Jump to content
SASS Wire Forum

Are you actually reading the online Chronical?


Recommended Posts

"The paper CC is the greatest recruiter we ever had or will ever have. Make it a quarterly fine. But it should be retained even if it does not break even or "costs". How that could be a money loser with sub rates and ad revenue I cannot comprehend. Even if it is evermore a money loser it needs to be retained even as a bi-monthly or quarterly. Huge excess stacks need to be printed and shipped to every club for handouts. We need recruits and a paper CC is the best recruiter we ever had or will have."

 

This right here is the most sensible reason I have seen put forth. Thank you, LD, for your wisdom.

As it stand's now they (SASS) can lose at least 10%+ or more of their membership and still be "money" ahead.

How much advertiser money they lose is anyone's quess.

How much it cost in new potential members that don't get to see it is also anyones quess.

Bad idea in my estimation.

When I joined it was quarterly then bi-monthly. If they went back to either way, it would be better than none.

But what do I know. I started in 1994. Joined a little later.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 196
  • Created
  • Last Reply

To those that were brought into this by the paper you may feel that it's a great tool for recruitment. I for a while thought the tv show was the best way to pull people in. But I really feel WE are the best recruitment tool by far. If you talk to people about what you are doing and show your passion "fish on ". That is by far the oldest and purest way of communication. The spoken word from a true believer will have far more impact than a news paper sitting on a table. So how many people have you shared CAS with today. Try to be part of the solution and stop dwelling on the past. Good day

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You know I'm just not buying the whole paper CC is the best recruiter. Maybe a long time ago, but in this day and age.... not so much. Everyone here is posting about the paper CC being the best, but look at where your doing it! Online!! :) that's where ALL the young kids are looking now. Not picking up a paper left behind in the barber shop. Sure maybe a few, but online adds are where its at. I see many folks here worried about trying to get the young folks involved.... how about doing it through social media? I send out the link to the online CC to friends via email if I want to get the word out..... much quicker than letting an old copy sit someplace and hope someone will pick it up.

I can tell you that our club gets more inquiries from Facebook, our YouTube channel etc than from most anywhere else. Sure we still have handouts and what not.... but I'm afraid like it or not.... paper media is suffering. I totally get the folks saying they just don't like reading the CC online. Like I said in a post the other day.... I've always gotten it that way, but most times I just print it out on my printer at home. Even with the cost of ink and paper, it still doesn't cost as much as you think and certainly less than the $35 or whatever it is from SASS.

I'm behind SASS 100% and love the club and people that I've met and guess what? I didn't find out about cowboy action from a piece of paper.... it was from seeing it on YouTube and then doing a search on Google. That and a very good friend told me about it.

 

So.. anyway thanks to all for a good group of folks. :)

 

-JD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Uhh, us luddites ain't got a clue how to "send out a link". We think and play in the 19th Century. The Tombstone Epitaph was print only.No one is suggesting the CC be print only but we should have that option. The $35 a year pittance is fair enuff. The 5000 minimum is not. It is not going to be attained. So us luddites are confronted with a lose lose proposition with almost no hope for options so quite naturally it is not going to sit well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You know I'm just not buying the whole paper CC is the best recruiter. Maybe a long time ago, but in this day and age.... not so much. Everyone here is posting about the paper CC being the best, but look at where your doing it! Online!! :) that's where ALL the young kids are looking now. Not picking up a paper left behind in the barber shop. Sure maybe a few, but online adds are where its at. I see many folks here worried about trying to get the young folks involved.... how about doing it through social media? I send out the link to the online CC to friends via email if I want to get the word out..... much quicker than letting an old copy sit someplace and hope someone will pick it up.

I can tell you that our club gets more inquiries from Facebook, our YouTube channel etc than from most anywhere else. Sure we still have handouts and what not.... but I'm afraid like it or not.... paper media is suffering. I totally get the folks saying they just don't like reading the CC online. Like I said in a post the other day.... I've always gotten it that way, but most times I just print it out on my printer at home. Even with the cost of ink and paper, it still doesn't cost as much as you think and certainly less than the $35 or whatever it is from SASS.

