Sheba sent me a list of some of the contributors and advertisers to "Ferrets Usa". What I'm going to write TO THE PUBLISHERS (with copies to the advertisers) boils down to this: 1. I just can't buy or recommend their magazine while they mix so much bad with the good. 2. The problems seem to trace back to bad editorial work on both the book and "Ferrets Usa", and have been often mentioned my myself and many others in complaint letters. 3. Most problems could be corrected by utilizing plain old common sense (ex. not printing full addresses or full names of letter writers from FFZs like California, and not mentioning that any article writers who live in FFZs own ferrets), and enlisting the expertise of someone who actually KNOWS and LIKES both ferrets and ferret people, either to review materials for accuracy or to become the new editor of ferret publications. Then it would be possible to catch blatant errors such as mentioning cedar chips for ferrets, advising a drastically wrong amount of Benedryl, and so on. Also, it would be easy for such an individual to know that doctoring a photo to make it appear that a ferret is hunting a chicken runs counter to having the numbers of sales desired. In today's world of e-mail an accuracy checker would not at all need to be local so they could hire someone who has provided them with factual, ferret-loving articles in the past or even split the work among two or three such people. Alternatively, they could get an editor who actually knows something about ferrets and the ferret community, since the reviewer approach has been mentioned before to the editorial staff with serious mistakes and the bad publicity they generate happening needlessly afterward. 4. It could be easily possible for them to create a magazine which actually helps ferrets and their owners consistently just as "Modern Ferret" does, but until they stop mixing in inaccurate articles with good ones, and until they help protect ferret owners in FFZs they will never know much of their sales potential since any owner who has had ferrets for a long time or read a number of ferrets books will realize the lack of consistency in information, and the danger in which they place some owners who must retain their privacy. That means that their magazine becomes -- quite simply -- a bad investment. There IS room out there for more than one good magazine; the question is whether they really want to take the simple steps needed to create a good magazine: an actual "Ferrets USA" instead of "Ferrets Usa (User)". 5. We're going to cut back as many of our ferret supply purchases for a while from anyone who advertises in their magazine unless those places send us copies of new letters THEY are sending to the publisher saying that the inconsistency in accuracy in this Fancy publication, and the endangering of ferrets and owners in FFZs run counter to their desires in a ferret publication and they hope that the publishers will either have checks done by people who care about ferrets and ferret owners, or that they will utilize an editor with this knowledge and concern. The advertisers willing to urge the magazine to improve will not have their sales from us cut back or eliminated. We aren't looking to cause harm; we're just upset that even after many letters from many people advising how this magazine could help ferrets and owners they instead continue to make mistakes so very often when it would be possible for the existing staff to use experts and learn enough to not make the errors, or to switch staff around to have someone more willing to learn in the editorial position. We already get information from multiple sources; having one more would be just fine with us, but we aren't about to sink our cash into such mercurial quality. 6. Recently, we needed to buy a cat magazine subscription for Steve's parents, and a dog one for Aly, the niece on my side of the family. Knowing the questionable variability in their ferret publications we eliminated their dog and cat magazines from our choice list up front just in case they echoed the errors found in the ferret ones. How many people have responded to such mistakes in the same way? COULD SOMEONE, PLEASE, EITHER POST OR SEND ME THE NAMES OF THE PUBLISHERS, AND THEIR ADDRESS since I can't find my old copy? [Posted in FML issue 2630]