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Suggest Improvements To The Fortean Times

gncxx said:
beakboo said:
We can visit the message board for that.
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Yeah, but seeing them in the mag makes it more official somehow.
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I concur. It is good to see that the crazy people are elsewhere, rather than on sitting next to me on the bus home from work! :gaga:
 
We could use a few more Fortean Follow Ups - assuming folk send in follow up articles from the news. I have sent in several Follow Ups, only for them not to turn up. Guess space is needed for new stories, rather than Follow Up Stories?
 
I don't know about improving the magazine itself but I wish Dennis would stop mailing it in polythene bags that're smaller than the magazine. When it reaches me, it's been so scrunched up, to fit into the bag, that it looks like a herd of elephants have been tap-dancing on it.
 
It seems that the English subscribers get the mug/mouse pad/evil genius kit/Build-your-own-TARDIS kit, whereas the overseas subscribers seem to miss out on this...

If we subscribe, surely we all get the same thing?
 
I haven't read through the last God-knows-how-many posts but can we please dispense with Classical Corner?

Barry Baldwin is the most incomprehensible, rambling writer I have ever had the misfortune of reading.

He references archaic authors on subjects very few readers have any knowledge of and simply quotes referals to books almost no-one has access to.

Its the only section of FT I try to read but give up on half way through.

In the Reviews section I get two sentences into a review before I realise its gobbeldegook and glance down at the reviewer's name only to find its.... Barry Baldwin!

Please, get rid!
 
It doesn't take up that much space in the magazine. I don't see why people who hate it can't just skip it. If you insist that all your friends share all your tastes and opinions, you'll be lonesome; and if you insist that everything you read consist solely of reading that suits your taste before you enjoy it, you won't get to enjoy your reading much.

A comic I read had for awhile a feature which provoked such extremes of hate and love in the lettercol that the editors began printing it with a dotted line in the gutter to make it easier for folks who hated it to cut out. But that was normally a 2-page feature, easily isolated on one sheet. They'd have to ensure that the rest of the page Classical Corner was on consisted solely of advertisements, and possibly book reviews by the same author, before that would work for FT. And of course they wouldn't dare tell the advertisers what they'd done.
 
Bring back the Heirophant - and I don't mean the anally-weak, pathetically nasty lacking-in-mental-gymnastics dweeb that was thrown by the Editorial team as a replacement.


Bring back the proper Heirophant. I demand someone who can be critical yet unnerving in politeness. Not just some shit who likes being nasty in order to see their words in print. There's plenty of those.
 
PeniG said:
It doesn't take up that much space in the magazine. I don't see why people who hate it can't just skip it. If you insist that all your friends share all your tastes and opinions, you'll be lonesome; and if you insist that everything you read consist solely of reading that suits your taste before you enjoy it, you won't get to enjoy your reading much.

A comic I read had for awhile a feature which provoked such extremes of hate and love in the lettercol that the editors began printing it with a dotted line in the gutter to make it easier for folks who hated it to cut out. But that was normally a 2-page feature, easily isolated on one sheet. They'd have to ensure that the rest of the page Classical Corner was on consisted solely of advertisements, and possibly book reviews by the same author, before that would work for FT. And of course they wouldn't dare tell the advertisers what they'd done.
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I don't insist all my friends share my tastes or opinions. Who said I did?

Bit of a rabid rant from a lunatic there I think!

Keep reading your comics, love. They keep you off the street.
 
(Blink blink)

I'm sorry that I seem to have hurt your feelings, but I don't know how I did, and will refrain from getting my feelings hurt in turn, as I think that response must have been to a button I accidentally brushed against rather than to me. (If not, please do not go out of your way to correct me; I hate having my feelings hurt and avoid it when possible.)
 
PeniG said:
(Blink blink)

I'm sorry that I seem to have hurt your feelings, but I don't know how I did, and will refrain from getting my feelings hurt in turn, as I think that response must have been to a button I accidentally brushed against rather than to me. (If not, please do not go out of your way to correct me; I hate having my feelings hurt and avoid it when possible.)
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I've obviously hurt you.

I didn't mean to do that.

I just wanted to convey my thoughts about Barry Baldwin, not about you.

Sometimes I can be very inconsiderate and I think I was in this case.

I apologise.
 
When PeniG wrote, 'friends', I'm guessing that she meant, your fellow members of the FTMB, danny_cogdon, many of whom also read comics as well as 'Classical Corner'.

I'm glad you've been so prompt to apologise for your previous Post, which clearly constituted a Flame, by the standards of the board. see the FAQ, for further details.

P_M
 
Well, we can't all like the same things, after all ;)

I like the Ghostwatch, but I always skip through the UFO stuff.
 
I too like Classical Corner and the ghosts and find the UFO stuff boring.

But as I'm Rave's main sock, that's not surprising. ;)
 
It gets awfully crowded in that drawer at times.

Or so I've heard.

Anyway, I thought it was only obsessive weirdoes like me that felt compelled to read the entire magazine cover to cover. (And even I sometimes skip bits of the Forum and Fortean Travellers, if I'm running short on time or I'm behind or something.)
 
