mvcc news letter?

[mfrance]

one idea to put out their, if no one steps up to be edditor is to out source with an e-mail letter to save on postage and time for someone who is computer savy, provide them with info, email to those who are members and download or print off to read? I still like the current format. just one option. Any ideas should be discussed at camp delta.

** Alison Thank You for the time & effort you have dedicated to this club.

[AaronHorrocks]

I put that idea out there to keep cost lower during the last increase in membership. Postage went up and the dues had to go up to match, so I recommended sending out PDFs rather than actual paper.

Not all of us get to spend much time at home and enjoy a hard copy. PDFs would be great for us overworked techies.

[DavidA]

I do recall mentioning this issue at previous TP member meetings. The suggestion was rejected a couple of times and not considered.

I got the impression that the problem seemed to be that some members were not computer savvy. I don't really think that is a very good reason to not do it online or via email for those that are computer savvy.

I still think an online newsletter is the most practical method of disseminating the thing and for those who have not come up to the 21st century, they could request a hard copy with their membership dues on an annual basis.

The money that would be saved could be re-allocated to some of the wonderful work done by the Madame's or maybe some other military related good cause.

Reduce, re-use, re-cycle! Emphasis on reduce!

[Kim Sievert]

The reason the idea of an e-newsletter never took hold.

If its sent to a paying member,,,, that paying member may send it to alot of non-paying members.

Aka,,,, Why be a member @ $$,, if you can get the newsletter free.

Password set-up,,,,, system,,,, WAY out of league to voluntary time to maintain,,, hell we cant even get a news letter maker. (I was not at the business meeting Friday,,, so i do not know if a newsletter editor was found to replace Ali)

[willy]

Way to go Kim, Possitive
Why not just send just to Life members at least I will not pass it on.
There by reducing the cost for Lifemembers as they do get a duce increase.
May by every one should be a life member if you think you live 15 years or more.
Willy

[DavidA]

Take the ads out of the electronic version if that is so scary. Generally, by the time I have received my newsletter, my friends in other parts of the state have already received and read theirs. With an electronic version, you could send it a day after the mailed versions and achieve the same results.

What is the difference other than the $1.17 to mail it? Using the logic that the electronic version would be passed along, the sellers would presumably have a larger potential customer base/audience.

Do you actually think that members would quit the MVCC because they didn't receive their newsletters by mail? I would think that the thousands of dollars saved could be used to enhance other goals of the club. Donations to hospitals that help veterans, military vehicle foundations or museums, veterans of foreign wars or any other of the worthwhile causes that the board and membership felt worthy could be helped with the potential savings.

Why heck, I am so convincing, I think that the club can have my newsletter now. Save $1.17 a month and give it to the Madames for their projects. Now multiply that by the membership and maybe you see my point.

[softskin_driver]

There is no legitimate reason for not putting our newsletter out in electronic form. There is no good reason for not having a for sale section on our website.
Material in both formats are the sole properties of the MVCC members or better put the content is the sole property of the MVCC.
I have said before the best way to do this is with a log-in members only area on the website were we can sell vehicles, parts and go withs as well as post the newsletter for download. After a month of first look if the members want the ads can be put on the "outside" to widen the "customer base".
You can post MVCC members ads for free and all others for a fee or you could charge for an ad with pictures and make it free without. We are non profit and can sell club items to generate cash for the clubs treasury. The ad space will bring in more bussiness members if they want to reach our broad membership. This could make money for the club to use for hosting fee's.
Once the club goes world wide we will get more members because they will want to get to that rust free metal thats for sale on the otherside of the firewall. The electroic members will also not need to pay for newsletter postage if they live out of state or country because there will be nothing to mail.
PDF's the most common document posting/reading software works well with dream weaver and other website publishing software and the Adobe Acrobat reader software is free.
The only reason we do not have these services for our members that I know of is the burden it would put on our webmaster Sean.
Sean can talk to this better than I although it would create a larger month to month workload than is needed at present. I have managed several large company websites with large sales and support pages pushing software and once the basic format is in place and the site is live the burden is much less but there is still more housekeeping than with the static website the MVCC now has that only needs occassional static updates.
Our club has a very wide range of age groups and many different geographical area's many of these have limited internet connectivity and some older members are not going to get "on line" ever in there lifetime. Its a very small demographic but it cannot be ignored anymore than hosting large files or pushing "live content and not allowing slower options for those with slow analog modem's connecting by dial-up.
Long story short eventually those standing in the way of progress will see its hurting the clubs growth and see the trees and give the "go world wide" a green light.
This will cause a small cascade effect when some of the brick and mortor types hear they are missing the deals on line and they will get on line just to see what is for sale.
It should also be noted the MVCC is a mom and pop organization and just a few do all the work for the many who enjoy the fruit of the fews labors but never actually pick any for themselves. (Thanks go out to the few).
Also as an IT director in a couple fortune 500 companies with Many techies (propeller heads as reports) it IMHO if you have time to read a newsletter in electronic form you have time to read it in hard copy. What you are talking about is your convienence as an individual.

