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Window Cleaning Issues - Canvassing, pole systems, pricing, problems, etc.

Fed Magazine - PROOF READ!

Posted by pdhanson (Silly Philly), 29 January 2004
I have just received my copy of the federation magazine for January 2004.

Very informative, and relevant. But I have one criticism:
PROOF READ IT!

Has anyone else noticed the hundreds of spelling and grammatical mistakes?  Its really bad - you can't concentrate on the article because they are so distracting.

Here is an example: page 13 questions and answers:
Question regarding pricing of work is answered as follows:

"1what is most important;2 is that a window cleaner should be selling his TIME3, expert or otherwise he should know how much he wants for his labour.  Suggestion4 is price per window or a minimum of £3.50 per house, although this does depend on the area one5 lives"

In superscript are the mistakes I spotted.

1 Beginning of sentence - capital letter needed
2 Unnecessary and inappropriate semi-colon
3 Capitalization - should be in italics not caps
4 Fragment - Not a complete sentence.  Should read: "Some have suggested..."
5 Inconsistency - person changes from "his" earlier in the paragraph to "one"

The substance is good, but how can we be taken seriously if our own magazine can't even be presented properly?

I'm no expert, but if you need someone to proof read the articles, I'll gladly volunteer.

Please, lets get it right.  This makes us look stupid.

Philip
Posted by Bones (Bones), 29 January 2004
we are used to the spelling and grammar mistakes, read the posts on this site!! we are just humble window cleaners, i say,.. spell it as ya say it!!  Wink, ha ha Grin

Mikey
Posted by matt (matt), 29 January 2004
wot do u meen bones  Grin Grin Grin Tongue Wink
Posted by Bones (Bones), 29 January 2004
U no wot, eye dunno?
Huh

Mikey

Posted by samm (samm), 29 January 2004
I have to agree silly, I mean fine for this forum but for a "professional magazine" it gives the impression the mag was wrote by a 5 yr old or they couldn't be bothered to check it.
Posted by Terry_Burrows (Terry_Burrows), 30 January 2004
WinkThe only thing I can say is the Fed mag is not printed
up on site,any mistakes could well be down to the print
people,this is possible I dont think its gets looked at
before the mags printed and done,could try to find out Huh,as I have nothing to do with the print up or what goes in it! Wink
Posted by Polepro (Polepro), 30 January 2004
I agree that the mag should be more professionally produced in terms content, features, spelling, gramma, and the style of some of the adverts they allow. Does anyone know who the editor is?

Tom
Posted by pdhanson (Silly Philly), 30 January 2004
Beryl Murray is the editor.  And I'm sure that also being the general secretary she must be extremely busy.

But please - it takes me no longer than 45 minutes to read all of the articles (not the ads) and the mistakes jump out at you!  I know that some of the articles are contributed, but surely that doesn't mean they can't be tidied up.

Yes, the printers could be making errors, but they wouldn't make grammatical mistakes.  That happens when the article is written.

It seems such a shame that the content, which is so good, is marred by this.

Silly
Posted by Polepro (Polepro), 30 January 2004
I guess that a lot of the mistakes could be picked up by a "Spell Checker". Perhaps you should volunteer your services, I'm sure you'd make a good read even better.

Tom
Posted by T_W_CONTRACTS (T_W_CONTRACTS), 30 January 2004
wot dunno man skin up


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