number of other minor insults. What's more, I wasn't the only one to resent it – the readers did, too. Some crowed about it – but many more were displeased.
Given that JDJ's history is suspect with regard to promoting advertiser agendas, I have to say that I was very displeased. I thought we were working toward a journalistic stance that was respectable, only to have the perception altered by... I don't know. Something personal, perhaps, which can be deduced from BEA's withdrawal of support for one of JDJ's sister magazines, WebLogic Developer's Journal, and subsequent promotion of a similar magazine with FTPOnline. (This is a subject for another essay, by the way – there's more under the surface than might appear at first.)
However, I can't condone it. It directly subverts everything I've tried to do at JDJ, and I couldn't see continuing to fight the battle of journalistic quality and integrity without reward or cooperation. Honestly, had I had reward or cooperation, I'd have been happy and proud to continue fighting for my vision of JDJ, but it wasn't to be.
I just didn't feel like wasting my time and effort when I have the rest of my life to live.
I never could have imagined writing for a print magazine. It took some
persuasion from both Alan and Joe before I finally agreed to join them on
the JDJ editorial team. I must admit that part of reluctance was the fact
that this was a volunteer position in what is essentially a commercial
operation. Amongst the reasons that I finally decided to do it was to try
help Joe in getting authors paid for their work. It was my expressed
feeling that unless JDJ was paying, then the quality of the work would
suffer. In the end I feel that I was correct in my assessment but I must
admit that I was correct in an unexpected way.
What really tipped me off as to what the real problem is when one is relying on essentially an amateur editorial staff was when we got stung with what appeared to be a case of plagiarism. Granted plagiarism is hard to spot at the best of times but it is my opinion that a professional editorial staff would have caught this one. There are other problems with this model. It devalues the work of the authors.
If this were a not for profit organization, then I could see authors contributing their work. Fact is, this is a “for profit” commercial enterprise that has decided that it can get away with using an authors work for their own profit. I say shame on us for letting them and shame on them for doing it. In the final analysis, it was a policy that was just to distasteful for me to defend.
I have more reasons to dislike BEA than most people I know. Still, I was disappointed to see the inappropriate use of what should be a high quality technical journal against a company that decided to follow a process and make a choice based on that process. It was JDJ that decided NOT to bid on the contract to produce Weblogic Journal. In the final analysis, the have no one to blame but themselves for not winning a contest that they never entered.
As much as we tried to disassociate the printed magazine from the website, we could not. As volunteer we did not have the resources, time, access, or authority to conduct such an undertaking.
On Monday, I too resigned my editorship from JDJ. I did this because I supported Joe in his efforts to make a difference.
Wow, this puts an old Javalobby thread in a whole new perspective: http://j
avalobby.org/thread.jspa?forumID=61&threadID=10543&messageID=91783624&q=jdj
#91783624 You seem more level-headed now than the impression I had from
that thread :-)
I do appreciate having "the rest of the story" (with apologies to Paul Harvey). It should be interesting to watch what happens next.
For all the taunting I've hurled towards you guys, I did appreciate all you
were trying to do for JDJ, both online and off. While I'm sure it'll be
'business as usual' for the powers that be, JDJ in the final reckoning has
driven away a couple of Good Guys, and have proven that there's no room for
anyone not focussed on advertising dollars.
Hani Suleiman
Greg, I guess I'm glad I seem more "level-headed" than I did, but
honestly... I'm a little confused. What about that thread made me seem NOT
level-headed? I said what I was trying to do and why; people got upset for
whatever reason; I responded honestly and forthrightly. What's not
level-headed about that?
As someone once on the receiving end of JDJ, I'm glad it bothered you (the
article BY Extentech slamming POI still sticks in my crawl). Personally I
question whether the "active readership" is larger in print than online,
but certainly the passive readership is. Meaning every Java-based business
office has at least a copy of JDJ sitting on the coffee table. It doesn't
mean anyone read it, but it is there. Secondly, most online tech medums
are crap simply because they have no way to pay contributors (editors, etc)
because online advertising is a lost business. Plenty of people will pay
not to have to sort through the schisse for the singular nugget of gold.
