Articles and Writers needed

[thor]

Gentlemen,

We have reached the end of the back log of writings we had piled up for the SCR. We are in need of more articles from the readers, and are looking for a few more regular columnists for the SCR. If you are willing to write and article or submit a column please let me know as soon as possible. Even if you only have time for one or two columns per year, it would be greatly appreciated! The current staff of contributors has been at it for many years with no break. Fresh writers are needed. If we are unable to secure more material and a few new writers the future of the SCR does not look bright. Please help us to keep this great publication going! Any article is valued and appreciated! Please consider pitching in....

[tom dougherty]

Could use an assistant editor as well. Jeff has been at it for years!!

[ssn705]

Once I am off of sea duty, I would love to start writing some. Sorry I can't provide something in short order.

Dave

[Guest]

Perhaps a move towards a bi-annual or even annual publication would be preferable. Perhaps a pay per issue format could be introduced.

I would say these days, those that do put ideas and builds forward tend to first gravitate towards a forum or social media rather than a publication like the SCR. With all members online, which you have to be in order to get the SCR, then I guess a lot of people find it simpler to share via that medium, plus you get the additional benefit of instant feedback, which you don't tend to get from an article.

Ultimately the SCR like any other magazine was an important means of communicating information to the masses in a pre-internet age. No other viable way of doing it. But times have changed.

The snag with forums is that information gets buried deep and forgotten about, so in my view, picking out the really juicy bits, collating them and presenting them as articles for online reading via the main site page would be a step forwards.

There is also a lot of competition out there for peoples whitterrings. I can think of at least six english speaking forums out there for model submariners, and at least another four forums which are non-english speaking, but where you can probably make yourself understood without too much effort.

In addition to this, scratch building is a dwindling art. The majority of newcomers to the hobby that I see, tend to not even build a kit these days. They go for a secondhand purchase off ebay or gumtree. Might be good to go, or need a bit of fixing up, but not requiring the kind work involved in starting from a kit of parts, let alone raw materials. I've seen this happen right across the hobby, from model trains to planes.

[JWLaRue]

Both of those options have been and continue to be evaluated. The key impetus is what serves the membership and the model sub community the best. Witness the evolutionary changes that the SCR has gone through over the recent years.....paper to downloadable PDF to our current 'tablet layout'.

-Jeff

[thor]

There will be a new, regular contributor to the SCR in the December issue. Tim Senecal will be gathering his writings off of the forum, as you suggested in your post Andy, into a column called "Techno-Babble". Tim has become quite the pioneer in many areas of electronics, pumps, and radios in our hobby. He does not want to write the material twice, so the forum will be mined for content.

As mentioned, the forum really is a gold mine of information. I have gone back into the distant past via the archived threads, and there are literally years worth of articles for the SCR to be had. I am logging a spreadsheet with them and will present them to our Editor for selection. We are, also, considering a "Best of the SCR" section in each of the upcoming SCRs that will feature a great article from the past. Not everyone takes the time to read the old issues. This is a chance to re-introduce some of these great writings from the past to our current readership.

With that all said, we still are in need of more contributors! Thanks very much for all of the input.

[thor]

Once I am off of sea duty, I would love to start writing some. Sorry I can't provide something in short order.

Dave

Dave,

We look forward to the time when you are able to contribute. Thank you for stepping up!

[greg w]

How does someone go about submitting an article?

[JWLaRue]

Greg,

The short answer is: send it to me via e-mail. I can be reached at editor (at) subcommittee.com

I am also always available to talk/e-mail with anyone that has questions about submission for the SCR.

-tnx,
Jeff

[Guest]

Sorry to keep thumping this drum, but without debate things stagnate.

If the SCR becomes reliant on regurgitated information already out there on forum, or warmed over articles from the distant past, I think you run a real risk of dwindling membership.

This hobby is now much more mature than it was twenty or thirty years ago. Most, if not all of the hard nuts have been cracked, with probably the greatest unknown territory being automation and robotic underwater craft. These fields are more likely to appeal to more technically minded types, than say traditional modelmakers or craftsmen. I think in the main, SC membership is made up of the latter, but who knows?

Part of the struggle is I have no idea who is a SC member here in the UK, let alone their skill base, or areas of expertise. All I have to go by is a very out of date printed membership list. Not sure if other chapter leaders are in the same boat.

We really need to get information on who the current members are, what their fields of interest are, what kind of skills they possess, and whether they would be willing to help in certain ways. By doing so we stand a better chance of building a team.

I've watched the finances build, as an organisation we now have over $15k. I've asked this in the past, but where is the money going to be spent?

We have a website and forum. It seems to take only a small percentage of the funds to keep that ticking along nicely. Thus do we really require a fifteen grand buffer?

Perhaps the membership fee could be reduced further. That may attract some new blood.

[thor]

Andy,

As always, thanks very much for your input. I agree with much of what you have stated.

