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                            INTERNET VERSUS DISKMAGS
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The current  situation on  the diskmag scene, and  this not only  on our beloved
Atari scene, is stamped by shrinking release intervals, shrinking support and so
also shrinking contents as  well as shrinking interest in diskmags? The last one
is just a rethoric  question as there were always people around that liked it to
read diskmags as well as some that didn't liked them.

Because of this situation, the diskmag editors started to check out the possible
reasons for this and so do I.

A thing I already found out long time before  was the  fact that the internet is
slowly killing several domains that were filled out by diskmags in former times.
So far the internet wasn't seen  as real rival to  the diskmag scene, but now we
have to think about it, again, esp. in view onto the Atari scene.

...the news...

One big domain of diskmags in times as  internet, mailboxes, bulletin boards and
email were too expensive, too slow and not available for everyone, were the news
about  the things that are going  on in the  scene. Even if the diskmags weren't
released in much faster rhythm as today  they contained  always hot informations
and brought all the underground informations and news to the public.

But with  the growing  access of the users to mailboxes and mainly the internet,
the slow releases of the  magazines, collecting  news over  several months, were
killing the news domain. In fact this is the same today. The existing  magazines
mainly feature  only news because  of tradition, not as real news anymore, as it
is hard nowadays  to get  some exclusive  news and  informations  to be spreaded
within the mags. Furthermore  the slow release  intervals are breaking  out this
domain as well, as we write down some  news and finally the  things we announced
in the mags were  already released  and spreaded to  everyone when the magazines
hit the streets.

So the news corner in the magazines starved  from the most hottest  thing around
to a collection of the things that happened within the last months and I have to
admit that  there seems to  be no real  need for this corner anymore. The reason
why they  are still published  are easy, it's a  tradition and  it isn't easy to
break with traditions...

...the interviews...

Another big domain  of diskmags in former  times were interviews with the who is
who of the  scene. Mostly nobody heard  about the one or other or knew that much
about them. So interviews belonged to the most interesting parts of any magazine
and were read right after the news corner.

Now this domain is losing more  and more of its  ground. The problem is that the
todays scene  isn't that big  anymore, the most  people know  each other, mainly
because of the IRC and many discussions  on several bulletin boards. Furthermore
several homepages started to open interview corners by themselve as well as some
group homepages started to out many things about their single members, too

The only way to stay fresh is to make  actual interviews, not  focusing onto the
person itself but onto  her views onto the scene as well as presence and future.
But here also the  internet is starting  to break down  any possible interest as
the bulletin boards that are growing like mushrooms everywhere often offer their
latest views already and you're running into danger to present an old hut.

...scene informations...

While old  magazines brought a lot  of views  onto the  scene, announcements and
such stuff to the readers, today  the news services on the  net and over all the
bulletin boards have  taken over this  job nearly completely. Informations about
parties  can be found  on the net  and their own  homepages and  discussions and
private views  are spreaded like  sand over the  whole internet. Also the IRC is
destroying the need for  this corner in  the diskmags, esp. if you want to write
some  stuff that  was going  on, as you will  write about stuff  everybody knows
already about and nobody cares about anymore.

This part is surely still a  small domain of the magazines, but this one is more
or less shrinking day  by day as well as the  people that want  to express their
thoughts about different themes in this corner of a magazine.

...hints and tips...

Again an old domain  of diskmags was  the release  of coding  hints, sources and
stuff. But  the existing  forums, several download  pages and over  all the chat
via IRC killed this  domain quite  quickly. Programming  problems and  helps are
exchanged in the chats and forums and if people need help, they  just ask others
for help and don't wait for "new" coding hints in the diskmags anymore.

...reviews...

Without any doubt this was the biggest domain of the diskmags so far and is able
to hold it  up, at least in  parts. To face  the truth, more and  more homepages
with  reviews  of different  programs are  growing like  mushrooms but  detailed
reviews are still a bit  rare on  the net. The  big problem nowadays is more the
fact that reviews are more and more  not up to date  anymore because of the net,
as everyone gets  his hands on  the single  programs before they get reviewed in
a diskmag and so the people usually have turned the programs inside out when the
reviews appearing in the diskmags and to get rare stuff is quite hard nowadays.

...mixer...

In fact this parts in  the mags were included to express views onto other stuffs
apart from computing  and to entertain  the readers a bit. Today this part seems
to be more and more used to fill  up the magazines  a bit... I'm expressing also
my views onto several music  cd's movies and stuff in  this part and I wont stop
in doing this as it is a need to me to express  these thoughts, those are things
of the kind "I just wanted to say that..."
Unfortunately diskmag editors are running in danger to include too much of these
stuffs into their  magazines, especially in times  as the scene  is quite silent
and releases are seldom, as there is nothing else to write about...

...conclusion...

Hum... after  all those points  you really  start to wonder why those crazy guys
are still  holding up their  magazine editor flagg and  tormenting themselves to
create something that has overlived itself as it seems.

The reasons are quite simple...

- There are still many people around who like it to read diskmags...

- It is the editors contribution to the scene...

- It is still a medium that reflects the movement of the scene...

- Overall it is the hobby of the editors! The  todays main editors  on Atari are
  in fact more or  less all veterans  that grewed up  in the  current scene with
  their publications and their skills as  editors. And  atm I don't remember any
  guy who is  willing to  give up his  hobby, where he worked over years, really
  for free. Sure, this is a quite slow process and we know that many people have
  left the scene for  example quite  suddenly. But the things with a diskmag are
  somehow different... At  first, if  you start  to release numbered  stuff, the
  crowd is  always waiting  for the  next number... At  second, the works mostly
  took years and someway you have  build up  something and  overall you gained a
  lot of reputation with your work, you got feedback  and many friends and mates
  in the scene, just because of your work...

Just a  rethoric question... What  would CiH do in the scene if he wouldn't work
as diskmag editor anymore?! ;)

That were my thoughts  and I  came to  the conclusion, that  diskmags are surely
overtaken today as  medium, but they just  belong to the  scene from  their very
beginning on and if they would die, another part  of the scene would be gone and
make this small subculture a bit less colourful...

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