Is it just me?

[Anonymous]

Posted by Stub Mandrel on 05/09/2013 21:25:58:

Nonsense John, we need a twelve page analysis of the effects of clock jitter on surface finish.

Neil

I may be able to help here. A sub-section of my Ph.D. thesis contains an analysis of the effect of time domain jitter on the zero crossings of a frequency modulated square wave. The analysis concentrated on the effect in the frequency domain, but I'm sure we can adapt it to surface finish.

Regards,

Andrew

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

I think some of the comments above regarding the content of MEW are a little unfair. While I agree that "On The Editor's bench" had nothing to do with "The editor's news and views" and was undisguised advertising, I thought that on the whole the content was well balanced.

There have recently been calls for articles for beginners so calling these "trivial" or " an insult" is pointless. If we want to encourage new blood into the hobby we can't assume that all readers are experienced machinists.

As far as CNC is concerned it had five pages devoted to it out of about 50. I wouldn't have thought that was excessive.

As far as the quality of the articles is concerned there was good, bad, and indifferent (IMHO). If you want better articles you know what to do.

Russell.

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

After reading Michael W's reply I realised his approach is 100% opposite to mine. His was reasoned, measured, and positive, whilst mine was more of a rant!

I did not offer any practical suggestions but just concentrated on what I though was wrong, he made some very good suggestions so for the sake of MEW I hope some are taken up.

I now realises that some of the magazine sections (like club news) I thought were missing were never actually part of MEW, I probably confused it with ME.

Ian P

[Anonymous]

Posted by MICHAEL WILLIAMS on 06/09/2013 14:50:34:

(5) Ban all articles from great experts and sad nutters

But who would sit in judgement to decide if a potential author was a 'great expert' and/or a 'sad nutter'?

Andrew

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

Well, I just cancelled my direct debit having thought the same about the latest issue as well as several previous ones.

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Last month I did not to renew my subscription to MEW ( largely due to lack of interest in many of the articles run lately) and determined instead to view the latest issue at my local newsagent before committing to purchase. On seeing Issue 207 I had little difficulty in reaching that decision and so I am now £4.20 in pocket ! I'm OK with that – if most folk want stuff on cnc, printing your own bit of plastic etc. etc and this sells the mag. then I must accept that (and maybe save a few more £4.20s in the future!)

The argument that "if you don't like the content then write some yourself " doesn't hold water. I'm certainly not interested in writing – far too many other things to do and I suspect that the majority of the readership feel this way too. Anyway an article you have written yourself is surely of no interest to the author who ( hopefully!) knows all about it already!

I'm sure David , as editor, has a very hard job in seeking out suitable content for the mag. and I do sympathise with him

John S – With your title as "Moderator" you really should be more moderate! – I don't see anyone here about to go out and smash any textile maunfacturing machinery. I guess that, like me, they just want to get, in the mag, the items that most interest them – in return for parting with their " hard earned" cash .

Maybe having , say , 4 issues a year devoted entirely to the " Non Luddite " with appropriate whizz-bang subjects would then allow the remaining issues to be wholly concerned with traditional articles such as might entertain those of refined taste and discernment ? I suppose though that would not suit the management as, at present, those on subscription must "put up" with those sections of little interest to them.

Norman

[SteambuffParticipant @steambuff]

I didn't renew last month either … but my reason was the back-door price increase.

I read the paper copy when at home, but the online archive when away from home.

Since I use my companies laptop when away, I am not allowed to load the Poket-Reader App nor download copies …. So I disn't want the Reader…. but am forced to buy it if I want a paper copy + online archive…. hence the price increase.

I will decide if I want to pay the increase for ME next year when my renewal is due. (Was £29.99 for online archive … but will be £48 to renew)

Dave

[jason udallParticipant @jasonudall57142]

None of us really like multipart articles.

That said a mag doing one project for the whole mag would be bound to miss with some.

As part of my preparation for the lost of the archive. . I have been reading the back issues. ..
It seems once the mag (MEW)….did more short (sometimes less than a page) articles..and often also covered elctrical and electronic work..even remember some photography..
..
As to me..I stopped taking electronics mags. as the articles became longer and amounted to “so which micro shall we use this time”..best bits of epe or eti were the half page circuits …not the “how to build another usb rainguage with colour lcd display and voice synthesizer” ….. quite liked the rain sensor design though…
What I am trying to say….is that we might not want to hear how and why a chap is fitting an electric motor to his choo choo but finding and coping the centers to do it , does appeal.. (esp if a different way)..
But two months!
..
OK..
Many of the scribe a line…is delt with here..so in part this forum competes with Mew ( more so than I guess ME) ..maybe reproduce some (edited) threads or content from here but please keep the particles short and pithy

Edited By jason udall on 06/09/2013 19:27:14

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Posted by NJH on 06/09/2013 18:48:54:

 

John S – With your title as "Moderator" you really should be more moderate! – I don't see anyone here about to go out and smash any textile maunfacturing machinery. I guess that, like me, they just want to get, in the mag, the items that most interest them – in return for parting with their " hard earned" cash .

