Understood.
Future's policy is to stonewall when problems occur. That's not mine, though. I've always tried to be as open and approachable as possible to readers and that's why I think it's probably time I said something here.
This is Chris, btw. I only joined LXF a few months ago and most of what has transpired was a surprise to me (I did joke once that I imagined walking into the office, only to discover I was the only one who'd turned up for work - I didn't realise how close that was to truth at the time).
Distrowatch was one of the spreads that was dropped to cope with the page cut that you mention, northumbrian1. There are other reasons for its demise, one of them helowge nails very well.
I would also like to be able to say that the magazine's pagination will increase again, but we are in the lap of the bean counters. That I understand, only too well, means we probably don't offer as much value to you as we did. By even mentioning it I'm breaking a cardinal rule of publishing, because the hope is that you won't notice. Daft, I know.
The rapid loss of people that I respect, particularly Graham, has meant we haven't done a sparkling job of communicating what's going to happen. But we are beginning to see moments when we can look up from our work and consider what else we can do to make LXF better in print and online.
I think the best thing to promise is that we will always produce the best quality magazine/content that we can.
For anyone wondering if I'm just a stooge shoved onto LXF to fill a role. Well, I actually volunteered to join the magazine. I've been working in computing titles for ten years and I think FOSS is an incredible force for good in the world.
I'll also put my hands up to being a Linux Jedi in training, but I'm learning rapidly. But that is just me - we still have experts writing for us (and we're always looking for more).
The LXF also isn't rudderless: we have a new editor, Neil Mohr and we're charging through interviews for a technical ed.
This really is a new beginning in many ways for LXF. I wish Andrew, Ben & Graham well and hope they make a go of LinuxLifestyle etc. However, this is LXF and this is our forum. There's no better time to say what you want from the magazine, from TuxRadar and all the other things we do. We can't promise to be able to do everything you ask or want, but we'll listen and do what we can.
I hope that all makes sense and please email me (my address is on the welcome page) or look me up on Twitter (tweetinCT).
I'd be grateful if whoever has admin access to add me on as an admin too, please (once you've verified who I say I am - I could be lying, of course).
It seems that in the 'transition' no one thought to hand over the keys, which, unfortunately, is the way things go at Future sometimes.
Cheers!