https://extratone.vivaldi.net/assuage-the-dumb-pipe/

Extratone‘s last Editor’s Letter of 2016 discusses MAGFest, email, and the future of our counterculture.

Welcome to Extratone at year’s end, 2016.

In this season of annual reflection, quantification, and digital snow flurries (I think it’s cute,) best ofs, abstracts, “looks back,” and other diminutives of summation are the popular thing to be shipping. The thing is, I’ve been extraneously reflecting for the entire history of these letters, and I’m not sure how much more we can all stand. That is the purpose, I suppose.

The short of it:

• May: The website is born, Alek Michael posts our first and only listicle.
• July: 2.0 is launched, the Net‘s format as it exists today begins to take shape, The New (now Futureland) begins.
• August: A brief period of utter absurdity from a few contributors, podcasts slowly continue to expand.
• September: 3.0 is launched, Isiah graces us with four entertaining features.
• October: A welcome audio renaissance – Web Cratesbegins, The Movie Closet arrives.
• November: The New is reimagined into Futureland, Production Editor Emily Waters and Chief Technical Officer Cil Ramsey are brought on board.

I guess it hasn’t actually been all that long has it?

Personally, it’s been more dense with change than any other year I’ve yet to live, which means I am now confronted with the hypothetical burden of explaining to my grandchildren that it took a WordPress site – of all things – to teach me the value of milestones.

When I launched Extratone, I considered the World Wide Web a mere stepping stone to print. I’d always assumed there was little hope for beauty in experiences on the internet, but my exponential increase in online news consumption for this project has exposed me to a different standard of digital storytelling. I thought I’d have to create the content I wanted in order to see it realized at all, but my newfound diligence has led me to discover initiatives like The Outline – an extraordinary website with a very complimentary editorial heading.

Courage like theirs in this industry is lifegiving and clearly – despite what I’ve been saying the past few months – it does exist, somewhere. And it’s not just the compulsive creation of a 20-something college dropout – it’s Joshua Topolsky’s vision – an extremely influential name in the culture. If I recall correctly, I saw him described a few days ago as a “digital media veteran.”

I’ve certainly got enough to say about The Outline for a URL of its own – and it’s coming, soon – but for now, just know that every word I hear from Topolsky regarding his new adventure has been keenly identical to what I would say of Extratone if I had his seniority and experience, which makes him and The Outline “role models,” I guess. That’s new and interesting, but I promise we won’t become defined by Digital Daddy Issues.

The most prevalent topic of this month by far is our upcoming coverage of The Music and Gaming Festival in Maryland, just two weeks from today.