Norman

I'm not allowed an opinion of my own then ?

I have to give up being a moderator before I can say what I feel ?

 

Being a moderator on this forum is all about weeding spam first posts out, not editing to read how I want it.

 

Anyway seeing as I'm typing, something close to my heart [ if i had one ]

Anybody remember the good old days where you got query coupons, you cut one out sent it in with your query and it was printed. Idea was you had to parcipitate to get somewhere.

 

Recently I'm reading where you get "Cancelled my subscription – load of dross / bollocks / rubbish [ delete as necessary ] "

 

So why are you still here ??????????

Don't want to take part, ? fine, piss off and play in someone elses sand box.

 

Posted as my personal view and in no way in any moderator status.

Edited By John Stevenson on 06/09/2013 19:45:00

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I don't know what you are all moaning about, as I'm not in the slightest interested in Locos it means 50-75% of ME does not interest me yet I still subscribe for the bits that do. I should be so lucky to get one loco related subject per month. I'm also not into making tools so don't subscribe to MEW and never have.

J (also my personal view)

[jason udallParticipant @jasonudall57142]

Didn’t think I was moaning.
I hope that I expessed an (maybe incoherent) opinion , that might serve to encourage contributions to the mag from people who might have something to contribute even if not of the “width” that some articles seem to be.
And pardon me if I am currently less than convinced as to subscribing..

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Ultimately it all comes down to one thing, on the whole both mags can only contain what is written and submitted. I've had stuiff published and stuff not published, but I think what is paid is perfectly fair given the cover price of MEW and what I estimate to be the readership.

I note that many people criticise the 'rambling story' approach – I think this is the difference between ME and MEW. ME is the place for articles, often long ones, that go into whys and wherefores and the odd anecdote. MEW is more practical. That said, just like reading postings on this site, I like a bit of well-written padding.

It may not be what most people want to hear, but as the writers are the readers, the only answer to getting the articles you want is either to write some, or, and encourage someone else who knows the subject to write about it. There really ain't no other way, because sure as eggs is eggs, there isn't a hudget to commission articles at above the normal rate.

This might be a bit radical…

Why don't we have a thread where potential articles can be proposed, and those with the expertise to write them can offer to do so, either in the open, or if they are shy make a private offer just to the the Editor.

Final thought, when I read the criticism here, it puts me off writing more articles. Will I be accused of putting in gratuitous photos? Will I make a mistake? Will I pitch at too high or low a level and get pilloried (answer- yes, theres always siomeone who thinks its too technical and another reader who thinks its kiddies' stuff).

Neil

[jason udallParticipant @jasonudall57142]

Well said

[RobboParticipant @robbo]

"Anybody remember the good old days where you got query coupons, you cut one out sent it in with your query and it was printed. Idea was you had to parcipitate to get somewhere"

At the time I thought the idea of the Query Coupon was to make you buy the magazine before you could ask a question.

Phil.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Robbo on 06/09/2013 21:43:51:

At the time I thought the idea of the Query Coupon was to make you buy the magazine before you could ask a question.

Phil.

.

That sounds like a very reasonable "BeanCounter's definition" of participation.

MichaelG.

[julian atkinsParticipant @julianatkins58923]

i think that perhaps ME and MEW have lost there way a bit. not helped by ownership changes.

the golden age for me was when Laurie Lawrence was editor of ME. mind you the ME was pretty atrocious in the early 1960s. boat building and the ignominous Hackfly by Turpin! i dont think it has ever sunk to that low since!

model engineering as of old requires an awful lot of spare time. that seems to be singularly lacking these days, with expensive very well equipped workshops quite unlike my own.

 

sadly, i can see a time not too far away when very familiar aspects of our current hobby become but as distant memories like flash steam boats and converting longcase clocks to electric clocks and gas engines for domestic electricity supply.

cheers,

julian

Edited By julian atkins on 06/09/2013 22:32:03

[Max ToleranceParticipant @maxtolerance69251]

I cancelled my subscription to both mags two years ago. I had got to the stage where I wasn't reading any of the articles, generally they were too basic or they were about subjects which I did not care to follow. I think the final nail in the coffin was an article describing how to use a three jaw chuck !!!

One of the problems seems to be that the "older" modelers have either gone to the great workshop in the sky or they no longer need guidance on how to build a loco. This leaves the new starters who unfortunately were not taught engineering at school for all the usual reasons. Or the more general reader who may have taken the magazine for many years and just continues to subscribe. The latter group are getting smaller.

In my experience many new modellers underestimate the amount of knowledge and experience needed to construct a detailed model and lack the patience and tenacity required to spend years on a project. Therefore they think "CNC" that must be easy, just press a few buttons and hey presto!! or "why can I not just buy a kit" like the aircraft people do. One day I would imagine it will be possible to download a "model" from the internet and have a cup of tea whilst the cnc machine center turns out the parts then there will be no demand for the magazine at all.

