Feedback and ratings wanted.

If you read the articles on FM - and I'm sure most of you do - you will notice that an article thread is automatically generated naming Graham as the 'fire-starter'.

Too many of these threads are allowed to drift downstream and vanish around the bend without any comment whatsoever from any of you. It would really help Jeff and I if you chaps would give us some feedback on these pieces so we can try to narrow it down so we can give you more of what you like and less of what you don't like.

Also any suggestions are welcomed - but keep 'em clean please!

Geoff. Perhaps naming the author and a brief description of the subject matter might help!

So far no taker's eh Geoff ? They're a miserable lot on here sometimes!!
As a relative newcomer, I haven't read sufficient of the material to warrant a valid opinion.
Your request seems a good 'un though.

You get no feedback on the articles written, so you write another article asking for feedback on the articles you previously had no feedback for, and then wonder if and when anyone will give feedback.

I can leave feedback as in, i think it is a great idea, carry on

What are you smoking Stealth?

i am smoking Weedback .....................

What am i smoking ?

You started all the confusion, with your rambling ................:wh :j

I am just trying to help in a round about way, but, if you don't want it, just say so, i won't be offended.

Geoff

For me it's the variation that is important. I like some of the articles very much, some less so. If it was all carp rigs and baits I'd be less inclined to read them but I appreciate that many would and do.

I prefer the stories, diaries, accounts of fish-ins and so on. Factual tutorial style articles are also welcomed, the current Better Boat Fishing is excellent but may appeal to a minority.


Obviously the semi pro contributors such as Cliff Hatton and others have raised the quality stakes quite a bit and this may put off less experienced FM members from having a go, although I've always enjoyed the one off articles from FM'ers who have, say, had a charity day with GM or an angling guide through one of Cakey's auctions. It would be nice to see more of those, although some may need some coaxing.

What do the authors think?

Andy

Geoff

Sorry, but you're flogging a dead horse with this one. Getting this lot to give you any guidance, assistance, feedback or any type of response is like plaiting fog.

Some excellent articles there - a nice balance between species/approaches and with a good mix of authors. If I have one suggestion, it would be to integrate the articles more with the rest of the site.

Visiting the forum alone (as I'm sure many do) you miss the articles completely. Perhaps a window on the rest of the site can scroll through some of the article titles and thumbnails to boost their profile?

That's interesting. Sometimes we can't see the woods for the trees....

I already suggested that Geoff.

A 'Tab' for articles, click said 'tab', then click, latest, author, species, stories, write-ups (from fish-ins) etc....

Although I do understand this wont be easy to re-claim them from the archives, but the 'tabbing' should be easy and once in place new articles can be easily added.

Just a thought.

And I have been rating every article I've read lately...

Geoff, you could do it with a menu tab, but a section on the page such as the latest threads bit or the spare section above the skyscraper ad on the right would be perfect. You will increase traffic no end.

Many webdesigners assume the entrypoint will be the index page, check your webstats - it's not always the case. I tend to enter straight into the forums section.

ATB

Rob

Good point Rob. In a very small way I help manage some sites related to dancing and the forums are amazingly active with a lot of people going straight there rather than the main sites.

The old FM was obviously ancient software but the forum seemed to be more affiliated with the main page than it is now. I must say I visit FlyForums a lot but rarely go to the website!

I've only submitted a few articles to FM and perhaps have some ideas for a couple more - I just need to get fired up again. But I do think there is a relatively small hardcore of "readers" and far fewer willing to respond with comments, ratings etc.

Kevin Perkins said:

Geoff

Sorry, but you're flogging a dead horse with this one. Getting this lot to give you any guidance, assistance, feedback or any type of response is like plaiting fog.

Click to expand...

LOL!

Just remember Kevin, as a writer, you have to be dead before anyone appreciates your efforts! Marlowe whoops Shakespeare's ass, but seldom gets his reviews!

And apparently that Robson & Jerome idiot is more popular than our Marsbar!

It sure is a topsy-turvy literary angling world.

What we should be doing IMHO as a community/ website is encouraging ANY sort of article from any sort of angler/ member. OK you still have to have editorial guidelines, but FM should be, as it has in the past, a voice for the quirky, the obsessed, the deluded, and the rest of us (the majority) who regularly land 40lb zander, or like the Spillers live in a charmed land where every bite is a 2lb roach.!

feedback

I have a website that occassionaly I ask for some feedback. It never ceases to amaze me how reluctent people are to give it. I have even put one of these simple surveys on (yes/no); all it takes is one click of a button. I got less than 4% response. I dont know if its that people are affraid of something but, it is a mystery to me.

****y (Angling Trust PAC) said:

LOL!

Just remember Kevin, as a writer, you have to be dead before anyone appreciates your efforts!

Click to expand...

Thanks ****y, that's twice this week I've been told on here that I'd be better off dead....!!!

Going back to feedback, I doubt if I have received even 10 posts for each of the 200+ articles I've had put up on FM, so that's around 2000 in some eight years or so.

