| "Extended Attributes" Magazine Is No More! |
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Premium member in staff
       posts: 2298 since: 12 Jan, 2001
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1. "Extended Attributes" Magazine Is No More! |
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Due to a lack of volunteers, POSSI ( http://www.possi.org ) no longer publishes the 'Extended Attributes' magazine. It posts news on its web site. I received an e-mail from them after I had sent in membership dues. I will miss such a great little magazine.
OS/2 Warp-ed to the very end.
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| Date: 25 Mar, 2003 on 14:24 |
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Premium member in user
     posts: 350 since: 26 Nov, 2002
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2. Re:"Extended Attributes" Magazine Is No More! |
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Heck! I didn't even know that they were in need of contributors or volunteers! I would have loved to be part of the "only printed magazine left for OS/2". Now that came to an end as well. [sigh] Was that a members-only based magazine in matters of contrbuting?Thomas |
| Date: 25 Mar, 2003 on 21:06 |
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Premium member in staff
       posts: 2298 since: 12 Jan, 2001
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3. Re:"Extended Attributes" Magazine Is No More! |
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| I don't know if it was a 'members only' contributers but I doubt they would have stuck to it if it meant having more people write for it. I wonder if they could do an online magazine like at http://www.os2ezine.com ? (I will ask them [or someone else could ask them - too?]).
OS/2 Warp-ed to the very end.
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| Date: 26 Mar, 2003 on 14:43 |
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Premium member in user
     posts: 350 since: 26 Nov, 2002
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4. Re:"Extended Attributes" Magazine Is No More! |
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tomleem (Mar 26, 2003 15:43): I don't know if it was a 'members only' contributers but I doubt they would have stuck to it if it meant having more people write for it.I wonder if they could do an online magazine like at http://www.os2ezine.com ? (I will ask them [or someone else could ask them - too?]).
Well, I think this depends upon whether they had a need for people ding the "print" stuff or rather contributing... If they hadn't enough contributors (what the e-zine and VNL sometimes is suffering from too) there's little chance to make an online mag. At least, if they don't choose a extended period - e.g. quarterly instead of each month. But sometimes, this inplies the risk of being completety out of date when doing hardware or software reviews. No easy situation, as always when dealing with OS/2... Thomas |
| Date: 26 Mar, 2003 on 15:10 |
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Premium member in spoc
       posts: 109 since: 27 Jan, 2001 |
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5. Re:"Extended Attributes" Magazine Is No More! |
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warpcafe (Mar 26, 2003 16:10):
tomleem (Mar 26, 2003 15:43): I don't know if it was a 'members only' contributers but I doubt they would have stuck to it if it meant having more people write for it.I wonder if they could do an online magazine like at http://www.os2ezine.com ? (I will ask them [or someone else could ask them - too?]).
Well, I think this depends upon whether they had a need for people ding the "print" stuff or rather contributing... If they hadn't enough contributors (what the e-zine and VNL sometimes is suffering from too) there's little chance to make an online mag. At least, if they don't choose a extended period - e.g. quarterly instead of each month. But sometimes, this inplies the risk of being completety out of date when doing hardware or software reviews. No easy situation, as always when dealing with OS/2...
AFAIK they were mainly lacking content.Anyone could have contributed, the restriction was that the magazine was sent to members or subscribers only. |
| Date: 27 Mar, 2003 on 21:59 |
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       posts: 2298 since: 12 Jan, 2001
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6. Re:"Extended Attributes" Magazine Is No More! |
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Too bad they didn't consider making it a bi-monthly or quarterly magazine open to anyone willing to pay for a subscription (not just to members) and 'advertised' it more at OS/2 sites (as many as they could think of).
OS/2 Warp-ed to the very end.
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| Date: 28 Mar, 2003 on 14:19 |
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Premium member in user
     posts: 350 since: 26 Nov, 2002
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7. Re:"Extended Attributes" Magazine Is No More! |
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tomleem (Mar 28, 2003 15:19): Too bad they didn't consider making it a bi-monthly or quarterly magazine open to anyone willing to pay for a subscription (not just to members) and 'advertised' it more at OS/2 sites (as many as they could think of). 
