[Leica] letters from the editor

[Howard Ritter]

Brian—

That’s an illuminating, and sad, story. But all evolution involves the superseding of the present by the future – or the past by the present – and leaves mourners in its wake. I was shocked when one of my favorite, highly respected periodicals for the automotive enthusiast ended its Letters feature several years ago, after first shrinking it to less than one page. Then, presumably as readership declined and costs rose, it went to 10 issues a year. Now it’s a quarterly “lifestyle” magazine that I no longer subscribe to, some 60 years after I began to read it 60 years ago as a teen. Interestingly, its onetime chief competitor (and now corporate stablemate) continues to feature an extensive, multipage Letters section in which often cheeky readers’ opinions are sporadically rebutted by Ed.

Back to topic. Thank you for your continuing good work as the driving force behind both LUG and the Yearbook. I’m chastened that I only became a contributor in 2020 and only got off my butt this year to submit images after your plea for more participation.

I add my voice to the call for all LUGgers who haven’t done the same to do so NOW! 

—howard

> On Feb12, 2022, at 1945, Brian Reid <reid at mejac.carlsbad.ca.us> wrote:
> 
> For decades I was an editor (and occasionally THE editor) of a weekly online publication covering the worldwide Anglican church (Episcopal, Church of England, Scottish Episcopal Church, etc.) It started in 1994, and at its peak in 2010 it had 250,000 readers worldwide.
> 
> It had a "letters to the editor" section that before the era of Facebook and Twitter often had 20 or 30 publishable letters each week.
> 
> As instant media gradually eliminated interest in waiting a week to see your letter published, I needed to work harder and harder to get people to submit letters to us. Towards the end, I often resorted to submitting "Letters from the Editor", in which I used pseudonyms to craft realistic-looking letters and submitted them to myself. It was fun, a lot of work, and ultimately pointless. I closed the Letters to the Editor section in 2016 and I shut down the publication itself in 2019.
> 
> This week I thought briefly about doing something similar with the 2021 LUG Yearbook. Every year we lose LUG members and every year there are fewer images submitted. Could I submit photographs from fake people, keeping to myself the secret that I had taken those pictures myself?
> 
> No.
> 
> I'm an expert writer, and I can craft a letter to the editor that no one will think was written by me. But I'm a duffer photographer, and I can't make images worthy of padding the yearbook without them looking like I took them.
> 
> All of the LUG yearbooks contain only pictures taken by real people. This year there just won't be as many of them.
> 
> http://leica-users.org/yearbook/submitting.html
> 
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