The poll still shows most people either hate Poly and want it removed or don't care about Poly at all, which to me means it might as well not be in there for them, as they don't find it useful. I'm highly skeptical Paizo will take strong enough measures to return Dungeon to its roots; they seem to be enamored of Poly too much. I anticipate band-aids and half-measures that will please no one on either side of the fence, no matter how well-intentioned they might be.
I'm never going to subscribe to any Paizo magazine, that's for sure. IMO, they can't be trusted to 1) give the majority of the readership what it wants and what the magazine was created to give (D&D adventures), 2) to not experiment with various "bait and switch" practices (like subscriber only content) that hurt both newsstand buyers and subscribers, 3) they don't listen, except begrudgingly and late in the game, to any opinion other than their own, making the readership feel aliennated, 4) they don't give you all the maps to the adventures on their wensite, which is difficult to navigate and amateurish in appearance, and 5) most importantly, the quality of the content (both Dragon and Dungeon) has been steadily eroding ever since they took over publication, with very few exceptions.
I don't know of any successful extended "flippy" format "two magazines in one." Maybe if they'd killed Dungeon and Poly and then started a new "flippy" magazine like that it could work, as there would be a different set of expectations involved, rather than what many of us perceive to be the systematic ruination of Dungeon, a beloved and established D&D institution---to make room for nonsense like Hijinx. The majority are being forced to suffer just because Paizo and a small fraction of the readership want to roleplay (frex) Jose & The Pussycats? And Paizo insists on forcing this type material on the readership every month--material that will prove absolutely worthless to the majority of readers! For them not to realize that such repeat conduct is offensive and aliennating is beyond my ability to understand. The new monthly format has virtually destroyed any reason to purchase Dungeon at all, due to the drastically reduced D&D content (issue #100 notwithstanding, though I didn't find that issue useful despite the increased page count).
Erik has promised some pro-D&D changes to Dungeon, but I'm dubious that they will be satisfying to the majority of the readership, or even if the higher-ups at Paizo will allow him to implement them all. Only time will tell, but I'm not holding my breath.
