"Their" magazine keeps getting worse...

[mattadams]

The rumor (that's been confirmed) over "there" is that FTW Mag is now going to be quarterly, not monthly. Wow is all I have to say. I thought the magazine was really excellent at first, top notch, and it just keeps going downhill more and more. Oh well, hopefully that quarterly mag will give me 3 months worth of stuff to read!

[Tray]

But yet everyone continues to wait for it. I'm sure glad I never got around to signing up. I'd be pissed if something like that happened after I paid for a magazine.

[clavos]

They sent me an e-mail about my subscription expiring. We went back and forth about how I wasn't going to pay for a mag that comes sporadically at best. I told them it should be renewed for free but I don't think it will happen so I'm probably done with it

[mattadams]

If I hadn't renewed already, I'd be letting mine expire. As it is, I might be getting magazines for like 5 years if I paid for a certain amount and only got 4 a year.
It's funny, their response sounds so corporate... "we're doing this to better server our customers and newstands"... uhh, how does not giving them what you promised better serve them?
I saw it coming when they quickly came out with Dodge Truck WOrld Magazine and My Chevy Truck Magazine within months, despite the fact they ahd no subscribers lined up.

[Walking Eagle]

The funny thing is I've always had problems with deliveries. But I think it was in January, for some reason I thought things were going to turn around and I renewed for another 3 years. Well I've had enough and I cancelled my subscription yesterday. I find the magazine to be boring. Most members want to see articles about members. I get tired of seeing the same trucks from FTW's website and then open up the magazine and see the same trucks.

I also think when they went crazy and started all of these other websites they lost focus and are spread out too much. Trying to start a Jeep site and a Full Size Jeep site, why do they have two sites for Jeeps, when there are 50,000 Jeep sites already? Then trying to break down to SUV's, Sport Trucks, Off Road Trucks, Mini Trucks, Classic Trucks, etc. I'm still waiting for the John Deere Tractor website. Its nuts.

[Heath]

We don't wish to much ill will... With our luck the sites would all implode and then a crap load of them would come over here and bog down our little family site!!!

[clavos]

Wasn't it in January when they switched to volume number instead of months. Another ploy so people won't know how many issues they are missing. I paid for a one year subscription in June of 2003, and have ten issues, but I recieved number ten two weeks ago. They are just screwed.

[mattadams]

Jeff, I think your right. It was around the time I came to the site that they started adding like crazy, and I couldn't understand why, there was NO market for what they were trying to force. Their full size jeep site still has like 100 members (which, for a nationwide site supported by a large company, SUCKS), their PT Cruiser site is like an ant compared to some other pt cruiser sites that are out there, their harley zone is absolutely rediculous... what i think is the funniest is when they write articles and try to apply it to multiple sites, one was "upgrading your trucks shocks" and it was on the pt cruiser zone site, come on guys, get real. Their "hummer zone" site I think has about 15 members now, LOL.
They thought because they did good with FTW, that whatever they did would turn to gold, but without some active folks to keep things running, submit articles, etc. it won't grow on its own. Oh well, hopefully they'll learn and start shutting down some of the frivalous sites to focus more on their core competencies, but I doubt it.
The reason I joined FTW was because of hte community, not because they ahd articles or a product guide or a shopping center or any of that crap, and when it was first starting up, it was truly the best site out there, now I hardly even visit...

[mattadams]

Just in case it gets deleted from the thread over there in the magazine forum, thought I'd post my response to one of the threads here...

