u4wda suggestion

[waynehartwig]

I was on the website the other day rsvp'ing for the winter convention, and I had a thought....

On the front page you show a picture of The Compass. Any thought in making it accessible online? Be able to click on the picture and actually view/read it. I thought it would be cool to be able to do that...It might actually get read by more people, too. You know, the straggler that mistakingly comes across the website for whatever reason could then read a copy of it and learn more about the u4wda and people involved/communities. Save on printing costs, too! Then you can keep back issues online as well.

Just a thought....

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Its something we have surely considered several times, I don't know what our reasons were against (or for it), but its something we will address in the future.

The Compass is (and is going to continue even more so) to be one of the major benefits of being a U4 member (along with all the other benefits). If we give that away for "free" it might detract from our membership base? Might help? Hard to say really. At the end of the day I guess it comes down to converting it to a pdf and paying to host it... we might have to pay more to host something of that size on our site? Scoutabout could answer that one better.

 

[waynehartwig]

True, but I think it would be like downloading free music online. The ability is there, but people still buy CD's. I would think a lot of people don't really know about The Compass until they are a member or they see a copy of it somewhere. Don't you guys hand out free issues at Jeep Safari and etc. to non-members? It could be just that one little bit of public info to get another member to join. Maybe make it free on the site and then in the beginning of the newsletter take a page and talk about why they should join if they aren't a member already. Then give each member a hard copy as their bonus for actually being a member. I know there has been talks about things that people would like to see in The Compass, but printing costs have been an issue - ie a full color newsletter; so maybe the online version could be the fancy one.

As for hosting it, I have absolutely no issues in hosting current and back issues, at no charge (donate the space) on my server and allow you to link to it or whatever.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

I'll bring it up with the BOD and specifically Seth & Steve as they are our web and Compass gurus.

As for the free music... I've only purchased 2-3 CD's in the last year or so... I have over 1000 songs on my computer

 

[scoutabout]

We've discussed it several times, and the consensus always ends up that both advertisers and members want a print version. In addition there are other benefits/reasons for keeping it in print.

I do believe we could put the older versions online. For example, add the last edition when the next one comes out. So then potential members could see what they were missing.

 

[waynehartwig]

We've discussed it several times, and the consensus always ends up that both advertisers and members want a print version. In addition there are other benefits/reasons for keeping it in print.

I do believe we could put the older versions online. For example, add the last edition when the next one comes out. So then potential members could see what they were missing.

That might work. But just to keep it straight, I'm not saying get rid of the printed version. I like to have it laying about to show customers that come in the shop.

 

[Meat_]

What's a CD?

I might actually read The Compass if I had a pdf of it, however I still want my Compass in print.