News: MagWeb 1998 Survey Results

News:

MagWeb 1998 Survey Results

by Coalition Web, Inc.

by Russ Lockwood

Here are the complete results of the MagWeb 1998 Survey. We sent out 850 surveys in late January to MagWeb members past and present, of which 216 were completed and returned in February. Many thanks to those who filled them out, and to those who could not, we'll be running the survey again in the future.

A couple things stand out:

97.03% of our members would recommend MagWeb to a friend

1. What are your top three favorite periods of history?

(Note: Answers add up to over 100% because respondents could name up to three.)

Napoleonic 76.61% (French Revolution, Consulate, Empire to 1815)

World War II 47.58% 1939-1945

American Civil War 38.71% 1861-1865

Ancients 34.68% (to 500AD, includes Greece, Rome, Biblical, China)

Renaissance 20.16% (1501-1699, includes ECW, 30 Years War, Pike and Shot)

Medieval 16.13% (1000-1500, includes Crusades, War of Roses, Feudal Japan)

American Revolution 15.32% 1775-1783

Seven Years War 14.52% (includes French and Indian War)

19th century 13.71% (includes Franco-Pruss. War, EuroWars, Italian Wars)

18th Century 12.90% (1700-1760 or so, includes Marlburian)

Colonial 12.09% (includes Victorian British, American West)

Modern 11.29% (Includes Korean War, Cold War, Vietnam, Gulf War)

Dark Ages 8.06% (501-999AD)

World War I 5.65% 1914-1918

Other 5.65% -

Age of Sail 3.23% (naval)

War of 1812 2.42% 1812-1814

Between World Wars 1.61% (1918-1939, includes Russian Civil War)

2. Who are the three best commanders in all of military history?

(Note: Answers add up to over 100% because respondents could name up to three.)

Napoleon 70.96%

Alexander the Great 47.58%

Hannibal 17.74%

Frederick the Great 16.13%

Patton 16.13%

Julius Caesar 14.52%

Robt. E. Lee 12.90%

Rommel 12.90%

Wellington 11.29%

Ghenghis Khan 9.68%

Marlborough 8.87%

Scipio Africanus 6.45%

Stonewall Jackson 5.64%

Adolphus Gustavus 4.84%

Grant 4.03%

Sir Wm. Slim 3.22%

George Washington 2.42%

Xenophon 1.61%

Cromwell 1.61%

Davout 1.61%

von Manstein 1.61%

Nimitz 1.61%

Others mentioned that did not receive over 1%: Archduke Charles, Allenby, Admiral Anson, Belisarius, Burnside, Charlemagne, Sir Arthur Currie, Eisenhower, Eugene, Eugene of Savoy, Fabius, Nathan Forrest, Freyberg, Guderian, Prince Henry Of Prussia, Kellerman, Kesselring, Mannerheim (Finland), Maurice de Saxe, Nelson, Ney, Hugh O'Neill, BrigGen Abner Perrin CSA, Saladin, Winfield Scott, Shaka Zulu, Sherman, Stillwell, Suvarov, George Thomas (ACW), Titokowaru, Turrenne, Vespatian, Lettow von Vorbeck, Yamamoto, Zhukov, El gran capitan" (S.XIV-XV, Italy)

3. What are the three most pivotal battles in all of military history?

(Note: Answers add up to over 100% because respondents could name up to three.)

