Which statement best describes you?
- I subscribe to Fine Woodworking.
- I buy almost every issue at the newsstand.
- I buy the occasional issue at the newsstand.
- I no longer read Fine Woodworking.
- I’ve never read Fine Woodworking.
- Other
You will not be able to change your vote.
Replies
Sorry. Can't vote. No 'Grumpy Old Bast*rd' category for me to select. Slainte.
Richard Jones Furniture
Anyone that describes themselves as a "Grumpy Old Bast*rd" can't be.
No 'Grumpy Old Bast*rd' category for me to select LOL..I loves ya! Ya' Grumpy Old Bast*rd'
I canna see that being applicable too often.... how often do we catch ya on a good day.???
;P~Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
"how often do we catch ya on a good day.???"
Seldom--- I hope, ha, ha.
Incidentally, I don't buy FW and seldom read it either. A five or ten minute flick through is usually enough time to see all I need to see in any issues I come across. Slainte.Richard Jones Furniture
You need a category for “grudgingly” subscribes. I keep it out of habit since I have every issue. But it sure is not what it used to be.
"You need a category for ?grudgingly? subscribes. I keep it out of habit since I have every issue. But it sure is not what it used to be."Unfortunately I feel the same.
Me too guys, they are the best of a bad lot. They must provide projects up to the level of the subscribers, and that's not the newbies or the supermarket mags wannabe, it's the wood workers who have a love for what they do. but there has to be content for the newbies to grow as we all have.
The major problem is money-not woodworking- FWW isn't the problem its TAUNTON and it's greed. Do you think for a second that they would let a tool review from a major (big $$$) maker show up as a negative review? Not in your lifetime or some marketing guru would have to cut his wrists, pay back all the fine trips and lunches that were enjoyed and suffer the loss of advertising revenue. These guys have had success go to their heads. They are the biggest cats in the business and the bad news is that they forgot who got them there and why.
A counter point to this is a magazine for the radio control air craft hobby. R C REVIEW this guy reviews all relevant products and if they come up short he talks to the MFG. gets a fix to announce but if not he prints it as it happens. He is very successful and very, very respected. This is what FWW should be for us.
I will say that some of the super market type mags have recently hired some sharp woodworkers and their copy has improved greatly. TAUNTON should look over it's shoulder.Regards. Pat
The major problem is money-not woodworking- FWW isn't the problem its TAUNTON and it's greed. Do you think for a second that they would let a tool review from a major (big $$$) maker show up as a negative review? Not in your lifetime or some marketing guru would have to cut his wrists, pay back all the fine trips and lunches that were enjoyed and suffer the loss of advertising revenue.
I can never remember between libel and slander, which is written and which is spoken.
You may be frustrated with FWW not being what you want it to be, but that's no reason to attack the personal integrity of the people who work at FWW or Taunton. You are accusing Taunton of the basest unprofessionalism in the writing field. If you can back it up, do so. Otherwise, you should keep it to yourself.My goal is for my work to outlast me. Expect my joinery to get simpler as time goes by.
you are absolutely correct. I was tired, in a pissey mood and regretted sending it 3 nano seconds after I hit the post button. My apologies to all.Pat
As I've said FOR LITERALLY YEARS NOW, the magazine should start with THE ASSUMPTION that the reader has a fully-equipped shop. People capable or even interested in "fine woodworking" can figure out how to outfit their operation. Period. Or, the content can be put on the web and the neophyte can be referred to the web for all the 'best tablesaw' and 'how to make a rip cut' crapola.
We don't need tool reviews. To me, they ARE warmed over to the point of appearing unobjective. Sue me.
i always look forward to receiving my copy of fww in the mail - it's a great mag!
Rick in Cowichan Bay, B.C. - 50km north of Victoria, B.C.