Hell I'd pay too, but it would have to be top notch and online. (and I'm
picky)
I wrote an article for JDJ late last year after Joe suggested the idea to
me. I did not receive a free subscription. I was promised several free
copies of the issue my article would appear in, but they never arrived.
When I chased this up, I was told they had run out.
So in the end I got absolutely nothing (apart from spam). I've never even seen my own article in print!
Considering they are a commercial operation and their survival depends on people like me to write articles for them, I feel rather let down.
Joe is a sound geezer, so I can understand why he's left. Good luck dude :)
Paul, unfortunatly they don't need good writers such as yourself. If
necessary they can fill pages like they used to - with shill articles
written by their advertisers.
I'll never be able to respect JDJ nor sys-con until they honor the 15+ "global" unsubscribe responses I've clicked on at the bottom of their spam.
tdrury
A small comment to add to all of this: JDJ does not respect requests to be
removed from its copious email lists, which effectively turns them into a
spammer.
I had to get our spam service to screen out their emails. I don't feel I should have to do that for a seemingly legitimate member of our industry and professional community.
A Visitor
As a new writer just learning about the publishing busines I find it
astounding that JDJ does not pay the writers. The "free subscription" offer
is a joke. My guess is any developer capable of writing an article JDJ has
a free subscription already! I know I have for years.
In the end, I
agree with another blogger that JDJ is losing its relevance. I got the
latest copy in the mail just the other day. It was thin and seemed extra
glossy. It referred to itself as the "No 1 i-technology magazine" and then
I noticed that nowhere on the cover did it say "Java Developer's Journal".
Its sad because I like a good print magazine. I much prefer reading print
then online -- sad to say that I do not know of another print magazine that
caters to Java developers exclusively.
I was a loyal reader of JDJ. However, I have stopped to read any things
from JDJ since 2002 because I think JDJ is not for Java developer and any
IT reader at all. It has a strong money smell
and it is for commercial
products.
Tao [tyuan@ema.att.com]
Nice that this article explains that "Success and arrogance, rise and fall"
article (probably I'm getting the title wrong). I got it twice by email
and saw it for a long time on the JDJ site, and never, could for the life
of me figure out to whom it was written or what it was about. Apparently a
dire coded warning to some company or other, but pretty peculiar to need to
spam all the readers with such nonsense in order to get the message to
whomever it was for.
Good luck, Joe. As I've stated elsewhere, the Java (and software development in general) trade press is in a pretty sorry state. Thanks for a noble attempt to raise the bar.
Tim
I didn't read enough of JDJ to pickup on the Weblogic bashing but I was a
little pissed on their use of charts on the cover. If you didn't look at
the numbers you would assume BEA's share is off by over 50% vs 10%. Same
with the IBM side.
-Pete
PS I thought the 'ultimate' logging solution used Log4j. ;-)
Pete Haidinyak [javamann@cox.net]
Continuing on to the story of paul, I did write an article for JDJ in 2000,
I never received free subscription or free copies either. On top of it,
they refused to publish my next article (after it was approved and written
and reviwed and all), so I turned to javaworld and my article received 2nd
most number of hits that month (1st was the homepage that I dont think I
can beat). With this attitude, I never wrote for them again and never read
it again. Have you seen issues lately? At least 50% pages are for
advertisements. Sounds like a catalogue than a tech journal.
Vinay
Joe, I'm behind you 100%. We DO need print Java magazines, but JDJ hasn't
been doing a very good job, and I'm worried JavaPro is close to going under
as it gets thinner all the time. I'd been waffling on whether to let my
JDJ subscription lapse, and I think the information you present seals the
deal.
In general I've been reading less and less of the articles in JDJ, and the new magazine covers and "industry lumninaries" interviews and 'editorials' have been a turn off. I also agree with you that too many articles were obviously slanted commercially. I don't know that tilting things to entirely open-source would help, either, but a truly independent and unbiased view is the certainly the most valuable position to take.
