Hi Ric,

Good points. There is no question that when a person is in the novice/intermediate level - just about everything is fresh and new. That said, there are far few newbies today in the Fox world than there were 10 years ago. My guess is that on average, you typical Fox developer has used the product for at least 7 years. That is the heart of the Fox market today and but one reason why readership/subscribership has fallen off for both FPA and FoxTalk. FoxTalk actually has remained relatively stable at just over 1000 subscribers for some time - as I suspect it really can't go lower than that. FPA at one point - boasted subscription levels at 21K - and Foxtalk was at about 9K 10 years ago. For the majority of Fox Developers out there - it gets hard to justify the cost of the magazines when:

1. The material is recycled and often its 3rd or 4th. incarnations and;
2. The quality has diminished

This cannot be a revelation - and it cannot be that it is just me picking on FPA or FoxTalk. There is a plethora of negative comments toward these publications (more so for FPA). FoxTalk is in dire need of a regime change - as is FPA. New and fresh blood means new and fresh ideas. Sometimes, you have to shake things up. Of course, there is the issue of who would step in. I suspect there would be some takers. You are still left with a largely apatheic community when it comes to new and fresh materal. The fact is - the population of writers is not what it used to me. And of course, the level of "fresh meat" is not there. Tamar mentioned something about "thank goodness for new versions.." Well, a new version might make for an interesting issue or two. But in a 2 year product cycle, you are still left with needing material for 22 issues or so.

It's great for newbies that there is a whole universe of material out there. But for the remianing 80-90% of the Fox Market - there needs to be something interesting and relevant as well.

< JVP >