zzulu, perhaps you would understand if you spent countless hours planning, organizing, and maintaining a chapter, trying ot spread the word of a site that you once loved dearly and still would like to succeed, you stick up for them every opportunity possible even when your sure in your heart they are wrong, etc. and the way they thank you is by occasionally giving your contact information so if people are interested in joining the chapter they can contact you, except its the wrong contact information, and all it would take to correct is maybe 30 seconds of time, but that shows how much some people are appreciated. "Sorry, we don't have 30 seconds to spare to make sure people can contact you if you they wish. We're too busy with other things right now" or worse yet, not even a response, just absolute ignoring of you. Like you don't exist, you do nothing to help the site, and are worthless as far as they can tell. It's all in that one line. "We don't seem ot care if members in your area can contact you if they want to join up!"
And yes, I would like a little cheese with my wine. I pay for stickers every time they domain name changes (I bought several f150world.com stickers, which I replaced with fordtruckworld.com stickers, which I replaced with ftwtrucks.com stickers, which I will possiobly replace with fordtruckworld stickers, I haven't yet decided), I am a subscriber even though I'm not bitching about the fact I should've got a free shirt several months ago, but am still waiting, and I don't complain when my magazine comes late, torn, completely shredded to oblivion, or if I hate the fact that 3/4 of the magazine is ads, nor that at any time when looking on the FTW site, you can see at a minimum of 5 different advertisements, either on the top, the banner ads, the 3 or 4 ads on the left hand side, or the large ad banner on the right side. Or the fact that the administrators that we all used to see our friends, within the past few months and years have become more of our dictators, controlling what we can say and what we can do, and if we complain too much, our posts are simply deleted, as this one may be. Some of the people who used to chime in constantly on various threads now only stop in to delete/close threads, ban users, or throw a bunch of b.s. our way. And yes, I used to be a "forums manager", so I spent constant hours on here trying to help the site, trying to make it better, also which is unappreciated, because as you can tell I no longer have that designation. Or the fact that I've spent probably 60 hours writing articles for the magazine, never earned a single penny for my efforts, and so far one might have been published in the magazine but since I haven't seen issue #24 yet, I dont know. All the way being told they dont have enough articles to publish the magazine every month as promised.
With all of these issues, its no wonder people are jumping ship to other sites, or forming their own sites for their state specific stuff, but yet many diehards choose to stick it out and hope that things turn around for the better, but even that will only last so long.
Maybe if you'd been here since the beginning and knew how great it used to be vs. what it is now, you'd understand my gripes.

[Walking Eagle]

That was very well said.

[clavos]

:withstupid:

[mattadams]

As expected, itw as removed and I received a not-so-pleasant email. I won't go into the content because its a private matter, but I guess I'm good at predicting the future! LOL.

[clavos]

I'm pretty much done with "their" site. I surf through once in a while when I'm bored, but thats it. Matt, when will I get the job I'm looking for? LOL..

[mattadams]

I predict in 3 weeks.

[Glass]

You will find a job when i no longer have one, so, like Matt said...three weeks. :lol:

---JOHN

[Tray]

Sweet, go Matt go!

[mattadams]

Hopefully so, since I was basically told do it again and your banned, and dont even think about us running any of your articles again because your attitude, bla bla bla.

[Tray]

I have an idea. You could write up your own magazine for our site over here, and then stick them all in the mail with no stamps. I'm sure just as many people will get them as get the ftw mag.

[mattadams]

ROFL!!! And if I jam it into an envelope, it'll turn up in just as good of shape, should the postal service make a mistake and deliver it! ROFL.

[Tray]

Yeah, I was thinking you should use those little envelope's that they send with the credit card bills. Then you'd have to fold it a couple of times, rip off a corner or two, and wet it down a little.

[mattadams]

Yeah really :). Oh well, I wish them the best... I'm just upset that it is a magazine that could have been so incredibly awesome, but instead of listening to people and letting people know situations that were going on, they kept everything secret, ran it the way they wanted which eventually will be the crush of hte magazine. if you don't listen to your customers, who will you listen to?
It just boggles my mind that I have other magazines that I receive, some for free, that come literally on a day I can set my clock to, and always in good shape, and the FTW mag was coming sporadically at best, and even then it was typically at least slightly damaged, if not mutilated.
Anyways, thanks for your support in that thread Niels and Jeff, even though it wasn't direct support for me, it always helps for them to know Im not the only one pissed off...

[Heath]

Bastards...