**=**¢ Commentary by DALE WOOSTER, President¢ of N.W.P.A.C., from their MAY/JUNE¢ 1994 newsletter, reprinted by OL'¢ HACKERS because it tells it like it¢ is, and may help the SLCC crew if they¢ do come out with an 8 BIT magazine!¢¢ ATARI CLASSIC.MAGAZINE¢ By NWPAC Prez, Dale Wooster¢¢ POOF, AND ITS GONE!¢¢ Yeah, it's true folks, Its Gone! ¢ A lot of really hard work by some¢ truly dedicated Atari 8-bit lovers is¢ now being cast aside. My thanks go¢ out to each and every one of you for a¢ SUPREME effort. I know that this¢ effort cost Ben and a few of you¢ others some bucks but then again I¢ also know that you were not in it for¢ the money in the first place. I know¢ this because that is also how I feel.¢ I don't think I have ever made a¢ profit with anything related to our¢ Ol'Classic 8-bit. (Well maybe on an¢ isolated occasion?)¢¢ COMPLAINT DEPARTMENT¢¢ I am also sure that we will be¢ hearing from some folks that will be¢ glad to tell us why it failed BUT if¢ they are not listed as subscribers¢ from the very beginning I am not even¢ interested in their opinions. As an¢ original subscriber however I do have¢ some thoughts that I would like to¢ express.¢¢ AT THE BEGINNING.....¢¢ When all this first started with¢ the early mail-outs by Ben I was¢ disappointed that in all of the early¢ printings the User Groups were totally¢ ignored and I felt that this was a big¢ mistake. I even wrote to him and¢ said so. After all, without the User¢ Group there is no support to speak of. ¢ WAIT AND SEE ATTITUDE!¢¢ This was made even more evident when¢ the NWPAC membership decided to "wait¢ and see" when I asked for a vote about¢ subscribing to AC. Could this be one¢ of the reasons for the failure? Who¢ Knows? I do know that in the first¢ survey at least 15 of our members said¢ they would subscribe but the final¢ tally was TWO! Could this be another¢ reason for failure? Well, H&%$ YES!¢¢ A SECOND CHANCE AT A NEW MAG?¢¢ Well MAYBE, all you fence sitters¢ will get another chance but if you do,¢ "DO IT NOW" According to the info on¢ page 29 of the Feb94 AC we still may¢ have a chance to keep an ATARI CLASSIC¢ Magazine alive and kicking. BOB¢ WOOLEY and JIM HOOD of SLCC in¢ California are thinking about keeping¢ some sort of magazine going. The LAST¢ issue of AC may even have a sample of¢ their efforts and could very well be¢ in your hands by the time our¢ newsletter goes out.¢¢ A WARNING NOTE FOR FUTURE EDITORS!¢¢ Once again I repeat, " Do Not¢ Ignore The User Groups, they Are The¢ 8-Bit World"¢¢ A WELL THOUGHT OUT WISH LIST¢¢ Here is what I would like to see¢ in the NEWEST version of The Atari¢ Classic "User Group" magazine¢ 1- A 20 to 40 page newsletter¢ done with a combination of TextPro,¢ Daisy Dot III and NewsStation thereby¢ making it a TRUE 8-bit publication. ¢ Maybe a little cut & paste extras¢ wouldn't hurt on occasion? Fancy¢ color covers are not needed.¢ 2- Request that EVERY user group¢ send BOTH, a DISK and a Hardcopy of¢ every newsletter to the ACUGM clearing¢ center which hopefully will be Bob,¢ Jim and at least 3 other members. ¢ BOTH formats are a must! We don't¢ want the committee spending all their¢ time typing in hardcopys or printing¢ out disks. This committee will select¢ the best of these articles for use in¢ the next issue of "AC".¢ 3- Each user group would also¢ send in a disk of games or a DOM or¢ other programs. The committee could¢ build a library of DISKs to be sold¢ just like Antic did. Even make up a¢ catalog.¢ 4- How about a "QUARTERLY" issue¢ ( 4 per year) AND Do not use a¢ professional publisher! This can get¢ the yearly subscription fee down to¢ the $15 to $20 range and make it more¢ attractive to MORE users. For¢ example, Office Max will copy BOTH¢ sides of the 11 X 16 sheets for $0.24¢ per sheet. Same size as AC was. A 32¢ page mag would cost $1.92 to print. ¢ Or 400 copies for $768.00. Then the¢ committee could spend a FUN DAY¢ putting these all together for¢ mailing. Isn't that a neat way to¢ have a fun day? <g>¢¢ AN OFFSET AND CONCLUSION¢¢ And don't forget, the cost of¢ labels, postage and misc will be¢ offset a bit by the advertising¢ income. I don't know what those fees¢ were for AC. Now if all of the above¢ was done more or less as I have it¢ outlined, do you know what you would¢ have? A true Atari 8-Bit magazine¢ done by true Atarians all in ONE¢ LOCATION but fed by material from all¢ over the world. And btw, after¢ several months the disk library should¢ be making a NICE PROFIT. Please let¢ BOB and JIM know just what you think¢ BUT DO IT NOW!¢¢ (Ed. DALE is sounding a warning to all¢ you folks who want the 8 BIT to¢ continue to thrive. PUT YOUR MONEY¢ WHERE YOUR (complaining) MOUTH IS! A¢ word to the wise...etc. etc...)¢ **=**=**¢¢
