I am rather stunned that Dragon and Dungeon are coming to an end, and I am raising a glass with several other people here.
I first became aware of Dragon magazine back in high school, when I first started gaming. I remember seeing classic articles, previews of such character classes as the Barbarian and the Cavalier, and so many other articles. I feel as if I am losing an old friend, and one that I barely came to know but respected. Soon, they will begone, much like the old Polyhedron magazine from the RPGA.
Dragon and later Dungeon served as venues for people who are fans of our hobby to get their articles into print. I remember the first Forgotten Realms articles, the articles on such settings as Red Steel, Birthright, Mystara, and Eberron. I remember using the articles from the Dragon to try to sell a skeptical group of gamers on the possibilities of D&D 3.0. So, now where will the new writers who want to share their love of our hobby go? WotC seems likely to just control its new online content, and Paizo seems to need only some very specific things -- adventures and monsters. I feel that the ending of these magazines diminishes our hobby, but perhaps others will pick up the slack.
I will keep an eye out on Creative Mountain Games for the next few days, and see what Mark has to say on these changes. As a matter of fact, I will be seeing what a lot of people in the gaming industry will say about this. Dragon and Dungeon coming to an end is not like two local dinners closing --- rather it is like two fairly big chains saying that they are shutting down.
Local hobby stores will lose some sales over this, and the magazines helped serve as ways to give people some information about the hobby. Indeed, Dragon for a time served as a magazine where you would find articles on many different sorts of games and it introduced me to new games. So, while I wish Paizo and WotC well, I don't think this decision really serves the customers. Ryan Dancey once wrote that the reason TSR failed was that they did not listen to their customers. So, I have to ask if WotC is failing to hear its customers.