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Wow everyone - when I said we should get weird and see where it takes us, I had no idea this is what would happen. THANK YOU ALL for making our first Office Hours a HUGE success. Rest assured, we're absolutely going to be doing this again. I'm gonna log off and feed the dog (and myself) but PLEASE feel free to chat amongst yourselves. This whole thing is as much yours as it is ours!

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rafi what's the weirdest thing you've eaten this week

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Paul Blest, Jack Crosbie, Aleks Chan, Caitlin Schneider, Rafi Schwartz

if you get a certain number of subscribers per month, will one of you promise to bro ice yourselves and film yourself doing it?

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Paul Blest, Jack Mirkinson, Jack Crosbie, Aleks Chan, Caitlin Schneider, Rafi Schwartz

Rafi, hi, hey, first-time long-time. Thanks for taking my comment. So, uhh the Avengers movies. Lotta folks say they're good, a lotta folks say they're bad. I dunno, just wanted to hear your thoughts. You really think they'll hold up? 'Preciate your time.

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Katherine Krueger

Can we remember some bloggers? I'll go first:

David Roth

Caity Weaver

Giri Nathan

Ashley Feinberg

Drew Magary

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Katherine Krueger, Jack Mirkinson, Aleks Chan, Caitlin Schneider

this may seem strange, but watching y'all get shitcanned, did inspire me to start writing about politics in a meaningful way. And also made me realize that there is no liberation till we own the means of production. SO THANK YOU, and I'm glad to see this thing around.

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Jack Crosbie, Aleks Chan, Caitlin Schneider, Rafi Schwartz

loved the terrace house piece today. don't have a question sorry

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Katherine Krueger, Jack Mirkinson, Jack Crosbie, Caitlin Schneider, Rafi Schwartz

how are you feeling about the future of worker owned/crowd funded media after day 2 of paid subs?

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Jack Crosbie

I would kill for an occasional burneko food post

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Katherine Krueger, Jack Crosbie, Aleks Chan, Rafi Schwartz

I'm taking an online class with some undergrads about "oral post colonial literature" and my brain is so irony poisoned that I let out an involuntary laugh discussing a racist academic's ramblings about black teenagers telling yo mama jokes as an example of oral tradition in the 1970s and an anthropology major lectured me about how it's not funny and I don't know how to explain to her that I am completely broken by reading horrible things on the internet and there is absolutely no way I can stop myself from laughing at this kind of stuff.

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Jack Mirkinson, Rafi Schwartz

So anyone come up with any cool new ways to convince themselves that a Joe Biden presidency won't lead to a further right/center journey from the Democrats?

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Paul Blest, Caitlin Schneider, Rafi Schwartz

blogs are fake, can't prove they are real

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Katherine Krueger, Jack Mirkinson, Jack Crosbie, Aleks Chan, Rafi Schwartz

This model gives me something sort of akin to hope as a freelancer losing outlets and opportunities by the day. Stay angry and thanks for making my inbox less of a fucking nightmare.

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Jack Crosbie, Rafi Schwartz

Can you guys do some sports posts?

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Jack Crosbie, Aleks Chan, Caitlin Schneider, Rafi Schwartz

long time listener, first time caller here. no question, just came here to say that i didn't think hell world and discourse (aka zombie-splinter) would be the only two publications i pay for in 2020, let alone get all my, uh, news from, while removing myself from twitter and instagram completely because they became the impossible-to-believe larger-than-2019 absolute fuckin' dumpster fires, but 2020's weird as shit. i'll let luke trawl twitter for anger inducing takes and let you guys tell me what's important enough to pay attention to. thanks for not disappearing into bird-takes like barry did but instead coming up with this genius-level replacement plan.

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Katherine Krueger, Jack Mirkinson, Aleks Chan, Caitlin Schneider

Hey Rafi, Tom from Gizmodo here. You *sure* you're not David Cross or one of his long-lost sons?

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Katherine Krueger, Jack Mirkinson, Rafi Schwartz

which discourse person drops the best slack content

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Katherine Krueger, Jack Crosbie, Aleks Chan, Caitlin Schneider, Rafi Schwartz

As a new journalist whose first job out of college is at a local paper owned by Gannett, it's real cool to see something like this and I'm really pulling for y'all

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Rafi Schwartz

hi there! i was wondering if discourse is taking any freelance pitches? i inhaled the terrace house piece from today and it's really nice to see such excellent writing about a topic that has so many factors feeding into it with also a candid take to it which are difficult to find in mainstream outlets. i'm so happy that this exists

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Jack Crosbie, Rafi Schwartz

Can I disable emails for replies/likes on my comments?

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Rafi Schwartz

Before Splinter died, I think I remember yall soliciting nominations for Worst State/Local Politicians. Any chance you'll revive that feature in the future?

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Jack Mirkinson, Jack Crosbie, Aleks Chan, Caitlin Schneider, Rafi Schwartz

t*yl*r sw*ft?

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Huge fan of the people who have put this together. Like many I am poor at the moment so I cannot subscribe as I would like to, but is there any way I can still contribute or donate what I am able to afford?

