On Tue, January 13, 2009 6:52 pm, Rony said:

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Nov 2008 LFY worth collecting. Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:27:12 +0530 From: Rony gnulinuxist@gmail.com To: GNU/Linux Users Group, Mumbai, India linuxers@mm.glug-bom.org

"Hello All,

This month's LFY has the Mandriva 2009 distro DVD plus another DVD that has more than 200 Free Software for Windows. The magazine too has some nice articles. I liked the one that explains GRUB in detail. The DVD packaging is good. LFY's getting more and more interesting."

--

This is the message above that was taken from this list and printed. The matter in LFY reads as quoted below.

"Apart from the well packaged DVD, this month's LFY has some nice articles. I liked the one that explains GRUB in detail. The DVD packaging is good. LFY is getting more and more interesting." --Rony on ILUG-Bombay mailing list.

Hmm, seems like the quote was rewritten in parts by the edit desk. Thanks for brining it into my notice; will give the copy desk instructions on not to mangle with text apart from proofing it, when it's a feedback reproduced from a mailing list. FYI: we ask for permission to publish a feeback when we directly receive it by e-mail and also mention which parts we'd wish to reproduce.

The message that talks about complaints is a month earlier and goes

"Hello, It appears that Linux for You has finally heeded to complaints and come up with a better packaged media in their magazines. This month's issue has 7 distro ISOs that one can try out. It would be more simpler to simply install virtualbox from your repos and boot the ISOs live into the virtual window. A cheaper, easier and environment friendly way to explore different desktop environments, instead of burning 7 CDs. "

So message wise, I feel LFY has quoted almost similarly. They simply picked out the best one that projected their image well.

So was the second msg also published in the letters' section? If we have missed it, shame on us... looks like a very positive feedback to me at least. Or was this one truncated? The essence of the msg is basically the following part which talks about VirtualBox: "It would be more simpler to simply install virtualbox from your repos and boot the ISOs live into the virtual window. A cheaper, easier and environment friendly way to explore different desktop environments, instead of burning 7 CDs." I fail to find anything negative you've said that would hurt our image at all.

Rony, we welcome any feedback where ever there's a scope of improvement. In fact, you can write to us directly at lfyedit[AT]efyindia[DOT]com if you have any grievances as well. If you only talk about it in mailing lists, changes are (note that I said, chances are) our editorial may miss it. It's a very small team, and we're are buried by whole lot of assignments. So, typically I check the mailing lists depending on the subjects that I understand or find interesting, and only contribute if I understand the subject. Typically, I wouldn't even have time to check the mailing lists I subscribe to when the deadline is up on me. So how can I track what a reader (I hope its okay if I call you a reader) wants or expects unless we're told directly, or pointed to a discussion that's on.

Thanks for your comments and finally bringing the points to my notice.

Best, Atanu

On Wed, January 14, 2009 8:23 pm, Rony said:

Atanu Datta wrote:

...

So was the second msg also published in the letters' section? If we have missed it, shame on us... looks like a very positive feedback to me at least. Or was this one truncated? The essence of the msg is basically the following part which talks about VirtualBox: "It would be more simpler to simply install virtualbox from your repos and boot the ISOs live into the virtual window. A cheaper, easier and environment friendly way to explore different desktop environments, instead of burning 7 CDs." I fail to find anything negative you've said that would hurt our image at all.

The first sentence mentions "It appears that Linux for You has finally heeded to complaints and......." This indicates a problem existed. My earlier mails to the list have also been critical of LFY's media quality, to the extent that I had once suggested boycotting buying LFY.

The first sentence is what makes it a positive feedback -- meaning something has changed for better according to a reader. The additional virtual box bit gives others somewhat useful info.

Here is my message dated Tuesday 15 January 2008 "We will have to send it to them every month. Who has time to do all this. They have problems in two areas. Quality of the media itself and its packaging inside the magazine that can be tampered with. A mass boycott will work better than mass mailing. "

None of this was ever printed.

Like I said, maybe we have missed it. You can simultaneously mail the content to us also. It certainly wouldn't take too much of your time. Think about it this way: if we don't respond to your complaint, then it gives you more *masalaa* to add to your mails here. So, it's a win-win for you anyhow.

And frankly, if you have such reservations on reproducing your feedback from the mailing lists, then we won't do it. Savvy?

...

Rony, we welcome any feedback where ever there's a scope of improvement. In fact, you can write to us directly at lfyedit[AT]efyindia[DOT]com if you have any grievances as well. If you only talk about it in mailing lists, changes are (note that I said, chances are) our editorial may miss it. It's a very small team, and we're are buried by whole lot of assignments.

The mails were not addressed to LFY as they were already aware of their problems. Anyway hopefully things will improve in future.

Hmmm...

Best, Atanu