I find CC a bit hit and miss - sometimes it is good, sometimes bad. I think it depends on the subject matter. Agree about Barry Baldwin's writing style being difficult at times.
For me, it seems that for some issues, there has been difficulty finding suitable articles as some issues have, IMO, being of much lower quality than others. I think that the magazine was better when it was only 6 issues per year ( I have subscribed to it for donkey's years). Then again I suppose applies to any magazine.
For me- less ufo stuff ( unless they make contact), how to guides as mentioned by another poster, more science - especially what are viewed as science "heresies", earth mysteries. I think a "diary" of ongoing research could be interesting e.g any ghost hunter type people who are investigating something, crytid research. I'll let you know when I think of anything else.
 
Ravenstone said:
I quite like Classical Corner :(
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I love Classical Corner. Some months it's my favourite bit of the magazine. The obscurity, density of information, awful puns and occasional nigh on unreadability are all part of the attraction. If there was a compilation I'd be first in the queue.

But, as doubtless BB would say - no point busting a gut over it, after all, de gustibus non est disputandum - Tautologicus Prolix, Verbosities bk3 ch29 para 22.
 
Is there a point to this thread?

Don't know how many of you guys do this, but when I log onto the board, I click, 'view posts since my last visit' and lo... up near the top of the list was this thread. So I clicked page one and started reading.

The comments from board members were striking cords with me, and the replies from sutton (not sure who he is - sorry) seemed to suggest that the ideas proposed by board members would be taken into due consideration.

It wasn't untill page 6 (OK it's early Sunday morning, gimme a break) I noticed that I was reading posts from 6/7 years ago!!!

Still the same dodgy ads, still the same gripes about personal prefrences, still the same IHTM issues, still game reviews.

I'll admit that once I'd clocked the date of posts, I skipped to the last two pages for a more current perspective, so unless somewhere in the middle of the thread the conclusion was reached that on the whole the mag is fab so if it ain't broke... I'm feel I'm missing something.

Because if after 6/7 years the same issues are still so relevent to the readers that the thread reappears, then perhaps the thread title shouldn't include the tease of "suggestions" as though anything written is to be considered. Maybe "mag rant" is closer to the direction of the thread.
 
Cultjunky said:
Is there a point to this thread?

Don't know how many of you guys do this, but when I log onto the board, I click, 'view posts since my last visit' and lo... up near the top of the list was this thread. So I clicked page one and started reading.

The comments from board members were striking cords with me, and the replies from sutton (not sure who he is - sorry) seemed to suggest that the ideas proposed by board members would be taken into due consideration.

It wasn't untill page 6 (OK it's early Sunday morning, gimme a break) I noticed that I was reading posts from 6/7 years ago!!!

Still the same dodgy ads, still the same gripes about personal prefrences, still the same IHTM issues, still game reviews.

I'll admit that once I'd clocked the date of posts, I skipped to the last two pages for a more current perspective, so unless somewhere in the middle of the thread the conclusion was reached that on the whole the mag is fab so if it ain't broke... I'm feel I'm missing something.

Because if after 6/7 years the same issues are still so relevent to the readers that the thread reappears, then perhaps the thread title shouldn't include the tease of "suggestions" as though anything written is to be considered. Maybe "mag rant" is closer to the direction of the thread.
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Sutton is David Sutton, one of the Editors of the FT Mag...
 
Cultjunky said:
Is there a point to this thread?

The comments from board members were striking cords with me, and the replies from sutton (not sure who he is - sorry) seemed to suggest that the ideas proposed by board members would be taken into due consideration.



Because if after 6/7 years the same issues are still so relevent to the readers that the thread reappears, then perhaps the thread title shouldn't include the tease of "suggestions" as though anything written is to be considered. Maybe "mag rant" is closer to the direction of the thread.
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eh. I griped several times about the "marble" background on classical corner making it hard to read the text. Eventually that was improved. So, being some random jackanape on the internet, I'll take credit for that.
 
I moaned about the insulting 'comic' cartoons of actual named deceased people in the Strange Deaths column a while back. Haven't seen a vast improvement but it's slightly better.
 
RE: Suggest.........................

I would like to see the contests that are advertised in the magazine; opened up to the international readers. Not just the home turf readers! :)
 
I'm a subscriber, and to be honest I'm wondering about renewing.
Over the past few months (possibly even to a year), the magazine seems to have taken a bit of a dip.

The lead articles seem flimsy at best (this months Chupacabra one takes the biscuit: an article that could have been dealt with in a few paragraphs, and isn't that convincing or indeed interesting to begin with is given front cover status).

The letters pages seem to have shrunk (though I accept this could be due fewer letters actually being received), and any good IHTM stories seemed to have been siphoned off for use in the spin off books.

There are also fewer DVD reviews, though again, I accept, not being a widely read publication they're less likely to get freebies from the studios.

In all there just seems to be less generally in the magazine than there once was.

Rant over...
 
I wish the IHTM page wasn't printed in red ink on a dark background (darn this feeble eyesight!).
 
47Forteans said:
I wish the IHTM page wasn't printed in red ink on a dark background (darn this feeble eyesight!).
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I think anyone would have problems with it! Print it in a readable style!
 
ramonmercado said:
47Forteans said:
I wish the IHTM page wasn't printed in red ink on a dark background (darn this feeble eyesight!).
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I think anyone would have problems with it! Print it in a readable style!
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Yes! What's wrong with black ink on a white background, as words are meant to be?!
 
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