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Old 01-01-2013, 03:52   #46
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Re: Opinions on "Practical Sailor" Magazine?

"History will be kind to me for I intend to write it" - Winston Churchill

And he did. and it was! - despite being a war monger whose whole purpose in life was dedicated to the greater glory of Churchill (a bit chippy about his accomplished ancestors) - who led the British Empire into defeat during WWII.........defeat to the Americans .

Wouldn't surprise me if he was an American agent.......which would kinda explain how Britain turned into a US vassel state after WWII - bit hard to admit that yer national hero was a US quisling .

Not a fan .

Oh, and never read Practical Sailor .
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Old 01-01-2013, 04:41   #47
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Re: Opinions on "Practical Sailor" Magazine?

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"History will be kind to me for I intend to write it" - Winston Churchill

And he did. and it was! - despite being a war monger whose whole purpose in life was dedicated to the greater glory of Churchill (a bit chippy about his accomplished ancestors) - who led the British Empire into defeat during WWII.........defeat to the Americans .

Wouldn't surprise me if he was an American agent.......which would kinda explain how Britain turned into a US vassel state after WWII - bit hard to admit that yer national hero was a US quisling .
I remember reading that Churchill thought that the US's entry in to WWI was actually one of the worst things that happened to Europe (and he has a point there). So I don't think he was that pro US...
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Old 01-01-2013, 04:46   #48
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Re: Opinions on "Practical Sailor" Magazine?

what is the term ...................................... oh yeah it is called thread drift

It occurrred to me that my free copy of PS the other day wasn't even bathroom reading, meanwhile because it is witer I renewed my expired subsrciption to Cruiser's World because it at least is bathroom reading.
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Old 01-01-2013, 05:03   #49
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Re: Opinions on "Practical Sailor" Magazine?

Winston Churchill was the editor of Practical Sailor ??--and DOJ is his nephew !!

Well!!-I'll be damned--you learn something new every day on CF--and its only Jan 1.

Oh yeah!!--I like Good Old Boat.
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Old 01-01-2013, 05:17   #50
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Hmmm so the question to ask: "Is Practical Sailor practical for the practical sailor?"

Some folks are not too pleased with the magazine and have expressed their opinions.

I hope the folks at Practical Sailor have an opportunity to read this thread and consider the opinions herein -- in an attempt to make changes. By doing so, the magazine has an opportunity to change the perspective of readers to a more favorable perspective.

Side note: the digital world has financially affected all paper print mediums. Many companies had to change their delivery system, or risk going out of business. There may be a day when PS no longer would be available on paper.
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Old 01-01-2013, 05:27   #51
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Re: Opinions on "Practical Sailor" Magazine?

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what is the term ...................................... oh yeah it is called thread drift

It occurrred to me that my free copy of PS the other day wasn't even bathroom reading, meanwhile because it is witer I renewed my expired subsrciption to Cruiser's World because it at least is bathroom reading.
I think your dead wrong here about PS Don , there is no finer use or place to keep this Rag.. in the toilet.. at least it can be recycled.. just tear out one page at a time..as needed
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Old 01-01-2013, 05:28   #52
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Re: Opinions on "Practical Sailor" magazine?

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Thinwater just about nails it. As a contributor to some of the magazines, particularly ON recently, I can confirm that just as the industry took a huge financial dive in recent years, so did advertising sales. Advertising has always been the bulk of the revenue for most consumer magazines, ...
I hear this often, that advertising pays for the bulk of the costs of producing a magazine, and that the cover/subscription price barely covers printing and distribution.
But this would lead me to thinking that the magazines thus should embrace the internet in stead of being afraid of it. Distributing something on the internet is basically free compared to printing and mailing. And by providing the content for free you ought to be able to get quite nice rates from your advertisers, as you'll have a bigger audience than a print only magazine can have.
There is one Dutch language sailing magazine I "subscribe" too. It's free, only gets distributed by email, and it does contain quite interesting articles. The people producing it also seem to get that publishing for the internet is different. The layout is optimised for reading on a screen, and links in the articles actually are clickable.
That is, I think the future of publishing.
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Old 01-01-2013, 05:35   #53
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Re: Opinions on "Practical Sailor" magazine?

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The people producing it also seem to get that publishing for the internet is different. The layout is optimised for reading on a screen, and links in the articles actually are clickable.
That is, I think the future of publishing.

That would be a big plus for all the newspaper and magazines to learn. I hate reading articles from their on-line version that is basically a PDF of the print version that have those thin columns so you have to go up and down on your screen!
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Old 01-01-2013, 05:38   #54
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Re: Opinions on "Practical Sailor" Magazine?