Waterloo 35.48%

Gettysburg 28.22%

DDay/Normandy 20.16%

Stalingrad 20.16%

Hastings 13.70%

Tours 10.48%

Kursk 10.48%

Midway 8.06%

Saratoga 8.06%

Yorktown 6.45%

Zama 5.64%

Marathon 5.64%

Trafalgar 5.64%

Vienna (vs. Turks) 4.83%

Moscow 1941 4.83%

Borodino 4.83%

Battle of Britain 4.83%

Arbela/Gaugamela 4.83%

Adrianople 4.03%

Valmy 4.03%

Austerlitz 3.23%

Manzikert 3.23%

Leipzig 3.23%

Lepanto 3.23%

Pearl Harbor 3.23%

Salamis 3.23%

Actium 2.42%

Ardennes 2.42%

Armada defeat 2.42%

Marne 1914 2.42%

Poltava 2.42%

Russia 1812 2.42%

Vicksburg 2.42%

Teutoburger Wald 2.42%

Agincourt 1.61%

Battle of Atlantic 1.61%

Blenheim 1.61%

Cambrai 1.61%

Cannae 1.61%

Chancellorsville 1.61%

Concord/Lex (AWI) 1.61%

Constantinople 1.61%

Naseby 1.61%

Somme 1.61%

Tet Offensive 1.61%

Thermopylae 1.61%

Others mentioned that did not receive over 1%: Ain Jalut, Alesia, Atom Bomb drops, Bosworth, Capes (naval), Citadel, Cold War, Dien Bien Phu, El Alamein, Gallipoli, Gandamack, Gate Pah, Gravelotte St. Privat-1870, Ilipa, Issus, Jena/Auerstadt, Konnigsgratz, Ligny, Lutzen (30YW), Marengo, Marston Moor, Megiddo, Mongol conquest of Russia, Mongol "divine wind" defeat (Japan), Mons 1914, Panipat 1761, Pavia, Poland '39 Fr'40, Puketutu, Russian Front WW2, Sadowa, Spioenkop (Boer), Te Ngutu te Manu, Vimy Ridge

4. What three aspects of MagWeb do you like most?

Scope (all periods, interests, lots of magazine etc.) 93.54%

Quality of information 31.45%

Easy Access / Convenience / Immediacy / 24 hour access 28.23%

Presentation / Navigation / Ease of Use 23.39%

Search Engine 18.55%

Seeing New Magazines/mags I never see/buy 16.93%

Frequent Updates 16.93%

Price 16.93%

Back Issues 16.13%

Electronic form (flexible, less storage) 11.29%

Other features 8.06%

Thank you very, very much.--RL

5. What three aspects of MagWeb need improvement?

More Back Issues 34.68%

More Magazines 18.55%

More of (specific type of article) 16.13%

Better Navigation/Presentation 15.32%

More posting of issues 14.17%

Nothing wrong at all 8.87%

Fix Typos 8.87%

Create Index by Topics 8.87%

Better Discussion Forum 7.26%

Better Search engine 6.45%

More links to sites outside MagWeb 6.45%

More Graphics 5.65%

Better Maps 5.65%

Faster Speed 4.83%

More stores in Mall at MagWeb 4.83%

Include Advertisements 4.03%

More Color Graphics 2.41%

Other 15.32%

Note: We hear you and have been concentrating on "More Back Issues" of late. We will add more magazines as possible (we pitch many, but it does take a while to license the rights). We guarantee 10 issues per month, but in Jan-Feb-Mar 1998, we posted 57, plus additional articles. With a one-year membership $59.95, or $5 a month, we aim for 50 cents an issue, but have come closer to 25 cents per issue.

More graphics/color graphics are dependent on the publication--we already include all the graphics. Ditto with better maps--we can only post what is in the magazine (we've already gone to two sizes of maps: Small and Large, and occasionally, a third size: Jumbo). We cannot include adverts, although we would welcome more advertisers in our Mall. As for links to sites outside MagWeb, other sites do that already, and we can better use the time to post more issues. We'll keep our basic presentation/navigation structure of list of magazines -- list of issues -- table of contents -- articles with criss-crossing hyperlinks since it scored 4th in the "things you like about MagWeb category." However, we are looking into tweaking it slightly as prepare for our second anniversary in July.

Finally, I was pleasantly surprised that 8.87% said nothing was wrong at all. -- RL.