But there are many individuals on FM who have posted considerably more than that number of posts on the Forums. Indeed, they regularly slap themselves on the back when reaching what feel are significant 'milestones' in posting counts.

Without wishing to go over old ground, FM appears to have become far more Forum-centric to its readers now. Geoff's comment that articles just fall off the edge without comment is very true, and that trend has become more noticeable of late.

The challenge is to entice new contributors whose efforts won't be treated with the (apparent) apathy of not being worthy of comment.

Whether that should come in a visible counter to show how many times the article has been read, (probably the easiest option) or by not allowing the reader to quit the article without ticking some form of rating box, I don't know.

Or the site owners could always give every contributor a shiny new barbel rod for every piece that gets published..........!!!

Or the site owners could always give every contributor a shiny new barbel rod for every piece that gets published..........!!![/QUOTE]

Wher do I write these artiikuls then Mr?

****y (Angling Trust PAC) said:

What we should be doing IMHO as a community/ website is encouraging ANY sort of article from any sort of angler/ member. OK you still have to have editorial guidelines, but FM should be, as it has in the past, a voice for the quirky, the obsessed, the deluded, and the rest of us (the majority) who regularly land 40lb zander, or like the Spillers live in a charmed land where every bite is a 2lb roach.!

Click to expand...

FM has always encouraged new and less experienced writers and I'm sure it's no different now. Jeff and Geoff will be happy to knock any rough edges off contributions from members with a good story to tell or a good tip to pass on. The current rash of articles from the more experienced writer are not pushing any articles from the less experienced off the pages; it's simply a case of the less experienced not submitting anything.

Mark

Perhaps membership of FM should only be allowed after the prospective candidate has submitted an article for consideration.....

All joking aside, 500 words is about 1 page of A4, some of the more garrulous forum jockeys on here do that and more in a week of postings.

If everyone sat down and wrote a piece on their last fishing trip (good, bad or indifferent) I would bet that a fair percentage of them would be eminently readable, even if they do have to be edited a bit.

And I'm sure the editors on here would rather have bucket loads of pieces to choose from (and that from new writers too) than have to rely on the old favourites all the time.

How about raiding the FM coffers and offering up a prize for say the best article on the last day on the river before the Closed Season?

That would keep Jeff happy having plenty of articles to look at and edit, and Peter Jacobs could wax lyrical about the subject matter

Kevin Perkins said:

Or the site owners could always give every contributor a shiny new barbel rod for every piece that gets published..........!!!

Click to expand...

So what have you done with your collection, Kevin? Flogged them on Ebay like that Deanos did and not mention it? I don't know!

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Both Geoff and myself would welcome contributions (articles, that is) from anyone who wishes to stamp their fingers on the keyboard a few hundred times. It's something Graham always tried to encourage and things haven't changed one bit.

Yes, writers like Cliff Hatton are good storytellers and their pieces need little editing if any at all and the same is true for Kevin's stuff. But we don't mind puttin the full stops, commas, and quotation marks in the right place and spell check it all providing the story behind is sound and interesting.

I can be a story, a report, a diary type of thing, or even the famous "My Opinion" raising various topical or controversial issues, dare to be dangerous stuff. They'll usually get the most comments because many anglers also want their say, and fair enough, they get it through the forums.

What is fairly important these days is having a picture for the headline. If it's action all the better, but a trphy shot is just as appreciated (must be landscape format of min 600 x 400 pixels so we can edit and play around with it). It could be of a presentation of a trophy so long as the focus is on the happy (smiling) winner and the presenter and trophy.

(I do get some stories [no names,but then not a member] and the accompanying picture is usually of three or four blokes stood around in the corner of a pub with their hands in their pockets. Now be honest, lads, do you really want to see that?)

So if it's something you want to say or tell everyone of something you've done, put it into words and let us know. Anything between 500 and 1500 words is fine, slightly more if you wish, up to you.

You can enter them through the site, click CONTACT above and select "SUBMIT A STORY" - we tend to have to strip it down anyway, but that's our worry. Or you can send it to editor@fishingmagic.com along with the pictures attached.

It's your site, they're your stories, up to you.

---------- Post added at 16:43 ---------- Previous post was at 16:35 ----------

In the time it took me to write that lot, Graham posted (thanks) and so did Kevin once more.

It's true, when it comes to some emotive subject, many members get very vocal (in type) and put across some good points, but comes to putting those thoughts together for an article and ....... nothing. I'd love to have to wade through lots of stuff and if it isn't good enough to publish, I'll be happy to tell you why, it will be constructive criticism (usually unless it's full of personal attacks of the rude and offensive variety, which I'm sure you wouldn't do) that will help you get it better and maybe resubmit it later.

I'll offer any help that I can to anyone and that means ANYONE!

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Don't forget also, it can be a review of some tackle you purchased. It can describe a new rig, or a method of fishing, or playing with baits, home made or otherwise.

I would appreciate people putting their real names to them though.