I actually bought a Doctor Dobbs' the other day because of the interesting Java articles. I tend to find more interesting things to read in Software Development than JDJ, too, and was particularly impressed by the latest issue in which the Editor wrote a column titled "Peeved at Payola".
I really hope that JDJ takes your resignation (and Kirk's, too) and the comments by readers to heart and changes it's ways. I continue to hope that journalistic integrity by authors, editors, and publishers will improve, and am always saddened when I see examples of when it looks like it's going downhill instead.
Joe, I hope you don't give up on publishing altogether, but can find another magazine or perhaps a new one to be a part of. If you do, let the community know what your take on that publication is and whether we should support it, and if you think it's worth it then I'll certainly be behind it. Thanks for your efforts and columns at JDJ and good luck with the future.
Gerry [gerrygiese@nospam.mail.com]
Let's stop beating around the bush here. JDJ has gone off the deep end.
Publishers used to PRETEND that there was little or no connection between the editorial process and their advertising dollars. JDJ blew that out to a new level.
If I've gathered the facts right, BEA went to Fawcett and the guy who runs Sys-Con blew his lit and started filling my inbox full of anti-BEA propaganda? Nice...really classy move.
I LOVE how HE then wrote about arrogance! What a F'n hypocrite!!! The best part, that I think is the funniest thing I've heard in ages, is that his editorial staff is all quitting because they don't want anything to do with these loonies.
I also am floored by the concept of some corporate sloth asking people to work for little or NOTHING. What a crock! It’s pure exploitation of people who believe in community and want to make it better.
I'm glad to see Joe, Alan and team take the high road on that one. I'm biased because I like WebLogic and root for BEA, but this one is a no brainer on principal alone.
Sir Mix a Lot
Very interesting. I was amazed when I found out a couple years ago JDJ
does not compensate its authors. I haven't read it since. No offense to
anyone here, but the fact JDJ authors are not compensated for their work
(yet the articles are sandwiched between revenue-generating ads
)immediately removes all credibility from the magazine, in my opinion. I
bet if half the readers found out the authors aren't compensated, it would
become almost an embarrassment to be published in JDJ.
Monkey Lover
If the authors aren't paid. I won't renew my subscription.
Wally Lewis
Shoot, and here I was hoping to write some articles for JDJ about
classloaders, my plugin engine and so forth! Hell, Alan and Kirk both agree
to let me write an article on reloading classes that work with EJBs, thread
context loader, etc. Guys remember that ;) Never got to it and from the
sounds of it I didn't have to worry about losing any sleep over it.
I like to write, love to mentor where I can... if I can, so where to now? Who can I write to?
Joseph, any chance you, Alan, Kirk, myself and a few others might want to try to start a new magazine? Something that can try to do without much advertising... well, enough to make it work and pay the authors a fair compensation? I take it it is not all that easy to get going though. I read tons online, not sure why that is not such a good avenue, although it seems the majority of java article sites are disappearing as well! what is up with this? Java is like numeral uno in the world of development especially with wireless and enterprise, so why does it seem so much of this stuff is drying up for java? Let's bring it back to life already!!
Kevin
Joe, I respect your views.
Last year, when I wrote an article for JDJ on
MBeans and JINI, you were discussing with me abt raising the level of
technical content in the magazine. Its been a long time. My recent dealing
with Kirk also convinced me that the magazine is in right hands. But now, I
nned to guess the JDJ's future.
Good Work guys.
Joseph,
First, let me apologize for confusing your leadership with that of Sys-Con. Kirk had told me what a great editor you were. I had seen the editorship change from Alan to you and the quality of the magazine decline also. I wrongly assumed it was you.
I also considered writing, after encouragement from Kirk, but then gave up after Sys-Con stopped paying.
I enjoyed the direction Alan took the mag but it seems that he hit a brick wall and so did you. I have read less and less articles lately as they are just not relevent. There is not enough content. I also like to see source code and that is mostly gone. The new cover stinks. It looks like an ad slick instead of a professional journal.
Thank you Joe, for your
dedication.
