Jump to content
 

Model Railway Journal


Not Jeremy
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • Not Jeremy changed the title to Model Railway Journal
  • RMweb Gold
41 minutes ago, cctransuk said:

 

To those who do run MRJ - NOT Simon,

 

You have a lot of loyal support amongst MRJ subscribers - but it is unsustainable nowadays to have no electronic point of contact.

 

Moreover, it would seem that your refusal to do so is not only inconveniencing the readership, but also an unconnected third party. It seems that Simon went above and beyond to assist you at a difficult time; the least that you can do is to relieve him of this unwonted burden.

 

John Isherwood,

(A reader / subscriber since Issue 0, but somewhat disappointed in MRJ's current business practices).


I'd suggest writing them a letter to express this viewpoint.  Actually, I sort of envy them, looking at my own mailbox and the time I spend on emails for a voluntary membership organisation.

  • Agree 10
  • Friendly/supportive 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, 2mmMark said:


I'd suggest writing them a letter to express this viewpoint.  Actually, I sort of envy them, looking at my own mailbox and the time I spend on emails for a voluntary membership organisation.

 

I'd rather hoped that there would be other MRJ subscribers here who might press AGREE - thereby letting anyone here with a connection to MRJ that there was some depth of feeling on the subject.

 

Apparently, I misjudged the mood!

 

John Isherwood.

  • Like 4
  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

The fact that we are now are at issue 285 of the magazine seems to indicate that MRJ's business model is quite sustainable and has survived a number of difficulties along the way, that latest being obviously Covid.  The change to a four-issue subscription model shows a sensible awareness of the risks to a small business like Cygnet.

 

Whenever I've had rare cause to telephone the office, the call has always been cheerfully answered.  No call centre nonsense - "press 1 for this, 2 for that, your call is important to us blah blah blah greensleeves blah blah blah"

I undertand that the initial production process is very traditional which is how Paul Karau prefers to work but somehow the end result is able to make the jump to into the computer typesetting environment.  I rather like that and the fact that MRJ is an antidote to the rather garish "Hello Magazine" style of some other model railway magazines.  It's like our very own Radio 4 compared to BBC3.

Mark

  • Like 18
  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold
3 hours ago, corneliuslundie said:

I would compare it with Radio 3, which often seems like a big family but doesn't always take itself too seriously

Except when it does, of course, with all the psuedo-intellectual gabble, smug and self-congratulatory chortling at their own witticisms and the awful, dead hand of so-called 'modern' music, with its unmelodic and disconcerting chords.

 

  • Like 1
  • Agree 1
  • Round of applause 4
  • Friendly/supportive 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
On 29/09/2021 at 12:36, cctransuk said:

 

.........it is unsustainable nowadays to have no electronic point of contact.......Moreover, it would seem that your refusal to do so is not only inconveniencing the readership....

 

I've been reading MRJ since the first issue and I have never been inconvenienced by the lack of any electronic point of contact.  But there again, I'm one of these people who still uses a fountain pen and is happy to do so when required.  Long may MRJ continue as it is.

 

DT

  • Like 10
  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
21 minutes ago, corneliuslundie said:

It will begin to inconvenience some people as some banks are no longer issuing cheque books.

 I understand that all the major UK banks still provide cheque facilities and have no plans to cease doing so, but they don't now automatically issue a new cheque book when the old one is finished.  If you want a new one now you have to ask for it.  I was interested to read that although most premium bond holders have their winnings paid directly into their accounts, NS&I nevertheless issued 319,752 cheques in July this year to winners who preferred not to use electronic means.

 

DT

  • Like 2
  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

It's obviously totally Paul's choice on how he runs his business and if how he works suits him, then that's great. I don't subscribe to MRJ because I just can't be bothered with searching out the address, writing a cheque etc. If Paul wants to grow or sustain his business then he needs to provide electronic communications, but maybe he's just happy the way he is.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

You mean that there are actually people who win prizes on the Premium Bonds!

I don't think the person I was referring to was with one of the bigger UK banks, but there is quite a choice these days.

Going in the other direction, I have now seen a couple of retail establishments with signs saying "no cash". I suspect that would also mean no cheques. Mind you, our local chippy's sign says "no cards".

