As I said in the newsletter thread, when the site went down we had no way of communicating what was going on or what to expect. I posted the status on the "regular groups"; but that didn't help our canadian friends & those of us that aren't regular to the groups. What do you think about making newsletter participation a manditory part of being registered on the forum? That was if this were to happen again, I could send an emergency letter explaining what was happening and what to expect?
I'd make it optional rather than mandatory. Personally, I'd opt in, but I think it's better to give people choices rather than dictate. One important aspect of a newsletter is that it's an active communication channel, rather than a passive one. That is, it's sent out to subscribers rather than just sitting there waiting for them to come to it, like a website. People can forget to visit a website, but if a newsletter keeps arriving in their mailbox, it's nearly impossible to ignore. I know of one club who recently quit mailing out a hard-copy newsletter, opting instead to publish it as .pdf on their website only (back issues were already available on the site). I think this was a big mistake, because many people used to get that newsletter in the mail every month & that was their only reminder that the club is still in business, active, & cared about them. That printed newsletter was the only form of contact with several people, & now the connection with those people is gone for all practical purposes. Not to mention, something that's printed has a physical presence that can end up who-knows-where. Printed matter sometimes gets passed around, or can lay around on somebody's coffee table, etc. where somebody new discovers it one day... Set yourself a regular schedule & keep to it. Especially where content is dated (such as calendars of events), nothing is more frustrating for a reader than to read about some interesting-sounding "upcoming" event that has already passed because the newsletter arrived late! Set deadlines for submission that give you time to assemble & distribute. Suggestions for content (it can be pretty hard to come up with fresh content sometimes): - Brief highlights from the discussion forums. "Hot" topics since the last edition; who's doing the talking & what they are saying. Don't try to include the full discussion, just enough to get people interested enough to check it out for themselves. - Brief reports from recent battles. You're probably not going to be able to get many clubs/people to send these to you "automatically" - you'll have to ask, often. One of the best ways to generate interest is to demonstrate activity. - Upcoming events (battles, meetings, etc.) from all over. As with battle reports, you'll probably have to "remind" your regular contacts every single month, to send their info. or they'll forget. Expect that to be an ongoing thing, "bothering" people all the time to get them to send in their stuff. - Mention people's names & their ships whenever you get a chance. People like to see their names in print. - Editorials? Don't be afraid to express your opinion on any topic that fills up the space! JM
yeah, i'm not sure i like the idea of mandatory. And i think it would be nice if you could subscribe to the newsletter without registering on the forums... i know alot of people dont like to sign up for forums for one reason or another. Would you be able to just like duplicate the programming and make a seperate mailing system for all members that you could send a letter to?
My suggestion is to do it the same way as rcgroups does there list (plus an additional email only opt in). There is a setting in one's user settings that defaults to "receives newsletter" that one can turn off if one desires to. Default it to on, however, with instructions at the bottom of every newsletter on how to turn off the newsletter.
If you notice the forum login is the key element throughout the site. I will not have separate logon data, too many passwords = too much administration & confusion. Too many useless options = bad. I'm tempted to force the upgrade so everyone gets the newsletter every month & if someone has a problem with it I can either retroactively add a opt out system or they can mark it as spam through their email provider. Choices are good, but we are really only talking about 1 email from the same address per month. I think providing an opt out mechanism is almost overengineering the problem. I think this is what I will do: I will change the sign up text for the new users to say by joining the forum; you are joining the newsletter. I will automatically opt everyone in the forum into the new system. At the bottom of every newsletter I will say "if you don't want to get the newsletter every month, email me at newsletter@rcnavalcombat.com." When I get such an email, I will manually remove them from the email system. What do you think?
