To the editor:
I am writing to you today in response to your story regarding the change in format that the Quill is taking (published June 17).
My family and I have taken the Quill since we moved here in 1979. In that time, I have grown more and more disgusted by the road the paper has taken, but this latest news is enough to say that enough is enough. I'll keep my subscription until it expires in August but that's the end of it for me. I will not waste one more penny on a paper that cares so little about its town and county.
Finding out that you are going to a two day per week printed schedule, one day of which isn't even a NEWSpaper but a "how it used to be" joke, sickened me.
While the Quill has gotten more and more expensive, the quality has gone further down the drain. The content itself is all right, for what it is. But the fact that you need to hire a proofreader, have decreased both the physical size of the paper (both page size and number of pages) and the amount of content in the paper, and are now trying to shove this e-paper concept down the throats of people who may not even have a computer, while providing even less to those who depend on a physical newsPAPER, has convinced me that you are not a company I wish to do further business with.
You haven't even bothered to provide an app that people can use on their phone or tablet, which, in case you didn't know, is where a lot of people get their news.
I wasn't an English major in college, but the errors in your paper tell me that you definitely need to hire a proofreader and have for decades. The spelling is horrible. Your writers need serious help with grammar. And you need someone to come in and make sure the composition of stories makes sense.
I have seen several stories over the years where a sentence was cut off, only to be completed after two or three other paragraphs, or even in the middle of another paragraph, if it was finished at all, which many haven't been. I have seen numerous stories that were to be concluded on another page, only to find they weren’t. No end of story in that paper, no correction in a future edition, no conclusion, period.
Right now, your paper is near $140/year for Howell County, through mail delivery. I'm not going to pay $140 for what amounts to one newspaper a week! West Plains needs a newspaper that is reputable, competent and worth the price charged for it.
The West Plains (NO LONGER) Daily Quill ain't it. I hope all the people who have been loyal to you over the years flock to your office in droves to cancel their subscriptions.
Thanks for nothing. Zip. Nada. Goose egg.