I'm behind SASS 100% and love the club and people that I've met and guess what? I didn't find out about cowboy action from a piece of paper.... it was from seeing it on YouTube and then doing a search on Google. That and a very good friend told me about it.

 

So.. anyway thanks to all for a good group of folks. :)

 

-JD

 

You need to keep in mind that not everyone is young and hip. :blink: What I mean is that to target just those that are online, up to date with technology, etc, is leaving out a large portion of the population. I'll go further to say that the ones that we should be going after are the older folks, the ones that grew up hunting, watching cowboy show and movies. The younger folks are pretty well occupied with video games, I Pods, social media, and the like. Not to say that they are not a valuble addition to our group, just that you need different baits for different fish.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

You need to keep in mind that not everyone is young and hip. :blink: What I mean is that to target just those that are online, up to date with technology, etc, is leaving out a large portion of the population. I'll go further to say that the ones that we should be going after are the older folks, the ones that grew up hunting, watching cowboy show and movies. The younger folks are pretty well occupied with video games, I Pods, social media, and the like. Not to say that they are not a valuble addition to our group, just that you need different baits for different fish.

 

Well.... according to your profile, I'm a year older than you are. :) I'm 58 but thanks for saying I'm young and hip! I'll take that! But what I'm seeing is more people talking about getting the younger people. And maybe they should get off the video games and play for real!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's something ironic about 5 pages of discussion in an online forum about an ink-on-paper publication. :rolleyes:

 

exactly what I was saying! Thanks Deadwood! :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Well.... according to your profile, I'm a year older than you are. :) I'm 58 but thanks for saying I'm young and hip! I'll take that! But what I'm seeing is more people talking about getting the younger people. And maybe they should get off the video games and play for real!

 

I agree. But I don't think we need to focus just on one group. Why exclude anyone from the party?

 

And why do you think this is the only place this is being discussed? This is simply where we are talking about it right now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I agree. But I don't think we need to focus just on one group. Why exclude anyone from the party?

 

And why do you think this is the only place this is being discussed? This is simply where we are talking about it right now.

 

Oh, I'm not focusing on one group nor do I think this is the only place its being discussed however unless its at your local watering hole where else would it be that would get this much attention and this fast?

As far as any one group, its not me that's is including or excluding. I'm reading all the posts here and see that generally people are saying they need to get young people involved to keep the fever going. That being said, I love anyone and everyone to get involved. What I am saying is that young or old, there are more people online than not. My 88 year old neighbor is on his computer more than I am and I do this for a living. And I should know... he calls me every time he has a problem. :D

I truly hope no one is taking this as that I'm being antagonistic. I am absolutely not.

 

-JD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's something ironic about 5 pages of discussion in an online forum about an ink-on-paper publication. :rolleyes:

It is, but we are the choir being preached at. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know how many of the newer shooters got started. But I found SASS simply by accident. I was searching for gun ranges here in CT. During one of those searches I noticed their schedule had Cowboy Action Shooting listed. Well I then had to check that out and found SASS. If I wasn't looking for a nearby range I would never have heard of CAS or SASS. Since joining I have mention cowboy action shooting to many but not one seemed interested. But when I was reading the CC in my doctors office a couple months ago I had 3 people ask me about it when they saw the CC. I left the CC in the office figuring it might generate more interest. Since I live in CT and since Sandy Hook bringing up any kind of shooting with strangers can go either way. So I don't try any more. Have had to walk away a couple time from anti-gun people.

If I had seen a CC a long time ago I would have been shooting then. Also would have had the money to travel then also. But instead I only shoot local when I can. And then the one club I have made more pards at isn't even a SASS club. They just shoot every month and have SASS members shooting there also.

