> Rising from its humble beginnings as a print newspaper in 1756, The Onion now enjoys a daily readership of 4.3 trillion and has grown into the single most powerful and influential organization in human history.
so I'm pretty sure it's just a joke.
plasticchris 3 hours ago [-]
Seems legit, I trust them. They even filed an amicus brief with scotus
Read the whole thing. Lots of onion-type gags in there.
xattt 44 minutes ago [-]
How does that work on the authoring side? Are there staff writers that follow a court document style guide, or are there lawyers on retainer that are a personality match for the org?
jmcgough 12 minutes ago [-]
Gillis (head writer for the onion) drafted the tone, arguments and jokes. He connected to Novak's lawyer through a friend at the firm. Novak's lawyer then connected Gillis to a former colleague who helped format it and provide relevant legal statute.
I was surprised that they didn't contribute to the jokes, it really does read like it was written by a particularly funny lawyer.
a012 3 hours ago [-]
Yeah I know, nobody takes The Onion at face value. They like to play with words
I may actually have some of these. I picked up a bunch of issues in Madison in the early 90's and I'm pretty sure I still have them...somewhere.
mat_epice 3 hours ago [-]
I was excited that I may have been able to help, but I just have issues from volumes 36 and 37... Perhaps this is for the best, as it would have deeply fed my pack rat tendencies.
johnnyApplePRNG 4 hours ago [-]
Did somebody steal these magazines or are they just being overly dramatic?
jandrese 3 hours ago [-]
I'm guessing they lost their back issues due to neglect and sometimes tragedy. When people are first starting out they often don't think that in 30 years time they will want a physical copy of their joke periodical and warehouse space is always limited. When budgets get tight it is sometimes the storage bill that has to be cut.
smitty1e 2 hours ago [-]
They had a mood swing ahead of the 2008 election, and truly hilarious characters like Herbert Kornfeld were canceled.
Could also just be a joke - never know with the Onion ;)
_joel 4 hours ago [-]
They could have just lost them too, doesn't need to be nefarious.
Vaslo 3 hours ago [-]
Hard to tell if the onion is trying to be funny?
striking 4 hours ago [-]
It was me. Just wait until they find out which of the 1920s issues I took.
dfxm12 2 hours ago [-]
TIL The Onion goes back to at least 1988.
Anyway, I'm a big fan of what their new(ish) management has been doing, especially with infowars. I hope they can get the issues they're looking for.
benzible 1 hours ago [-]
It started at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. I was an undergrad there at the time and never missed an issue (but unfortunately didn't save them). A few random observations:
* It was a huge hit on campus almost right away, or at least once it found its footing and sensibility - the dry conventions of journalism applied to mundane events.
* The sensibility of The Onion was very midwestern, and specifically "college-town Midwestern slacker". I knew exactly the type of people they had in mind when writing about "Area Man". This article captures that well: https://www.midstory.org/the-onions-midwestern-homecoming/
* I remember thinking that lots of college towns must have a satirical newspaper as good as this. Then when it went national, realizing that it was really something special.
vitaflo 41 minutes ago [-]
Personally I always picked up an issue to see if the "Drunk of the Week" was someone I knew on campus.
1 hours ago [-]
ck2 3 hours ago [-]
libraries sadly have to destroy old archives all the time
but it's not like a lost Doctor Who episode, it will show up eventually
meanwhile they can keep eerily predicting dystopia like the government televising executions for entertainment a year before it happens
NavinF 8 minutes ago [-]
[dead]
mooreds 3 hours ago [-]
Should have posted the direct link with more details about what they are looking for and how to help.
> Rising from its humble beginnings as a print newspaper in 1756, The Onion now enjoys a daily readership of 4.3 trillion and has grown into the single most powerful and influential organization in human history.
so I'm pretty sure it's just a joke.
I was surprised that they didn't contribute to the jokes, it really does read like it was written by a particularly funny lawyer.
https://theonion.com/cash-room-bitch-be-havin-my-shortie-181...
Sleepless hours and dreamless nights and far aways / Ooo ooo ooo, wishing you were here…
https://theonion.com/it-wuz-always-bout-tha-numbahs-18195843...
Anyway, I'm a big fan of what their new(ish) management has been doing, especially with infowars. I hope they can get the issues they're looking for.
* It was a huge hit on campus almost right away, or at least once it found its footing and sensibility - the dry conventions of journalism applied to mundane events.
* The sensibility of The Onion was very midwestern, and specifically "college-town Midwestern slacker". I knew exactly the type of people they had in mind when writing about "Area Man". This article captures that well: https://www.midstory.org/the-onions-midwestern-homecoming/
* I remember thinking that lots of college towns must have a satirical newspaper as good as this. Then when it went national, realizing that it was really something special.
but it's not like a lost Doctor Who episode, it will show up eventually
meanwhile they can keep eerily predicting dystopia like the government televising executions for entertainment a year before it happens
That's here: https://theonion.com/archivehunt/
Because they are looking for issues in 2012 and 2013 as well.