Very random /old but concerning Dragon and Dungeon magazine... I'm completely blown away.

[Evenglare]

So I was perusing some of the old dragon magazines that I finally got around to downloading and one of them stood out to me in particular. Dragon 417's intro. I seriously cant even put into words what I'm thinking right now. Let me post the part that leaves me completely dumbfounded.....

"As you noticed last month (and as Chris Perkins
discussed in October’s Dungeon editorial), we’ve
made a change in the way the magazines are being
presented. Rather than having Dragon and Dungeon
articles appear individually on the D&D® website,
we’re experimenting with presenting them as a pair
of compiled, single-PDF issues.

On the one hand, this harkens back to the good
old days when you could buy Dragon and Dungeon
magazines on the newsstand (back when there were
such things as newsstands). On the other hand, you
might have gotten used to consuming the columns,
adventures, and supplemental material in bite-sized
nuggets. Either way, things have changed."

Now, granted I've been away from the 4e loop for quite a while. But I did start out at the beginning when all the articles were pdfs you could download at the end of the month. Then I knew they started to not compile the articles. And now they are compiling them again, which is great, but how the hell can the author completely and utterly gloss over the fact this was exactly what they were doing when 4e launched. I mean... GAH.... it's like they're pretending it never happened or something. Can anyone explain this? Did the author have a brain tumor that impacted his long term memory? I mean... what the hell were they trying to pull with this, as if it's a brand new thing.

 

[delericho]

It's possible, although admittedly unlikely, that they didn't set out to offend, but rather accidentally neglected to describe the entire history of the magazines back to the days of The Strategic Review.

But I agree that that's unlikely, of course.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

Can anyone explain this? Did the author have a brain tumor that impacted his long term memory? I mean... what the hell were they trying to pull with this, as if it's a brand new thing.

I believe at the beginning they were taking all the individual issues and shoving them into one PDF that could be downloaded at the end of the month, but it wasn't exactly a complied issue. It was just ever article in one PDF.

What they started doing later was making a cover page and ONLY releasing them as one PDF instead of releasing all the PDFs individually and them compiling them.

It might not be a huge difference, but it still is a difference.

 

[Evenglare]

I believe at the beginning they were taking all the individual issues and shoving them into one PDF that could be downloaded at the end of the month, but it wasn't exactly a complied issue. It was just ever article in one PDF.

Was I off somewhere when the word compiled/compilation got it's meaning changed? Let's have a look....
Compilation: a thing, esp. a book, record, or broadcast program, that is put together by assembling previously separate items.
I mean, I get where you are coming from, but compiling articles at the end of the month after they release, and compiling the articles for the middle of the month release is REALLY REALLY fine splitting hairs. Even then, as written he makes it sound like they are taking a bold leap for the company doing something completely and utterly new when it is ,at best, an insignificant difference.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

This shall not stand: I refuse to buy any Dragon or Dungeon magazines the next few months in protest.

 

[Evenglare]

This shall not stand: I refuse to buy any Dragon or Dungeon magazines the next few months in protest.

Actually made me laugh.

 

[Marshall]

Actually made me laugh.

....til I cried.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

(snip) And now they are compiling them again, which is great, but how the hell can the author completely and utterly gloss over the fact this was exactly what they were doing when 4e launched. I mean... GAH.... it's like they're pretending it never happened or something. Can anyone explain this? Did the author have a brain tumor that impacted his long term memory? I mean... what the hell were they trying to pull with this, as if it's a brand new thing.

Back to the Future seems to be WotC's "vision thing" for D&D.

1. We're compiling the articles to make mags again! (Yep, you did it before.)

2. We're stopping publication of the mags basically because financial problems have caused us to launch a new edition a few years ahead of schedule! (Yep, financial problems were the cause of the last time publication of the mags was stopped. This time it was not making enough; last time it was a question of solvency.)

3. We're selling old products as PDFs! (Um, yep, you did that before too.)

4. We're making Next! (We've gone back to 1999 and trying to make Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Third Edition.)

I'm sure there are more (and point 4 can easily be expanded!).