Radical Changes at MREmag

[BMacdermott]

Hello everyone

 

What a great shame that MREmag has been derailed in the middle of nowhere rather than having the 'ceremonial goodbye' that it truly deserved.

 

When Pat Hammond told me he was handing over to Phil, and having been a contributor since almost day one, I was - naturally - somewhat apprehensive. Would he view my postings in the same light as Pat? Would he work with me on various 'surveys' etc in the same way? Would he support The Wishlist Poll?

 

All this and more was spinning round my mind as I saw Phil for the first time at a Bachmann Open Day. I introduced myself, he beamed a massive smile, we shook hands - and we have worked closely, effectively and without a single cross word together ever since, despite the 'turbulence' that any working partnership will encounter at some point.

 

As noted, he never missed an issue despite being 'on temporary loan' to Australia and other places closer to home. And he was still giving pleasure to many via his attendance at shows with his many layouts.

 

I already miss the Monday/Wednesday/Friday 'fix' of nostalgia, debate, exchange of information and occasional foray into the world of humour that has been a keynote of the MREmag ethos. Phil has played his part with total success and he can walk away with head held high.

 

My heartfelt thanks go to him. I wish him all the very best in whatever comes next. He is a talent waiting to be snapped up.

 

They say the only thing likely to remain constant is change. MREmag is changing... but into what remains to be seen. Fingers crossed!

 

Brian Macdermott

[Pete the Elaner]

I have read some criticism of the changes & in every case it seems the critics concerned don't want to lose having a frequent 'having your say' section. This was a moderated forum. We already have several forums, of which RMWeb is one. Being largely unmoderated, they will invariably be a faster form of communication but can be open to a bit of mud slinging.

 

Give MREmag a chance. We have been told it will return in a different form.

It is silly to judge anything before you've seen it.

[Limpley Stoker]

I shall follow MREmag wherever it goes, as had been said before, it has been an essential fixture of like for so many years though sadly the fixes will be less frequent. The problem ahead is how to let everybody know when an issue is available as the website has been dismantled - unless all potential readers are directed to a site like this for information. I assume the domain name can be transferred to the new eMagazine so can an information page be constructed prior to the start-up of the new enterprise?

Mike

[Legend]

Thanks to you also Brian, as Phil points out on his Blog a constant supporter. I'm already missing my Mon Wed Fri fixes . It's a shame it's ended this way . A bit like the rock slide at Gleoglehead shutting the Callendar and Oban before it's official close date! Possibly better than a lingering farewell though.

[Hroth]

I'm sure that this is the worst possible thing that could happen during the transfer period.  It was bad enough adjusting from M/W/F  to the Tu/F publication frequency, but a blackout means that people won't bother to check at all and when MREmag comes back online, they'll fall through the cracks and may never return.  This isn't good as it seems that maximal eyeballs to screen (ok, page views) are the key to MREmag continuing to exist in ANY form!

 

My best wishes to Phil Parker and the rest of the team!

 

And I hope that MREmag returns sooner than later...

[Dunsignalling]

The crash is not a good thing to happen at such a critical time.

 

I for one will be checking every Friday for the message that I sincerely hope will appear soon redirecting us to the new site.

 

John

[Forester]

I felt readers were being treated rather poorly by the new Board members at the end. (Where have I seen that before?)

 

We will tell you what you want. You Will read our bi-monthly emag....etc

 

 

 Grateful for the years of Pat and Phil, but under the current team I'm afraid "I'm Out", personally.

[antrobuscp]

I am disappointed to see MREmag bow out in the way that it has. Whatever comes back sounds as if it will be radically different. I missed the daily updates when they dropped to thrice weekly, and felt that reduction to twice and then once per week would end people checking the page regularly. I wish the site well, but fear that the proposed changes are unlikely to generate the necessary response - more's the pity. I hope I'm wrong, but don't believe I am.

 

Good luck and thanks to all those involved in the past operation and production of MREmag.

 

Colin

[The Stationmaster]

I moved on from MREmag to RMweb some years ago although I have occasionally looked in during Phil Parker's tenure and been duly impressed by the standard he was achieving although life is far too short to look at both it and on here - something which others might find a problem too.