6. Have you ever used the Search Engine to find articles? Why or why not?

7. Have you ever read/left a message in the Discussions section? Why or why not?

8. On a scale of 1 to 10 (1=awful, 5=average,10=excellent), rate MagWeb's:

Selection of articles: 7.97

Ease of finding what you want: 7.84

Speed of article download: 7.64

Overall article layout and links: 7.83

Membership price: 8.06

Overall value of MagWeb: 8.49

9. Do you buy the following products on a regular basis (Yes or No)?

historical books

historical computer games/CD-ROMs

historical boardgames

historical miniatures/rules

historical toy soldiers

historical re-enactment equipment

historical videos

fantasy/sci fi books

fantasy/sci fi computer games/CD-ROMs

fantasy/sci fi boardgames

fantasy/sci fi miniatures/rules

fantasy/sci fi videos

10. Would you recommend MagWeb to a friend?

Have you recommended MagWeb to a friend?

12. Would you like to get an email sent once a month summarizing the previous months magazine uploads?

We hear. We'll get this ready for the next month... and work out a distribution database--RL

11. (Optional) Any other comments, criticisms, suggestions, condemnations, praise?

(Note: I've put in my two cents in some places to clarify some points.--RL)

I can't think of anything else because MAGWEB does everything it advertises and more.

Keep up the good work, it can only continue to go from strength to strength.

I was initially skeptical, but have been pleasantly surprised with your service.

I love the format. I would like to see more back issues uploaded.

The growth curve has been great.

It's a Web Site I can't live without. If there is anything I can ever do, besides tell others about it, let me know. Heck, I go to a computer fair and advertise and demonstrate the site!

The only embuggerance is that you've doubled my outlay on the magazines I buy each month.

I think this is one of the best sites I've found.

I find it a very enjoyable and useful service

I like the fact that articles are hypertexted to previous or follow-on articles in a series. As Magweb develops, maybe associated articles from other references could be added. I find the download speed of the larger maps as slow, but this is not any different from downloading photos from other sources. It is mainly a function of the source's modem baud rate. I'm not sure how fast your modem or the system modem is. I would hope 56K.

We use a specialty T-1 line from our on-site server to connect to our ISP and thus to the Internet. You are correct, modem speed is the bottleneck--that and slow Internet system-wide traffic as a whole. --RL.

Keep up the good work.

I enjoy Magweb and usually read/check updates once a week on Tuesday or Wednesday during lunch. When I get home, I can then print out what articles I like to use for references and file them. Your service has given me the ability to research specific battles of the Napoleonic period. Thanks.

Keep up the good work!!!

I appreciate the effort made during my recent renewal to help me reinstate my charter membership, in spite of the obvious error on my part.

Great work. Keep it up. I've been one of your longest subscribers, and I greatly appreciate the service.

Would an annual index (or articles) be feasible?

Clicking on the "Latest Uploads ([months]) Click Here for New Postings" link off the MagWeb Master Magazine Page provides a list(in reverse chronological order) of magazines and "bonus" articles posted, along with the date of posting. This is by quarter, and links inside allow you to go back in time.

The other thing to use is the search engine to help you find articles on specific topics. Like all search engines, you'll get a lot of links to inappropriate articles, but also a host of very helpful ones.--RL

Would like some of the ads in the mags.

Sorry, our license is only for the articles, not the advertisements. --RL

Being in the military, it is not always possible to be located where I may purchase hard copies of the magazines you provide over the Internet. Needless to say, MagWeb has been a God-send! Plus I don't have to sift through stacks of various mags looking for articles pertaining to this months gaming interest.

Addition/creation/encouragement of more reader interaction, especialy; reviews of Historic sites to visit (!) More book/product reviews. A list of Games/Historical interest shops by area

It's a marvelous service that you provide... get more magazines on board.. get more people to advertise with you. Keep it up.

