PD vs. commercial sw
10 messages in this thread
Jim:
What Ben is trying to say (as I see it) is that if they gave all BBS's
programs good write ups, then there's a much better chance that BBS will
advertise in their magazine. By the same token, if BBS was a big advertiser
of AmigaWorld's, say having 2 or 3 full pages per month, what are the
chances that the articles that were written about their products
(ImageMaster, and ClickFAX) would have been negative? I'm not saying that
the writers are told what to say, only that if a writer was to put down a
product of a large advertiser chances are that article would never make it
to print. On the same line, if a magazine has a reviewer who always put
down products from the advertisers, while saying that some other product
was better (either a PD program, or commerical product of a non-advertiser)
what are the chances that person would still have a job?
Unfortunately many people seem to be of the opinion that if somebody is
writing for a magazine that they must be an expert, and that they know what
they're talking about, and I've found that on MANY occasions (and not only
in the computer field) that the writers don't have a clue as to what's
going on, and are telling outright lies while they believe they are truths.
-Mike Schiller
In sunny Fort Lauderdale
It depends on the developer! Some companies have no ethics, and love to
see suck-up reviews. They'll advertise there, too. Or maybe they'll simply
blitz the suck-up mags with public relations so they get more free
advertising. I, for instance, representing Syndesis, do take a long look
at the places we consider for advertising or even reviews. (Yes, magazines
do not run those reviews without prodding, in most cases.) Or even if you
prod for a review, that doesn't mean much. As Ben said, you'll very often
get a coincidental call from the advertising department a few days after
you make that call to encourage them to review your product.
If you think you've spotted bias in a publication, please write them a
letter and tell them so.
How about this idea. Say the magazine wants to review the software in a
given area, image tools for example. The mag contacts Ben at BBS, Perry at
ASDG, whoever at GVP, and any others that may be out there. They say you
have x number of words to describe your product and tell folks why they
should buy it instead of the other guy's. Then they run those articles,
perhaps with a head-to-head comparison by a third party. Ideally, that
third party article should be available to the program authors before
writing theirs. I suppose that last might be difficult or impossible given
the lead times involved in publishing.
Jim
Actually, I think a variant of this would be a big help: One magazine in
the Amiga market, Avid, has allowed developers essentially free space to
talk about their product in an informational way. I did this last summer,
in an article that talked about converting AutoCAD DXF files to 3D objects.
I even talked about the differences between our product and a competitor's.
The article was very informative in other ways, I didn't just spend all the
column inches hyping our product. One variant I'd add is a chance at one
rebuttal, so divide the space in two for each company, to let them respond
to what every other vendor said the first time.
Yes, I recall reading your Avid article. I found it quite usefull, not that
I was doing any DXF conversions myself, but we do have customers ask for
that ability. And I did learn something about cad programs. I'd certainly
like to see the other magazines follow Avid's example, so long as the
author's affiliation was mentioned somewhere. The rebuttal idea is a good
one as well. That could get interesting. BTW, since a new Interchange is
about due (?), perhaps an another Avid informational article is in order.
Something on the problems converting from one 3d format to another.
In all of the reviews I've ever written (and I've written more than a few),
I've never once been asked to change a single word because of an
advertiser, and I've never been asked not to write another review because
an advertiser's product got a less than favorable review.
Steve
Steve:
I'm not saying that a reviewer can't write a less than favorable review,
just look at what happened with BBS & Geoffery Williams at AmigaWorld. What
I was saying was that if almost every review you wrote was a less than
favorable one, and all the products you were reviewing were advertisers,
how long do you think it'd be before that magazine didn't want your reviews
anymore?
-Mike Schiller
In sunny Fort Lauderdale
Mike,
The only way I'd can a reviewer for sending in a lot of negative reviews
would be if the products were being unfairly slammed.
All a reviewer need to do to keep work coming his/her way is write _clean_,
_clear_, _accurate_, _interesting_, and _concise_ text. Finding someone who
can do that is tough (you'd be amazed to see the "pre-edited" work of some
well-known folks), and someone who can write a good review isn't going to
lose assignments because they're justly hard on inadequate products.
I think that if a reviewer wrote bad reviews for nearly every piece of
software, then there's a big problem with the reviewer, and the editor(s)
should not give them any more assignments. Not because of advertisers, but
because the reviewer isn't doing his job by giving balanced reviews.
Steve
>Writers not knowing what they are talking about.
Many magazines can't find enough good stuff to print. I think AmigaWorld
Tech Journal paid big bucks to their authors to try and attract some good
writers – and I think it worked. Their articles were the best I've seen in
any Amiga magazine.
…Steve