Outside (1-year auto-renewal)

(I sent the following letter to their customer service last week)

After about 15 years of getting your magazine, I have decided not to renew my subscription. It is a shame that your once great publication has become such a joke.

After receiving your November issue, and spending 10 minutes removing all the inserts and gimmick ads so I could actually read it, I found no substance. Instead there is a fashion section (yikes), a `hot list' with young barely dressed men and women (hey I'm not against a little sex and skin, but I'll subscribe to Vogue or Maxim for that), an article about Larry David's wife that might as well have come from People magazine, an Aussie travelogue that I am convinced their tourist board paid for, all sandwiched in between so many ads for monster SUVs and other crap that you need a compass and a map just to keep up with where the articles worth reading continue from one page to the next.

What happened to the great writers like Krakauer? What happened to having any environmental conscience? Where are the stories of adventure that are real and make you want to go there? Maybe I am just getting older than your current demographic. I haven't lost my sense of adventure, which is why I live in Durango CO and spend a lot of time outdoors. I used to look to your magazine for inspiration. Now I half expect the cover to tout stories on `killer abs'. You've become the Clear Channel of the outdoor magazine world.

Get real again and I may come back.

Outside Magazine and I have had an up and down relationship for many years. At times, Outside grabs me with great journalism, awesome photos, and fun facts. I've lliked its fearless tackling of environmental issues and its ability to transport me to truly exotic places. At other times, i question its journalistic integrity, emphasis on the latest and greatest gear, and shameless trumpeting of past successes. At times the advice it gives also seems more aimed at insecurities (you need this gear to be successful, you need to live HERE to live a fulfilling life) than I think a magazine focusing on fun in the outdoors should.

Cases in point:

I'm not sure what criteria it uses for recommending gear but at times I question whether the recommendations come because a certain company is an advertiser or because the editors truly believe that a certain bike, watch, pair of sunglasses are really all that. I don't get the sense that recommendations come as the result of rigorous field testing a la Backpacker Magazine, etc. Also the gear tends to be super expensive. Whatever happened to just enjoying the outdoors via the John Muir approach: just taking off with the clothes on your back and the nearest snack at hand? Because I live in a mountain town I see this ridiculous emphasis on having Just The Right Gear/Clothing for every occasion all the time. It's a little silly.

Recycling or contradictory fitness advice. Outside did an outstanding series back in 1999 about achieving total fitness but then in subsequent issues redirected its fitness programs under the same type of heading (Achieve your best fitness now!) that made me wonder if they're just running with current fads. I know a magazine has to really work at staying fresh but I think consistency is the best approach here.

Dudes---John Krakauer wrote a great series and subsequent book about the tragedy on Everest in 1996. But that ship has sailed. If that's the only hook you can hang your hat on the magazine's got problems. We get that your magazine took the lead on that story. Stop reminding us of it.

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"Outside" is...a horrible magazine. There's not a nicer way to put it. This is no longer the magazine of Jon Krakauer, it's something you get a year's subscription for free by buying at certain retailers. The articles are scarce between endless mentions of expensive gear and tips and tricks that are blindingly obvious. The magazine isn't even about being outside. For Olympic coverage the magazine did not cover the Jamacian sprinters, implosion of US track and field, or even the effect of Title IX on American amateur sports. No, "Outside" put Michael Phelps on the cover, several months late. Phelps equipment and environment are engineered to 3 decimal places and his sport doesn't even take place outside. Slight oversight there guys. This magazine is for people that want to look like they might go outside. So if you really want $100 t-shirts or bicycle wheels made of the latest version of Unobtainum to show off you might enjoy "Outside". Everyone else should just stick with the latest REI catalog.

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There is a strange mixture of articles in this magazine. Some are about outdoor activitiesthough not really about *you* doing them, but stories about someone else. Other articles seem completely general interest that would not be of any more interest to an outdoorsy person than anyone else. There are entertaining travel articles about writers' trips without too much practical information if you were to plan a trip. However, in the back there is a large section of advertisements from all kinds of outdoor adventure places. The photography section is lovely; there are a couple of pages of just artistic photos. For an active outdoor magazine, it seems a little too passive.

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I'm not sure who's at the helm of this operation but I'd be willing to bet they don't get Outside too often. Not to be too cynical about it, but I just don't find this mag to be as USEFUL as it was before. If you like LOTS of articles on who the coolest extreme sports stars are, how they got their abs, and what gear they're wearing, subscribe NOW. The magazine looks amazing, the photography is top notch and they still manage to come up with a thorny article on the environment periodically. But for my money, it just feels like the editorial staff has been plucked from New York image mags that do one thing really well SELL. I read National Geographic Adventure, and unlike Outside, I USE IT for information because it has CONTENT.

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