Editing Digitiser (section)

==History==
''Digitiser'' frequently courted controversy, inspiring criticism both from outside groups and Teletext's own editorial team, who viewed the writers as troublemakers but were unable to axe them due to the magazine's popularity. Pages were often altered without the writers' knowledge, with sub-editors sometimes deleting entire frames of reviews for fear of missing a risqué joke.

On one occasion, a sub-editor, who shortly afterwards was promoted to editorial director of the company, rang Rose to insist he remove a "disgusting" reference to "fingering the index".<ref name="GAMES OF MY YEARS: DIGITISER - PART 4">{{Cite web|url=http://www.digitiser2000.com/1/post/2015/12/games-of-my-years-digitiser-part-four-by-mr-biffo.html|title=GAMES OF MY YEARS: DIGITISER - PART FOUR by Mr Biffo|website=DIGITISER|language=en|access-date=2019-08-09}}</ref> When Rose pointed out that it was a play on "index finger", and that it had not even dawned on him that it might be considered rude, the up-and-coming sub-editor allegedly went silent for a few seconds, before insisting that it was still deliberately provocative, and should be deleted. A similar confrontation occurred over a reference to "The three Rs", during which sub-editors believed that - despite Biffo's amused protests to the contrary - the "Rs" part of the phrase was meant to sound a bit like "arse", rather than a reference to the [[The three Rs|famous educational principle]].

Campaigns were even waged to have ''Digitiser'''s writing team fired - both within Teletext by its editorial minions, and beyond (by disgruntled [[Amiga]], [[Sega]], [[Sony]], or [[Nintendo]] fans, not to mention the staff of [[Mean Machines]] and Official Nintendo magazines - whom ''Digitiser'' frequently poked fun at). Such reactions merely served to redouble Biffo's resolve to be controversial and edgy, and as he often wrote on the letters pages, ''Digitiser'' ''"hates everyone equally, man".''

''Digitiser'' became remarkably popular, despite (or in part due to) the sometimes risqué content, because of the novel reviews, format, and sometimes bizarre tone. Biffo's battles with his employers helped to give ''Digitiser'' a defiant, anti-establishment air.

Things finally came to a head in 2002, when Teletext gained a new senior editorial team, who lost patience with Biffo's pushing of the envelope of what was acceptable on a mainstream text service. Even though they could not quite bring themselves to get rid of ''Digitiser'' and Biffo altogether, they ordered that the magazine be reduced to three days a week, and have all humour and character stripped from the pages.<ref name="GAMES OF MY YEARS: DIGITISER - PART 10">{{Cite web|url=http://www.digitiser2000.com/1/post/2015/12/games-of-my-years-digitiser-part-ten-by-mr-biffo.html|title=GAMES OF MY YEARS: DIGITISER - PART TEN by Mr Biffo|website=DIGITISER|language=en|access-date=2019-08-09}}</ref> Despite massive evidence to the contrary, and being one of the most popular features sections on Teletext, Biffo has said since that he was told the reason for this was because the humour ''"excluded people"''.<ref name="GAMES OF MY YEARS: DIGITISER - PART 10"/> Another reason for the reduction to three days a week, and the removal of the Panel 4 feature at weekends, was the negative financial effects felt after the  [[September 11 attacks]] on [[Teletext Ltd.]]'s core business of advertising air travel holidays.{{Citation needed|date=March 2016}}

Despite facing pressure from the new senior editorial team, Biffo continued to write the pages anonymously, but reduced his work to 45 minutes a day. The decision later backfired on Teletext, when ''Digitiser'''s viewing figures plummeted to 400,000 per day from its peak of 1.5 million, and viewers spent the next nine months inundating the company with letters of complaint, demanding that Digitiser's humour and characters be restored.<ref name="GAMES OF MY YEARS: DIGITISER - PART 11">{{Cite web|url=http://www.digitiser2000.com/1/post/2015/12/games-of-my-years-digitiser-part-eleven-by-mr-biffo.html|title=GAMES OF MY YEARS: DIGITISER - PART ELEVEN by Mr Biffo|website=DIGITISER|language=en|access-date=2019-08-09}}</ref> After thousands of emails and letters had poured into Teletext they were forced to go back on their previous decision, and asked Biffo to reinstate the humour, and return ''Digitiser'' to its daily glory.<ref name="GAMES OF MY YEARS: DIGITISER - PART 11" /> However, for Biffo the damage had been done, and his last shreds of faith in the company had been shattered. After Biffo handed in his notice in December 2002, he returned ''Digitiser'' to its earlier style for one final, four-month run as a thank you to the fans - which included a special ten-year anniversary celebration, complete with a glowing eulogy by author [[Alex Garland]].<ref name="GAMES OF MY YEARS: DIGITISER - PART 11" /> The lights finally went out on just over ten years of ''Digitiser'' on 9 March 2003.

''Digitiser'' was replaced by ''[[GameCentral]]'', which featured the same number of sub-pages, but none of the humour with then editor Tony Mott explaining  "We're not Digitiser so get over it" to readers on the first edition.