User-generated content was the topic on one of this afternoon's con-current panel discussion at the 2008 American Magazine Conference. Kevin McKean of Consumer Reports and ConsumerReports.org moderated the group which included Mitchell Fox, president and CEO, 8020 Media; Chris Johns, editor-in-chief, National Geographic; Susan Kane, editorial director and editor-in-chief, the Parenting Group; Edward Grinnan, editor-in-chief and vice president, Guideposts and Guideposts.com; and Alexandra Bandon, multimedia editor, This Old House.

Bandon, whose magazine put out an entire user-generated issue this June, spoke first. "We learned a lot about ourselves," she said, adding that despite not paying contributors for their content, "We spent pretty much the same amount of money, but we had to build a $40,000 Web site." This Old House hopes to put out another issue next year, and Bandon revealed that advertisers "got very excited about it when it was in their hands."

After the jump, more revelations from the other four panelists (in quick, easy bullet point form because I'm tired and I'm sure you're sick of reading).

Kane: