tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054885544428581277.post7799802473900484335..comments2024-03-28T12:25:58.047+00:00Comments on Wanstead Birder: Making money out of TropicbirdsJonathan Lethbridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12791327377479687655noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054885544428581277.post-90036435116194011332013-09-30T23:49:27.082+01:002013-09-30T23:49:27.082+01:00I'll collect next time I'm in Aberdeen. Wh...I'll collect next time I'm in Aberdeen. Which is the 16th October. But you have to come to the airport. At a very specific time. And be prepared to somehow bypass security and get airside. With liquids.Jonathan Lethbridgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12791327377479687655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054885544428581277.post-20982887401167182912013-09-30T10:09:22.307+01:002013-09-30T10:09:22.307+01:00Entertaining as always, Jono, but here are some po...Entertaining as always, Jono, but here are some points worth noting:<br />1. Birdwatch has been publishing exclusive stories, and billing them as such, since soon after the magazine's inception in the early Nineties, so exclusives are certainly not 'new'. They are, of course, commonly used by publications of all kinds (including other bird magazines) trying to distinguish their content from that of the opposition, and give themselves the edge. For the same reason, we also use e.g. columnists such as your good self and other devices. There's no problem in doing so, and no one has ever complained about such stories before.<br />2. Despite the story being exclusive to Birdwatch, an image was also made available on BirdGuides.com which was free to view in the weekly round-up as a small image, and shortly after in the Iris section of the website as a larger file.<br />3. "Journalism may be all about sensationalism, but surely birding is bigger than that?" Rather than anything to do with sensationalism, the object of the story was for the finder to give his own version of events, to balance the hitherto almost wholly negative interpretation of what might have happened, often related by those who weren't there (not in your case, of course).<br />4. Importantly, the finder has never mentioned money or even 'selling the story' to the magazine. This is yet another myth fabricated about him and his motives (again, not by you, but it has become common currency). He simply wanted to tell his story, he has known the magazine for many years (we've featured his artwork previously) and he is familiar with our popular Highlights section featuring finders' accounts of major birds. He is perfectly entitled to contact the magazine about reporting his find in this way, like hundreds of others before him, and is not obligated to respond to online forum posts by often anonymous users which - having read some of them - are clearly not based on facts, and in some cases are personally insulting and deliberately malicious.<br />5. I am not officially a citizen of, or resident in, the Azores, though it is true that I have travelled there in aircraft employing jet-powered technologies :-)Dominic Mitchellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10131405752512532599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054885544428581277.post-70412569800355509172013-09-30T10:09:07.746+01:002013-09-30T10:09:07.746+01:00Entertaining as always, Jono, but here are some po...Entertaining as always, Jono, but here are some points worth noting:<br />1. Birdwatch has been publishing exclusive stories, and billing them as such, since soon after the magazine's inception in the early Nineties, so exclusives are certainly not 'new'. They are, of course, commonly used by publications of all kinds (including other bird magazines) trying to distinguish their content from that of the opposition, and give themselves the edge. For the same reason, we also use e.g. columnists such as your good self and other devices. There's no problem in doing so, and no one has ever complained about such stories before.<br />2. Despite the story being exclusive to Birdwatch, an image was also made available on BirdGuides.com which was free to view in the weekly round-up as a small image, and shortly after in the Iris section of the website as a larger file.<br />3. "Journalism may be all about sensationalism, but surely birding is bigger than that?" Rather than anything to do with sensationalism, the object of the story was for the finder to give his own version of events, to balance the hitherto almost wholly negative interpretation of what might have happened, often related by those who weren't there (not in your case, of course).<br />4. Importantly, the finder has never mentioned money or even 'selling the story' to the magazine. This is yet another myth fabricated about him and his motives (again, not by you, but it has become common currency). He simply wanted to tell his story, he has known the magazine for many years (we've featured his artwork previously) and he is familiar with our popular Highlights section featuring finders' accounts of major birds. He is perfectly entitled to contact the magazine about reporting his find in this way, like hundreds of others before him, and is not obligated to respond to online forum posts by often anonymous users which - having read some of them - are clearly not based on facts, and in some cases are personally insulting and deliberately malicious.<br />5. I am not officially a citizen of, or resident in, the Azores, though it is true that I have travelled there in aircraft employing jet-powered technologies :-)Dominic Mitchellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10131405752512532599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054885544428581277.post-1859053546805459862013-09-29T08:48:44.811+01:002013-09-29T08:48:44.811+01:00I looked at the picture by accident but I guess it...I looked at the picture by accident but I guess it would only be right o cough up. How do I get the money to you?Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01816871941707588516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054885544428581277.post-74756082816836401212013-09-28T22:33:28.616+01:002013-09-28T22:33:28.616+01:00We are all ripe for financial milking Jonno, and s...We are all ripe for financial milking Jonno, and some people are more clever (or cynical) at it than others. Sometimes I wish it was just as simple as looking out of the backdoor at what flies over and being content with that. The gluttonous mushrooming of 'birding' and it's (recent) adoption of celebrity annoys me. Take me back to the drab 1970s please... at least Yellow-browed Warblers were still rare then.Steve Galehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09459545933323958452noreply@blogger.com