So just to make sure I understand correctly, you don’t have to be a subscriber to be able to participate in the forums, you just have to register? It’s been a few years since I had registered but didn’t we have to enter in the special code from the magazine?
No, that is to access the workbench reviews and other special features on the main pages. Registering is all that is required for the forums.
oh, well then that’s really not that big of a deal then. The special stuff is all from the magazine, so I can see why they wouldn’t want to give that away for free.
Except that newsstand buyers can no longer access it online, like subscribers can. That’s the issue being discussed. FSM has basically said buy it every month with a subscription and get it, but buy a few magazines per year and don’t get it at all, not even for the time the magazine is valid. Before all you needed was to change the code every month to continue the access. Now newsstand buyers are paying full list for less. IMHO not fair.
In fact in the October issue – Vol. 25 – No. 8 at the bottom of the contents page (pg 5) states:
Get more at FineScale.com!
FineScale Modeler readers have access to premium online content at FineScale.com. You must have a FineScale.com account to view this content. To create an account, go to www.finescale.com/register.
It also goes on to say:
Subscribers: click “Create Magazine Subscriber Account” and enter the customer number from your subscription label and enjoy unlimited access to the Web site for the life of your subscription.
But this last bit is in a different column and does not clarify that to actually access the content you MUST have a subscription. So now a new buyer will read that, go to the website, register and then get a message that they need to subscribe. Bit nasty, if you ask me.
Why are you still hammering this?
Why do you care?
I’m doing it because I think it’s unfair. So crawl back under your bridge.
Because I do care, and the troll thing[(-D] [(-D] when all else fails.
GulfstreamV. Flame me all you want. But, a lot of very good and informative modelers left this forum because of morons like you.
Hit the “report abuse” button in the lower right hand corner. I don’t care. I’m tired of your attitude. I checked your profile and looked at your previous posts. And, by far, the majority of them had nothing positive to say. All you seem to do is come to a thread and try your damndest to tick somebody off.
Now, read the title of this particular section of the forums. “Suggestions and Feedback”! All that anyone here has done is offer suggestions to the FSM heirarchy, except you! All you have done is try your best to trash any and everything Bill and others have said.
Go away! Please!!
Now bgrigg, let’s not insult the bridges. I mean, they have feelings too!
Good advice. I’ll stop treating them as if they’re <snigger, snort> arch enemies!
I’ve never understood why someone (G V) feels the need to post in this (or any) thread when they have absolutely nothing to contribute to the conversation. If you’re not interested in the topic, then stay the [censored] out of the thread and stop bashing the people who are debating the issues.
Now… back to the topic at hand. I’m curious how many of you use the online content here (other than the forums themselves obviously). I don’t because there is nothing new online to access that isn’t already in the magazine, unless I’m missing something here…
I will admit that I rarely use the online content available to subscribers. But not using something and losing access to something is two different things. As Joni Mitchell said “you don’t know what you’ve got, till it’s gone”.
There are two items that can only be accessed by subscribers now, and that newsstand buyers are losing: Online reviews and Model Products Directory. The online reviews go back to January 1996, so that we can access things we may not have the magazine for (I only go back as far as May 2005, for instance). The Model Products Directory is perhaps a bit more helpful, as you can search for a subject and find all the various makers in all the various scales (or books, CDs and tools).
IMHO newsstand buyers should also have access to the same things as subscribers, but only for as long as the magazine they bought is current. If you want to access it in the future, make sure you pay for that future magazine as well. That way no-one loses, FSM sells magazines and lookie-loos are encouraged to buy.
Not having spoken before on this topic…
Gents, I’m afraid most of you are wrong. FSM/Kalmbach is a business. Their job is to make money. They make money by selling advertising. They sell advertising by showing propective advertisers how many people subscribe, not how many magazines go out to the newsstand/hobby shop. The more subscribers, the more desirable a venue for advertising, the more they can charge.
It is in their best interest to encourage subscriptions whether by a per issue discount or by making the website more valuable to their subscribers or both. I’m sure they sat at a meeting and weighed the potential loss of a few forum members who are newstsand/hobby shop buyers vs the encouragement of getting more people to subscribe.
Well AJ, that’s an interesting viewpoint, and one which I am fully aware of. However, I can’t agree that we’re wrong.
