Ahh, isn’t it great to produce something and then have people jumping up and down on it as if it was all crap. Yes, I’m referring to the 8a yearbook 2007. I don’t mean to say that it’s bad to criticize but sometimes I think that the focus should lie elsewhere. It would be nice if critique generally started with: “This is good work man! Props! Perhaps next year you can try this and that to improve the format? What do you think?” Already this year we have gotten people say the book is ugly and that we should go into hiding. I address some of the critique below:
The colour is awful
The colour was chosen to sync the back cover (the Petzl ad) so that when you open up the whole book cover to cover they match. We did not aim to copy the French or Spanish army pamphlets and we are sorry that people see it this way. I thought the big 8a symbol on the front and the naked women on the back would blur the army look, or perhaps this is a trick used by many armies to lure young people into battle?
The translations are really bad
I don’t think they are. I know Cedric and Ignacio worked their ass of trying to translate the very difficult English climbing lingo into decent French and Spanish. And I got to say that being able to offer the yearbook in three languages already in the second year is fucking awesome. Most magazines that have been around forever have never done this!
The English is badly edited:
Well, this is my responsibility. I can only say that the way English is spoken and written differs and some of the comments on this subject are just wrong. The language is generally of high quality throughout the book. There will always be some mistakes but the spelling is controlled, and so is the grammar. In some of the articles however we have only checked the spelling since there is a climbing jargon that isn’t always in tune with grammatical rules.
There are too many 8a statements
This is the 8a yearbook... what do you expect? There is a fair amount of other info as well.
Well, I know more badgering will follow but that’s OK. If you don’t try things in life you don’t learn anything either. And I am eager to learn, and ready to consider the opinions of everyone. But I want this to happen in an aura of positive sentiment where the aim is to make something better instead of complaining on something that already is. This is how we bring ourselves forward as opposed to just standing still and stomping the same ol’ ground. Therefore, please continue to write to us with both positive and negative feedback and hopefully we have the energy to bring you a new and better yearbook next year. Cheers
2 kommentarer:
I'm sure this is not in direct response to my critiques, but I will respond nonetheless because I think this kind of dialog can only lead to next year's book being even better.
I for one never meant to give the impression that the whole book was crap. Overall I found the book quite enjoyable, I just wanted to point out a few possible negative areas for improvement in next year's book.
I can't comment on the quality of the translations into languages other than English, but my initial impression was that the English copy contained quite a few mistakes. However, upon paging through it again just now I am not seeing that many so I might be in need of issuing a corrective apology :)
I still maintain the cover color is ugly but apparently my preferences are different than others. I see the idea behind the front color blending with the back when opened however I think that shade of green is not quite right.
Again, overall the yearbook is really nice work and I look forward to next year's edition. Plus, how much can one complain about something that is being done at no charge!
you can read my review here if you haven't already
Hej,
Jag lägger in mitt svar här också:
Jag ber om ursäkt om jag dragit alla i 8a-teamet över en och samma kam. Och visst var det kanske en onödig passus. Ni förtjänar självklart uppskattning för allt arbete ni gör med att göra 8a till en bättre site. I grund och botten gillar jag den och tror att den kan bli riktigt bra i framtiden.
Jens kommentarer har däremot inte bidragit till att bygga upp förtroendet för siten. Det är en del som har tagit illa vid sig av dessa.
"Gör något positivt för klättringen istället för att bara klaga. Innan du varit ute och satt upp minst 100 leder och borstat rent minst 100 problem, samt arbetat för en ökad samhörighet och interaktion bland klättrare så kanske du inte ska bia och bua så mycket. Eller?"
1. Alla har rätt att uttrycka sin åsikt.
2. Förhoppningsvis leder detta till en förändring.
3. Bara på västkusten har jag satt upp omkring hundra problem. Är det nog?
/Jon
jon snabela ruin.se
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