I too see that mag dropping in quality in some areas, improving in others... For instance, the FSM of the 80s and early 90s was definately on "Fine" side of fine-scale modeling.. The were many more articles about scratch-buliding, fabricating, kit-bashing, even vacu-forming and photo-etching your detail/replacement parts...
Not much of that anymore though, since it seems that majority of modelers that came into the hobby in the last 10-15 years rely pretty much on after-market stuff, which simply wasn't around "back in the day", or was so cost-prohibitive as to make some modelers learn how to become Gizmologists, if they wanted to compete...
Many conversion-sets cost three or four times what any kit cost (and you still had to buy the base-kit)... Resin figures were practically unheard of, white metal dominated the scene, and at around fourteen-twenty dollars per (like resin Verlinden 2-figure vignettes in 1980-something dollars), a diorama builder learned to use Tamiya and Monogram figures and convert them... However, I digress...
FSM nowadays is, more often that not, about how much stuff you can purchase and put into an already over-priced kit... I was really disappointed in several past articles that claimed, on the cover, to be covering some good "How To" stuff on a certain type of model, then actually reading it only to discover that the author simply bought a bunch of resin parts and glued them on.. Well, IMNSHO, that's a lot of garbage, and is little more than an a free advertisement for a conversion-parts maker...
Back in the early days, and through the early 90's most of the photography was B&W, except for the feature articles and Reader Gallery.The kit reviews were shorter, but didn't have a huge color photo, just a small B&W one of the finished kit... There were far more research articles, on camouflage schemes, scratch-building, scale drawings and what-not, that were geared towards the guy that wanted more than a fine-looking SOB kit...
Nowadays, the reviews are rather long-winded advertisements, and there're NEVER any bad kits... Hence, they're of little use to anyone who's gotten more than a hundred or so kits behind them.. Frankly, I'm in the "2000 Club" (meaning I've built at least that many models, in various genres, over the last 45 years) and there's litte about any kit that a reviewer could tell me that's of any use, other than the scale and price...
I would like to see Finescale Modeler put the "Fine" back into the articles, and stop making it a rag for beginners... Scale Modeler, Military Modeler, and Auto Modeler filled that gap quite nicely... However, Scale Modeler , et al, bit the dust back in the mid-nineties, so FSM has indeed picked up that part of the readership, and it's a good idea, from a business POV...
That said, the subcriber is able to go back into back-issues from time-to-time, and download articles for free that interest them, which is a pretty handy feature if you lost the original issue(s)... I know I've lost a couple dozen, at least, due to various moves and such... Not a problem anymore...
Also, you MAY find a lot of "Subcriber Only" content to be handy at times... And you may not.. But a benefit is only a benefit if one actually USES it... Kinda like the Army giving you $10,000 for school, but you have no intentions of ever GOING to school... They'd best have another selling point...
In order for FSM to survive as a useful modeler's tool though, it needs articles from it's subscribers... Karl ain't getting published because he's on the payroll, he's getting published because he writes the article and SENDS IT IN...
Oh yeah, and he's good too...
I've read many "Letters to the the Editor" that complain of "not enough of" this or that genre of model articles, and the answer is always the same... "If someone writes a good one and sends it in, we'll publish it"... So we modeler/subscribers, as a group, are at least partially responsible for the mag's content...
I don't know if FSM restricts it's article submissions to subcribers or not, but it would make sense if they didn't require it... At the front of the mag, in the "How to Submit Your Article" area, it mentions nothing about "Subscribers Only", anyway.. Same thing for the "Reader Gallery", and "Reader Tips"... In fact, I know they send you a copy of FSM if your tip gets published (and a nice little check that covers about 2/3rds of your sub for a year, or in my case, buys a one or two Monogram kits)
Anyway, the bottom line is, as I see it, FSM is just one more tool in the toolbag for the modeler... You don't use every tool you have for every job, but when you need it, it's nice to have it right there...