Has anyone else noticed a trend to many of the MR topics following previous Forum discussions, especially on many of the “Hot” topics? *
June MR, Modeling river/ water using resin
July MR, Make realistic track
And after many threads on bridge design/ construction the Aug MR, Modeling bridges.
Could be a coincidence, but if MR selects the material from viewing the forum content, KUDOs to them for a followup in print.
Yes, I think it’s useful.
And another point for “crowd-sourcing,” which some folks believe is the wave of the future in media. But if you consider the many “old media” platforms in the field of model railroading and the way they’ve always fed off each other in terms of what people find current and useful, I’d say that model railroading has been doing the “crowd-sourcing” thing for years before the term was even invented.
July MR, Make realistic track.
That’s funny…
Please read on.
Forty odd years ago I talked about modeling realistic track using C70 with weathering and painted ties and was thought a nut case.[sigh]
Now its a “hot topic” because it showed up on a forum?
I’ve notice a lot of topics is started after the topic subject showed up in MR.
I believe they also use the survey’s that they E-Mail to their subscribers. Just filled one out two days ago…
Cheers,
Frank
Remember there is a several month lead time on the magazine though, so if what we are talking about this week appears in next month’s issue - it’s just coincidence, or someone has access to an advanced copy and started a discussion on a topic that’s in there.
Those of us with digital subscriptions also get issues even sooner than the mail issue, usually - mine print issue normally comes in the last week of the month, my digital one in the middle of the month, so it’s possible for someone to have read the current issue and start a forum topic on an article they saw in there before many people have received the issue in question.
–Randy
MR articles are selected by the editors many months in advance due to publication deadlines and the writing and photography occurs months or years before that.
Post hoc, ergo propter hoc lives on! Subscribe long enough (48 years for me) and you will see the same list of topics on a fairly regular basis in MR – indeed the entire annual project layout format basically guarantees that benchwork, track, wiring, scenery including water, and structures will be covered annually.
Be a member of these forums long enough and the same is true - a certain list of regular topics is pretty predictable forum fodder, to the point where some worn out topics used to get locked pretty quickly when reborn. Based on pure sequence MR would have just as much basis for claiming that their articles came first and THEN the Forum discussion took place. And other magazines and other modeling forums pretty much chew the same cud on a regular basis as well.
And it is not shocking that those whose model railroad interests are served by MR find the Kalmbach forums to be similarly where they want to be. For detailed, lengthy and heated banter about sight glass placement on certain second generation EMD models you’d likely look elsewhere both for magazines and forum chat.
I would be surprised and even disappointed if the MR staff does not keep a finger on the pulse of the hobby by looking over the Forums but for water, track, bridges, and such to be discussed on the Forums and appear in the magazine – in whatever order – should be surprising to no one. Indeed if nothing else the staff should be reading these forums regularly to check out the superb modeling (and model photography) that some of the contributors provide gratis. I am surprised more of those contributors have not been approached to become MR authors. Maybe they have. I think I was seeing Bob Grech photos on this forum well before MR published any of his work, for example.
The one place where internet based discussion is freely acknowledged to