Liz Schuh on Dragon/Dungeon moving to the web

[BryonD]

On a side note, I've yet to get a 404 ERROR PAGE NOT FOUND or a HTTP 500 Error in my Dragon or Dungeon magazine.

Do I have to mention that hard drives fail also? I can't tell you how much online content I've lost over time due to those failures.

So while it can be more convenient, the downside is much more extensive in an online model.

How do you lose online content when your hard drive fails?


And when a magazine gets lost or damaged, it is gone.
Electronic files can be backed up, both by the user and the provider.
I don't see how you will come close to giving paper the edge if we are focusing on an access and recoverability criteria.

 

[Maggan]

On a side note, I've yet to get a 404 ERROR PAGE NOT FOUND or a HTTP 500 Error in my Dragon or Dungeon magazine.

Do I have to mention that hard drives fail also? I can't tell you how much online content I've lost over time due to those failures.

So while it can be more convenient, the downside is much more extensive in an online model.

I got the equvivalent for the print mags though; 404 ERROR SUBSCRIPTION FAILED TO TURN UP, and ERROR FLGS ONLY GOT THREE ISSUES INSTEAD OF 25 SO YOU'RE OUT OF LUCK.

Sure, there are many things that can go wrong with a DI. But there are many things that can go wrong with a magazine as well.

/M

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

On a side note, I've yet to get a 404 ERROR PAGE NOT FOUND or a HTTP 500 Error in my Dragon or Dungeon magazine.

Do I have to mention that hard drives fail also? I can't tell you how much online content I've lost over time due to those failures.

So while it can be more convenient, the downside is much more extensive in an online model.

All the people - especially international customers - whose magazines have been delayed or NEVER delivered had a '404 error' for the print medium. And unlike web subscribers, who can just visit an hour or a day later and find the site in working order, some of these people ended up canceling, asking for their money back - or just soldiering on, having paid for something they never got. Shipping problems were a very big deal for Paizo a year or so ago.

If you buy from your local store rather than subscribing, every time the store has ever been out of stock was a '404 error' for the print medium. Again, it was unlikely to be rectified in the next hour or even the next day. If the store didn't order more copies, it would NEVER be rectified, and you'd never have an opportunity to even SEE the magazine.

If you lose your magazine, or your dog chews it up, or your cat throws up on the page you needed, or it gets otherwise damaged, you lost your content. Unlike with digital content, you never had the opportunity to back it up to CD (why didn't you back up your hard drive regularly if it regularly crashed? ), and you couldn't simply re-download/access it as a subscriber to an online service could. It was gone and the only way to get it back was to buy it again.

 

[Odhanan]

I wish the interview had gone this way:

Q: Why are the two channels mutually exclusive--why couldn't you do both?

A: That's a good question. We really just feel at this point that the Web is a better delivery system than a printed magazine.

Q: I'm sorry, maybe I wasn't clear in my question. I'll try again. Why couldn't you do both?

A: We really just feel at this point that the Web is a better delivery system than a printed magazine.

Q: Yes, I understand that you think one delivery system is superior to the other, but that doesn't address the question of why you couldn't do both rather than just the one you think is a better delivery system.

A: <crickets>

Ditto. This question for me is the crux of the issue, and it's been systematically avoided/answered with dodging PR.

 

[freebfrost]

How do you lose online content when your hard drive fails.

You lose online content when you stop paying. You lose downloaded content when a HDD crashes.

I don't lose magazines when I stop paying each month, nor do I lose my magazine with a hardware failure.

 

[freebfrost]

I got the equvivalent for the print mags though; 404 ERROR SUBSCRIPTION FAILED TO TURN UP, and ERROR FLGS ONLY GOT THREE ISSUES INSTEAD OF 25 SO YOU'RE OUT OF LUCK.

I've been a subscriber for almost 20 years - never missed an issue (TSR crash days notwithstanding). YMMV, but once you get the magazine you never lose it.

 

[freebfrost]

All the people - especially international customers - whose magazines have been delayed or NEVER delivered had a '404 error' for the print medium. And unlike web subscribers, who can just visit an hour or a day later and find the site in working order, some of these people ended up canceling, asking for their money back - or just soldiering on, having paid for something they never got. Shipping problems were a very big deal for Paizo a year or so ago.

Sure, it's great for international customers.

How many are there again?

If you buy from your local store rather than subscribing, every time the store has ever been out of stock was a '404 error' for the print medium. Again, it was unlikely to be rectified in the next hour or even the next day. If the store didn't order more copies, it would NEVER be rectified, and you'd never have an opportunity to even SEE the magazine.

ebay.com, nobleknight.com, dragontrove.com

If you lose your magazine, or your dog chews it up, or your cat throws up on the page you needed, or it gets otherwise damaged, you lost your content. Unlike with digital content, you never had the opportunity to back it up to CD (why didn't you back up your hard drive regularly if it regularly crashed? ), and you couldn't simply re-download/access it as a subscriber to an online service could. It was gone and the only way to get it back was to buy it again.

Boarding and bagging goes a long way to preserving your information. A backup is only a backup if the media works...

 

[Jim Hague]

What, exactly, is this "grand conspiracy" you keep talking about?

"WotC might have written the interview & sent it as a press release"? Is that a "grand conspiracy" in your eyes? How is that "Illuminati-esque"?

Color me confused.


RC

It's the way you're presenting it - based on a CBC expose, you're implying that a huge number of companies crock the news this way. Then you imply that WotC has done so. With no proof whatsoever. Correlation does not equal causation, RK. It's just taking another cheap and unfounded shot at the company, something ehich everyone has seen far too much of in the past few weeks.

In any case, it's irrelevant to the statements that were made, since there's no proof it was done, just speculation on your part.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

Sure, it's great for international customers.

How many are there again?

About an equal number, IIRC.

Anyway, at least a million. Your concern for them is... touching, to say the least.

ebay.com, nobleknight.com, dragontrove.com

So you need the internet to get your print media, now? In any case, you still end up paying for it again.

Boarding and bagging goes a long way to preserving your information. A backup is only a backup if the media works...

What is this, comic book collecting? How do you use it in play if it's boarded and bagged? I don't know about you, but I've seen plenty of cats, dogs and spilled drinks at the games' table, some of which have done damage.

As to the backups - since you're on a message board right now, I *assume* you replaced your hard drive at some point.

 

[Jim Hague]

You lose online content when you stop paying. You lose downloaded content when a HDD crashes.

I don't lose magazines when I stop paying each month, nor do I lose my magazine with a hardware failure.

So if the magazine gets ruined by a drink or a pet mauling it...? That's equivalent to a hardware failure. And magazine paper decays, just like any other kind of paper.

I'm not super happy with the magazines going away, but the arguments you're presenting are bunk.