I just received my first copy of a new subscription

[Ben Zara]

I agree Simon, there is a lot of innovative and just non-standard technique in FWW that makes it interesting to read.

[Jim Morgan]

Yup. Most magazines stink now. Just another reason that a $6 contribution to SMC is such a great value!

Gotta wonder about people who have posted hundreds or thousands of times but can't pony up a measly six bucks to support SMC.

[William Chain]

Interesting theory. Perhaps this is so but I do not wish to pay to read about builds by people that measure their success in “collaborations” with woodpeckers or triton or whoever. Great, you used your #sponsored square and #sponsored router to build a shelf for to hold all your #sponsored squares and routers.

On the other hand, my wife and I are tempted to create a bogus Instagram account, buy a bunch of crap cutting boards from Homegoods/Marshall’s, and photograph them next to some shavings and a woodpecker square and see how many followers that kind of crap can garner.

I may be wrong, but I think the culprit of filling some pages of each issue with social media people is the WOOD magazine. WOOD started profiling social media people (I have seen the term "woodworking socialites" used to described those people) four or five years ago, and others found it a good money-saving idea to fill their content...with little cost or effort. The socialites of course are happy to get the free promo. Those social pages are as good as the pill ads to me. If FW follows them, that is the day we know FW is running out of good content, too.

Simon

[Simon MacGowen]

On the other hand, my wife and I are tempted to create a bogus Instagram account, buy a bunch of crap cutting boards from Homegoods/Marshall’s, and photograph them next to some shavings and a woodpecker square and see how many followers that kind of crap can garner.

haha

Before you do that, better get your bio piece updated as you or your wife might even get a call (or email) from XXX magazine's editor, wondering if they can feature both of you in their next issue that happens to be running some articles on...cutting boards!

Simon

[Mark Gibney]

This fellow George Walker seemed to be a lone voice of sanity in the wilderness on the issue...

I agree with Jacob Reverb on this - George Walker's pieces in Pop Wood are, for me, the best thing in the magazines.

[Jim Becker]

I agree Simon, there is a lot of innovative and just non-standard technique in FWW that makes it interesting to read.

Even FWW has become somewhat stale over time. We shouldn't be surprised at that, however...even with all the creativity that's possible, there's some somewhat a finite limit to how many ways one can do something and the end result is that we are left with minor variations which behind the scenes are the "same old, same old". This hits long-time readers more than newbies because long-time readers start to notice the redundancy. Folks new to the activity are seeing everything as new to them. At some point, each person gets to that place where they begin to wonder if they should continue to pay to read what they essentially have read previously. And then the subscription drops. That's what happened to me. I originally subscribed to several woodworking related magazines and even did a small amount of writing for one of them years ago. Gradually, I dropped the subscriptions until I was only receiving FWW. I continued with that for awhile because even with redundancy, it was still "good library reading". I did stop subscribing however because I got to that point where I could no longer justify it and I wasn't leveraging anything I saw, unlike years before. I do think they have been wise to put a lot of effort into their own online resources, however, because there is such a wealth of knowledge and information there that is always accessible to folks who want to subscribe.

[lowell holmes]

I have kept my Fine Woodworking subscription current and I have the plans of the Adirondack chair on the cover of the February cover and will buy the cypress wood for two chairs next week.
I don't find the magazine to be stale.

I enjoy reading and re-reading the magazine while lounging on the couch during the evening hours when the content of the TV shows leave me cold.