But my thoughts are that the CC has made it easier for me to find folks who might be interested. Therefore I have been leaving my copies in different waiting rooms since I joined.

Internet ads will only bring new people in if someone is searching for something shooting related and the ad is on that website.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Uhh, us luddites ain't got a clue how to "send out a link". We think and play in the 19th Century. The Tombstone Epitaph was print only.No one is suggesting the CC be print only but we should have that option. The $35 a year pittance is fair enuff. The 5000 minimum is not. It is not going to be attained. So us luddites are confronted with a lose lose proposition with almost no hope for options so quite naturally it is not going to sit well.

You forget that I actually know you? :wacko:

 

There's something ironic about 5 pages of discussion in an online forum about an ink-on-paper publication. :rolleyes:

PRICELESS! ;):D:D

 

All y'all never read more than a page of it anyway. Who ya kiddin'? Spend all day just a click away and never even look unless Tex calls your Wranglers illegal. All the SASS you can eat...right here in the SASS WAHR.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The fact that most of us on this forum are fairly comfortable with a computer and a bunch of us are still unhappy with the digital version, should send some kind of message. Think of all the members, most of them, that aren't on here and try to imagine what their take is on this. If half of them are unhappy, that is a sizeable group. I would have no trouble with a quarterly version. As for the online version, I have no interest.

MTJ

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Umpteenth. Is that between eleventeenth and twelveteenth?

 

The Editor of one of my favorite magazines American Iron, which is the largest motorcycle magazine, wrote an editorial about the rapid change in the publishing business a couple of months ago. He wrote that whether it is attributed to the Internet or the economy the fact is "the traditional magazine store delivery system is under massive financial pressures." He predicted that a lot of magazines will disappear very quickly in the coming months. The local newspaper The Arizona Republic is now down to a Barbie doll size paper and I just noticed while sitting in the Dairy Queen (I don't buy the paper anymore) that the world and national news section is now a partnership with USA Today. Only the local news is now printed by the local paper and there are no ads of any significance anymore. (Everyone uses Craig's List, which I just found out about a couple of years ago.) They don't even have car ads or the movie schedule anymore. Everyone uses their IPhone, IPad or whatever. I personally like to be able to read in the "library" (you know, the one with the porcelain throne). As much as I am resisting, technology is changing everything whether I like it or not. I don't know and I am just speculating, but given how fast SASS made this change they probably had to stick their finger in a crack in the dike before it ruptured and flooded everything. The main thing for me is that SASS stay strong and continue to be the regulating body for this sport. I know a few people keep saying that if SASS goes away people will still shoot cowboy. IMO that's bunk. What makes the game a sport is coherent rules. Once everyone starts doing their own thing a few people might still show up dressed like cowboys and shoot. But, the shooter numbers will decline rapidly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:FlagAm::FlagAm::FlagAm::FlagAm::FlagAm:

 

Skip:

 

Actually I have not read the online one at all. :(

The only time I ever got to read the printed ones was about a month after I get them. :(

 

I honestly do not have the time to read them at this time of my life.

 

In fact, I probably won't be able to make any more that 2 or 3 SASS matches this season.

I just have too much sh** going on these days. :blink:

 

Mustang

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When We in Canada lost the Paper CC I would say that more the 85% of the Cowboys at all the major Canadian Shoots were Very

Pissed off.

 

And these were the active shooters ...

 

 

Jabez Cowboy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Umpteenth. Is that between eleventeenth and twelveteenth?

