Kiteboarding Magazine Deal..

[Greg]

its the end of the world.......

Really, this is just a little sad to me. I know people who have tryed to "build" a company for years and are still eating dog food. True if the economies of scale kick in the companys may take off but what about now. This sport is just developing, the players are mostly that, PLAYERS. THey do what they do becouse they love it, the photogs at KiteBoarding dont get payed, the editors scrape by to pull it togather and then they have to give the mags away becouse WE wont pay a fair subscription price (NOT NEWSTAND). They will be totally forced to bow to the advertizers becouse they are the ones paying the bills, if you want real content YOU have to pay for it...
To me this is about outsourcing plain and simple. Kiters not helping kiters.. or in this case kiters giving away a tidbit of information to other kiters that has detremental effect on part of that community. That is what makes me sad.
People today treat everything like just another commodity, this mag should be more then that, its should be about US- our passion for our sport...
L.M.G.

[narly1]

passion, is something your not short on.
interesting point limm.

[Rascal]

Hey man. I hear you. I also hate to see the little guy get screwed.

But donít get too down. One shouldnít overlook tons of positives within the kiting industry that should ensure that it continues to grow.

Few other sports that I have experienced have such a close knit community willing to help others out and lend a hand. Consider this website: there is a ton of support and advice for newbies. The sharing of information on launch sites and wind conditions. Community discussion and debate on important developments. When you go to bay-area launch sites, people are willing to help you, give you tips, ensure you are safe. This type of thinking does not exist in surfing, for example, where nobody is willing to help out and locals are outwardly hostile.

I am very bullish on the future of kiting generally. There is a solid foundation. I expect it to grow, the gear to continue to improve, and the industry to continue to expand. For one simple reason, itís a great product.

[windhorny]

There is no way in hell anyone out there has a build cost of $70 per board. Just thought i would throw that out there. And outsourcing is a huge issue with this country. We are stuck in a system that we made for ourselves. It's like asking everyone to stop driving so we don't have to be dependent on other countries oil. It would economically hurt us way more to this-of course. How do we stop every family from having 10 kids? China can do, why can't we? Then again the reason alot of cultures have so many kids is because that is their social security. But now that we have 75% of our products made there, they probably can afford to survive on our imports rather than 10 working kids. Then again they probably aren't making jack compared to what we are, regardless of our high cost of living. So where does it stop? The end of the world is not here but we are heading there. humans are no doubt the next dinosours. So enjoy everyday you can, be a selfish son of a bitch. Kite less than 200' from shore. Do all kinds of drugs. Flip off a cop just for the thrill. Pee in the sink. Don't pay your taxes. Wear your clothes inside out. Do whatever makes you happy because we are not taking any of these things with us when we die.

$.50

[Sander]

Windhorny, nice Sunday Sermon! Can I get an amen? (gospel church down the street going off in your neighborhood too?) Hallelujah! Now bow your heads for the morning prayer to the Wind Gods...

[KillaHz]

Everyone on this thread has good points. I can tell you as a past Editor of Kiteboarding magazine that subscripitons have never been a problem. Our subscription base and our total distribution have been growing every year quite relative to what you've seen in user growth at the beach.

I will tell you this. Kiteboarding magazine allways considered itself the premium magazine. We were never going to give anything away for free as we felt that if you make a good product, you should charge good money for it.

That being said, I'm sure that any deal that was or still is available on the Internet will be rather restricting and probably has some fine print about canceling you if certain changes take place in the format or frequency in the magazine.

I happen to know that impressive changes are being applied to the future format of the magazine starting with this very next issue. Should be really nice and I wouldn't be surprised if they raise the price...$20? $30 for a year of Kite Porn?!?!? No brainer for me.

I like to save money as much as the next guy but I pick my battles...saving a couple bucks over a year just isn't worth my effort.

If that was more than .02 let me know and I'll provide y'all with some change to go eBay your mag sub with.

[Greg]

That was a some funny shit , oh and I'd say you owe us another buck!
Live large, pee in the sink.... OOOmy!!

Funny thing is I've never paid for a single copy, they have either been given to me or I won them in raffles. Must have about $6 or $7 hun tied up in them about now...(I always win)
Limm

[OliverG]

The end of the world?

If the subscriptions are offered for cheap somewhere, it's because the mag is in favor of it to boost circulation and has made that choice to make subs available cheaply. Wired is $10/year for 12 issues, the New Yorker is maybe $20/year for 50 issues. Increased circulation is the goal for all magazines. Don't want ads? Buy Consumer Reports.

[Bulldog]

By always buying used one year old kites, I am supporting my fellow kiters' addictions to buying new kites every year. I'm doing my part. If I didn't, they maybe wouldn't have the cash to buy new. Sort of like buying stuff from the homeless guys so they can... oh wait, that shit is usually stolen, and they're using it to buy drugs.

[Don]

Uhmmm... Uri? Is it ok if I take a pass on that potluck next year?