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Who read announcements?

SpeccymanSpeccyman
edited July 2016 in Sinclair Miscellaneous
Had 23 views about a new issue of our magazine in two weeks, which really disappointed me. Maybe the announcement section is not the right place to "announce"?

Check out this thread:
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/forums/discussion/52992/new-issue-suc-session-just-ready#latest

Or is there a way people read it without being counted as "view"? I hardly can understand that so many active people here are not even interested just to read the announcement about a new magazine that appeared. I gues most of you have overseen that because the announcement section is not often used. Am I right?

Regards

Thomas
Post edited by Speccyman on
Thanked by 1DavidB

Comments

  • Jim MJim M
    edited July 2016
    You could be right, I look at WoS several times a week and I hardly ever look at the announcements, I mainly look at games, hardware and miscellaneous.

    Just looked at your website and I will definitely be reading some more. Looks good.
    Jim
    Post edited by Jim M on
  • grey keygrey key
    edited July 2016
    I have not seen this either, there is talk about reshuffling the catagories to make things more straightforward, I would have been all over this if I had seen it earlier. It has now been flagged up by you and a lot more people will see it. I am sure a lot of people have their own special watering holes and perhaps use what time they get here in those places. I will check it out now and hope this get the attention it deserves, hard work should always be appreciated especially by those it benefits. Now lets hope it is worth looking at otherwise I have gone on a rant for nothing ( so what's new Hey ? ).

    Believe it or not I was one of the people who had already viewed it and because it was not in English, I passed on to other things, sorry !
    Post edited by grey key on
    Every time I read that the oldest person in the world has died, I have to do a quick check to see it isn't ME..........
  • dm_boozefreekdm_boozefreek
    I check announcements occasionally, but I'll be 100% honest when I say there's a lot of stuff in there that doesn't interest me.

    I'm also sure the frequency with which I check that forum does mean I miss a few things here and there that would interest me.
    Every night is curry night!
  • RalfRalf
    Yes, I missed it.

    But to be honest the title doesn't seems encouraging for a click at all. "New issue suc section"? What is it? Who cares? In my opinion if you named it "new magazine about Zx Spectrum", it would attract more attention.

    Now I clicked it. By looking at the photo I had impression that it is in German. I had to read the text carefully that it is in English as well.

    And now you can't just download it. You have to subscribe, register, whatever on a German site. You can't even click the link to the site, you have to copy/paste it.

    And now it seems that you can't download it, you have to buy it. Is it right or am I lost again?
  • jonesypeterjonesypeter
    I agree. The site is in German and it seems unclear how you get a copy. It would be worth providing a sample issue. If you look at Paul Js wonderful Spectrum Magazine which is great quality and free.
  • SpeccymanSpeccyman
    Ralf wrote: »
    Yes, I missed it.

    But to be honest the title doesn't seems encouraging for a click at all. "New issue suc section"? What is it? Who cares? In my opinion if you named it "new magazine about Zx Spectrum", it would attract more attention.

    Now I clicked it. By looking at the photo I had impression that it is in German. I had to read the text carefully that it is in English as well.

    And now you can't just download it. You have to subscribe, register, whatever on a German site. You can't even click the link to the site, you have to copy/paste it.

    And now it seems that you can't download it, you have to buy it. Is it right or am I lost again?


    You are right. I had the idea that as we already announced the mag earlier and it is existing now since 1994 (and even sooner in another form), all will know what I am talking about. But as there are more and more new readers also in this forum (and there are so many news and names for all others) it would be better to rename the announcement. On the other side, if I read a post with a name I don´t know, I would still check it to see what I am missing. So obviously the "announcement" categories was wrong. Anyway, I would make sections for Hardware, Software, Magazines and User-Show. But this is my opinion.

    About our website www.speccy-scene.de, we welcome any idea to improve. There is a button named "English version" on the right upper corner. Is this too hard to see?
  • SpeccymanSpeccyman
    jonesypeter wrote: »
    I agree. The site is in German and it seems unclear how you get a copy. It would be worth providing a sample issue. If you look at Paul Js wonderful Spectrum Magazine which is great quality and free.

    You have probably overseen the large thread from last year with a free issue of the mag:
    http://www.worldofspectrum.org/forums/discussion/51840/suc-session-magazine-is-back-get-it-here-for-free#latest

    However, also some older issues are free to download from the website and the website is on German and English, as the magazines. You see on the right upper corner the button "English version". I hope all is well translated. Give me a feedback.
    I agree that Paul is making a great job with his magazine and I offered him to join forces, but he disagreed, which gives the Speccy World the wonderfull possibility of having two magazines and different content. Don´t forget, our magazine is also for free for all who contribute. Send in an article and you get enough point to get a free PDF version for it. This is a way how we want push people to write more articles, while others who never write just pay. Rather fair I think. There is no profit we make from this, we just split the costs in another way.

