Getting a boingboing.net post

January 28, 2009 7:09 PM

Does anyone have some inside scoop on suggesting a link to Boing Boing (other than the boilerplate instructions and faq on the site)? Stuff like response times, numbers of submissions, etc.? I've been a fan of the site for years and I'd do handsprings if my art piece I posted about on Mefi projects got blogged about there.
posted by Toecutter to Media & Arts (12 answers total)

Whatever you made: put brass on it, call it "steampunk", and it's sure to be greenlighted.
posted by neuron at 7:12 PM on January 28, 2009 [10 favorites]

Response by poster: Done and done!
posted by Toecutter at 7:13 PM on January 28, 2009 [2 favorites]

A while back I just used the form, they liked the submission and posted it- pretty simple. I think they actually read the submissions over there, unlike the slashdot crowd. It was up the next day.

I think it helps if your submission rides in on one of their favorite hobby horses, of course, as neuron suggested.
posted by jenkinsEar at 7:20 PM on January 28, 2009

I submitted something unique a couple years ago via the site's form and it was posted later that day.
posted by csimpkins at 7:36 PM on January 28, 2009

I was going to say what neuron said, hah. Sounds like they're pretty good about posting stuff, though, so best of luck!
posted by fructose at 7:44 PM on January 28, 2009

They are pretty good about posting stuff, and from the best I can tell, it's just "each editor posts things he sees that interest them".
posted by mendel at 8:07 PM on January 28, 2009

A good friend of mine from my neighbourhood here in the real world had his new book posted on BoingBoing today. And Xeni Jardin posted (without my permission) an email I sent to her, along with my name, to BoingBoing's front page.

The biggest problem BoingBoing has is finding interesting content. They rarely succeed in that regard, so I'm sure if you package your project properly, you'll get on BoingBoing.
posted by KokuRyu at 8:32 PM on January 28, 2009

Indeed. If it's a steampunk map of the monorails at Disneyland funded by the EFF, you'll have no trouble. Oh what I meant to say is just use the submission form with a half decent sell job and your odds are probably fair. Looking at your Projects postings, it seems like whatever you're putting together is definitely up their alley (even if it a bit light on the steampunk).
posted by drpynchon at 9:17 PM on January 28, 2009 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks all :)
posted by Toecutter at 4:34 AM on January 29, 2009

+1 on using the submission form. I've had submissions picked up twice out of something like four or five tries.
posted by exogenous at 7:35 AM on January 29, 2009

Nthing using the submissions form, but you also need to do a decent job on it - I've submitted links which they didn't use, but show up a week later when someone else submits them. So play up anything you think will be eye-catching to the editors.
posted by penguinliz at 8:02 AM on January 29, 2009 [1 favorite]

Toecutter -- I've become pals with a couple of the BB editors after I submitted something to them through the submission form some years ago. The charm of BB is its personal editorial perspective, so certainly your odds are better if it's something that'll be interesting to them. And of course, if it's really cool, that helps. Other than that, it's really a matter of luck. They all work really hard and occasionally miss something because they get a lot of submissions, but if you send in something good, you've got a good shot.
posted by YoungAmerican at 8:55 AM on January 29, 2009