Does this translate?

I'm much more forgiving when it comes to the audio rags.   Even though Atkinson himself is too dry and data-driven for me, he has collected an entertaining, erudite staff.  I just love the pictures of the hardware, whether they're in the articles or in ads.  Yeah, I'm a bit disappointed how, over the years, the once healthily divergent Stereophile and Absolute Sound have become a veritable Mike & Ike, but that doesn't stop me from getting a smile on my face when they show up in the mail.  I have to say, too, that the magazines are far more authoritative & believable than the net.  Hey, with a published magazine, chances are decent that at least somebody with genuine knowledge of the subject takes a glance at what's been written before putting index finger to the send button.

daveyf -- As thread topics often do, the topic of the thread diverged from your original post.  I was just going with the flow.  And yeah, it's terrible.  Trying to control the direction of a thread is like...as the cliche goes...trying to herd cats.