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                      MAGAZINE WRITERS - A DYING SPECIES?!
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While trying to create  a new team of steady  writers for the  UCM I checked the
situation on  the "writers scene" and  the things I  found there, will  be mixed
together in this article.

The problem of the nowadays Atari diskmag scene  is the heavy lack of active and
overall steady  writers and  contributors. This wouldn't  be a big problem if we
would gave a shit on  diversity, since the current  magazine writers staff would
be very able to let at least one magazine survive over longer time.

But if you want to create a new magazine  or something like that, you have a lot
of problems to solve, not only for you, as well as for the Atari scene.

The latest changes on the diskmag sector, over the past 2 years, showed up, that
we reached a point that  is something like the  final frontier, there isn't much
more possible, we reached our end, not in  the way that it's senseless to create
more than one magazine, nope, just in the fact that we reached a point where its
hard for  the scene to  support the  running magazines  and where seems to be no
space left for new zines  at all. And this is  just a question of the active and
possible writers.

In the last time, anything that  was created or supported  more, was sucking out
the air of other publications. Just as examples...

- UCM with STsurvivor as editor  was called to be dead to create Alive, and with
  him the former hard staff of writers changed to Alive as well.
- Grey, a former more or less steady writer of UCM, left it  to create CHOSNECK.
- CiH left MAGGIE to go on with UCM in co-editorship. So  MAGGIE is more or less
  dead, since the RESERVOIR GODS left them.
- Since STsurvivor had left TOXIC mag  after all and it went to an online maggie
  it is dying slowly as well.

And so it goes on... As you can see on this short overview, only a few names are
presented here, always the (former) main editors. But what comes after them?!
Those main editors are today the motor's of the single magazines and ALIVE seems
to have the  best chances then since it doesn't only got two main editors in one
team but also a small  but steady  writers staff  and so the ALIVE team is today
the most potent one.

But as you maybe remember, some years before all existing magazines had a bigger
writers staff, alone for UCM wrote  about 1o different  people for  almost every
issue, the same goes for MAGGIE and also TOXIC offered a wide range of writers.
But today all those writer teams are nearly vanished, except the main editors...

And  since I  started to  reanimate UCM, I checked  that is a  damn hard work to
create a new writers team, since  some people that joined  our lines before have
lost the motivation and from alone nearly nobody wants to give you a hand and so
even the threat  that the magazine would die  without support, doesn't  helps to
drag the active Atarians out of their holes. Sometimes it seems that they always
want to read something but want to let a magazine die before going to write some
lines for it... So what?!

This isn't the  truth at all. Since I don't wanted to be the only writer I asked
several people for help. Not that I was going to bet them, I just wanted to know
if they're interested at all as  they were going to contact me, or as we chatted
on IRC. Most times I got the same answers: "Yes, I would  write something, but I
don't know what!"...

Is this the truth? Naaa, not at  all. Here comes a  problem to the daylight that
surely is  caused of all the  quarrels in the  past years... I don't see the big
problem in writing down game or esp. demo reviews. I know that  the current hard
staff of the Atari demo scene is creating  and watching demos, and so there have
the most of  us their own views on the things. But since  it isn't easy nowadays
to speak out what you think without  getting problems with other sceners, nobody
wants to do it anymore, at least not in the public, aka in a magazine.

Surely the most people want to know what others think about the single releases,
but they avoid it like the devil the holy water, to speak out their own thoughts
and this is a fact! Unfortunately  the nowadays sceners seem to be a bit fragile
in that point and only a few ones can  stand heavy slaggings  as I got after the
single releases  of UCM nearly anytime (even if I always  got a lot of reactions
that said to me: "Well done! Someone has to say the truth!").

But is this the reason to sat down and do nothing?! Nope! I don't think so, esp.
since  the nowadays  Atari scene is a  gathering of mostly  active and very hard
specialized people. So if you don't want to get in the crossfire in writing down
your thoughts  about the latest  scene releases, you still  have a lot of fronts
you can work on. You want some examples? You'll get them!

Surely you can  remember the  great "Artfactory" series by mOdmate or the coding
tutorials and  the "Lamers Heaven" corner. Since the most people that are around
nowadays are doing something, are active on the  scene while creating something,
they all have got a lot  of experiences in the things they're doing. So where is
the problem to write down some hints and tricks, just as for coding some routine
or for tracking  some music, for painting  techniques, the best  use of programs
and so on? After all this would help to give other readers the chance to wake up
their interest in following  those hints, to find a way and the motivation to do
something by  themself. This is a way to support  newcomers, not only to support
a single magazine, but to support the scene in the end!

So if you have experiences, write them down  to help other to step through their
problems with those tools and techniques. It must not  be the high end solution,
but where is the problem to show up other peoples YOUR own ways of best use?

But this isn't all... You always can write down some lines about programs you're
using then  as well, that must not be  real reviews, but  only things  that show
your own  experiences with those  tools. And nobody  will fuck  you if you write
down what you like or  dislike while using that programs... since this is also a
way to give feedback, esp. since I know that feedback is also some kind of dying
in the nowadays scene...

And there is more... Since  the most of  you're stuck in  the scene, some longer
some are newbies. But you always  have views on  the things, experiences  in the
past  or plans  for the future. So  write down  your views, express  them to the
other sceners, show them that  there is still  some life in  that scene and show
them as well, that  different views  onto the things are  a must. Esp. if you're
stuck into other scenes as well, you can  write down a lot  of things and views,
about the movements of other scenes, just to show up what others are doing since
I still believe in the fact that it can help to check what they're doing.

Last but  not least  you surely have  checked that  all existing  magazines have
opened their  borders more  and more. So you can read also a lot about not scene
related topics. And  if you're  in fear of  getting flames  and fucks about your
views onto the Atari related  topics, you always will  have the possibilities to
write down other things... And as long  as you're bringing  in your own thoughts
and views, you will always find some interested reader...