At the next WRUG monthly members meeting, the President described our publishing method. 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 them, tape the edges and put stamps and 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 View From Windows 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 group 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 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 those sending 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 decision was mainly financial. 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.

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. The downside is that one has to maintain a list of the members' email addresses and must be aware that some email boxes may be too small to hold the file.

Advantages:

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

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.

It's a pain in the butt trying to follow each column then switch to page 10 for the end of article and members don't like to scroll up and down. One editor tried to do a 4-quarter newsletter so one didn't have to scroll up and down, only sideways, then down and sideways.

And one editor really has patience: To satisfy his members, he sends some newsletters in plain .txt, others in .doc, others in .wpd, and he cuts and pastes the newsletter into the body of the emails to his Juno users.

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.

Some reasons given for sending printed letters are:

1. Our members want the printed version, 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.
2. 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.
4. 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.
5. You can't pass on-line newsletters around so readily at computer shows, business locations, libraries, etc.
6. Members can read the printed newsletter anytime anywhere.
7. We have ads to offset printing/mailing cost.
8. 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.
9. Haven't figured out how to secure newsletter for members only and still have it accessible.
10. The topic of dropping printed copy comes up every year, yet our group strongly rejects that idea.

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 crm911.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.