[John Neuenburg]

How about a read-only newsletter on the website? Not downloadable or otherwise able to be forwarded. Is that possible?
I also think a printed, mailed newsletter is mandatory, since there are advantages to having a hard copy (taking it with you, archiving in the garage, shed, etc.) and obviously some people don't use computers much or have to share with family and have a hard time getting seat time.

I think there should be benefits for membership that are not available to non-members.

[Jetnoise400]

I really don't see the harm in posting our newsletter online. I think we're kidding ourselves if we think the only reason anyone is a member in the MVCC is because they get a newsletter. At least, that's not why I'm a member.

Other clubs put their newsletter on their web sites, and they don't seem to be losing members left and right because their newsletter is free. Some examples are:

http://www.westerncommand.com/
http://homepage.mac.com/stalwart/Sites/PSMVCC/index.html

These clubs post their past newsletters, just not the current one:
http://arrowhead.mvpa.tripod.com/
http://www.mtaofnj.org/
http://www.mvcconline.org/

And this group doesn't post it online, but will mail or e-mail the newsletter to it's members whichever they prefer:
http://www.chicagomvpa.com/

I designed our club web site from the beginning as a simple, easy to navigate site that would be friendly to both techies, non-techies, and technophobes alike. We have a very diverse membership, and as Dave pointed out, we need to make sure we're catering to the needs of all the club members. Maybe the faster folks have to go a little slower so that everyone can stay together, but you'd expect that if you were the only guy in the convoy with a CCKW and everyone else is in a CUCV, M35, or HMMWV.

Yes, we could password protect the newsletter on our website, and yes, it would create a lot more work and headaches for me as the webmaster from an administrative standpoint as well as possibly cost the club some money for software. But if we're mailing it out anyway, isn't it already getting out in the public domain? Aren't members sharing their newsletters with other non-members already? Personally, I'd like to see us at the very least post past newsletters on the web site in full color, so that visitors can see what we're all about and hopefully get them interested in joining our club, and the membership can see those B&W photos they got in their hardcopy of the newsletter in full color.

That's my Nichols' worth.
Your mileage may vary. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Avoid operating heavy machinery after reading.

[Kim Sievert]

I like the idea, of MVCC lifers getting the newsletter on line. (WE can be trusted ) Doing that would cut mailing cost down by 60 members.

Password protected & read only,,,, can still be pulled of the net and zinged out.

I guessed in 1983, I might be in the MVCC & MVPA for at least 10 years, so I bought a life memberships.
Kinda has paid for its self, its going on 26 years with the MVCC & MVPA now.

Just as many sites do not have the newsletters posted or back issues available on line (FCSA's VHP)

Ever club has its free loaders, an electronic link will make even more of them. Ratio of non paying to yearly paying will increase.
If we had 10,000 life members, the leakage by freeloaders would not be a concern.

The honesty system,,,,,,,, Subscribing VS the cost of some Jeep parts from the G503 booth,,,,, The G503 booth wins.

[Kurt Lesser]

The production of an online Newsletter has been brought up at the last few board meetings and it's advantages are numerous. Full color photos, accessability anywhere you can get to a computer, reduction in printing costs and mailing expenses to the club to mention a few. These are all advantages that would add to the visibility of the club.

