Hi Tom...

Sounds similar to the drum I was beat nearly 2 years ago. For a while, even I noticed things getting better. I have not taken too much notice of the last few issues. However, if they have cut down the page count to 44 (you need to count the front and back covers), that is 6 less than prior. This represents slightly over a 10% reduction in the page count.

As for content, you have to look at FPA's mission. Their target audience is the mainstream Fox developer. FPA cannot go off in one direction or another. In other words, they can't be too basic and they can't be too expert. The problem of course is that in depth articles require more page count. This takes away from space that would otherwise be used for articles that require less page count.

Again, with respect to content, after a while, the well runs dry. A lot of topics have been recycled. At some point, the new and innovating stuff goes away. Take VFP 7 for example. Perhaps 3 or 4 issues worth of new stuff. After that, it is the same old stuff.

For me, the best issue I can remember in a long time was the 2/2001 issue. Visio Automation, XML, ADSI, VB implementation for events, it was a very, very good issue. Andy MacNeill's editorial was very thought provoking as well.


I don't know if you get SQL-Server magazine. If you don't, get a copy because it illustrates my point. It is deceptively big. Looking at it and holding it, you might not think it is much more than 50 pages. In reality, counting the front an back covers, it is 80 pages long. In that pub, they cover beginner, intermediate, and expert topics. Simply put, they do it right.

VBPJ is a monster at 114 pages. And of course, they do it right as well.

Going back to FPA, I sense that it is in a no-win situation. On one hand, you can find people to write good/relevant content. On the other hand, the magazine is too small to accomomodate the content the market it service requires. And if the page count goes down any more, the task gets harder. That said, the 2/2001 issue proves that good/relevant content can be published in FPA. Perhaps they don't get enough submissions????

For sure, I am no fan of Advisor, their business practices, magazine, etc. However, in this case, I think FPA might be doing the best they can do - without shutting down the magazine. Sharpening one's pencil, and comparing FPA to the other magazines, one would have to question whether economically, the magazine warrants publication. My guess at this point is that it is a close call. I suspect Advisor is providing more of a service to the community than anything else. Of course, to remain viable, it would appear that not only does the page count have to shrink, the advertisment space has to increase at the expense of the content. Yet, if the content shrinks, the subscription rates will start to shink. This will cause the advertising revenues to shrink. This will cause the magazine to shrink yet again...and so on and so on. Of course it cannot go on forever. At some point, at least continuing down the same road, the plug at some point will have to be pulled.

Not trying to start controversey here - simply keeping it real. Of course, preventing this from happening was part of the plan I presented to Advisor. And yes, I do believe a different/better outcome would have resulted had certain people made different decisions...