Touch surface or go into detail?

[mooyingmantis]

You want a better magazine? Read a couple first and then man up and offer a few suggestions.

MightyB makes a good point here!

In my past professional work as a Christian minister I read many types of magazines in that field. There were three main types of magazine and each targeted a different audience:

1. Fluff magazines: These were meant to be inspirational. They had articles for the general lay audience. Not much intellectual stimuli, but they made you feel good and patted your faith on the back.

2. Lesson-based magazines: These dealt with more in-depth material that targeted those who wanted to know more about the Bible and things that related to the Bible (ancient societal customs, Middle Eastern history, archaeological finds, etc.).

3. Peer-reviewed Journals: These dealt with the intellectual nitty-gritty that few laymen would understand. Topics like Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek linguistics, theories on the development of the Judeo-Christian religion based on similar ideas found in other religions, theological disputes, etc..

Most of what we see on the market today in martial arts circles would fall in the first two categories with more emphasis on the first category. Typically we see the following:

1. Articles that highlight the activities of a personality/celebrity (the Shaolin Abbot, Bruce Lee, Wesley Snipes, etc.).

2. A simple concept (center-line theory, 12 bridging hands theory, long pole techniques, etc.).

3. Popular fables about a style's "history".

These are perceived as what the average reader wants. Perhaps it is. Marketing studies are done to gather information on what the major percentage of the population will buy. I don't believe article decisions are usually done with a dartboard.

Unfortunately, many of us here are NOT the average reader. We desire more substantive material. Some of us have trained for decades and have been there, done that. We desire something more along the lines of a journal as described above. The problem is that as readership goes, we are a very small minority that is not a large enough purchasing block to support the type of magazine we desire.

So, we are fortunate to have a forum like this to which we can turn. Over the years a lot of valuable information has been shared here.

In defense of KFM, they can only print what WE write. If you aren't writing or your students aren't writing articles, you have no right to *****. If you want deeper knowledge to be available, do your part and make it available from your perspective.

Since I am not interested in financial remuneration for what I share, I choose to share it on this forum. That way knowledge is not only shared, but peer review can be done by all of you. Sometimes I learn more from those who disagree with my ideas than those in the general public that might believe whatever I write. It just takes a lot thicker skin this way.