DiskMags - A perspective.
As someone who is pretty ancient by typical Sceners standards (age 40), I have the advantage that I've been around in computing and programming for a relatively long time - since 1981 in fact. I've seen a lot of technologies get hyped and come and go, a lot of technologies change and new technologies that people thought sucked come to the fore (The Internet).
I thought I would share with you a, shall we say, "experienced persons" perspective :)
In this (mercifully for you) brief article I wanted to say a few words about the fascinating phenomena of the Diskmag and more particularly peoples attitude to them. There seems to be a lot of 'angst' in the scene about Diskmags. 'Angst' is a word we don't often use in England (although God knows we have good reason to). ;) It means, according to my trusty dictionary, 'Feelings of anxiety'. By now you are probably thinking "what is this old fart up to, trying to bore us to death?". But no, pray let me continue. Is this angst justified? Will the Diskmag concept die? Will we all end up in canned gunk plugged into the matrix? (And now a commercial break)...
In Hugi 25 Adok made the comment that the Diskmag is justified in being considered an artform. I absolutely agree - the diskmag is a magical mix of articles, graphics, music and general look and feel. A diskmag is more than the sum of its parts - let's not forget that. However, I would take this one step further and say that a further ingredient of a successful Diskmag is the community around it. This community is not just the demo scene itself, it is the people who read, write, code, draw and compose the Diskmags. The Diskmag is like an extension of the community, it is the community that contributes the content, provides the art, music, articles, code, editorial. This community decides at the end of the day whether Diskmags as a whole live or die.
So, quell your angst my friends, don't fear for the future of the Diskmag, above all contribute to the community in some way. No great unseen hand can come down and take Diskmags away from us, as long as the community wills it to survive, the Diskmag concept will live, for many, many years to come.