 

Thus the idea if changing the frequency of MREmag does make considerable sense to me but I think it will face two big problems.  The first of course is what has now happened to cause the premature demise of the existing format and with it the loss of regular devotees - starting from what will effectively be a non-existent customer base is going to make the job harder.  The second problem will be the question of paying for it - for some reason we in the UK seem to feel entitled to having free access to the contents of the 'net and i suspect that if we are paying for any content we are going to turn into 'critical (finicky?) r-t-r buyers who will expect an awful lot for our money.   Buying existing mags in electronic form seems to be developing rather slowly and what amounts to a newcomer will face a stiff uphill course I suspect, made much worse by having a 'cold start instead of a transition.

 

No doubt the marketing mind of the new version is already thinking his way through this problem but maybe a 'free sample' copy, or two, might be the way to at least capture some interest to hopefully convert into regular readers?

[Grovenor]

IMHO, the American "Model Railway Hobbyist" has shown the way for On line magazines. I don't think it would be successful if readers had to pay.

Monthly, I think is the most you can expect for a magazine that runs properly written, produced and edited articles. It can, of course, as MRH has have an associated forum for reader feedback etc.

MRE couldtry something similar, but just like the print magazines will need a bunch of authors and enough advertisers to pay the bills.

Regards

[BMacdermott]

Hello Mike

 

The proposals from the DRM ePublishing Board were for a new eMag (of unspecified page quantity, page size or any general outline of intended content) to appear every two months. There was a hope to increasing frequency in due course. That was to be 'free to user' and paid for by advertising, similar to the way at least one US on-line magazine is published (as noted above)..

 

The other proposal was to move the 'Have Your Say' letters to a connected 'moderated forum'.

 

Que sera?

 

Brian

[Stanier16]

Seems to me that Mremag will just fade away, like many a good idea, where enthusiasm bows to tough economic realities. Or is it the curse of Kohlerisation?

[grahame]

The proposals from the DRM ePublishing Board were for a new eMag (of unspecified page quantity, page size or any general outline of intended content) to appear every two months. There was a hope to increasing frequency in due course. That was to be 'free to user' and paid for by advertising, similar to the way at least one US on-line magazine is published (as noted above)..

 

 

I'm sure that will be welcome and could be a success like the current American version MRH: http://mrhpub.com/2016-10-oct/online/

 

IMO the bit that many seem to be moaning about and will miss most - the 'Your Say' section - seemed to be the worst part of the old MREmag, with it being dominated by long winded missives from the same small group, and being very critical of anything that was BR blue and/or heavily dominated by RTR. Hopefully, the new eMAG can broaden the coverage and provide for a wider railway modelling interest.

 

G.

[BMacdermott]

Hello Grahame

 

I think you are dismissing the 'old MREmag' without due cause. I'll give you an example...

 

Just before 'the derailment', a correspondent posed a question about Mixed Trains as he was uncertain of the definition or content for his model railway. Over the next couple of issues, his question was answered by a number of people. One of those was a long-term very good friend of mine who has often given freely of his hard-earned operational knowledge. I suspect it might have come under your heading of 'long-winded'.

 

Another long-term contributor also gave a good insight into the subject which came from a slightly different angle, but which all added up to a comprehensive reply, for which the OP was most grateful.

 

Along with those full accounts came one from another contributor that was inadvertently 'off the mark'. Phil (the editor) could not have reasonably been expected to have recognised it as a problem and the matter was corrected in the very next issue.

 

During the mag's last few days, I sent in a long list of all the wide-ranging topics that had been covered in the previous three issues - and commented that it was a content that any editor would have been proud to have produced.

 

Brian

[grahame]

Hello Grahame

 

I think you are dismissing the 'old MREmag' without due cause. I'll give you an example...

 

Just before 'the derailment', a correspondent posed a question about Mixed Trains as he was uncertain of the definition or content for his model railway. Over the next couple of issues, his question was answered by a number of people. One of those was a long-term very good friend of mine who has often given freely of his hard-earned operational knowledge. I suspect it might have come under your heading of 'long-winded'.

