Why has YM gone foggy ?

[Babylon]

Cancel YM subs, start shopping at the Co-Op

I agree. Pi$$ing around with the fonts and page style was one of several reasons I didn't renew my sub to YM a year ago. I'm only 45 and have slight long-sightedness, but found the articles in the magazine increasingly frustrating to look at, let alone actually read, even with my reading glasses on.

On the other hand, glancing at the cooking instructions on the Co-Op apple pie my wife left out for me to heat last night I was delighted to find they were printed in something like 16pt font. NICE AND BIG! Hooray!

So IPC
1. Fire the kids you paid lots of money to restyle your rag
2. Go back to a proper font in a proper size
3. Stop prioritising appearance over content - THIS IS YOUR REAL PROBLEM.

 

[snooks]

I agree. Pi$$ing around with the fonts and page style was one of several reasons I didn't renew my sub to YM a year ago.

If you cancelled your sub a year ago, have you seen the October or November 09 issues of YM?

 

[Scotty_Tradewind]

I've brought this thread to Paul's attention just in case he hasn't seen it already.

strikes!!!

I wonder if 'Paul' has commented on the duplication in the same month, made by sister magazines?

Is 'Paul' able to comment on these pages.... you know, talk to the public, rather than hide?

 

[Richard Shead]

You can always email

I wonder if paul has commented on the duplication in the same month, made by sister magazines?

Is 'Paul' able to comment on these pages.... you know, talk to the public, rather than hide?

Paul, wirte to him or even call him there are many ways to contact him, sometimes this forum is not the best place to disucss such matters as nine times out of ten in turns into a brawl with no meaningful conclusion. And I am not pointing the blame anywhere!

I can assure you he is not hiding, just getting on with the day job!

 

[Scotty_Tradewind]

If you cancelled your sub a year ago, have you seen the October or November 09 issues of YM?

what you mean the ones that replicate PBO?

 

[Richard Shead]

You have

what you mean the ones that replicate PBO?

Highlighted my point exaclty.....

 

[snooks]

what you mean the ones that replicate PBO?

Spot the difference?

November's YM

November's PBO

I think you'll see they are far from duplicates.

Two features are of the same subject the Island Packet Estero and laying up, which is relevant at this time of year don't you think?

Anyone would think there are just two features in both magazines...which there clearly aren't

 

[grumpy_o_g]

Well I'll say thank you in anticipation to Richard and Snooks anyw anyway and look forward to next month's YM, which I am sure will be a model of clarity and good taste...

 

[fergie_mac66]

With a heavy heart I'm cancelling out of YM. As a kid in NZ I used to mow lawns for four hours to afford the copy ordered through the milkshake shop: the cruising pictures largely established my idea of the place and when I finally got here at 16 in 1959 the Old Country wasn't that different. Through all the years of bringing up four kids as a new Pom, and aching for a boat, I kept the subscription to YM going, my one luxury. When at last I managed to get afloat, ten years ago,I thought the mag was lacking its old magic but still the best one to suit my genteel interests.

Now, at the age of 66 and wearing bifocals, I can read the depth figures on a chart by torchlight, and read tide tables, and follow instructions on a packet of Mister Ben rice. But I can't read the new YM. That sans-serif type, about 8pt in size, floats across the page like mist on a cold morning. I get three or four lines into Tom Clunliffe and have to look away, blinking. Libby too, and nearly all the front end of the mag. The text is so tiny, so faint, that it's just not worth the struggle. The page of anchor comparisons in the new issue is a nightmare. And it's not just me. My wife plus a number of friends I have polled, all middle-aged but not yet elderly, have the same problem.

I have been in the writing business myself for 50 years and I know a little about attracting and keeping readers. One golden rule is that you don't make stuff hard for them. Why should you expect them to squint at your pearly words? But such is the hegemony of the art editor these days that printed text is very much harder to read rather than easier. Also, for some reason editors think their pages should look like the web. On my computer I can increase the size of the text with a couple of clicks, but not when reading YM. I note that many other media, including the Daily Telegraph, are going the same way. It's a terrible mistake. Just when the odds are stacked against them they are committing suicide by making themselves impossible to read.

I mentioned my concern about this in a letter to the editor a couple of years ago and was told nobody else had complained. Now the pages look even worse. I'd love to see a classical, elegant style that's a pleasure to read, as it was in the days of proper boats, canvas sails and direction-finding by listening to morse code from lighthouses, but it's not going to happen -- and I'm not going to pay any more for a magazine I am unable to read.

What a crying shame!

it does seem design is being pushed ahead of content of late

Chris .

Well I bought YM for years going back to mid 60s when ah wer nowt but a lad. but I stopped buying regularly a good few years ago Because the content went down the pan. Often there's a subtle contempt for readers opinions
I agree the text is often hard to read making it hardwork specially on a bumpy down wind run!.The constant rehashes from other mags'.
Im always picking up old copies to read they have much more interesting articles from people out there who were actually sailing Not drably reviewing this tender or or the other.

YM Is now ym

 

[curve]

As I said watch this space...jeezzz glad I dont have you lot in the jury should I ever face trail...

