Reality Check Network

Reality Check Network was a diskmag warez magazine that existed from November 18, 1995 to Summer 1997 with two breaks in Spring 1996 and Winter 1996/1997.

Reality Check Network

Issue #21 Animated Logo

With origins as a promotional magazine for the Legacy group, it evolved into a general magazine describing various aspects of the warez scene. It contained interviews with key group leaders and described gossip and fights in the warez world. They would list each period's various releases, FTP and BBS courier MB totals, and up-to-date NFO files for each group. This was during a period when private Internet accounts were becoming widespread in the United States and increasingly in Europe and the Internet-based warez scene was expanding rapidly. They also had an open IRC channel #rcn where people would gossip about the activities of various groups under the watch of the magazine's chief editor Rebel Chicken.

Its front-end and graphical design were considered excellent and based on efficient assembly code. The magazine also sometimes embedded small games like space shooters into the code. As the magazine became more sophisticated in its graphics, its size in kilobytes grew, but until close to its end fit onto a single floppy disk.

It was controversial for its frank discussion of government busts and its indirect involvement in various feuds. Although it was frequently criticized for this and other various reasons, most groups interacted with it because of its popularity.