Rodney, and Listers,
One of the ways that an umbrella organization might take shape is to not go
the route of the traditional clubs. I'm international with respect to the
topic at hand - if a National (meaning US-wide) Sunbeam or Tiger club were
to be formed, what's my motivation to join? A printed publication is nice,
but you incur postage costs for every member. Putting together a high
quality PDF document and emailing it out on a regular basis would in some
cases give you better quality images as well as additional features such as
being able to search the text for specific topics. I have stacks of old
TE/AE and STOA newsletters at home - if I want to re-read a story or tech
article, I have to sift through a couple of reams of paper to try and find
it.
To me, an online organization would have a better chance of succeeding, in
part because there is less chance that some people see it as an infringement
on their turf. This mailing list is a good example - lots of the people that
are on the list are also members of the regional clubs, without feeling
encroachment.
I don't think that an online organization would change List traffic, either
- it's a different dynamic. When TU.com went up, there were some complaints
that "we don't need another Tigers list - are we supposed to drop this and
go there?" - but as it turns out, TU.com complimented rather than replaced
the existing online resources, and everyone benefits.
The best thing about this mailing list is that it doesn't generally
intimidate people - everyone can contribute what they want, when they want,
or ask questions as they feel the need. Getting the communication going is
half the battle.
Best regards,
Theo
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