 

The Editor of one of my favorite magazines American Iron, which is the largest motorcycle magazine, wrote an editorial about the rapid change in the publishing business a couple of months ago. He wrote that whether it is attributed to the Internet or the economy the fact is "the traditional magazine store delivery system is under massive financial pressures." He predicted that a lot of magazines will disappear very quickly in the coming months. The local newspaper The Arizona Republic is now down to a Barbie doll size paper and I just noticed while sitting in the Dairy Queen (I don't buy the paper anymore) that the world and national news section is now a partnership with USA Today. Only the local news is now printed by the local paper and there are no ads of any significance anymore. (Everyone uses Craig's List, which I just found out about a couple of years ago.) They don't even have car ads or the movie schedule anymore. Everyone uses their IPhone, IPad or whatever. I personally like to be able to read in the "library" (you know, the one with the porcelain throne). As much as I am resisting, technology is changing everything whether I like it or not. I don't know and I am just speculating, but given how fast SASS made this change they probably had to stick their finger in a crack in the dike before it ruptured and flooded everything. The main thing for me is that SASS stay strong and continue to be the regulating body for this sport. I know a few people keep saying that if SASS goes away people will still shoot cowboy. IMO that's bunk. What makes the game a sport is coherent rules. Once everyone starts doing their own thing a few people might still show up dressed like cowboys and shoot. But, the shooter numbers will decline rapidly.

+1 Most folks don't easily recognize that this is what SASS really accomplished, and why it grew so fast.

 

A commmon set of equipment and competition rules for all of us to be able to show up anywhere, worldwide, and be in synch. That is what allowed all the great people (the reason we stay in SASS) to come together, anywhere, and then renew or make new firends wherever we go, based on this common denominator.

 

This is the most important piece of what our SASS membership fee really buys, and why I chose to spring for a lifetime one, late in life..

 

Harvey

Who far preffers paper, but is reading the on line version, perhaps even more than the old one (it was surprise to me that this is becoming the case).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:FlagAm::FlagAm::FlagAm::FlagAm::FlagAm:

 

Skip:

 

Actually I have not read the online one at all. :(

The only time I ever got to read the printed ones was about a month after I get them. :(

 

I honestly do not have the time to read them at this time of my life.

 

In fact, I probably won't be able to make any more that 2 or 3 SASS matches this season.

I just have too much sh** going on these days. :blink:

 

Mustang

I hear ya on the less shooting part :( kinda in the same boat so far this year with getting many years of home project procrastination catching up to me. Still... Gonna try and get at least a once a month effort in.... If I'm lucky a twice an effort will pan out. :)

 

GG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I joined SASS this March, so for me I've never known the print version of the CC. I like that it's electronic, as I can easily read and zoom in to things on my iPad, and the links are clickable so I can check out the vendor websites.

 

I also am an NRA member, and although I get both the electronic and paper versions of American Rifleman, I find that I do more reading on the iPad and mostly just thumb through the paper version.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You've made some interesting points...shall we call them...

 

So tell me, what would you have them do???? Produce then CC in paper for Life Members?

 

What is YOUR solution???

 

And who is the "King"?????

 

Looking forward to your answers...

 

Phantom

Sorry, haven't been back on till now.

The members that were life members before the change to the online chronical should continue getting the paper version if they want it, yes. After the change, you know what you are getting, no problem with that at all.

Wasn't calling anyone a "king", just a bit of word play. But the owners of SASS would be the king in this instance I suppose.

I kind of relate it to "If you like the.........you have now, you can keep the.........you have now." Kind of. This may be my last post on this, it's not going to change things anyway. Have fun........

BA(and I did say may be!)

 

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry, haven't been back on till now.

The members that were life members before the change to the online chronical should continue getting the paper version if they want it, yes. After the change, you know what you are getting, no problem with that at all.

Wasn't calling anyone a "king", just a bit of word play. But the owners of SASS would be the king in this instance I suppose.

I kind of relate it to "If you like the.........you have now, you can keep the.........you have now." Kind of. This may be my last post on this, it's not going to change things anyway. Have fun........

BA(and I did say may be!)

 

 

 

 

 

That's not a solution...that's a demand.

 

Seriously, do you thing that "The King" just decided to drop the paper CC because they wanted more $$$$ in their pockets??????

 

So what is YOUR solution????

 

Phantom

 

PS: Not everyone is out to get you...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some totally don't read the paper.

