Questions:

[svxxx26]

So anyway, I'd pay dues for an organized club with a newletter, YES. I've had no problem responding to several calls for help from the administrators in the past.

It is going to be a lot of work though. My last exposure to a car club that had it's act together was the BMW Car Club. They had a national mag that rivaled many car magazines. The local chapters also put out their own newsletters. I had the pleasure of being the Newsletter Editor of the Mountain State Chapter for 3 years.
The advantage of BMW? They had a LOT of members. Not all that many locally that would show up for meetings and activities, that was always a small core group. But the membership paid dues, all of them, so we got the benefit of that whether anybody showed up or not.
The downside of that small core group was that we had to do all the work. I really hadn't planned on being editor for 3 years, it was more like editor-by-default cause no one else would do it. It was like that for all the leadership positions in the local chapter and it burned people out.

That being sia....dang...I'd love to help out any way I could. If we keep our goals realistic, it could work out I think - but definitely, we will need a dues structure. Can't do a thing without a source of revenue you can depend on.

[Ron Mummert]

The last time we attempted to "Get Formal" everthing died in committee. In fact, we couldn't get a committee together to die in. It's always about money. If we're gonna' get serious again I suggest we set the annual fee for admittance pronto, & get a list of contributors. I think the prior effort included a "Junior & Senior" membership level so wealthy folk, like myself, can contribute say $50.00 (OK, $49.95) a year, & receive something special....like a gold trimmed SVX window decal that says, "Look at me - I'm feelthy rich!"
For the starving students a fee of around $19.95 would include a decal that says "I'm not worthy!" So, I now strongly suggest we begin a poll of SERIOUS contributors, tally up the booty, & see where it takes us.
Put me down for $49.95 plus tip.

Ron

[svxxx26]

Originally Posted by Ron Mummert

The last time we attempted to "Get Formal" everthing died in committee. In fact, we couldn't get a committee together to die in. It's always about money. If we're gonna' get serious again I suggest we set the annual fee for admittance pronto, & get a list of contributors. I think the prior effort included a "Junior & Senior" membership level so wealthy folk, like myself, can contribute say $50.00 (OK, $49.95) a year, & receive something special....like a gold trimmed SVX window decal that says, "Look at me - I'm feelthy rich!"
For the starving students a fee of around $19.95 would include a decal that says "I'm not worthy!" So, I now strongly suggest we begin a poll of SERIOUS contributors, tally up the booty, & see where it takes us.
Put me down for $49.95 plus tip.

Ron

I second that. Put me down for the feelthy rich

[PDSides]

Larry, I liked the movie "Conspiracy Theory" and think that would be a good name for our newsletter. Seriously, its a great idea although it requires tons of work to get it done with any hope of a professional appearance. Maybe we should start small (and cheap) with a four-page front-and-back black on white newsletter. It could be mailed in a plain #10 envelope with mailing cost being nothing more than a first-class stamp. As interest picks up and money is available, we could graduate to something more costly. Good idea. Why don't you post it on the Yahoo site as well.
Preston

[Stevebsy]

Umm...as someone who was sort of a part of the committee that died...A newsletter sounds great, but the problem is finding someone to write an article, put it all together, etc...

Our main problem was trying to justify the membership dues, other than keeping the forum going and giving away some schwag for the donors.

IMO a newsletter would be nice, but as I see it, this board is basically a giant daily newsletter and archive all in one, I don't see much need for a printed version...but that's just me..

I strongly agree we need a method to financially support this site, and it is something that is being worked on by Chris at this moment.

Be patient and soon you will all have a chance to donate and help out, that's all the more I will say...Chris can fill in the rest when he is ready.

[ensteele]

I have been thinking the same thing. This is a progressive newsletter that is refreshed on a daily basis. It also gives info that you need when you need it.

As Radar O'Riely said - "Wait for it!"

[SSSVX]

This is a good idea but I think it would take a while to come through . . .

[intelisevil]

I've been involved with creating newsletters for a few groups over the years. Normally, 'everyone' starts out excited, contributing articles (only a few days after the deadline). Then due to varying writing abilities, an editor has to make them look good. Then people will start complaining that the editor is changing 'everything' (even if it's just spelling and grammar). Then people start 'forgetting' about the deadline entirely.

