RAF 100th Flypast + Weston Air Festival

Announcements from UK Airshow Review and our partners
Post Reply
User avatar
LN Strike Eagle
UKAR Staff
Posts: 11191
Joined: Mon 21 Jul 2008, 3:29 pm

RAF 100th Flypast + Weston Air Festival

Post by LN Strike Eagle »

  • "100 Not Out" - Scott Perry travelled to London to report on the flypast from Waterloo Bridge.

    Image Image Image Image Image



  • "Fish 'n' Flips" - Tom Jones reports on the Sunday offering of the weekend event.

    Image Image Image Image Image
"You really are an oafish philistine at times!"

User avatar
Gonzo230
Posts: 277
Joined: Sun 01 Jul 2012, 8:13 am

Re: RAF 100th Flypast + Weston Air Festival

Post by Gonzo230 »

Can I ask what the policy is on sub-editing these stories? There are some glaring grammar and sentence construction mistakes in the Weston report. I ask the question given that some forum members have been banned recently for their own poor spelling and grammar.

User avatar
Dan O'Hagan
Posts: 2279
Joined: Wed 13 Apr 2016, 6:05 pm

Re: RAF 100th Flypast + Weston Air Festival

Post by Dan O'Hagan »

Gonzo230 wrote:Can I ask what the policy is on sub-editing these stories? There are some glaring grammar and sentence construction mistakes in the Weston report. I ask the question given that some forum members have been banned recently for their own poor spelling and grammar.


Standards have fallen massively in recent years. It used to be the case that new "Staffers" were sought out and recruited having impressed on the forums for either their writing style or photographic abilities. Articles were given the go-ahead, then written up and shown to the rest of the team for "red pen" treatment to correct any errors either in content or spelling and grammar. Nothing went "live" until senior staff members were happy with the quality, and the whole team was engaged and played a part in ensuring that standards were high. It's a real shame to see just how far UKAR's written and photographic levels have been allowed to slide, while "rivals" have really upped their game. Vintage Aviation Echo's content is now way, way ahead of this site. And that's just one example.

The kudos of having a "Staff" title on here should not be taken for granted - the quality and high standards UKAR used to set need to be worked at in order to be maintained.

For my tastes, a lot of reviews on here now are too wordy. If you don't have the writing ability, then less is always more.

This isn't a dig at any one member who has written an article this year, but a general observation on what UKAR was, and what it is today.

User avatar
Tommy
UKAR Staff
Posts: 9402
Joined: Mon 14 Mar 2011, 11:39 pm

Re: RAF 100th Flypast + Weston Air Festival

Post by Tommy »

And for the sake of consistency, the routine reminder, Dan, following every "UKAR's crap these days" post that you did more to both build, and then sour UKAR's excellent reputation than any writing standards ever could.

I've never been a staff member whilst you were, but still, nearly half a decade later, all I ever hear on the fence or at airshows when people discuss UKAR is how vitriolic and unpleasant you are/were. It's embarrassing.

You talk so, so much sense. There's got to be a German word for agreeing with the point someone is making, but deploring the way that they make it. Every common sense point you ever make is done in the most venomous, vitriolic way possible. I get it. You're one of those guys who doesn't compromise on your opinions. You pride yourself as being a straight-talker. Fair enough. I admire that. But you can do that without having to deliberately court controversy by saying stuff in a way that's just way beyond the bounds of common courteousness or decency.

You used to be a legend of the airshow community. These days, every single post you make is vinegar. It just gets boring. Whatever you write is no-longer as compelling. And that's a damn shame from one of the most common sense people in the hobby.

User avatar
Dan O'Hagan
Posts: 2279
Joined: Wed 13 Apr 2016, 6:05 pm

Re: RAF 100th Flypast + Weston Air Festival

Post by Dan O'Hagan »

Tommy wrote:You used to be a legend of the airshow community.


:lmao: :lmao: :lmao: :lmao: :lmao: :king:

Tommy, I actually think that you're one of the best additions to the team in a LONG time. Perhaps you're the one to do some arse-kicking and get others to pull their weight. It really isn't fair to leave the bulk of the heavy lifting to a couple of people. Everyone should be chipping in with the "red pen", taking their turn in writing properly-researched POTW captions, and writing articles that read well, make valid points and entertain the reader.

UKAR needs people who have ability, but also people who give a damn about the quality of the writing that is produced. Again, that's no dig at any one person - I suspect all of the current team can string a sentence together, but how many chip-in when it comes to proof-reading? It was hard enough to get people to do that on my watch.

User avatar
LN Strike Eagle
UKAR Staff
Posts: 11191
Joined: Mon 21 Jul 2008, 3:29 pm

Re: RAF 100th Flypast + Weston Air Festival

Post by LN Strike Eagle »

Gonzo230 wrote:Can I ask what the policy is on sub-editing these stories? There are some glaring grammar and sentence construction mistakes in the Weston report. I ask the question given that some forum members have been banned recently for their own poor spelling and grammar.

Normally I'll have a read through most of the stuff published during the page-build, if not sooner, but in the case of Weston the page was put together by someone else when I was unavailable to do so. As such, my only direct input to that article was making the title image. However, Tom is one of our best writers and I can normally count on his stuff to be pretty much spot-on from the first draft. There's no blame to the page-builder either; it was read and corrected by others before going online and he's only used what was earmarked as ready, so if a few things have slipped through the net, it will just be down to the number of people away at RIAT meaning it wasn't checked as thoroughly as it would normally be. We'll have another look later and make corrections if they're needed.

Who has been banned for poor spelling btw?
"You really are an oafish philistine at times!"

User avatar
Tommy
UKAR Staff
Posts: 9402
Joined: Mon 14 Mar 2011, 11:39 pm

Re: RAF 100th Flypast + Weston Air Festival

Post by Tommy »

Gonzo230 wrote:Can I ask what the policy is on sub-editing these stories? There are some glaring grammar and sentence construction mistakes in the Weston report. I ask the question given that some forum members have been banned recently for their own poor spelling and grammar.


I did send a PM to you yesterday, but I've not had a response - just wanted to make sure that you check your inbox. :up:

I don't mind that I've made mistakes, but my priority is fixing them asap.

User avatar
Tommy
UKAR Staff
Posts: 9402
Joined: Mon 14 Mar 2011, 11:39 pm

Re: RAF 100th Flypast + Weston Air Festival

Post by Tommy »

Well, I’ve received no response PM, and other staffers have had a look through it and have found nothing that they would call any glaring grammar and sentence construction mistakes. Despite both a public and private request, said mistakes haven’t been brought to our attention. The sub-editing position has also been made very clear.

I think we’ve been pretty reasonable so far. I’m not sure what else we can do to try and sort this issue out if all we get is silence in reaponse. As said, mistakes aren’t a problem to me. It is how mistakes are dealt with that’s important. All I’m interested in is getting whatever it is corrected.

And, to my knowledge, no one has been banned from UKAR due to poor writing skills. At least not during my tenure.

User avatar
Gonzo230
Posts: 277
Joined: Sun 01 Jul 2012, 8:13 am

Re: RAF 100th Flypast + Weston Air Festival

Post by Gonzo230 »

Tommy, I’m sorry, the PM indication isn’t obvious! And I’ve just noticed it.

I shall read it once I’ve had a shower. Mr O’Hagan agreeing with me has made me feel a bit dirty. :pinkwafer:

I take it all back!

I thought someone had been banned from posting in the RIAT forum? I apologise if that’s not the case.

Post Reply