Rayjsj Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Been reading and buying MMM since early 2003, still have most of them. have noticed a big 'Dumbing Down' in the last 2 or 3 years. more adverts for stuff which are Nothing to do with Touring or motorhomes, a LOT of Pushing 'Premier Sites' most of which i would never set a wheel in, far too busy and noisy. A lot less technical information, (they ALL seem to write for PMotorhome now ?). No 'So many roads', a big loss. Now takes me 30 mins to read, NOT good value for £4.00. Prefered when the 'Jago's' were the editors. now just a 'Comic'. Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikemelson Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Rayjsj - 2013-03-31 12:46 PM Been reading and buying MMM since early 2003, still have most of them. have noticed a big 'Dumbing Down' in the last 2 or 3 years. more adverts for stuff which are Nothing to do with Touring or motorhomes, a LOT of Pushing 'Premier Sites' most of which i would never set a wheel in, far too busy and noisy. A lot less technical information, (they ALL seem to write for PMotorhome now ?). No 'So many roads', a big loss. Now takes me 30 mins to read, NOT good value for £4.00. Prefered when the 'Jago's' were the editors. now just a 'Comic'. Ray Hear, Hear! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Dave Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Rayjsj - 2013-03-31 12:46 PM Been reading and buying MMM since early 2003, still have most of them. have noticed a big 'Dumbing Down' in the last 2 or 3 years. more adverts for stuff which are Nothing to do with Touring or motorhomes, a LOT of Pushing 'Premier Sites' most of which i would never set a wheel in, far too busy and noisy. A lot less technical information, (they ALL seem to write for PMotorhome now ?). No 'So many roads', a big loss. Now takes me 30 mins to read, NOT good value for £4.00. Prefered when the 'Jago's' were the editors. now just a 'Comic'. Ray Its quite true that these career journalists are more interested in using long words and rhyming titles to the articles than having anything meaningful to say after all they are probably not motor-homers or are but only for the time they are employed by the magazine. And of course they cant put too much technical info in because if you decide to do it yourself and sever a limb whilst doing some banal job they think you will sue them. I do wonder when free papers can fund themselves entirely from advertising why the magazine is so expensive as its mostly adverts perhaps if it went from the glossy magazine format it is now to a newspaper type publication it could be cheaper and thus sell more copies. I really cant justify buying the magazine as you can get all the information you might need online. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gocro Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 It's become more of a life-style magazine now, not that it stops me buying a copy now and then, I love the feel of a brand new magazine. I originally bought it for the reviews and technical articles, which have become banal, my wife likes it more as the letters and travel articles have increased. Even so, you are biting the hand that feeds as the provider of this site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 gocro - 2013-03-31 2:57 PM It's become more of a life-style magazine now, not that it stops me buying a copy now and then, I love the feel of a brand new magazine. I originally bought it for the reviews and technical articles, which have become banal, my wife likes it more as the letters and travel articles have increased. Even so, you are biting the hand that feeds as the provider of this site. There's some irony there, with talk of bites and hand that feeds with your avatar :D :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhorsf Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 I wonder if the editor actually reads the forum and realises just how bad things are for the MMM they must be losing readers at a large rate due to the amount of rubbish in the mag Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 jhorsf - 2013-03-31 7:15 PM I wonder if the editor actually reads the forum and realises just how bad things are for the MMM they must be losing readers at a large rate due to the amount of rubbish in the mag Yes he does, and has responded to queries/questions quite a few times. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 gocro - 2013-03-31 2:57 PM It's become more of a life-style magazine now, not that it stops me buying a copy now and then, I love the feel of a brand new magazine. I originally bought it for the reviews and technical articles, which have become banal, my wife likes it more as the letters and travel articles have increased. Even so, you are biting the hand that feeds as the provider of this site. Very true, but if the magazine continues in its current format, it would appear that it won't be ABLE to support itself, never mind this forum anyway. 8-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malc d Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Mel B - 2013-03-31 8:32 PM Very true, but if the magazine continues in its current format, it would appear that it won't be ABLE to support itself, never mind this forum anyway. 8-) It seems that a few people on the forum are not happy with the " current format " - but we don't / can't know how many other readers are dissatisfied. :-| Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Dave Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Mel B - 2013-03-31 8:31 PM jhorsf - 2013-03-31 7:15 PM I wonder if the editor actually reads the forum and realises just how bad things are for the MMM they must be losing readers at a large rate due to the amount of rubbish in the mag Yes he does, and has responded to queries/questions quite a few times. :-) Yes that's true Mel but only during office hours, like i said they are career journalists not like the old days when the staff were true enthusiasts. If anyone on the staff had read this thread during the holidays a response would have been forthcoming i'm sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wills Wagon Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 We raised this issue last year because we noticed that MMM was becoming boring. Some problems: 1. Having themed issues which mean if you are not interested in the theme of the month then hard luck. Obvious from the start this was going to be a problem. 2. Emphasis on Premier Parks - the person in charge of sites has a major interest. 3. Removal of Barry Crawshaw and Andrew Robson from the overseas/UK editorial team. They ensured a good spread of interesting articles all year round. 4. Andy Stotherts demise to my mind was good. I don't like to read disparaging remarks about partners even if it is in jest. The only good thing about his stuff was the superb photography. 