A regulary scheduled newsletter can be a daunting task, especially since we are located all over the world. We would need a group of committed people, who live close enough to each other to meet up a few times to get things going. Email communications would work once everything is going smoothly, but face to face meetings would be needed in the beginning.

As SVX owners, we are generally busy earning money to fix/take care of our babies or actually working on our babies. Who thinks they have the time in their lives to take on the needed responsibilites? I've seen several members say they would be willing to pay for a newsletter, but I don't think I saw anyone volunteering to step up and lead it.

What can we do in a newsletter that we can't do here in the forums? Anything that would be put into a printed (or pdf) article could be a new thread.

I completely agree with Stevebsy's and Earl's comments about our forum being "a giant daily newsletter and archive all in one" & "a progressive newsletter that is refreshed on a daily basis". I'd like to push Earl's comment even further and say that it's updated minute by minute, 24 hours a day. Even the largest of daily big city newspapers don't have the power that we have on our forum!

IMHO,
Dan

[svxistentialist]

As Earl says.

Chris is coming up with a format, and there WILL be membership fees, with different grades, different benefits. Something to suit everyone.

It's good to see everyone contributing to the debate, and although Dan describes his opinion as "humble", it's a good and valid one.

I don't agree with it, however. I mean, about the need for a Newsletter being eclipsed because the Forum does all that.

In principle, most forums tend to have people posting short sweet conversational style replies, relict of the time when bandwidth and memory and everything else was scarce or expensive. The difference from a Newsletter is, a Newsletter is like a magazine, it contains articles.

Personally, I think we should consider the compilation of a Newsletter. Quarterly, maybe, or more often, depending on demand and resource. Someone has already offered to edit it, I think.

But in saying this, I suspect we might be doing well to only pass along the Newsletter by email, in pdf format. It can be properly compiled, proper desktop publishing format for those who want to print off, staple and collect. That will keep the cost down, and it's available to all who supply an email address.

Does anybody think this format would work? Or be attractive?

Joe

[newsvx]

Originally Posted by svxistentialist

As Earl says.

Chris is coming up with a format, and there WILL be membership fees, with different grades, different benefits. Something to suit everyone.

It's good to see everyone contributing to the debate, and although Dan describes his opinion as "humble", it's a good and valid one.

I don't agree with it, however. I mean, about the need for a Newsletter being eclipsed because the Forum does all that.

In principle, most forums tend to have people posting short sweet conversational style replies, relict of the time when bandwidth and memory and everything else was scarce or expensive. The difference from a Newsletter is, a Newsletter is like a magazine, it contains articles.

Personally, I think we should consider the compilation of a Newsletter. Quarterly, maybe, or more often, depending on demand and resource. Someone has already offered to edit it, I think.

But in saying this, I suspect we might be doing well to only pass along the Newsletter by email, in pdf format. It can be properly compiled, proper desktop publishing format for those who want to print off, staple and collect. That will keep the cost down, and it's available to all who supply an email address.

Does anybody think this format would work? Or be attractive?

Joe

I agree with Joe. While an actual, hardcopy newsletter is great (I have done a couple in VERY basic format in Word), from experience I know it is a lot of work! It is costly to print if you have Kinko's or the like do it, but if you go someplace like a UPS store and do the copying yourself, it costs (here in Winchester, VA) 3.5 cents per page - in black and white. But then there is the postage costs to consider - multiply 38 cents times 2,000 members, and that is real money!! And don't forget our international members.

So, in my opinion, publishing via the forum or e-mail in PDF format is the way to go. I can imagine what Chris is working on, and I think he will hit the nail on the head with the way to go. There must be some way to track members that pay their dues in order to acquire the e-mailed newsletter. Obviously, if you post you have to "sign in" (handleand password), and I would think it would be fairly easy to use the "sign in" as the key to the newsletter. The newsletter could be a particular "FORUM" that only presents itself to the dues-paying members. I also believe it would be easier to find a newsletter publisher if it can be done "on-line" too, Believe me (I just copied and distributed our local Homeowners Association newsletter - and THIS is after articles were written and the newsletter was put together!), a hardcopy version will be a LOT of work and time consuming for someone - not many have the time to spare. We have had, however, a couple of folks expressing an interest in doing this, but the question is for how long. One gets burned out after a while - I know!

