Geek Q.: Has 2600.com Become Irrelevant?

[DougC]

A long time ago, I *swear* I remember 2600.com running general-interest programming/hacker stories. They always seemed to fixate on the phone thing (which I understand from their history, but never had much interest in) and they run in-depth stories anytime someone seems to get busted for internet fraud -which isn't necessarily a bad thing, I mean, freedom of speech and all, somebody's got to.
~ It just seems like they are caught up in their own little corner of the world: particularly the whole big deal about the WBAI public radio station in NYC--- um, excuse me, but outside of a few locals, who gives a sh*t? If the format was so damn great, it woudn't need to be a public radio station. In this modern era news stories spread as fast as links can be typed, but 2600 seems strangely fixated on this story, and yet I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else as being anything so urgent. I realize there's many players in the same general net-news game now, but it seems every time I look, I see fewer and fewer reasons to visit 2600..... - MC

[occ]

I can never decide what I feel about 2600. I usually flip through it when I see it in a bookstore, but I don't read hacking stuff the way I used to. I don't see the real need for a print magazine, other than the fact that you can read it in the car, on the train, in the waiting room, in a reclining chair. If you really want up-to-date "security" information, why not read information online?

The classified ads section of 2600 always cracks me up. First, you've got the lawyers (Been convicted of a computer crime? We understand you!). Then you've got the people with odd requests, attempting to hire hackers (I will pay $500 to anyone who can change my credit report/find my estranged wife/change my high-school grades). Finally, you've got that guy selling the original Captain Crunch 2600hz whistles, who seems to have an endless supply of them.

I think 2600 is a valid magazine, and it has a lot of history. However, they only put out 4 issues a year, and any specific exploit would have long been plugged by the time the next 2600 comes out. Also, 2600 has that weird-ass policy of only allowing those who subscribe to place ads; who the hell wants to bother subscribing with such a sporadically-appearing magazine? You've got 3-4 freakin' months to buy your copy when its released.

So to sum it up, I don't know. I don't buy it. It seems to have a lot of money problems. But I'm glad it exists.

[cykrider]

I still read it. I know that they've run into alot of legal trouble themselves so maybe that's their problem?