Wintle?s World ? Fishing: Give and Take

[Kevin Perkins]

Mark is so right with this piece, in particular with his comments about articles on FM.It certainly should not be left up to a few 'regular' contributors to keep on submitting pieces week in and week out.

The new editor's job should be just that, editing content for the website. That means choosing which pieces to put in from a <u>selection</u> of contributions sent in by the members.

I would far rather my ramblings be deferred frombeing foisted on you due to pressure of space, than you having to read them because the editor has nothing else to fill the gaps.

If nothing else, Mark's article should hopefully prick the conscience of those who have had a free ride off FM in the past, to give something back in order to guarantee interest in the sitefor the future

 

[Muffin]

I've written an article recently, its more of a reflections than anything technical about fishing.

How does one go about submitting to someone who can read it and tell me if I'm wasting my time and everyone elses, or not!?

Simon

 

[Mark Wintle]

There used to be a link on here but I can't see it.

try emailing to either editor@fishingmagic.com or graham@fishingmagic.com

 

[Muffin]

Thanks Mark, I found a link to submit the article through the site, but it doesn't appear to work at present, so I will e-mail it to graham

 

[Kevin Perkins]

Simon

You have pm

 

[Mark Wintle]

When Graham sees this perhaps he will advise the best way to submit an article at present.

 

[Paul H]

I both agree and to some extent disagree.

I agree that more people should submit stuff for the site and I think that quite often people don't through laziness (me) or because they don't think anyone wants to read what they might have to say (not me, I'm too interesting... ahem).

I can assure people that if I can get an article or two accepted then they can too.

The other side of the coin is that a lot of people don't enjoy writing, and to them fishing is an enjoyable pastime or hobby. They don't want to turn their relaxation time into an unpleasant experience which is absolutely fair enough.

It's horses for courses but I am sure that if a few more people opened their word processing software whilst sufing the internet they'd find it a lot easier than they might think.

By the way, if you haven't got Microsoft Office (because it's so bl@@dy expensive) you can getOpen Office (which is exactly the same, more or less) for free!

 

[preston96]

Well said Mark, you are of course 100% correct, those of us who have made use of FM for free over the years should contribute to it more.

Your float comparison says it all for me, true cost £30, given freely as a gift.....priceless!

The angling world is now bursting with "anglers" who just want to be "famous"........you can see them everywhere, they have lost that real meaning of fishing, to share and pass on what they were given......given freely.

I promise to try and do my bit..........i doubt it will be priceless, but it wil be free lol

 

[Wolfman Woody]

"This article is being written to a short time limit of an hour so it's not a long job but more a matter of focus and determination."

So, what did you do for the remaining 45 minutes?

/forum/smilies/smile_smiley.gif

 

[Graham Whatmore]

The principle of users writing articles is a sound one, they can be both interesting and cover a wide range of angling but that isn't to say that all users are capable of producing an article that is of interest to other anglers. Fishingmagic is well read partly because of the quality of its articles and to flood the site with dull, meaningless articles that are of no interest to anyone would serve only to make the site itself less appealing.

Some people write well and with the help of Graham's editing produce great articlesbut I for one wouldn't be capable of that because I don't feel that although I have many years of experience in angling there is anything of great interest in my life that others would want to share. I don't know this for sure but I wouldn't mind betting there are many regulars on here that feel the same.

Quality not quantity is what makes for a good fishing site.

 

[GrahamM]

<blockquote class=quoteheader>Muffin wrote (see)</blockquote><blockquote class=quote>

I've written an article recently, its more of a reflections than anything technical about fishing.

How does one go about submitting to someone who can read it and tell me if I'm wasting my time and everyone elses, or not!?

Simon</blockquote>
<blockquote class=quoteheader>Mark Wintle wrote (see)</blockquote><blockquote class=quote>When Graham sees this perhaps he will advise the best way to submit an article at present.</blockquote>


Please send contributionsto graham@fishingmagic.com until you're informed differently.

My preference is for the article to be as an MS Word doc attachment with any images sent separately and not embedded in the Word doc. Images can be sent at reasonably high resolution (up to 1mb each say) as that will allow me some editing scope.

But none of that is written instone, so if anyone can't send anythingin that formdo what you can and we'll take it from there.

 

[Janet (AT)]

I've had a few articles published on FM, and I'd love to do more to put something back, as I'm immensely grateful for all the help I've had from FM members, both on the forum and by many, many PM's I've received with advice and guidance.

