I have been amazed by the number of people who have commented on the idea put forward yesterday of only allowing comments from GP+ subscribers. I am equally amazed at the number of people who did not seem to understand that it was a simply a discussion – and not a decision – and got irate and abusive about the idea…
I have had a long think about the idea and the conclusion is that I am not going to do it, because I do think it is a good idea to allow free discussion, so long as the discussion is interesting and positive. I cannot spent as much time as I have been spending on dealing with all of this, because I need to use the available time to generate income and to enjoy the rest of my life.
Up to now I have tried to reply to people who criticise, and explain why things are as they are, even though often I cannot really do that because opinions are opinions and one cannot always give all the details about how and why they came about. You simply have to take them as they are. Things are going to a little different in the future. I am happy to discuss issues but I would ask for commenters to simply have a little respect for what I am doing. You may not agree with my views. I have no problem with that, but attacking me and abusing me is a waste of time and energy. My views are not going to change because someone sends in a rude comment.
At the same time I hope that those of you who think that I do a good job on the blog will at least consider helping me by subscribing to GP+. The consensus appears to be that it is a great product. It is not expensive and while there are things that could done better (such as layout and proof-reading) this magazine is produced in essence by two people. Additional people slow things down. We work very hard; sleep very little and believe that speed, great photographs and quality writing are the most important elements.
And we are very proud of what we do.
joeblogsf1 
I’d be happy to help proof but I’m in the wrong timezone for most races.
Btw, any progress on the Melbourne event? My nights are filling up and I don’t want to miss out again š
Wednesday night
Joe,
Being a recent subscriber of GP+ and a long time reader of the blog I can only congratulate you for the end result.
Amazing job!
Thanks.
I could’ve predicted this post from your previous Joe, and it is the reason why inever commented on the last blog.
Personally as a non subscriber I would have no problem in not being allowed to comment, but then I see this as a forum for information gathering and opinon forming, not as a soapbox. If I wanted a space for me to scream and shout about how unfair the world is I’d probably start up my own blog.
Regardless I’d still come looking for views as I find your (and many of your F1 colleagues’) opinions as interesting, and find it a shame that some people don’t understand there are differences between the words subjective and objective.
Anyway, keep it up Joe, I do so enjoy your blogs
I’m very pleased to hear your decision Joe. This is one of, if not the most, thought-provoking sites on F1. I don’t always agree with your views but enjoy the independent thought, deep knowledge and passion about the sport. For those who are abusive and small minded there are plenty of sites (Planet F1 springs to mind), to cater for the jingoistic, semi-literate and ill-informed. This is an invaluable site for grown-ups who love the sport and all that goes with it.
Here’s to a great (slightly delayed) 2011 season.
With best wishes
Here, here!
At the end of the day some people just use comment boards to vent away without fear of repercussion, but long may the truly vale part of this blog continue…namely your musings! š
I think you’ve made the right call, Joe. Leave the inane comments to the ‘robust’ reactions of other readers, who are rarely slow to correct errors. Rest assured that I would quite happily subscribe to GP+ if my finances permitted; I’ve been a fan since your articles in Motorsport News. But in the meantime, if I enjoy an article or a blog (like yours), I do my best to contribute with comment and what insight I can offer.
Joe, you’re a star! And you know it. Keep up the fantastic work!
Good on you Joe. Must be hard in this Google world to journalise, with the armchair critics and their laptop next to the remote… You are there, in the trenches, and I appreciate your informed voice. And that’s what you offer by this blog and GP+. Keep up the great work, and let’s hope everyone keeps an open mind. Discussion is the best promoter- as long as it is open.
Keep up the good work and I will keep subscribing to GP+ and of course reading your blog. š
All good Joe, signed up to GP+ a couple of days ago anyway..
Im more of a reader of this site then a poster, and wouldnt have mattered either way to me which way you had choosen. As for people giving their opinions, well i guess the internet’s a way of freedom of speech, but ive got a little saying (crass as it is) ‘Opinions are like Bum-holes, we’ve all got one, but that doesnt mean we have to be getting them out in public for all to see.’