    Big difference between Paul and our magazine is not only the content, but also that we offer not only the PDF version but also a real printed mag. Of course, many are happy with PDF, but some want still have something real in hands.
  • SpeccymanSpeccyman
    Just tried to rename the thread into "new issue of SUC-Session magazine is just ready", but can´t ...
  • murtcepsmurtceps
    I never look the announcement section, only really look at chit chat and Sinclair miscellaneous.

    It's one of the things I find fascinating and interesting about wos, that there are different groups of users, that hang about in different areas. A bit like the school playground !! I,ve never really noticed it on other forums so much.

    But anyway you were right to post here as well to draw attention to more of us.



  • murtcepsmurtceps
    Oh and make
    www.speccy-scene.de

    An hyperlink, some of us are a are a lazy bunch who cannot be bothered to copy and paste.

    :))
  • SpeccymanSpeccyman
    I thought it will be automatically an hyperlink when I type in an www adress
  • grey keygrey key
    edited July 2016
    murtceps wrote: »
    Oh and make
    www.speccy-scene.de

    An hyperlink, some of us are a are a lazy bunch who cannot be bothered to copy and paste.

    :))

    Some of us are just too plain lazy to get out of bed each morning !

    Some of us are just fried eggs, with two left legs.

    Some of us are just Nick Beggs, too shy to leave the house,

    some may even be a mouse.
    Post edited by grey key on
    Every time I read that the oldest person in the world has died, I have to do a quick check to see it isn't ME..........
  • Antiriad2097Antiriad2097
    I always just use the 'Recent Discussions' link up on the top right there, so I see everything.

    The mag is interesting, but it's relatively expensive (the PDF costs more than my print copy of Retro Gamer) and the english on the website isn't great, so I'm not sure about acquiring PDFs of it to struggle through. Is there someone with english as a first language to proof read the mag itself?

    Congratulations on keeping it going though, I'm sure it's very popular in its native language.
  • DunnyDunny
    I have the groups filtered to just Games, Emulators and the coding forums, the rest gets blocked as it's all ****. For Sale/Wanted is just a load of either profiteering or begging and announcements is just "hey look at me! I Need ATTENTION!" and Chit chat ... well, the less said.

    But if there were announcements posted in the places I do read, I'd report them to the mods :)
  • 1024MAK1024MAK
    edited July 2016
    If you click [Discussions] on the top line of a forum page, or click [Recent Discussions] on the top right, you get a list of all recent threads/discussions including the New issue SUC-Session just ready thread ;-)

    Yes, if you are not interested in the chit chat threads (of which there are many) it does feel like you are wading through "uninteresting" stuff.

    I think using a more informative title helps. As Ralf says. Alas, as a ordinary user, you only get 60 minutes to edit any post. And even then, I'm not sure if you can edit the title. After the 60 minutes, only moderators and administrators can modify posts. So you may want to contact one of the moderators (by private message) and ask if they can edit the first post.

    You can just write / copy links in plain text, but they generally should be the full path including the http bit at the front.
    So www.worldofspectrum.org does not become a hyperlink but http://www.worldofspectrum.org will (this line written in plain text). If the URL does not become a hyperlink when you Preview your post, use the URL link button at the top of the edit box ;-)

    The English button is fine, I had no trouble. However, is there a direct URL / link to take you to the English version of the site? If yes, maybe post two links in future, one for each language.

    I don't think the cost is excessive. I don't think this is having a large effect, but the drop in the value of Sterling (GBP) since the UK voted to leave the EU does make items overseas more expensive for UK citizens.

    You have plenty of free issues to download :-)
    But have you considered a page which lists all available PDFs (obviously without links) to show potential subscribers how many magazines have been produced.
    And do new subscribers get access to the back catalogue of the PDF versions of the magazine?

    Right, have to go, real life calling... :-(

    Mark
    Post edited by 1024MAK on
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  • Antiriad2097Antiriad2097
    On the pricing issue, I've just revisited following Mark's comment above.

    Rereading the website, I realise now it says:
    "One Speccy Scene packet includes 6 issue packets, circa 2 years"

    I skimmed it earlier thinking 6 Euros was for 1 mag download, not a bundle, though I'm still not 100% sure what it is I'm getting due to the language barrier. Is the '6 issue packets' 6 PDF SUC-Session mags and 6 TAP files? Or is it just 1 PDF mag and 6 TAP files? It isn't clear to me, though I may just be being dense.

