Monday 4 August 2008

Quality criticism from a reader

No-one enjoys being criticised, but this email from a reader made me smile:

After years of not buying your magazine, i decided to buy one to see if it had improved but am i sorry to say not only are you using ads as articles (mitsubishi outlander) but you have someone telling people how to hold a knife on page 55 come off it if someone needs a knife to do a certain job we can all work out the best way to hold it why does mr marchington belive we need to be told how to hold a knife. Maybe nxt week he can tell us which end of a gun to point at the target, how to walk across a field, maybe how to wipe your a**e after a s**t.

Funny thing is, I've had more positive comments on that knife article than any other. You can't please everyone!

1 comment:

Holly Heyser said...

Well, quality's the word, isn't it? As a longtime newspaper reporter and editor, I watched reader comments (calls, emails, letters) go straight downhill on this side of the pond with the rise in popularity of shows like Jerry Springer and the Sunday morning political shout shows.

I usually disarm the buggers by responding to them civilly and engaging them in conversation. When they realize there's a human on the receiving end of their bile, they start thinking twice about their words.