Marshall-- I wasn't trying to make this a flame war, just to add a bit of humor and make the point that this information is in Chinese, so there is a content/English kind of dilemma, one that is getting better as we move forward. Again with the typos? You still haven't answered me Marshal. Have you seen the second issue? The first? Have you read them?
We do have some professional editors and there is, like in any magazine, conflict between those worried about the magazine, (i.e. the editorial department) and those in charge of budgeting. The printing/ editing process is a bit more complicated than just fixing the problems the day before printing. This magazine is over 200 pages, and
180 pages of that was text. No magazine in the world has content like that. Nevertheless, we did come up with some solutions and one of them did involve two sleepless days before printing the second issue, which is mostly error-free (though it does still have room to grow). You have no idea what your saying when you claim that the people here don't care. Again I would state that you were battering this same argument before the first one was even released. Half the people, literally, that flamed us here upon the release of the first issue then emailed us or our vendor to buy a copy. I don't really have anything else to say. Read the magazine or don't, but until you do your opinion about it isn't useful to anyone.
Phyll-- This is more along the lines of what I would call a useful topic for discussion. As I stated above, we already have professional editors. We are short on them, for sure. Anyone in this business can tell you that it isn't always about who, but about how many eyes look at something. It's hard to edit down 200 pages in a few weeks, and the more eyes that look at it the better. Again, I doubt budgeting and convenience (We're in Taiwan) would allow for us to have an employee so far away. I hardly think that "fire your editors and hire new ones" is a useful solution. Your second point is a more valid one. Most of the greatest and most informed people in the tea world are also tea producers or own tea stores of their own. This is logical because they're the ones dealing with the tea the most. So then how do we prevent them from pushing their own product and/or agenda? I would say there are three ways. The first and logically weakest only applies for those who have met them, but the fact is that a lot of these people are really wonderful guys. Once you get to know them, their generosity and integrity becomes evident. Teacher Chen, for example, is donating his time and money to come to the tasting this summer in America. The event is completely unpaid for him. He also has spent countless unpaid hours helping with the magazine. Secondly, we publish a lot of different voices and perspectives. The two issues have so far hosted more than 25 different authors, and we haven't even come close to exhausting the amount available through this network. Finally, we monitor the content of their articles. Mr. Cham's article in this issue is about how to store your Puerh tea at home, not how to store the tea you bought from him. The topic itself cannot have a bias. It goes without saying that they shouldn't be writing about their own products or evaluating others. Also, Mr. Cham is a lawyer. He has not "aligned" himself with Chang Tai, nor does he work for them. He simply ordered a very small batch of tea from them. He is not contractually bound to them in any way. He could order tea from another producer next time. Personally, I think he is making the tea as much for fun as for profit, as he already has a lucrative career. The tea tastings also have never included any teas produced by any of the participants; and they are all blind, authors receive only lettered packages.
Anyway, I can't think of a single expert in the tea industry that is currently well-known and publishing that doesn't also own a tea house, brand, etc. So how would you propose we fix this? And which article in the magazine do you think is biased towards a certain company? or leans in that direction? Or perhaps there is a section you feel less reliable because of the participation of tea house owners? Are you really trying to help? It would seem so, as you have said you read the magazine and are planning to attend the tasting this summer.
Ethan says he's nothing more to say I'm close to exhausting my own words. Perhaps we can talk in person at the tea gathering Regards Aaron