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What are some of the ways you can tell if someone is new to the zine scene, or if they are a long-time zinester? (I ask in the spirit of good humor and silliness, not mean-spiritedness.)

My example: Old-timers put anti-alien stickers (like below) on their envelopes, because they've had dozens of them hanging around since the mid-90s and they want to be rid of them.

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Haha nice thread and I like your example!

Newbies will sometimes tape coins in the post to pieces of card only slightly larger than the original coin, unwittingly turning the coin into a precise and devastating envelope-destroying machine.
Dear god... i haven't seen one of those stickers in ages but i had so many of them! - Just had to add. I will have to think of some zine quirks from yesteryear.

The one i can think of is that some of us who spawned from Riot Grrrl still use "yr" instead of "your". I got out of the habit only a couple years ago, but i notice some seasoned old school zinesters still do it.
Oh Wow! I haven't seen those forever. I used to get those with my "Pound of Shit" I would order from Suburban Home Records.

How about this: Old school zinesters that still hold out for Factsheet 5 to rise from the dead... when we all should know that Zine World is way more rad!
Jerianne, I still have a ton of those and still can't seem to use them up. Man, they sent me a _roll_!

I'm with Alex, adding that they name drop Mike Gunderloy or Seth Friedman like they were best friends and/or confidantes. Some more:

* They had a zine(s) reviewed in Gunderloy's Factsheet Five.
* They bemoan blogging's impact on zinemaking. (OK, newbies do, too.)
* They miss megazines like Bunnyhop and Ben Is Dead.
* They don't sell their zines on Etsy (yet).
* The IPA owes them money.
* Tower owes them money.
* See/Hear owes them money.
* They miss Blackout Mail Order.
* They preferred the original Quimby's location.
* They used to have their own Kinko's copier counter that they'd scammed (pre-card!).
* They used to have their own Kinko's copier counter that they'd scammed (pre-card!

Totally! I still have one hanging on the wall of my office like some sort of trophy!
Newbie: They make an 'ezine'
Newbies don't know when ordering a zine you have to include your address on a note inside the envelope because just writing on the envelope just don't cut it.

Newbies will try these crazy new ways of binding their zines before realzing that boring old staples are the only things that work.

Old timers wonder what ever happened to TR Miller.

Old timers have a strong opinion as to who was the best publisher of Factsheet 5.

What was the deal with those "No Alien" stickers anyways? When I was first getting into zines it seemed like every envelope would come with them but I never knew if there was any deeper meaning or if it was just kind of a silly symbol someone came up with.
Probably viral marketing for Independence Day...
I used up all of my anti-alien stickers!
I love oldies and newbies alike, and as an oldie, that sticker cracks me up.
In australia, you can tell an oldie by if they signed up the stamp bulletin newsletter before they started putting cross lines across the actual sized pictures of stamps so you could no longer cut them out and use them like you would real stamps by just gluing them on!
Also, old timers find it perfectly reasonable to interview bands and publish really basic info which would nowadays be published and easily accessed online in their myspace page's biography bit!

I totally agree about yr. I was so shocked when it started to gain widespread use due to sms writing language taking over!
Ha ha, that sticker came from your envelope!

Heath Row said:
Jerianne, I still have a ton of those and still can't seem to use them up. Man, they sent me a _roll_!

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