Mica Cooper
Mica Cooper [mica@nospan.aisus.com]
Get over it. All publications are highly bias and reflect the opinions of
the owners. If they wanted to piss on BEA, then they simply will and you
will be taken along for the ride.
asdf
>I'll never be able to respect JDJ nor sys-con >until they honor the 15+
"global" unsubscribe >responses I've clicked on at the bottom of >their
spam.
>tdrury
I also submitted a dozen of unsubscribe requests without any reaction. I finally resorted to write about my unsubscription woes in the articles comment sections in Sys-con's various sites. A day after the first one appeared I actually had a human being manually remove my name.
I also made the mistake of taking out a two-year overseas subscription to JDJ after Java Report folded. I only ever got two numbers, one of them after complaining the about a half dozen issues hadn't been received.
David Durrant [ddt@algonet.se]
I am not suprised talents like Joe leave JDJ.
I am not sure if you have
ever observed the JDJ awards! it is a piece of JOKE. Vendors can nominate
their own products and vote too. Companies should stop nominating their
product for this award. The rules keep on changing. They extend the dates
when they want to get more products nominated. All they cared about was the
vote count. Every companies marketing wing would send out broad e-mails to
get their employees to vote for the product and in the end it would like
READERS's choice. JDJ made no attempt to change the rules to make this
award really be worthy!!
Why I bring this up is becos, it talks about
the integrity of the magazine and the folks who run it. It was never about
the readership or its opnions. It was ALL ABOUT NOISE!!
In the years I have observed this magazine, it is a marketing magazine. More noise than true content.
So joe, don't feel bad. you did the right move!
ONCE A JDJ READER
I have received FREE subscriptions of JDJ for the past 3 yrs and the last
issue every year comes with the "THIS IS YOUR LAST ISSUE, RENEW NOW!"
cover. I never renew and stil get the magazines. But now, for the last 5
months I have been getting the "THIS IS YOUR LAST ISSUE, RENEW NOW!" cover
wrapped over the magazine.
Desperate to cancel my subscription, I
searched for a telephone number to call. ALl I found was a email id and a
fax number to fax the renewal form. I did not dare to email them as I was
worried about spamming.
Its become a joke at my work place when I
receive those "LAST ISSUE.." covers every month.
Meera
Joe,
It's been a pleasure working with you. I wish you the best of
luck.
Regards,
Nathalie Mason-Fleury
Dir. of
Communications
JBoss, Inc.
Nathalie Mason-Fleury
JDJ -used- to pay for articles, Monkey Lover, so I'm surprised you found
out 'a couple of years ago' -- since I was still being paid for articles I
wrote back then. It was only the last year or so (I seem to recall) that
they stopped. First it went from $75 per page to a pitiful $75 per
article. Then to nothing. I believe the 'party line' was it's a privilege
to write for JDJ, it looks good on your CV, etc. From my point of view,
this will only work if you've never been published before or have bugger
all experience. But for those who have been published, have been doing it
for years, what's the incentive?
To the guy who wrote asking if the ex-editors should start a new magazine, I ask, why bother? Print is only important to those who haven't seen their name on glossy paper before. Online is easier for consumers, and there's already better alternatives you'll already be competing with. (ONJava comes immediately to mind -- and no I don't work for O'Reilly, although I have been published by them).
Anonymous Ex-Editor
I've started getting every one of their publications, every month. It
seems like there are around 5 of them at least. They saw where I was
selling shareware that just happens to be written in Java and for some
reason now think I'd want to spend thousands of dollars advertising the
sofware. I don't know a lot about JDJ or any of these other publications
but as a pretty big all around tech guy, I can't find any reason I'd want
to read any of them. They're mostly advertisements and the articles seem
to be very non-objective.
Brian Y.
Many oif us readers/develoerps have had the same inklings and view
points...
I stopped effectively reading JDJ about 1.5 years ago..
its no longer the 'top developers' information source due sot its failure to adhere to journalistic integrity..
However, beign no longer with JDJ also frees you to follwo your heart which I know the Java Community will benefit from..
Peace and Happy Hacking
Fred Grott [badapple@netnitco.net]
If you think its bad that the writers do not get paid.... The owner
threatened to fire any one of his staff who even asks for a raise!