Letters page: send us your thoughts
|No good magazine is complete without a letters page, and we’re building one in to the first issue of Linux Voice. Of course, because it’s a brand new magazine, we don’t have any letters to print just yet (although your feedback so far has been awesome, thanks!). So if you’d like to have your musings printed in LV #1 – perhaps suggestions for the mag, free software discoveries, or rants about PulseAudio – then drop us a line at letters@linuxvoice.com.
9 Comments
Hum, I remember having a few posted in the early days of the other Linux magazine, but I imagine only because there weren't that many going in.
I apologise to Nick in retrospect for bombarding the early team with my rantings.
PS can you remember who was the first Letters editor for that magazine
PPS is there any particular thing you don't want people writing letters in, as I can see about 2000 submissions of "Thanks for setting up the Mag"
PPPS sorry I seem to be rambling again
Hey Secret Hamster,
Well, Nick Veitch was the editor for issue 1 of Linux Format. And Nick Merritt edited Linux Answers, the pilot issue, before that.
We're open to all letters, providing that they're reasonably short (like, not more than 200 words), and aren't just full of XML code or something
Not more than 200 words….hmm. I kinda suspected my little novella might get filtered out for some reason
Hi,
is there really a need for a letters page in a time, where every good magazine has its comments section, podcast, newsletter, blog, etc. on the internet?
I would give the space a little bit a different direction. Do not ask people to send you in some random ranting but ask explicit questions in your articles and print "Best answers" on that page.
E.g. "… albeit we tried hard, we never could start Foo out of Bar. If you readers have an idea how to do that please leave a online comment or mail us at….."
From the 1000 entries you choice the best fitting one (Or compile the best answers into a single one).
E.g. Answer: "You simply have to press the obvious Alt-Ctrl-Shit-Meta-Tilde and Space, read in the PID number of the process and type in down in binar form and then you can start Foo directly from Bar… so easy everyone should know by now."
Somehow like a stackexchange on paper.
You could even let people vote the best answer and print it down for all those who like to learn and read from old dead trees
I'm not so sure. A magazine is not the internet: I think a letters' page helps give a publication it's character and identity. An interesting selection of diverse letters along with responses, personally, I always find a good read. You can always have a separate technical Q&A section.
In practical terms a letters page is useful space filler, and lends interactivity between a magazine's readership and its writers. Personaly though I think Linux voice I would suggests needsto set itself apart from other Linux magazines. An idea that has been mentioned before is a personal ads column…you know meet up with a new geeky partner, sell your old LXF magazines, offer data recovery or other discreet services…possibilities = endless
What about have space for a reader article in which (guess what) an article written by a reader is published. Obviously the editors would choose an article written to an appropriate standard from those submitted. This would give the readers an insight into other readers opinions, tips etc and would also give the author of any published article some experience in writing for a popular magazine.
Great to have a letters page
We all need to encourage new users otherwise we are only self-gratifiying.
Many Veteran Linux Users (and more recent converts) who have websites of their own could, as well as adverts in a sidebar, supply a link to pages:
Explaining how easy Linux is to use, how fast it is on older machines.
Suggest that look alike versions are easily available.
Explain that Operating Systems and Software Packages are nothing more than tools to do get things done.
That help people choose a distro and which version would be good for their hardware.
For a printable Linux Flyer promotion page (for converts to pass on the message to others in their area) – marketing managers could help with design here.
For a How To for setting up a local User Group (initially web based and then community hall or other not for profit building).
That explain how to prepare their own installable distro of choice on DVD, USB etc.
Where a disc can be bought for a sum to cover expenses, postage and a chance to donate (would like to know the legalities of this one for me to do) – this one is for those who live in areas where downloads take hours.
Surely attracting more users in the ways above will not dig into development budgets, it may even increase donations.
If all Linux users who have websites could do at least three of the above it should surely help with the growth of new users.
Attracting more Linux users must be the goal, no point in creation unless appreciated.
Self gratification is good for some … but what is the point?
Hi there, just thought I would drop you a line about linux mint. I bought a panasonic toughbook cf-18 mark 4 a month or two ago knowing that the touch screen did not work. But hey there I play around with my computers etc. Linux Mint 16 has bought back the touch screen right from the box. I thought that was pretty cool. Bit fiddely to get up and running but there you go. This is the code that was generated.
–> Making the calibration permanent <–
copy the snippet below into '/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-calibration.conf'
Section "InputClass"
Identifier "calibration"
MatchProduct "LBPS/2 Fujitsu Lifebook TouchScreen"
Option "Calibration" "132 908 51 918"
EndSection
Vic