That’s a good question. The main reason I (Jason) didn’t want the 2004-2009 archives redesigned is because each issue, story, poem, review, or what have you, is representative of a point in our history, and I want readers to be able to view and read our content as it first appeared on the Web. While our earliest design isn’t online–I wish it were–the redesign marks our fourth, major update. The second design can be seen in our April 2004-September 2006 archives, like in “Miss Priscilla’s Dead.” The third design ran from October 2006–December 2009. And the fourth is, of course, what we’re using now.

Two publications came to mind when I considered the archives: Hobart and Juked. Both have left previous incarnations of their site intact, though Juked‘s 1999-2004 material is offline now, and I enjoy perusing their archives, seeing what pieces looked like when they were originally published.

Oh, and meet our new section break:

He’ll be replacing the three asterisks. Who is he anyway? He’s Andrew Walker, a writer from the Louisville scene, who we haven’t been in touch with for years. The original photo was lost, so his likeness on the previous decomP logo is all that remains from our contact with him.