Keep up the good work Joe, its a nice site to visit and its good to read different blogsites where one bloggers view is different to anothers. Its what makes them all more intetesting then reading the same stuff the net over.
Thanks Joe, signing up to GP PLUS before the start of season, please keep the blog though and dont get too offended by the inevitable abusive that will happen, complaining is after all one of the most popular internet activities along with a few others
Haven’t tried GP+ yet, though may do so in the future.
Just thought I’d reply to say that I feel your blog provides a good insightful view into the sport, and it’s much appreciated. Don’t let the critics beat you down, you do a great job and if the magazine’s as good as the blog, you’re right to be proud.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks Joe!
Feels better to not have any big changes. I have been wondering lately how much people are just nervous because of the world news, and so simply twitchier.
This and the previous discussion (or the main article) might do well being prominently linked on the front page, as Fair Rules.
But the best comment on the earlier thread, for me, anyhow, was the chap who wrote down the Autosport circulation. I hadn’t even thought to look. (they’re so out of favor with me, personally) It was a poor show. With competition that miserable, i don’t think you need to make much of a point.
Someone else suggested more staff. There is a classic work in computing called “The Mythical Man Month” wherein it is explained, in excruciating detail, how adding manpower in a rush has the opposite of the desired effect.
I see your point about typography. But there can be too pretty pretty, and clear print and big photos relax my eye. I think your design is quite something of a Reply to the increasingly poor, unthinkingly overworked and overstaffed norm.
Rather than search out a designer, there is a wonderful historical work called “The Form Of The Book” by a chap called Jan Tischold. Tischold is a minor deity, in the typography game. You’d enjoy reading that, i think.
Keep playing Your Game, Joe.
Incidentally, when once i exhorted you to be skeptical about advertising, it was because the economic wastage to get that done, the overhead, the morass of people who butt in, has done horrors to small publishers before. I’ll say from personal experience, it’s sometimes hard to explain to a casual observer, whether you are gamekeeper or poacher. You need to remember the latter skill, in case of emergency. Because this contradiction gives the agents headaches, i think they want to be paid too much. “I don’t sell arms, i pick sides.” I just nicked that line from a movie, because it sums up how fence sitting rarely does anyone any good.
Anyway, don’t mind me. Lead On!
yours,
– j
You have good reason to be proud. Thanks so much
Well how can we argue with that Joe?
Keep it up man, there aren’t many good F1 blogs around…
You are a good man, Joe.
A very intelligent perspective you bring to the table.
Don’t let the bu**ers wear you down.
Instead be proud of the volumes of thoughtfull comment that so many F1 supporters bring to this blog, encouraged by your insights, thoughts and standing.
All the best
Proud you should be, Joe.
Joe Saward is a man of great intelligence and dignity. People make comments that drive Joe to contemplating such action should be ashamed. We must accept that things can be taken out of context on a blog because it is not face to face contact, so one has to be magnanimous and careful how we comment. If you feel strongly about a subject take time to construct a reasonable opinion, in doing so it cools the initial reaction, thus enabling you not to look a burk. May be I should follow my own advice on subjects such as Bernie and people who say this or that drivers’ rubbish…………….
I feel sorry for you that you have to put up with the downsides of the Internet. Hope you will be able to carry on and enjoy it.
@those abbusive posters: Get a life!
Yes, “free” discussion is good. But my personal pet peeve is that so many people don’t realize that it’s not really “free”, in the full sense of the word – someone does have to pick up the tab for it. Someone actually has to create and maintain the blog, provide its core content, sort through the comments and extract the most vile or legally dangerous stuff, etc. And it dismays me when those who assume none of these responsibilities complain of their “rights” being violated at the first hint that their access to one small portion of someone else’s hard work may be restricted. And they usually do so while hiding behind a pseudonym, so that they aren’t even accountable for their words – yet another way they avoid taking any genuine responsibility.
Just had to get that off my chest.
