I knew a guy in the early nineties whom also was working on "The Urban Spelunker" (a competing weekly to The Stranger) and I vividly remember him griping about Tim and Dan stealing their thunder.
I used to read all the free papers, and loved the Stranger at first sight. I remember all the fictitious lonely heart ads in the first issue. I would always buy the PI and pick up the SGN and the boy I loved would get the Times and the Rocket. We got the WSJ delivered in those days, now I hate them LOL. I don't miss the black ink on my hands. The only paper I get delivered now is the NYT, everything else is electronic or I am so mad at them I just don't read it at all.
Remember when the Stranger mgt told staffers that of anyone was caught talking to anyone affiliated with Tablet, a competitor for a few years, that they would be immediately fired? Yes, those were the days.
But to get this conversation back on track- what I miss about the old Stranger is the chart of how other publications would rate films by listing how much of a boner it gave them. A chart every week with films and newspapers and different stages of erections next to them. The best.