An Open letter to Mark & Hypertune<o:p></o:p>
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To the so called journalist Mark,<o:p></o:p>
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I'm one of your readers, and in the past i do bought a few copies of Hypertune as one of my motoring reads, being that i love cars and i have some certain interest of modifying cars. Just to let you know, my regular reads are Autocar ASEAN, Topgear Malaysia, & Jeremy Clarkson's weekly articles at the Times UK,as well as i have my weekly dose of Fifth gear and Top gear. That explains i have a higher taste on reading car reviews articles.<o:p></o:p>
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Though i am personally not a fan of local car modifying magazines, i do bought a few issues of Hypertune depending on the content. Seriously i admitted if i take on the account of the most best selling local car modifying mags, Hypertune can easily be on top of the list. I have seen the worse from your rivals which explained why i don’t spend my money on those magazines. <o:p></o:p>
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I'm a regular forumer in the Lowyat forums, possibility the biggest online community in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Malaysia</st1:country-region></st1:place>, and i regularly visit and post in the cars section, namely the "Fast & furious", in which there is a thread on discussing about your mag. A year back, on Oct 5th, i did made a post saying "Speaking of their writers, the one who deserves to get shot to death is Mark. His writing is horrible, lack of sense and unprofessional. "I admited i was harsh, but back then i was reacting to Mark's articles which contained a lot of irrelevant stories in some car review segments. There are a number of forumers who agreed on this. <o:p></o:p>
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Take a look at vol 64, on the red Toyota Yaris turbo review. The introduction is horrid with irrelevant stories of how the car got involved in a minor accident before the writer can get the car to be reviewed. This may be other people liking but for me it’s a no. Different people different taste, sounds fair? <o:p></o:p>
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A good professional should take criticism at their own heart but they also must be rational on taking other people's point of view. A professional have a choice to consider whether a feedback is doing good or bad to him/her. Somehow, let me get things straight.<o:p></o:p>
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On the current issue on the Hari Raya 2007, apparently one year after i made that post in the lowyat forums, I was shocked and surprised with Mark's editorial writing. It was indeed unprofessional, unrespectful, lack of rational sense and childish from Mark. How come he has retaliated irrationally by putting my nickname (which is actually my short name) into a local publication and shooting such childish insults, on a printed media?<o:p></o:p>
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I admitted I made a number of harsh posts on HT in that online forum as a regular joe (I’m on an IT based career FYI) in which my posts in the forum did not reflect anything on my profession. However he has written such sentence as the writer/journalist of the publication, do you think this is a clear display on how lack of professionalism Mark has displayed as a writer/journalist for a well reputated publication? <o:p></o:p>
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Not to mention, he has shown lack of open and respect to the readers. A professional should take feedbacks, both good and bad, with an open heart and try his/her best to improve if that feedback is relevant. But from that immature reply has yet again shown he can’t take criticism and instead acting foolishly by retaliating it. <o:p></o:p>
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You might not upset me for spreading such insult in a mass published magazine, but I am very disappointed with the way Mark has displayed as a writer/journalist. Such act is seriously jeopardizing his reputation as a writer and journalist, but as I mentioned earlier, it is up to Mark if he can accept such “feedback” from a disgusted reader. <o:p></o:p>
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I have not yet mentioned how degraded Hypertune now according to some feedback from the online forums, from getting too expensive, too many advertorial, lack of quality content, too focus on sexy models instead of cars, and the list goes on. But the concern here is not losing another reader, but it’s about having someone from the journalism/writer line to perform something stupid.<o:p></o:p>
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As for me, I am not hurt but rather feel disgusted. I have a choice on selecting what I want to read, so as everyone. But I must say I not pretty sure what other’s think of Hypertune and Mark after this incident has occurred. I also can’t predict how many more unsold copies of Hypertune will be collecting dust in newsstands in the future. I rest my case here. <o:p></o:p>
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