Fab 79

[phelings]

Maybe I would too if I knew what changes in policy there had been.
Is there anything on the website about them?

[Retroboy]

Sorry , but define "entirely internal " .

[Grahame]

Originally Posted by phelings

I don't think I'm alone in considering if I want to pay £29 for one less issue of FAB

I must admit that it was a bit of a shock when that 'reducing FAB issues per year' announcement was made. I wasn't aware that there were 'financial' issues requiring the need to cut costs. I'd have preferred to keep to four issues and look at cutting back elsewhere.

I'm a member of other similar clubs/societies where annual membership is less than £29, yet they produce and send out four to six issues of their magazines/journals each year.

Still perhaps the AGM will give the opportunity to learn more about the reasons and the 'decision making' and allow more members to input some alternative ideas/views.

[saturnapollo]

Well, I'm one of those who have to make a decision as my subscription is now up. At £29 per year that makes it £10 per issue of FAB. For most members FAB is the only contact they have with the club.

It's all very well saying the sub gets you access to specially produced Fandeson memorabilia, but when they re-release both Space:1999 and Thunderbird CDs which I already have, albeit with a few more tracks, I am not such a completist that I will purchase another copy of either just for these, so have not had any interest in purchasing any "special items" for a while now.

Been a member since the early 90's but going to have to give some thought as to whether I want to afford a tenner per FAB.

Keith

[Keryn]

Originally Posted by saturnapollo

Well, I'm one of those who have to make a decision as my subscription is now up. At £29 per year that makes it £10 per issue of FAB. For most members FAB is the only contact they have with the club.

It's all very well saying the sub gets you access to specially produced Fandeson memorabilia, but when they re-release both Space:1999 and Thunderbird CDs which I already have, albeit with a few more tracks, I am not such a completist that I will purchase another copy of either just for these, so have not had any interest in purchasing any "special items" for a while now.

Been a member since the early 90's but going to have to give some thought as to whether I want to afford a tenner per FAB.

Keith

You've made a good point re the CDs. I bought the Fireball one because there was a track I wanted that should have been on the original Fireball/Supercar CD....but I can probably do without the Space 1999 one, and as I barely listen to the Thunderbirds ones I've got I clearly don't need any more. There's going to be another (expanded) Captain Scarlet CD possibly...and it will have to be very good for me to buy it.

There one item in the catalogue I've yet to buy while I'm a member but after that....I'm not sure. The Oz dollar is losing ground at the moment so Fanderson is more expensive than it was a year ago and as for the TB and Joe 90 spec sheets....meh.

[TV21]

Hi all,

There is a very simple answer to getting the overseas costs of a Fanderson membership way down, and that is what many magazine subscribers do, Cinefex is one example.

Offer overseas members a .pdf version (electronic / ebook) of the magazine, why spend all that money on postage when an electronic version is incredibly easy to create and send, a massive saving for all.

I am at the point where a physical piece of paper (aka - a magazine) is not the most important thing in a Fanderson membership.

They have several advantages over a physical copy... 1: (As mentioned) cheap. 2: You can actually zoom into specific sections of a page, and if created correctly, you can see detail in images not available to a paper version. 3: We do not kill as many trees!

It is 2014 after all, the 'e' (electronic) technology is here to stay.

All overseas Fanderson members in favour of receiving the magazine in digital format raise your hands... or at least make your feelings known to Fanderson.

Don't lose members Fanderson, adjust your technology!

[phelings]

Originally Posted by Grahame

I must admit that it was a bit of a shock when that 'reducing FAB issues per year' announcement was made. I wasn't aware that there were 'financial' issues requiring the need to cut costs. I'd have preferred to keep to four issues and look at cutting back elsewhere.

I'm a member of other similar clubs/societies where annual membership is less than £29, yet they produce and send out four to six issues of their magazines/journals each year.

Still perhaps the AGM will give the opportunity to learn more about the reasons and the 'decision making' and allow more members to input some alternative ideas/views.

It will be interesting to find out the difference in cost between production of a single issue of FAB and the cost of holding an AGM

Originally Posted by TV21

Hi all,

There is a very simple answer to getting the overseas costs of a Fanderson membership way down, and that is what many magazine subscribers do, Cinefex is one example.

Offer overseas members a .pdf version (electronic / ebook) of the magazine, why spend all that money on postage when an electronic version is incredibly easy to create and send, a massive saving for all.

I am at the point where a physical piece of paper (aka - a magazine) is not the most important thing in a Fanderson membership.

They have several advantages over a physical copy... 1: (As mentioned) cheap. 2: You can actually zoom into specific sections of a page, and if created correctly, you can see detail in images not available to a paper version. 3: We do not kill as many trees!

It is 2014 after all, the 'e' (electronic) technology is here to stay.

All overseas Fanderson members in favour of receiving the magazine in digital format raise your hands... or at least make your feelings known to Fanderson.

Don't lose members Fanderson, adjust your technology!

Issuing FAB in PDF format was discussed on here a long time ago .
The club was not keen on offering old issues in PDF let alone new ones because of the ease of copying.

They could issue the entire run of FAB on a single disc which seems a great item to be selling but the copying problem is a difficult one to sort out.

An alternative would be to make the issues accessible only on the website with no way to download them but that's restrictive and should the club close you'll likely lose your mags.

[deklerkt]

I have been a member of Fanderson from day 1 but it always did surprise me that the club hasn't been open in its expenses and decisions.
With a small membership things tend to be more expensive per head. But I'd still like to know how much of my membership goes into what activities.
An AGM physically seems less needed these days of internet, but listing decisions to be made, expenses needed etc can still be made available in the open.

Just be open and straight about what's happening. That's all I'd like to see. And hopefully I'm not alone in this. Comments on FB Fanderson pages indeed seem to be mostly non-member driven. Perhaps the forum should be closed to members only to avoid this.

As for raising hands: yes, cut down on 10 pounds per FAB issue by going digital is fine. Even using paper other glossy magazines use that are yet a lot lighter than FAB may reduce paper and shipping costs. My entire FAB collection of all 79 issues (as well as SiG, C21, Andersonic etc) have been digitized by myself and they are so much easier to use, read, browse through, search through than paper copies, that at least digital should be considered. But pirating digital copies is all to easy. If it isn't a member doing it, it may be North Korea.

[DukeDexter]

Originally Posted by phelings

An alternative would be to make the issues accessible only on the website with no way to download them.

Sounds a good idea. Assuming this were possible from a technical and security point of view (not my field), it could well suit some overseas members. However that would probably have a knock-on effect on those members who take the paper version - a resulting reduced print run could lead to higher unit costs per issue.

There are thresholds on the postage according to weight, maybe if each issue was brought down in weight, this would lower postage costs which might help. But Royal Mail tend to get you every way… it should never have been privatised but that's another story

[saturnapollo]

"here are thresholds on the postage according to weight,"

It is not so much weight they charge for these days, but size of package and especially the thickness of the envelope. I think you have to go up to something ridiculous like 2kg to make saving as far as weight is concerned. I suspect the thickness of FAB is the problem.

Keith