    Whichever it is, it's obviously better value than I first thought.
  • SpeccymanSpeccyman
    One subscription is for 6 issues including a paper-magazine (or PDF) and disc-magazine (or TAP). So in your case you really get the next 6 PDF issues and 6 Tap files in the next 2 years (whenever they appear).

    If you want see what you get, why not download the free issue 71 from the thread above?

    There is surely a difference to the mags of former times, using the British style of humour. Our mag has contributions from all over the world and although all is in clear English, it have not the style of professional writers. But therefore you get the international news and a real international community.

    As written previously there is the option to get the mag for free if you contribute. Each contribution is worth about 2 Euro, so enough for one PDF and one TAP. Contribution can be a new article or the translation of an article. So any help is welcome to improve the mag.
  • SpeccymanSpeccyman
    1024MAK wrote: »
    You have plenty of free issues to download :-)
    But have you considered a page which lists all available PDFs (obviously without links) to show potential subscribers how many magazines have been produced.
    And do new subscribers get access to the back catalogue of the PDF versions of the magazine?
    Mark

    Hi Mark,
    there are 212 magazines we made plus some newsletters. The club is existing since 1983! We are working in the background to make PDF from all magazines, up to 2006 there were not PDF existing, so most of the mags need to be scanned. We will make a big update of our site. All back issues which are older than one year will be available to everyone.

    However, as we want be a news-magazine, subscriptions are for those who want be informed what is going on in the Spectrum World. And do not forget that we also add the disk-magazine. Some might want the cheaper TAP, but in fact the more interesting thing is that we convert programs to real Spectrum disk interfaces like +D/Disciple , Opus or MB02. MB02 is not a problem, but Opus and +D are harder to create and our disk-magazine is a great source for users of these disk systems.
    Thanked by 11024MAK
  • Antiriad2097Antiriad2097
    Speccyman wrote: »
    One subscription is for 6 issues including a paper-magazine (or PDF) and disc-magazine (or TAP). So in your case you really get the next 6 PDF issues and 6 Tap files in the next 2 years (whenever they appear).

    If you want see what you get, why not download the free issue 71 from the thread above?

    There is surely a difference to the mags of former times, using the British style of humour. Our mag has contributions from all over the world and although all is in clear English, it have not the style of professional writers. But therefore you get the international news and a real international community.

    As written previously there is the option to get the mag for free if you contribute. Each contribution is worth about 2 Euro, so enough for one PDF and one TAP. Contribution can be a new article or the translation of an article. So any help is welcome to improve the mag.
    So effectively 1 euro per PDF & TAP, which is pretty good value.

    I'm not sure I'd agree on 'clear English' though. Having looked at some of the free samples, the bulk is in German with just a small summary in English and it looks like a Google translation rather than properly translated. I realise this is a significant task for someone, but the English would be better as a complete translation of the entire articles and it needs to be better written for clarity. Some of the technical aspects get lost in the current translation and it isn't the easiest to read.

    I'd offer to help but my German is non-existent, so you're well ahead of me there.

    Stil, at that price I may have a punt on it.
  • SpeccymanSpeccyman
    Well... have to say sorry, but I gave myself a wrong information. The subscriptions are for one year, not for two. We had before a two years subscription and now changed to one year, so it even confused me. However, so one issue is 2 Euro, but you get a PDF-Magazine and a TAP-Magazine, so it is still 1 Euro per magazine. Of course we have no costs with this magazines as both formats can be sent out via WWW. We just one this 1 Euro to cover other general costs, at all the club is a non-profit-club. But in the last years we made a plus and we will use this for investments in the Spectrum-community, for example competitions etc.

    Back to the magazine: Downloadable on our site are old magazines from 2004-2006. In this time we had several tries, complete English mag or mixed mag English/German. However, in 2015 we made a restart and it is not comparable to the magazine before. The magazine before was A5, now is A4. And we have a complete German version and complete English version. See the trial issue no. 71
    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxqmldUD2tdTU01JTlhSc3kyQ1E/view
    (still the first try, it improved in the meantime)

    I think if you read this you might know that although I am not a native English-speaker, my English is not so bad at all. As I do most of the texts you can await a quality like I write here. However, your contribution can be to check the magazine for bad spelling before it goes to the printer. Of course you get the mag for free for your help and we have an improved mag, so we all are happy.

    What do you think?
  • Antiriad2097Antiriad2097
    Ah, new version is much better, I was missing the link.

    I wouldn't mind correcting text to resolve the current grammatical oddities if you want help with that.
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