Dave Martin wrote:

Paul:
        I know it's a lot fun to find stupid errors in published

materials. I do it

myself, sometimes in my own magazine. But don't blame John Larsen.
He neither assembles nor proofs the annual engine/PSRU directory.
(As the byline says, Julia Downie compiles these data, and John is
not in the

loop.)

        Here in the office we should have caught the "cylinders"
        errors

in the

Alturair entry. (The company could have helped us avoid looking
stupid

by

crossing out the word "cylinders" and substituting the word
"rotors" or "chambers" on the form, but Alturair didn't and we
screwed up by not catching it.)
        We should have also noticed the anti-gravity PSRU. Julia
        is

checking the

original form to see if the wrong number was submitted by the
purveyor,

but

we should have caught it before publication.
        My only complaint with your comment is that to impugn the
        entire

directory

as worthless based on three typos you found is unfair. I don't
make

excuses

for our errors. Instead, we print corrections to the significant
ones.

But I

also don't expect perfection from anybody, which has allowed me to
sleep well enough at night.
        Best regards,
        Dave Martin

Julia has a tough and thankless job, and she works hard at it. I have
seen her have to badger kit manufacturers and suppliers
several times to get information, and only get some hurriedly
scribbled data from suppliers, that was full of errors and
extravagant claims. It should not be her job to double check
and/or editorialize on the information she is supplied
Vance

While I don't doubt she has a difficult job, I believe IT IS the
responsibility of the magazine staff to validate information they publish.
Mistakes will surely happen.  But there is a big difference between
publishing the occaisional mistake of fact or typographical error and
publishing information 'that was full of errors and extravagant claims.'
Someone must be responsible to 'double check and/or editorialize'.  If that
responsibility falls to her position and she is unwilling/unable to fulfill
that responsibility, maybe she should step aside and allow someone who can.

Dale

 
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