LettersFromFlyoverCountry

LettersFromFlyoverCountry

Well Known Member
So there I was sitting at the quarterly meeting of the Minnesota Wing of Van's Air Force this morning listening to Dick Martin talk and thinking, "man, this is good, lots of folks should hear about this." And then there was talk of the service bulletin, and some other folks had good information. And this morning I browsed a bunch of Web sites from Matronics to VAF to Yahoo to EAA to builder sites -- just like everyone else does -- and thought "it would be nice to have a quick summary that highlights the stuff that's going on in the RV world....referring people to the proper forums, podcasts, message boards, mailing lists and Web sites from whence they came.

So now there is? RV Builder's Hotline. Delivered every Saturday morning to your inbox. No charge. No advertising. No privacy violations.

Just because.

Here's the Web site sample. But it will only be available by e-mail in HTML or PDF format (please stipulate).

http://home.comcast.net/~bcollinsrv7a/eaa/rvbuildernewsletter.htm

And if you have something you'd like to highlight (especially if it's published elsewhere and you just need folks to find it, send it along)


Bob Collins
St. Paul, Minn.
 
Why not collaborate with Doug on this? Maybe even record these talks and put them up on Doug's "RV Talk" section for the world to hear.

That's my 2 cents -- I have too many "things" to follow as it is, and life has improved (at least it's simplified) since the Yahoo groups went away. Consolidation and centralization is a "good thing" imho.
 
dan said:
Why not collaborate with Doug on this? Maybe even record these talks and put them up on Doug's "RV Talk" section for the world to hear.
Click to expand...
You missed the point. It IS a collaboratio with Doug. It's a colalboration with the MN Wing, it's a colalboration with the EAA, it's a collaboration with Yahoo,it's a collaborattion with Matronics, it's a collaboration with anyone who has something SOMEWHERE (keep in mind this is simply a newsletter not a Web site.

I'm an editor. It's what I do. I get as much information as I can from various places and then say "well, this is pretty interesting, let's make note of this and send people to that location."

That's what this is.

But I also run a news Web site for a living and I can tell you that no matter how many times people go to it, stuff scrolls off or escapes their notice because they were heading somewhere else. This can help aggregate that content across a wide spectrum.

New media is a vastly different medium. People do NOT -- as a rule -- read from the top down at a Web site, the way they would for a newspaper or a Sport Aviation. If there are 30,000 pages on a Web site, that's 30,000 entry points and 30,000 exit points and the bulk of those are going to be single page-views. Bad thing. Too easy to miss important stuff.

And if you look at Doug's very informative post on traffic, you can see that most of the page views are in the Forum and not everyone goes to the front page...or they may not go every day and stuff scrolls down...and down...and down to the point where they may not find it at all. That's not good for them, it's not good for Doug.

So this idea is meant to take note of those things that ARE important -- depending on the editor's opinion -- and give them more exposure across a wide spectrum because, well, some things actually ARE more important than others.

And there are thousands and thousands of people out there building, flying or interested in building and flying and the bulk of them don't post. They just want to make sure they're not missing anything.

Me? I can't get enough RV information. To the extent others can... God bless them and the Red Sox. If they don't subscribe, they won't have another burden.

Life is fast. There's lot to do. A quick read can be helpful and for those who want a longer read, the links will all be there for them to get here...or there....or anywhere else where something RVish is happening.

And I can tell you that there's never going to be just one place -- one Internet site, one chapter house, one company, where stuff that's interesting is going to be. Never. Information is expanding far, far too fast for that.

Aggregation is good. Aggregation with an editor's sensibility is even better.

Especially when it doesn't cost anything and you don't even have to look at it if you don't want to.
 
Bob-

Looks great! Thanks.
Will there be a way to access "back issues" online - I like today's article with Dick Martin.

Thomas
-8 wings
 
I would like to talk to Doug to see if that's something he'd be interested in hosting. Hadn't really thought about it but I suppose it makes perfect sense.

Keep in mind, I won't be able to crank out big original articles every week. I'll get lots of stuff to put in it, of course, but features depend on things plopping down in my area and I was just lucky enough that there was a MN wing meeting today. But, I'm guessing with all the good EAA newsletters out there getting little circulation beyond their own membership, I can mine some good writing with some sleuthing around.
 
I like it!

There is so much info that between work, family, and building it is easy for me to miss things on the various Internet sites. I think this will be a nice addition that actually helps reduce the time it takes to find the nuggets none of us want to miss. I for one have already signed up.

Thanks Bob!
 
Bob-

I guess if they're coming as .pdf files I can save copies on my desktop.

Thanks
Thomas
-8 wings
 
Bob,

I just signed up. Looks like a cool deal :)

Also, Dick showed me his RV8 when I happened to taxi up next to him at MTW a couple of weeks ago. Heck of a nice guy. While he was showing me all of his speed mods and his autopilot testing, I was wishing I had a tape recorder because the amount of info was overwhelming.

Another neat thing I remember about his aircraft were the rocker switches in the cockpit. I need to find out where he got those.
 
Everyone who subscribed to the RV Builder's Hotline via e-mail should have received a copy in their INBOX this morning. If not, check your sp*m settings and delete box. A list of "returned mail" is kept at the online edition at: http://home.comcast.net/~rvnewsletter/ , so you may want to check there too.

Sorry for the delay. They were all supposed to go out at midnight but Comcast doesn't, apparently, like hundreds of e-mails being sent out at once so I had to break it up into 10 distribution lists.

Bob Collins
St. Paul, Minn.
 
Got mine - Great Stuff!