It's a lot of fun. Perhaps you could try adding some of the oldest issues of some mags, and also make a special feature for book reviews, rule and figurines reviews, etc., making them accessible by category and not just by the magazine. [Of course each review would feature the name of the mag where it was printed]

We are adding back issues as quickly as possible. Again, the search engine is the fastest way to sift through the archive of articles. It would be difficult to list each article link in separate category lists: ultimately, the list grows longer and longer, takes longer and longer to download, adn essentially duplicates the function of the search engine.-- RL

I like the service very much. Thanks for the good work. I might suggest the AFV News by George Bradford from Cambridge, ON Canada for inclusion.

Lack of free time has kept me from using it more than I want. I'm hoping my workload will ease up this year and I can get back into the site on a regular basis.

It is a great value. I have access to magazines now that were out of reach because of the cost of trying to subscribe to so many. It is a great value. I can get to articles I want pretty quickly. My only concern is that at certain peak times I can't get through or downloads get stalled.

I am extremely happy with MagWeb. It would be nice to be able to subscribe on-line to some of the magazines you carry. Sometimes I think I would like to start receiving the real magazine but I rarely remember to do anything about it after I get off the computer.

Need some naval gaming mags. Also, try and get more back issues from some of the older mags - the earlier articles are often just as good.

Keep up the good work. More RPG stuff.

Keep it up!

Place to buy odd copies of magazines for a couple bucks. Drop charges for Mall, put entire catalogs on line.

Place for member-posted content. Author interviews in discussions.

As you noted, we have discussions where members may post whatever they wish, including a section specifically for classified adverts.--RL

The only thing I miss by not having the actual magazine is the ads and new product announcements. I would like to see more vendors on magweb.

If the magazine has a new product announcement column or section, it is included in MagWeb. If you mean seeing new products IN THE adverts, since we do not license rights for adverts, we do not run this information. We would like to see more vendors in our Mall, too (grin). --RL

You must generate a lot of links over the months. How about publishing them?

Rule of thumb: Take the current number of pages and multiple by 10: that equals the number of links in MagWeb. As of March 31, 1998, we have 6,124 pages, and around 60,000 links hyperlinking them all together. --RL

Keep up good work

My experience has been good. MagWeb is a great resource.

Get The GI Journal

I check MAGWEB almost daily. You don't do anything I don't like.

Keep adding content and they will come. I'd love to see coverage from the English glossy magazines (Wargames Illustrated, Etc.), even at a higher price. Color photos and more neat graphics would be nice. I also miss seeing the ads from the regular periodicals - I buy many of them for the ads.....

Keep up the good work. I think MagWeb is the best!

I know that fantasy is important to get a younger readership involved. In a perfect world you would have more magazines dealing with military history (I believe that is your aim.) and more articles that go into subjects a little more deeply. You might try to get some of the more general historical mags involved. How about museums, don't they often put out small periodicals on historical events and people?

I would like to see the writers' biblographies, sources in general; they are always a good source for further reading.

I would like to see more back issues of the quality mags like MWAN, Courier, Lone Warrior.

I can't bitch about the price, it seems fair.

I sent you a suggestion once which you didn't think much of; I'll try again with a story: in the early years of colonial America Thomas Tompion (I might be wrong about the name) couldn't sell the clocks he was manufacturing, so what he did was set out on horse back to sell them. He left clocks at the farms with the promise he would pick them up when he returned. By the time he got back they were so used to and dependent on the clocks that he usually ended up making the sale. Give 'em a free month (if that's possible with net mechanics) - you'll have some takers and what have you lost - except time, of course?!).

I like the service you provide very much. It can sometimes be rather difficult to pay to an American bank in cash (or international money order), which makes it hard to contact magazines like the seven years war journal, etc. Your service provides me with the info I need. (I am still thinking of joining up with them, if I can find an alternative method of payment, but in the meantime I read their mags through you).

Another suggestion. Could you ask all of the suppliers of the magazines for their E-mail numbers, possible web pages and the lot, and put them in as well.

I don't think that I could say much more. The download speed is really wonderful, I have to download something from other web-pages and I do not think that I had seen something so fast as magweb. it surprises me that there is so few articles about the second world war, but I suppose it is the fault of the magazines and not yours.

