A legitimate concern, but a poor solution. If you're worried that page count doesn't accurately reflect value, its really unclear why you'd choose an article count as a replacement. Wouldn't you expect that to exacerbate the inaccuracy rather than repair it?
Actually, I specifically said page count would be a fine standard, but not all by itself. it doesn't denote value in any way. If you notice I listed a number of categories I thought would be important to make a comparison. Of course, other categories could be presented or removed. So, what do you think? Is there a category you would like to see in addition to page count. Do you actually have an opinion on what can and can't be done to make the comparison more accurate or are you here to just tell everyone how wrong they are?
Cadfan said:
I seem to recall the second half of the typical print Dragon magazine being dominated by a series of articles, often one or two page spreads, that recurred every month. I seem to recall a dearth of lengthy articles of a dozen or more pages. 4e uses a clearly different approach, instead relying on a small number of long flagship articles, augmented by one or more podcasts that cover some of the material that used to be in article form (ask wizards, mailbag). The Gladiator article, the one where I first stepped back and was really shocked at the change in style in online publication, was 14 pages with almost no art after the cover page. Just solid text and stat blocks. I don't recall that sort of thing occuring on a monthly basis in the print magazine. I remember six pages or so as being pretty beefy. Are my recollections wrong?
What a waste and all to convince me you are right. And yet, I already agreed with part of what you were saying. I didn't think using page counts or article counting alone could bring about an answer. But to answer your question, your recollection is not wrong.
Simply put, I tried to state that a number of conditions would be needed to make any kind of comparison. One of those conditions was page count. And, actually, Merric brought a better point concerning word count. Ultimately, most comparisons are doomed to failure because the formats are so different. But I did think there was value in making suggestions on said conditions of comparisons. And if there is a way to do it accurately, I wouldn't mind seeing it as I was starting to get the same perception as well. I don't mind being proven wrong.
And I don't think I was particularly rude in my original post either. I feel pretty short right now though. You jumped to conclusions about my point and assumed I was somehow contradicting you completely. I only disagreed about a minor issue on the subject. Well, there you go. You are right. Page count could be helpful. Feel better now?
Edit: If I am reading you wrong and you didn't mean to be rude, I apologize. But this really gets up my nose and I am feeling rude as a result. I was trying to help both sides of the argument. But if I am mis-reading your tone, just tell me to chill and I will understand.
