User:Steve Farrell/YS

Your Sinclair or YS as it was commonly abbreviated, was a British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, specifically the ZX Spectrum. It was formed in 1984 as Your Spectrum, the title being changed to Your Sinclair in 1986 to include coverage of the QL computer. It was published by Dennis Publishing until 1990, when Future Publishing took over. It finally folded in 1993, after the Spectrum games scene diminished to almost nothing, after 93 issues, having dwindled to fewer than 40 pages per issue. A 94th issue was published in 2004 and given away free with Retro Gamer magazine. It was essentially a retrospective on the magazine, featuring interviews with notable writers and reviewers, a four page memoire of life working on YS written by Phil South, as well as several new reviews and tips, keeping the style of the original magazine throughout.

Like many later computer magazines, such as Zero and Amiga Power, it created a sense of community with its readers, particularly through the letters page (several regular letter writers went on to become staff writers). The magazine introduced a unique writing style, inspired by launch editor Roger Munford, and picked up and expanded by subsequent editors and writers. Influences can be found in areas ranging from Private Eye to Viz. Latterly, the style was partly influenced by magazines YS had itself inspired, such as Amiga Power and fanzine The Thing Monthly.

The original 1986 team included Kevin Cox (editor), Teresa Maughan (nicknamed "T'zer") (Deputy Editor), Sara Biggs (Production Editor), and Phil South (nicknamed "Snouty") (Writer). Marcus Berkmann joined as staff writer in early 1987 when Maughan took over as editor. Freelance writers of the time included John Minson (writing under a bewildering variety of pseudonyms), Peter Shaw, Mike Gerrard, Max Phillips and David McCandless. The final 1993 team consisted of just two permanent staff members, Jonathan Nash (editor) and Andy Ounsted (art editor). Steve Anderson, Rich Pelley, Tim Kemp, Dave Golder and Simon Forrester were among those working on a freelance basis.

Content
YS' content varied widely, sometimes not mentioning the Spectrum on some pages. As the Spectrum scene diminished, and there were fewer games to review, this happened more frequently. In 1992 several 'lifestyle' type sections were introduced. These included Haylp, an agony aunt column, The World (later retitled Flip), which contained reviews of non-computer-related things such as films and books. Notably, this section included The Killer Kolumn From Outer Space, dedicated to science fiction news, rumours and reviews. It was written by Dave Golder, who went on to found and edit SFX magazine. Writing in the April 2000 100th issue of that magazine, Golder cited his earlier work on Y