Yep, this is something that makes me wonder quite often: OS/2 people seem to be somehow IBM-breeded too, as they never feel the need to adverstise or share any kind of knowledge or information as they think "everybody knows it anyway". On the other hand, who cares about OS/2 advertising in OS/2 related sites except the few that know already and think "ah, look they're having an ad there". There should be done more than this, but... this will mean to spend money. And bucks are quite difficult in days where the OS/2 community is based on mostly voluntary and non-profit efforts. I am sure that POSSI's intentoins wasn't to gain money with EA, but rather covering the cost for print and having some funds for maintaining user activities like a Warpstock booth, door prizes at meetings, etc. Put yourself to the test: If there's a free OS/2-ezine and a free VOICE newsletter... would you subscribe to a local user group's payable(!) magazine? At Warpstock Europe 2001 we had those "special edition" compilated and printed versions of the VOICE newsletter and somebody wanted to buy an issue, asking me about the contents. I told him that this was "just" a kind of best-of and that if he had read all the issues in the past, he won't find new stuff in it... but then he told me that he didn't care, as "this, I can read in bed" and he bought it. Yes, he was right. But even twenty people like him won't pay the rent. And we didn't even manage to sell the (14 I guess) printed issues at all. Maybe we should stop publishing free newsletters and magazines, putting everything together for the sake of having *one* printed community magazine for sale? <laugh> That'll be fun: There'll be more contributors than readers. And again, those who'll pay for an issue would be those who contributed - as always. Maybe we should instead think about "where *we* want to go tomorrow"... ? It's great to be part of spare time idealists who provide community service for free, but this can't go on like this. The community's "consumer-only" people must show their support. And if they don't show up at Warpstock or show their support in any other way - heck - let'em pay for it!  When Kim had a poll for the OS/2 award and asked for possible new categories I suggested an award given to a community member for "community achievement" - that's to say everything aside of programming... hell, what kind of ridiculous feeback that was! This awesome, often-referred-to "Community" isn't even able to give an award to its own!! (I almost never use double exclamation marks as I think they're ridiculous, but in this case, they're really needed) This is no community. This is a bunch of undecided, passive, waiting dwarfs with no community sense at all. When someone says that "the community tends to be passive and disagrees on almost everything" then everybody within the community agrees - what kind of rubbish is that? Newsletters will be read as long as they exist. Community services will be consumed as long as they exist (for free). Once they don't exist anymore the community accepts this as a god-given fate, sighs, and goes on without it, until the last folk has changed to Linux, Mac or Windows. But there isn't a single soul out there who says "Okay, I'll take part of it then!". (Let's have a look where OS2.ORG will go...) And even if we've got 20 millions of OS/2-specialized and really good sites on the internet (this might be great, yeah - but...) what's it worth? Even if you disagree: The only thing that keeps us alive is something that we do *together*. Even swearing, arguing and disagreeing is better than simply *nothing*. ...and *nothing* is exactly what I feel to get back from this so-called "community" except for a few reader feedbacks (at least! Thanks, folks!) I'll go on with what I'm doing because I love it, but if this goes on like now, I'll sooner or later save my time for my family and pet. They at least give me some feedback on what I do for them. Fuck. (Sorry for the last word). ...sorry for the whole post, (Tom, don't feel like this was said to you personally! It wasn't of course - I only wish there were more folks like you around) It's just, you know, nobody seems to draw conclusions from what is going on. This makes me sick, feeling very sad and frustrated. The world of OS/2 is becoming a microcosmic reflection of modern western society: Nobody cares about anything except bucks and "me myself and I". To put it this way: "Don't ask what the community can do for you, rather ask what you can do for the community" ...  Thomas |
| Date: 28 Mar, 2003 on 17:46 |
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Premium member in user
     posts: 350 since: 26 Nov, 2002
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8. Re:"Extended Attributes" Magazine Is No More! |
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| In reply to my own post: This is ridiculous! The only people who'll read it are those that are the exception from the rule I stated. Sorry folks - you're great! I only wish I could write my former post to those who don't participate and who don't do anything except waiting for something free. Oh, yeah: What about an award that goes to the one who owns the largest number of registered OS/2 shareware?! <g> Thomas |
| Date: 28 Mar, 2003 on 17:52 |
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Normal member in user
       posts: 4 since: 28 Mar, 2003 |
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9. Re:"Extended Attributes" Magazine Is No More! |
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tomleem (Mar 28, 2003 15:19): Too bad they didn't consider making it a bi-monthly or quarterly magazine open to anyone willing to pay for a subscription (not just to members) and 'advertised' it more at OS/2 sites (as many as they could think of). 
A subscription and a membership were one and the same. The dues covered the cost of producing the magazine plus a small pittance for keeping the organization running. The death of the print magazine also ended the group collecting any form of "dues". (If someone sends POSSI money, we'll try to refund it unless they tell us to keep it as a donation.) At the end of the print publication run, we had almost 700 subscriber/members worldwide. As for advertising, we were promoted by BMT Micro (they sold subscriptions and back issues), Indelible Blue (they included "ea" subscription cards in many of their own mailings), and we were vendors at every US Warpstock except the last one, and at one Warpstock Europe. We did a mailing to the OS/2 Magazine subscription list when that magazine went under. We ran and heavily promoted two conferences -- WarpTech and OS/2 Marketplace. The point is that we didn't need to advertise the magazine more. Lack of circulation was not what killed it. Lack of content killed it. We went to bi-monthly, quarterly, and then to randomly whenever-we-got-content. Two issues were written entirely by the three editors, just so we could get something out. The last couple of articles sat in staging for almost two years. We begged for articles on the POSSI list, in print, and on the Web site. The only response was from people complaining that they hadn't gotten any new magazines. So, it died. Around the first of March, we switched the Web site to a content management system. You can find articles from old issues on the site, now. There's also a tiny bit of new content. More will come. (That's at http://www.possi.org/extended_attributes ) By the way, POSSI hasn't been a "local" user group since 1996. When the dues collection ended, only 4% of the membership was in Arizona. Bill, Editor-in-chief, extended attributes |
| Date: 28 Mar, 2003 on 19:37 |
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Normal member in user
       posts: 4 since: 28 Mar, 2003 |
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10. Re:"Extended Attributes" Magazine Is No More! |
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If they hadn't enough contributors (what the e-zine and VNL sometimes is suffering from too) there's little chance to make an online mag. At least, if they don't choose a extended period - e.g. quarterly instead of each month.
