2600 won't settle with the distributor that screwed it and all the other indie mags

2600 Magazine's Emmanuel Goldstein writes, "2600 Magazine (The Hacker Quarterly) has found itself embroiled in a bitter dispute over the bankruptcy declaration of one of the largest magazine distributors in the United States."

"The shutting down of Source Interlink caused massive financial problems for small publishers throughout the country. What makes this particularly controversial is the fact that the highly profitable publishing arm of Source Interlink continues to operate under a new name, immune from any responsibility for these actions."

If we agree to say that they no longer owe us anything, they might pay us between 0 and 2.5 percent of what they owe us. Yes, they're not even saying they will do that much, since the numbers could change. (But they somehow know that the numbers can't possibly change in our favor.) So we could agree to this and get absolutely nothing. By not agreeing, we would almost certainly get nothing, but we would forever be able to say that they still owe us. We've always preferred leaning towards the truth.

We understand the difficulty that bankruptcy presents. When crap like this happens, it's a miracle we can avoid it ourselves. But we seem to have a fundamental difference of opinion when it comes to integrity. We believe in paying what we owe, even when it's painful. Companies like this… well, they don't. What they do instead is something quite scandalous and shameful – but completely legal.

SOURCE INTERLINK (THE ENTHUSIAST NETWORK) SETTLEMENT OFFERED TO 2600