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When an electronic publication calls itself HONG KONG MAGAZINE you know you're not going to find lots of articles about the Elks Club of Kalamazoo, Mich., USA. You go to the Web site with certain expectations. You might suspect it is the online version of a print magazine about Hong Kong. Or you might suspect it has lots of features about Hong Kong. In both latter suspicions you would be wrong.
Hong Kong Magazine suffers from the schizophrenia which seems to have afflicted a number of Web publications during 1998. It says it wants to be a magazine, but it acts like it wants to be a portal. You've seen this two-faced behavior before on larger and more popular sites. The virus seems to have infected Hong Kong Magazine at about the same time as it did too many other Web publications.
When TechMailings visited this site, only two articles were in evidence. Both were from 1998. The first was datelined Feb. 28 and the second July 10. At that point, it would appear, Hong Kong decided to abandon the idea of producing original content and put up the "Explorer" page.
The "Explorer" page is a carbon copy of the Yahoo! - inspired link listing that you have seen everywhere from Netcenter to Lycos. Under headings like "Arts and Entertainment" and "Travel" you find sub-headings to specialized lists of links.
Portal. You *must* have come to Hong Kong Magazine to find out who Hong Kong lists as good sites to visit which actually contain what you originally came to Hong Kong Magazine to find.
Except someone must have been unclear on the concept.
I say this because, when I clicked on "Arts and Entertainment" and then the sub-head "Magazines" I DID NOT FIND ONE LINK TO A MAGAZINE IN OR ABOUT HONG KONG. I found a short list of other Web publications which were obviously submitted randomly.
I won't bore you with my other frustrations poking around this so-called "magazine."
Let's just say that if you want to get information about Hong Kong you might be better served going to the Far East Economic Review.
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