Online publication is non-cyclic. When a new article has passed through the edit-cycle, it's published. There's no wait or holding period. The "Current" folder is even syndicated (via RSS), so it's possible to track new content rather easily. Bill, Editor-in-chief, extended attributes |
| Date: 28 Mar, 2003 on 19:46 |
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Premium member in user
     posts: 350 since: 26 Nov, 2002
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11. Re:"Extended Attributes" Magazine Is No More! |
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billsch (Mar 28, 2003 20:37): A subscription and a membership were one and the same. The dues covered the cost of producing the magazine plus a small pittance for keeping the organization running. The death of the print magazine also ended the group collecting any form of "dues". (If someone sends POSSI money, we'll try to refund it unless they tell us to keep it as a donation.)At the end of the print publication run, we had almost 700 subscriber/members worldwide. As for advertising, we were promoted by BMT Micro (they sold subscriptions and back issues), Indelible Blue (they included "ea" subscription cards in many of their own mailings), and we were vendors at every US Warpstock except the last one, and at one Warpstock Europe. We did a mailing to the OS/2 Magazine subscription list when that magazine went under. We ran and heavily promoted two conferences -- WarpTech and OS/2 Marketplace. [snip]
Bill, thanks for clarifying what was actually going on "behind the scene". As you might have noticed, this is useful information to us as we don't need to guess and assume any longer... On the other hand this is quite astonishing: I didn't notice the "call for help" anywhere and the end of EA really came as a total surprise (to me at least). But to make sure I understand correctly: Is EA definetly "gone" or are you still in progress of collecting contents to release issues more or less randomly depending on contrbutions? Thomas |
| Date: 29 Mar, 2003 on 11:27 |
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       posts: 4 since: 28 Mar, 2003 |
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12. Re:"Extended Attributes" Magazine Is No More! |
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warpcafe (Mar 29, 2003 12:27): But to make sure I understand correctly: Is EA definetly "gone" or are you still in progress of collecting contents to release issues more or less randomly depending on contrbutions?
The print version of the magazine is gone. We no longer have the necessary printer contacts and mailing permits. And we've closed down our credit card processing. To keep all that running, we would have to publish on a regular schedule -- at least every other month. The Web version is all there is, now. Anyone who wants to contribute can "join" the site, read the how-to, and start writing. Articles still go through an editor (or two) before they're published on the site. So, you don't have to worry if your writing is a little rough.  Bill |
| Date: 29 Mar, 2003 on 15:59 |
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Team member in staff
       posts: 2128 since: 10 Dec, 2000
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13. Re:"Extended Attributes" Magazine Is No More! |
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| So the main issue to close the magazine was that you didn't have the proper mailing and printing contacts anymore. But, if this could be restored would there be a possibility of gettin the magazine out again ? Also to be mentioned, I never got any renewal of my subscription of the magazine... but as for now it doesn't really matter. /Kim |
| Date: 01 Apr, 2003 on 11:05 |
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       posts: 4 since: 28 Mar, 2003 |
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14. Re:"Extended Attributes" Magazine Is No More! |
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Kim (Apr 01, 2003 12:05): So the main issue to close the magazine was that you didn't have the proper mailing and printing contacts anymore. But, if this could be restored would there be a possibility of gettin the magazine out again ? /Kim
NO. Please read everything I said above. The main issue to close the magazine is that there was NO CONTENT. Lack of content closed the magazine. Content was lacking because nobody submitted a single article over the course of 18 months. That, and only that, led to the loss of our mailing and printing contracts. There is no possibility of getting another print magazine out because there is still NO CONTENT. Two new articles in almost two years does not represent enough material to produce a print publication. Here's what I mean by lack of content: A single issue of the magazine requires about 16,000 to 24,000 words. Total submitted word count in the past two years totals about 6,000 words. That's one-fourth of a single month's issue. Or about 2% of the content needed to keep the publication going for those two years. That is what I mean by lack of content. No amount of printing or mailing contracts are going to fix it. If we started seeing a flood of article submissions on the Web site, we might maybe consider reviving the print publication. But so far, that just isn't happening. Bill |
| Date: 04 Apr, 2003 on 00:41 |
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Premium member in staff
       posts: 2298 since: 12 Jan, 2001
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15. Re:"Extended Attributes" Magazine Is No More! |
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| IIRC - there was an OS/2 magazine that had a lack of vendors buying ad space and not a lack of content. I would have gladly paid more for it if it meant continuing the magazine. A lack of content is very difficult to overcome even with alot of vendors buying ad space. PS I will post your reply to different places and see what the reply(ies) will be. (hopefully positive).
OS/2 Warp-ed to the very end.
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| Date: 04 Apr, 2003 on 17:19 |
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| "Extended Attributes" Magazine Is No More! |
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