Since December 2005 newsstand buyers have been able to access the online perks via a printed code. That code was valid for a fixed length of time, and to continue accessing the content, they had to keep buying the magazine. That has been taken away from them, without even so much as an explanation. Hardly an enticement for people to open their wallets.
Advertisers do not solely base their buying of ads on the subscription base, but take into account the entire circulation. A larger subscription base is a good thing for sure, but overall they just want to get their name out in front of as many people as possible. Not only that but they are interested in targeted markets. MRC isn’t interested in getting their ads in Good Housekeeping, as that magazine (which has a humongous circulation compared to FSM) doesn’t attract buyers of models. They are not going to turn up their noses at people who only buy three magazines per year. In other words, if one modeling magazine sells 1,000,000 copies per month, but only has a subscription base of 100,000, and that is competing with another modeling magazine that has 200,000 subscribers but only sells 500,000 magazines, they will opt for the larger circulation. Well, actually they’ll buy ads in both magazines and try to entice the full 1,500,000 readers, and try to leverage the price downwards by pointing out the smaller circulation! By the way, I’ve sold ads for magazines before and know first hand what a cut-throat business it is!
My point is if FSM/Kalmbach think this is going to encourage cherry pickers to plunk down their coin for a subscription, they’re wrong. Like many decisions made today in business, they have only looked at the bottom line, and not listened to their customer base. If anything, this will likely result in a loss of buyers and subscribers.
Most modelers stick to a narrow focus (I know one guy who only does Shermans), and they’re just not interested in a magazine that predominately show aircraft or German armor. You see that time and time again on the forums: not enough tanks & too many planes vs. too many tanks & not enough space craft vs. what about cars?
For FSM to succeed, they have to please as many people as possible each and every month, and I see this a step in the wrong direction. The best way to increase your subscription base is not remove perks from newsstand buyers, but to increase the quality of the publication. Look at me. Right now I subscribe and I don’t like the trend. This issue has caused me to rethink renewing my subscription, and I know that I’m not alone in that.
I fear that in one sense you are quite correct. They are more concerned with the income they receive from advertisers, than the content of their magazine or the wishes of their readers. And that’s a shame.
bgrigg has nailed the core issue of this thead - once again, FSM has yanked something with no warning, no explanation and no appeal. Matthew Usher makes the no appeal part very, very clear in his comments above. Anyone here remember some of the things we used to be able to do with relative ease before the “new, improved” forums came along? That’s just one example.
Am I whining? Some would characterize it as such. But this ain’t Cosmo or Good Housekeeping. We are not “the masses” who can be jerked around at will because there are millions of us and some other poor schumck is always willing to fill the gap. This is FSM, and the atmosphere is (or rather was) more like an old neighborhood bar, with a feeling of intimacy and smallness that instantly made you feel comfortable. If they keep up this relentless drive to the bottom line to the exclusion of all else, FSM is going to lose what remains of that atmosphere, because they will have driven off the very people who created it. And when that happens, we all lose.
Bingo.
Good thing this isn’t the only magazine or forum that is out there, perish the thought… Business is business, and given that we can choose where to spend our money and where not to. That’s a message that will get through loud and clear. [:)]
hi guys it’s been a while
i must say that while i understand (the principle) of what your bringing out by not having it your not missing all that much. i trust info from you guys more than the reviews
the reviews are nothing special at all. think about it when you go to some of the online dealers(no names) and you look at a model it may have a review or three attached to it, check it out when was the last time you saw a fsm review attached to a model at one of those sights .
and those sights advert. in the mag too so as i say not missing much
That’s probably more due to copyright laws, than quality of reviews. Not missing much is cold comfort for those who no longer can access the reviews.
sorry Bill just a bad attempt to cheer you up [party]
but there is truth in what i say ALL the other places have better reviews
Very true, I rely on reviews from other sites which are far better, more comprehensive, include many photos of the sprues, decals, PE etc. and are better organized… in comparison the FSM reviews seem amateurish and just fluff, although I like the direction they’ve been heading into the past few issues. I’d list some of the great review sites that are out there, but the management here frowns upon talking about other websites in the modeling community.
As far as I’m concerned, the online only content isn’t really anything special [|)].