============================================================================== C-Scene Issue #2 Letters to the editor ==============================================================================
Its a relatively new section so I'll basically take some time in this issue to explain how it works, and what you have to do to get your letter published and likewise answered.
Letters to the editor is a place where you can have your voice heard and your opinions. The way to submit a letter to the editor is to mail us at cscene@mindless.com with the following criteria:
Letters for the editor are a way to have your voice heard and scince this is true youll have to follow a few simple rules (They all cry CENSORSHIP!!!). The rules are outlined as follows:
No flaming any particular person, or company, or magazine etc. Try to keep your letters constructive. No foul language. No illegal activity such as libel.
In addition the letters to the editor are not allowed to be shameless plugs (or not shameless for that matter) for your own software. This holds true for everything except one single stipulation, and that is that the source and binary for the software fall under the Gnu General Public Licence (See GPL.DOC).
The reason for the above is we are a free magazine but we arent going to be walked all over as free advertising while providing a service that may be quite valuable for you.
Any letters to the editor not following the above criteria will not be published.
And now, for our letters to the editor...
George Foot george.foot@merton.oxford.ac.uk gfoot on IRC Subject: CScene Suggestions Hi I started thinking about C Scene, and had a few thoughts about improving it. As I started typing them, a lot more came up, so I typed them too. So here they are: 1) Conversions to other formats (HTML, ASCII, PS, Texinfo, TeX, etc). Most of this could be automated, after a little editing, and it would ensure that all articles are formatted in the same way no matter who wrote them. 2) Requests section. Ask readers for reqests, then publish a list each issue, inviting other readers to get in touch with you and write some of the requested articles. This would save all that bother about people deciding what to write about, and would ensure that C Scene is catering for its readers' needs. 3) Regular columns. Beginners' help pages, intermediate/advanced users' tips (reader-contributed), tools introductions (like the GNU Make article im doing now), perhaps sections for various compilers if appropriate, sections for programming systems (like the MFC sockets tute, for example), and so on. Go the whole hog, make it big. The first issue had ten articles and could be read pretty quickly; it would be nice if an issue could keep people happy until the next one came out :) 4) Persuade readers to give feedback - get more of an idea who is reading it, what systems/compilers they are using, what they like or don't like about C Scene, and what they'd like to see in the future. Maybe a questionaire? 5) Perhaps make a links page to other useful sites and sources of information. Put a link to the main homepage there too, so if people bookmark the links page for its own sake they are reminded where it came from, and encouraged to catch up on the latest issue(s) they have missed. 6) Make an index to topics covered in previous issues, so that people can easily see which issue to look in for a specific topic. 7) Add a preview section, saying a few things which will probably appear in the next issue. 8) Don't miss any more deadlines! :) And make the issues come out regularly (e.g. monthly or fortnightly). 9) Was C Scene advertised on any newsgroups? Perhaps doing so in a non-commercial way would bring in more readers, and among them more potential contributors. 10) Perhaps an announcements section would be good, allowing readers to announce new releases of their creations, and other things? 11) Make the contents page more descriptive; put a short summary after each article's entry to add more interest to the article. The titles alone are rather dry; just putting a descriptive sentence after each would help, like "Brent York explores the fundamentals of SVGAlib" or "(someone) examines C coding style" I don't think most of these would be much trouble to do; naturally finding authors and writing articles is more important :) #C you later perhaps
The multiple submission format problem is being looked into, we
should have the submission rules revised by next issue. Its an extremely
good idea.
A request page is an excellent idea, however we didn't have time
to implement it in this issue, the next issue its definately a must have.
This CScene is a bit bigger with a bit more to chew on, but we
agree totally with you. Unfortunately however we can only put in what people
contribute. Segregation of sections wont come until such time as we start
getting a lot more contributions to CScene. So I guess the idea is for
everyone to contribute
A letters to the editor column is one that we implemented this
issue, we saw the need for it, as did you =}.
An author may put in links in thier articles at thier dscression,
with some limitations regarding to advertising of course. Obviously
however we have our hands full producing the magazine (let alone
authoring for it) and dont have time to reasearch all the possible data
we can find for our authors articles. Its unfortunate but its true.
However like I said we dont discourage links.
An index of topics wont be in this issue and wasnt in the last.
However it should be there in 3, and we might possibly update 2 and one
after released, we are just so pressed for time. (Man are we off the ball
or what?)
Unfortunately we cant have a preview section unless the authors
contribute their articles for the next issue BEFORE the current issue
goes out. Either that or the author guarantees the submission of an
article on a topic for the next issue before the current issue goes out.
We dont tell the authors what to write on, they write on what they know
or what they wish to write on. Above and beong that if the authors can't
give a guarantee that they'll do the article for the next issue, and we
say its going to be there, we will endup with some very irate readers.
Perhaps if our authors could give us articles ahead of time, or
could give us a guarantee of an article topic we could do this. (And it
would save us alot of trouble too ;})
Unfortunately we missed this deadline due to some things beyond
anyones control. Its no ones fault really (well sept for the twit that
dropped my puter). You see I had a harddrive crash and I lost all of
CScene2 when it was almost done. Then in a huge mess and scramble
everyone forgot where their contributed articles were. Moreover we needed
more contributions and people seemed reluctant to contribute.
So after alot of rewriting, and searching, we came up with CScene2
and a whole lot more articles than we had. We will do our best in the
future to keep this from happening and we apologise to any readers to
whom we may have caused an inconvenience.
We will definately take the "advertising on the internet" suggestion to
heart. Damn gfoot join the CScene team wouldja? ;}.
Advertising new releases of someones software creation is a
touchy subject. The problem is that free advertising gets out of hand
quickly. Perhaps we could advertise for a fee considing we are giving
our free time to make the publication, and we give alot of it. All the
while we would keep the publication free to read for the readers.
As for advertising GPL software, it can be done in the letters to
the editor column.
More description in our contents is a must, but unfortunately we
are pressed for time. Perhaps we will update CS1 and CS2 when we get the
time after the release.
We agree totally that our articles are important, but so are our
readers. We can write all the articles we want, but if our readers aren't
happy we dont get read and its a waste of our time and thiers. All in all
its not a very enlightening experience for anyone.
And yes, we will #C you soon, and for those of you who dont know
#C is a good irc channel for people who code with C and C++, or want to
learn, and sometimes we even help people!.
You can come there for friendly chat and to hang out with people like
yourself, but also come there to learn.
Thank you to anyone who contributed in this CScene and/or previous
CScenes, we appreciate your views and outlooks. Comments and suggestions
are ALWAYS welcome.
Enjoy your reading.
The Dragon
(Brent York)
Editor, CScene magazine
Coder for Nuclear Winter Entertainment
Coder for Spheringer technologies.
Coder for Henry and York Development
Kuru
(Moe Elzubeir)
Editor, CScene magazine