80-Bus News

Editorial

Spelling

From time to time people write in and complain about the spelling mistooks in the mag. Well I’m sorry if they bother you, perhaps you would like to volunteer to do the proof-reading? Even if I do say it myself (as I am sure that no one else will) my own spelling is pretty good. It’s just that on the computer screen it is easy to miss various errors, the resulting print out goes to the printers, the finished magazine comes back, I open up a copy to see what it looks like, and lo and behold the first page that I look at has an error staring at me. This could probably be solved by me re-reading everything a couple of times after I’ve printed it out, but what, with a more-than-full-time job to hold down, a small amount of socialising to keep me sane, a house to run, these magazines to produce, and still only 24 hours in a day .... well, let’s just say that a few spelling mistooks here and there are right at the bottom of my priority list, and I hope yours too. (You can now put your hankies away!)

Disks not tapes

What would help a lot would be if those of you with disk systems who submit articles could send them in on disk. I’m not sure why, but some articles about disk related topics, and thus obviously from disk system owners, arrive on cassette (and sometimes just on paper!). Now I recognise that cassettes (and paper) are cheaper than disks, but I do send disks back, honest! And it is much easier to read a disk than it is to find a cassette recorder, a lead, a program that will read the particular tape format being submitted, etc, etc. And as for having to type the whole lot in from scratch… So please, if you are sending in an article and can send it in on disk, in virtually any format or size, then please do so. It makes life so much easier, and improves the chances of the mags. being out on time.

Bulletin Boards

In an article in this issue Dave Hunt mentions the possibility of a telephone bulletin board being set up by a dealer. Well one has been set up since he wrote the article. Try ____-______ between 5.30 pm and 9 am, 300 baud.

Reading the small print

A little while ago I tried an experiment with small print with a view to reducing our increasing costs, and asked for your reaction to this. (See Vol. 3, Issue 3, pages 31-33.) Well a number of people have kindly responded. Some said that they thought that it was fine, but the majority wondered whether I was being paid by some opticians” society! The reaction, therefore, was not favourable, and many said that they would rather see an increase in subscriptions than see the magazine reduced to this level (pun intended!). As the price of the mag. has never changed since it started three years ago this seems quite reasonable to me! Another reaction was that some people would prefer to see the magazine appearing regularly, even if this meant less frequently, and that the size could be increased so that the overall quantity of material per annum remained constant. This would have the advantage of reducing postage cost (fewer magazines) and printing costs (fewer larger magazines are cheaper to print than more smaller ones).

I am therefore considering a combination of all of these comments, and you will see the first signs of the new format, whatever that may be, with the arrival of the first 1985 issue. (Hands up whoever added “in 1987”.)