Re: Magazine Question

[Goodwin Alco <alco@planet.net.au>]

David Bromage wrote:
> 
> Earl Brimshaw (ebrimshaw@hotmail.com) wrote:
> >a very valid point, I certainly cant argue on that aspect. However, it
> >does still remind me of those old cheap B&W porn magazines from school
> >days! :-) With publishing technology as easy and sophisticated as it is
> >nowadays, surely it wouldnt be difficult to "tart" it up.
> 
> Had you subscribed to RNV from the start, you'd know that a lot of changed
> have been made. It started as a simple newsletter, printed on a dot matrix
> printer and photocopied. Since then it's moved to proportional fonts,
> glossy paper, professional printing (including bromide photographs) and
> occasionally colour. If it was tarted up, it would just look just that -
> tarty. if you can't present concise reports of events in plain text (as on
> this newsgroup), tarting it up isn't going to make it any better.
> 
> Pretty fonts and other fancy things is just going to make the mag more
> expensive.  I'm sure Rod would rather be researching an article than
> tarting up the presentation of same. It's the actual _information_ that
> the readers want.  I doubt many subscribers would be willing to pay more
> per issue simply because it's "prettier".
> 
> It's exactly the same with RailPage. I haven't taken the time to add
> whizbang bells, whistles, flashy graphics and Java applets to impress the
> easily amused. Instead, I'd rather spend the time maintaining and
> improving the actual information at the site. I work in the KISS principle
> (keep is simple, stupid). Tarting it up would be a wombat (waste of money,
> brains and time).
> 
> Cheers
> David

RNV is one of the greatest magazines for information I have come across
and Roderick's decision to cover more interstate items just makes it
better.
  As someone who is helping to set up a new loco magazine by June this
year I can vouch for just how expensive it can be to (Tart) up a
magazine.
		Brad Peadon