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Katherine Krueger, Jack Mirkinson, Jack Crosbie, Rafi Schwartz

ahaha keep it chill and keep it tight folks \m/

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Katherine Krueger, Rafi Schwartz

One of the most frustrating things about being a progressive Jew who belongs to an orthodox synagogue and sends my kids to a Jewish day school is the lack of voices in my community who are willing to speak out against Israel. I recognize how the indoctrination has been successful in teaching multiple generations of American Jews to hate the Palestinians and I've tried to break that cycle with my own kids and pushing back against others in my community with very limited success outside my own house. Any suggestions on how best to combat this insular, backwards thinking and be able to promote pro-Palestinian voices to better educate folks who refuse to look past the incorrect concept that being anti-Israel is anti-Semitic?

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Aleks Chan, Caitlin Schneider, Rafi Schwartz

Does Aleks allow you guys to wear shorts to work

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Jack Mirkinson, Caitlin Schneider, Rafi Schwartz

I couldn't subscribe fast enough, glad to see this place up and running, and looking forward to years on decades of solid news.

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Jack Mirkinson, Rafi Schwartz

That image brings to mind an idea for a short story I had years ago, after I had already dropped out of grad school. An epistolary story told solely thru the letters and telegrams of Indiana Jones’ increasingly distressed graduate assistant.

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Katherine Krueger, Caitlin Schneider, Rafi Schwartz

Really happy to be a subscriber! Thanks for everything!

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Katherine Krueger, Rafi Schwartz

What’s a blog

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Aleks Chan, Rafi Schwartz

Heyo. First time, long time. I'm so glad this is happening, and I'm proud to subscribe. Good luck, gang. We're rooting for you.

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Rafi Schwartz

I am just so thoroughly, thoroughly, thoroughly happy for all of you.

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Aleks Chan, Rafi Schwartz

The good folks at BroBible ranked the best song of the summer since 2000 and they picked... Rihanna's Pon de Replay? Are they nuts or smarter than everyone else https://brobible.com/culture/article/best-song-of-summer-since-2000/

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Rafi Schwartz

Which signatory to the Harper's Letter, if any, had the biggest "oh. oh no." reaction upon seeing the full list, ya think?

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Katherine Krueger, Rafi Schwartz

So I have a question for an experienced writer such as yourself Rafi! I recently accepted a job freelance writing at a popular publication. I interviewed with the editor I'd be working under and they were awesome and open and I'm chomping at the bit to get writing!

But I'm just sitting here. The last update I got was a week ago on Monday when I was told I'd be put into a bunch of different systems right away, but I only got put into one. And I've followed up a couple of times, as recently as today, regarding an update of when I can expect things to kick off. But nothing. With our fraught the world of digital media is, should I be as anxious about this as I am or is this just par for the course?

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Rafi Schwartz

Very glad this experiment seems to have had a positive beginning. Are there plans to pull in more writers from Splinter or Deadspin as you continue on? Also is it bad to want to keep the best parts of the American ideal even if the actual history falls well short of, or at times is antithetical to, said ideal? (asking for friend)

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Katherine Krueger, Rafi Schwartz

Will Rafi's Trump Brain Status: [soupy variable here] series return???

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Katherine Krueger, Caitlin Schneider, Rafi Schwartz

Hey buddy, just stopping by to say "cool shit you got going on here"

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Katherine Krueger, Rafi Schwartz

keep it upppp! whats your favorite piece of hot twitter gossip today you really need closure on

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Katherine Krueger, Caitlin Schneider, Rafi Schwartz

I'm busy at my shit job that decided to move headquarters to TX *during a pandemic*, but wanted to drop by and say I love what y'all are doing so keep doing it.

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Rafi Schwartz

Any thoughts on the Harper's letter that just started trending?

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Rafi Schwartz

If any freelancers on here are looking for gigs, I know that this YouTube channel The Take needs writers. I've worked with them before, and it's relatively simple and pays $500 a "script"

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Jack Crosbie, Rafi Schwartz

Thanks for doing this. I wasn't a regular Splinter reader but many people I respect have recommended your work, so I'm here.

I'm happy to support journalism unfettered by "gotta hear both sides"-ism and/or private equity douchebags.

What's your peer review process? As a collective, was it difficult to nail down standards/practices (if there are any)? What do you see as your biggest internal challenges?

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Rafi Schwartz

Content ideas (recurring sections)

-Covidiots

-Copaganda

-Charlie Sheen

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Rafi Schwartz

Can you do a PBS style subscription drive? I'd like to hear more about what content you offer in between some british TV and Nova

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Who's writing the post on the Harper's letter?

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Katherine Krueger, Rafi Schwartz

I'm so glad you guys are back creating quality content.

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Jack Crosbie

Did i miss the piece on the Lincoln project ghouls, or is that in the works?

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Where do y'all see Discourse Blog a year from now?

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Jul 7, 2020Liked by Rafi Schwartz

How does the idea for stories come to fruition? Is it round tabled or each journalist has free reign?

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