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I think your dead wrong here about PS Don , there is no finer use or place to keep this Rag.. in the toilet.. at least it can be recycled.. just tear out one page at a time..as needed
Well this is the final stake in the PS heart for me then. The paper is not worth using to wipe my a** with and I wouldn't feel it would be wize to try to flush it down a head or toilet. Beside the $7.50 cover would buy a lot more good quality TP.

Sorry for being so harsh just the way I see it!
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Old 01-01-2013, 05:50   #55
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Re: Opinions on "Practical Sailor" Magazine?

Gave up on it years back when I was shopping for liferafts. After much research and consulting purchased a Viking which got bad reviews from ps.
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Old 01-01-2013, 06:04   #56
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Re: Opinions on "Practical Sailor" Magazine?

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Well this is the final stake in the PS heart for me then. The paper is not worth using to wipe my a** with and I wouldn't feel it would be wize to try to flush it down a head or toilet. Beside the $7.50 cover would buy a lot more good quality TP.

Sorry for being so harsh just the way I see it!
im with you there !!
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Old 01-01-2013, 06:18   #57
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Re: Opinions on "Practical Sailor" magazine?

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There wasn't a single article that really provided any info that I could not have found free online if I were interested in that topic. Maybe the gas tank vent filter would have been of some interest if I had a gas powered boat.
Well, I feel better about that, as that was mine; they cut it for length and the rest will be in a 1-year follow up. Regarding diesel, give it a second read; they worked quite well on diesel as well, preventing hazing we saw on unprotected tanks. Certainly enough value over the life of the unit. And if such a thing saves one engine problem or one tank problem, what was the cost of the subscription to that? I started doing the research for them to solve real world problems of my own; gasoline separation, wire corrosion, holding tank odors (chemicals, hoses, vent filters) and fuel system corrosion. It turns out they were interested in my write-ups.

Upcoming studies include chemicals vs joker valves and dehumidification. Also this tickler on propylene glycol for winterizing and why it is a often a bad idea.
Sail Delmarva: It's Always the Joker

and I would LOVE some feedback on this:
http://sail-delmarva.blogspot.com/20...m-that-is.html


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As for the insinuation by one poster about bribes, that speaks of his character; I don't think that way, perhaps he does.
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Old 01-01-2013, 07:51   #58
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Re: Opinions on "Practical Sailor" magazine?

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I cancelled my subscription a few years ago after they reduced the number of issues per year, made the pages glossy color eye candy, increased the ratio of fluff to hard research, and kept increasing the price. I haven't really missed it since. If there's some really useful review that you need, I think you can buy the individual articles without a subscription.
I've seen this time and time again. First, passionate zealots start the printing of a little newsletter or magazine - often times using cheap matte stock, or even #50 publisher's grade stuff ...

Then, the magazine becomes popular, and develops more than just a "cult" following. Inevitably, a big publishing house buys the mag, strips out half the articles, and replaces them with right column advertising eye sores. I'm not sure if that's the case with Practical Sailor, since I don't subscribe ... but several of my other favorites have gone down the commercial road ...

I suppose that's the sort of thing that could open up an opportunity for another startup ...
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Old 01-01-2013, 08:04   #59
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Re: Opinions on "Practical Sailor" Magazine?

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And by providing the content for free you ought to be able to get quite nice rates from your advertisers, as you'll have a bigger audience than a print only magazine can have.
Wrong! Internet advertising only commands a small fraction of the price of print advertising in marine mags. Advertisers just are not willing to pay much for online only ads. The magazines mainly use online advertising as an incentive to place a print ad for big bucks. The online eyeballs are very fleeting, while someone willing to subscribe to a paper magazine, getting it every month, is considered to be a much more likely prospect for whatever it is you're advertising. Also, the major demographic of cruising sailors is aged well over 50--approaching 60 for the average, has a lot of money (I know, not you), and is used to reading stuff in print. They often work all day on computers and have no desire to go home and relax on the computer. The magazines also go to the boat, sit in the bathroom or head, get read by other family members, etc. Print is still where the few remaining advertising dollars are. You may disagree in your own life, and I do believe that eventually print will mostly go away, but buttonhole any advertising sales rep and they till you this is the way it is at this moment in time.
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Old 01-01-2013, 08:12   #60
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Practical Sailor has been a favorite magazine, but I have lost confidence in their "independent" testing after their positive review of the Raymarine e7 chart plotter. In the real world it won't function reliably in salt spray (when things get rough at sea) - the touch won't work when wet and the toggle switch gets stuck repeatedly. I have used two different units with the consistently bad results. They apparently tested it in a clean, dry environment and basically recapped the Raymarine marketing brochures.

I'm sure they don't want the big manufacturers to cut them off. So I don't know that I'll renew.
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