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What is Dumb Runner, and who is behind it?
To learn more about Dumb Runner and its raison d’être, click here. To learn about the incredibly handsome man behind it, try this on for size.
What does raison d’être mean?
It’s French, meaning, literally, “reason for être.”
Where is Dumb Runner based?
We have field offices in Madrid, London, Montreal, Tokyo, Frankfurt, Singapore, and Los Angeles. Our global headquarters occupies a former textile factory in Brooklyn, New York, with an interior designed by the late I. M. Pei.
Really?
No. Mark lives in Portland, Oregon, so that is also where Dumb Runner is based.
Because Mark is Dumb Runner?
Now you’re catching on.
Does Dumb Runner accept reader submissions?
No, sorry.
Does Dumb Runner accept “blog posts,” full of links to products, written by sketchy strangers?
No.
Even if they offer to pay you?
Especially if they offer to pay me!
Why doesn’t Dumb Runner accept ads?
Four reasons:
Display ads are ugly and intrusive. Which is bad for readers.
When a site relies on ads for revenue, that site is incentivized to generate page views however it can. This leads to such pernicious crap as clickbait, trolling, recycled/rewritten content that you could find on dozens of other sites, simple articles or lists chopped up into multipage “galleries” that you must click through, and so on. Which is bad for readers.
Accepting ads would compromise the site’s integrity. To paraphrase the late William Gaines, founding publisher of MAD magazine: I long ago decided I couldn't take money from Nike and make fun of ASICS. Doing so would be—you guessed it—bad for readers.
On yet another level, I'm committed to keeping Dumb Runner ad-free (and sponsor-free, and affiliate-link-free) precisely because just about every other thing online has all of those things. We're up to our eyeballs in commerce and consumerism, goods and services, shilled by everyone, everywhere we go. Dumb Runner, by design, is an oasis from all of that, and I'm determined to keep it that way. That’s good for readers!
In short: Sites that accept advertising (which is virtually all of them) do not think primarily of you when making editorial decisions. They think of their advertisers, and of their own revenue goals.
When I create stuff, I want to think of you—and only you. That’s why Dumb Runner doesn’t accept ads.
Why doesn’t Dumb Runner accept “sponsored posts”?
See above.
I work for a brand or PR company; may I send you a product for review?
Dumb Runner does not accept free goods or services.
I’m just going to send you my product anyway.
Knock yourself out. I’ll donate it to Goodwill, then write your product’s name on a slip of paper, burn it, and flush the ashes down the toilet.
Does Dumb Runner have paywalls or subscription fees?
Nope. Everything I create is open and available to all.
How much time do you spend on Dumb Runner? Is it a full-time job?
I don’t track my hours, but I figure I spend anywhere from 20 to 25 hours per week on All Things Dumb Runner—creating articles and comics and such, doing social media stuff, corresponding with readers, etc. That’s not including the time I spend thinking about All Things Dumb Runner. Which is considerable.
How much time do you spend scrolling through pages of stock photos, at 50 per page, trying to find the perfect one?
You’d be amazed.
So how does Dumb Runner make money?
From its readers. That’s it. If you appreciate what I do and the way I’m doing it, you can show your support with a monthly pledge via Patreon.com; a one-time donation via Paypal or Venmo; or by buying some merch from my Threadless store. For more on all those options, visit the Support Dumb Runner page.
Every dollar helps, and that’s the honest truth.
What platform is DumbRunner.com on?
I use Squarespace, which I like a lot. For the newsletter, Mailchimp. Most of my stock photos come from iStockphoto.com, Depositphotos.com, and Unsplash.com.
How long will you keep doing Dumb Runner?
As long as I can, and as long as it’s still fun.
How can I contact Dumb Runner?
You can email me at info@dumbrunner.com. Unless it’s spam. If it’s spam, please email spam@spam.spam.
What now?
I dunno… Check out the homepage, maybe?
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