On Monday the 14th of May, Browallia of Nukleus sent me a message on Messenger (e-mail has gotten
a bit obsolete these days?): "I would like to request an article; Why are there no PC-charts today?
Deadline: Saturday. Are you fine with that?"

My first reaction was, "An article?", that's an easy question. Simple, no one is making a chartsmag
anymore anno domini 2018 (read: an executable chartsmag on Amiga or PC). Well, except for those
crazy Versus guys. I know on the Commodore 64 sometimes a chart is included in a diskmag still,
but it's a rare thingie, a chartsmag.

Internet changed the chartsmag landscape, which got full throttle in 1989 by Crusaders
with The Official Eurocharts on the Amiga 500, once and for all is my opinion. Pouet generates
the top of the month automatically (production wise that is) now for an eternity. The scene.org
awards and its successor, The Meteoriks Awards, also award sceners individually next to scene
productions for years now (also Amiga ones sometimes). 4sceners.de publishes a lookback on the
best scene productions for years. Same for Pouet.net, the best prods are summed up in a BBS
thread every year (of course this can be done manually by everybody at any given time). Although
regarding Pouet, it seems less people rate (thumb, piggy, thumb down) a prod on nowadays than in
the past and the exact algorithm that defines popularity of a production is a Pouet secret.

So, does a chartsmag like for example Versus on the Amiga has a right to exist? It's nice that it's
focused entirely on Amiga productions and Amiga sceners, and that the majority of voters are Amiga
sceners too. That said, there is also a review-magazine nowadays in the form of Irregular Review
by Spaceballs, where one can read opinions about what and who is hot or not. In any case, a chartsmag
like Versus acknowledges what's done on the Amiga-scene and by who, which can be a nice thing! Does
a chart still ego-stimulate? Aren't we grown-ups by now and do we still care about charts? Hell yes, the
scene can for sure! Maybe not for/by everybody, but it's a hobby after all right?

Browallia told me his idea of this article: "We want to show we have something in Amiga community
that the PC does not have." Well, maybe that's a bit too narrow to write about. It for sure
raised the question why Versus is being made by amongst others Browallia in the first place?
Browallia comments: "Well it's because the Amiga-scene ain't dead. And I believe we are one of
the pieces connecting the community."

And right he is. Participation and releasing something is what defines a non-dead scene, and
maybe today's scene is shaped by the Amiga past leftovers still doing something and some new fresh
rare blood throughout the years. But who cares? Amiga rules and is alive even today.
That's the same for Versus. Maybe Internet, websites and stuff like that already can give a clear
insight on who/what is hot and who is not for the Amiga scene, but that's not the point!
We all do what we like to do, what we value as a hobby, what we took with us from our past
next to real life existence. And a chartsmag can be like a box of candy. You never know what's
inside until you taste it. It's as simple as that I think. And Browallia? Doesn't he think
certain websites took over the role as from a chartmag executable? "No, I don't believe in that.
On the PC I'm thinking more about that I don't know what is keeping the community together.
That would be my point of view for the article.", he comments.

Ah well, we live and wonder. This article was written by me real time in one go and for
sure isn't limited or has the only point(s) of view out there on the topics discussed.
Chartsmags does have a right to exist! (otherwise there would not be any) And for sure there
still are sceners out there who find the time to vote for it and even enjoy and read the issue
itself! (some even on the real hardware!)

So, long live Amigaaaa..

Long live the (charts-) mags!

Long live Versus!

We are diskmag! We are chartsmag!