Best wishes - I hope you're getting the commercial support and subscribers.

I guess my poor opinion on the speed of download is common to all european members. Maybe a european mirror site?

You're going to need a subject index soon.. probably based on historical period?

We're investigating something like that on a "magazine" basis. The search engine takes care of the articles.--RL

More magazines, including foreign language ones.

Very good service at a very good price. The personal contact is good such as these requests for info and at resubscription time.

Keep up the good work. I hope you can add additional magazines to the list. Let me know what I can do to help keep MagWeb going.

Seems like a great idea and so far I'm impressed. I think that you should include colour image links for the features. ( it helps uniform research & clarifies some of the map details.).

Increase the linkage between sites or have a central links page ( a pre done search maybe) for all article on senarios, unforms etc. by period. Otherwise keep up the good work and good luck in 98.

You all started to look more like a team and really pull for MagWeb's survival. It became clear to me that all of you were very serious and it was time to join.

This is not a criticism, but I reproach Americans as they process too much of their military history. The military history of the world is very vast and varied.

Less time between publication & titles appearing on Magweb.

You and your staff are to be congratulated, you have overall a good, timely service long overdue but I really wish such mags as Minature Wargames, Wargames Illustrated and other history type mags were included. Would realy like links to foriegn wargamer and or historians.

Thank you for all your hard work.

Praised you before and I can't recommend you highly enough but sure would like to see Command magazine on there.

I enjoy your service, especially as a research tool.

KEEP IT UP!

My subscription has lapsed, and I figure I've got about 6 months before there is enough change in the site to warrant a resubscription.

In Jan, Feb, Mar 1998, we posted 57 issues plus assorted other articles: over 1,000 articles in total. --RL

You provide a valuable service and you're the only one doing it.

I would like to see something related to historical re-enactment groups included, points of contact, who and what is around, up coming events: that sort of thing.

I fear that fantasy gaming sites will grow inexorably and "assimilate" MagWeb. Please don't let this happen, remember that resistance is NOT futile!

Praise for a great job, well done.

Keep up the good work. I know how much of a boring task it is to scan in a text, run it through a spellchecker, reread it and check for errors, correct them, reread it again, ... To sum up, I find Magweb to be a tremendously rich resource for both wargamers and amateur historians, and would recommend it to anyone! Thank you for so much good work!

MagWeb was recommended by my brother who lives 1200 miles away. It has broadened my hobby reading immensely and is worth every penny of the cost. Don't go away.

I love the idea and what you have done so far. All I would say is that you need to get many more magazines and upload the most current versions you can. Right now I think there are a little too many to do with miniatures. I think you should focus on this service rather than becoming a mailorder store because I think there is a lot of competition out there for that and you should spend your energies on the magazines.

How do you inform clients about the need for renewal?

E-mail about 2 weeks prior to end of membership.--RL

Good luck at continuing this fine service!

Don't stop now!

Don't go away!!!

Russ, you have a great product. Keep up the good work, and you've got a lifetime subscriber in me. Although the Napoleonic Wars are well represented, try to get more magazines, say some of the British publications.

Of the 47 current magazines, 13 are UK in origin.--RL

It will be nice to have the complete collection of principal magazines old issues

How about getting magazines like Practical Wargamer, Wargames Illustrated, The General; Command Magazine; Military Technology; Jane's, etc. on as well?

Your product is the best value a gamer could get for that low yearly price. Please continue the fine work for both historical and sci fi periods. I will renew when you all come up for Cold wars.

It's a bargain.

I can download/print select articles rather than accumulate loads of junk.

I'm still very much in the initial stages of getting to know MagWeb. It's an excellent idea for a service and brings a number of titles I like but just can't afford to subscribe to within reach. I get the articles I want and no waste, apart from some time online looking at the latest issues. Having the whole thing searchable as well avoids loads of irritation that would be caused by going through a stack of magazines to find one article in the dimly remembered past.

It's nice to have hard copy of magazines, but I guess over the long run, the internet is more convenient.

