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.
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".
[2] 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.
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".
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.
[3] 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] 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.
[4] 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.
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.
Hairs was fired by Teletext in May 1996, and Biffo continued to write the bulk of the magazine solo, apart for occasional, part-time contributors, who helped him out with the letters, tips, and charts pages.
Digitiser also ran a weekly opinion column, written by various guest writers, usually prominent members of the games journalist community (such as Violet Berlin and Stuart Campbell).
Regular characters appeared on the service both to fill up space left by short reviews and letters, and also to flesh out the content provided by the writers.
Fat Sow - Presented the news page, and began every article with a wild insult, and a demand that the reader stop whatever they are doing to pay attention to the rant.
Zombie Dave - A reanimated corpse who appeared on the news page and punctuated the items with comments written in the manner of the shambling dead.
[6] Gossi's page also led to the dismissal of Tim Moore, who - while Rose was away on paternity leave - printed an unsubstantiated rumour about a fellow games journalist Dave Perry.
[7] Teletext's editors allegedly used the absence of Rose (who remained useful to the company for his graphic design abilities), and the journalist's complaint, as an excuse to fire Moore.
as the advertisement was poking fun of stereotypes made at the German language, alongside stating the compilation is "Musik fur dir LONGHAIRS!".
Typical jokes would tell you to press reveal to see what a certain character thought of your letter, or a news item, and you would be presented with a surreal non-sequitur, such as a man shouting "Swayze!"
Notable bits of name-calling included Digitiser viewer Matt Gander being rechristened "non-shiny goose", and a Mr. Tedesco being called "Safedeway", alluding to supermarket chains Tesco and Safeway.
[12] In 2018, a second Kickstarter campaign by Paul Rose was funded - over 1000 backers raised more than £44000 to create Digitiser the Show, a weekly six-part YouTube show featuring regular co-hosts Mr Biffo, Larry Bundy Jr, Octavius Kitten, Gameplay Jenny and Paul Gannon, and special guests from across the gaming community.