At the next WRUG monthly members meeting, the President announced that, to publish the newsletter, we had a difficult time getting articles, and after the newsletter was composed, we then had to take it to the printer, then we had to pick it up from the printer, then we had to fold the newsletters, then tape them and put stamps them and put address labels on, and then take them to the post office; all this in addition to the cost of printing and mailing. Then he asked the attendees if they would like to receive the newsletter electronically.

About 90-95 percent of the attendees raised their hands as being in favor. At the next Board meeting, the other Board members agreed that the Membership Secretary and I (as Editor) should plan the logistics of going electronic as we were the ones directly involved in getting the newsletter out and we had all the questions. The Membership Secretary and I both thought there would be many problems in going electronic, so I decided to survey other user groups to get their experience.

I found a list of 315 user groups website addresses on the Internet and tried to go to each website to look for a contact email address. Some of the websites could not be found, some of the home pages took so long to load that I clicked "back" and didn't go to them, and some websites had no email contact.

I emailed about 150 email address contacts that I found, stating that our user group was going to start sending its newsletter electronically and asked for their experience if they were sending their newsletter electronically. Many emails were returned as being undeliverable.

Replies to my emails started to come. I sent a reply back to each answer received, thanking the sender for the information. On some I sent a few comments and asked a couple questions. Below is a summary of the replies (from Tokyo, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and United States).

Of the approximate 100 replies I received, about half distribute their newsletters all or partially electronically and half are sending all of their newsletters hard copy by postal mail. The majority of the ones distributing electronically are also printing some paper copies (see Hybrid below). Almost all user groups are and had been posting their newsletters on their websites before deciding to have their members receive the newsletters via the Internet. User groups are distributing between 18 and 2500 newsletters.

For many user groups, the cord was cut mainly for financial reasons. The majority started out offering both electronic and printed newsletters and let their members choose which they wanted. Many members chose the printed version. In some groups, when members were given the choice of higher dues or electronic newsletters, the overwhelming choice was electronic. Some groups charge an additional cost (in addition to the dues) to members who want printed newsletters mailed to them.

Electronic Newsletter Distribution

Some of the email notices contain links to download the issue and a few also include a password for the newsletter so only the members could get it. Some groups post their newsletters in the "Members Only" area on their websites. A couple of the groups also email their newsletters to a few members who requested them.

Email Attachment to Members - The remaining groups are sending their newsletters to their members as a PDF file attachment to an email.

Advantages of publishing electronically

1. Saves money for user group.
2. Some editors think it is easier to put together.
3. Electronic version can be in color; printed version is often black and white.
4. Electronic version can be printed out in color.
5. Many members don't read the newsletter so want it published least expensive method.

Advantages of posting newsletter to Website

1. Don't have to maintain a list of the members' email addresses.
2. Don't have to worry about file being too large for email boxes.

Disadvantages of publishing electronically

1. Have to have close coordination between editor and whoever puts newsletter on the Web.
2. Most groups lost members.
3. Attendance at meetings is down.
4. Newsletters don't get nearly the number of hits as the number of members.
5. A few of the Editors did not want to go electronic but were outvoted by the officers/Board. Two of the editors resigned.
6. Difficult and time consuming to keep correct email addresses.
7. Some editors think it is more difficult to put together.
8. PDF file too large for some email boxes.
9. Takes too long to download.
10. When members' email boxes get swamped, newsletters are the first to be deleted.
11. Sometimes newsletter file is accidentally deleted.
12. Format

The expertise of editors varies greatly. Some set their newsletters in HTML format and others set their newsletters in PDF version. The problems come when the newsletters are set up as regular printed versions and are read on the website.

1. It's a pain in the butt trying to follow each column then switch to page 10 for the end of article.

2. Members don't like to scroll up and down so one editor attempted to do a 4-quarter newsletter so one didn't have to scroll up and down, only sideways, then down and sideways.

Quote from one user group: "Computer groups producing a paper newsletter seems like driving a horse and buggy to a new car show!"

Hybrid

The groups that print only a small number of copies usually print them on the editor's printer or photocopy them in a member's office or at Office Max or somewhere similar. Then the editor or volunteers collate, staple, address, stamp and send.

Four user groups were just starting to send electronically and each of them were also going to mail hard copies to see the members' responses and what problems arose.

Print Only

Some reasons given for sending printed letters are below:

1. Our members want the printed version.
2. The newsletter is an important part of membership.

   Too many are members just for the printed newsletter; if went electronic we'd lose those members.

   We would have to reduce the size and quality of our newsletter to send it electronic.

3. Printed version is more effective communication wise.

   Our newsletter is a significant publicity vehicle, which we distribute to retail stores, bookstores, etc., and get new members.

   On-line newsletters do not reach one of the most viable new member resources-those who would join to learn to use a computer or learn to go online.

   You can't pass on-line newsletters around so readily at computer shows, business locations, libraries, etc.

4. Members can read the printed newsletter anytime anywhere.
5. We have ads to offset printing/mailing cost.
6. We still have a sizable non-internet contingent.

   Many in our group are not high tech and don't know how to open a PDF file or how to load the Reader.

7. Haven't figured out how to secure newsletter for members only and still have it accessible.
8. The topic of dropping printed copy comes up every year, yet our group strongly rejects that idea.

   Quote from one user group: "Our members still want a REAL paper NEWSLETTER!"

THANKS TO ALL of the User Groups who replied to my email questions about publishing electronically!

Before I started this survey, I contacted the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG) to see if they had a list of user groups who were publishing their newsletters electronically. They replied that they couldn't release the names or addresses of any of the user groups and they suggested I search the Web for "user groups on the Web." I did and that was where I found Ash Nallawalla's list of 315 user groups. Just last week I found that Ash Nallawalla has a list of "User Group Newsletters on the Web," which would have saved me so much time if it had been there or I had seen it last April. The list includes 23 newsletters in HTML format that can be read on the Web with a browser and 34 newsletters in PDF format that can be read with Adobe Acrobat reader. Go to www.easyrsvp.com/ugnotw. Click on HTML to get a list of the newsletters in that format. Click on PDF to get a list of the newsletters in that format. If you're thinking about sending your newsletter electronic, you might get some ideas from these.

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Sidebar

About half of the user groups were sending all of their newsletters hard copy by postal mail.

About half of the user groups distributed their newsletters all or partially electronically. The majority of these posted their newsletter only to their website. The others sent their newsletter as a PDF file attachment to an email to members. Many of the groups distributing electronically were also printing from 10 to 60% of their newsletters.

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Sidebar

"Our members still want a REAL paper NEWSLETTER!"

"Computer groups producing a paper newsletter is like driving a horse and buggy to a new car show!"

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There is no restriction against any non-profit group using the article as long as it is kept in context (sidebars need not be used), with proper credit given to the author. This article is brought to you by the Editorial Committee of the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), an International organization to which this user group belongs.

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