Back to the issue, well done Queen's Square, Quite a standard to set for future guest editors.

Jonathan

Link to post
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Captain Kernow said:

Except when it does, of course, with all the psuedo-intellectual gabble, smug and self-congratulatory chortling at their own witticisms and the awful, dead hand of so-called 'modern' music, with its unmelodic and disconcerting chords.

 

 

Then there's the whole BBC thing of forcing all their online content onto "Sounds", and requiring the user to log in before accessing a desired item, so they can track your listening habits and provided "curated" lists for you to consume.  Its yet another username/password to administer, and I for one am becoming tired of trying to remember the damn things!

 

What do you mean, write them down???  :jester:

 

2 minutes ago, Torper said:

 I understand that all the major UK banks still provide cheque facilities and have no plans to cease doing so, but they don't now automatically issue a new cheque book when the old one is finished. 

 

For complicated reasons, I have two current accounts on different banks.  Recently, I switched an account from one bank to another, and had to apply for a cheque book from the new bank.  Funnily enough, I also got a replacement chequebook (automatically) from the other bank on the same day!

 

 

Back to MRJ, just picked up my copy of 285 from my local news-monger.  I will have an enjoyable evenings read!

 

 

  • Friendly/supportive 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold
1 hour ago, ikcdab said:

It's obviously totally Paul's choice on how he runs his business and if how he works suits him, then that's great. I don't subscribe to MRJ because I just can't be bothered with searching out the address, writing a cheque etc. If Paul wants to grow or sustain his business then he needs to provide electronic communications, but maybe he's just happy the way he is.


Yes, that's such a bother isn't it?  Probably takes all of 5 or 10 minutes.  If "can't be bothered" is your judgement ethos then maybe MRJ isn't the magazine for you.



 

Edited by 2mmMark
  • Like 7
  • Agree 2
  • Funny 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, ikcdab said:

It's obviously totally Paul's choice on how he runs his business and if how he works suits him, then that's great. I don't subscribe to MRJ because I just can't be bothered with searching out the address, writing a cheque etc. If Paul wants to grow or sustain his business then he needs to provide electronic communications, but maybe he's just happy the way he is.

Funnily enough I subscribe even though I am unable to write a cheque to Cygnet as being in Canada and not having a UK bank account cheques are not an option. I do it through Newsstand which allows me to do everything electronically . Another option would be to buy direct from Simon at Titfield, once again, all electronically. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

 

Usual disclaimers.

 

Cheers,

 

David

  • Like 5
  • Agree 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
5 hours ago, Captain Kernow said:

Except when it does, of course, with all the psuedo-intellectual gabble, smug and self-congratulatory chortling at their own witticisms and the awful, dead hand of so-called 'modern' music, with its unmelodic and disconcerting chords.

 

 

Ah, but is it Art ?

 

Adrian

  • Informative/Useful 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
7 hours ago, 2mmMark said:


Yes, that's such a bother isn't it?  Probably takes all of 5 or 10 minutes.  If "can't be bothered" is your judgement ethos then maybe MRJ isn't the magazine for you.



 

But the real person 'that can't be bothered' is Paul, which as stated in the opening post, his business model actually relies on bothering other people.

 

I'm sure he could arrange for an email address and have someone print the relevant ones out for him, if he didn't want to deal with them himself.

A friend of mine owns a computer for his business, but it lives at his bookkeepers house and he would have no idea on how to turn it on.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
16 hours ago, ikcdab said:

If Paul wants to grow or sustain his business then he needs to provide electronic communications, but maybe he's just happy the way he is.

 

If. They've been going a long time - 40 years now - so you can make a guess at their ages. I get the impression they're in winding down mode. We should enjoy it while we've got it.

  • Like 4
  • Agree 8
Link to post
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, Captain Kernow said:

the awful, dead hand of so-called 'modern' music, with its unmelodic and disconcerting chords.

 

All classic music was modern once. The stuff you might happily tap your foot to may well have been regarded as unmelodic and discordant in its day. 

