Number of pages of this year's Scramble Magazine

[JJ Dam]

I'm a Scramble subscriber for more than 25 years now. But I don't know I will renew my subscription for next year
I'm seeing a worrying trend the last few years and especialy this year.
The number of pages is decreasing and decreasing every year.

For example:

In the period Jan-October 2014 a total of 1272 pages were produced, biggest issue had 152 pages

In the period Jan-October 2015 a total of 1200 pages were produced, biggest issue had 160 pages

In the period Jan-October 2016 a total of 1064 pages were produced, biggest issue had only 112 pages

This year the number of pages decreased more than 10% compared with 2015 and almost 20% compared with 2014
Also almost every issue starts in the editorial with: "The following sections are missing". I know that Scramble is made by a team of volunteers and this can happen, but not every month

I hope that someone of the editorial team can comment on this.

JJ

[Alpha Kilo One]

"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem"

I guess the editorial team would be more than happy to welcome your knowledge.
Some spare time left?

What worries me more, is that the amount of news is decreasing.
I guess we can choose a new hobby in some 10 years or so....
And no, I am not part of the team.
Keep up with your good work !

[McLanahan]

Hello JJ,

You are correct that the number of pages published has been decreasing over the years. This is partially to blame to the internet, where news is spread out within moments whereas Scramble is a monthly published (hard copy) magazine. While news is spread quickly it often contains mistakes/rumours which our dedicated team has to sift through before deciding on what to publish. So we do proud ourselves in being more often correct than not.

At this moment we are aiming at a steady number of 112 pages each month, so that our readers know what to expect. Unfortunately the last two months (#448 and #449) we were not able to reach that, due to a number of reasons (editors like to take a holiday too every now and then ). Also some sections are more influenced by seasons than others (think Showreports for example).

Next to that it is still true that we are a group of volunteers who are very dedicated, but not always able due to circumstances to deliver their part of the content.

I hope this clarifies why the number of pages has been decreasing.

Kind regards,
Patrick

[Arnold ten Pas]

Hi,

First of all; I do know the struggle of delivering a monthly contribution to Scramble. However, blaming the Internet for less pages makes no sense whatsoever. The Internet has been here for years and years and Scramble always managed to produce a fair amount of pages. From my point of view, Scramble could use a batch of new, enthusiastic editors to get things rolling again. If 112 pages per month is the goal, you are not really setting the bar high. I know there is a hardcore team of really, really hard working editors, but on the other hand I also see room for improvement:

- It has been more than 6 (!) months that any USAF news has been published. That is close to ridiculous and has nothing to do with the Internet, but lack of effort or lack of appropriate people on this particular topic.
- The latest issue of Scramble has an article on Wonsan consisting of less than 1 page of text. 1 page? Really, 1 page? On this groundbreaking event? I find that unbelievable, so much more could have been done with that.
- The article on Hawgsmoke (448) was hardly half a page of text (while an editor was on base for the exercise)
- I cannot recall when an airfield guide was published in the magazine
- What was the last time an extended Orbat of any European country was published?

etc

Again, I know how much work Scramble can be but some self-criticism can be healthy every now and then.

[Jaap]

Hey Arnold,
Your remarks are noted and will be included in the ongoing discussion about where to go with Scramble.

Being the Wonsan article editor, I can assure you the amount was well overthought. We visited the place with close to ten editors and former editors and by the time the Scramble magazine reached your doormat reports were published all over the place by others, starting that very weekend. Off course in the country we all kept checking if we were still awake while producing thousands of pictures each everywhere we came/were led to. In a country so totally different we had expected based on mainstream reports. Even staying in a hotel adjacent to the The Big Bosses private residence.

Still, we decided to stay close to spotter-relevant information and as some were very successful in numbers and versions identification I think the published article presents a true addition to info published elsewhere. It doesn't answer all the questions for people wanting to visit the show next year, but maybe the travel agents can help on that.

(Off course, I should also put some politically correct statements here, but I don't want to start that discussion)

Jaap

- The latest issue of Scramble has an article on Wonsan consisting of less than 1 page of text. 1 page? Really, 1 page? On this groundbreaking event? I find that unbelievable, so much more could have been done with that.