NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/bit/listserv/iamiga/10612

Text File | 1993-01-25 | 5.4 KB | 114 lines

Newsgroups: bit.listserv.i-amiga
Path: sparky!uunet!spool.mu.edu!yale.edu!cs.yale.edu!news-mail-gateway!daemon
From: [e-mail] (Jimmy Malcolm Pierce)
Subject: Fred Fish might quit, details follow
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Sender: [e-mail]
Organization: Yale CS Mail/News Gateway
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 13:25:50 GMT
Lines: 103


    Here is a post to comp.sys.amiga.misc I felt all of you would
be very interested in ! DJ.

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Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc
Path: nntp.msstate.edu!gatech!asuvax!ennews!fishpond!fnf
From: [e-mail] (Fred Fish)
Subject: to be or not to be
Organization: Amiga Library Services
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1993 05:54:30 GMT

Over the last couple of years, I've noticed a trend where fewer and fewer
people are on my direct subscriber list.  This last year has seen a
particularly sharp decrease, from about an average of 75 subscribers
to the current low of 41.  That's right, there are only 41 people or
organizations in the whole world that receive disks directly from me
as of Jan 17, 1993, with about half of them being outside the United
States.

During this last year, the amount of time I have had available to spend
constructing disks, doing accounting, and otherwise managing the library
has also dropped sharply, so that more than ever I depend upon using
outside help for things like presorting the submitted material, creating
prototype disks which I then use for constructing the final disks, and
doing the actual duplication, packaging, and shipping of the disks.
I cannot expect these people to work for nothing, so I have been paying
them reasonable compensation for their time out of the ever dwindling
subscription income.  It has reached the point where sometime in the
next month or two I will make a decision about whether or not to shut
down the library, since if there are insufficient incoming funds to
meet the operating costs as well as pay for an occasional perk like
a trip to an Amiga show once or twice a year, or some new hardware toy,
there is little incentive to continue spending 20-30 hours a month
running it.

If you are in a position to influence a club, computer store, or other
Amiga related organization to maintain a direct subscription for new
disks, and thus help fund continued maintenance of the library, and are
interested in seeing the library continue to grow, I'd urge you to
consider doing what you can to help push the number of direct subscribers
back up to more reasonable levels.  Thanks.

-Fred
--
|\/ o\  Fred Fish, 1835 E. Belmont Drive, Tempe, AZ 85284,  USA
|/\__/  1-602-491-0048 {asuvax,mcdphx,cygint,amix}!fishpond!fnf

==========  one of many replies ====================

Article 28026 of comp.sys.amiga.misc:
Path: nntp.msstate.edu!gatech!paladin.american.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!CHENRY
From: [e-mail] (Hypermedia Concepts Inc)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc
Subject: reply - lets all help
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 93 22:10:08 PST
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 38

Earlier today Fred Fish announced that he may soon stop producing the
Amiga Library disks due to the ever-decreasing base of subscribers and
people that purchase the disks directly from him.  We at HyperMedia
Concepts, publishers of the Fred Fish Collection on CD ROM, have offered
to donate to Fred a significant amount of the cost of producing the disks
on a monthly basis. We call on any other organization that redistributes
the Amiga Library disks to join us and take a similar action, or at the
very least to obtain their disks directly from Fred via subscription.

When we first contacted Fred regarding his permission to put the library on
CD ROM we offered him a royalty which he declined. I recently extended
the offer again and Fred again declined.  Fred has never looked on his
activities as a buisness.  He has never claimed a compilation copyright
on his library and has given everyone blanket permission to copy the disks
for any purpose.  In short, he asked nothing of those of us that
redistribute his work.  Fred now finds for reasons outlined in his posting
that it is becoming too costly to continue to produce the disks.  We have
always felt that if we were going to redistribute the Fred Fish disks
it was only right that we obtain the disks directly from Fred.  To that end
we have always maintained a subscripton to the library.

As a redistributor of the collection when we read Fred's posting I
felt it was only right to contact Fred and offer to do what we could
to help. I would like to extend an invitation to others that redistribute
the disks (in any form) join us in doing our share in supporting this
unique resource. By ordering the source disks from Fred Fish directly
via subscription we will ensure that Fred will have available to him
the necessary resources to continue his work.

Since 1987 Fred Fish has worked for the benefit of the entire Amiga
community. He has become a cultural icon. The loss of his unique service
would only significantly diminish the community as a whole.  It is our
belief that we owe it to Fred to help out in whatever way we can.Please
join us in supporting Fred's efforts.

Chris Henry - HyperMedia Concepts, Inc.

Email: [e-mail]

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Jim Pierce [e-mail] Disclaimer: Standard.