  • Agree 2
  • Interesting/Thought-provoking 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold
5 minutes ago, Suffolk Dave said:

All classic music was modern once. The stuff you might happily tap your foot to may well have been regarded as unmelodic and discordant in its day. 

Ah yes, but my response to that is, 'Rule 1' applies! :P

  • Like 2
  • Agree 2
  • Funny 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

I very rarely feel the need to subscribe to these discussions, but I must admit that I get really fed up about people moaning about the difficulty of subscribing to or contacting MRJ.

 

My own view is that whatever the reasons are, the production team have decided not to embrace some “modern” payment or contact methods.  We all need to accept that.

 

For me, that philosophy doesn’t detract from the best model railway magazine available, indeed from a letters point of view I imagine that that philosophy would be an absolute boon as it minimises / prevents the dross that the keyboard warriors would submit - if one has to truly put pen to paper and then go to the effort of putting a stamp on an envelope and then putting it in a post box then hopefully the content will actually be worth reading!

 

I personally don’t “subscribe” to the magazine, preferring to purchase my copies from a national newsagent, but I do have nearly every edition nonetheless.

 

In short, I guess what I’m trying to say is that if someone’s business model works for them but not for you then the problem is yours not theirs!

 

On issue 285, well done Jerry!  One of the best!

Ian

Edited by Ian Smith
  • Like 8
  • Agree 9
  • Friendly/supportive 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
10 hours ago, Ian Smith said:

I very rarely feel the need to subscribe to these discussions, but I must admit that I get really fed up about people moaning about the difficulty of subscribing to or contacting MRJ.

 

My own view is that whatever the reasons are, the production team have decided not to embrace some “modern” payment or contact methods.  We all need to accept that.

 

For me, that philosophy doesn’t detract from the best model railway magazine available, indeed from a letters point of view I imagine that that philosophy would be an absolute boon as it minimises / prevents the dross that the keyboard warriors would submit - if one has to truly put pen to paper and then go to the effort of putting a stamp on an envelope and then putting it in a post box then hopefully the content will actually be worth reading!

 

I personally don’t “subscribe” to the magazine, preferring to purchase my copies from a national newsagent, but I do have nearly every edition nonetheless.

 

In short, I guess what I’m trying to say is that if someone’s business model works for them but not for you then the problem is yours not theirs!

 

On issue 285, well done Jerry!  One of the best!

Ian

I don't disagree with most of your post. But if you read the opening post properly, you will read that the OP is getting annoyed to a degree, with people expecting him to be a main contact point, when he isn't.

 

I agreed to do it at their request to help them out at a difficult time.

 

Surely the 'difficult time' should be over?

 

I will no longer be able to respond to them as they are getting in the way of my own activities.

 

That says it all IMO, why should someone's lack of use of using email, affect someone who is helping out? I've previously explained how it is possible to have an email address, but not personally use it.

  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Dear All

 

Thank you for your concern on my behalf, much appreciated.

 

I am not getting annoyed, rather I am just flagging up a bit of an issue arising from the somewhat idiosyncratic arrangements which now prevail.

 

I mentioned the address thing to explain to people why it is as it is, and the email thing to head off a potential barrage of helpful suggestions about how easy it is to set up an email and how we are all in the 21st Century etc etc...

 

And on RMweb because it is read by so very many people.

 

Simon

Edited by Not Jeremy
and
  • Like 6
  • Agree 1
  • Friendly/supportive 10
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

On Saturday I decided to catch up with my MRJ reading exploits and ordered online 4 issues I had not been able to obtain locally. 

 

I was looking forwards to a catch up with Simon but left it too late to ring. 

 

I received an email yesterday notifying me they had left Bath and were winging it to the West Riding. 

 

On a lovely sunny morning and a day off what could be better than the postie delivering my magazines. 

 

This time a note inside from George and pamphlets on other ways to spend your hard earned in Simon's emporium. 

 

Think a cup of tea and a toasted tea cake accompanied by reading MRJ 281 should be a nice way to spend the afternoon. Will try not to get butter on the pages of course. 

 

Thanks once again to Simon and George for the excellent service they provide. 

 

Cheers, 

 

Mark 

  • Like 5
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...