Some totally don't care one way or the other.

 

A decent percentage of members really enjoy reading the print. What's wrong with offering the print copy for those folks?

SASS cuts publishing costs by, what... 60-70% maybe.

 

Everything is a win/win. Advertisers spend money and folks by their goods, those who choose to receive it do so and enjoy, those who toss it right out of the gate won't be bothered doing so anymore.

 

I really miss receiving it, wish I had the option, and don't get why a business wouldn't listen to 30+% of those that keep it in business.

 

All that being said, I enjoy shooting just as much and will still send in my dues once a year. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've never read the online version and probably won't. I used to take the printed version to work, to the cabin, on camping trips, read it in bed, etc., and I don't often stick my computer in my pocket when doing those things.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It seems as thought a lot of folks are operating under the premise that the paper CC was cancelled for reasons other then financial...

 

I don't.

 

I think it was done to make SASS stronger in the long run...

 

If you think that the new WB doesn't understand their members...and want what's best for them...then I think you don't know them very well.

 

Phantom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some totally don't read the paper.

Some totally don't care one way or the other.

 

A decent percentage of members really enjoy reading the print. What's wrong with offering the print copy for those folks?

SASS cuts publishing costs by, what... 60-70% maybe.

 

Everything is a win/win. Advertisers spend money and folks by their goods, those who choose to receive it do so and enjoy, those who toss it right out of the gate won't be bothered doing so anymore.

 

I really miss receiving it, wish I had the option, and don't get why a business wouldn't listen to 30+% of those that keep it in business.

 

All that being said, I enjoy shooting just as much and will still send in my dues once a year. ;)

Because of the economics. The smaller the group you print for, the more expensive each printed copy gets. Hence the 5000 minimum. Presumably they have done a cost analysis and determined that is the smallest print run that can be achieved and not lose lose a ton of money (or maybe it is just that - the smallest print run the printers will entertain)

 

Not sure why we keep flogging this particular horse…. rigor mortis set in awhile a go and it is beginning to stink...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The paper hasn't been cancelled just yet; just need to pay extra for it now. I'd personally be Ok with a change to quarterly and I'd still be willing to pay a small fee. IMO SASS should call life members, the ones that were life members prior to this decision, and ask them if they even read the paper copy; if so those should keep getting it free. Maybe that means the rest have to pay a little extra but so be it. My guess is there are a lot that couldn't care less about either version.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The paper hasn't been cancelled just yet; just need to pay extra for it now. I'd personally be Ok with a change to quarterly and I'd still be willing to pay a small fee. IMO SASS should call life members, the ones that were life members prior to this decision, and ask them if they even read the paper copy; if so those should keep getting it free. Maybe that means the rest have to pay a little extra but so be it. My guess is there are a lot that couldn't care less about either version.

Why free?

 

Is there a contract????

 

So other's should supplement their membership?????

 

Nope...not good in my book. If there was a written contract...sure.

 

Or...we could just wish upon a star that everything should be...fair...

 

Phantom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are 'written" contracts,,,,, and there are 'verbal' contracts, and there are 'implied' (sp) contracts,,,,, and lastly, there is the 'Cowboy Contract',,,,a handshake/node/tip of hat.... I understand the life member OP point of view... the Cowboy handshake/node/tip of the hat has been violated.

 

In my real world life, I have wittnessed a bonified, lawyered up and 'written' contract between company/plaintiff, turn into dog pupu into a multi-million dollar (and counting) judgment against the general energy paying rate payers.

 

 

I am afraid that the 'Cowboy Way' is a thing of the PAST!! Both in real life and in CAS/SASS

 

Just saying,

 

Blastmaster

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am a Life Member, and I don't feel any "contract," cowboy or otherwise, was ever in place or implied. I am perfectly happy with the online version, and will read it just about as often as I read the paper. Really guys, we all need to be worrying about more important things that are effecting this shooting sport, and other shooting sports, than a paper CC!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.