After years of swearing off Wired Magazine because of their reality distortion field and horrible layout, I got a super subscription offer in the mail, something like “one year for $5” (really!), so I took the plunge.

And their great solution for subscription fulfillment? They’re sending me back issues. My subscription started this month, so, in the weird time offset of magazines, I received the March 2003 issue. Then the February 2003, and just a few days ago the January 2003 issue arrived. Guys?! What’s up with that??

Time to write a letter to them, I think, suggesting that I was hoping to subscribe to future issues, not ones that I’ve already read….

Oh, and in terms of the magazine itself, well, so far, it’s not too bad and since they were acquired by Condé Nast the layout has mellowed and become quite a bit better. The articles are still kinda funky and variously interesting or drowning in their “hipper than thou” tone, but it’s decent enough.

And lest you think that Wired is the only magazine doing screwy subscription things, Utne Magazine seems to mail out issues weeks and weeks after they appear on the newsstand. Makes me feel like a second-class citizen, actually supporting them with a subscription rather than paying the premium newsstand price.

Newsweek has become kinda weird too, now that I think about it: every fourth or fifth issue seems to not make it into my mailbox. No specific pattern, just sometimes I see the picture of a recent magazine cover in the letters section and realize I’ve never seen that issue!

Weird. It’s all just … weird.