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Suggest Improvements To The Fortean Times

GNC said:
They did bring him back and it turned out nobody liked him anymore. He'd gone all ranty.
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He was always ranty, that's why I liked him!
 
GNC said:
They did bring him back and it turned out nobody liked him anymore. He'd gone all ranty.
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Can anyone authoritatively confirm or deny that it was a different writer?
 
He certainly sounded a little different...

I have it on good authority that there are no plans for his return.
 
GNC said:
They did bring him back and it turned out nobody liked him anymore. He'd gone all ranty.
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I thought he was a different writer and I'm sure than was confirmed somewhere in Fort but I can't remember.

As Stu said he was pretty different after his return. From witty and sardonic to just angry and ranting.
 
Same or different writer, I liked the column! Long overdue in its return!
 
Can anyone help, please regarding the FT gifts that are sometimes offered to new subscribers? Can old faithfuls get them, too? If so, how? Do we send money somewhere? I've seen a few mugs and things over the years that are quite fun.
 
frankiefelix said:
Can anyone help, please regarding the FT gifts that are sometimes offered to new subscribers? Can old faithfuls get them, too? If so, how? Do we send money somewhere? I've seen a few mugs and things over the years that are quite fun.
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As far as I can see the only way for existing subscribers to get them is to stop their subscription then resubscribe.
 
Re-subscribers do get the gifts, I've had several mugs (and a T-Shirt if I recall). Felt a bit short changed last time as instead of a mug I got some wank sci-fi audiobook by someone I've never heard of.
 
I've been subscribed for years and I've never received anything. I think I got a mousemat when I first signed-up, but nothing for ten years or so.
 
Those of us on Zinio get nowt, and our mags at the same time as retail.
 
CarlosTheDJ said:
I've been subscribed for years and I've never received anything. I think I got a mousemat when I first signed-up, but nothing for ten years or so.
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For a moment, I misread your post, and had the melancholy impression that you had subscribed for 10 years, and never received any magazines.

Then I read the rest of the thread and worked it out.
 
As an Australian subscriber, I don't get anything as a freebie, but as long as the mag turns up, I don't mind!
 
After over close to 20 years of getting paper copies and then regularly giving them away and binning them, I have changed to a digital subscription...... and LOVE it!
 
after reading the latest issue i am getting a bit worried about the direction the mag is taking,the ufo section has always been a bit "there is no cover up, we know it and we are clever, disagree and you are stupid" then there was a rude reply to a letter giving a man's theories on why god would allow evil, the recent german werewolf article was very intolerant of people's experiences and the lizard man article was, nothing but a one sided hatchet job.


It seems to me that the fortean times is losing its sense of wonder and fun, turning its back on benevolent scepticism and going down the road of cyncial sneering , and i dont like it
 
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Maybe they feel the need to distinguish themselves with more researched, sceptical articles than ones that take the stories on blind trust? Or maybe it's all they're being offered at the moment, although there are still articles that are more accepting of the weirdness, they just have to have a balance which I don't mind. Obviously the bits you don't agree with are going to stick in your mind and not in a good way.
 
GNC said:
Maybe they feel the need to distinguish themselves with more researched, sceptical articles than ones that take the stories on blind trust? Or maybe it's all they're being offered at the moment, although there are still articles that are more accepting of the weirdness, they just have to have a balance which I don't mind. Obviously the bits you don't agree with are going to stick in your mind and not in a good way.
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I'm definitely one that likes to see evidence, but a large part of Fort is how the phenomena effected the witness and the witnesses perception of an event. It would be a shame if we lost that and turned into a sceptic's mag.
 
I don't think it will as long as it keeps some kind of sense of humour. I don't mean gags and guffaws on every page, but the perspective being amused by the weirdness can bring. Obviously some of it's not going to be that at all, but the general searching, "fancy that" tone has been consistent down the years I've been reading it, even if it is searching for a rational explanation, because opening up the possibilities means that as well, and doesn't mean you're disingenuous.
 
titchagain said:
...then there was a rude reply to a letter giving a man's theories on why god would allow evil, the recent german werewolf article was very intolerant of people's experiences and the lizard man article was, nothing but a one sided hatchet job.


It seems to me that the fortean times is losing its sense of wonder and fun, turning its back on benevolent scepticism and going down the road of cyncial sneering , and i dont like it
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I surely don't like a tone of cynical sneering, especially as it can never really explain anything. But the tone of the Fortean Times is usually good, and at its best has that mixture of scholarship and elan - a way to address the wonder of the world and the enigma of the unknown. This depends upon the contributors. The recent issue on the Fairy Society was well written and illustrated, I liked it a lot.
 
Loquaciousness said:
After over close to 20 years of getting paper copies and then regularly giving them away and binning them, I have changed to a digital subscription...... and LOVE it!
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Wait, you've given or thrown away your FT's?:eek: I keep mine to read again when there's nothing worth watching on TV (most nights, really!) - and after fourteen years of buying/subscribing, it's always worth going back over old copies and refreshing my memory...
 
titchagain said:
after reading the latest issue i am getting a bit worried about the direction the mag is taking,the ufo section has always been a bit "there is no cover up, we know it and we are clever, disagree and you are stupid"
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Maybe that just reflects the current state of Ufology (assuming this field of investigation still exists in any meaningful way) but it's not very Fortean. I enjoyed Jenny Randles' recent series of articles very much, and have to say it struck me at the time that her pieces differed noticably in tone from FT's general UFO coverage.
 
How about a caption competition each month, featuring a Fortean - themed photograph, with modest prizes - mug, mouse-mat, book etc. for those entries deemed the wittiest or cleverest?
 
stu neville said:
Maybe he's mellowed again in this recent exile.
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Lets hope best to keep to science based info with supportive data. Pls no religion (pro or con) or worse yet politics.
 
I'm still wondering why this "Haunted Generation" column is in the magazine when it seems to be nothing more than an advert for a record label. Anyone?
 
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