The point I am trying to make is that the demand for a detailed model magazine is in decline, there is no appetite for old fashioned ways of doing things and even less for old steam engines which disappeared from main line use fifty odd years ago. The modern demand is for a touch screen, instant results,just ask google type of approach which is the way the world has evolved. Thus as the pool of experienced engineers gets smaller so the in depth articles get less, and as many of the old skills have now virtually disapeared there is now no-one left to describe them. I would be very interested to see if it is even possible to commision "expert" articles now.

I have every issue of ME and MEW from issue one to 2011 and some of the earlier issues are a mine of information if you are interested in a world long past. The query slips were introduced in 1905 because the then editor had a free service offering information for readers. However he felt that many of the requests were coming from non-subscribers to the magazine hence the introduction of the slip. No slip no info.

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Julian

Well thought out post but I have to wonder what the correct way forward is ?

If we continue in the vein that the mags have then people complain. If we write about new technology the flat earth society gets all up in arms.

You have mentioned a distinct lack of time but any technologies that can help are just brushed aside

There was a recent query on this forum on presenting a file for laser cutting but I can't remember seeing an in depth article on how laser cutting can help your project.

Cancelling a subscription isn't the answer. It's not like there are hundreds of similar magazines to pick from

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Posted by Max Tolerance on 06/09/2013 22:48:32:

I cancelled my subscription to both mags two years ago.

The query slips were introduced in 1905 because the then editor had a free service offering information for readers. However he felt that many of the requests were coming from non-subscribers to the magazine hence the introduction of the slip. No slip no info.

So what are you doing on a sponcered forum ?

No slip ? On yer bike

[julian atkinsParticipant @julianatkins58923]

dear john,

im not sure what the answer is at all!

im the only member of my club actually building scratch built steam locos as opposed to buying kit built or commercially sold models.

DRO. CNC,CAD etc have no place in my workshop which consists of very basic and antiquated machinery.

i dont want a treatise on how to use carbon steel tools – im not quite that backward. the stuff i hanker after is how alan crossfield produces locos that win IMLEC year after year and the sort of stuff that roy amesbury used to produce and write for ME. ive a 70 year old collection of MEs that tell me anything else i want to know – with the added advantage that forums such as this and model engineering proboards produce replies to queries in a matter of hours.

no easy answer to all this. i havent got a solution im afraid.

what is the going rate for a page in ME/MEW by the way these days?

cheers,

julian

[Max ToleranceParticipant @maxtolerance69251]

John,

I have absolutely no intention of having an argument with you on this forum. The original poster asked if there was anyone else of a similar opinion to him regarding subscriptions. I tendered my own view.

As a long term subscriber to ME (over forty years ) and also having bought and subscribed to MEW since issue one I was under the impression that people may be interested in why I stopped my annual subscription after all this time. I bought the magazine through all the troubled times when editors were changing and even when the magazine failed to be published for a period in the late nineties I kept faith and renewed every year. However because I no longer have an annual subscription I am attacked by you because people shouldn't visit this forum if they don't have an annual subscription. You fail to consider the fact that I may still be buying issues when there is something of interest to me (aproximately every other issue) But no matter you have spoken.

Yes I cancelled my subscription, yes I still visit this public forum and yes given your attitude maybe I have made the correct choice.

[jason udallParticipant @jasonudall57142]

Apart from venting .. this thread has no utility . It can have no impact on policy .
It might ( I doubt ) change article policy..but I doubt it can without contributors input.
Reprinting “classic” articles might help…does anyone track archive traffic? ..popular online might be popular in paper…

As to attracting new readers ..pickup mag..three of five articles are multipart that you have missed the start of..one is not of current intrest…that leaves ONE article to sell that one edition…
Now try and convert that to subscription…

[jason udallParticipant @jasonudall57142]

If you ask the question “so who’s cancelling/not renewing their subs?” You will get a disproportionate number saying just why they are cancelling because xyz and it will appear most are dissatisfied. .its called a leading question.

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Posted by jason udall on 07/09/2013 09:55:57:
If you ask the question "so who's cancelling/not renewing their subs?" You will get a disproportionate number saying just why they are cancelling because xyz and it will appear most are dissatisfied. .its called a leading question.

Jason, I'm not sure what point you are trying to make there. Nobody has actually asked that question.

Originally Gary asked if he was the only one that felt dissatisfied with the current issue of MEW, from the responses it appears he is not. If he had asked the same question in reverse (if people were happy with MEW) there would probably been fewer replies, not because fewer people are happy but because human nature finds it easier to complain than compliment on matter like this.

The internet is full of negative comments on every product or service you can think of but complimentary comments are miniscule by comparison purely because nobody is going to be bothered to write about something that are not having a problem with.

Ian P

[jason udallParticipant @jasonudall57142]

Ian..you have made the point I was trying to make.
I am an engineer. We all know that that produces a sometimes “odd” or at least at odds with view point.
Seeing and having to see more than one angle on a problem goes with the territory.
The ability to commumicate this view , does not

[Author]

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