Woodsmith has allowed advertising. They explained it would be only the inside of the cover pages at first, then some time back they started adding them to the interior pages as well. Like you said, it kinda went downhill after Peske let go.

I used to get FWW, Woodsmith, Wood and, WW's Journal for several years. Then, like you guys said, quality declined so, as my subscriptions expired I dropped them all. You Tube generally has what I need and it's, far less expensive. There is a great number of excellent craftsmen and crafts women on there with regular videos. Plus, I don't need to store magazines and the info is much easier to find.

Besides, if (I should say when) I run into a problem with a project, the brain trust here is always willing to help.

Edited November 6, 20214 yr by Gene Howe

6 hours ago, Gene Howe said:

I used to get FWW, Woodsmith, Wood and, WW's Journal

Same here, as well as Workbench and Canadian Workshop. Not always by subscription, but from the local bookstores. After a while, I would just browse through the new issues, and buy the ones that had something interesting that I might build in the future. Now, with my "future" becoming ever shorter, I have started going through them and committing most of them to the recycling bin.

7 hours ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

Woodsmith has allowed advertising. They explained it would be only the inside of the cover pages at first, then some time back they started adding them to the interior pages as well.

I'm no fan of advertising either, but I fully understand! Who wants to put out a magazine on his own dime? Everyone has to make a living.

11 minutes ago, HARO50 said:

I'm no fan of advertising either, but I fully understand! Who wants to put out a magazine on his own dime? Everyone has to make a living.

Not arguing with you, but for many, many years they survived with only the subscriber's contributions plus the newstands sales. That's why a lot of folks subscribed...at least so I'm told. I never minded the advertising in other magazines, and I guess I understand the need for them to change their policies.

1 hour ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

Not arguing with you, but for many, many years they survived with only the subscriber's contributions plus the newstands sales. That's why a lot of folks subscribed...at least so I'm told. I never minded the advertising in other magazines, and I guess I understand the need for them to change their policies.

I fully agree with you, Fred, but once the internet kicked into high gear, those subscriptions and counter sales went down like a ton of lead.

What's interesting to me is that the much hated advertising is more prevalent on the web than it was in the magazines. I won't visit Stumpy Nubs because I can't find the content in all the ads. Not everyone is that bad, but some sites have really turned into nothing but ads. Still, they remain very popular....I guess.

I think one of the biggest contributors to the failure of magazines is the demand for instant gratification. Everyone with a question wants an answer NOW! I was the "Pond expert" at a local garden center for over 12 years. I tried putting up small posters for common problems customers were having, but for the last few years, nobody would take the time to read them. "Just tell me what I have to do!" Nobody has the 5 minutes it would take to read the info.

46 minutes ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

What's interesting to me is that the much hated advertising is more prevalent on the web than it was in the magazines. I won't visit Stumpy Nubs because I can't find the content in all the ads. Not everyone is that bad, but some sites have really turned into nothing but ads. Still, they remain very popular....I guess.

Don't you use an Ad Blocker?

I always watch Stumpy on my phone and I can't recall ever seeing an ad.  But, many of the other sites do and it is annoying.  I hate reading our local paper online because of the ads that pop up and get right over the section I am trying to read.  It has been a long time since I read Shopnotes, Fine Woodworking or any of the others.  I found a box full the other day and put them in the recycle bin.  Like Gene, if I want to see or know something, YouTube works great for the moment.