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Publishing the Courier - online!


JohnD

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I know!  I keep going on about this, but I think publishing the Courier online is a important matter that the Club should consider.

 

I bring it up again, because my e-friend and American Correspondent, Mike Bulfer, send me the "TRiumph TRumpeter" The Official Newsletter of the Desert Centre - Triumph Register of America.

Mike must bear no blame for prompting me to nag on - I'm just impressed again by online magazines.

 

You can read it at: http://www.dctra.org/News/Aug2015.pdf

And what cracking local group newsletter it is!   Think of the Courier, presented to you in this way, at no extra cost and at no cost to our overseas members for whom postage is much greater.

 

The Club says that it gains tax advantages by publishing in hard copy and posting it.    I have to say (again) that those advantages must be as big as Tescos if the print and postage cost outweigh them, and anyway, what are accountants for?!   Anyway, enjoy  the pictures of Triumph fun in the desert sun!

 

John

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  • 2 months later...

Surely John's point is that members can opt out if they wish and "country bumpkins" (and those in certain parts of London and other urban areas) with slow internet speeds, and those who simply prefer the parchment (sorry) paper copy can continue to receive their mag by post.

 

Richard

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I am amazed, Sue!

 I didn't know that broadband speeds in Devon were as low as that!

I post at the beginning of August, and you can't see it and reply until the middle of October!

This must be an enormous handicap to your being a Board Moderator.   To have only twenty three posts to your name shows how hard it must be for you to do your job.

 

You poor thing; you have my sympathy.

Chin up!  

JOhn

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Or, to put it another way, those who cannot/will not receive online are relying the subscriptions of the rest of us.

 But I know that in rural parts of the UK, broadband doesn't exist as such.   A small village just up the Lune Valley from us had that problem, and solved it in 2012 with the help of B4RN (BroadBand for the Rural North)

http://b4rn.org.uk/

 

Similar schemes exist all over the country, so there's really no excuse, or won't be soon.

Sue, have you pointed out to the Club the handicap under which you have to run your Area Group, let alone act as a moderator to this board?

 

John

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books are vat free so the cost saving is  absorbed as a saving elsewhere in the balance sheet.    something like that

    it means you can remove   eg 5000x£3    or  £15k from the vat burden 

 

       so you need to have a magazine  offered to reduce  overall running costs,   

 

Pete

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Or "something like that"

Yes, I'm not an accountant either.

 

But that is what accountants are there for.  If the Club's accountant has no new ideas that can accommodate, say, an online magazine, then we need a new accountant.

And anyway, who is talking of doing away with the printed Courier?

Online publication is for peanuts in comparison with print, so let it run for those who want another yard of previous issues on the shelf.

 

The VAT(or whatever it is) argument is irrelevant.

I refer the Honourable Member (that's  you, Pete, and Sue) to my original post.  Have you read the excellent online "TRiumph TRumpeter"?

What do you think of it? 

 

JOhn

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Yes, the VAT argument is a red herring, it's not one or the other, paper courier OR online courier, keep the paper courier AND have it online. Then I don't need piles of old mags, cluttering the place up, they're all there, online.

 

Loved the trumpeter! I think Pete should invest in a pool then we could all go for barbies at his house. Although, Pete in his budgie smugglers? Perhaps not! :lol:

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Agree totally, Club Triumph don't have an option not to receive a printed copy of their mag but just also post a soft copy on line on their website  in an area only accessible to members. This allows all to access as soon as it's published, very important for entries to oversubscribed events like the RBRR and 10CR and essential for foreign members. Useful as it contains archived old magazines as well. Must be minimal cost apart from the web hosting storage space which nowadays is peanuts, I'm sure the actual content is produced soft copy anyway to send to the printers.

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I dont dislike the online  its clear and informative right enough ,  not  as many pages as the courier  content  if thats any limitation.

the file is sent electronically to the publishers .

but my  own preference is a comfy chair and a magazine , 

no pipe and no slippers .....or hot tub 

 

and  for old hat members courier is available on dvd to avoid  storage. 

 

this is for the club to decide where to go with this idea its been well vented over the past few years , Im sure Bern is well aware of the thoughts 

if you feel strongly you should follow the official route and write to the  Ben  the General Secretary,  its never been any use bleating on forums 

the Com dont use it and wont respond on here.  then you get an official reply.   nothing to do with me  anymore   Pete

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Hum, I'm not sure I understand it!  

 

I think it says "Those who can't or won't receive online are depending on the subscriptions of the rest of us". 

 

So is John saying he wants to opt out of a paper copy and get a reduced subscription? I don't think there would be many takers for that.

 

I want it on line but I still want a paper copy. I'm with Pete, in the hot tub!

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If producing a paper magazine greatly helps the club finances (reclaim vat on the notional magazine cost or something). So I guess if you opt out you would have to pay a higher annual subscription. 

So the idea of a paper magazine and an online one published the day after the magazine is sent out seems the simple answer. Very simple.

 

Saying that, I wouldn't use it. Somehow (for me at least) a magazine is for holding, taking when you will have some dead time or whatever. Much friendlier than a glaring screen.

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Yes, a parchment magazine does have a certain tactile value. Mind you, I was just able to look up something from Club Triumph's archive and find what I wanted in a few seconds rather than working my way through the magazine box in the loft - *and* getting diverted by several other articles on the way! :lol:

 

Which reminds me; it would be really great to have a searchable complete index of The Courier on-line so I could locate the particular magazine I wanted *quickly*. In the magazine box for recent editions and on the DVDs (or parchment magazine) pre-2010. In a public part of the web site, it would also get Google hits and show non-members what a great magazine it is.

 

You could also correct mistakes & omissions on the DVD index like John Thomason's "Economy Spitfire" article which took me absolutely ages to track down.

 

Cheers, Richard

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Which reminds me; it would be really great to have a searchable complete index of The Courier on-line so I could locate the particular magazine I wanted *quickly*. In the magazine box for recent editions and on the DVDs (or parchment magazine) pre-2010. In a public part of the web site, it would also get Google hits and show non-members what a great magazine it is.

 

The index is already online.

 

http://forum.tssc.org.uk/index.php?/forum/29-technical-directory-car-model-specs/

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Well, yes. But it's the same as my DVD index, so nothing after 2009.

 

And I still can't find John Thomason's "Economy Spitfire" article. Can you?

 

I'll give you a clue, it's Courier number 216. Another clue? June '98. Page 8.

 

In fact everything in June '98 seems to have fallen through the net. As has the following month. And indeed, now that I look, December 2005 onwards. Of course these can't be corrected on the DVD. But they could be on-line! What a great resource that would be - the whole Courier index on-line, right up to the present day, with corrections that idiots like me have found.

 

Peace and love, peace & love,

 

Richard

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