AD Roundtable Trying to Get Rolling

Paging through the May Bon Appetit, a seductive photo of a rich mélange called Galician Pork and Vegetable Stew stopped me cold. Mmmm. Leeks! A pound of kale! More meat than you should eat in a week!

I finally tore myself away and continued to page until I was stopped again—this time by an ad with an outline drawing of a classic Eames wire chair and the words “Pull Up Your Favorite Chair.” It’s part of a promotion for Architectural Digest’s AD Roundtable, an “online design community.” (AD and Bon Appetit are both Condé Nast publications.)

The site is designed to let roundtable members discuss design, express opinions, receive “exclusive offers,” and win prizes. But once you join, you find out, there are no discussions to join—at least so far. There are no surveys to be taken. No offers to accept. No prizes to be won. “Stay tuned,” it says.

To join, you’re asked to take a pretty long survey with some pretty personal questions. So that might turn a lot of people off. Still, once the site receives some attention from AD, it could be an interesting place to visit.