Listers of several groups
I apologise in advance for the length of this post. It is a precis of one I
sent out a few
days ago to test water temperature and the response was a lot more encouraging
than I had
thought would be the case. Because of this, I have decided to break cover to a
wider
audience.
>>From my own private email, I am convinced there are many Triumph enthusiasts
>around the
>world who want to know more about the WHOLE range of cars, rather than just
>those that
may
>be popular in their own homeland. What's more, I believe these enthusiasts
>want to know
>how the cars of others are being used and maintained, see what other owners
>have to say.
>Because of this, I'm sure there is room for a 'local' Triumph publication
>that's global
in
>its readership.
>For well over a year, I have played idly with the concept of a Triumph
>'ezine'. I know
>others have gone down this road in the past but these are either model
>dedicated or ASCII
>formatted - or both. I am finding ways of
>still keeping in touch with Triumph happenings on a global scale via the Mark
>Bradakis
>lists - and reading them gives me much pleasure. While Mark's efforts and
>those of others
>are to be highly commended, distance often precludes us from 'getting closer'
>to the cars
>and owners that entertain us.
> It is abundantly clear that Triumphs are alive and
>well throughout the world, giving all of us enjoyment and a few headaches (me
>included)
as
>well! Presently, the only way all of us can communicate our joys, woes and
>"how do I do
>that?" are via club mags, email lists, some webrings, a plethora of owner
>websites and
the
>clubs to which we belong. You may disagree - but I feel there is another route
>that could
>be explored in which we could stretch our awareness of global Triumph doings
>and all be
>potential contributors to a global forum. Simply, we could do this via an
>'ezine' type of
>publication. In this way, we might be able to better enjoy the doings of our
>fellows -
>wherever they may live - and participate in reports of how Triumphs are being
>enjoyed and
>used, far beyond our own national frontiers.
>With all this in view, I have come to the end of creating a dummy ezine type of
>publication as a 'taster.' It's free to anyone who wants to see it before
>forming an
>opinion this project is viable - or indeed whether it comes up to their
>expectations. The
>'dummy,' in its current unzipped form runs to about 1.8 mb and 10 double-sided
>pages.
I plan to send it as a .pdf file in Adobe Acrobat if there is evident support.
>I am proposing six annual issues, though the amount of incoming
>material might make each issue fairly variable in size. As it stands, the
>taster is
rather UK biased - but it's only a
>dummy. I have no intention of ever putting this material on the internet as a
>website
under my own or another's control.
>The concept is that the ezine
>is a 'club' magazine without there being a formal or informal club structure.
>The 'club'
>already exists from Triumph enthusiasts having internet / email access. In
>this way, it
>really could be a global publication at a local level.
>If it goes ahead, is there likely to be a cost?
>Yes - a VERY nominal one. I've already bounced this idea with a number of
>enthusiasts on
>either side of the Atlantic and given them an idea of the likely cost. Their
>responses
>were to the effect that it was effectively a giveaway. You'll see what I've
>got in mind
>money-wise when you read the dummy - but the income raised would be used to
>meeting
>charges levied by organisations having material likely to be of interest but
>still
>copyright protected. This means that costs to obtain such articles,
>photographs and
>reproduction rights are inevitable. I propose reports from Triumph Clubs
>throughout the
>world (and not just in English) articles and pix from whoever wants to send
>them and the
>opportunity to re-print articles from previous club magazines that Editors
>agree to
>release in return for a credit, source acknowledgement or financial
>consideration.. I
feel
>articles, company history, anecdotes, details of global / national events,
>service/overhaul/repair tips, readers letters, cars and parts for sale /
>wanted would be
>irreducible minima in terms of content.
>Such a concept also demands correspondents. Perhaps you'd like to think about
>being a
>contributor on behalf of your club or just an occasional contributor in your
>own right?
>I'm currently rather negative about supplier advertising. It would certainly
>contribute
to
>cost recovery but adverts take up file space and don't we already have our
>preferred
>suppliers? Better surely to use that space for more material?
>Anyway, that's the concept.
>Please mail me with your views, if possible within a week of receiving this
>post. At the
>moment, please limit your reply to "Yes, I like it" or "No thanks." A failure
>to reply
>will be assumed to be of the "No thanks" type. Depending on the response, I'll
>mail out
>the 'dummy' on November 4 and in one swipe to everyone who says "Yes." You'll
>get a
>warning of its impending despatch 24 hours before I send.
>BTW, this publication is presently called "FLYWHEEL Coventry" - this being the
>company's
>former telegraphic address and later telex answerback in days of yore. Because
>the
>publication is electronic, it seemed appropriate to use that unique
>identifier. I look
>forward to hearing from you - and sorry for the length of this message.
>Regards - and enjoy your Triumph
>John Macartney
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