This Old House Magazine?

[Roger L]

Does anyone else get the This Old House Magazine?

More specifically does it make anyone else sick when they read it?

I received a 5 year subscription as a gift. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but ....... I really cannot stand reading it. 90% of the magazine is ads, making it impossible to follow. Of the remaing 10% that are articles, I find that 1/2 of these "articles" are ads themselves.

I am at the point that I am thinking of canceling the subscription just to save my sanity, and maybe a tree or two Although, after everything else is read in the "library", I give it one more try each month, only to find myself fustrated again and again. I cannot imagine how useless this magazine is. I am more confused as to the number of ads supporting this magazine, meaning that someone is reading it, but who?

All I can say is never ever give this magazine as a gift, unless it is your enemy.

Roger

[Kyle Boatright]

I find the magazine to be a well packaged and relatively "slick" publication. However, I generally agree with you that the useful content is very low (and the ad content is very high) for such a high priced magazine. I buy it off the rack from time to time if an article interests me. With such limited useful content, it only takes about 15 minutes to go cover to cover, and I don't buy the magazine very often. Reminds me of a lot of woodworking magazines.

KB

[Mark L.]

[Lee Gordon]

Roger ...

This may come as a shock to the conspiracy theorists, but there really is no secret microchip embedded in the magazine beaming information back to the publisher, the government, or the tri-lateral commission. When the next issue arrives in your mailbox, toss it in the trash. No one will find out.

Lee

[bridger]

[Chipper Wood]

I have always appreciated gifts given by those who wish to please me. Usually chosen according to my interests. All of the magazines with pictures offer great awareness to new products and amazing imagination. Many items that can be utilized in as many different ways you would otherwise never be exposed to. Just my opinion.........

[Brian L]

I stopped buying it about a year ago. I got sick of the same seasonal articles year after year - Norm cleans his gutters, basic (and I mean basic) equipment you'll need for spring - like a lawn mower and trimmer, etc.

Very little substance. And like someone else said - occasionally, you see a pic that gives you good ideas, but you certainly get sick of all the ridiculously high-end make overs they do.

I guess the magazine (and generally the show) doesn't have much for me anymore.

Now, if you wanna see something interesting that is got a foot-hold in reality, check out that Mike Holmes show (HGTV - Holmes on Homes) - this guy is great. Knows his stuff and the projects are certainly things facing the average homeowner.

Just my $.02 worth (I wish there was a cents key).

Brian

[Scott Burright]

I bought their special"Essential Home Repair" guide. It had some nice tips and was fun to read. On the other hand, not everything in there was DIY. Lots of it dealt with getting contractors to do the work. I find the magazine to be similar, but more so. Much like the show, it delves into lots of fancy stuff you can't afford. It's more for people with a home improvement budget than serious DIYers.

It's fun and useful to see Norm discovering rot on in the frame of a 19th century house. Beyond that, we seem to be dealing with product placement.

--Scott

[Wes]

[snip] |This may come as a shock to the conspiracy theorists, but there really is no |secret microchip embedded in the magazine beaming information back to the |publisher, the government, or the tri-lateral commission.

True so far, but it won't be long [g].

Your Michellin tires (tyres) have rfid chips in them now so when you're driving home from Walmart with your new Gillette razor and a package of Kimberly-Clark butt wipe (all soon to have rfid chips) and you drive by the sensors designed to read the OBD computer in your new car they've gotcha.

[Dave Hinz]

Oh good, another reason (aside from absolutely crap rain performance) to avoid Michelin tires. "All season" my ass - they're not even good in any of 'em, let alone all of 'em. Ahem, sorry for the rant (a little).

[Wood Butcher]

On a windows machine hold down the alt key and (using the numeric keypad) type 0162 then release the alt key.

My 2¢.

Art

[Jerry McCaffrey]

"Roger L" wrote in :

I subscibed for one year and have not renewed. It is thin on content but good for reading in the library (WC). Ambivalent about reupping. It is designed for the novice. A while ago (long while) I subscibed to Fine Homebuilding, seemingly aimed at the small contractor; I'm neither a novice or a contractor so I'll suffer along without a magazine :)

Jerry

[loutent]

You know that it has little value when SWMBO insists that we must renew it.

Makes a ton of money for Russ & the guys I guess.

Yeah, we renew it yearly. Got into it from a defunct "Home Mechanic" transfer subscription and I can't stop it!

Lou

[Cromwell]

I agree....I got it for a "free trial" and ended it immediately. Still ended up with about a year's worth of magazines though.

My two favorite (albeit expensive) magazines are "Fine Homebuilding" and "Fine Woodworking" -- excellent articles, very throurough. There are more ads than I like, but still hands down the best mags in my opinion.

Chris, Iowa

[Charlie Self]

I agree.

This comment always gives me a headache. Magazines are not public services paid for by your tax dollars, nor do your subscription fees pay for a great deal more than the paper and mailing costs--if that. These are profit-making corporations (they hope) and ads make up the color photos and the writing that are dropped onto the other pages for your edification. You'd be paying 3-4 times the sub cost without them, possibly more, if the magazines were available at all.

Charlie Self "If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to." Dorothy Parker

[Bruce]

On Sat, 19 Jun 2004 03:16:14 -0600, Charlie Self wrote (in article ):

Agreed! just look at the cost of most all (ad-less) professional journals....

-Bruce

[Larry Jaques]

On 19 Jun 2004 09:16:14 GMT, [e-mail] (Charlie Self) calmly ranted:

That's unfortunately true. But I wish they'd stop putting in a gazillion blow-in cardboard ads and those thick ad pages which prevent you from thumbing through the g*dd*mn*d magazine to get to the page you finally found after going through 11 pages of ads in the front to find the TOC.

I actually like to see ads in most of the mags because they give me ideas for new jigs, show me prices for tools I may want, etc.

Then again, mags like ShopNotes and WoodSmith are nice without all the ads. Note that they're competitively priced, too, but don't have any of the editorial content of the rest. Tradeoffs.

--== May The Angst Be With You! ==-- -Yoda, on a bad day --

Ending Your Web Page Angst.

[Charlie Self]

Larry Jaques responds:

Me, too. AFAIAC, TOC belongs in the first 3 pages, with masthead either adjacent to or right behind. I used to mail the blow-in cards back. Just drop 'em in the box. I quit doing that because I think the PO tosses blank ones.

Agreed.

There's usually enough good to excellent editorial to make me wonder how they make a profit, but, then, I've never been good at business. My bank balance proves that. I think part of it has to do with the range of articles in each issue, with each related to the other in Woodsmith, and nearly so in ShopNotes. Works for them. Workbench takes ads, and evidently does quite well, too. From the little I know--and it IS little--August Home is a very healthy company. I hope they stay that way forever.

Charlie Self "If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to." Dorothy Parker

[bridger]

understood.

however, as a buyer I don't have to like it.

if a magazine has too many ads, I don't buy it. the business folks at the magazine have to understand this and find the right balance- pay for their costs and still produce something I'm willing to carry home.

a free magazine with no content beyond advertisement has *negative* value to me....

[Mark L.]