5. While Practical Motorhome has a refreshing approach the quality of writing and accuracy leaves much to be desired. 6. Adverts are a fact of life now. Take out cruise adverts from daily/Sunday papers and there wouldn't be much left! 7. If you subscribe to MMM it costs less than £3 a quarter and is delivered to your door so take out a subscription and you will save £12 a year from newsagent's charges. 8. I always find it interesting to read very strong views about subscriptions to the two main clubs and MMM when lots of the moaners have expensive vans. Getting a good deal when changing vans can provide a lot of cash for subscriptions. Often van quotes can vary by several thousand pounds, so getting a good deal can buy a lot of MMM's. I for one will continue with my MMM subscription but will continue to bash the editorial team until they get it right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawcara Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 I think adverts are part of life these days, you can't travel through a town centre without being bombarded. Adverts are useful to some. I miss the motorhome reviews where one model is compared to another. If you read a review of a van and there is an advert related to it, where is the problem. On the point of letters, I used to like the CC mag as it had some amusing ones, but they seem to be editing it for quality now so it just goes into the recycling. :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leake Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 If you think about it the advertisers would not bother to advertise if they were not getting a return on their advert so those adverts must be proving to be useful to some readers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Not enough pouffe and pelmet adverts to my mind :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 pelmetman - 2013-04-01 7:08 PM Not enough pouffe and pelmet adverts to my mind :D No good advertising them if your always on here instead of making and selling them though eh. >:-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 1footinthegrave - 2013-04-01 7:14 PM pelmetman - 2013-04-01 7:08 PM Not enough pouffe and pelmet adverts to my mind :D No good advertising them if your always on here instead of making and selling them though eh. >:-) I don't make pouffes anymore Mike *-)..............I have a man that does :D............made one last week for me so that's another 100 squid in the pork pie fund :D...........just need to sell one every week without paying for advertising :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myshell Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Mel B - 2013-03-30 10:54 PM BGD - 2013-03-30 9:32 PM The digital and on-line age is the death-knell of such old fashioned publications. Progress is progress; ignore it at a your peril. I find I can get much better, more accurate, and far more up-to-date information on any motor-homing topic that I want to find out about via websites and on-line forums. For no cost (other than my fixed-fee internet connection, which I have for all sorts of other reason....) Why on Earth anyone still pays 4 quid a month in this era for such old fashioned, out-of-date, advert-infested, paper-based, magazines beats me. Each to their own I guess. Not everyone wants to 'read' off a laptop, tablet etc, some actually prefer to have 'paper' in their hands. Even the invention of e-books such as Kindle, Nook etc hasn't converted everyone to use them in preference to buying books and newspapers. Old fashioned paper still has some very important roles to play in modern day living. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Dave Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 I would have thought some sort of response from the MMM staff or the editor would have been forthcoming by now because some of the comments have been quite thought provoking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malc d Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 Dr Dave - 2013-04-04 7:04 PM I would have thought some sort of response from the MMM staff or the editor would have been forthcoming by now because some of the comments have been quite thought provoking. There has been a response from Daniel the editor - can't remember where I saw it at the moment. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike B. Posted April 4, 2013 Author Share Posted April 4, 2013 There has been a response- Lucy Cranfield has posted the magazine is on sale today with a review of 91 sites for you and a Special about visiting Scotland-and campsites! She also mentions there are some adverts for campervans from £4k I've cancelled my subscription-I'll renew it when the content improves Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 Well, I've asked hubby to cancel my subscription too ... I've been a subscriber for yonks but seeing as I haven't read them for the last 6 months (they're still sitting in the bedroom waiting to be looked at) it seems daft to keep getting them. If I feel the need to get them again I'll re-subscribe. :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 I'm cancelling mine too, takes minutes rather than days to read these days and the articles keep repeating. Not worth reading without Andy's travel articles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Dave Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 We never had a subscription however we used to buy one every month in fact we used to look forward to the publication date, however now we never even think about it. The thing is we cant seem to relate to the authors or there submissions and the fact you pay premium prices to buy a publication full (almost) of adverts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel the editor Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 Thanks for your comments again everybody. Yes of course I view the threads on the forum. I would be a fool not to. I find the feedback very worthwhile on the whole. I haven't replied to this thread until now simply because I have addressed the main point in several other threads, but for those that missed them: We work to a strict industry standard on the ratio of advertising to editorial in MMM. We never exceed that ratio. Ever. In the last survey, readers told us they were on the whole very happy with the level of adverts and that many actually enjoyed reading them and indeed a significant number had bought directly from an advert in MMM. I take on board what the five or six people on here have said. But I have also to think about the other 35,000 buyers of MMM who don't object to seeing adverts in the magazine, and actually like to see them. But thanks again for the comments, have a good weekend Daniel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.