.IF DSK1.C3 .CE 5 *IMPACT/99* ^^^^^^^^^by JACK SUGHRUE ^^^^^^^^^Box 459 ^^^^^^^^^East Douglas, MA 01516 OUR 99er LIFELINES QUESTION: What's the most important part of the TI/99-4A computer? ANSWER: The monthly newsletters written about, on, by, for, with, to, and from the 99 and/or 99ers. They are THE lifelines of our machines. This massive newsletter link keeps us an entity, a community. There are lots of hardworking BBS activists who are as important to the worldwide TI community as the newsletter editors but their final impact is different. There are about 1800 non-modemed, active, newsletter-reading 99ers for each active modemed BBSer. So, to begin with, the newsletter readers worldwide are a gigantic portion of 99ers whose only enhanced experiences are through the newsletters. Most newsletters do reprints from other newsletters, which is a good thing. Almost all user groups exchange newsletters, and we all learn from these exchanges. We learn what new products are coming out. Where and when the next TI faires will take place. How to use a new piece of software (like TI-BASE). What to do when something doesn't work. How users feel about a given product. There are also some wonderful teachers (like Jim Peterson, Chick De Marti, Anne Dhein, Martin Smoley, Harry Brashear, Bill Gaskill, Tom Arnold, Deanna Sheridan, Syles Bazerman, Tony McGovern, Jim Swedlow, Mickey Schmitt, Charles Good, John Willforth, to name too few.) Because each newsletter is SO distinctive, each gives options that couldn't be provided in any other way. There are some that are controversial and cantankerous (and badly needed to keep us on our collective toes). Some that are TOTALLY original; others that are very serious; still others that are very funny; and more that are quite eclectic - all reflecting the needs, desires, and abilities of the userss: emphasizing hardware or graphics or utiliites almost exclusively. I'm often asked what the best newsletter in the world is. I don't think there is any such thing. For those people who like to type in programs, the newsletters that have them wins out. For the fearless who love to rip apart things and solder all over the place, the hardware newsletters are best. For those who like the profoundly esoteric and philosophic the newsletters carrying IMPACT/99 are the best. Personally, I  the variety of the newsletters. I get about 75 a month and can honestly say that Canada and Australia certainly give America, the home of TI, a run for its money. There is something to suit everybody in the TI World, and I wouldn't presume to pick the World's Best. However... There are lots of ways to improve weak newsletters; ways that are discussed often by user/readers. 1) Because so many newsletters now exchange, LIMIT the amount of low interest matericals. If your newsletter devotes a large amount of space to the business meeting and treasurer's report and time and place of the next meeting you can count on a drastic drop in readership and membership. Rightly so. Put that stuff on a single page insert or, better still, announce at the meeting. Don't waste valuable space, energy, time, printing costs with boring info. 2) Add some graphics. The TI (with MAX-RLE, GRAPH-X, TI-ARTIST, CONVERT, PICTURE IT, PICASSO, CSGD, etc. has a wealth of wonderful stuff. There are so many programs that can even INSERT stuff into text, if you don't want to paste up, that it seems foolish not to grab someone's attention with graphics. 3) List your library, even in pieces. This month: Music; next month: Games. Whatever. This is important for members and exchanges. Be sure to put it on disk, too. 4) Use people's talents. If someone is good at assembly, encourage her/him to write an article(s) about assembly. If someone got a new program off the BBS, have him/her demo it and write about it. Be sure to write about all the people who demo or in any way share with the club. These people don't get paid. They need and deserve the reward of recognition in their own newsletters. 5) Gripe! By having alittlegripe column, the TI World will change. It's as important to have a legitimate gripe as it is to have legitimate praise. 6) Thus, praise. If someone has found a program they like or love, encourage them to write about it. Or, because you are editor or writer, encourage them to demo it and YOU write it up for the newsletter. 7) Look through other newsletters. If an article interests YOU it'll probably interest your readers. 8) But be careful. Very few people have RAMdisks, Geneves, Triple-Tech Cards, or whatever. Most TI owners don't even have disk drives. Try to encourage them to get drives but don't overlook them. (You might write about options - add-on printers, 32K, etc.) 9) GET A DECENT ORIGINAL COPY! Change your ribbon or get someone else to make the original or go to another printer. There are lots of yucky, hard-to-read newsletters out there. Do something about it. 10) Sneak. Find someone who has easy access to a copier. Then make one picture-perfect copy (THAT IS THE BIG THING!) even if it costs you, and then have your friend make the copies. Now, user groups are getting smaller and smaller - BUT cleverer and cleverer and stronger and stronger. Let's exhibit these ideal characteristics in our newsletters. 11) Find out the maximum pages you can send through the mail for $.25 or (the next step) $.45 by going to the post office and having them EXACTLY weigh the number of pieces of paper of the kind you use. Then do EVERYTHING based on that specific. Including reproducing, reducing, pasting in graphics, and so on. Remember to eliminate all the local garbage. Nobody reads it, including the locals. And you can really get some good stuff into the expanded package. 12) Set goals. Make a club goal each year. Then work towards it andpublicizeit. Some clubs (like Connecticut's tiny NUTMEG 99er group create original programs and TI artifacts for faire sales each year). Though it's a good fundraising idea, it is more important that the WHOLE club work actively toward these newsletter-encouraged goals and share them with the whole TI community. 13) Finally, praise the heroic efforts of your newsletter editor publicly and often. TIs are on their last 8 or 10 years. It's too short a time to have squabbles and to complain about who does more work at meetings. We're all smallifying, and it is not a comfortable feeling. Let's pull together as tightly as we can for as long a time as we've got. The 4A is still a remarkable computer. There are still remarkable things being done to and for it. Let our readers know. [If you reprint these articles please place the author on your newsletter mailing list. Thank you. J.S.] Հ