Jos,

>As an avid reader of a wide variety of books and magazines I have never sent an email to the authors. I think most readers simply vote with their wallets and buy/not buy the publication as they feel appropiate - which is a direct expression of the level of appreciation for the editorial content.

I think you're right about this. At CoDe Magazine, we and our authors seldom receive emails from people commenting about a specific article, although we do sometimes get comments about the magazine in general in response to renewal notices.

We have recently added an article rating and comment system on the CoDe website to make it easier for readers to respond, but the usage numbers on that system are far below the number of people viewing the articles online. However, the comments and ratings are very important to us in evaluating how we're doing.

At the PDC last week, I received many positive comments from people who stopped by our booth, but none of them ever took the time to send an email. That's just the way it works.