[Magazine] The Washington Pastime

If they are still rejecting then it is probably fine. Things tend to quieten down over the summer. If they hadn't been active on DT I would be concerned.

Another reason I didn't go with them in the end was the amount of time it took for them to get back to my queries once they had accepted my story.

Thanks.

Yeah, it's just that he said it was going up "in a couple of weeks" and that was six weeks ago. Maybe he considers "a couple" more like seven or eight.

Website Account Suspended?

Sigh. Now their website account is suspended.


http://washingtonpastime.com/cgi-sys/suspendedpage.cgi

seaaircarol said:

Sigh. Now their website account is suspended.


http://washingtonpastime.com/cgi-sys/suspendedpage.cgi

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Sorry to hear that, seaaircarol.

Is there a clause in the contract that says after X amount of time, the story will be released back to you if never published?

ETA: Their site seems to be back up; maybe they changed server hosts.

Thanks, defcon. Yeah, it's back up, but no new stories.

Hmmmmmm.

P.S. No such clause, I'm afraid.


ETA: Whaa??? Getting the "account suspended" message again.

Did some investigating & found out they have a new editor-in-chief. Yesterday, he (Michael Vidafar) tweeted "Worst day ever."

Doesn't seem promising.

Oh yikes. So has Vidafar been demoted or bumped off? This all seems very odd.

The "account suspended" message is gone again, but no new stories have been posted.

I sent them another email asking what's up. I'll report back when I hear.

Just rec'd a nice email from Mike Vidafar. All is well. They are going to begin posting stories again at the end of this week. Thanks to everyone for your support.

So Frustrated



No new stories have been posted.

No updates.

Nothing.

Is it so hard to tweet or post a little something explaining what the heck is happening? Aren't they afraid they'll lose their readers?

I don't get it.

My story was finally posted today.

Phew.

I just wanted to add that they have also resumed sending acceptances/rejections--according to duotrope, at least. So for anyone wanting to submit--they seem to be back on track. Best of luck to all.

My last contact from Mike Vidafar was on September 10, regarding the contract for a story that is (hopefully still) in press. Lately, Firefox has been telling me that Washington Pastime is a reported attack site.

I've emailed Mike and we'll see what happens.

I noticed that too, Chris. Hope it all works out for you. I'm not quite sure what is going on with them. I think they've only posted a few stories since mine was posted--maybe only two.

No reply from the editor, and the page is still blocked. Duotrope doesn't mention that they have stopped accepting submissions, and the link from Duotrope to the website is blocked, so I have the right website.

Seriously, not sure why anyone is still involving themselves with WP. There are better paid and more professional behaving markets out there.

I would have to agree at this point, but because I had the same experience as Chris, I felt that I should say something. I hope it works out.

No change from two weeks ago: still no reply from the editor and page still blocked.

At what time do I declare the publication dead and submit my story elsewhere? The contract was signed on September 10 of this year, and only mentions non-exclusive electronic rights and an exclusivity period for print of 24 months after publication [emphasis mine]. There is no mention of withdrawing the MS before publication, so I'm not sure what I should do. Email the editor and withdraw? I've not been paid for it, either, so at least that part is easy.

I'd say yes, withdraw your story. Unfortunately, given their general lack of communication, they might go ahead and publish it anyway (if they ever do publish anything else again).

This isn't such a great market that crossing it off your list will be a major loss.

Meanwhile, they need to fix this. Pronto.

Safe Browsing

Diagnostic page for washingtonpastime.com

What is the current listing status for washingtonpastime.com?

Site is listed as suspicious - visiting this web site may harm your computer.
Part of this site was listed for suspicious activity 4 time(s) over the past 90 days.
​

What happened when Google visited this site?

Of the 28 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 12 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 2012-12-05, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 2012-12-02.Malicious software is hosted on 5 domain(s), including mybackupmytaxrefund.ru/, fipscertifiedenables.ru/, qeolxk.sellclassics.com/.
This site was hosted on 2 network(s) including AS47583 (HOSTING), AS15169 (Google Internet Backbone).
​

Has this site acted as an intermediary resulting in further distribution of malware?

Over the past 90 days, washingtonpastime.com did not appear to function as an intermediary for the infection of any sites.
​

Has this site hosted malware?

No, this site has not hosted malicious software over the past 90 days.
​

How did this happen?

In some cases, third parties can add malicious code to legitimate sites, which would cause us to show the warning message.
​

Next steps:

• Return to the previous page.
• If you are the owner of this web site, you can request a review of your site using Google Webmaster Tools. More information about the review process is available in Google's Webmaster Help Center.

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Thanks Uncle Jim. They had responded very professionally and timely in the past (about a year ago), even if it was a rejection. But, I remember the editor at that time being a woman, so the change in leadership might have been bad for them.

In case you missed it, here is my experience with this magazine when they accepted my story: http://thewrittenabsurd.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/strange-tale-of-rejected-acceptance.html

No great loss if they've folded I'd say.

Project Deadlight said:

In case you missed it, here is my experience with this magazine when they accepted my story: http://thewrittenabsurd.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/strange-tale-of-rejected-acceptance.html

No great loss if they've folded I'd say.

Click to expand...

Wow, that's exactly my recent experience for the most part.

I had submitted a different story over a year ago, and got a prompt and courteous personal rejection. I think the editor at the time was a lady, while the current editor is male. At that time, though, I was quite impressed. With the current story, their response took 104 days (versus 3 days for the previous personal rejection), and I too was surprised at the token payment. But, others seemed to have a good view of the magazine, so I signed the contract. No word since September 10, 2012 and no responses to attempts to contact.

No response to my withdrawal, and site still blocked.

I'm willing to call this market DOA, but does anyone who knows contract thingies know if there would be any repercussions for sending it elsewhere without acknowledgment that I've withdrawn it? Do I need to tell the new publisher that it was previously under contract but never published?

Just FYI...Mike Vidafar posted on his blog about the website being hacked:

http://mikevidafar.com/category/blog/

This is dreadful. You have my sympathy, Chris. I do believe I'd be a stuttering neanderthal if that'd happened to my story.

But I wasn't good enough to be accepted, either. So, regardless of the experience of with the press, at least they liked your work. There's always the silver lining.

Happy holidays to all the regulars on this thread. And best wishes with your story, Chris. Maybe you can salvage it from WP.