25 Not Out

the Skeptic, Autumn 2006

By Barry Williams

A significant milestone has just been passed for the Skeptic - 25 years in print and still going strong. Beginning as a four page tabloid sized newsletter, the magazine has evolved through several manifestations into the excellent journal we have today. These snapshots of various covers will underline just how much we have changed in appearance, but the changes in content have been even more significant.

 Among the reasons why we have been so successful has been our willingness to explore issues that fall outside a strict interpretation of what many consider to be "Skeptics business". Our readership is an intelligent one, with a wide and diverse range of concerns, so our intention has been to cover the broadest possible selections of topics that we judge will be of interest to at least some of them. Too close a focus on too narrow a field is bound to lead to repetition and, ultimately boredom.

The feedback we get from you, the reader, suggests that we have been selecting fairly wisely. Not everyone is interested in every subject, but that is only to be expected. The fact that your compliments greatly outnumber complaints (apart from being good for the editorial ego) and the fact that our resubscription rate is very high, testifies that we have been getting the balance about right.

Another factor is that we have consciously avoided allowing the Skeptic to become narrowly partisan in political, religious or philosophical terms. In the Skeptic you will read articles that might well indicate the personal biases or convictions of the authors, but as long as they steer clear of fundamentalism or fanaticism, then we are happy to publish them. Publication does not equate with endorsement of the ideas expressed, only that we consider them worthy of consideration.

Contributors do not have to adhere to the "Skeptic party line" because there is no party line. Skepticism and dogmatism can not cohabit harmoniously; Skeptics are generally more likely to be pragmatists. Skeptics come in all manner of guises, and it would be surprising indeed if all of them hewed to any particular ideological or philosophical line, and we are not prepared to alienate up to half our potential audience by being pigheaded followers of fashion. (We have even heard that there are some Skeptics who don't like cricket, which simply shows how much of a broad church (sorry) laboratory we have.)

Above all, we believe that by maintaining a sense of humour and by not taking ourselves too seriously, we stand a far better chance of winning both converts and arguments, than by appearing as a bunch of whining jeremiahs or naysayers.

Enough of the self-congratulatory rhetoric. We’ve had fun producing the Skeptic for a quarter of a century and by your continued support you seem to agree with us. You will find many fine articles in the latest issue to stimulate you and some that might surprise or even infuriate you. We wouldn’t have it any other way.