 

 

Sure, there were the occasional lengthy contributions that included relevant information in answer to enquires. But there were also those that were long winded for no good reason IMO, and a number of others that were unnecessarily dismissive and negative of the BR blue era. So not without 'due cause' but as it came across to me.  Feedback is always particular to individuals.

 

G.

[BMacdermott]

Sure, there were the occasional lengthy contributions that included relevant information in answer to enquires. But there were also those that were long winded for no good reason IMO, and a number of others that were unnecessarily dismissive and negative of the BR blue era. So not without 'due cause' but as it came across to me.  Feedback is always particular to individuals.

 

G.

Hello Grahame

 

If you felt some postings were dismissive of the BR Blue era, I'm sure Phil would have welcomed your input. I'm not a BR Blue era modeller myself so cannot give you a factual answer as to what was dismissive or negative.

 

I can see that you quoted 'as it came across to you'. If we were able to go back to the archive, I'm sure a thorough evaluation would have shown that - on balance - there was more good than irrelevant. All part of freedom of speech.

 

Brian

[Free At Last]

Fundamentally it's a struggle for such work to be much more than a labour of love, mainly due to the difficulty of convincing the advertisers needed to support running costs of the measurable benefits of online advertising; they're often very conservative.

Does this advertising work for them though?

I never looked at the adverts although I can remember one, the Hattons one, most probably because I already know of them.

I am sure most of the readers know of the other advertisers already too.

 

To advertise in all the forms of media now available must cost businesses a fortune, I suppose some of it must work or they wouldn’t do it, but I don’t think I have bought anything I didn’t know I wanted/needed just because it popped up on an advert,(unless it has worked in a subliminal way).

Anything railway related I want I just look on Hattons website, if they don't have it I will then google it.

New or upcoming items are announced on forums so I wouldn't miss anything.

 

Same goes for other advertising.

If I need a shirt or pair of shoes I just go to town and look in the clothes/shoe shops. If I need food I just go to the supermarket/butchers/greengrocers etc. I don’t need an advert to tell me about Cornflakes and where to get them.

If there was something I found I needed/wanted and didn’t know where to get it, I would just ask on a forum or google it.

 

Has anyone bought anything they didn’t know they wanted or weren’t looking for just because it popped up in online/magazine/tv/radio adverts? Nuisance adverts would stop me buying from that business. All the junk mail I get goes straight in the bin without being looked at.

Google is your friend.

Edited October 28, 2016 by Free At Last

[Cityfan]

"I always open MRE Mag at 7pm or shortly thereafter on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.  This is the advantage of being in Canada 5 hours behind the UK.

However I don’t think I shall be logging on for much longer as I am obviously not your target audience.
I have “modelled” railways for over 40 years and have a layout and an extensive collection of models.  After reading today’s issue I realize that I would not recognize the following if I fell over them:
. The mysterious glaring error on the Hornby 4F
. Missing linings on cylinders
. Erroneous bucket seats
. Rocking grate lever on wrong side
. Older type of valve gear
. Non corridor beaded tender
. Short cut out cab
. 8 ton rating on wagon instead of 10 or 12
I appreciate the knowledge of the people who wrote those comment today but they are lost on me.
I do not want to single out the writers - they are just today’s examples.
I really enjoy some parts of the Mag but comments like the above seem to be the norm now.
I shall just stick to running what I like and looking at it from 4 or 5 feet and feeling content that I shall not lose any sleep because of the incompetence of manufacturers."

 

This is what I wrote to the Editor in August 2015.  Since then I have checked in very occasionally to find that things did improve slightly although maybe not, if the Blue Era comments above are anything to go by.  Maybe I am perceived as one of the "a**holes referred to in a previous post, who knows.  However if the magazine goes to a moderated forum type of website and the above type of comments appear again and again  I think participation will be severely limited.

Good luck to the owners, directors etc., and thanks for your past endeavours.

 

Malcolm

[Limpley Stoker]

Hello Mike

 

The proposals from the DRM ePublishing Board were for a new eMag (of unspecified page quantity, page size or any general outline of intended content) to appear every two months. There was a hope to increasing frequency in due course. That was to be 'free to user' and paid for by advertising, similar to the way at least one US on-line magazine is published (as noted above)..