As for GP+, I am certain that anyone who enjoys this blog would also enjoy the magazine. After all, much of it is written by the same guy that writes this blog, and the rest of it by people with a lot of experience and insight. So if you’re reading this now and you’re not a subscriber, what are you waiting for (except for those who are experiencing financial hardship, which I know is a tough reality for many)?
That reminds me, it’s time to renew….
I totally agree Joe!
Your BLOG is an important part of my morning routine..
I love GP+ ..
..and we are hoping you will have another ‘Evening With Joe’ when you come to Montreal.
Thanks for all you do!
Jeff
It is a great website, please keep up the great work!
All the best!
Iain
This is the wise and the good decision, Joe.
I know changing GP+ layout is a lot and hard work so it can wait. But turning the photos compression rate from 72 to 300dpi (see my comment) is nothing. Let us know when you’ll do it, and I’ll immediatly subscribe.
Good call.
Good Blog, your work and info on F1 is very much appreciated, and I for one would feel more at ease to subscribing to GP+ because of that.
If the blog is anything to go by I would feel safe in paying for the subs, and get very good value for money.
In other words it will sell it’s self, but by all means ram it home, afterall it is your blog Joe.. š
A good decision. Thanks for listening m8.
Now what kind of edible hat should i bring to Austin next year????
Hi Joe,
I personal really liked the “Earning the right to commentā¦” piece.
But the “Discussions over” piece has made me decide that I should finally get the subscription to grandprix+, which I wanted to do since christmas.
Is there another way then using paypal, since for some reason, trying to get the subscription resulted in my paypal account being locked up for security checking reasons.
And I thought I could trust you š
If not, then I’ll just have to wait another week, before I can finally join the membership of grandprix+
Love the blog, love the access you give us simple mortals to the closed world of F1. Hope you’ll have a call with sidepocast soon again.
Thanks you for all you give us.
Michiel
Jolly good- so should you be proud. You’ve made a unique, quality product that brings joy to thousands.
Positive – certainly. Toadying- maybe. Nonetheless,
more of the same, please.
The Economist never comments on letters to the editor.
Good example.
John St Petersburg,
Yes, but they choose what gets published…
Joe,
I stumbled across your blog mid-season last year and read it every day. I think you do a great job here, and in appreciation for that, gladly subscribed to GP+ yesterday. I must say, having read your lengthy 2010 season review, that subscription is a remarkable value.
I look forward to seeing your thoughts both on the blog and in GP+ in 2011.
-k-
Gosh, I hope my comment was not misconstrued. I can’t believe I am actually making another comment about this.
I find that the vast majority of comments where such things are allowed are frankly useless. That’s why I suggested charging a comment fee. In the spirit of a free market economy, if I feel my comment is important enough to share with the world, I should be prepared to offset your cost for hosting my views. A dollar/pound/euro per comment is really a small price to pay when you think about it given how much time you are forced to spend on just maintaining the excellent content of your articles. That content and context are what made me subscribe to GP+ this year.
This solves many problems. 1: helps offset costs. 2: people need to be aware that there is a price for freedom of speech, otherwise they won’t respect it (self evident). 3: useless comments will naturally decease over time.
So, consider it again. … $1 per comment – until some minimum is paid, say $25 per year per user, at which point go ahead, and comment free till the end of the year… Win, Win, Win.
Have a great week and let’s get it on in Australia.
Good decision Joe, and the right one as far as most people will be concerned! As if we dont have enough to deal with in life nowadays with all the greedy self serving politicians and council leaders in this country fleecing us all for every farkin penny they can get out of us, it would simply be too much to get fleeced just for airing an opinion on your favourite sport/pastime/hobby etc. There are plenty of fan sites that give everybody their chance to chat without looking to profit from it, so I guess when it comes to parting with our hard earned, most people will simply elect to join the website of their choice and comment for free anyway!! Like I said before, if all the a55holes who pay for Sky Sports decided to say 8o!!ox to their monthly fees, sooner or later Sky Sports would disappear from our screens and the “poor mans sport”, football, would then be aired for free by the greedy phukwits that SHOULD be showing it now!!! Im talking to you BBC and ITV!!!! Anyway, glad to hear you have decided against becoming another “get rich quick” scammer!! #:)
Joe, it’s so obvious you can’t spend so much time on the blog, dare I suggest ( and speaking from my own work experience ) that as well as a journo/writer that you also see yourselve as a craftsman in what you do hence the amazing detail that you put into your work, all power to you.
