I joined the Social Text collective in 1985, when it had become a predominantly New York-based outfit (the New Haven and Madison collectives had dissolved) and I cycled off sixteen years later. For about half of that time, the journal was self-published in what was basically a homegrown operation. We not only copyedited and proofread articles but also physically sent out subscribers' copies in communal mailing sessions. For several years, we used PageMaker software to typeset and lay out the pages. Changes in the design of the cover were hotly debated. Problems with distribution or with final copy had to be dealt with, as did correspondence with subscribers and readers. Paying the bills, fundraising, and promotion were all hands-on tasks, and a host of other activities, both social and political, directly supported the production of the journal. In other words, the collective had full control, as we used to say, of "the means of production," and most of us attached a clear political value to this labor-intensive relationship to the journal. Other collectively produced journals shared that ethos, and it may be worth reflecting on some of the reasons that it was so relevant then, and why it no longer is today.