Ritsch and Renn have been designing the list of the c’t for 25 years

For the first 15 years, c’t contented itself with ironically commenting on grievances, trends and current observations from the IT world in editorials designed by changing editors. Other magazines banish humor and irony in the form of a small cartoon to a lower third of the page at the front or, more often, to the very back of the magazine. The editorial is usually reserved for the editor-in-chief, who at this point more or less dryly praises the advantages of this issue.

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At the beginning of 1998 – the c’t had switched from the monthly magazine to the fortnightly publication frequency a few issues ago – the first front page appeared at the front of the magazine and was a full page. And no half measures: it was about the end of civilization, as a cleaning lady in the Pentagon activated nuclear warheads while scrubbing the keyboards. The following magazines also contained extremely biting headlines that satirized, for example, a teacher’s first attempts at a new school subject called computer science or the priorities of a father and computer nerd.

Irony and sarcasm are always a problem in professional magazines, even when presented in the form of a cartoon. This is how one reader got angry:

“The c’t’s gradual decline in standards is now apparently also expressed in Playboy-compatible caricatures. What will we be offered next after fried children and idiotic teachers? Another page like that and I’ll cancel my subscription.”

The very first front page in c’t 1/1998: Dr. Strange would have been thrilled.

Fortunately, this letter to the editor did not represent the prevailing opinion. In the following issue we were able to present some different reader opinions, such as Mr. Szabo’s:

“Sometimes I get the impression that a lot of computer freaks go to the basement to laugh. Keep it up and don’t let a few curmudgeons spoil your mood.”

Dear Mr. Szabo, we do that and we laugh often and happily, sitting in front of the computer in the basement as well as in the office. Our humor is just a little more special, and it is obviously not only appreciated in German-speaking countries, as Andrew Way confirms:

“It’s nice to see that hobby psychologists also read your magazine. I just think your jokes page is great, and for me as an Englishman, the blacker the better. There is a German with a sense of humor! Even if you lose a subscriber, “You can rest easy as I plan to subscribe to your magazine.”

Thank you very much, Mr. Way, but there is one thing you are not entirely correct about: the authors of our front page are still Ritsch and Renn, two Viennese and representatives of the great Austrian black humor. Many of our German readers also like it, as a response to the criticism of the depiction of a “fried child” shows:

“I (a long time reader, long time computer user and father of a sweet daughter) found the drawing so successful that it is now framed and hanging above my PCs next to the entrance to the children’s room.”

c’t 4/1998: Scandal about fried children and fried data.

The depiction of a teacher desperately trying to understand how to prepare a storage medium to hold files while her charges watch porn or hack the exam database also provoked criticism:

“Your joke page with the depiction of a teacher who is portrayed as computer illiterate and of course old and ugly is, in my opinion, misogynistic and not funny at all. This type of joke only occurs with men who have not managed to get their to work through childish relationships with their mothers.”

The author of this c’t Retro article has had similar experiences with a teacher of computer basics. The computer doesn’t care whether it is operated by a user. We c’t editors write for everyone who wants or needs to deal with IT hardware and software and digitalization. Because we know from our own experience: If you want to work with computers, you need specialist knowledge, patience and a lot of sense of humor.

In c’t 5/1998, a teacher’s computer science class caused discussions.

Every 14 days, Germany’s largest IT editorial team presents you with current tips, critical reports, extensive tests and in-depth reports on IT security & data protection, hardware, software and app developments, smart home and much more. Independent journalism is the be-all and end-all at c’t.

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