So bottom line for me: I would gladly pay dues for the opportunity for this relationship to continue with this wonderful group of SVX'ers. The forum is already a great wealth of info for all of us, and it has some VERY helpful folks as well. I have met and enjoy so many new friends via my SVX and this forum. Anything we can do to keep us together and continueing to share is a plus! A newsletter would be superb, but I would recommend electronic publishing - if a hardcopy is desired, a member can print it off him / herself.

Harry (looking forward to hearing from Chris!!)

[Landshark]

are the dues going to be a requirement to view the forums?

i contributed when the AC needed upgrading for the server, and that was after i had sold my SVX. however, i really don't see myself paying yearly dues for a car forum when i no longer own that car. quite a few people who no longer own SVXs still like spending time on this place, so don't alienate them.


i've seen the newsletter idea on other forums, and as others have said, it starts out with a lot of enthusiasm, and then is quickly forgotten about. we have the How-To locker, Site News on the main page, and Regional forums for Meets/announcements - what exactly would go in the newsletter anyway?

[Seraph]

I am with Alan on the alienating thing. I don't have an issue paying dues. I did once. We tried to keep it as free as possiable so far. I think admins and mods have heard me talk about this issue before.

I say we should have how to articles with colour photos as newsletters for memberships. I'll print and edit them if needed. Just let me know.

[svxistentialist]

We're trying to get rid of all the people who don't own SVXs. They are just diluting the quality of life on here.

Originally Posted by Landshark

are the dues going to be a requirement to view the forums?

i contributed when the AC needed upgrading for the server, and that was after i had sold my SVX. however, i really don't see myself paying yearly dues for a car forum when i no longer own that car. quite a few people who no longer own SVXs still like spending time on this place, so don't alienate them.


i've seen the newsletter idea on other forums, and as others have said, it starts out with a lot of enthusiasm, and then is quickly forgotten about. we have the How-To locker, Site News on the main page, and Regional forums for Meets/announcements - what exactly would go in the newsletter anyway?

[Landshark]

Originally Posted by svxistentialist

We're trying to get rid of all the people who don't own SVXs. They are just diluting the quality of life on here.

i have an SVX hood ornament on my LGT - does that count?


the donation thing seemed to work well, i'm sure another one would go over just as good.

[svxistentialist]

Lwin

What you are saying is very close to the mark on what I was suggesting.

We have had people on here before who are members of other car clubs, not all run primarily through a Forum, on-line. They are pretty uniform of their praise for a magazine style newsletter.

As mentioned above, the newsletter would be comprised of articles. Of which, well written How-Tos, with good quality photographs would be prime examples. Other examples would be for instance if somebody who was going to Reading or other SVX meetings wrote a travelogue, showing what went on, photographs of the cars and the people attending, details of how the evening went, things like that. As the vast majority of members don't actually get to go to these meetings, I am quite sure that the rest of the membership would appreciate a window, a flavour of how it went from someone's perspective.

And before you say this is all documented in the forums, it isn't. From my experience people post, post, post madly up till the day they leave for the drive to the meeting, then nothing. When they get back, you get one or two posts from members who were there saying "great, wasn't it" to other members who were there. No photos. No report. The rest of the SVX world left with their tongues hanging out.

I know that computer-friendly people think that the online system delivers the sun, moon and stars. It doesn't. It is chaotic and incoherent. Everything is there all right if you are happy to spend your life running search engines, and sifting through half-irrelevant lists.

In my view, there is a case to be made for compiling a magazine style newsletter, with all the publishing capability of this new-fangled innernet thingy.

{I agree about the alienating thing also. This is an open forum, we want to keep everyone involved who would like to contribute}

Originally Posted by Seraph

I am with Alan on the alienating thing. I don't have an issue paying dues. I did once. We tried to keep it as free as possiable so far. I think admins and mods have heard me talk about this issue before.

I say we should have how to articles with colour photos as newsletters for memberships. I'll print and edit them if needed. Just let me know.