Talk:Mother Earth News

Controversy over the sale and lifetime subscriptions
Hmmm. It's interesting to note the other issues that occurred after the Shuttleworths divested themselves of the Magazine. The "bankruptcy" engineered by the new owners, probably to divest THEMselves of the obligations to several thousand of "Mother's Lifers" who forked up a significant wad of cash each to become lifetime subscribers. The new owners simply left them by the wayside, denying any responsibility to them.

The TMEN article doesn't address any of the controversies surrounding this event. Perhaps they should ask employees of BackHome Magazine...
 * If you've got more info, please post it. But keep in mind that supposition is unwelcome and a neutral point of view is required. -- Kickstart70 &middot; Talk 18:09, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Shuttleworth Sale Inconsistencies
How do we reconcile the "facts" here, when two successive paragraphs (near article's end) have sentences reading:

Paragraph A: "In 1979 editor Bruce Woods and two other employees bought the magazine from the Shuttleworths."

Paragraph B: "The magazine declined, somewhat, with the declining popularity of the back to the land movement in the early 1980s. The Shuttleworths eventually sold the magazine to a major publisher in the mid-1980s, who redesigned the magazine with a much slicker image and repositioned..."

1979 or early 1980s? Sold to editors or sold to a major publisher?


 * Because the above was never resolved (and it's doubtful that the Shuttleworths sold the magazine twice), the last paragraph has been rewritten to reflect the probable facts. Anybody knowing the story better can alter the article again.  But simple reversion wouldn't be a smart idea, as the above should be dealt with.

Seems to Use Loaded Terms
Approaching environmental problems from a down-to-earth, practical, how-to standpoint, Mother Earth News has, since the magazine’s founding in 1970, been a pioneer in the promotion of renewable energy, recycling, family farms, saner agricultural practices, better eating habits, medical self-care, more meaningful education, affordable housing, and, in the process, offered a platform for some of the most far-thinking minds of the day.

To me, this article seems to use loaded words and terms.


 * I think "down-to-earth, practical" and "better eating habits" are pretty neutral, but agree that the other phrases you put in boldface could be changed. The passage reads almost like a press release from the magazine, in which case it might be best to find something like that and quote it. PoetrixViridis 00:49, 25 December 2006 (UTC)


 * In a related vein, the paragraph referring to the Plowboy interview is a non sequitur; it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the paragraphs around it and reads more like a quotation from the back cover of a book. 98.174.240.213 (talk) 22:43, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

When was the "The" dropped?
The original title was "The Mother Earth News", the current title is just "Mother Earth News". When was the word "The" dropped from the title? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.136.146.24 (talk • contribs)

Whatever happened to Jack Vaughan?
In the late 70's and early 80's, Jack Vaughan drew small cartoons that were scattered throughout the pages of TMEN (in a manner similar to the small cartoons sprinkled around the pages of "MAD") and for many issues did a full color page called "The Weird Humor of Jack Vaughan".

When was he born? How many full color pages did he do for TMEN? Has he done any other work? Is he still alive? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.136.146.24 (talk • contribs)
 * Unsure, 'twas before my time reading MEN, but they sell a compilation. -- Kickstart70 - T - C 20:01, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

Jack Vaughan continued to draw his cartoon page for BackHome Magazine and only stopped a few years ago. He still illustrates Geoff Taylor articles for GreenPrints (a gardening magazine based in Fairview, N.C.). John Shuttleworth is the one that came up with the name "The Weird Humor of Jack Vaughan" and it drove Jack crazy. His cartoons in BackHome all had different names. He does not remember how many he drew for either magazine. BillySedan (talk) 01:28, 11 July 2012 (UTC) BillySedan


 * I found a site with all the Jack Vaughan pages. First one was in the November/December 1977 issue. Last one was in the May/June 1986 issue. One more page was printed in the July/August 1986 issue (number 100) but it was a compilation of panels from previous pages except for one depicting a stewed (drunk) tomato. Bizzybody (talk) 09:22, 18 April 2014 (UTC)

Missing info on changes in MEN's earlier decades
If anyone knows more about how this magazine grew from a no-frills, $1500-budget operation produced out of the Shuttleworths' home to a massive, organized enterprise offering summer seminars to 20,000 (!) people and a national radio show, please offer the details. PoetrixViridis 00:49, 25 December 2006 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 2 one external links on Mother Earth News. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Attempted to fix sourcing for www.motherearthnews.com/library/1975_March_April/The_Plowboy_Interview__John_Shuttleworth
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20070705201726/http://www.wnca.org/accent/pdf/accent08-06.pdf to http://www.wnca.org/accent/pdf/accent08-06.pdf

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

Cheers.—cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 10:12, 10 January 2016 (UTC)