However, I have a slight problem. I've written several illustrated stories about my fishing exploits, my first match, angling club work parties etc (trying to spur people into joining in and giving something back) Last time I tried to submit something to FM, I was informed that it couldn't be used as I had already posted it on AnglersNet. Since last Spring I've been writing a monthly angling column for a local newspaper, with my own slightly skewed look at angling from a female perspective and I've had some great feedback from it. I'd love to be able to submit it to FM, but I assume that the same rules apply with regard to articles having been published elsewhere.

I'm no great writer (certainly not in the same league as our Kevin!), but I would love to be able to contribute more to FM. Unfortunately I just don't have the time to write anything which would be exclusive, so I'm afraid I'm just going to have to continue to lurk!

 

[GrahamM]

Janet, lots of our members, like you, are also members of Angler's Net (an excellent fishing website) so there isn't much point in publishing an article on both sites.

However, very few indeed (in comparison) will be reading the same local paper, so publishing an article that has appeared ina local paperdoesn't present a problem at all.

 

[Janet (AT)]

Thanks for that Graham. I'll look at sending you some to have a look at.

 

[preston96]

<blockquote class=quoteheader>Graham Whatmore wrote (see)</blockquote><blockquote class=quote>

The principle of users writing articles is a sound one, they can be both interesting and cover a wide range of angling but that isn't to say that all users are capable of producing an article that is of interest to other anglers. Fishingmagic is well read partly because of the quality of its articles and to flood the site with dull, meaningless articles that are of no interest to anyone would serve only to make the site itself less appealing.

Some people write well and with the help of Graham's editing produce great articlesbut I for one wouldn't be capable of that because I don't feel that although I have many years of experience in angling there is anything of great interest in my life that others would want to share. I don't know this for sure but I wouldn't mind betting there are many regulars on here that feel the same.

Quality not quantity is what makes for a good fishing site.</blockquote>


Graham.......with all due repect, i think you could string together some very interesting reads!

Personally i have never found "writers" very interesting.......but fisherman who put it into words mesmerize me.......i don't give a damn about the grammer.....not that you would have a problem there.

 

[Fred Bonney]

Graham W. I felt the same about my contributions.

They all start out as paragraphs, or sometimes longer on the specific subject, and then when I think I'v got the whole story I juggle it around in Word, cutting and pasting and then self editing to add or take out.

I'm sure Graham would soon tell you if you were wasting his time. BUT, my guess is you have some tales to tell, just give it a go when you have a few spare minutes, don't try to do it all in one go.

 

[Mark Wintle]

Graham W.

Paul and Fred are right, you could write interesting articles easily. Your posts are thoughtful insights rather than the usual chat, and believe it or not, would add up to a sizeable book in the last decade! All you need to to do is consider a subject that is part of your experience and away you go. E.g. the Severn before the barbel/feeder took over, or whatever.

Woody,

The other 45 minutes? Had a cup of tea, read the paper, finished the crossword...

 

[Kevin Perkins]

<blockquote class=quoteheader>Janet </blockquote><blockquote class=quote>I'm no great writer (certainly not in the same league as our Kevin!), </blockquote>

Janet

You are too kind, BUT, I'm no writer, either!The regularappearance of my ramblings on here is either due to Graham's extraordinary ability to spot talent, or, and far more likely, I caught him in a moment of weakness, he hasn't got the heart to 'drop' me, and you lot have been paying for it ever since.......

I write for this site, and the style of article that I cobble together does not appear to 'fit' anywhere else. If I want to have a piece considered by the angling press, for instance, I have to adapt (in fact, change completely)what I write in orgder to conform to the house style. If I have to do that, then I am not 'writing' what I want.

For my part, I would love to hear tales form the likes of Graham Whatmore, and I am sure thatmany others on here would be able to entertain in a similar manner. My own reading preference is for autobiographical works, and I far prefer the warts and all stories of those who have had good and bad experiences and are prepared to relate them, to the sugar coated ghost written 'life' stories of 20 year old Big Brother contestants

All joking aside, it has to be remembered that the new owners/editor may well wish to modify/improve/alter the site and thecurrent contributors effortsmayor may not fit into a modified format. The broader the range of input that the editors have , the wider the appeal of the site.

 

[Kevin Perkins]

Hmmm............

Ten people manage to reply to this Forum Posting, and some three hundred look in but don't feel they have anything to contribute.

Probably just goes to reinforce what Mark was saying about Givers and Takers in the angling world.............

 

[Muffin]

Maybe they are so busy writing articles that they have not had time to post?

To be fair I'm sure now the situation has improved with regards what is happening with FM that things will only get better in the future.