Many have already commented on the CFDJ announcement this weekend, and every post I have read has correctly seen this for what it is – sour grapes. I am going to be very careful with what I say about this one, but I will point out that A) I stopped writing my regular column for them several years ago, B) their reaction to Adobe opting not to sponsor specific SYS-CON publications and events was incredibly immature and unprofessional. While CFDJ started life with the best of intentions, it has failed to deliver on these for the longest time. Fortunately, the demise of CFDJ leaves no real ColdFusion information void as we’ve not been relying on them as a source of authoritative information for many years now. Between the Adobe ColdFusion Developer Center, all of the ColdFusion bloggers (as well as those aggregated by Goog and MXNA), and of course community sites like House Of Fusion (including their Fusion Authority Quarterly Update), there is plenty to read and learn, without having to contend with obnoxious and irrelevant ad placement, embedded in-your-face paid video placement, poorly managed subscriptions and circulation, receiving multiple copies of publications that were never requested, endless spam, and worse. So, goodbye CFDJ, we’ll not be missing you at all.
So Long CFDJ, Goodbye, And Good Riddance
18 responses to “So Long CFDJ, Goodbye, And Good Riddance”
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I don’t consider myself new to the CF scene and have never heard of CFDJ… maybe its a good thing I haven’t.
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So, does this mean Adobe will be backing the CFAQ?
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CFDJ’s home page now has two "author blogs" saying negative things about them – your "Good Riddance" post and my "Hurrah! CFDJ is dead!" post. I guess that’s what they get for misrepresenting aggregated blogs as CFDJ author blogs.
I noticed that they reinstated my two articles and my author profile – after removing them per my request after I said I wanted no relationship with their trashy excuse for a magazine. So they’ve gone back on their word there as well. -
The funniest part is the current front page of the CFDJ. Two "author blogs" Ben and Sean Corfield (see Sean’s post from earlier) totally flaming CFDJ. I just found it humorous.
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It’s a sad statement when even the "Editor-in-Chief" wasn’t informed of this decision – but no worries – the Community has always presenteda united front and there is a wealth of info available (as you so aptly pointed out). Here’s a the link to Simon’s Blog on the same subject:
http://www.horwith.com/index.cfm/2007/9/9/cfdj-ends-and-a-surprise-tomorrow -
I say good riddance too. It’s the bottom of the barrel for authors. I used to subscribe and read, and have written for them, but the past few years they have turned into an advertising shark tank. With all that advertising, you’d think they would pay authors more than a copy of the magazine. The last time I didn’t even get that. I went to one AJAX conference and it was just like the web site — all advertising and no content.
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Sid,
Just on ‘addition’. The editorial Board was not informed in any way, so the lack of communication does not stop at Simon. 🙂 A few other members on the board have posted about it too.
I’m unclear on the specific support that Adobe was giving sys-con, but if I were in Adobe’s situation, I would have been demanding changes too. -
I meant to say
"If I were in Adobe’s situation, I would have been demanding changes or pulling my support too" -
I remembered when I first bought a CFDJ magazine years ago. I was new to CF back then and I thought it was a nice journal. Over the years, it spoiled like a tomato and rotted on the ground. Now for icing on the cake, they’re going to rename it as "Silverlight Developer Journal"
Wow… money talks I guess -
Is it even going to stay "Silverlight"? Like Apollo became AIR (which sucks ‘cos Apollo was cool). That would be funny if MS decide to change the product name.
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That’s cool with me. Not too long ago I sent an email to them complaining that their magazine articles were much too simple to be of use to a real CF developer. Frankly I learned more via web blogs, tutorials, text books, and documentation. They said that the magazine was more geared to beginners and general public. Huh, and I thought it was supposed to be a professional industry leading periodical. For the price they charged, I would expect much much more.
But that’s nothing compared to that @%&$#! video advertisement they put on all their pages at the top. Right in your face, over and over. I completely stopped going there at all. -
I am very sadden by the news about Adobe not supporting CFDJ anymore.
It was definitely one of the most interesting and relevant publication in IT field especially for ColdFusion developers.
It raises the question whether Adobe is committed to supporting ColdFusion development in future as it stated when it acquired Macromedia. We at AIG switching to .Net. It was up in the air for
a while but this development with CFDJ was indication to the upper
management that ColdFusion is not going to be supported in future.
Adios. -
I am very sadden by the news about Adobe not supporting CFDJ anymore.
It was definitely one of the most interesting and relevant publication in IT field especially for ColdFusion developers.
It raises the question whether Adobe is committed to supporting ColdFusion development in future as it stated when it acquired Macromedia. We at AIG switching to .Net. It was up in the air for
a while but this development with CFDJ was indication to the upper
management that ColdFusion is not going to be supported in future.
Adios. -
Huh. If you go to CFDJ web site they seem perfectly willing to accept your subscription for CFDJ. If it truly is dead it seems a bit unethical to take new subscribers money… no???
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Simon,
It is sad to see that the upper management take that attitude. We disagree on the relevance of CFDJ, though. It was slowly becoming less and less relevant.
I suggest you show the upper management a copy of Fusion Authority Quarterly Update. It is very high quality and does the community justice. -
I am certainly indifferent to see CFDJ go. I’m never quite glad when anything comes apart as it usually means more stress for the people that believed in the product, but I share the same sentiment for the website (it was too annoying to deal with) and the quality of the content was not on par with other languages. Over the last few years ColdFusion has grown dramatically and I don’t think the magazine kept up with the community push.
Unfortunately the people that are responsible for it’s death are most likely not the people that actually cared about the product. This wouldn’t be the first time the business model stifled the creative engine. -
Good to see them go. Maybe a better print mag can start that can have more content and less ads. I had the same experience. I asked them about advertising once and have gotten several free magazines a month since. They wanted me to go to the AJAX conference for free as well, and wouldnt stop bugging me about it.
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@Greg, FAQU – http://fusionauthority.com/quarterly/ – it’s very good!
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