How would you like to receive you magazine [Bob Carter]

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Bob Carter wrote:

There has been a proposal that we distribute the magazine by EMail in pdf format to save costs and keep the membership fees down. This would be an option and would not replace the magazine for those who still prefer to receive the hard copy booklet.
Any views for and against?
Cheers
Bob Carter

[Archive]

Barrie replied:

TO ALL

What are we thinking about trying to get rid of the printed magazine.
I, like probably most of you, sit at my machine all day reading documents,drawings, pictures and rattling out so many messages, specs and loads of other detail that I have absolutely no interest in seeing/reading the magazine sent to me electronically!!!
Our magazine is something to be proud of and must not be put in jeopardy by trying to do the 'in thing ' and going electronic. We Association members look forward to receiving the new copy for its interesting items and in particular for the full results of events to study (results that people down the fleet are interested in). The printed copies not only go to all our members but their families, handed on to other club members and are left in club houses throughout the land. The union flag will go up any minute now!
Yes publish, electronically, as much info from the magazine but after it has been issued, no problem with that.
I completely agree with Bobs sentiment about the magazine but if financing it is the issue then we need to address that issue, not potentially lose the magazine.

Hope you all have a good Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Best regards

Barrie

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Simon replied:

I'm sorry not to have come back to you sooner on the issue of the electronic membership but as clearly this is an issue you have given a good deal of thought to I didn't want to come back with a glib answer and without first getting an impression of what everyone else feels about the issue. As ever a cutting edge concept.
The cost of printing is definately in the setting up, anything below a print run of a 1000 copies is less efficient and a lot of printers won't touch. Reducing the amount we put to print will not decrease the cost unduly. I don't think Dart 15 membership is expensive it's certainly a lot cheaper than other classes and the magazine is a tangible product that members get for their money. If cost is an issue then we may need to push advertising in the magazine harder.
I think the Web and Mag have different roles and both should be played to their strengths. I intend to press on with a hard copy magazine but I am happy to look at costing if that is the principle concern. If there is a demand for instant access information then clearly we can further extend the role of the Web and there is no reason why people can't be e-mailed details of events or offers.

Cheers

Simon

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Gordon replied:

Re. electronic membership, I guess I'm not that keen.
I wouldn't want to start anything that could jeopardise the printed magazine, which I think is fundamental to the future of our association. We already have the website, and a lot of stuff is already on there. Is there room for another format?

Another problem is what happens to the membership fee. We already know that the cost of printing is largely the set-up, if say half the members opt for electronic membership, we'd still have to pay virtually the same amount to get the magazine printed. We might have to increase the fee quite a bit, then we might get more people going elec. then we may not have a magazine. We could be shooting ourselves in the foot.

Regards Gordon

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Jonathan replied:

Question: So what would your reaction be to getting the Dart mag as a PDF file instead of a printed copy? It would speed delivery up by about 15 - 30 days each time, and save us a lot of money into the bargain.

Reply: Oh that's a very interesting question. Firstly, you're spot on mentioning PDF as the format to distribute publications like the magazine in. Its a lot more compact than e.g. Word, you can get viewers for almost any platform, and probably most importantly, the formatting is preserved so that the viewer always sees the information and pictures exactly as you wanted. You can also easily print a page or pages out and keep the correct formatting on paper. I certainly wouldn't want to receive something like the magazine in say Word format.
I don't have any problem with an electronic copy - a lot of the specifications I use daily at work are in PDF format, so I'm quite used to reading stuff on screen. I can imagine there will many who would always want a paper copy though.
An additional advantage with making PDF versions available is that after a suitable embargo'd period we could make back issues available for download on the website.
On balance, I think I like to receive the paper version, but I'd be quite happy to accept an electronic copy if there were benefits to the Association.

Jonathan

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Bob replied:

Hi Guys.
I must admit to having no interest in getting my magazine in a do it yourself PDF format. With the combination of the web site and the hard copy magazine we have all I and most of our members want. I keep all my user friendly magazines for quick reference of what's going on, for past results, history, nice pictures, etc. You have to remember that we see 80 of our members at events. All the contact we have with the other 200 or so is the 3-4 magazines / year we publish plus the web site which is our shop window to the outside world. They are great and our members love them. Well worth ?2.50 each (or more). I have all the Dart 15 magazines I've received since I joined the Association in 1988. The old ones are like Nick Dewhirst scrap books - they will soon have collectors value!
I set out below what I see as the Pros & Cons of electronic distribution of PDF files for the magazine:
Advantages
1) Reduction in printing and circulation costs
2) ???
Disadvantages
1) Not user friendly. Members cannot read it until printed.
2) We have less than 50 Email addresses and 300 members. Thus it will only satisfy a small group of our members. We will never get out of printing the magazine for the majority or rest of our members.
3) Most of us only have small slow ink jet printers. These would take 10-15 minutes to print the magazine. The result would be scrappy loose leaf A4 pages. Not a nice bound edition.
4) The cost of printing the magazine in ink jet cartridges is appreciable - hence our members pay twice.
5) Most of our members would hit the delete button.
6) Many of our members would vote with their feet and not bother with membership if this was the only option.
7) The web site is a more user friendly option for read soft and only print what you want to keep.
Many of our punters are changing their EMail service provider all the time. It is very difficult to keep up with the latest address list. Who would do this?
9) Many of our members give us their work EMail Addresses. At many employers it is a "disciplinary proceedings job" to do such homers at work. Small messages are not such an issue.
Sorry to be negative. I offer the above lists for whoever wants to add others to either view.
I suggest that before we waste mush time trialing it we ask the opinions of our members in the next (spring) magazine or on the web page - hence this posting.
Cheers
Bob

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Tony Drake replied:

No contest, keep the magazine.

Regards

Tony.

Merry Christmas & HAppry New Year.

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Mark Aldridge replied:

Last summer, when I first thought about buying a Dart 15 I received a magazine (September 1999)from somewhere. This magazine was read alot until I finally bought my first Dart #1705.

The magazine kept me going whilst learning bits about the boat, second hand values and who was where in the Nationals.

I probably don't read the more recent mags quite as many times, but that's because I'm out @ Grafham most weekends.

Personally, I'd like to keep the magazine especially in it's new format with Simon.

My only thought for improvement would be to keep (for the 50 odd members on e-mail)some articles, picture exclusive for the mag'. With the excellent website, when the mag' arrives possibly half or more of it is in the web.

This is not a criticism, but would I feel add value to the magazine even more.

Perhaps if we printed extra and left them for distribution at various clubs and The Laser Centre?

Better go and do some work now.

Mark

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Keith in Hong Kong replied:

Personally I would like it stuffed full of fivers and an airticket to Phuket...........obviously thats not going to happen.

But seriously.....I'm a bit biased in that for me in a remote(ish) location from the hub of 15 'ing, and for general communications to friends, family and workmates past/present, electronic is the only way to go for me.....and it would save the association a few pence in stamps!

However to put in perpective my views on loosing a printed mag......I still spend a fortune getting Y&Y airmailed to me every 2 weeks.....but I can still read it on the web....the choice is there but sometimes not worth taking!

My wife will testify to the pile of mags that have always existed under my bed from childhood and they help me to doze off dreaming (yeah I know what you're thinking)...........about boats of course.....what do you think I am....some deviant in to motorsports!!!!

Enuff

Keith