Is it possible to create a permanent archive of all mags and articles, with a pull up menu by subject possible?

Yes. It is already available. Click on the search engine, type in whatever topic you seek, and let the engine bring up the links.--RL

How about a monthly "perfect move" contest...copy up a situation and challenge subscribers to make the best move and indicate why...My guess is that the prize wouldn't have to be anything more than mention on your home page...you know, commander of the month sort of B.S.

Search engines are a necessary option even if not used frequently. I think development of topical indexes (a la Yahoo) on such subjects as scenarios, orders of battle, figure reviews, how-to tips, etc. would be an interesting feature that many would use if well

Getting back issues of magazines is CRITICAL to me-its why I spent the $, it's a good bargain

You can extract what you are interested in fairly quickly and then new stuff doesnt come on often enough to make subscription worth while in long term.

Yes, monthly e-mail might induce me to resubscribe.

An excellent use of the WWW, and a harbringer of the future

I know what it would cost me to sub to a 10th of these mags

Be more careful of typos (the latest chapter by Nosworthy in the the Courier was terrible).

We went back and fixed that particular article. We try to be responsive to our members. --RL

I know it is hard to do, but put more effort into back issues than adding more mags (particulary those that would be difficult for the majority of your subscribers to have ever seen). Would suggest you just redraw some of the maps you scan in (as they are too fuzzy to read or use).

MagWeb is a great value and a great service to the historical wargaming hobby. In addition to providing a new medium for delivery of magazines, it adds the promise and power of Internet archiving, the ultimate wargaming database.

It would be an excellent idea to create a majordomo or listserv that subscribers could sign on (and off of) by their own choice to read a short notice of what's new. I would sign on and it would save me wasted trips to MagWeb to see if there is anything new. I would send it more often than once a month...once a week or as new items are posted are better choices (but not daily).

Keep up the good work, mate.

Seriously, I think that you run a good service, I only wish it was bigger, with a good archive of material. I know that you might have all sorts of problems scanning in large amounts of stuff, and getting deals with companies, but that is the essence of your organisation - size

Lack of new magazines. It seems many magazines have one or two issues posted that are a year old. Battlefields comes to mind. You have what two issues on there? It does no good saying you have "44 magazines on line" of you only have one issue of each. Keep this current, or if a magazine has stopped working with you, say that on the site.

We have 4 out of the 7 Battlefields produced. We can only scan so fast, and we do favor those magazines that send us the electronic files. Some publishers figured out that sending us more files increases their royalties. Others are starting to get it, while a couple haven't figured that out yet. --RL

Some fantasy gamers could turn historical gamers through MagWeb.

Before I answer I want to tell you that I doubt I am a 'typical' gamer/historian (whatever that is!). The reason I say that is that I am 57 years old and I've yet to run into any one that old still playing wargames. My focus now, what there is of it, is painting miniatures for gaming and reading military history.

Sort the magazines on the main index page by period / interest. ie General miniatures wargames, Scifi, fantasy, historical period.

I've enjoyed my MagWeb membership from the beginning, and as long as my interests are being met, I'll continue to do so. Good luck, and thanks!

Great service, fantastic range of magazines especially those which I could not otherwise have access to.

Thanks, Russ. I've really been impressed with the growth and services, and have gotten a lot of enjoyment from access to Magweb. I get a lot of reference material for gaming from the various articles you guys have given us access to. Thanks again!

Sorry, been off island for awhile. I very much enjoy the service.

Keep up the great work, I really enjoy the service and find myself using it more and more for research in addition to just plain browsing.

Thank you for an excellent and valuable service!

YOU HAVE A GREAT PRODUCT! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.

I certainly enjoy MagWeb; keep up the good work!

I get a ton of enjoyment out of your service. Thanks for everything.

I have really enjoyed Magweb, it's a great idea and long may it continue. All the best and keep up the good work.

Back to 2nd Quarter 98 List of News Items

This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com