Dear Friends and Supporters of 1000-Word Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology,
This week the Board of Directors of “1000-Word Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology” met at a five-star resort in Costa Rica to discuss the future of 1000-Word Philosophy.
During the day, it was all play: snorkeling, yoga, and a private “Create Your Own Mocktail” class were some of the Board’s favorite activities.
The evenings, after dinner and before the late-night sailing, however, were ALL BUSINESS.
The board participated in a series of intense meetings, the focus of which was the financial future of "1000-Word Philosophy."
The issue is this: inflation has hit us all, and perhaps no sector of the economy has been hit harder than the freely available online philosophy and ethics educational materials sector, of which "1000-Word Philosophy" is a—perhaps the—industry leader.
Simply put, we can no longer afford to publish essays with 1000 words.
While talk is cheap, the price of printing words online has gone up exponentially: those little dots on our screens aren’t uncaused events: they cost money.
The board attempted to negotiate with our internet providers to get a lower per-word posting cost: those negotiations broke down in tears. And Internet hackers have disabled our computer systems so we can no longer save files in PDF, unless we pay a sizeable ransom, which we cannot afford, given the cost of our board retreat. There are more problems that we won't tell you about, but we will share that we feel great shame and embarrassment that each board member’s email password was the easily guessable “1000WordPhilosophyPassword,” given the problems that have resulted from those internet breaches.
All is not lost, however. The Board has secured funding to enable us to continue publishing essays, but with 732 words, no more and no less. We had hoped we would have been able to continue at 812 words, but our analysis proves that is unsustainable.
Fortunately, we will be able to retain our current essays, with modifications: the board applied for and received a special grant to hire editing consultants to swiftly cut all the currently available essays down to 732 words; unfortunately, though, no endnotes will be allowed to remain since we those are a luxury.
We feel great sadness in this turn of events and the end of this era, but we are proud that we will be able to continue as "732-WordPhilosophy: Short Thinkin' Stuff." Please check this space for the launch of our new webpage, which will soon be available at 732WordPhilosophy.geocities.com
We appreciate your understanding and support throughout these trying times, but we look forward to emerging even stronger. Please stick with us throughout this transition. You won’t regret it, and the best short philosophy and ethics readings are yet to come: this we promise you and know for sure.
Sincerely,
The Board of Directors for the philosophical-educational project formerly known as "1000-Word Philosophy," soon to be known as "732-WordPhilosophy: Short Thinkin' Stuff."
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