I was doing some research for this article as I wanted to find out what the other Staff members thought about writing for the magazine after such a long time. It took me back to the very first issue we released "Online" which was issue 16. (You have to remember that The Crypt started off life as an Amiga disk magazine, take a while to read the history of the magazine from a former editor and founder, Ray Hawkins.)

In issue 16 (written in 2001) Steve Hyde wrote in the article "Thank you folks" :-

"Writing a magazine in more or less just pure ASCII text as THE CRYPT used to be written in was very limiting. But with THE CRYPT now being on the net in HTML format and going out to parts of the world that us older CRYPT members never dreamed about is one hell of an output media. With the added support our sponsors and massive readers network I personally think that this time we have finally found a great combination of people and talent in order to keep the magazine going for ages to come hopefully."

How right you where Steve, The Crypt has continued to expand since those early ASCII text days to what it is today, a multi platform, web based, world wide phenomenon.

So what do the Staff members that are still here, think about writing for the magazine?

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Our esteemed editor Ian Fyvie writes :-

Why do I write for the magazine?.. Difficult question!.. But I do know that if I didn’t write for the CRYPTmag a large piece of my life would be missing. Even after all this time ( I have been writing for Magazines Disk Magazines for some 12 years) I still get a tremendous buzz when an issue is released.

My memories of setting up the rebirth of the CRYPT with Ray, are as clear now as they were all those years ago. Undoubtedly had Ray remained with the CRYPT it would now be an even better publication, He was the professional. However as things go, I don’t think that the team and I have done to bad a job.

I am perhaps fortunate that I get to write the feature article for each issue of the CRYPTmag. These articles are always about subjects that are close to my heart. My three all time favourites are

The Birdmen of Hirta.
Who killed Jack the Ripper?
The Rosslyn Chapel.

Investigating the lives of the people on St Kilda affected me more than I could have imagined. Just how a section of British Islanders could have survived in what we see as a totally alien environment is amazing. How the mainland’s ideas of bringing education and religion to the islanders destroyed their way of living and led to the abandoning of their way of life and their island home is heartbreaking. I now have a collection of books and postcards on St Kilda and would dearly love to visit the Islands one day, although my ill health may make this impossible.

The CRYPTmag has been an important part of my life and doing research for its many articles has taught me many lessons in life. It has also provided me with some good friends worldwide, Friends I may never meet face to face, but thanks to the internet I can talk to anytime I need to.

At 50 the CRYPtmag has matured into something you will not find anywhere else on the Internet. it’s success is down to the teamwork of our writers and to all our readers who have supported us. Without you we would not exist.

Here is to the next 50 issues.

Ian Fyvie

 

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Ian Urie writes :-

"Hmm, why DO I write for the Crypt? Let me think back into the dim and (getting ever more) distant past. Thinking back it seems an awful long time that I have been using computers, but in reality it's only around 14 years in total. I suppose writing for an online magazine was just something else to try and do on the computer. I first had an A500, and found (increasingly) that games, with a few exceptions) bored me. The internet was in its infancy and floppy disks were bought/exchanged instead of transferring files online. I discovered (and coveted) the value of a hard drive for the computer and more memory. This enabled me to move further into the realms of P.D. (public domain) software.
It has always fascinated me how and why people use computers. The internet gradually took off and after starting out with a 28.8k modem, I discovered another world. Fan magazines were another source of wonder and I avidly collected demos, magazines like Grapevine etc.
Eventually I saw a request for writers and, basically, that's the end of the story. In darker moments, I've always wondered if others are like me.
Was I taken on because there was a dearth of writers? Probably. Was I any good at writing? Probably not. However, the internet has again moved on and blogs are now the order of the day. To my dismay, blogs are THE happening. I think blogs are on a par with "Big Brother", which is one of the reasons I don't watch a lot of television. Computers interest me and people interacting (when I don't know them), don't!
I do know that I have made lots of friends through computers and met interesting people because of them. Hopefully my writing interests someone somewhere, and really, if it does, it makes it worthwhile."

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One of our newest Staff members Barry Walker writes :-

"I was coerced into it; not really though... :)

I seem to be one of those rare breed of animals that clings to an obsolete piece of computer hardware known as the AMIGA. We are constantly being bombarded that the latest gadget is what we want as nothing else can do 'it' for us. Well over the years I have proven and still prove that ultramodern technology is not necessaries to get tasks done and that is why I started writing for the magazine a range of AMIGA specific projects/articles aimed mainly at getting youngsters in 'doing' for themselves stuff that is impossible on current technology. This often entails building simple hardware to get youngsters into the art of wiring, soldering, handling components, simple coding and many other related factors.

The four part 'Event_Detector' reached around 480+ downloads from AMINET - 'AMIGA-Project1.lha' - so someone must be interested. :)

It seems though that with all of the latest fantastic technology at our fingertips that it couldn't supply fresh water to the flood victims in the UK, France and China and/or that it can't rebuild New Orleans from the Katrina hit, yet some mega-morons drool over an iPhone... :/
It puts a new dimension on technology doesn't it eh!... :( My heart goes out to the victims of any natural disaster...

Anyhow I enjoy writing about AMIGA specific stuff now and hope 'you' the reading public do so also.

My catchphrase is:- "Enjoy finding simple solutions to often difficult problems."

Bazza."

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As for me (Steve Evans) I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the persuasive talents of Ray Hawkins and Ian Fyvie, never volunteer for these people :-) Here I am with Ray Hawkins (Ray is on the left) It's around the time this photo was taken that I was coerced into the fold.

Ray and Ian were very persuasive into getting you to "volunteer" to do one little item for them. Because I wrote an article for "The Ripper" (an Amiga Disk magazine) about writing HTML, they persuaded me to write a basic website for The Crypt. Back then everything was done on an Amiga A4000T with the aid of a program called "GoldEd". Now it's all done on a PC with "Dreamweaver". How things have changed since those early days! Ten years later you see what the magazine has evolved into now, a multi platform, global magazine that I am proud to be a part of.

Here's to the next 50 issues.