- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
West Wight Potter Mailing List maintainer
dfarrell@ridgecrest.ca.us
List hosted by www.tscnet.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ahoy PY-er's:
Harry wrote:
> The most time consuming part of the task is probably the page
> makeup, and there is a long learning curve to become halfway efficient at
it,
> and everyone has different software.
I put out the newsletter twice this past year (when Glenn Renkin had a
family emergency), and I agree with Harry's comment. The first time it took
me about 20 hours to get it formatted half-decently, and it was still
rougher than I would have liked. It wouldn't be practical to have a new
person learn how to do the page layout every other month. On the other hand,
it was a good thing that I was pre-committed to accept the job in case the
regular editor (Glenn) couldn't do it. Having an assistant editor ready to
assume the responsibility is a good idea, I think.
One other need we have is for people to contribute articles. The editor
shouldn't have to write everything. A few folks helped out while I was
doing the job - Kathy Falk, Larry Steffen, Jerry Barrilleaux, Dory Taylor,
and others (please forgive me if I forgot to include YOU!). If we could get
10 people to commit to writing two articles each over the next year, I think
we'd have a much more interesting newsletter. Making a commitment motivates
people. That would give the editor a team to rely on for material.
As for dues, I personally think modest dues are a good idea. On a
psychological level, paying dues enhances folks' identity as members and
strengthens the club. On a practical level, there are a few activities
(funding the newsletter, buying trophies, paying for lost keys at the
marina, etc) that add to the club's effectiveness.
Not everybody has the technological expertise or access to the web for
e-publishing. We need to continue sending them hardcopies of the
newsletter, or else we would be excluding them from the club. Buying a copy
of Acrobat for electronic distribution to those members who do have accesss,
is a great idea, but the software costs a couple of hundred dollars.
Just hardtack for thought,
Judy B
> -----Original Message-----
> From: hlg@pacbell.net [mailto:hlg@pacbell.net]
> Sent: Friday, January 07, 2000 12:02 PM
> To: wwpotter@tscnet.com
> Subject: Re: PY Newsletter Editor Needed
>
>
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> West Wight Potter Mailing List maintainer
> dfarrell@ridgecrest.ca.us
> List hosted by www.tscnet.com
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> Following is a note from Geoff about the PY newsletter, and
> my off-the-cuff
> responses. Anyone else have some thoughts about this?
>
> Harry
>
> >Harry,
> >
> >I'm not voluteering, I just simply do not have the time, but
> I might be able
> >to help once in a while to do a single newsletter. That
> might be an answer
> >for the future. I'm sure a lot of working folks just do not have the
> >additional time to work on the newsletter. Perhaps there
> can be six or more
> >individuals who could help just a time or two. Maybe it
> could be a committee
> >with a chairman. Each individual volunteering for a month
> would send his or
> >her newsletter to the committee chairperson for final editing and
> >proofreading before being published.
>
> I'll have to think about that. I'm not sure how that would
> work out. The
> most time consuming part of the task is probably the page
> makeup, and there
> is a long learning curve to become halfway efficient at it,
> and everyone
> has different software. The articles would have to get to a different
> person each time. I wouldn't mind doing just the copyediting
> (grammar and
> spelling) of individual articles. I'm a retired tech editor
> so I'm pretty
> fast at that, and the standards for a club newsletter are
> pretty relaxed
> anyway.
> >
> >Actually, I believe we are on the threshhold of being able
> to eliminate the
> >printed newsletter. It would be interesting to find what
> percentage of
> >Potterers have access to the net. If it is more than 70 or
> 80 percent, it
> >might be a good move to eliminate the printed newsletter and
> just post it to
> >the Potter web site. Those that do not have access will be
> doing so in the
> >near future. You can purchase a TV internet box for around
> $300 and that
> >price is coming down.
>
> Actually we wouldn't need the newsletter per se because all
> material would
> be on the web page. But I know there are still quite a few
> members who do
> not have Internet access and need the hardcopy newsletter. I
> doubt if we
> will be 100% Internet for some time yet.
>
> If we can generate Acrobat files, we could give members the option of
> electronic delivery. The Acrobat (pdf) files would be sent as e-mail
> attachments. That would reduce the printing and mailing cost and labor
> considerably. Those choosing E-delivery would have the
> benefits of prompt
> delivery, color, and search capability, and they could either
> print out the
> newsletter or read it on screen, and they would not have to
> file the paper
> version because it could be stored on disk.
> >
> >I sell real estate specific software and the slogan of my company,
> >Performance Marketing is, "Technology is like the building
> of a road. Either
> >you're on the steamroller or you become part of the road."
> If a sailor does
> >not have internet access, they certainly have a friend who
> does who can print
> >out the newsletter for them. We don't need to spend the
> money and time on a
> >printed newsletter for the technologically disabled anymore.
>
> Perhaps you are right and the time has come for that. If we
> eliminated the
> newsletter mailing we could then eliminate membership fees,
> and then we
> would have no official membership. Would that be good or bad?
>
>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Jan 31 2000 - 03:27:06 PST