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Hi Guys,
My name is Hal and I’ve recently rejoined this fine forum region. My older sign in as hal@buffnet.net died, so I had to resubscribe with a new email addy. None the less, I thought I’d share a few thoughts with you all here and perhaps prod a few of you into action
I sent Mr Carr a short email courtesy of the site (thank you for that by the by, whomever is responsible for that idea) saying “Hey, when is Dawn Patrol 8th edition due out”. I’m sure that everyone who sends him an email sends him that very same question, but for me, it was a first time.
In any event, Mr Carr asked me a fair question, to which I gave him a fair answer. The question was “Have you joined the FITS society yet?”
My response essentially said to the effect that I don’t like buying things sight unseen. So, here’s my idea and why I titled this thread “Salesmanship”.
Sell me on the idea of joining the society.
If this were my web page and my baby to run, this is what I’d do.
First: I’d create a teaser download for the general public who are not as yet paying members. This could be as simple as posting ONE of the newsletters so that people can see what it is you are asking them to buy. Then, as if that weren’t enough, I’d give a teaser download of a table of contents listing for all of the archived newsletters that are available either as backorder newsletters or as files online (either for a price or for free depending on how it is that this is being set up).
Those two things alone would suffice to give me some basis for whether or not I’d be interested in joining the society and plunking down $12 per year. Now, if one of the benefits of joining is accessing files – might I suggest that you actually let the public see the names of those files along with a brief discussion of what those files contain? If one goes to click on the download link, they will discover that based on whether they are paying members or non-paying members is whether that download link is visible, and if paying, they can download it. The thing here is to turn all of your potential assets into mouthwatering candy that the kid (that’s me!) with a penny in his hand, will plunk it down just to stop salivating over what it is he can see and know he wants, versus the kid who walks past a feature less brick wall that does not even in the slightest, entice him to walk in and desire.
Hope no one takes offense at this, and I hope that people who read this think “hey, the man has an idea, and he is offering suggestions on how to hook him into buying a membership. Maybe what he’s saying is worth considering”
On that note? I hope that my presense here will be a beneficial thing, not a PITA kind of thing
Hal
Hal,
No offense taken and suggestions are always welcome. The idea of showing which of the Aerodromes are downloadable to all visitors is a good idea. I have thumbnail images that I can use for that purpose. Mike and I recently spoke about yet another batch of Aerodromes to be added along with issue #100 that was specifically requested. I should have the teaser page up in a matter of days as it will not be too difficult.
Another feature we were planning to promote soon is the online Ace List. I have a beta version out now that still needs a bit of tweaking, but again it will be completed in a matter of days.
So.. stay tuned!
Dan
Hal,
You make some very good points and they are well received and appreciated!! Current members have been promised a new set of charts in the next issue, and maybe we can get a list of these from Mike to post here on the site, that way as you say, we can ‘salivate’ over whats to come!!
Oh and the famous question…unfortunately we have all been asking it for years now…one of the best benefits of being a member is that any new chart or item for the game that does get completed, it goes into the Aerodrome for all us that play the game, regardless of when the 8th edition arrives
Hal makes some pretty good points, and I feel the same way, which is why I’ve never joined FITS. Granted, it’s only $12 a year, but being on a tight budget, I have to really justify everything I spend even small amounts of money on. So far, I haven’t seen anything to justify the expenditure. Other than just supporting the game, which was the biggest reason I was thinking of joining, the only other benefit I see is the newsletter. Since there haven’t been any updates to the game in decades, I always imagined that the newsletter was mostly historical articles, and maybe a listing of conventions and/or players.
Am I wrong in my thinking?
Some things that would entice me to join:
[ol]
[li]Scenarios – I’d like to see this more than anything.[/li]
[li]Rule enhancements – I’ve seen rules for battlefield photography, and for different aircraft… did these come from FITS newsletters?[/li]
[li]Game Aids – It would be nice to download spreadsheets and quick reference sheets so that I don’t have to re-create them myself. Of course, I’m almost done creating mine, so it’s kind of a moot point Then again, if you convince me to join, maybe I’ll save them for FITS members only?[/li]
[li]An international database of active pilots. Not just aces. It would be nice to have all this stuff stored in one place.[/li]
[/ol]cubsfan4life wrote:
Quote:one of the best benefits of being a member is that any new chart or item for the game that does get completed, it goes into the Aerodrome for all us that play the game, regardless of when the 8th edition arrivesThat brings up another question I had… if you are a member, do you have access to all the back issues of the newsletters? So even a new member would be able to get all these cool new charts?
Mind you, I’m not thinking that I want a lot of “free” stuff (although that would be nice!). I am however, one of those who have been hoping to see an 8th edition copy printed out – and soon. It also seems to be such that if you’re playing by rules that are essentially 7.5 or 7.75 (depending on how much different 8th edition is from 7th), those of us who only have the 7th edition boxes (and I’m not specifically how one determines if they have 7th edition or earlier versions!) will be left pretty much in the cold.
In any event, I think I’m just about “sold” on the idea.
yoodle wrote:
Quote:An international database of active pilots. Not just aces. It would be nice to have all this stuff stored in one place.Yoodle, this is the DP-PILOTS tool that has been mentioned elsewhere on the website. It is only available to FITS members. It is a single place to store all of your pilots. I am actually adding the “Ace List” on top of it using the pilot storage functions that are already in place and being used by several members. I have not been promoting it much, mainly because I am the worker bee who loves to churn this stuff out, and I am continually adding to it. I think Andy and others might tell you though that it is in a very usable and stable state at this point.
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