What an odd way to talk to your customers.

 

[Elessar]

I liked the crinkley paper on the cover myself. Why did that stop?

 

[Richard Shead]

That may be your opinion

What an odd way to talk to your customers.

But those that know me including many on here know that I treat all my customers / readers with respect as long as they respect me.

This is a forum and some of the posts I write are tongue in cheek that most people get, apologies to those who don't.

Unfortualely some folk on here will argue black is white no matter how much you try to reason with them.

And when they don't like being challenged it is always the ..."what an odd way to talk to your customers line..." sorry I dont buy it.

On the other hand each and every forum member I have ever met at shows has usually tunred out to be someone completely different to what I imagined them to be as in very pleasant.

As I said earlier watch this space these posts DO NOT go unnoticed.

 

[snooks]

I liked the crinkley paper on the cover myself. Why did that stop?

YM was more or less funding the survival of the only machine in the UK that could add the orange peal effect on the cover (in the volume that was required at least)

In the end the machine ran out of spare parts, and YM was the only magazine using it, so it became and ex-orange-peel-effect-adding-machine and went to printing heaven....where it lived happily ever after

 

[Scotty_Tradewind]

But those that know me including many on here know that I treat all my customers / readers with respect as long as they respect me.

This is a forum and some of the posts I write are tongue in cheek that most people get, apologies to those who don't.

Unfortualely some folk on here will argue black is white no matter how much you try to reason with them.

And when they don't like being challenged it is always the ..."what an odd way to talk to your customers line..." sorry I dont buy it.

On the other hand each and every forum member I have ever met at shows has usually tunred out to be someone completely different to what I imagined them to be as in very pleasant.

As I said earlier watch this space these posts DO NOT go unnoticed.

Dear Richard Shead.... who are you please?
Ah! A Google has answered my question. Marketing Manager.

A little more than a touch of arrogance in this reply above I feel???


Could you please comment on why I should continue to subscribe to both YM and PBO if :-
a)I get duplication?
b)The print is getting smaller than is comfortable to read ?....( I do admin work every working day and never require reading glasses, but some of the articles are very uncomfortable to read )
c)The articles and interesting reading are being outweighed by advertising?

ta
Scotty

 

[jhr]

What an odd way to talk to your customers.

Well, it amused me. Did you really think he was being serious?

 

[Ludd]

& i thought it was only me (even with new specticles)

I stopped borrowing other people's copies(I'm a Scotsman) because I couldn't read them.Hope SOMEBODY still buys so I can check if there IS an improvement!

 

[snooks]

c)The articles and interesting reading are being outweighed by advertising?

I guess you haven't read YM/PBO/any other magazine in your newsagent recently

Out weighed by advertising???

Our adds department would love it if they were!

Thanx to the recession, credit crunchie, economic downturn, call it what you want, the thickness of YM et al has reduced considerably to a stage where editorial 88 odd pages (which has stayed roughly constant) now outweighs the 40-50 advertising pages!

If you're going to have a go at the magazine, please at least try to get your facts right

 

[Richard Shead]

Again your opnion...

Dear Richard Shead.... who are you please?
Ah! A Google has answered my question. Marketing Manager.

A little more than a touch of arrogance in this reply above I feel???


Could you please comment on why I should continue to subscribe to both YM and PBO if :-
a)I get duplication?
b)The print is getting smaller than is comfortable to read ?....( I do admin work every working day and never require reading glasses, but some of the articles are very uncomfortable to read )
c)The articles and interesting reading are being outweighed by advertising?

ta
Scotty

Sorry "scotty" I have already said watch this space as you will get a reply but not from me.

By all means if you visit LBS or SBS please do come onto the stand to benefit from a cold beverage as a forum member.

I have been drawn into these discussion before and they have always ended up nothing more than a witch hunt so its good be from me on this thread.

I will address my title though as I was not aware that it does not show my position here within IPC as it used to on the old site.

Thank you

Richard Shead
Head of Marketing
IPC Marine Media

 

[Scotty_Tradewind]

I guess you haven't read YM/PBO/any other magazine in your newsagent recently

Out weighed by advertising???

Our adds department would love it if they were!

Thanx to the recession, credit crunchie, economic downturn, call it what you want, the thickness of YM et al has reduced considerably to a stage where editorial 88 odd pages (which has stayed roughly constant) now outweighs the 40-50 advertising pages!

If you're going to have a go at the magazine, please at least try to get your facts right

Hi Snooks, yes I do still read both the YM and PBO magazines and at this time I am fully subscribed to receive both.

"c)The articles and interesting reading are being outweighed by advertising?"
I think you have missed the point of my posting. 'INTERESTING' being the important word.
ta
Scotty

 

[snooks]

Hi Snooks, yes I do still read both the YM and PBO magazines and at this time I am fully subscribed to receive both.

I'd save your money and just get YM if I were you...they have the same articles in anyway you know?

Sorry, I'm bored in a hotel room in Italy, it's raining and I'm trying to cheer myself up

As Richard said....watch this space ->


Or may be this one ->



I think I'm going mad......