First Web Issue Well...this is the first web issue of the CB World Informer newsletter. As always, it took longer than anticipated. The more time spent on an article, the more information came to the surface. All this inspired new ideas and changes. This issue evolved from a simple information source to a online magazine. Back in 1997 it was quite painful to end the publication on the newsletter. Not because I had to write so many refund checks for the remainder of the subscription year, but because it was enjoyable to help operators across the country get the most out of their hobby. And the positive feedback from our subscribers helped motivate the production of a better product. I thank those past subscribers for their letters of thanks, and hope for the newsletter to restart. See, someone was listening, you got your wish. And I appreciated those who returned the refunds. This was a shock. And over time I got another surprise. Many of the refund checks were never cashed. I thank all of you for being kind and showing your appreciation through those actions. In the snail mail version, advertising was never used to help support the publication. This way the readers would know that a review or article wasn't biased or watered down for fear of loosing advertisers. With the web issue it's unclear to me at this time how to support the web overhead and costs to write articles and reviews, not to mention pay for outside articles from other authors. The dilemma is, how to make this site support itself without influencing content material. One option would be advertising products that are not directly related to the hobby, but somewhat linked such as hunting and fishing equipment. Items of that nature wouldn't be reviewed, eliminating any possible conflict. The drawback is banner ads. They can be distracting and take up space. Another option would be a low cost subscription price. An incentive program were subscribers who refer others would get a portion of the subscription in cash could be adopted. A yearly subscription would eliminate the need for banner advertising, but limit access to readers via a password process. A third would be to ask for donations. I just don't know if that's a good idea.

July 2001 Web Edition