| Subject | RE: [Firebird-general] The Firebird Newsletter |
|---|---|
| Author | Svein Erling Tysvær |
| Post date | 2008-12-09T07:38:31Z |
A newsletter sounds nice, what I'm uncertain about is how to obtain it. Should we aim at providing it free to the highest possible number of subscribers and try to get more donors this way, or should the newsletter subscription be available for Firebird Foundation members only and that way be an incentive to join the Foundation? That would be a tangible benefit of joining the Foundation and could possibly make it easier for those not being members/donors due to it being difficult to explain their shareholders/public authorities that it really is an expense for their company (I don't know how frequent this is, I just think I've heard someone mentioning that it could be difficult to explain membership/sponsorship in relation to the IRS or something).
As far as I see it, there are three alternatives:
a) Free subscription
b) Free with Firebird Foundation membership
c) Paid subscription
In all cases, I'd say any potential surplus ought to go to the Firebird Foundation. Myself, I don't know which option I favour, nor which option has the greatest 'income potential' for Firebird.
Set
-----Original Message-----
From: Firebird-general@yahoogroups.com [mailto:Firebird-general@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Martijn Tonies
Sent: 8. desember 2008 14:13
To: ffmembers@...; Firebird-general@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Firebird-general] The Firebird Newsletter
Hello everyone,
Let me expand on an idea I'm having:
The Idea
-----------------------------------
Create a monthly or bi-weekly newsletter with news related to
Firebird, this newsletter doesn't need to be huge, what could
fit on 2 A4s would be sufficient for a bi-weekly newsletter, I
think. Size would be dependent on the frequency, frequency
could increase over time.
This newsletter would be sent out to subscribers, people who
are interested in Firebird news but don't want to search different
websites for it.
You can subscribe to it via the Firebird main website, the
downloads page, the "after install"-page (on Windows) etc.
This should be prominently visible.
Content
-----------------------------------
The news itself would consist of Firebird development news,
links to interesting blog posts about Firebird, 3rd party product
news, pictures of conferences, succes stories etc... In short: an
aggregate of all sorts of news related to Firebird that would
fit in the newsletter.
Goal
-----------------------------------
Being able to reach a fairly large number of companies and
free-lance developers interested in Firebird and products,
events etc related to Firebird.
Additionally, the newsletter will be suited for constants
reminders of the necessity of donating to Firebird, it could
also be used for advertising third party services and
products (or promotions).
Required infrastructure
-----------------------------------
Not a lot, which is why this could be an idea that actually
could work :-)
A few people who collect the news and make up the newsletter,
I shall volunteer to be one of those people.
An e-mail server to send out e-mail (like the one I have here in
my office).
A way to subscribe to the newsletter, resulting in a database with
e-mail addresses, media-type for the e-mail (plain text, html e-mail
or pdf?), any additional info with regard to the subscriber.
Why is this different from current e-mail lists like firebird-general,
firebird-tools etc?
- no "discussions" or irrelevant e-mail
- editorial review
- rich-media format
And now for the important part of the discussion:
Is this going to solve the "money problems" Firebird is having?
Not directly (notice this particular word!), but there's currently
no way of reaching "the public" in a more push-type manner, so
how do we expect to get anything done from them at all? Such
a newsletter would offer the space to lure them in and explain
in small articles the need to get donations from them. It can
also open up a way of advertising for companies etc...
I hope this explains the idea and I welcome your comments.
With regards,
Martijn Tonies
Upscene Productions
http://www.upscene.com
Download Database Workbench for Oracle, MS SQL Server, Sybase SQL
Anywhere, MySQL, InterBase, NexusDB and Firebird!
As far as I see it, there are three alternatives:
a) Free subscription
b) Free with Firebird Foundation membership
c) Paid subscription
In all cases, I'd say any potential surplus ought to go to the Firebird Foundation. Myself, I don't know which option I favour, nor which option has the greatest 'income potential' for Firebird.
Set
-----Original Message-----
From: Firebird-general@yahoogroups.com [mailto:Firebird-general@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Martijn Tonies
Sent: 8. desember 2008 14:13
To: ffmembers@...; Firebird-general@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Firebird-general] The Firebird Newsletter
Hello everyone,
Let me expand on an idea I'm having:
The Idea
-----------------------------------
Create a monthly or bi-weekly newsletter with news related to
Firebird, this newsletter doesn't need to be huge, what could
fit on 2 A4s would be sufficient for a bi-weekly newsletter, I
think. Size would be dependent on the frequency, frequency
could increase over time.
This newsletter would be sent out to subscribers, people who
are interested in Firebird news but don't want to search different
websites for it.
You can subscribe to it via the Firebird main website, the
downloads page, the "after install"-page (on Windows) etc.
This should be prominently visible.
Content
-----------------------------------
The news itself would consist of Firebird development news,
links to interesting blog posts about Firebird, 3rd party product
news, pictures of conferences, succes stories etc... In short: an
aggregate of all sorts of news related to Firebird that would
fit in the newsletter.
Goal
-----------------------------------
Being able to reach a fairly large number of companies and
free-lance developers interested in Firebird and products,
events etc related to Firebird.
Additionally, the newsletter will be suited for constants
reminders of the necessity of donating to Firebird, it could
also be used for advertising third party services and
products (or promotions).
Required infrastructure
-----------------------------------
Not a lot, which is why this could be an idea that actually
could work :-)
A few people who collect the news and make up the newsletter,
I shall volunteer to be one of those people.
An e-mail server to send out e-mail (like the one I have here in
my office).
A way to subscribe to the newsletter, resulting in a database with
e-mail addresses, media-type for the e-mail (plain text, html e-mail
or pdf?), any additional info with regard to the subscriber.
Why is this different from current e-mail lists like firebird-general,
firebird-tools etc?
- no "discussions" or irrelevant e-mail
- editorial review
- rich-media format
And now for the important part of the discussion:
Is this going to solve the "money problems" Firebird is having?
Not directly (notice this particular word!), but there's currently
no way of reaching "the public" in a more push-type manner, so
how do we expect to get anything done from them at all? Such
a newsletter would offer the space to lure them in and explain
in small articles the need to get donations from them. It can
also open up a way of advertising for companies etc...
I hope this explains the idea and I welcome your comments.
With regards,
Martijn Tonies
Upscene Productions
http://www.upscene.com
Download Database Workbench for Oracle, MS SQL Server, Sybase SQL
Anywhere, MySQL, InterBase, NexusDB and Firebird!