After decrying the failure yesterday of Matter, the new long-form science journalism site, to deliver a story to my Kindle or to give me any help, I found a place at a different website–Matter's blog–where I could leave a comment. (I could find no place to contact Matter on its main website.) I left a comment complaining about my Kindle problem and my inability to find help files or contact Matter.
I got a response to the comment last night from Matter's Bobbie Johnson. He pointed out that there is a help file. It's just not part of the site's main navigation bar, which contains the following:
about / articles / blog / account / sign out
Below that, in smaller type, was the help link I'd missed. It looked like this:
(copyright) 2012 MATTER. All Rights Reserved. / Terms and contitions / Help
I'm afraid that when I start seeing copyright notices and "terms and conditions," I stop reading. I never got to "help," which, in any case, should have been in the main nav bar, along with "contact."
Regarding the Kindle problem: Matter's home page says stories will be delivered as ebooks "for your Kindle or iPad," and the members page elaborates on that.
But it's not true. From Johnson's comment:
As for the Kindle issue, that's something we are about to address: right now we only deliver *new* stories to your Kindle if you're a Member (not ones that have already been published), but thanks to a lack of clarity in the way I worded it, we've sparked some confusion re the Kindle delivery option.
Johnson asked that I try the site again, because there are still "a lot of wrinkles to iron out." He didn't say when.
-Paul Raeburn
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