Welcome to the second issue of MapForum.com.
We have had a very positive response to the first issue, and would thank everyone for their kind words. A representative selection of the letters of criticism and general questions about MapForum.com are included in the letters section, although the major points raised are addressed here.
A criticism of the first issue, which we accept, was the anonymity surrounding both editorship and authorship. Unfortunately, the Editor is the shy, retiring type! In future all full-length articles, checklists and so on will be attributed. Short notices will be the work of the Editor, unless otherwise attributed.
Obviously, the first issue was very experimental and, indeed, so is this issue, as we are seeking to refine and establish a format that we are happy with, before expanding the journal. We apologize to would-be advertisers who were turned away for this reason.
Further constructive criticism is gratefully received.
One issue that has emerged almost immediately – and a lot earlier than we had expected – is the matter of a ‘hard copy’ version. The Editorial Board has had long discussions about this, with contributions from several outside sources.
The strength of feeling we have received so far points firmly towards making the entire journal available in hard-copy, and we would be interested in hearing suggestions about what people would like to see. To state the obvious, two issues are economic viability, and time.
I would point out, with particular reference to the checklists, that the information on the web site is much abbreviated from a fuller database record. For example, in the checklist of maps of the United States, many illustrations that were available were omitted, either because they did not reproduce very well, or were too similar to other illustrations that were used. It has always been the intention to make the checklists available at a later stage, in a fuller, and updated form. To ensure that you receive notification about any such issue please fill in our on-line form.
