Any chance of a monthly or twice monthly newsletter advertising the website?

[imposs1904]

Hi all,

apologies if this has already been suggested before.

I was wondering if it was possible for the website to have the option whereby people could subscribe to the website by supplying their email address and, then, once or twice a month the website administrators could send out emails listing updates to the website.

If it was up to me, I'd suggest twice a month newsletter. The first newsletter being sent out a couple of days after the publication of the Socialist Standard each month, which would list the links to each article and book review in that month's Standard, and a second newsletter being sent out in the middle of the month which would be more about listing new articles added to the Socialist Standard archive and/or the Party's audio archive.

This is not a particularly original idea. It is something the Marxist Internet Archive does, and twice a month I receive an email from them in my inbox which informs me of the new articles added to their website.

Is this doable?

yfs,

[jondwhite]

You could add party events (which were done on spannounce successfully for many years until it was shut down for no good reason, now can be subscribed to on meetup) on there and automate the whole thing into reminders so it wouldn't even be necessary to manually write it.Every organisation worth its salt has a newsletter. Companion parties have newsletters (http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/forum/world-socialist-movement/spc-newsletter-1st-october-2013), SPGB branches have newsletters (Manchester and Head Office). Parties claiming to be 'socialist' have newsletters. One of the first decisions for the so-called 'International Socialist Network' was to have a newsletter. Even the so-called 'International Marxist Tendency' have a subscribers list.It got sidetracked, but it was discussed recently here,http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/forum/world-socialist-movement/spgb-national-one-way-announcements-mailing-list

[imposs1904]

I guess there's newsletters and there's newsletters.There is a strong case for the SPGB doing something similar to what the Canadian comrades currently do, but in this particular case it was more about the idea of a newsletter that would draw attention to updates to the website.We've a rich archive and I think there are a layer of people out there who'd be interested in it, without necessarily at the same time aligning to us politically.

[Anonymous]

imposs1904 wrote:

We've a rich archive and I think there are a layer of people out there who'd be interested in it, without necessarily at the same time aligning to us politically.

We've a rich archive that's for sure; only trouble being is that the search facility on the website hasn't been working for some weeks.Big question.  When will the seven members on the Internet Committee get around to sorting it?

[jondwhite]

When they get round to installing a listserv on worldsocialism.org/spgb/When they get round to completing the upload of the full archive (which was digitised over 3 and a half years ago now) or at least sharing the resulting PDFs of the Socialist Standard on worldsocialism.org/spgb/http://ssdigit.nothingisreal.com/2010/03/page-inventory.htmlWhen they get round to installing a IRC on worldsocialism.org/spgb/When they get round to installing a wiki on worldsocialism.org/spgb/When they get round to installing a videostream on worldsocialism.org/spgb/When they get round to setting up a mobile version of the website

[Anonymous]

jondwhite wrote:

When they get round to installing a listserv on worldsocialism.org/spgb/When they get round to completing the upload of the full archive (which was digitised over 3 and a half years ago now) or at least sharing the resulting PDFs of the Socialist Standard on worldsocialism.org/spgb/http://ssdigit.nothingisreal.com/2010/03/page-inventory.htmlWhen they get round to installing a IRC on worldsocialism.org/spgb/When they get round to installing a wiki on worldsocialism.org/spgb/When they get round to installing a videostream on worldsocialism.org/spgb/When they get round to setting up a mobile version of the website

I don't claim to know anything about running a website and that's one of the reasons I'm not on the Internet Committee. If you do it rather begs another question, doesn't it?…   What I do know is the succession of issues since the launch of the new website including Gateway Timeouts, failure of the online shop and now this latest problem has to be deterring visitors. No disrespect intended, but if the magnificient seven can't address these continuing problems then the EC needs to find someone who can even if they're from outside the party.

[jondwhite]

By the way, what I wrote could be ambiguous, so to clarify I agree with you.

[Anonymous]

jondwhite wrote:

By the way, what I wrote could be ambiguous, so to clarify I agree with you.

Well ain't that nice…   

[Anonymous]

Well just to put you in the picture.Only a couple of members of the commitee are doing all of the nuts and bolts stuff in respect of the website and one is currently snowed under.The problem with timeouts etc.is still ongoing and wont be speedily resolved.You will just have to be patient for the time being.

[Anonymous]

Matt wrote:

Well just to put you in the picture. Only a couple of members of the commitee are doing all of the nuts and bolts stuff in respect of the website and one is currently snowed under.The problem with timeouts etc.is still ongoing and wont be speedily resolved.You will just have to be patient for the time being.

We're well aware what you and Darren are doing and also the two Roberts but that still leaves three members of the IC unaccounted for and two of those are supposedly whizzkids when it comes to websites and the like.Some of us have been patient for nigh on three years which to us mere uninitiated mortals seems more than ample time to rectify any teething problems.  I say again.  If the IC, or the one or two whose shoulders the burden falls upon, can't cope then outside assistance must be sought as a matter of urgency.  We have few financial constraints after all.

[DJP]

gnome wrote:

What I do know is the succession of issues since the launch of the new website including Gateway Timeouts, failure of the online shop and now this latest problem has to be deterring visitors. No disrespect intended, but if the magnificient seven can't address these continuing problems then the EC needs to find someone who can even if they're from outside the party.

FWIW there's only one member that is involved with running and maintaining the machinery of the website and that's me. The webshop was fixed within one hour of me being made aware of the problem. I think I know what will remedy the glitch with the site search, but it will take a days work to sort out. In the meantime you can search the site using the google search option here:With regards to site performance we are currently liasing with a specialist in page caching and Drupal performance so there will be improvements very soon.I can easily set up a newsletter but it needs someone to volunteer to do it and it's not a high priority now, the last one was ditched because no-one was subscribed to it..As all of this has to be done in our spare time so please be patient.

[imposs1904]

DJP wrote:

 I can easily set up a newsletter but it needs someone to volunteer to do it and it's not a high priority now, the last one was ditched because no-one was subscribed to it..As all of this has to be done in our spare time so please be patient.

Maybe I was unclear in my original post when I described my proposal as a 'newsletter'.All I my asking is that visitors to the website are offered the option to subscribe to the website via email for updates to Socialist Standard archive and the audio section of the website. I threw in the suggestion about  the current Socialist Standard as an afterthought. If the archive isn't updated then people won't receive emails. Simple as.I think the mention of a newsletter conjures up the image of a comrade having to sit down every month and write a fresh report. I understand if that's not what comrades want to do at the moment. I can't imagine my proposal being as high maintenance as that.If someone on the IT Dept knows the technical nuts and bolts of setting up such a email subscription list, I'd be happy to volunteer to compile the list twice a month. 

[Anonymous]

DJP wrote:

FWIW there's only one member that is involved with running and maintaining the machinery of the website and that's me. The webshop was fixed within one hour of me being made aware of the problem. I think I know what will remedy the glitch with the site search, but it will take a days work to sort out.

Your commitment and contribution are not in doubt.  What some of us can't understand is why you are the only one doing all of this when there are seven bods on the IC, some with seemingly impeccable credentials…

[DJP]

gnome wrote:

Your commitment and contribution are not in doubt.  What some of us can't understand is why you are the only one doing all of this when there are seven bods on the IC, some with seemingly impeccable credentials…

Because when it comes to Drupal configuration and problem shooting I'm the only one that knows how to do it. Some members may have in depth knowledge of other areas of computer science but not Drupal specifically.Other members do assist with the uploaded of new articles etc, as you do, but the mechanics part of it does require a certain amount of specialist knowledge, hence the decision to approach a professional developer…

[Author]

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