Dear Shadis,

I recently got a subscription to Shadis just prior to "the big change" and was a bit disconcerted when my magazines started arriving. Now that I have gotten my second issue I have begun to adjust to the changes and even appreciate them But...

I'm really quite upset by the removal of articles such as "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" and "Hook. Line, and Sinker". Why were these removed? I really enjoyed these and would like to see them back. Without them I am tempted to stop frequenting the pages of your magazine. I am very impressed by the new layout and reviews, but without the articles it once possessed it really doesn't seem like Shadis anymore.

Also, perhaps you should review games and game-related sites on the Web. This is probably the fastest-growing area in every aspect of our society including gaming and gamers' interests.

Thank you for your time,
Bhoso Heathen, Minister of Titles and Disinformation Dogon P.O.E.E. "Hail Eris!"

The two sections you mention aren't gone and forgotten; they were merely on hiatus. You'll notice this issue's "Lights, Camera, Action!" which looks quite a bit like its immediate predecessor, HLS. This issue doesn't have a "Good, Bad, and Ugly", but it will return in future issues.

Last issue there was a "Close Encounters of the Random Kind", but although there is none this issue, it hasn't vanished permanently either. There's a CERK in the chute, for that matter, called "Scenario Creation System": it'll turn up sometime in the next few months. Competition among articles for space in every issue's 96 fixed pages knocks the sort of thing you see in a biology lab into a cocked hat. The short version of all this is that "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly", "Lights, Camera, Action", and "Close Encounters of the Random Kind" will all be appearing regularly, but I don't guarantee that all of them will appear every issue. Not yet, anyway.

I agree wholeheartedly about the Web - see my editorial - but I'm not yet convinced that there's a demand. I would like to be shown otherwise, as it would be an excuse to use the computer for something other than layout. The best way to prove me wrong would be for SHADIS readers to cry out, with one voice, "Web content!" -- again, see my editorial.

I'm sure it's no coincidence that there are five sections in your letter.

-D.J. T