Is White Dwarf a magazine??

[mathhammer]

We were talking about it at the office and there is a decent argument that White Dwarf is not a magazine it is more of a limited edition supplement done in a serial format.

Would provide a different legal grounds for a take down notice.

[bfmusashi]

Now that's an argument I find interesting and want to read.

[OrksOrksOrks]

its a collection of written articles printed periodically, therefore, a magazine.

[Power Klawz]

Grombrindal is a dwarf. he is a mighty warrior dwarf with a powerful thirst for ale, and a keen hatred for all things green-skinned.

He is not a magazine.

[Caitsidhe]

<chuckles> While I agree and defer it is a magazine in format, a more accurate description would be a catalog/advertising brochure which the consumer pays for instead of the company. It is no different than any mailer magazine sent out by Walmart or a grocery store, except of course the wrong people are paying for it. The problem arises from the fact that I don't think enough people are buying it to pay for the upkeep. This in turn leads to recriminations within the company and people looking for scapegoats. Those darn faceless nitwits on the internet are causing all the problems. That is always the easiest answer and the one they run with. That is far more palatable than saying, "we are doing a poor job of selling the magazine because of its content in an increasingly digital era." In short, blame everyone but themselves.

White Dwarf is always a very pretty, slick looking brand of toilet paper. Most people aren't idiots, however, and realize when something is a nothing but an advertisement. If the only thing you have to offer are the new pictures of your upcoming product, I suppose it might be annoying when people get that elsewhere. They could, of course, try adding actual content to the magazine. Call me crazy but when the lowest rent men's magazine has more real content, that could be your problem.

[Power Klawz]

Sadly I think I once skimmed through an issue of Cosmopolitan that I found more enriching than your average modern White Dwarf.

(it informed me that I am a complex and mysterious being with unknowable motivations that women need to try really hard to impress, which completely countermanded my assumption that I was easily swayed by food and nudity.)

[Ghostofman]

Unfortunately looking like a duck and quacking like a duck doesn't make you a duck these days. I regularly write for a "newspaper" that legally speaking would probably be classified as a government newsletter. And I can actually get in a lot of trouble if I try and pass myself off as a journalist, even though I write news articles, and get paid to do so.

This is a really legally interesting topic, and I'm really hoping someone with a proper legal background chimes in.

[OrksOrksOrks]

Except its had a lot of extra content articles for months, yes it has lovely big pictures of the new models, but people want to see lovely big pictures of the new models, so much so, there are people willing to steal them and put them up on the internet for everyone to see.

White dwarf is going towards a digital format, with white dwarf daily and the iPad version of the magazine, which is lovely, have you bought a white dwarf in the last year Caitsidhe?

[lobster-overlord]

It's a propaganda pamphlet they make you pay for.

To me, a magazine has outside advertisers. Otherwise, it's just an internal publication featuring their product ( a catalog).

[Caitsidhe]

Except its had a lot of extra content articles for months, yes it has lovely big pictures of the new models, but people want to see lovely big pictures of the new models, so much so, there are people willing to steal them and put them up on the internet for everyone to see.

White dwarf is going towards a digital format, with white dwarf daily and the iPad version of the magazine, which is lovely, have you bought a white dwarf in the last year Caitsidhe?

I don't pay for advertising, anymore than I pay for bottled water. I liken it to the idea of watching television and the screen goes blank asking me to pay for the new Toyota commerical along with the proviso that it is totally awesome! I've read all the White Dwarf (it doesn't take long) put out in the last year. I know people who buy them (and some who used to buy them). I was very interested in the revamp and supposed improvements. I didn't mark a noticeable difference. You must remember that I cut my teeth on such hobby magazines back when Dragon Magazine was in its first 100+ issues and there was ACTUAL content. The magazine eventually went the route that White Dwarf is all about and I stopped buying it too.