news from The Samba .... looks like Trends is gone

Your URL is incomplete... it won't take you right to the article... Try again.

Worked for me...

Basically was an article with a letter from Ryan Price, editor of VW Trends, saying that February 2005 will be the final issue.

Could be real, could be made up...who knows, although its not very surprising considering the poor quality of the mag.

Red Bug wrote:

No need to Doubt Randy Carlson from Old Bug..... He may have some strange ideas when it comes to cars :-) , but he's a straight shooter..

Can someone paste a copy of the article here. I can't remember my Samba Forum password.

Bill Berckman

The link works fine but it's in the `Rants' section and I forgot that you have to be registered and logged in to see that forum.

Here's another thread in the general forum, no login required:

This link should work, Bill:

Thanks Scott

Bill Berckman

............The same information has been posted on Common Gear but they're saying that March will be the last issue.

Is Dune Buggies and Hot VWs still being published? I always liked that one a lot more than VW Trends. Although I haven't looked at either in at least 10 years.

Yes it is alive. My guess is that with the death of Trends they will probably get more readers.

You'd have to live in a cave not to have seen this one coming. Magazines are little more than a reflection of their editor. In the case of Ryan Price, who repeatedly showed his readers how little he knew about Volkswagens, grammar and the English language in general, it was pretty obvious the job was a gimme rather than a position won on merit.

-Bob Hoover

I just got a call last night from VW Trends asking me to renew my subscription for another year at $1.50 an issue. I declined but it is strange they'd be selling subscriptions if they're stopping the magazine.

AMEN to THAT!!!

They should have put "Editor's notes" in the back of the book, not the front! I was usually too disgusted to even see what in the rest of the issue after reading some of his editorials!

Not to mention all the subscription scams over the years that went along with that mag. I had to call every year to get it straightend out. We moved back in april and I didn't give "Trends" my forwarding address :) Mark Detro Englewood, FL

WTF do you know about publishing magazines, Bob Hoover? Now sit back and relax for a minute and let me air this out a bit. Magazines like Trends are not made by the editor. It's made by the publisher who has certain metrics regarding price & performance which largely point to advertising yields. An editor can be a living wreck of a writer and editorialist when the book (magazine) is making money. If the magazine continues to make money and the editor hasn't hurt the bottom line he's allowed to rant on. Believe me, mags like his are not supported by a majority who can read or write critically. That rather leaves you and the rest of us in the soup, eh?

It's something else that tubes the ship.

Sure, he's a snot-nosed fuckup know-nothing but that's not what does in the magazine.

Tough shit, Bob Hoover. It's not about your better taste or knowledge, but something else entirely different. And I rather doubt you would REALLY have it any other way.

jjs

John, while we all know you have experience with magazines, you are overlooking one MAJOR thing....the circulation of VWTrends has gone WAY down in the past few years...know why? give you one guess....alot of people can't stand the editor....they don't like his attitude, his writing, or the direction he has pointed "his" magazine...therefore "the people" have spoken....while i understand that the small amount of money made on subscriptios is trivial to a publisher, advertisers do not advertise in a magazine that nobody buys...it really has nothing to do with "knowing about publishing magazines" but more to do with basic business economics....if you don't make money you fold....incidently my subscription expires March 05....guess it is "up in the air' whether i will get the last issue or not...

------------------- Chris Perdue "I'm ever so thankful for the Internet; it has allowed me to keep a finger in the pie and to make some small contribution to those younger who will carry the air-cooled legend forward" Jim Mais Feb. 2004

Hello, Chris:

If the cause of the problems was the editor, he'd be out in a heart-beat. I will wager that the problem was that the publisher has wanted to off this magazine for some time and let it die with the editor. It's like letting a bug eat away an unprofitable appendage. With such a rationalization the publisher is off the hook and he can say "We tried", whether he did or not. Nowadays, it is all about short-term crap. I hate it, too.

John, that does sound both like a feasible and reasonable answer....I personally feel that the mag was doomed shortly after Ryan took over, whether because of him or because he had no real "backing" along with him....either way, Ryan did things with the mag that the readers did not like...I know you participate/read the STF and there have been several threads there over the years and a large number of subscribers did indeed cancel their subscriptions....and we have no idea how many people that read the STF also decided(quietly) to drop the mag also....either way i feel that it is BAD for "US"....the "enthusiasts" will be the ones hurt, because competition makes the products better....

------------------- Chris Perdue "I'm ever so thankful for the Internet; it has allowed me to keep a finger in the pie and to make some small contribution to those younger who will carry the air-cooled legend forward" Jim Mais Feb. 2004

Some here may say it is because of the editor or for whatever other reason. I don't think it has anything to do with that. People have no need for magazines like VW Trends when they publish the same type of stuff over and over that can be found on the internet for free. The internet is killing the paper and magazine business in general.

On 15 Dec 2004 03:06:13 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@aol.comREMOVE (Chris Perdue) scribbled this interesting note:

of some reasonable thoughts...

While I've never subscribed to any VW magazines, I've done plenty of reading about them. Given what I've read about the mags, I have to say they cannot possibly compete with the technical information available here or on STF (not that I've read much over there either.)

The competition is out there. ramva is one of the competitors. What is really nice about forums like this is no one (except for ISPs, of course) makes any real money off the endeavor.

Just my opinion, of course!:~)

-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)