My Website: http://www.rickswoodworking.ca
I was a charter subscriber,stopped in the 80's, started teaching, got a subscription for the school, stopped teaching, gave my father a subscription and read his when I get a chance to visit. Does that mean I'm an "other". I wouldn't want to spoil my one vote.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
Any politician getting these percentage results would be wetting him/her self with joy! Can you tell them what FW are doing right?
Perhaps giving the people a voice (but is anyone listening?).
The price has gotten out of hand for me. I usually read it at the library.
I too think the price of FWW mag has reached a pretty high level.
I've bought FWW for most of the past 25 years. I think I've seen FWW content change during that time to topics I'm less interested in. Some of my reduced interest is my fault. (getting older, ect) Some is the FWW mag itself. Either way I plan on not renewing my sub next time around.
I hope that folks at FWW are taking our comments to heart. I've read (and written) many complaints about the content of FWW on this forum over that past couple of years, but have not seen any changes in FWW content.
Look at the fine work found in FWW "Readers Gallery". I don't think these readers need help choosing a table saw, or need to learn how to make a box.
GRW,
Yet those same excellent makers submit their work to FWW. Perhaps they think it a worthy organ, despite their many and obvious skills?
Lataxe
OTHER , I read every copy at the library and if there is a article I really want to save I go buy a copy .
You need to add a category - "Subscriber, But Increasingly Ambivalent"
DUH....Hope you're not ecstatic about the high % of subscribers responding. I'm under the impression that the poll imbedded in the E-mag is sent only to subscribers and maybe ex- 'scribers.
For all who complain that FWW is not "What it used to be", have you considered that you are not what you used to be!
Achieving the benefits that come to someone who has improved, through learning new skills, better techniques, and the confidence to undertake greater challenges in the projects, you may have forgotten that like you, the old you, that is, there are new generations that find the same excitement and opportunities to grow their skills in each new copy of FWW. It's still the best.
Not coincidently, many of today's woodworking neophyte wannabes have a lot more coin jingling in their pockets and can well afford to buy whatever they read about.
Dusty,
Wise words.
I'm always amused by the people who think a magazine should be published for them and them alone. Also, why don't they just buy something else?
The answer is, they think the world as a whole needs to be as they would like it. Disappointment will follow them all their days.
Lataxe, a happy stoic.
NO, I see the world for exactly what it really is, monstrously corrupt, but that is another discussion.
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FWW has changed, and not for the better for many of us who are long time subscribers. I am certainly within my rights to present that opinion in this open forum. I can also vote with my subscription dollars, and were it not for some unreasonable sentimentality on my part due to the fact that every issue from #1 through present is neatly stored in my shop, I would cancel it.
Napie,
A monstrously corrupt world or a Napie with very high standards?
Myself, I find the world a wonderful place and feel very lucky to be born into this time and age. Perfection is for...perfectionists. Sentimentality, on the other hand, is a romantic virtue and speaks of love and hope rather than reason or the lack of it. Me , I love FWW and many other things, despite their imperfections. What could one love otherwise?
Of course, I too enjoy your right to see things differently and may even be persuaded, should you perfect a rhetoric on the matter. Maybe even I will become jaded with FWW, despite its many qualities, and you can then say that you told me so.
Lataxe, rotten to the core.
PS I share your taste in Aldous and even care for Plato a bit (the old idealist). As for the jazz, I came to it late but it was a revelation, despite all those jarring notes.
Edited 5/26/2006 6:17 pm ET by Lataxe
Edited 5/26/2006 6:24 pm ET by Lataxe
Edited 5/27/2006 2:15 pm ET by Lataxe
Only recently have I found myself checking( and occasionly passing up) the latest issue at the newstands. I think it could be because I've been buying them since the early 80's and unless a particular project or tool review catches my eye I don't feel a strong need to buy it. I also have all the techniques books as well as a number of other Taunton books and videos. Still think its a great publication though. What I really should be doing now is getting the CD index so I'm not spending hours thumbing thru back issues when an article comes to mind that I'd like to revisit.
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