I do think the bloggers need to stop bleating about Ā£25 and simply SIGN UP !
Hey Joe, I’m glad you decided to keep the comments open, and I say that as a subscriber.
I think it’s a fools game to respond to everyone who comments with a negative opinion, but something you might consider is doing a roundup of comments or at least keeping the comments and working responses to them into future posts – it gives you content, responds at least in parts to major themes in the comment threads, and I’m much less likely to miss your words as I rarely wade through the comment.
Keep up the good work, can’t wait for my first issue of the year for GP+!
I’d pay to be able to listen to episodes of “An Aside with Joe”.
I was about to ask if you would put an example issue up, but there is one (http://www.grandprixplus.com/ right down the bottom)
The website states 20 issues – will you be doing one even if Bahrain doesn’t reappear? (dunno quite how that would work…)
Andrew Shuttlewood
I guess it will be Preview, plus 19 races (if Bahrain does not happen), plus a review. 21 issues
Dear Joe,
I have just subscribed to your GP+. Its a gesture of support and of course I know I get great value.
I sugest that guys and girls that read this blog frequently simply but the subscribtion – its the least you can do to apreciate the essence, knowledge and insights of F1 that Joe shares with us every day.
Thanks for the debate… Some interesting issues raised and answered. Subscribed last year and greatly enjoyed GP+. Will renew this year for sure. My only comment would be to echo that of Pierre regarding photos in the .PDFs. When viewed on a large screen the photos pixelate a lot and I would prefer higher resolution if possible. Other than that, thank you for a splendid blog and magazine, and I look forward to the season preview and all the issues you guys manage to put together.
Thanks!
About The Economist. They are also surprisingly a young lot. And also, for all their balancing acts, really very opinionated.
I know this because i know when old friends had jobs there, and they were definitely formed of strong opinions, you might even say bigoted, but they mellowed (a bit!) and got more interesting in subsequent life. Is it not obvious why they prefer to have no bylines or names? Also extremely smart individuals. So you forgive the comic book tone. I have read editorials where they have a proper, coded, go at themselves, knives sharpened.
I could, theoretically, have found flaws in Joe’s thinking. But i don’t, can’t and will not change my opinion about a person. That has occasionally been abused, by some unmentionables, they know who they are. (No-one here, obviously) Funnily, they have mostly made good efforts to make amends. Instead, what we got was a Textbook Lesson in how Journalism works: Tolerance, Patience, but also Strictness.
– – –
I like John’s idea of a roundup. That’s smart.
– – –
I couldn’t spell Tschichold’s name earlier.
I was not merely describing “in talk” for Joe. If you read Tschichold, and on another angle Knuth, both confront illegibility as a source of poor learning.
– – –
Dennis Linden,
how about instead we put a buck into a pot, per comment, and forfeit the lot, minute Joe sees any one of us is talking rubbish? Send it off to a relevant charity. Only fair also to permit a commission.
I’m off to perfect my Church Mouse dance, because I am a Sinner š
– – –
(all this in No Particular Order)
Peter Coffman,
Yup. People make real sacrifices for honest talk. I have no idea why, in this day and age, that is such a difficult concept.
. . .
Thanks to Joe, and Thanks to you all.
– john
Joe,
I post infrequently, the number of comments to your previous post, show how many people are passionate about the blog.
I am glad to see that you are still allowing posts by non-subscribers. I have been in a position to purchase a subscription to GP+ yet, but will hope to purchase this year, and will be glad that it will still include the archive.
As to the trolls, if it is possible to block them, that might be one fix, but responding directly to them, just validates the A-holes.
