07-17-2010, 11:24 AM
I have many back issues (far from a full collection - but it never would be anyway as I've stopped subscribing) and like to read them regularly. I really do think there's been a change in the quality of the magazine both in emphasis and content, and not for the better. That's just my opinion. It seems to be morphing again into something more akin to what I like to see in a magazine. Again, just my opinion. I'm not speaking in anger here, just clarifying.
The MTMI really made it easier to use those back issues as a reference to learn from folks who pioneered techniques we consider standard today. The facets of the hobby I enjoy are not as popular today as they were 40 years ago so those are the articles I look for. The MTMI made it possible for me to spend more time reading those articles than hunting them down, sifting through issue after issue. I highly valued the index for those reasons and others. It was just plain useful.
I called the folks at Kalmbach pansies because I believe the excuses they offered as to why they would not, could not, fix the index or maintain it or whatever are LAME. I'm NOT saying they're lying - that's a serious accusation and I like to give folks the benefit of the doubt. Obviously, despite what Neil B. says about how much the staff all used the index, it wasn't valuable enough in their estimation to spend the time and money making it available. I'm not going to go all conspiracy theory on them and say they're holding on to it to generate demand until it'll return as a subscription service, even though that may be a reality if they do sink the time and effort into making it work, as they'll want to recoup their investment somehow. No, we'd have just gotten an announcement page at the website sending you to the 'subscriber log-in' page, to the new and improved MTMI (minus all of the non-Kalmbach publications).
But the investment they make in the good will and brotherhood of the hobby is sorely lacking. They are the ONLY magazine to offer 'subscriber only content' on their website. Killing this index was just one more decision made that, in my OPINION, will cost them dearly in terms of PR from folks like me, with opinions like mine. IF you disagree, that's fine. But if you share the same values, you may very well feel the same way that we are getting the shaft on this one by a corporate ideology that is so self-obssessed with the present elitist trends that the past becomes worthless, only offered as quaint tributes in the pages of MR from time to time.
I see dropping the index as a slap in the face to those who built this hobby, and Kalmbach shooting themselves in the big toe, if not the whole foot. Let's disregard our history by wiping out one of the more effective means at accessing that very history. What matters is really the latest and greatest techno-gizmo and RTR models and 'anyone can build it overnight' stories. You won't find many of those kinds of articles in the musty old volumes from yesteryear.
To close on a positive note: This is again why I like the Gauge. Thank you for letting me vent and the great discourse here in this thread. I'm so very glad there are true craftsmen here who still hold to the old ways that should never be abandoned, while reaching into the future to try new techniques. This is a place for everyone and the past is just as much alive as we make it. Thanks again.
Galen
The MTMI really made it easier to use those back issues as a reference to learn from folks who pioneered techniques we consider standard today. The facets of the hobby I enjoy are not as popular today as they were 40 years ago so those are the articles I look for. The MTMI made it possible for me to spend more time reading those articles than hunting them down, sifting through issue after issue. I highly valued the index for those reasons and others. It was just plain useful.
I called the folks at Kalmbach pansies because I believe the excuses they offered as to why they would not, could not, fix the index or maintain it or whatever are LAME. I'm NOT saying they're lying - that's a serious accusation and I like to give folks the benefit of the doubt. Obviously, despite what Neil B. says about how much the staff all used the index, it wasn't valuable enough in their estimation to spend the time and money making it available. I'm not going to go all conspiracy theory on them and say they're holding on to it to generate demand until it'll return as a subscription service, even though that may be a reality if they do sink the time and effort into making it work, as they'll want to recoup their investment somehow. No, we'd have just gotten an announcement page at the website sending you to the 'subscriber log-in' page, to the new and improved MTMI (minus all of the non-Kalmbach publications).
But the investment they make in the good will and brotherhood of the hobby is sorely lacking. They are the ONLY magazine to offer 'subscriber only content' on their website. Killing this index was just one more decision made that, in my OPINION, will cost them dearly in terms of PR from folks like me, with opinions like mine. IF you disagree, that's fine. But if you share the same values, you may very well feel the same way that we are getting the shaft on this one by a corporate ideology that is so self-obssessed with the present elitist trends that the past becomes worthless, only offered as quaint tributes in the pages of MR from time to time.
I see dropping the index as a slap in the face to those who built this hobby, and Kalmbach shooting themselves in the big toe, if not the whole foot. Let's disregard our history by wiping out one of the more effective means at accessing that very history. What matters is really the latest and greatest techno-gizmo and RTR models and 'anyone can build it overnight' stories. You won't find many of those kinds of articles in the musty old volumes from yesteryear.
To close on a positive note: This is again why I like the Gauge. Thank you for letting me vent and the great discourse here in this thread. I'm so very glad there are true craftsmen here who still hold to the old ways that should never be abandoned, while reaching into the future to try new techniques. This is a place for everyone and the past is just as much alive as we make it. Thanks again.
Galen
I may not be a rivet counter, but I sure do like rivets!