The Metamorphosis Of A Newsletter
Editorial
I began assembling and editing the
articles appearing in this issue of
Manley Notes over the Memorial
Day weekend with a target release
date in mid-August.
The articles arrive on my desktop
from all directions during the
months, and even the years past,
mostly contributed by members with
no aspiration of being published
and egos buoyed when they see
their banal e-mail in print.
I also probe the deep recesses of
cyberspace searching for stories of
interest, and I am not embarrassed
to confess that I “lift” one now and
then from another website. It’s pub-
lic domain, okay? Periodically, if
there is space and the mood strikes
me, I will write an editorial. The
mood has struck me.
Before it reaches your mailbox, this
newsletter will have suffered sev-
eral rewrites, a heavily tweaked
layout, and weak stories replaced
by ones I like better but not neces-
sarily anymore interesting.
Initially, this issue was intended for
release about September 1 then I
changed it to mid-August and then
changed it again. It is a metamor-
phosis of the best kind.
And another change is needed,
It has never been a desire of your
directors to link the newsletter effort
to any real or quasi form of sub-
scription, but we have agonized
over the subject too much and too
long.
We have 827 crew members in the
database, up from less than a hun-
dred in 2000 when we first started
these mailings, and the cost has
exploded. Add the 39¢ a pop for
postage to the cost of paper, enve-
lope, and ink to calculate a fairly
good idea of the per issue cost.
Multiply that by 827 and the sum by
4 to arrive at the annual expense.
Staggering, huh?
Not all the sailors in the data base
pay dues for any number of rea-
sons yet they enjoy receiving the
newsletter. Should they be perma-
nently deleted from the mailing list?
Is the newsletter really worth the
effort? Publish issues less often?
All valid questions.
Publishing fewer issues each year
is a viable option to control costs;
and yes, I am convinced that the
newsletter pays huge, albeit intangi-
ble, benefits for both the Associa-
tion and the member. I have too
many positive comments draping
my walls from people who look for-
ward to their issue.
Manley Notes is the aorta in our
front lines of communications and
any restriction imposed upon its
distribution would severely diminish
the purpose. Rather than strike
people from the mailing list, I prefer
to add people.
But reality is what reality is and that
brings me to the age of electronic
innovation.
This issue of Manley Notes is the
first to be placed on the Associa-
tion’s web site, and by now some of
you have received an e-mail an-
nouncing the details. Hopefully, the
volume of mailed newsletters will
decrease as our people become
more accustomed to reading their
issue on the Net.
This electronic conduit can signifi-
cantly cut publication and mailing
costs while simultaneously increas-
ing readership. Importantly, the
newsletter will become accessible
to those Manley sailors who elect
for some mysterious reason not to
“enlist.” This change may be the
MANLEY NOTES
Page 8
REACH OUT AND FEEL THE PRIDE
incentive that converts the non-
believer.
The web issue coupled with the
mailed issue is sure to increase our
reach. No one need fear that they
are going to be eliminated. Indeed,
those without Internet access will see
no change.
My ambition is to expand the data
base to 1,000 Manley crew members
but it demands innovation and pro-
gress to achieve such a lofty goal;
yet, the effort cannot be allowed to
adversely impact upon our service to
you.
I would be pleased to have com-
ments - favorable and unfavorable -
after this change is given time to
work.
Don’t Do That!
AT&T fired President John Walter
after only nine months on the job,
saying he lacked intellectual leader-
ship. Walter received a $26 million
severance package. Perhaps it’s not
Walter who’s lacking intelligence.
An Illinois man, pretending to have a
gun, kidnapped a motorist and forced
him to drive to two different auto-
mated teller machines, wherein the
kidnapper proceeded to withdraw
money from his own bank accounts.
A man walked into a Topeka, Kansas
Kwik Shop and asked for all the
money in the cash drawer. Appar-
ently the take was too small, so he
tied up the store clerk and worked the
counter himself for 3 hours until the
police showed up and arrested him.
Norfolk
In
2007
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