Amy Musher's Mailbag

By Amy Musher

It would be easy to think that a magazine read by a gazillion people might have a strictly businesslike relation with its readers, but if you did, you'd be wrong. The connection we have is much more like that between old friends who know that despite all the nagging annoyances, letters can still be written, and they will still be read, no matter how cranky they may be. So what makes our readers testy? Here's a sampling of what gets their goat.

--WHEN THEY FIND WORDS IN TIME THEY DON'T KNOW: One reader calls them "elitist bomfogs"--whatever that means.

--WHEN SOME PAGES GO UNNUMBERED: "If there was some consistency about the lack of numbers," wrote one frustrated reader, "I wouldn't mind so much. If yours was the only publication that practiced this insane policy, I wouldn't mind. But there isn't, you aren't, and I do." The reason for this irritant, in a nutshell, is that our magazine's ad content can vary from region to region of the country, leaving us unable to put numbers on those pages that don't appear in the entire circulation run. Trust us on this; we're not trying to add needless chaos to your life.

--WHEN ANY OF THE CLINTONS APPEAR ON THE COVER: Since 1992 there have been 39 covers with at least one Clinton as the newsmaker de la semaine. Readers cried uncle long ago, begging us to give them a break. No such luck. But considering that those stories generated more than 27,000 letters over the same years, we think we've seen our share of retaliatory thrusts. Nah, we know we have.