Wattaya know Joe!
But I just thought of an idea; there must be some people who frequently comment here who aspire to the same thing you do. Open, fair and non-abusive discussion.
Wouldn’t it be possible if some of them would moderate for you, maybe for a free subscription to the magazine, so you are free to do your work and only have to reply on topic is stead of having to moderate every comment made.
Let me know what you think!
A great decision. Happily reading through the e-archives leading up to Mlebourne.. š
Joe
Thanks for the reminder to resubscribe. Done!
Hi Joe
To make it easier on you could some regular and trusted readers vet all comments?
Thanks and love the blog.
K x
StephenAcworth,
about the PDFs:
I once had a thousand page book on image file formats. Cost me 60 quid, for a paperback (nearly twice any classic proper bound work, at the time) and it was a hopeless enumeration (because inevitably incomplete) of the myriad ways of putting up a picture. My eyes glazed over. The useful knowledge, as printed, had been offered freely by the original designers, so to get these things out there.
The useful spec is PDF/X.
Simplification No. 1.
Even that is unclear. So some publishers tried to narrow it down to “PDF-A”.
Still not there.
There was a i think now defunct setup called Digital Distribution of Advertising Product. (What product, boys, for thousands a year?)
. . .
What i would suggest, is that there are ways of compressing files, based on the resolution, and Adobe has ways of doing this fairly well automatically. I criticise, but this can be sorted out.
STILL, no good printer will accept this stuff blind.
Guess i should have accepted, one time, an implied offer of an intro to a founder of that lot, who got fed up.
. . .
Joe, you have a truly amazing photographer in Cahier. Photography is emotion, so i have funny feelings about being geek over this, because photography is my other love. But you absolutely must optimize the original picture for the output format. Before you plug it into your layout engine. Keywords: “quantization”, “output sharpening”, “intents”, “color space normalization (see quantization) and “lossless”, “gamut warnings”. I’d watch contrast too. The most expensive photo paper is about 200:1. That’s unheard of on Litho, but fairly normal on screens. Then you have to imagine the screens are “perfect”. Hmm! They’re really all the same thing, but i’m out of breath, and there’s so much more than i could ever know.
There is someone I do not know, but have learned an immense – truly immense – there exist no adequate words, amount from – his name is Joseph S Wisniewski. He does not publish, or blog, but he is a Heart. He’s the kinda guy who lives to help. I hope i am not inadverently burdening him.
I cannot suggest a reading list, because the photographer must choose himself.
Phew!
Bring on the races!
– john
Joe,
Wanted to express to you that your work on this blog is very much appreciated and is top notch quality. When I decide to purchase an F1 mag yours is at the only one that will be on my list. I know that doesn’t help you right now, but I just wanted to say I really applaud you for what you do and thank you for the information you share!!!
Cheers.
I don’t know if wordpress allows it, but if it is you could make it so you have to login to add a comment, that way the people who are just dicks can have their comments excluded. Whatever really, its your blog you can do with it what you like and I’ll still continue to read it.
Good decision.
@Adam R – wordpress has number of options, for example moderation, something that Joe exercises, but have chosen nonetheless to publish the offending comments ? I guess the reason is because he’s not a dictator, and wants to give a room for free speech. So, yes, the blog is very popular and respectable, we need to do the same and keep the quality high to the best possible extent. I have no issues to register, login and comment if that’s required.
to StephenAcworth,
thanks !
To John (other John),
ā¢ Yesterday’s Nascar race was great… once again!
ā¢ The only things Joe has to do, are:
– to make sure the resolution of the pictures is high enough… which I’m sure considering the Canon and Nikon pro cameras the pros are using,
– to setup properly Acrobat Distiller which will generate the pdf from the PostScript which he creates from his InDesign file. No matter, no need to use PDF-X, PDF-A (or any other) Distiller’s presets. It’s easy. And maybe he already knows how to do it.
For my next hols, I will be mostly reading about F1 saboteurs and a bloke on a boat. Keeping with F1 traditions, I shall get someone to buy the books for me. Cheers Joe.
