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Dear BEN,
I’d like to begin by telling you how glad I am that I stuck around as a subscriber. Two
years ago when you guys stopped publishing for those few months and reorganized (I think that’s what you called it?), I was ready to let my subscription lapse.
My husband was right there rooting me on to cancel, saying, “the heck with it.” (To be perfectly honest, as I recall, his language on this topic was actually a
bit more, um, pointed than that.) But, we’ve been playing darts for almost 15 years now (Still actively do, in fact.) and we have been loyal subscribers for
almost as many years. So, I hung in there. and now I’m so glad I did.
Since going to the new, every-other-month format you’re using now, the magazine has been
more polished than I can recall it being before, and I love the new columns and all of the How-To articles! Even though I’ve been playing a long time, I’ve always sought out instructional and strategy tips, hoping to improve my scores. (Judging by some of the play I’ve seen at league nights lately, it’s something more players should do, I tell ya.) Plus, my brother-in-law just started playing last year, so I’ve been coaching him a lot, making the How-To stuff particularly useful as of late. Which actually leads me to my second purpose in writing.
Why does your Website always seem to be lag so far behind the magazine
(www.bullseyenews.com)? Steve, my brother-in-law, doesn’t live close by and there have been a few articles the last six months that I really wanted him
to read. (Your articles on Electronic Outs and Practice Routines would have been just great for him!) The problem is, I point him to your Website, but then those articles don’t show up for weeks! Why isn’t the Website more in sync with the magazine?
Nevertheless, I’m glad I ignored my husband’s advice, and stuck around.
Keep up the great work!
—Ellen Smithee
To Our Readers:
First, we’d like to say thanks to Ellen for her kind words of praise. We
took great pains during our reorganization in the summer of 2001 to develop an improved game plan for our publication, and we have continued to work hard in
the intervening months since then to achieve those plans — setting even higher goals for ourselves along the way with each and every new edition of BEN.
To date, your general response to these many changes, like Ellen’s, has been
overwhelmingly positive. New subscription numbers and renewals are rising at unprecedented rates, the vast majority of our sponsors and advertisers have
rallied to the cause, and we are now the “Official Magazine” of three major league organizations, even as we continue to support and promote all of the others.
Not to mention, of course, all of the direct feedback we hear from all of you face-to-face when we’re on site at tournaments, through e-mail, and “Dear BEN” letters to the editor just like this one.
To all of you who’ve helped to re-shape and successfully restructure BEN through your feedback (both the positive and the negative), and through your patience hanging in there and weathering the storm with us, we offer a resounding THANK YOU! No, we’re not perfect yet… but we’re damned well going to continue trying, and thanks to all of you, we’re now looking forward to serving you for many, many years to come.
Now, regarding the BEN Website: Ellen has brought to light a good topic; one that, in retrospect, we have never fully clarified in these pages.
Originally debuting in the fall of 1995, our Website, like the magazine, has
undergone many changes over the years. Now in its fourth incarnation, our site’s primary objective has been, and continues to be, to introduce the virtues and
value of our magazine to the greater dart-playing communities of the world. In short, to bring new, loyal subscribers into the fold — welcoming them into the
extended family that is the Bull’s-Eye News subscriber base.
A second primary objective is to provide our sponsors and advertisers the
additional benefit of a direct link from our site to theirs.
Our readers benefit from this feature as they can now contact our sponsors and advertisers from our ‘Sponsors’ page and various banner ads with a simple click of their mouse.
Of course, like most real-world companies that have ventured into
cyberspace, we have also discovered along the way that it’s not really that cut and dry; our efforts online need to operate on more than just one, simplistic,
sales-oriented level to be successful. Suffice it to say, this has created some challenging questions for us as we have refined our goals online.
How can we keep the Website “useful and relevant” to those who visit, while
also still making it a complimentary extension of its offline, in-print twin?
How can we protect and enhance the value our magazine, value which both our
subscribers and advertisers deserve, while still introducing new readers to the wealth of information contained in our pages?
And…while most periodicals are now beginning to charge for online versions
of their content, how can we continue to provide this cyber-information for free online? (We are fighting for this one tooth and nail!)
No doubt, these are not questions easily answered, but we have spent our
time in the trenches, talked to hundreds of darters and subscribers, consulted the experts, and we have come up with a working system that is getting the job
done! So, here’s how our official ‘Web’ policy plays out:
First, Ellen is both right and wrong. Some areas of our site, most notably
the “Feature” articles, do lag well behind the release dates of our print publication: In most cases, 6 to 8 weeks behind the print magazine. But,
time-relevant news, such as events, results and organizational press releases and announcements do go immediately (or ASAP) to the Web site — in many cases
well ahead of the relevant print edition. That way everyone (both subscribers and non-subscribers) can get important information in the fastest way possible.
In fact, there’s a perfect example of this phenomenon in this month’s edition: In ‘Off The Wire’ of this magazine, you’ll find a press release for the upcoming
(and sure to be exciting) televised, Las Vegas Desert Classic III. This very same press release appeared on our Website way back on February 7th — almost a
full month before this edition even went to print.
As you may have also noticed, in many cases when the feature articles,
interviews, and event reports do eventually appear online, they have been dramatically truncated (or abbreviated), and are often missing the majority of
associated photo art that appears in the print version. This too, was done by design. In this way, non-subscribing visitors who join us online can experience a
solid taste of our magazine’s content, while still preserving the full, colorful and timely story just for you, our valued subscribers. (Sure, this is a bit of
a tease for those unfortunate individuals who don’t — like you — subscribe, but then… that’s the point. We’d like them to join in!)
So, there you have it. That’s what we’ve BEN up to on the cyber-front: Time-relevant materials like press releases and event announcements are posted ASAP online; then feature articles and interviews are added, in abbreviated form, approximately 6–8 weeks later. Granted, this is not a perfect solution for paying subscribers who’d like to be able to access to ALL of our content both online and in print, but it does cover all of the bases otherwise. (Perhaps some day we will be able to provide this added online “full-access” feature to our subscribers. For the record, it is already on our wish list.)
In closing (and as always), we are open to your feedback and suggestions. If
there’s anything we can do to further refine and improve our publication, either online or off, please don’t hesitate to let us know. Your feedback — the good,
the bad, and the just occasionally ugly — is always appreciated. We couldn’t do it without you!
—Cheers!
A quick PS just for Ellen…
The next time your brother-in-law calls and you’re tempted to point him to
our Website, just direct him to the page labeled “Subscribe to Bull’s-Eye News.” In less than five minutes, with his credit card in hand, [click click] he can permanently resolve this problem. Then, he too, will have the whole, timely story.
Now, that’s a good way to use our Website!
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