As far as providing a membership database, that has been looked at several times in the past. I do agree that there is certainly value to be added by having access to such information. In the past, it was very difficult and cumbersome to extract the information. With the new automatic subscription renewal system, perhaps we need to revisit this to see if it would be possible to provide the information more easily and in a format that would be easily accessible to the membership. In the meantime let’s not forget that everyone who accesses the SC forum has the option of identifying themselves as to location, especially in the various Local Chapter child forums.

Please let me restate the approach that we operate the business of the SubCommittee. A very large percentage of that money is held in permanent reserve only be used in dire need(emergency). We have absolutely no intention nor plans of spending our reserves. After the near death scare with the organization four years back, we never ever want to be caught flat footed and broke. We very nearly lost the organization due to the poor financial condition. Our first commitment to the organization is to leave it in better shape than we found it. I believe, financially, we have certainly done so.

As far as operating expenses are concerned we do have plans in the works to begin spending to aid in the execution of SubCommittee related activities, expanding our use of the website, and possibly paying contributors for their submissions to the SubCommittee report. You can see by the last couple of years reports that we have, indeed, been spending as the account growth is rather flat and holding steady at around 15K. Our current expenses do not exceed the income of the SubCommittee subscription dues, and we intend to make sure that we always stay within budget and not over spend the amount taken in that year. No deficit spending. If you have any ideas as to how to increase the health and membership of the organization through some modest investment of capital, we are most open and accepting of all suggestions.

We are discussing the yearly subscription fee. We may be able to reduce the amount, but that decision has not been made at this point.

Thanks, as always, for your suggestions and input! It is creative ideas such as yours that keep us afloat.

[bwi]

I try to express how I experienced this forum till now.

I have asked some "How To questions" in my builder thread with very little response, even though I know there is a lot of experience here.

I can't beat the feeling that it has to do with some names I mention in my reports.
I mention people in my thread where I got ideas from, not to advertise for them I never met the guy, but I strongly believe in referencing, no more no less. And if David Merriman is one of them I mention hem too, if I like him or not has nothing to do with it.

I have been here for a while now and I notice there is some bad blood and maybe it is justified or maybe I'm just a guy that is far away in Europe……..I don’t know and I don’t care.

But what do bothers me is that don't play the game of politics (I’m truly disgusted by it, it makes me sick) but it seems it slips through to the end user and that a bad thing. If you don’t get answers to your questions what’s the benefit to join the forum then?

It's crazy, we are all into the same hobby and we are with such a small group of people Worldwide doing RC Subs.

An please don’t be sorry about how I feel about it (that is a political correct answer)…..it’s here gents face it… I as an outsider can feel it…….just do something about it!!!! and more people will join the forum.

I'm done.

Grtz,
Bart

[salmon]

Bart,
What you feel is real. I know because every so often I get emailed about me mentioning some people. It is strange that as a R/C submarine organization, that we would exclude or ignore a chunk of our hobbies vendors. That, in my opinion is not servicing our hobby, but placing past incidents before anything else. I read the old SCR articles a lot, and it is worth the annual membership fee alone. In those articles I find praise and great words for who now is shunned.
Should a vendor be shunned? Yes. In cases of fraud or misleading advertising. This is not the case here. I also see this vendors product in use in subs at Fun Runs, even ones that are maybe a decade old. So, people are not stupid and see what goes on.
Knowing that, please do not be like those you have just mentioned, throwing out the baby with the bath water (an old saying here in the U.S. so I hope it makes sense over the pond). Please stick around. As a hobby we accomplish nothing if we begin to draw a line and make people choose to stand on one side or the other. That being said you should be able to express yourself and share your thoughts and opinions. As a healthy organization that is what is needed to help grow and build membership.
I do not want to see this turn into a fight or make a bigger deal than it is, if so we perpetuate the whole issue all over again. Many members on this site, and vendors too, are friends on both sides of the fence. They know and see what is going on, but choose to see a greater idea of how our hobby needs to be. The further we get from the things of the past, the more accepting, I hope, this organization will be for all aspects of our hobby. I also have friends that are on one side or the other and it is uncomfortable. Sometimes motives are mistaken incorrectly because of your association, but hopefully in time people will get to know you as a person, and see the value you bring rather than the product you use. Bart you are talented in this hobby and a great asset to this organization. You enjoy sharing what you know and like you pointed out, that is needed. So, please hang on and help build the r/c submarine hobby, no matter what product you use.

[thor]

Bart,

I am not one known for any level of political correctness. The issues you are referring have been unsuccessfully adressed in the open and behind the scenes. To change minds and hearts takes a very long time. I do not see it being solved easily nor quickly. I'm not going to drag up ancient history and dwell on bones. Perhaps one day reconciliation will be , but It is going to take a long time.

[salmon]

Matt, to your credit, reconciliation and change was made. Let us not discount the change that has happened. It did not work out completely, but change has happened. After all, I am doing a WIP using Caswell/Merriman products and there are no flames. That is huge. The past is the past. I appreciate your leadership for the greater view.