 

The other proposal was to move the 'Have Your Say' letters to a connected 'moderated forum'.

 

Que sera?

 

Brian

Brian

 

I have learnt so much from Have Your Say by reading those sometimes long winded but very well informed contributions. The 200 word limit did not permit such depth of detail- and if the prose was too impenetrable it was easy to skip to the next.

The recent product reviews of tools and gadgets was a recent welcome addition and I don't know how many enjoyable hours I have spent watching your video choices with the mandatory cup of tea - videos not always easily accessible on YouTube.

I think I have read every issue since the start and am very grateful to all the team who gave their time to get it right. I looked at all the ads, just because they were there and usually relevant- The proposed e Magazine will only happen if the advertisers know somebody will look at their ads- luckily none of them will be from Payment Protection Compensation or Double Glazing..... I hope

 

Mike

[andyman7]

I'm happy to investigate the new offering when it appears. I'm very grateful to Pat, Phil, Brian and Simon for all their efforts. I do find it surprising to what extent some people judge or chuck their toys out of the pram over what is and has always been a free service. I wish best of luck to the MREMag gang and look forward to what happens next. 

[grahame]

 

I can see that you quoted 'as it came across to you'. If we were able to go back to the archive, I'm sure a thorough evaluation would have shown that - on balance - there was more good than irrelevant. All part of freedom of speech.

 

 

I disagree. For me, from the evaluation I carried out, the balance was getting out of kilter. A 'thorough evaluation' wont change my mind as that is how it came across to me as I read through MREmag's letters content when I visited. As I've already mentioned I found the letters pages increasingly dominated by the same few names with long winded submissions and getting increasingly oblique. So, yep, all part of freedom of speech with these comments being mine.

 

That doesn't mean I didn't find some content worthwhile and interesting, or that Phil's efforts were not admired (it certainly wasn't his fault over the letters he received). And, as I also mentioned, I wish the new eMAG version well and hope that it can broaden coverage and provide for a wider audience.

 

G.

[BMacdermott]

Hello Grahame

 

There was no attempt by me to change your mind - rather I was trying to state the facts so that readers had a balanced view. I am fully aware of the saying 'perception is reality'.

 

I can say categorically that when similar comments arose on MREmag ("There are too many letters on subject x" or "... comments like that seem to be the norm now", as reported by Malcolm in #43), my thorough evaluations proved otherwise. Perceptually...yes; factually...no.

 

There were people on MREmag who were 'quick off the mark' to castigate forums such as RMweb, but - when I delved deeper into the matter - I could show conclusively that the facts spoke for themselves.

 

Let's keep our fingers crossed that whatever MREmag becomes will be a worthy replacement. One thing's for sure... it won't please all of the people all of the time.

 

Brian

[jonny777]

Goodness me, I go away for less than a week only to find MREmag has gone by the time I get back.

 

Thankyou to Phil, Brian and previously Pat, for all your hard work over many years; plus all the regular contributors to "Having Your Say" whether above or below the previous ( Pat era ) 200 word limit.  Personally, the longer and more rambling the replies mean I have something extra to read - which is a bonus.

 

I hope that something useful and informative emerges from the MREmag ashes in a few months time...

[D9020 Nimbus]

I can't help feeling that changing to a moderated forum will not work as well as they hope—a successful moderated forum probably requires MORE work than editing MREMag needed—as I'm sure Andy and his team of moderators would agree.

 

Not sure how the eMagazine will fare—MRH seems to do well, but I get the feeling that the "traditional" magazine market in the US is weaker than in the UK—Model Railroader is thinner than it used to be, and there doesn't appear to be a huge amount of competition; here in the UK there are four "mainstream" magazines all of which appear to have a wider range of content (and more advertisers, too) than Model Railroader.

 

If electronic sales of traditional magazines haven't really taken off, it might be that they aren't really making the best use of the digital medium—only BRM currently does much more than produce a facisilime of the print edition...

[Budgie]

I read the notice on their website and I must say that I am unimpressed by their hosting company. A major error has occurred in the hosting program, and the customer has to pay to have it fixed. To me that is unacceptable, and the hosting company should pay some compensation to them for the lack of advertising income while they are forcibly offline.,.