The negative side is the ease of propogating the Newsletter to unpaid persons could lead to a possible loss of members and the advertising would be going out to the world and that would lessen the membership having first access to the classifieds. The other drawback is the maintenance of an email address list as they can be so volatile and people are slow to report changes but fast to complain.

There has been a feeling that this would penalize those members who are either not computer literate or not online. Their copies would arrive after the online members had received their copies and therefore deprive them of equal access to the classifieds. Do we delay the online issue and if we do how long do we wait? Then the tables are reversed.

If we publish an online version without advertising then we penalize those members. The advertising can be password protected but what do we use for a password? We don't assign numbers to members. I'm not familiar enough to discuss what it takes to accomplish this. Sean, can you clarify this?

My personal feelings are that this is our next step forward as an organization and visibility to outsiders will help publicize the MVCC and attract new members. The resultant savings could be significant and help us postpone a dues increase for some years to come, but whatever we do it has to be equitable for the entire MVCC membership.

Kurt

[Jetnoise400]

If we publish an online version without advertising then we penalize those members. The advertising can be password protected but what do we use for a password? We don't assign numbers to members. I'm not familiar enough to discuss what it takes to accomplish this. Sean, can you clarify this?

It is possible to set up a password protected area for the classifieds. The easiest way would be to set a single password for everyone, and it could rotate with each newsletter. The new password could be printed in the newsletter as it resets. We could set the timing so that everyone would have access to the newest classifieds and the password would change on a pre-designated day.

[softskin_driver]

How many people went through the swap tables and looked through the piles of books?
Did you see the stack of supply line and army motors for sale did you happen to notice the stack of MVCC newsletters for sale I did and I bought them.
They were from just before I joined and Bob Thelander was the editor.
Several years back Kurt I sent you a link to our newsletters for sale on ebay they sold.
The Idea of posting past months issues as a start is a good way to get our feet wet.
Do we have a disclamier in the newsletter stating all content is the property of the MVCC?
If not I suggest adding one.
I think Seans Idea of one password is a good one and it works for other clubs and assoc. I belong to.
Not sure you need to change it as often as every month but thats debatable.

[DavidA]

J.N.

How about a read-only newsletter on the website? Not downloadable or otherwise able to be forwarded. Is that possible?

I don't think so. If there is a will there is a way...

Here is a simple example:


Why heck, the newsletter could be copied from the screen you are viewing or scanned from a printed copy or someone with a camera could actually photograph it and then post it. There are all kinds of ways to send it but c'mon, it isn't likely that it would be done on a wide scale and if it were, then you go back to sending it in the mail. At least an effort was made to do it.


WOW, this new site is easy to use. Another example of moving on up to the 21st century.

[softskin_driver]

Its hard to keep things from being copied off a website even with right click and print screen protection. There is back office security software to use including secure SSL client connections with hardened password protection.
All this said we should not let security or the wide spread proliferation of our newsletter get in the way of progress.
The question really should be is the juice worth the squeeze and I believe the answer is yes.
Why would a non web user member leave the club because the newsletter was now available on line to those members with internet connection that now have the ability to read it before theirs arrived by snail mail. If a member was worried about missing out on the green parts he or she would have bought a computer years ago.
Some members might be upset but the truth is some MVCC members now get the newsletter up to two weeks later than some others.
It used to be if you lived in the north you got yours in a day or two of it hitting the the local post office. I think the lag in delivery whether on the web or by snail mail is not a viable arguement against posting the newsletter on the website the same day it goes to the US post office for all members to view at the same time regardless of geograpic location, being able to view the website on their mobile cellular device, land line connected computer or even at the local library.
Judging by the numbers of MVCC members on the G503 its my guess most would really not care if the newsletter goes on line or not.
We have an election coming up, add a polling question to the ballot to get an Idea of who supports the newsletter with the ads on line or who does not.
If its a hot topic maybe a few more will mail in ballots than usual if not you will have gotten your answer from the few who do vote.
My guess is as long as the membership gets the dates for Tower Park even if by smoke signals they will for the most part be happy.