From: stevens@stsci.edu (Don't Call Me Dude!)
Subject: AHA Policy on Product Reviews
Organization: Space Telescope Science Institute
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 15:49:52 GMT

In article <BvxwEH.LK@ddsw1.mcs.com>, arf@ddsw1.mcs.com (Jack Schmidling) writes:
> While your at it, bitch about the idiotic editorial policy of publishing
> reviews without a clew as to where you can buy what is reviewed or what it
> costs.
>
> The MM got a great review but the reader was left totally in the dark.  I called
> and asked why they do this and I was told just policy.  It seems to me what
> they are doing is protecting the dealers at the expense of the reader.  I think
> the readers should come first but like most magazines, I suppose more money
> comes in from advertisers than readers.
>

Jack is 100% right on this, and I think that those of us who are AHA members
owe it to ourselves to complain and try getting hard info included in the
reviews---by omitting this info the AHA is hurting us, their readers.

Before responding to this I took the time to find out how product and/or
book reviews are handled in the professional press. A quick survey of over
30 magazines and professional journals found 27 that included product
reviews. *ALL* of them included contact information for the manufacturer/
supplier of the product and list price. I called a friend who is an editor
for Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. just to double-check that it really is
industry practice to include this information, he thought it was funny
that I could imagine *NOT* including such fundamental information that
a reader would obviously want and need. He said that omitting that info
would be such a reader disservice that the phone calls and letters would
inundate their office staff. (Of course, ZD magazines tend to have
huge circulations rather than the few thousand of Zymurgy).

Looking through the magazines, I found one that was not very reader-friendly
in that they put the contact information for all product reviews in one
block on a page near the back of the magazine, but it was still there. The
best approach I found was in "Sun Expert" magazine which not only had it
with the product reviews, but had it in a large shaded box with bold type
that stood out and included not only the name, address, and phone number
of the company, but also list price and a 1-2 line summary of what the
reviewers found to be the best and worst features of the product.

Well, sorry to be long-winded. But Jack's description of the AHA's policy
reviews---"idiotic" is right on the money. Not putting in such basic
information is an unprofessional practice, it is discourteous to the reader, 
and frankly, I can't think of a better adjective for it than Jack's...
"idiotic." I can think of *NO* justifiable reason for omitting the info,
and lots of reasons to include it, but then the AHA isn't going to change
policies unless enough of us complain, so let's get busy folks and help
ourselves out!

Cheers!
---Mark Stevens
   stevens@stsci.edu

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Mark Stevens, STScI                                 stevens@stsci.edu
Baltimore, MD  21218                                    (410)516-8154
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