I'm kinda hoping that *some* of you have noticed the absence of new FOS issues over the past few months, and that the promised Issue #13 is almost a month behind the already delayed schedule. It's not a lack of interest on my part that has kept me from putting together a new issue. I even have plenty of art. It just seems that there isn't much interest for mags anymore. Other than Gutter, are there ANY other mags?

I'm just wondering if there's any point in continuing. Coding changes and nifty ansi only go so far, ya know? Is there anything you guys want to see in FOS that hasn't already been done? After two years of running this little project, I'm wondering if it's worth continuing...

inazone-

What you need is a good touch of Basic Training in your mag... *grin*... I'm kidding.... or AM I? hmmm...

-klumzee
I don't believe in your institutions.

i like mags... i really loved beam, especially :). Tho it did help i had a pic in beam 2 :)

ANSI artists like reading magazines, not writing in them.. If you need any serious, dedicated writers, look no further than the lit scene. :)

Argon

There's no spice in the ansi scene now that The Legion is sleeping. Fos doesn't have the controversy of the infamous group to write about anymore and god knows none of these other sissy groups can stir things up like The Legion did. I say drop the mag and take up quilting.

BUST THAT!

ansiscene is dying, bbs's are dying....ansiscene is dying, bbs's are dying....ansiscene is dying, bbs's are dying....ansiscene is dying, bbs's are dying....ansiscene is dying, bbs's are dying....ansiscene is dying, bbs's are dying....ansiscene is dying, bbs's are dying....ansiscene is dying, bbs's are dying....ansiscene is dying, bbs's are dying....ansiscene is dying, bbs's are dying....

I'd like to see FOS continue.. its always been my fave active mag, ever since i joined the scene a bit more than a year ago..

Since the need for mags has gone down, ever thought of turning it into somethign ice related? For example, not having a news file in the packs, but having fos as a place to be an ice rant/rave/news kinda thing? That could be neat, and it would be a way to keep it alive, if you've had thoughts of killing it :)

I must say I like luminous' idea quite a lot. At least you'll have content to go in the mag, and if there are no other articles, you've always got ice news to fall back on..

Inzaone (this thread reminds me, I have something to submit to you...) if you have mag-producing aspirations, why constrain it to the scene in terms of audience and scope? There is a wide text-zine and webzine community out there booming.

(For that matter, why limit yourself to the distribution a coded mag entails when all the articles could be available by anyone instantly online?)

As far as e-mags go, I plan on releasing a new issue of Kithe sometime soon, but that's never really been an ansi-scene mag 8)

inazone, you should do what i'm doing - planning an end for your mag.

i'm going to end gutter at issue 12. i feel that for 12 issues in one year is pretty good (seeing how no other scene mag has done that :)

plus it'll have a good death. i don't want to be up to say issue 15 and thinking "damn it's already 2 months late, it's half way done, i should just end this bullshit" i'd rather just end it right, and plan for it.

as content goes, you can only write about scene stuff to a point where if you go past that you're either writing boring shit that no one cares about, or you'll repeat yourself. more and more i'm getting into articles that involve my personal life, and things like that. i mean just becuase it's an ansi mag doesn't mean it HAS to have 100% ansi content. just don't make it boring. :)

in any case, i hope you do release more fistfuls of steel. and hey, you can always write a follow up to the story with me in it about that panty raid. :)

If FOS is going iCE it won't be a "neutral" mag anymore. We wouldn't be able to critisize and review stuff then.. because that would be interpreted as iCE's opinions. On the other hand, we could skip all that..

Since no one has respect for the big groups anymore, it's virtually impossible to make a new iNSANiTY. It was based on that the readers really listened to iCE, respected them and liked them. Just as Product was for ACiD. If we simply made a completely new mag, we could make a new iNSANiTY! =) Or a new FOS.

I can honestly say that I don't have any intention of making FOS into an Ice-oriented mag. And it doesn't have to be just about ansi. In fact, early issues had ascii and hirez content too, but most readers told me that they wanted ansi stuff.
I personally would like to expand a bit more, but now it's a matter of actually getting articles from people other than myself.

As I see it, an "issue #13" is a good point to either end the mag or push off towards something new. When FOS was releasing packs, we aimed for a bi-monthly release schedule (6 per year), and the mag has averaged the same. This is the 4-year anniversary of FOS, and I want to do something for it. It might not be the greatest issue of all time, but I've been having some interesting ideas for articles, that people might actually like. ;)

If nothing else, I'll give this one more shot. If I take it further, it's going to be a lot different from the current incarnation of FOS.

(But I could do a Filth panty-raid sequel!)

Personally Two Emags covering one Scene Can get hum drum. I liked when FOS was reviewing hirez and websites and all along more mediums then just ansi. An I am sure there will be one or more idiots standing in the back yelling if hirez wants emags have their own damn emag put out ect ect. Still variety is what spices up life, without it eventually all good things become hum drum and disappointing

the sky is falling! the sky is falling!

By [maestro] (abitw.javanet.com - 209.94.128.4) on Wednesday, March 10, 1999 - 04:48 am:
There's no spice in the ansi scene now that The Legion is sleeping. Fos doesn't have the controversy of the infamous group to write about anymore and god knows none of these other sissy groups can stir things up like The Legion did. I say drop the mag and take up quilting.

its a good thing i know yer joking =)

no one group can stir it up like legion... it only takes the power of a single man! *drum roll* ...

well, i will be releasing soon... 273 days backwards from 2000, you have yer answer.

and inaz, kill it. if you want my opinion, your mag fellates dead livestock.

That's encouraging. I almost wish I didn't know what "fellates" means, but I do. Good food for thought right before lunch.

Maybe I will do another website review issue, but it certainly won't be the next issue. As far as hirez is concerned, there isn't as much of a "scene" feeling to it, especially with more and more artists coming into the scene via group websites rather than the more traditional routes. Mags are pretty much just here for nostalgia. But they give people something to draw for I guess. And sometimes there are some decent articles and interviews.

What the hell is a more "traditional" route to come in to the scene?

s/traditional/archaic

fuck the "scene" feeling...

i think the scene is a failure. nice while it lasted but it didnt work... whats the sense in flogging this dead and recently-fellated-by-inazone horse? erm... oh, and it was dead first.

progress, anyone?

FOS just cant hack it like gutter can.

Okay, what is this with Gutter's "Basic Training" section? It seems to me that a few months ago, filth kept on ranting about how USELESS ansi tutorials were. Now all of a sudden they're the bomb, just because he's using 'em in his OWN e-mag? Bit of an about-face, if you ask me.

I don't even think Filth is involved directly with Basic Training. In that respect he probably doesnt care much about it :)

Argon