Too many magazines?

Having a big move around in the bedroom that acts as my study cum radio room, and thumbing through some Model Engineers from

60 years ago, when that mag was full of models, tooling, boats and aviation, and a good all-round read.

Now we have Model Engineer, Engineering in Miniature, Model Engineer's Workshop, Model Boats and goodness knows what else.

Each of these magazines today is very thin with little content and very few advertisements. Model Engineer's Workshop is a case in point for although it started off well, it has now degenerated to a beginner's journal with articles on how to file a piece of metal, etc.

Is the time ripe for a merging back into a single worthwhile model engineering monthly?

Reply to
gareth
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But they'd have less advertising space, which is all they care about !

Andrew

Reply to
Andrew Mawson

But the companies who advertise must have a finite budget so rates must go down.

I suspect part of the reason some people buy so many magazines is a substitute for actually doing the related activity.

Someone I used to work with was an avid builder of model steam engines. I remember him telling me that the hobby had 'groupies' who would buy the various castings for wheels, have the workshop,.....etc. but never actually built an engine. Presumably these are the ideal customers for the many magazines.

Of course, the same is true of other hobbies.

Reply to
Brian Reay

"But one of these days, when I have the time ...."

-- pyotr filipivich The fears of one class of men are not the measure of the rights of another.

-- George Bancroft

Reply to
pyotr filipivich

I think there is a place for instruction in things like filing as few places run practical engineering courses anymore. One of my lecturers showed me how to file an external radius and it was counter intuitive but//I appreciated being shown and haven't forgotten, I questioned why I hadn't been shown before and was told I was there to become an engineer not a fitter. Other issues with magazines getting repetitive, if you subscribe long enough, is there is only so much to write about. I used to subscribe to Practical Classics but stopped when they started to rehash the same old subjects. I know my neighbour subscribes to ME and another, I think MEW, and he has done for decades so will see what he thinks when back off holiday. He has lent me the ME recently because of the article on CNC.

Reply to
David Billington

Valid to a point. However, in hobbies you do hear of cases where someone has (supposedly) been building something or other for decades, either with no sign of any progress, or perhaps the occasional repeated 'progress report'. "Made the last 4 'widgets' last week, waiting for brass to make the wim-wams. "

Then there are those who simply buy, say, a model steam engine built by someone else and claim to have built it. Rather like stopping off at the fishmongers to buy your 'catch' when going fishing for the day.

I like the quote.

Reply to
Brian Reay

Yes. OTOH, Rich had retired, and was showing us around. Out in the barn he had one car almost done, "and here" he said pulling back a canvas tarp, "are the parts for the next one, when I get some time." He was in his eighties, iirc.

Reply to
pyotr filipivich

Good luck to him ;-)

Keeping busy is supposed to help ensure a longer retirement.

Reply to
Brian Reay

replying to gareth, an_other wrote: I agree with you. I used to read Model Engineer from way back when, and collected many old copies, which I still read often - they are full of useful and varied projects and information. When their website started up, I used to post to that, and once made exactly your point in their forum. The resulting abuse led me to cancel my subscription. The site is now apparently monopolised by a small number of people with apparently little interest in 'trying things for themselves' - only in airing their opinions (over and over again). The point made in this thread about advertising is also valid - thank god for adblock (but they are getting around that nowadays)

Reply to
an_other

If you are using Firefox or Chrome try ublock origin, much better than Adblock.

formatting link

Reply to
mick

replying to mick, an_other wrote: Thanks for the tip, Mick. I've been having an argument with a well-known national online about their policy of blocking access if I use Adblock, then today I read that Adblock management is in talks to allow more of these verminous advertisers to bypass their Adblock tool (They seem to have missed the point of an Adblocker), so today I dumped Adblock, and installed Origin - much better. The only thing is, I wonder how long it will be before these internet trash pushers find a way round Origin.

Reply to
an_other

I used someone else's computer the other day with no ad blocker and the experience of most of the web sites I went to was horrendous. OK, I do agree that some web sites need ads to generate partial revenue but the ads on one site obliterated the underlying information, so what is the point of having a nice web site if their customers cannot see the content for trash.

Reply to
mick

Can't get the staff?

Reply to
RustyHinge

/snippage/

When I was about 7 or 8, grandparents took me to Southend, where I was going to fish off the end of the pier (with a handline).

Knowing *exactly* what I was doing, and also knowing I wasn't going to fool anyone, I bought a kipper from a fish stall, and at the hour of collection, attached it to my line.

I can't remember whether the kipper went home with me: it was 1947 or

1948, after all.

Wasn't fish rationed then?

Reply to
RustyHinge

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