Almost all of the magicians I count as friends have given up on The Linking Ring magazine. I almost did myself, especially during that period between Phil Wilmarth and Samuel Patrick Smith when typos and incomplete sentences multiplied faster than sponge bunnies.
There's still one area where the magazine disappoints me. The important task of crediting inventors with their work. Lately the Hocus Pocus Parades, when they consist of contributions by Rings, often have "pet effects" that are described without any provenance or historical information at all. That's the sort of thing you expect during an informal session, but when an effect is committed to print it should be better documented.
Worse yet is crediting sloppiness by the regular columnists. Two specific example make my point. In his April 2009 "Showtime" column, Peter Marucci describes a card displacement move that he says he read in an early Paul Harris book. That's the sum total of his attempt to credit and identify the technique, "an early Paul Harris book." If Marucci is too lazy to do the research, then the Editor should have sent it back or filled in the gap himself.
Another example is a review "Street Cents" written by Bill Wells. Wells at least attempts to tell purchasers the history of the trick, but in doing so credits Bryce Kuhlman and Eugene Burger with creating "Fading Coin." The real inventor of Fading Coin is Tomoyuki Takahashi. The trick that Wells meant is "Accentuate the Positive" which is published in the book Mystery School.
I get the sense that the organization is struggling, perhaps here is an opportunity to lead again, by making The Linking Ring an exemplar of accuracy and historical preservation. If the I.B.M. won't bother to conserve our historical record, who will?