Kudos on ssa enewsletter..

It is being updated on a regular basis..with pertinent
information. I think it works well.

Stewart Kissel wrote:

It is being updated on a regular basis..with pertinent
information. I think it works well.

Thanks Stewart. It is being published each Tuesday, (although almost
certainly not this week, and possibly not next, as most of the Hobbs
staff is traveling to Ontario).

After the convention, we will be starting an email subscription list
that will allow any SSA member to sign up and receive a brief alert that
a new issue has been published on the SSA site, along with an embedded
link to the new newsletter.

For those SSA members who have not been reading the enewsletter, visit
the SSA site, log in, and click on E-NEWSLETTER to see current and
archived issues.

Regards

Jim Skydell SSA enewsletter committee

Hey guys:

Do you think the SSA newsletter could\should be made available to the
soaring public? Most other newsletters by soaring groups\clubs are
available. I am currently living in Germany (and paying dues to the
German national Gliding association).

Bob

I think that just the fact that an enewsletter has enough
demand to be published is a good thing. From what I see,
interest in SSA and soaring is heating up in the
past 4 years. Thanks to the efforts of quite a few people...

In article ,
Jim Skydell wrote:
Stewart Kissel wrote:

It is being updated on a regular basis..with pertinent
information. I think it works well.

Thanks Stewart. It is being published each Tuesday, (although almost
certainly not this week, and possibly not next, as most of the Hobbs
staff is traveling to Ontario).

After the convention, we will be starting an email subscription list
that will allow any SSA member to sign up and receive a brief alert that
a new issue has been published on the SSA site, along with an embedded
link to the new newsletter.

For those SSA members who have not been reading the enewsletter, visit
the SSA site, log in, and click on E-NEWSLETTER to see current and
archived issues.

Regards

Jim Skydell SSA enewsletter committee


--

------------+
Mark J. Boyd

wrote:
Hey guys:

Do you think the SSA newsletter could\should be made available to the
soaring public? Most other newsletters by soaring groups\clubs are
available. I am currently living in Germany (and paying dues to the
German national Gliding association).

Bob

Hi Bob:
You don't mention if you are an American citizen, possibly residing in
Germany temporarily, or if you are permanently there.

The question you raise is important, and one that more broadly affects
the SSA and its entire web site. In years past, all of the SSA website
was open to anyone. When the current "redone" site went live last
August, a member logon was instituted for the first time. This caused a
flurry of extremely nasty emails and phone calls to the SSA office from
folks who demanded that the entire site be open to all. Nearly all
those calls were from people who had never belonged to the SSA. The
only answer they could give when asked why the SSA should continue to
give everything it does (online) away for free was: "It always has, and
we liked it that way." And there's the rub. Entitlement.

An interesting analogy: Should the SSA give away free magazine
subscriptions to anyone who asks (I am not talking about a free issue
once in a while to interested people, as marketing - we do that all the
time in many venues)? Of course we cannot do that.

SSA is in no position to give everything away, and doing so (online) in
the past (among other things) nearly ran it into the ground.

THe SSA site has two main functions. It is supposed to serve its
members, and to hopefully entice new people into the sport. In many
senses, these are two completely different, schizophrenic goals. Some
compromises were made after the new site went live. Contest results
were moved in front of the logon. But Charlie's reports stayed behind
it. We continue to listen to suggestions from people, but we are no
longer "giving away the farm" to everyone who walks in the electronic door.

In fact, many of us now involved in SSA electronic communications (it is
my responsibility at the ExComm level) are striving to make our website
the most important and frequently used service the society offers. But
if we reach our goal, at least the membership portion of the site cannot
be given away. A real issue is deciding which portions of the site can
be useful in recruitment, and leave them open to all.

Now, regarding the newsletter: I created it specifically out of a need
I saw to inform SSA membership about the weekly workings of its society,
in near-real time. SOARING magazine cannot do this, due to the 3 month
lag time for publication. But the content of the newsletter is
specifically based on the workings of the society, and not about soaring
in general. For instance, over the course of a few months, the
newsletter has detailed roof leaks and office damage in Hobbs, and this
week the success of our new roof, all with photos.

So in that sense, I don't think the newsletter would be of any interest
to a non SSA member. Why would anyone else care about what is going on
in the SSA office? The newsletter draws from two weekly reports from
E.D. Dennis Wright and First Vice Chair Dianne Black-Nixon. These
reports only discuss the workings of the society at the board/excomm and
office levels - and mention those people who are doing the work.

Since what is gleaned from reading the SSA enewsletter is an
appreciation of exactly what it takes to run the society, and an
understanding of its ups and downs, I think only members of the SSA
should see it.

Regards,
Jim Skydell

Jim

Thanks for the prompt response!
I am an American citizen residing in Germany and just started soaring
last year here in Germany. I have always been interested in soaring and
when we moved to Germany it was easy to do. Soaring is advertised and
relatively cheap here in Germany and flying sites are all over the
place in Europe.
Our club flies from a farmer's field with a winch, this allows our
costs to be relatively low: app. 10$ a flight, including instruction.

As to the newsletter, your response was very enlightening. Now how can
I get the magazine without paying for a full membership? I would like
to keep up with soaring in the States. Also, I have seen a few issues
and really like the magazine (ignoring, or most likely not noticing the
few typo's in the otherwise great magazine!)

Bob McDowell

Jim Skydell writes:

An interesting analogy: Should the SSA give away free magazine
subscriptions to anyone who asks (I am not talking about a free
issue once in a while to interested people, as marketing - we do
that all the time in many venues)? Of course we cannot do that.

SSA is in no position to give everything away, and doing so (online)
in the past (among other things) nearly ran it into the ground.

You can do that, unlike a free dead tree magazine it has a zero
extra cost, or very close to it.

Not wanting to is a seperate issue.

--
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+61 (08) 9257-1001 Kalamunda.
West Australia 6076
comp.os.vms,- The Older, Grumpier Slashdot
Raw, Cooked or Well-done, it's all half baked.
EPIC, The Architecture of the future, always has been, always will be.

Jim Skydell wrote:
[edit]It is being published each Tuesday, (although almost
certainly not this week, and possibly not next, as most of the Hobbs
staff is traveling to Ontario).
[edit]
Jim Skydell SSA enewsletter committee
================================================== ==========================
Wouldn't a good use of the electronic newsletter be a short daily
convention report for us working stiffs that could not get to Ontario?
By the time the article hits Soaring, it will be nearly June on the
present schedule.

I appreciate the efforts on the newsletters and magazine.

Terry Claussen
Estrella