Hey Bob....this is really GREAT stuff!
Thanks for doing all the work behind the scenes to create this! It REALLY saves me from trying to keep up with everything......plus you have info in there that I never would have found anyway :^)!!
Oh yea....all this and no advertisements :^)!!
Rick Gray in Ohio at the Buffalo Farm
http://rv6rick.tripod.com/ohiovalleyrvators/
 
did not receive

Bob,

I did not receive the email. I have checked my settings which should allow me to receive it. I also checked the site for returned mail and am not on the list. What now?

Thanks,
 
I REALLY like it!

This is going ot be really handy. As Rick mentioned, there has already been stuff that I would have missed. Great resource!

Thanks for your work on this. :)
 
I promise I really won't do this every Saturday but I'm still trying to make sure I got the mailing list right. Everyone who signed up should have a newsletter in their inbox this morning (I think I only got three bounces this week). It's all done by hand so it's possible someone who signed up didn't get added to the distribution list. If there are any problems, please contct me via e-mail.

http://home.comcast.net/~rvnewsletter/
 
This week's newsletter is posted and has been mailed (only got 3 returns this week). The main feature is on finding motivation via video. One correction. I said it appears YudaVision's RV videos have gone dark. Jay reports that's not the case. I haven't been able to get them to load, but the link is on the newsletter anyway so ymmv.
 
I think I've finally figured out why some ISPs or some folks weren't getting their weekly copies. I had a drop down box for the archives that went in the e-mail. That was a javascript thing. So I've made sure there are no scripts in the e-mail version (the drop down is on the Web site, however, if you're looking for old copies). Fingers are crossed hopinig the problem was anti-virus apps filtering those.

If you subscribed and you didn't receive yours this week, please email me directly.
Thanks,
 
FYI, I hope to have something in this week's Builder's Hotline regarding the camping area for RVers at Oshkosh. Still working on the particulars but I should have a little more information on where we'll be and give you the option of whether you want a spot reserved for you (and want to pay for it)

B
 
Update: Almost all AOL subscribers are bouncing. I'll be moving all of those folks over to a "notification" list, that will let them know the present issue is posted online and include a direct link. I presume AOL has some spam thing going on. If you didn't get it tonight, check online.
 
Aol

Bob Collins said:
Update: Almost all AOL subscribers are bouncing.
Click to expand...
Just another reason to not use AOL. They are starting a new paid E-mail service, where if you want to send "bulk" E-mail to their users, you'll have to pay. Coincidentally, they are bouncing more and more legitimate E-mail as "spam". What's sad is their users don't even know that you sent them something and it was rejected. They can't add you to the good guys list and then get your E-mail. You have to pay. I was astounded that people used AOL even before this latest stunt. There are much better options out there.

See http://www.dearaol.com/ for more info.
 
Aol

rv8ch said:
Just another reason to not use AOL. They are starting a new paid E-mail service, where if you want to send "bulk" E-mail to their users, you'll have to pay. Coincidentally, they are bouncing more and more legitimate E-mail as "spam". What's sad is their users don't even know that you sent them something and it was rejected. They can't add you to the good guys list and then get your E-mail. You have to pay. I was astounded that people used AOL even before this latest stunt. There are much better options out there.

See http://www.dearaol.com/ for more info.
Click to expand...


The "only" people I "ever" have trouble sending email to have AOL addresses. Alot more often than not, they will bounce!
I dropped them years ago......nothing but trouble for me.

Roy C Lewis Jr
RV8QB
AEIO-390
Catto
Wiring
 
This week's issue has been sent. the AOL "problem" appears solved as I only received one bounceback (and not from an AOL account).

Would like to get a few more responses to the insurance survey; not sure I have enough to have an article for next week. Anecdotally, I see premiums going DOWN, rather than up. Anyway, if you have experience with it, please take the survey.

So far, I'd have to guess we do not have a sufficient RVer interest in an RV camping area at OSH -- at least to the extent of reserving spaces.

And next week, hopefully, we'll begin taking a headcount for the RV Family Reunion BBQ at OSH to see if we should proceed. We have not had more than one or two folks respond to the request for volunteers, however.

Maybe gas prices will keep people home this year. We'll see.

http://home.comcast.net/~rvnewsletter/
 
It was quiet in the newsletter distribution area the last couple of weeks. but this week I've got a scattered report or two of folks who didn't get the newsletter but in double-checking, it was emailed out. If you've been on the list and didn't get one this week,kindly let me know and I'll troubleshoot.
 
A couple of housekeeping issues

* A few weeks ago, we began moving the archives of the Hotline to another server, and started using an automated system for e-mailing over 1,000 copies a week to folks. I've gotten a few e-mails of late that some peole haven't received one in a few weeks. In almost every case, they ARE still subscribed and the emails ARE going out. So it could be a spam filter. If you haven't received yours, please check for any BULK (Yahoo mail) or other filter that may be on your system and see if the newsletters are going there. On some email clients, you need to enter the sender address in your address book. If so, please enter both [email protected] and [email protected] (this is often true with AOL).

But if you're one of the folks who hasn't been receiving the newsleter, please let me know.

* If you didn't receive the one a few weeks ago about story solicitation, then you didn't see that I'm looking for original articles. I can pay $25 per article, which is pretty much the month's take from Google ads, which are not included on the e-mails, but are on the archive site. Good stories, detailed stories, are most popular with subscribers... anything from "how to" to "where I flew." I try to have at least two original articles per month that I write, so there's room for more, in addition to the Hotline's aggregation of thigns across the RV universe.

* There's now an immediate sign-up page, thanks to Rob Riggen. You can find it at: http://rvhotline.expercraft.com/emailsignup.php

* And finally, if you bookmarked the RV Builder's Hotline site and read it online instead of via e-mail, please change the URL to the much simpler, http://rvhotline.expercraft.com.
 
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