Hello Pierre,
oh, i really should print out a schedule š¦
I’m hopeless at anything television. My Mother had to remind me there was a big football match on yesterday. No idea why. Not paid attention to Wenger for a long time, though he’s the true Gentleman, because my friend was such an enthusiast for that man’s style. But the game was unusually good.
On my broadcast spec screen (Eizo) there is about 1 megapixel.
Because we have human limits, to about 8 line pairs per millimeter, at one meter distance, there is also a limit to how well we actually can see anything. That’s for 20:20 vision. 20:20 is “average”, not good enough to fly a jet, but better than half of us.
Long story short, almost any recent camera has more than enough resolution, unless the idea is to make wall sized prints, to be viewed very close.
Cameras are the cheap bit. Like film, they’re almost disposable. Lenses are the thing. The Operator is infinitely valuable.
Did you know that you cannot get 24 megapixels out of a D3x if you hold it by hand?
Try 4 megapixels. (guessing a random estimate)
Halve that, if you get a fingerprint on the front element of the lens, or get focus the tiniest bit wrong.
George Lucas has thought a long time that 1 megapixel is plenty for the Big Screen. Who has complained?
I see the contrast and tone curves a bit odd, on some GP+ pictures. But equally, i like the dark moodiness, it may be deliberate!
I think the Archive pictures are simply not scanned well. I doubt that is Joe’s team’s fault.
There are only dozens of people still in the world, who know how to scan a film photo properly. I spent some 5 years learning, and i’m awful at it. There’s a chap in Wales who does nothing else. It’s his lifetime dedication.
I use an insanely expensive Eizo screen, which was cheaper than the lighting to make the screen useful, but if Joe feels rich, i think the German lot Quato are probably more suitable, and cheaper, better for print style (even if not printing), and will help him set it up. Eizo are a bit hands – off.
The most flaming extravagantly expensive publications mess this up Routine. All the time, it’s sad with those budgets (millions). Children.
I just think there’s some minor tweaking to do.
The photos are already World Class. You sense the depth, the existence of the subjects. They are taken by someone who can interpret life. I feel connected by them. That is Art.
But maybe no harm to get the last small problems ironed out!
No-one, and i mean no-one who is any good, does this for money. Passion.
Maybe there are settings Joe has not put “correct”. A quick question to say The Luminous Landscape Color forum, would get responses from people who are patient and publish Very high end. (I know a name I deeply respect, above, thinks they are not very good scientists, but he only designed cameras š I’d accept the “we do the top magazines every day” answers!)
Thank You Pierre!
I’ll try not to miss any more races!
– john
Joe,
I have been reading mechanical sports magazine, and F1 magazine, since I was a young teenager.. long time ago, more than half a century.
In English, French and Spanish…
I can say That GP+ is one of the best if not the best.. and so quick after the GP itself…
Don’t apaologize for proposing idea on your blog and it’s use: it’s YOUR blog.
And a good one !!
Good work and thank you so much
Alec
Keep up the good work Joe. People should still respect you even if they disagree with you on a matter.
Besides, its only a sport…
Good decision, Joe.
I’m happy to fork out $AUD40 a year just to read the blog Joe. So I’ll take the GP+ mag as a bonus.
I really enjoy reading the posts of someone with as much knowledge about F1 as yourself who’s prepared to speak their mind about the sport, so called “biases” and all. Breath of fresh air in this overly PR managed, politically correct world we live in these days.
Thank you Joe. I think it’s ultimately the best thing for both your readership AND yourself, for the reasons I explained (at far too great a length!) under your previous post, tempting though the other option must have been.
Thanks again.
why not just advertise in your blog joe? Your blog gets plenty of hits! Google AdSense its free
Joe, it’s your blog. Your sandbox. Set the rules and never look back. To be honest, I’d rather you be writing new posts or GP+ or books, or winding-up motorsports luminaries somewhere, than having to moderate the blog of lunacy.
Thanks for all you do!